Team Liquid’s CS:GO roster is much stronger than we thought

Recently, Team Liquid decided to make important changes to their CS:GO roster and move to Europe. This was a very surprising move given how easy it is to succeed in North America. But the organization was determined to compete against the world’s best teams at all times in order to stay competitive.

These days, both North America and South America are struggling and there are only several teams that could seriously threaten Europe’s top 10 competitors.

When it decided to leave the NA region, Liquid knew it had to give up some of its best players, because not everyone was enthusiastic about the move. For those who had gotten used to living in the US, moving back to Europe probably felt difficult.

People get attached to places and other people, and can become homesick if they move too far away. A significant part of peak performance is your emotional state. If you’re feeling lonely or anxious, a portion of your inner strength is lost. That can lead to performance and even serious mental issues.

First impressions of Liquid’s new roster

On paper, Liquid’s new roster looked much weaker than the previous one, which included people like Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella and Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski. The new Liquid roster features Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov and Robert “Patsi” Isyanov.

After 8 years, we are parting ways with @EliGE.

We feel deep gratitude to Jon and time on TL, from a young talent to mature adult who has helped us achieve our biggest moments: winning the Grand Slam, reaching many playoff stages, even creating one of the greatest CS memes. pic.twitter.com/082qn3tWll

— Team Liquid CSGO (@TeamLiquidCS) June 22, 2023

The first of these two players used to compete for 500, a team that was in the top 25 several months ago. As for Patsi, he’s a former Team Spirit player, so his skills are solid. But nobody knew just how good these two players were.

It can be quite difficult to show the world what you’re capable of if you’re part of a team that lacks a strong enough IGL or simply cannot compete with the world’s best. But it seems that Liquid carefully examined the two players it ended up signing and the choice was not bad at all, at least based on the team’s initial results.

At BLAST Premier: Fall Groups, Liquid had to play against G2 Esports and FaZe Clan in the first two matches of group C. And they won both matches, which is astounding given how strong these opponents are.

Against G2, the match was really difficult and Liquid won the third map 16-14. Against FaZe, something similar happened but the hardest map was the second one. The scores here were 16-11, 14-16, 8-16.

Header: Team Liquid