Liquid take the first flight home - Stage three day two Budapest Major

Oh dear, Team Liquid. How the mighty have fallen.

The opening day was disastrous, but it was easy to write that off as BO1 noise and believe they'd be okay in the BO3s, but the signs were there that not everything was okay under the hood. Even then, losing 0-2 to Passion UA felt below them - but alas, it was not.

nicx had a bit of a breakout performance on Train as the highest rated player in the server, which is quite amusing given how both teams have largely moved away from NA talent, but JT and Kvem stepped up to take Mirage out of Liquid's hands.

For Liquid, it might be time to blow it up and start again. These pieces are all excellent, and there's no reason these players can't all work elsewhere, but as a team this has simply not worked for a long time.

Spirit became the first team through to playoffs after they overcame MOUZ in the 2-0 game, with donk averaging over a kill per round for the whole stage after dropping 63-42 in this one.

He's straight up just the best player in the world, and if he keeps playing like this, Spirit will be completely unstoppable. We need to see donk vs FURIA in the grand final yesterday.

MOUZ took a map, and still looked like a team who should be aiming for top four, but are just missing a little je ne sais quoi. They can't beat an on-form donk, they won't beat Vitality if they're at their best, and they won't beat FURIA on this form either.

Speaking of...

KSCERATO was the pick of the bunch in a statement 2-0 win for FURIA over G2, as he so often is. molodoy's addition to the team has obviously coincided with their ascension, but KSCERATO has remained an absolute monster, and he had multiple scarcely believable rounds to win this one for FURIA.

His 4k in a 2v4 on Inferno was beautiful, and he won a crucial clutch from a 2v3 situation down the stretch on Overpass too.

G2 remain a team worth watching, but FURIA are the team to beat still. 3-0!

The MongolZ got the better of FaZe with controlez deputising remarkably well for Senzu. 910 stole the headlines, but controlez had a fistful of great rounds and big moments as The Mongolz took Mirage.

FaZe finally had broky showing up in spades, and lost everyone else in the meantime. Things are not all hunky-dory over there.

Vitality absolutely annihilated B8 13-2 (no prizes for guessing who had over a 2 rating there), and NAVI were comfortable in their win over paiN.

Speaking of destruction, kyousuke did some borderline illegal things to Imperial in Falcons' 13-1 win. Given he seemed to be a bit down about his recent performances on stream recently, this can only be good for his confidence - and terrifying for other teams in the tournament.

PARIVISION were the other team to drop out 0-3, despite going 1-0 up in the series. 3DMAX cruised to victory in the final two, and this proved to be a step too far for Jame's band of children.