Team Liquid officially removed Bulgarian rifler Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov from their active CS2 lineup today, and announced that head coach Damian “daps” Steele will be the stand-in for the BLAST Premier Showdown online tournament in North America from Oct. 4 to 8.
The news comes after Dust2.us reported on Oct. 1 that Liquid was going to bench Rainwaker as a response to the mediocre results the organization has had since switching to an international project in June following the removals of EliGE and nitr0 and additions of Rainwaker and Robert “Patsi” Isyanov.
Under YEKINDAR’s leadership, Liquid failed to qualify for IEM Cologne’s main stage in July, fell short in the ESL Pro League season 18 group stage in September, and finished among the bottom-placed teams at Gamers8 in August.
“Our results are disappointing and we’re focused on putting our best foot forward in CS2,” Liquid said in a statement. “Our goal is finding a solution and this tournament [BLAST Premier Showdown] allows us to try some new approaches.”
During Rainwaker’s three-month stint with Liquid, he was the team’s lowest-rated player, averaging a 0.96 rating since June 22, the day he officially signed, according to HLTV. The Bulgarian was tasked with some of the toughest roles on the team, anchoring bombsites and providing support for the star players.
Though Liquid didn’t clarify whether it’s already looking for a new fifth or is considering moving daps permanently to their active roster depending on his performance, it’s likely that the organization will sign someone new.
Daps has been inactive as a player since April 2022 and spent spent time competing in VALORANT prior to a short-lived CS:GO playing return. The Canadian managed to lead great North American rosters throughout his career, mainly OpTic Gaming and NRG, but never was a stand-out pro when it came to raw aim and mechanics.
Liquid will face Forsaken in their first match at the BLAST Premier Showdown on Thursday at 1pm CT. Imperial, Complexity, FURIA, and Evil Geniuses will be the other notable squads fighting for one spot at the BLAST Premier Fall Finals.
