Team Liquid's campaign at Logitech G Play Connect has ended in disappointment, as the North American squad failed to advance past the group stage with a 2-3 match record.
The team arrived at the tournament riding high from their triumph at the PGL Masters Bucharest NA qualifier, where they defeated NRG in the grand final. However, Liquid faced significant roster challenges heading into the event. Mario "malbsMd" Samoya was absent due to personal matters, while head coach Viktor "flashie" Tamás Bea missed the tournament to attend his sister's wedding. Serbian player Vladan "VLDN" Radević and data analyst Jay "DeMars DeRover" Li stepped in as replacements.
Despite the substitutions, Liquid's performance fell below expectations, particularly as all three defeats came against lower-ranked opponents. VLDN struggled in his stand-in role, posting a 0.96 rating across five maps—well below his usual 1.11 rating from 83 maps over the previous three months with ex-Zero Tenacity.
Liquid started strong with a 13-8 victory over INFINITE on Mirage. However, momentum quickly shifted as they suffered a 13-6 defeat to Inner Circle on Cache, followed by a heartbreaking overtime loss to EYEBALLERS on Mirage after squandering a commanding 10-3 advantage.
Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski delivered a standout performance with 18 frags in a 13-6 win over 3DMAX on Nuke, temporarily keeping playoff hopes alive. Unfortunately, BBL extinguished those hopes in the final Group B match, eliminating Liquid from the competition.
The silver lining? Liquid can now return home early to prepare for iBUYPOWER Masters FML 2026, where they face Chicken Coop on September 25th.
