Liquid overcome Vitality in IEM Katowice playoffs after historic Overpass comeback

Liquid recovered from an 0-12 start on Overpass to secure victory in the series, 2-1.

Liquid booked a spot in the semi-final of IEM Katowice after surpassing Vitality in the opening round of the playoffs. The North American side had one of the worst starts to the series imaginable, losing twelve rounds straight on their map pick of Overpass, but showed mental resilience and came alive on their own CT side to claim an unprecedented win on the map before later closing out the series on the Mirage decider.

Fun fact:No team on LAN has ever recovered from an 0-12 deficit on Overpass. Sangal is the only team to have done so previously in an online event.

The victory puts Liquid through to the semi-final, where they will take on an invincible-looking G2. The European squad has been on a tear since returning from the tournament break, and is currently on a 17-map win streak⁠ — tied for the third-longest streak in CS:GO LAN history.

Read more Can anyone stop G2 at IEM Katowice?

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire's side will be kicking themselves after letting such a lead slip, especially given their performance on map two, a blowout victory on Nuke which could have ended the series 2-0 if they had taken Overpass over the line. Vitality had failed to make the playoffs at IEM Katowice in all of their prior appearances, so while making it through this time around can be considered progress, the heartbreaking fashion that their elimination came about in will still leave them immensely disappointed as they leave Poland.

Liquid will face G2 on Saturday for a spot in the grand final

T-side rounds would be desolate throughout the entirety of Overpass in this series, and that fact was made quite evident quite early on. Liquid struggled immensely to find entry onto bombsites on their map pick, unable to find an answer to Vitality's proactive defense, and those two factors combined to leave the North American side down by a substantial margin in the first half. With Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi patrolling bathrooms and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif's aggression tearing apart Liquid outside of monster, Vitality reigned supreme, amassing an uncontested 12-0 lead to kick off the map.

The French-Danish combine looked indomitable, sitting upon a lead on Overpass that no team had ever squandered before on LAN. That was a stat line that would change once Liquid got the ball rolling on the CT-side, heading into their defensive effort with just two rounds to their name that were garnered right at the end of the half. Immense efforts from Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm proved key in mounting that comeback effort, several advantageous situations being squandered by Vitality as Liquid slowly clawed their way back. apEX's side had their opponents up against the ropes for much of the half, leading 15-7, but couldn't close things out and ended up faltering in overtime as Liquid claimed victory 19-17.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut came alive on Vitality's pick of Nuke, scoring a 1vs2 clutch to help enable a 6-1 start to the map for his team. Liquid showed signs of life toward the latter portion of the first half and clawed back to post six rounds of their own, but their efforts on the map proved fruitless as Vitality put up a stalwart defense in the second half to swiftly bring the map to an end, 16-7.

Mirage was a much more back-and-forth affair, although it didn't begin as such. Liquid were unrelenting in their attack and picked apart Vitality's defenses round after round, with the European combine continuing to falter in a handful of late-round situations despite having an advantage. Early trading of rounds gave way to Liquid running away with the lead, 9-4, and the map looked to be rapidly approaching its conclusion with Vitality seeming to have run out of steam after an incredible last-second round win from Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic.

Heroics from Spinx and ZywOo gave their side some breathing room as they added two rounds to their tally, and though they fumbled the second half pistol round after the side swap, a force-buy allowed them to answer right back and turn the momentum in their favor. They rallied back to a 9-10 deficit before Liquid got back on the horse, multi-kill rounds from NAF and EliGE helping the North Americans maintain their lead, only for Magisk and Spinx to answer with two rounds of their own to keep the teams within one round of each other. Liquid again pulled ahead by two rounds, 14-11, but it looked as if Vitality would swing control of the map into their favor again when Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen picked up a crucial ace to grant his side 12 rounds. Vitality failed to convert off such a momentous round win, however, and Liquid quickly seized the opportunity to close out the map from there, 16-12.

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 1 10th February 2023 Vitality 19Overpass 17 7Nuke 16 16Mirage 12

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	59 - 53	+6	80.2	1.14
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	65 - 63	+2	78.2	1.03
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR	51 - 64	-13	77.7	0.96
Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee	50 - 55	-5	66.3	0.93
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	48 - 57	-9	53.3	0.85

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Emil 'Magisk' ReifMagisk	64 - 54	+10	78.2	1.20
Lotan 'Spinx' GiladiSpinx	66 - 51	+15	78.2	1.16
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	65 - 57	+8	82.7	1.16
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	47 - 55	-8	60.9	0.93
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	49 - 57	-8	71.2	0.92

Vitality #7 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Josh 'oSee' Ohm Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 1195 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 25 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1704 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Liquid #4 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJosh 'oSee' OhmMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Damian 'daps' Steele Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 22 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1108 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.61 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 2034 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 25 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1665 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Emil 'Magisk' Reif Age: 24 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1497 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 29 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 2089 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.70 Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi Age: 22 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 525 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 G2 #1 Nikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačJustin 'jks' SavageRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIlya 'm0NESY' Osipov Jan 'Swani' Müller

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