IEM Rio Major profile: Liquid

The flagship North American organization comes into the Major with high hopes of putting their region back on top.

Liquid is one of the most legendary names in Counter-Strike folklore, with their North American teams a mainstay in the scene since they joined the franchise in 2015. The organization made several deep Major runs throughout its history and are one of the three Intel Grand Slam winners, a feat they achieved in record time after winning five Big Events in a row. Liquid is yet to lift the biggest trophy of the lot, however, with a Major win so far eluding them despite a grand final and two semi-final appearances.

The North American squad now go to Rio armed with a superstar European import Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis, who has revitalized the team with his input in and out of the server. Considering the IEM Rio Major is without an out-and-out favorite, Liquid's recent form makes them one of several legitimate contenders for the trophy.

The North American powerhouse has attended the Major ten times, making their first appearance at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015. Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella were members of Liquid's first Major-attending roster, which exited in the group stage without recording a victory. The lack of success pushed the North American team to venture outside of their region for up-and-coming talent, bringing in prodigy Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev. The Ukrainian superstar was a controversial figure back then, but his immense talent was undeniable even at his younger age. Liquid made the semi-final in the first Major with the Ukrainian in Columbus and then went one better at ESL One Cologne 2016, where they bowed out after a one-sided loss to SK in the final. Cologne 2016 was the final Major that s1mple played for the organization before leaving for Natus Vincere in August of that year.

Their early Major success continued for the next three years. Liquid made the Major playoffs three times in their five appearances pre-pandemic, their best placement a semi-final at FACEIT Major 2018. After the pandemic, however, the North Americans struggled to make inroads in both Stockholm and Antwerp, winning just one match across the two tournaments — a best-of-one win against ENCE in Stockholm.

While the trio of nitr0, EliGE, and Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic boasts impressive Major experience during their long tenures with the storied organization, the remaining two members are much less experienced. Both YEKINDAR and Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm rose to prominence during the last few years, the pandemic robbing them of a chance to amass much Major experience as the entire circuit moved online. Due to that, the Latvian has attended just the two post-pandemic Majors, while oSee's only Major appearance was in Antwerp.

A fresh start around a European import

A transfer saga that lasted for over three months eventually ended in the middle of October, when YEKINDAR was formally announced as a Liquid player. The Latvian, who bought himself out of his contract with Virtus.pro to become a free agent, had been standing in for the team since IEM Cologne 2022 in July, both parties making it no secret that they would like to make the arrangement permanent since then. After arduous negotiations, made even tougher due to Liquid being unable to directly buy him out of Virtus.pro as a result of US-imposed sanctions on companies with supposed ties to the Russian government, the move was finally made permanent.

When he first began to play with the team back in July, YEKINDAR made an immediate impact on and off the server, earning constant praise from teammates and his coach Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele. The North American team turned around their lackluster results as soon as he joined, placing 5-6th in their debut at IEM Cologne 2022 and then building on the result in the following months. Liquid made their first Big Event grand final appearance since 2019 in ESL Pro League Season 16, where they beat Cloud9 in the semi-final before bowing out in a marathon final against Vitality. They then comfortably secured a berth in the IEM Rio Major Legends Stage following an undefeated record in the Americas RMR.

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daps: "YEKINDAR is teaching the guys a lot and I'm learning a lot from him"

Liquid have made heavy adjustments to their playstyle since they added the Latvian, now sporting a mesh of direction of the old Liquid and YEKINDAR's previous team led by Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali.

On top of that, the import has been the best performer of the team with a 1.16 rating, forming a powerful star trio with EliGE and NAF. He also kept up the trademark aggressive playstyle for which he became known in Outsiders, attempting just over a third of his team's entry duels in their matches so far, creating space for the rest of the team. This has helped free up EliGE, who had previously had a lot of pressure on his shoulders as one of the team's few key aggressive elements. "I think YEKINDAR not only role-wise has helped EliGE find sort of a new-ish role that maybe fits his playstyle or gives him a break a little bit from what he was doing before, but I also think in terms of his voice in the team has been pretty amazing so far," daps said about YEKINDAR's impact at IEM Cologne.

Leading the way for North America

North American Counter-Strike has been going through a rough time in the last few years, with the landscape of the scene there changing significantly amidst the region's decline and subsequent lack of support. The only North American Major champions Cloud9 now house a Russian roster, while Evil Geniuses and Complexity have had their fair share of struggles, fielding teams that are yet to show that they can compete for deep runs.

All of this leaves Liquid as the sole NA representative in the top echelon of CS:GO, with the hopes of an entire region resting on the lineup. Liquid recently solidified their status as the No. 1 team in the region with a dominant display at the Americas RMR, where they lost just one map, and reinforced by their superstar European import, they are once again tasked with putting North America in the CS:GO Major playoffs.

IEM Rio Major expectations

Liquid comes into the Major as many people's dark horse, with their No. 5 placing in the HLTV Power Rankings and No. 3 in the official HLTV ranking a testament to their improvement of late. Given their current form, anything less than a playoff berth would be a disappointment for the North Americans considering they start the competition in the Legends stage, giving them an advantage and ample time to iron out any weaknesses in their game.

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Why is there no clear favorite for the Rio Major?

The players are hungry for success after a long period of lackluster results, with NA counting on Liquid to put them back to the top. Expecting them to emulate Cloud9's Major win in Boston is unwise, but the North Americans are certainly amongst the wider pool of realistic contenders to come out on top in Rio.

Other IEM Rio Major team profiles

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IEM Rio Major profile: MOUZ
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IEM Rio Major profile: Spirit
IEM Rio Major profile: 00NATION
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IEM Rio Major profile: ENCE
IEM Rio Major profile: Grayhound
IEM Rio Major profile: Heroic
IEM Rio Major profile: OG
IEM Rio Major profile: Natus Vincere
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IEM Rio Major profile: Cloud9
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Check out HLTV.org's IEM Rio Major hub

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