Liquid edge past HEROIC 2-1 at FISSURE Playground 2 to earn 90 VRS points

Team Liquid secured a crucial 2-1 victory over HEROIC at FISSURE Playground 2, earning 90 VRS points and eliminating HEROIC from the tournament. 

Key Takeaways

• The event is a high-stakes LAN in Belgrade with a $1.25 million prize pool, and all 16 participating teams are within the top 20 of the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) globally.

• For Liquid, this win marks a jump upward in the VRS rankings—moving up seven spots to 24th.

• The match also carries emotional weight: it’s Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken’s final event with Liquid, and he expressed a desire to bring the team some victories before his departure. He delivered strong performances, including a 1.44 rating on the first map and 118 ADR in the first half of the decider.

Match Details & Challenges

• The series was disrupted by multiple technical issues. According to Guy “NertZ” Iluz, they had to switch between two or three PCs; on the final map, several rounds in a row faced freezing or lag issues, affecting even 2v1 scenarios.

• On the performance side, while Twistzz and NertZ stood out, the rest of Liquid’s lineup struggled to find consistency. Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak had a sub-par showing before Mirage, averaging only a 0.78 rating across the first two maps. Meanwhile, HEROIC had a clean map win on Dust2.

• The decider, Mirage, was tight. Liquid reached a 9-3 lead in the first half, thanks to solid work in the “Middle” area by Twistzz and NertZ. HEROIC fought back, but Liquid managed to close it out after a pivotal low-economy round at 7-9 and a late 1v2 clutch by Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç that went in Liquid’s favor.

Implications & Context

• This result prevents Liquid from finishing in last place in their Swiss-group, and it improves their standing in terms of VRS, though they still sit outside automatic invite zones for the StarLadder Budapest Major, with only a longshot chance remaining.

• For HEROIC, the loss highlights ongoing issues following their roster changes: they lost key players Eetu “sAw” Saha and Álvaro “SunPayus” García, and Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich’s move to Spirit has forced further rebuild. Their current performances—with only Linus “nilo” Bergmann consistently shining—are well below what was expected given their form in Season One.

Related Background

• The opening matchups for FISSURE Playground 2 included Liquid vs FURIA, a match that carried significant storylines given roster crossover and history, but Liquid lost that opener and missed out on over 100 VRS points at that time.

• The format is Swiss-style group stages followed by playoffs, with matches being best-of-three in early rounds.