Liquid transition to a European roster: What to expect

Rostermania silly season is fully underway, and some of the rumours we’re starting to get hit with are spicy.

Rumours have broken that Evil Geniuses might be going all in on an international team, a stark contrast to their lacklustre North American team, while Vitality look to be securing the longevity of their success.

However, it’s neither of those teams we want to talk about today.

Instead, let’s talk about Team Liquid.

The greatest organisation in the history of NA CS:GO, Team Liquid have also been rumoured to be ditching their American roots in favour of building a - hopefully - more successful European roster.

With a surprise name or two involved, what can you expect from their rumoured new team?

A fond farewell

First off, though, it would be amiss of us to not give credit to the two players departing Liquid as the organisation leaves American shores.

The first, one we’ve known for far longer now, is nitr0. Once a prodigious Entry Fragger, nitr0 would go on to become the greatest In-game Leader in Liquid’s time in CS:GO, leading the team to their Intel Grand Slam win. Affectionately becoming known as Captain America, his huge plays and great reads during 2019 saw Liquid become the only team in that era capable of eclipsing Astralis as the best team in the world.

His departure was announced post-BLAST.tv Major, and, given that its retirement due to him starting a family, we here at BLAST.tv couldn’t go without commemorating the career of a player that will likely never get the respect he deserves as one of the greats of a region.

Next up, and by far the spicier one, EliGE. A player who has become the backbone of Team Liquid over the past eight years, EliGE has amassed over 3000 days as part of the organisation, making him the player who has spent the longest time in a team.

One of just two candidates for the GOAT of NA CS:GO alongside former Liquid teammate Twistzz, the departure of EliGE will come as a huge shock to fans. While we’re yet to see how the decision to part ways will go, EliGE is still a great player, and he will become a more than valuable asset wherever he goes.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

A European Union

Now, onto the juicy stuff.

With YEKINDAR being confirmed to be staying on as the team’s IGL, it always seemed likely that nitr0’s replacement would be somewhere over the Atlantic. That being said, we didn’t expect it to be as far as Russia.

The rumoured arrival of Patsi is an exciting one. A Major semi finalist at just 18 with Team Spirit, Patsi’s aggression and entry-fragging efficiency was always a key factor in any deep run we’ve seen from the now-defunct Spirit roster.

On the CT, and likely on every map, Patsi will slot straight into nitr0’s roles. Expect to see him A anchoring on Mirage, while likely also blasting people as they try to escape the Monster tunnel on Overpass. A huge firepower upgrade, Patsi will certainly shore up the team’s defences against executes on those sites.

Photo: Michal Konkol

The same can be said for T side both in terms of roles and Patsi’s ability to do the job. Effective at both being the first out on an execute, as well as taking space earlier on in the default, it is likely that Patsi will form the aggressive pack with YEKINDAR, helping to provide early information for his IGL to use later on in the round.

The second rumoured new arrival is rainwaker. A Bulgarian Lurker currently plying his trade with 500, if it does come to fruition, he will become the first of his countrymen to play for a tier one organisation, and that’s an honour he has more than earned in recent times.

There are concerns with this move, rainwaker has never played tier one CS, and he could easily fail to make the step-up, however, rolewise, it’s a transfer we really like the look of.

One of the issues of the most recent Liquid lineup is its role balance, with three naturally aggressive riflers in nitr0, EliGE, and YEKINDAR, it always meant that one would have to play slightly uncomfortable roles on their T side. This isn’t an issue we see with rainwaker.

A far more passive player, rainwaker will join NAF in looking to have a greater effect in late-round situations. Considering his respectable win rate in clutch situations, we’re sure he will become a valuable asset to their T side.

CT side, however, is where it becomes a little more interesting. Currently, he has some role clashes with YEKINDAR, such as Short on Mirage. The debate becomes: which player will give up their spots for the other?

In all likelihood, we see it being YEKINDAR. The more aggressive player, YEKINDAR is likely to have a far better effect in Mirage Connector, a spot that will be vacated by EliGE. As the IGL, it will also be valuable for YEKINDAR to have the Rotator roles on CT sides, much like the one he currently occupies on Overpass.

Photo: Michal Konkol

NA remains present

The final members of the squad, oSee and NAF, are two more than capable players to round out the roster.

Neutrals may have also hoped for the departure of the AWPer, considering some of the names floating around, but NA fans will be happy that their GOAT organisation sees the value in him. A player who has been applauded for becoming much more vocal in recent times, oSee has shown he has the potential to be the best AWPer in NA history; just look at his ZywOo-destroying performance against Vitality on Overpass at IEM Katowice.

AS for NAF, he has become Mr Consistent over the past few years. Sacrificing many of his roles upon the arrival of YEKINDAR a year ago, NAF has become one of the best Anchors in the world. A turret defending sites, his passive lurking on T side also makes him effective in finding holes in them too.

Two players Liquid would struggle to find upgrades on; their place in the team is rightfully secure.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

What to expect

In all honesty, it’s quite hard to say what to expect from this roster. In NAF and YEKINDAR, Liquid will have two players easily capable of being top 20 players in the world, but a lot lies on the level to which the latter can consistently IGL. There’s reason to be excited; however, he led them to their first Major playoffs since 2019 in Paris.

As for the remaining trio, Patsi rediscovering the form he displayed at the height of the Spirit team will be key, if he can do so, Liquid will have an exceptionally aggressive duo. rainwaker successfully making the leap to tier one will also be key, but providing that he is made comfortable by his new leader, we back him to do so.

With oSee, there is still plenty of potential, and even at his current level he is a tier-one capable AWPer. He’s only going to get better now he’s a more vocal piece on the team and a more consistent impact on maps should be the expectation going ahead.

If the team commits to this roster in the long term, as well as moving their NA players moving to Europe to not limit practice in the way they have had with YEKINDAR remaining in Europe, this roster could grow at a rapid rate, and we could see Liquid back at the top again very, very soon.