It may not be a shocking development, but it’s now an official one: Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis has officially joined the Team Liquid CS:GO roster as a full-time member, effective today.
Up until now, the Latvian rifler had been playing with Liquid on an extended stand-in period, dating back to July of this year beginning with IEM Cologne. While playing with the NA roster, YEKINDAR had also been working toward completing the buyout of his own contract from Virtus Pro, a process which was officially completed less than a week ago.
VP, who have been competing in CS:GO under the name Outsiders since March in the wake of ESL and PGL’s bans on organizations with Russian government ties, moved YEKINDAR to its inactive roster back in May.
A couple of months later, YEKINDAR stepped in for the Liquid roster just in time for IEM Cologne, right after Liquid had parted ways with French veteran Richard “shox” Papillon and swapped in coach Damian “daps” Steele for former head coach Eric “adreN” Hoag. YEKINDAR has been a pivotal part in a recent return to form for Liquid, helping the team reach the playoffs in Cologne, the grand finals of ESL Pro League season 16, and qualify for the BLAST Fall Finals and Rio Major.
The move makes the most sense for Liquid too following this impressive run, and YEKINDAR will compete with Liquid as full-timer for the first time in Rio. The team will start their Major run with an advantageous Legends spot after their first-place finish at the Americas RMR.
