Liquid send BIG home in Cologne

The hometown heroes have been eliminated in the Play-in stage.

Liquid have eliminated BIG from the IEM Cologne Play-in in a three-map affair, sending the only German team at the tournament home. Liquid ground out a close win on Vertigo (16-13) before dropping a 13-7 lead on Mirage and losing out in overtime. They shifted into a higher gear on Overpass, where a dominant CT side secured them a 16-9 win in the series to stay alive in Cologne.

Their next test comes against 9INE on Friday, with the winner of the match advancing from the Play-In and the loser suffering elimination.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2023 Play-in
28/07/2023	9INE 16:00 Liquid	Match

Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic joined the broadcast for a post-match interview, in which he was quizzed about the feeling in the new-look team. "Our biggest issue at times is communication, we need to get used to each other and that comes with time," he began. "We can't just win off of confidence every time, so we are still inconsistent."

BIG, who are playing at the event without recent addition Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski, will be disappointed after exiting the tournament in last place. The German team was the only domestic representative in the tournament and hoped to quash low expectations for their incomplete roster, but losses to Apeks and Liquid put a quick stop to their run.

The match started on Vertigo, where Liquid secured a close-fought 16-13 win. Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis was the star of the show on the opening map, first clutching out a 1vs3 situation before getting another highlight by turning around a 3vs5 situation with another triple kill to put his team 14-9 up. The fumble proved to be the final nail in the coffin for BIG, who couldn't overturn the deficit despite coming close.

Liquid then ran away to a 13-7 lead on Mirage and just as it looked like they were going to close out in two, BIG found a second wind to force out overtime and win the map after Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz provided a crucial ace.

The final map was Overpass, where Liquid looked a cut above their opponents as YEKINDAR found massive impact in the early exchanges. Liquid took the momentum from an earlier eco win and converted it to a 10-3 lead before tabseN's 1vs2 clutch gave his team a bit of hope at the end of the half. It wasn't enough, however, as their comeback attempt petered out in a 9-16 loss, eliminating them from their home tournament in the process.