There's a few teams who will be debuting new rosters and players during BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024, but none of those teams are as intriguing as Liquid.
Formed in the wake of the collapse of their previous roster, the iconic organisation has replaced cadiaN and skullz with ultimate and jks, with star man Twistzz has taking over IGL duties.
With the team set to debut in a tough game against Virtus.pro, we spoke to Bubzkji about his thoughts on the new roster and whether it can succeed.
Liquid looked pretty much dreadful from the get go. Struggling massively in the RMR’s and online qualifiers they played. Losing to M80 multiple times and having difficulties winning against local competition in North America. This must surely have been hard as the perception of themselves was so much more than that.
Chengdu was for me the best showing. They displayed quality in glimpses against big teams like G2 and FaZe. They almost made it to the semi finals in a close three-mapper against FaZe, but yet another defeat in the end. A Twistzz and NAF master class brought them to some good results, but consistency was a lacking thing.
They did the best they could without spending massive amounts of money.
jks ensures them to be a part of the NA RMR, and ultimate was an option in an uninspiring AWP market.
Sure, options like zorte, hades, sl3nd and MartinezSA were probably a better option, but having to spend an enormous amount of money for unproven or slightly above mediocre talents would not have been a good short term solution.
It’s hard. I think if any of us analysts say they have a deep understanding of ultimate’s qualities it would be a stretch.
I have personally not seen more than one or two games of his, and I've actually only played against him in Casual pugs. From those I can tell he’s great individually, or maybe I'm just becoming fully washed.
He can only surprise us, there’s no expectations. It's a low investment money wise, he’ll have some months to prove his worth, but he won’t have the longest leash.
In the short term I don't have any concerns, I do think many overestimate the difficulties of being an IGL at times when it’s in game situations. If you have the correct pieces and a concept, it can work short term.
It’s more long term, when you have to develop the playstyle, constantly innovate and be a leader, this is where it really becomes difficult.
Historically it’s not been the best, but we do see it successful at times. apEX back in the days was probably the last guy i thought to become an IGL, but he took the role upon him. Device is a more recent example, it hasn't been the greatest, but it's for sure been a lot better than what previously was happening within the team.
I don’t think they see a long term solution with HooXi, therefore no. I would rather just have Twistzz as an IGL for a time, and then wait for the right opportunity. You know what you can get with HooXi, but there’s a lot of undiscovered potential if you can have a real fragging IGL.
I don’t think YEKINDAR was the only player willing to be aggressive, from my side it felt like the team was just never on the same page. skullz was being way too passive and not engaging, while YEKI was the opposite of being uncontrollable and forcing duels by himself.
It was just a tasteless experience with only individual qualities bringing light into the project.
Controversially, I actually think they’ll be slightly better than the old roster. If they can consistently stay inside the tpp ten, I think they’ve done amazing with their situation in mind.
It’s all dependent on how much Twistzz will deliver as an IGL. YEKINDAR should be on his last straw in this project as well, we need to see that form he had before his pre-IGLdays.
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