Team Liquid VALORANT shows everyone how to lose the spike in OT —twice— and still win Fracture

Team Liquid has walked away with a convincing 2-0 win over Team Heretics in their latest VALORANT meeting, rolling through Split but squeezing a win in overtime on Fracture. 

While this match had a lot of great moments throughout, especially a standout performance across both maps by Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin, one of the biggest highlights from the VALORANT clash was actually a mistake.

Not only was it a mistake, but it was repeated twice in overtime on Fracture, almost costing Liquid everything and at the very least making sure taking the series went to a third map. Even though this mistake won’t nearly be as remembered as if they lost the map and series, fans are still in shock.

The incident happened with Liquid one round away from winning the series, up 14-13 after winning their defensive side hold. Each team had five players alive relatively early. Sensing a potential gap, TL’s in-game leader Redgar teleports as Omen into A site Tower. With the spike, he knew someone was just around the corner and took out his Shorty for an easy kill.

However, just as the enemy swung toward him, the TL captain pulled out his smoke, dying and losing the spike in a near-unattainable spot. With Team Heretics realizing the mistake, they focused on Tower and won the round.

It was a poor mistake but mainly came down to unlucky timing. Soon after, Liquid again proved their defensive prowess and went up 15-14. Yet, somehow, after a longer round and down a player, it all happened again.

After Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel threw a grenade to make some space, Redgar pushed entirely alone, dying to a swing from Auni “AvovA” Chahade. Despite the fact the last attack was ended by this exact scenario, Redgar and Team Liquid tried again. And, hilariously, they failed again.

The rounds were tied again, but luckily enough, great plays on both defense and attack led to a Liquid win, and a final map score of 17-15. It was a much-needed win for Liquid, who have been looking to prove their skills after a disappointing performance at the VCT LOCK//IN tournament earlier this year. 

Thankfully enough, while the mistake was dumbfounding to see live, it didn’t matter much in the end to the rising EMEA VALORANT squad.