Liquid and NIP exit Logitech G Play Connect in groups

Two familiar names are missing from the Logitech G Play Connect 2026 playoff bracket. Liquid left Group B with a 2-3 record, and Ninjas in Pyjamas managed only one victory in five Group A games. Their routes to elimination were different: Liquid’s chance lasted until its closing match against BBL, whereas NIP never built enough momentum to challenge the top three.

In Warsaw, the group phase was a round robin of best-of-one matches. First place carried a direct semi-final spot; the next two places offered entry to the quarter-finals. That format rewarded consistency across five maps, not a single high-profile win. B8 and Inner Circle earned the two semi-final places, leaving Liquid and NIP on the wrong side of their respective group tables.

Group A gave NIP little shelter. B8 completed a 5-0 sweep, and both Luminosity and M80 collected three wins. NIP’s lone success came against Metizport; defeats to the other four opponents left it fifth. Even its close losses to M80 and Luminosity could not change the basic arithmetic: four defeats were too many in a six-team race for three places.

The qualification line in Group B was tighter. Inner Circle led at 4-1, while BBL, 3DMAX and EYEBALLERS all reached 3-2. The head-to-head tiebreak placed BBL and 3DMAX in the knockout stage and excluded EYEBALLERS. Liquid did not reach that tiebreak conversation. At 2-3, it sat a full win behind the three teams competing for the two quarter-final tickets.

Liquid stay close, then lose the final qualifying chance

Liquid’s five-map sequence contained a brief recovery. A 13-8 opening win over INFINITE on Mirage was followed by setbacks against Inner Circle on Cache, 6-13, and EYEBALLERS on Mirage, 14-16. Liquid then beat 3DMAX 13-6 on Nuke. The win prevented an early mathematical exit and made the last meeting with BBL a meaningful test of its playoff hopes.

That test ended 6-13 on Nuke. BBL had an 8-4 halftime advantage and conceded only two more rounds, turning the match into a clear result rather than a late escape. Liquid consequently finished with two wins, one short of the group of teams on 3-2. It had used a stand-in and was without coach flashie behind the squad, but the standings measure the five played maps, not the difficulties around the lineup.

• Group A sent B8 (5-0) to the semi-finals and Luminosity and M80 (both 3-2) to the quarter-finals.
• Group B sent Inner Circle (4-1) to the semi-finals and BBL and 3DMAX (both 3-2) to the quarter-finals.
• Liquid’s 2-3 and NIP’s 1-4 records fell below the qualifying line in their respective groups.

Liquid’s earlier victory over 3DMAX did not create a safety net. With EYEBALLERS also reaching three wins, Group B had more teams at 3-2 than it had available places behind Inner Circle. Liquid’s final loss removed the possibility of joining them. BBL, its last opponent, gained the opposite benefit from the same result and moved into the quarter-final field.

There is a useful distinction between Liquid’s case and EYEBALLERS’ exit. EYEBALLERS matched the win totals of two qualifiers but lost on the direct-meeting tiebreak. Liquid’s overall record was lower, so no tiebreak interpretation was needed to explain its absence. The $100,000 event was still moving toward its playoff stage, yet both Liquid and NIP were done after groups.

NIP’s narrow losses do not repair a 1-4 record

NIP beat Metizport 13-8 on Nuke for its sole group win. Against M80 on Mirage it went to 14-16, and against Luminosity on Ancient it fell 11-13. Those margins suggest isolated competitive maps, but the table does not award partial credit. Its other defeats were 9-13 to B8 on Ancient and 8-13 to GamerLegion on Dust2.

B8 provided the sharpest comparison within Group A. It won every scheduled map and avoided the quarter-final round entirely. Luminosity and M80, each 3-2, took the remaining berths. NIP did not merely lose a tiebreak to either of them: it was two wins behind both. That separation is why the close single-map scores should not be mistaken for a near miss in the standings.

The selected records below show both ends of the group-stage picture. Winning the group meant an immediate place in the last four; finishing outside the top three meant no playoff series at all. Liquid and NIP both encountered the latter outcome, although Liquid stayed in contention longer.

For the qualifiers, the next step was a quarter-final or, for B8 and Inner Circle, a wait until the semi-finals. The event’s playoff bracket uses best-of-three series before a best-of-five final, a different test from the one-map group meetings. Liquid and NIP will not get to play those longer matches at this tournament.

The exits also resist a single convenient explanation. Liquid lost the decisive last map after temporarily returning to an even record; NIP collected too many defeats across the entire round robin. Both outcomes followed from five results apiece. In Warsaw, the format left very little room to separate a famous roster from its actual place in the table.