Liquid fall at the finish line
Coming off a disappointing BLAST Premier Fall Groups, Liquid were hoping for some revenge and a point to prove that their new roster was capable of great things. A first-round loss against Astralis obviously hurt the team, and their confidence, but a BO3 victory against BIG helped reassure them and their international fans that they were capable of a victory. Now, this would be the most important match of the new roster as a victory against 9INE would help them advance at IEM Cologne 2023.
Liquid kicked off their final match of the Play-In on their pick of Ancient, building up an early lead off an offensive pistol round win. 9INE kept things honest in the early portion of the half, but a pair of Liquid round wins left the Polish side's economy in tatters. A half-buy win halted Liquid's streak of four rounds, and although Liquid immediately retorted with another round, 9INE finished off the half with three rounds to bring the deficit to 6-9.
Liquid went on to bag the second pistol round as well, but the first gun round of the second half ultimately went the way of 9INE, allowing the Poles to bring the scoreline to 9-11. Before 9INE could claim the lead for the first time on the map, Liquid rallied five of the six remaining rounds on the defense to finish off the map with a 16-10 scoreline, giving the team a solid start heading into their opponent's pick of Vertigo.
It would be nice to say anything nice about Vertigo for Liquid, but that would require lying. The biggest question was not how 9INE play the map so well, but why Liquid did not ban the squad's best map? Despite winning the opening pistol, that would be one of only two rounds that Liquid would earn on the first half as 9INE's strong CT-side prevented Liquid from gaining any sort of momentum in the match.
The second round looked a bit more positive for Liquid, despite losing the second pistol of the game. Liquid were able to gather a few T-side rounds, but considering the massive deficit, they were unable to come up with much as they fell 16-6.
Now on Overpass, Liquid were looking for a solid ending to their Play-In adventure. Starting out on the CT-side, Liquid were hoping to build up an advantage. Despite losing the opening pistol, Liquid were good for six rounds in a row to take the lead 6-2. That advantage only lasted for so long as 9INE came back and would end up winning the half 8-7.
The second half would start out strong for Liquid, as they got to 12 rounds, but it was 9INE that would be the stronger side. Despite looking down and out, the Poles would be convincingly strong as they did not let Liquid back into the game as they secured the map 16-12 and win the series 2-1.
9INELiquid| 9INE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kamil 'KEi' Pietkun |
56 - 43 | +13 | 79.9 | 78.9% | 1.22 |
| Wiktor 'mynio' Kruk |
58 - 46 | +12 | 86.2 | 77.6% | 1.21 |
| Kacper 'Kylar' Walukiewicz |
49 - 45 | +4 | 68.4 | 73.7% | 1.06 |
| Krzysztof 'Goofy' Górski |
49 - 50 | -1 | 72.6 | 72.4% | 1.02 |
| Olek 'hades' Miskiewicz |
44 - 48 | -4 | 60.0 | 69.7% | 0.96 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
50 - 44 | +6 | 61.5 | 72.4% | 1.06 |
 Aleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov |
46 - 51 | -5 | 70.9 | 69.7% | 0.99 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
47 - 48 | -1 | 71.0 | 69.7% | 0.99 |
 Robert 'Patsi' Isyanov |
47 - 57 | -10 | 75.3 | 63.2% | 0.93 |
 Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis |
38 - 57 | -19 | 64.1 | 67.1% | 0.84 |
