Team Liquid seems to be abandoning North America and is shifting its operations in CS esports to Europe during the off-season.
Liquid has pulled the trigger and signed 500’s Bulgarian rifler Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov, according to new report by HLTV and its vertical Dust2.us on June 21. The organization is also finishing the details to sign Russian prodigy Robert “Patsi” Isyanov, meaning that North American franchise player EliGE is most likely being sold to Evil Geniuses.
Should Liquid get Rainwaker and Patsi, the organization will have a team for CS2 composed of mostly European players since Latvian star YEKINDAR is already part of the squad and will carry on as in-game leader following the departure of previous IGL nitr0 on May 31. Anchor rifler NAF and AWPer Joshua “oSee” Ohm will be the only North American players remaining on Liquid.
Rainwaker is a relatively unknown player for Western fans, as he hasn’t accomplished much in his career.
The rifler has been plying his trade for full-Bulgarian team 500 since October 2022 and most notably helped them qualify for the BLAST Paris Major European RMR in April. Rainwaker is one of the best players on 500 in 2023, having averaged a 1.12 rating in 150 maps played this year per HLTV’s statistics. The reported move to Liquid would mean playing for the first tier-one team in his career.
Related: NA CS fans unsure where to turn after EliGE’s potential Liquid departure is reported
The transition should be relatively easy for Liquid in terms of infrastructure, as the organization has a huge practicing facility in Utrecht, Netherlands.
Liquid will attend the BLAST Premier Fall Groups in July, the first tournament following the off-season, and have to submit the roster for the competition by Thursday, June 22. This roster lock deadline is the reason why we’re seeing several roster changes in the past couple of days.
