The hangover: 100 Thieves fall to the world's 44th a day after taking down Falcons

Online Counter-Strike has no memory and no mercy. Barely hours after pulling off the upset of the year by eliminating Falcons from BLAST Bounty, 100 Thieves crashed out of the StarLadder StarSeries Fall European closed qualifier after a 1-2 defeat to Nuclear TigeRES in the Group D elimination match.

The contrast is brutal: Gizmy's side, ranked 60th in the world at the time, had taken down the planet's number two — and the very next day lost to the 44th.

Three map points thrown away

The defeat stings most in how it happened. On Ancient, their opponents' pick, 100 Thieves had the map in hand three separate times and let it slip every time. After an even first half (6-6), they reached 12-10 with map point and couldn't close. In overtime, both teams traded leads and the Americans again edged ahead with another map point (15-14), but Nuclear TigeRES strung together five consecutive rounds to take the map in double overtime and the series lead.

100 Thieves hit back on Mirage (13-8) with another rain showcase: 21 frags, a 1.66 rating, and a three-kill clutch in round eight. But on the Inferno decider the team came apart, losing 13-7, with flouzer starring for the opposition.

Context: a week of extremes

It's worth recalling how this 100 Thieves side got here. They had lost their qualifier opener to Ninjas in Pyjamas on Wednesday, which is what sent them to the elimination match in the first place. Hours later, on the very same day, they pulled off the comeback against Falcons capped by sirah's 1v3 that turned the scene upside down. And the following day, out of the qualifier.

It's the perfect snapshot of a project under construction: Gizmy's debut as in-game leader has already produced a historic headline, but also a lesson in consistency. Winning a do-or-die series against a giant is one thing; sustaining that level day after day on the online circuit is quite another — and it's exactly what separates the teams that pull off shocks from the teams that settle at the top.

The good news for the Americans is that their big win still counts: nobody can take the VRS points from beating Falcons, and they still have road ahead at BLAST Bounty. The bad news is that the warning has come early. If Gizmy's project wants to be more than a glorious footnote, consistency will have to arrive fast.

Source: HLTV, Dust2.