Team Liquid is looking to go into the second half of 2023, and the anticipation of the release of CS2 this summer by offloading its franchise CS:GO player EliGE and going into Europe with the duo of Team Spirit rifler Robert “Patsi” Isyanov and Bulgarian rifler Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov.
Liquid is in discussion with Patsi while trying to sell EliGE in a move that will turn them into a majority-European team. Liquid has just four players after nitr0 left in May, and it was not expected that EliGE would follow. EliGE is a legend in the North American FPS circles, having been with Liquid since March 2015.
However, he has been inconsistent, averaging a 1.07 rating in 2023 compared to his 1.13 rating last year. He won the Intel Grand Slam trophy in 2019 with the organization, but the 25-year-old stay in the organization will be on the chance that Liquid doesn’t sign Patsi and Rainwaker.
Signing Patsi will serve as an improvement for Liquid, with his average 1.09 rating over the past year, making him sharper than nitr0 nowadays, who, on the other hand, only averaged a 0.91 rating in the past year.
Patsi would also help YEKINDAR, who helped them to the playoffs of the BLAST Paris Major in May. Patsi could become the most aggressive player, which will make YEKINDAR on the micromanaging aspects.
During his time for Spirit, he featured for the academy as well as the main team and also managed a top-four finish at the PGL Antwerp Major in May 2022 and the quarterfinals of the IEM Rio Major in November 2022.
Meanwhile, several other big organizations are looking to make big roster changes ahead of the release of CS2 and the second half of the season. Vitality, Natus Vincere, and Cloud9 are said to be considering similar moves.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
