Team Liquid confirms that Rainwaker will not play BLAST Showdown 2023

As anticipated a few days ago, Team Liquid decides to send Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov to the team’s bench, while Damian “Daps” Steele, the Head Coach, will play as a substitute in the BLAST Premier Showdown.

This news comes after several reports from Dust2.us surfaced three days ago. Furthermore, that report highlighted that Team Liquid would send Rainwaker to the bench due to the team’s poor results in recent tournaments.

Recall that Team Liquid took a big leap in the summer player break by moving on from two of its legends, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella. As a result, the team opted to sign Robert “Patsi” Isyanov and Rainwaker. However, Liquid’s performance so far has been really poor, as it was a really good lineup, and they were left out of the ESL Pro League S18 playoffs.

Team Liquid confirms Daps as Rainwaker’s replacement for BLAST Premier Showdown

Through a post on their Twitter account, Team Liquid confirmed that Daps will play as Rainwaker’s replacement at the BLAST Premier Showdown in NA from October 4-10.

For BLAST Showdown, we will be moving Rainwaker to the bench and moving daps to our active roster.

Our results are disappointing and we’re focused on putting our best foot forward in CS2. Our goal is finding a solution and this tournament allows us to try some new approaches. pic.twitter.com/yRTNhagum9

— Team Liquid CSGO (@TeamLiquidCS) October 3, 2023

As mentioned, the team has not lived up to expectations since they decided to switch to an international lineup. In addition to being left out of the ESL Pro League S18 playoffs, Team Liquid failed to qualify for the IEM Cologne 2023 Group Stage. Finally, it is also fair to mention that they were among the last places at Gamers8 in August.

Team Liquid’s official statement made mention of:

“Our results are disappointing, and we are focused on giving our best in CS2.”

Rainwaker and its disappointing performance with Liquid

Undoubtedly, the Bulgarian’s performance was far below the organization’s expectations. During a short stay of 3 months, Rainwaker was the lowest-rated player of the entire team, with a 0.96 rating.

Let’s remember that the Bulgarian was the anchor and support of Team Liquid, but there is no doubt that he failed to meet his goals.

It is unclear whether the organization is looking for a fifth player or is considering keeping daps if he performs well in the BLAST Showdown. However, the most logical and likely scenario is that the organization is in the market for a new player to sign.

Speaking specifically about Daps, let’s remember that, until now, he was the Head Coach of the team. Also, he has not played at the highest competitive level for over a year and a half. However, his experience and determination can help Liquid in these moments. He was the IGL of OpTic Gaming and NRG in his best moment.

Team Liquid will open their participation in the BLAST Premier Showdown next Thursday when they face Forsaken at 20:00 CEST.

Header: Team Liquid