Liquid head to 0-2 pool in EPL S23 after collapse to #61 Gaimin Gladiators
Liquid have fallen in a painful 2-1 loss to Gaimin Gladiators, collapsing against the #61 team in the world on the VRS to send Liquid down to the 0-2 pool in the online stage of ESL Pro League Season 23. The loss comes as a result of a fairly anemic performance from the struggling international lineup, with Keith "NAF" Markovic and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski continuing to struggle on the server.
Dust2 saw Liquid get off to a decent start on their CT-side, claiming an early 3-1 lead before taking the half 7-5. However, things quickly began to unravel for Liquid on the T-side as Gaimin Gladiators won their CT-side pistol round and the following round to tie things up before largely dominating as they went to take the map 13-9.
Moving onto Nuke, Liquid started the second map in the series in the lead, taking the first four rounds in a row on their T-side before losing steam as Gaimin Gladiators closed the gap to tie things up 6-6 at the half. In the second half, Liquid won their third pistol round of the series and the following round before Gaimin Gladiators won the next five rounds in a row to climb up to an 11-8 scoreline. On the edge of map point, Liquid rallied around a great CT-side performance from Guy "NertZ" Iluz to deny map point to Gaimin Gladiators and win the next five rounds in a row to take Nuke 13-11.
With the series tied up, Liquid initially looked lost on Ancient as Gaimin Gladiators started their CT-side with a 4-0 lead before taking the half 9-3. In the second half, Gaimin Gladiators climbed up to eleven rounds before Liquid finally woke up and launched into a comeback, winning six rounds in a row to a 9-11 scoreline while Henrique "HEN1" Teles and co. seriously struggled to get anything going on their T-side.
However, HEN1 ended up being a hero for Gaimin Gladiators in the final rounds of the series as he won his team a 3v1 in round 21 before a misplay from Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak gave up the A-site in Round 23 and allowed Gaimin Gladiators to take Ancient 13-10 and the series 2-1.
LiquidGaimin Gladiators| Liquid |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Guy 'NertZ' Iluz |
46 - 56 | -10 | 84.8 | 68.1% | 1.03 |
 Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak |
41 - 48 | -7 | 57.3 | 62.3% | 0.97 |
| Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek |
39 - 44 | -5 | 58.3 | 66.7% | 0.93 |
 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski |
40 - 50 | -10 | 63.9 | 66.7% | 0.93 |
 Keith 'NAF' Markovic |
35 - 48 | -13 | 63.6 | 66.7% | 0.91 |
| Gaimin Gladiators |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 3.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
54 - 31 | +23 | 87.8 | 84.1% | 1.40 |
 Luca 'Luken' Nadotti |
55 - 38 | +17 | 77.0 | 81.2% | 1.28 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
54 - 49 | +5 | 88.0 | 71.0% | 1.04 |
| Jhonatan 'JOTA' Willian |
46 - 42 | +4 | 70.4 | 72.5% | 0.88 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
37 - 44 | -7 | 64.7 | 73.9% | 0.83 |
Liquid will now need to fight for survival in the 0-2 pool tomorrow, with their likely opponents being NRG, a team consisting of three former NA Liquid players. As pointed out by HLTV Senior Staff Writer and friend of Dust2.us Danish "Nohte" Allana, the loss to Gaimin Gladiators further complicates Liquid's road to IEM Cologne, as the team are now well outside of qualification range for the first Major of 2026.
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