As the CS:GO era comes to an end, Team Liquid has officially entered their own new Counter-Strike era today, moving on from long-standing North American player Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and signing two new players today that confirm the team’s switch to competing in Europe.
Joining the roster in place of EliGE and the already departed, recently retired Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella are two new European additions in Bulgarian rifler Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov from 500, and Russian rifler Robert “Patsi” Isyanov from Team Spirit. Between the two of them and full-time in-game leader YEKINDAR, Liquid will operate as a European roster and compete in the European RMRs going forward in CS2. The official roster moves confirm the reported ones from earlier this week.
Outside of the new European additions, Liquid are not expected to make any other significant roster changes, meaning that NAF and oSee will continue to compete alongside the Europeans going forward.
The changes bring an end to Liquid’s status as a North American team for eight years, during which the team won the Intel Grand Slam and reached the playoffs of five different Majors. However, the past couple years have seen a great deal of inconsistent results internationally from the NA side.
As of writing, EliGE’s next steps are currently undetermined. It was initially reported that EliGE would be heading to Evil Geniuses to join an effectively brand new roster that would include new European additions in zorte and JACKZ, and potentially electroNic.
However, more recent reports say that the deals with the European players have fallen through, and that EliGE’s move to EG is now “hanging on by a thread.” Complexity has reportedly emerged as the new frontrunner in the EliGE sweepstakes.
