Liquid began their BLAST Bounty S2 campaign with a shock 2-0 victory over Vitality (Anubis 13-10, Nuke 13-9) in a fantastic start to their time with Johnny "JT" Theodosiou and Georgi "Jorko" Mitev.
"I'm still shocked, I can't believe it," the Bulgarian AWPer said in a post-match interview on the stream.
Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and company, who went through a rebuild during the summer by benching Polish duo Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak and Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek, looked like a completely different team than the one we grew accustomed to in recent months.
Liquid's start on their Anubis pick was electric, as they maneuvered the usually difficult CT side with aplomb thanks to some well-timed aggressive plays from the entire team. That gave them six rounds at the switch, which proved more than enough for a 13-10 victory despite JT's troops not winning a pistol round on the map.
Nuke was expected to be a much more difficult affair for Liquid, but their individuals kept firing on all cylinders. EliGE found a plethora of multi-kills and clutches across the map to finish the map with a 2.01 rating, looking much closer to the player that placed No. 19 in HLTV's Top 20 Players of the Year of 2024 under JT's leadership in Complexity.
The South African IGL also showed his firepower by topping the board on Anubis (1.27 map rating), while second debutant Jorko also delivered several outstanding moments to finish the series second on the board (1.24).
Vitality's Bounty struggles continue
Vitality's issues at Bounty have been well documented, as the star-studded roster failed to reach the final of any of the seasons despite their dominance in recent times.
Today's loss is slightly different, however, as Vitality were visibly second best against a Liquid team ranked No. 45 in the world before the match, and have fallen well short of even qualifying for the LAN event in Malta.
While Bounty was far from a priority for Vitality, this loss might start to sound the alarm bells when combined with their form at the end of the Spring season.
The loss also ends Vitality's playoff streak that spanned across 28 events and started all the way back in January 2025, when the team aded Robin "ropz" Kool to their ranks.
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Complexity
Kamil 'siuhy' Szkaradek
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou