Liquid's overtime woes cost them against Falcons at ESL Pro League S21
Liquid came agonizingly close to taking their first series at ESL Pro League Season 21 against Falcons, but in the late rounds of map one and three, they couldn't close it out.
On Inferno, Liquid managed to throw away an 8-5 lead after winning second half pistol, while also winning four of the last five to force overtime. For Falcons, it was four-time Major winner Emil "Magisk" Reif who stepped up in OT, delivering crucial multi-kills in three crucial rounds to give Falcons a 16-14 win.
Liquid rallied back on Dust2 though, thanks to a splendid and much needed strong performance Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak. Liquid's AWPer notched 22 kills and looked crisp on the big green sniper, paving the way for a 13-9 win on map two.
Ancient was another close map, but it's one Liquid truthfully should have put away early. Liquid struggled to close out T-side rounds in the second half, at one point losing four straight 1v1 scenarios. But even as Falcons took the lead, Liquid remained persistent. bullying their way into sites and forcing overtime yet again. But Liquid was disjointed to start OT, losing all three T-side rounds to start out, and Falcons managed to convert on their second T-side round to close out the series.
FalconsLiquid| Falcons |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Abdul 'degster' Gasanov |
56 - 48 | +8 | 67.3 | 77.8% | 1.13 |
 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač |
52 - 55 | -3 | 77.4 | 66.7% | 1.05 |
 Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski |
50 - 55 | -5 | 67.9 | 70.4% | 0.98 |
 Emil 'Magisk' Reif |
38 - 49 | -11 | 60.1 | 70.4% | 0.89 |
| René 'TeSeS' Madsen |
40 - 56 | -16 | 59.7 | 56.8% | 0.85 |
| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz |
59 - 50 | +9 | 85.9 | 75.3% | 1.28 |
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
66 - 44 | +22 | 77.8 | 82.7% | 1.27 |
 Russel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken |
51 - 48 | +3 | 81.2 | 76.5% | 1.09 |
 Justin 'jks' Savage |
47 - 46 | +1 | 63.3 | 75.3% | 0.91 |
| Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
37 - 49 | -12 | 52.2 | 67.9% | 0.73 |
There was plenty of trash talk during the series, with Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken catching everyone off guard by yelling at the Falcons that they "fucking suck" even after Liquid lost six straight rounds to start the second half of Ancient. But if you only talk trash when you win, then you're not a real gamer.
Liquid will look to recover from this close loss in the round two low matches tomorrow, against FURIA.
