Liquid knocked out of Stake Pulse Beat III after collapse on Nuke

Team Liquid have been eliminated from Stake Pulse Beat III after a 1-2 defeat to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the quarter-final on Friday, 16 October. At the heart of the loss was the second map, Nuke, where Liquid failed to convert a clear half-time lead into a victory.

Liquid opened the series strongly and won the first map, Mirage, 13-9. On Nuke, NIP's map pick, Liquid took an 8-4 lead into the half from the CT side, putting them in a position to close out the series 2-0. However, NIP turned things completely around in the second half, dropping just two rounds to claim a 13-10 victory and level the series at 1-1.

On the decider map, Cache, Liquid again held a lead — 7-5 at half-time — but NIP pushed back once more and forced overtime. In the extended play, NIP maintained their momentum and won 16-13, securing the reverse sweep and a place in the semi-finals.

Across all three maps, EliGE was Liquid's strongest performer with a rating of 1.27 and a K/D surplus of +16. JT finished with the worst K/D on the team at -19. For NIP, stavn delivered the most standout performance with a K/D surplus of +9 and a KAST rate of 81.1 percent.

Liquid were seeded second out of Group B, while NIP had won Group A. With the defeat, Liquid are out of the tournament and will not return to the server until 19 October, when the team faces fnatic in 1win Private Club Season 2.