Team Liquid’s New CS2 Roster Is Stronger Than We Thought

Team Liquid made huge changes to their CS2 roster just weeks ago. Now they are competing against some of the world’s best teams at BLAST Premier Fall Groups. But instead of getting destroyed, they are actually winning best-of-three matches.

Normally, you would think that a new roster will need at least several months to learn how to play together. But Liquid did it in weeks and came to Copenhagen better prepared than we have seen them in years.

Liquid’s Early Results

Liquid are waiting for their Grand Final opponent in group D of BLAST Premier Fall Groups. If they win the match, they qualify for the Fall Final directly. If they lose, they will get a second chance to qualify in the play-in stage.

Their first match in this group was against Virtus.pro, a team that should have defeated them with ease. At BLAST Premier Spring Final and the Esports World Cup, VP finished 3^rd – 4^th. Earlier this year, they were constantly in the top eight at some of the biggest tournaments. So there was no reason for them to lose a Bo3 match against a newly built Liquid roster.

But as soon as the match started, we knew something wasn’t right. Liquid won the first half of Ancient 4 – 8. VP managed to equalize in the second half and sent the map into overtime, where Liquid won 20 – 22.

On the second map, Dust 2, the score was close after the first half: 5 – 7. But in the second half, Liquid played well and won with ease: 6 – 13. This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the performance of Twistzz and NAF, who were by far the best players on the server.

2 – 1 vs @natusvincere 🙏🙏

So fun and intense, a lot of respect for them, gg’s.

We play again on Saturday.

— Russel van Dulken (@Twistzz) August 1, 2024

In their next match, against Natus Vincere, Liquid were expected to lose badly. Na’Vi had defeated BIG with ease and were expected to win this match 2 – 0. With a little bit more luck, they would have, but Liquid managed to win 11 – 13 on Anubis and then 11 – 13 again on Inferno. On Mirage, Na’Vi destroyed them: 13 – 2.

Once again, the tactics built around Twistzz and NAF yielded good results and took Na’Vi completely by surprise. It seems that Liquid have analyzed what the other big teams are doing and have devised a way to counter the most utilized tactics and strategies. And because they have a new roster, nobody knows yet how to deal with them.

Header: Team Liquid