The Options for Team Liquid CS:GO
The future of the solid but rapidly evaporating squad
With the departure of nitr0, Team Liquid’s CS:GO division finds itself at a crossroads. After adding Latvian sensation YEKINDAR in mid 2022, what seemed like a hopeful moment for the team has barreled down back to the stagnancy that has defined Liquid for a few years now. Unable to win any tournaments (their closest attempt being at ESL Pro League S16), they simply haven’t shown the ceiling necessary to win any big event, even in this incredibly open period of CS:GO, with a handful of different teams winning all the big events in the last 6 months. While the departure of nitr0 is concerning, considering the leadership and personable role he had on the team, it presents the opportunity for a fresh start they arguably need more than anything right now.
The first question on how to move on for Liquid starts on where to base the team. Being a North America based team has a few advantages, particularly the Major qualification process. It’s just a lot easier to qualify from the NA RMR than the European RMRs, and qualifying already secures the organization the possibly essential sticker money Valve provides. However, North American players have constantly made excuses about the horrible quality of practice in NA and the dreadful travelling to Europe and jet-lag. For the Liquid players now, it’s time to put their money where their mouth is and move to Europe, whether that’s on Liquid or another org (if they really want to win, that is).
Beyond that, the decision tree looks something like this:
IGL
Liquid needs an IGL. Their attempts over the last few years have been nitr0, Stewie2k, Fallen, Stewie2k, Fallen, Stewie2k, […], nitr0, YEKINDAR. Beyond the *role* trades going on between Stewie2k and Fallen that put some skin gambling websites to shame, the most eye-catching thing lately is that YEKINDAR took over the IGL role from nitr0, similar to how Stewie2k did. I want to further explore the parallel between these two players, and the concerning reality it presents for Liquid CS:GO if YEKINDAR does end up keeping the role.
Stewie – YEKINDAR
When Stewie2k became IGL, it was in late 2019, sometime after Liquid’s successful Grand Slam run, and disappointing return from the player break. Previously, nitr0 had been the de facto IGL with Stewie allegedly helping with mid-round calls. Stewie had joined the team only less than a year ago but had quickly become the face of the team, being the most extroverted member as the entry-fragger but also a star in his own right. Sound familiar?
The period with Stewie being the IGL ended up a disaster, after the team imploded, failing the PGL Stockholm Major in the Legends Stage. By all accounts the team simply wasn’t working, the internal chemistry was off, which is not just due to Stewie2k’s leadership, but it was definitely a big cause. The most damning giveaway was how visibly upset he would get at his own teammates, even explosively criticizing FalleN, one of the best IGL’s of all time, during a game at the BLAST World Final 2021, followed by their crumbling and elimination in that game (1). He also heavily criticized Grim, a young player on Liquid, during an HLTV interview (2), and blamed the team’s failure on him. I think the main problem with Stewie’s time as IGL on Liquid was his apparent youth and immaturity, and the lack of leadership qualities to get his team on board.
Despite YEKINDAR’s evident knowledge of the current meta, having played with one of its pioneers in Jame, he has many of these same shortcomings. He is young, seems to get tilted at his teammates during games more and more since becoming IGL, and is rapidly becoming the face of the team despite how new he his compared to NAF, EliGE and nitr0. Trying to make this young player the leader of the team would be not learning from history and repeating the same apathetic mistakes the org and the other players have committed by not taking responsibility.
In my opinion, Liquid needs a new IGL to succeed, and while those have been few and far between lately, there is a crop of European leaders that are definitely worth a try. Snappi, Aleksib and most recently Siuhy are just a few examples of international leaders that have achieved great results with small organizations and lesser players than those on Liquid. We can only imagine what they could do on Liquid, but on paper pairing one of those IGLs with YEKINDAR, NAF, EliGE and oSee should make a great lineup. Being in Europe, there is also the option of taking a new AWPer and/or riflers that could reinvigorate the team. Just in the last major we saw players like iM and acoR have great performances, and they’re not even part of the huge rise in CIS talents that has shaken CS:GO with players like M0nesy and degster. Making a few replacements could go a long way in changing the stagnant performance of the team. There is a wealth of talent in Europe, so there are no excuses for Liquid anymore, on the organizational or player side.
Links:
https://clips.twitch.tv/ShinyGoldenTireSaltBae-dFsowkoUvn6GVZPS
https://www.hltv.org/news/32843/stewie2k-im-going-to-use-what-i-learned-here-so-that-i-dont-have-to-deal-with-the-same-stuff-again-in-the-future