The strength of Team Liquid’s Rainbow Six Siege lineup lies in the sheer longevity they’ve had together as a squad. Liquid has fielded the same roster since Leo “ziGuera” Duarte retired in May 2019 and has only made two total player changes since 2018.
Normally, a core roster standing this long would mean that the team was dominant internationally. But Liquid haven’t had a ton of success. Domestically in Brazil, Liquid are one of the best teams. A first-place finish at OGA Pit Season Three is the only international title to their name, however. In the last international competition, SI 2020, Liquid didn’t make it out of the group stage.
This year might be different, though. LATAM as a region and Liquid specifically are coming into the Invitational with high expectations. Brazilian teams comprise 33 percent of the squads that qualified for SI 2021. Both Thiago “S3xyCake” dos Reis Castro Silva and Luccas “Paluh” Molina believe, naturally, that this is the year a LATAM team lifts the hammer.
“The journey we’ve had together, we’ve learned a lot,” Paluh said when asked about how the team has stayed together so long. Paluh and S3xyCake also noted the importance of the team psychologist when working out internal issues.
Liquid’s performance in the Copa Elite Six and BR6 have made them a popular pick among fans and analysts to have a deep Six Invitational run this year.
While the common narrative surrounding LATAM teams is that they play more aggressively than other regions, Liquid employs a structured, slower, more traditional style of Rainbow Six. It requires lots of communication, which Paluh says is in great supply so far for Liquid. “We know how to respond to different plays… we are in sync,” he said.
Liquid lost the opening game of their group to Team Empire but rattled off two straight wins against FaZe Clan and Cloud9. Tough opponents from EU and NA remain, but Liquid feel like they’ve moved past their communication issues against Empire, according to S3xyCake and Paluh.
Liquid will face CAG, FURIA, and DarkZero on May 13 when they return to action at SI 2021.
