Heroic CS:GO star Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali managed to pull off one of the most insane plays we’ve seen during ESL Pro League Season 14. By clutching an impossible 1v5 he managed to keep Heroic alive in the playoffs.
We’re coming up on the final weekend of the ESL Pro League Season 14 playoffs, and it seems Heroic and Liquid both had something special in store for fans.
These two teams would leave it all on the table during their quarterfinals match on September 10.
First it was Liquid’s Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski caught a nasty 4K in Round 29 of Map 3 that seemed like it would wrap things up and send Liquid to the semis.
THROUGH THE SMOKE ARE YOU SERIOUS? @EliGE#ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/X43oxAktHR
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 10, 2021
By the next round it looked like Heroic were well on their way out of the tournament.
Finding himself up against match point, with a 1v5 on the table, most people were writing off refrezh.
However, they didn’t account for him absolutely popping off, producing what might be the best play of ESL Pro League Season 14 — so far at least.
The first to fall is (ironically enough) FalleN, followed quickly by EliGE, who dies to refrezh’s spray as well. 1v3 is still a tall order, but apparently the 23-year-old Dane apparently came ready to serve.
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After navigating over the fountain on Inferno’s B site, refrezh quickly dispatched both Stewie2K and NAF to even things out. Grim, the final Liquid member left alive, entered into a cat-and-mouse game to try and clutch things up, but Heroic’s hero drew him out with a bomb plant, and the rest will go down in CS:GO history.
Emotions were running high after this godlike play reached it’s conclusion. Heroic, who were on the cusp of being eliminated, absolutely freaked out after forcing a second OT.
Just take a look at cadiaN’s reaction for how every Heroic fan was probably feeling after that play. Not only did he take out one of the studio backdrops, but he also tossed a chair across the room in pure euphoria.
It was reminiscent of his own play from ESL Pro League Season 13, where cadiaN clutched a 1v4 eco to beat Gambit 3-2 in the Grand Final.
Liquid were shook, to say the least, after being absolutely dismantled by refrezh. Heroic would go on to wrap things up with a final score of 19-16 on Inferno, and secure a semifinals match against NAVI on September 11.
It remains to be seen how Heroic will fare in the remainder of the playoffs, but one thing’s for sure: If refrezh keeps playing like this they might be a very tough squad to take down.