BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Americas

YEKINDAR IGL for BLAST Showdown; daps to take over for CS2

6-10-2023 12:24

The Liquid camp says that there wasn't enough time for daps to implement his system ahead of their final CS:GO event.

YEKINDAR also explained why Rainwaker was benched

Liquid's BLAST Showdown started with a 2-1 victory over Forsaken, and Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis spoke to James "⁠BanKs⁠" Banks' before the match on stream to explain the recent changes made to the lineup.

YEKINDAR called Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov "a strong player individually" but pointed to "a combination of his inexperience in tier one and not having enough voices in the team" as reasons for his benching.

Official: Liquid bench Rainwaker; daps to play at BLAST Showdown

Liquid lost one of the voices in the team after the departure of Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella in the summer. In the new lineup, YEKINDAR said that "there was no secondary player who could take the initiative. There were glimpses of it from each player, but there was no consistent player that could actually micro people and help with macro, turn people around, cancel rounds."

It was thought that Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele would come in as the IGL immediately, leaving YEKINDAR as that secondary caller, but a lack of time and the Showdown being on CS:GO means that the Latvian will keep the reins for now.

There was no consistent player that could micro people and help with macro

Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis on stream

"After we bombed out of ESL Pro League we didn't have time to change the system as daps would want to have it if he were IGLing," YEKINDAR said. "Especially since CS2 came out, it's a weird mixture. Do you try to systemize CS:GO for this event, or do you try to start calling for CS2?

"We came to the conclusion that I'm still going to be IGLing, but at the same time, daps is going to be chipping in and picking up some of the responsibilities, and later on, when CS2 comes out, then he would completely take over."

YEKINDAR emphasized that Liquid are "experimenting" and that "if it goes badly, we're obviously going to be looking at different options."

One of those options could be Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, who Aleksei "⁠OverDrive⁠" Birukov has reported that Liquid are in the race for.

Liquid has also not ruled out a return for Rainwaker, though the Bulgarian rifler has posted on X with the intention of finding a new team.

The full interview can be found at 6:48:36 on the VOD below.

2023-10-06 12:26

Yeki the NA saviour

2023-10-06 12:27

Wtf is the point of benching rainwaker if u gonna play with daps in the next events lol.

23 replies

True lol, maybe the stuff harumi said about ESIC looking into his past for matchfixing is true

2023-10-06 12:34

So they remain as a NA roster for the next Major circle? And considering the current form of Furia and Brazil's CS in general, they have way more chances than in the EU RMR, which will be ridiculously stacked.

2023-10-06 13:24

15 replies

With daps they will be last place in most events At least with rainwaker u had a chance that maybe with time he get good.

2023-10-06 13:27

14 replies

That's true, but the only big event before the next Major is Katowice. EPL19 is right after, and nobody will care for BLAST Spring Groups if they are before the Major.

2023-10-06 13:31

I don't think the matchfixer who was putting <1.0 rating for a while is suddenly gonna improve, with daps igl at least theres a chance that yekindar gets back his form and can carry the team sometimes, and it could also mean better performance from osee and naf with a more competent caller

2023-10-06 13:45

5 replies

I don't think the matchfixer who was putting <1.0 rating for a while is suddenly gonna improve" Why not? He never played in an international team + he rarely played against t1 opponents in his career... With time he could've been decent or good. "with daps igl at least theres a chance that yekindar gets back his form and can carry the team sometime, and it could also mean better performance from osee and naf with a more competent caller" That doesn't metter cuz daps will go 3-17 every single time against decent opponents, also that's a big if.

2023-10-06 13:52

4 replies

Ok look at it this way You're trading a mediocre player (rainwaker) for shit player (daps) but great igl and also putting yekindar back to just being a fragger (one of the best entries in the world) Teams like G2 and Faze have shown that you can still be successful even if the igl puts up bot tier stats if the calls are good enough (and well the star players, liquid doesn't have a niko or ropz but their players aren't bad by any means and with daps igl I only think they'll improve) Ofc this is all hypotheticals and only time will tell but imo this is the right move for liquid for now till they can find a good igl (cadian maybe but I wouldn't like to see him in liquid)

2023-10-06 14:09

3 replies

"teams like G2 and Faze have shown that you can still be successful even if the igl puts up bot tier stats if the calls are good enough" The difference is that karrigan and hooxi put 0,80-0,90 stats, meanwhile daps will put 0,50-0,60 against good opponents, so liquid's stars aren't good enough to carry him, so this liquid will be worse than liquid with rainweker.

2023-10-06 14:18

2 replies

tbf, it is a NA qualifier and the best opponent is COL and probably Furia. You can gamble a bit IMO.

2023-10-06 15:38

1 reply

That's maybe fine only if liquid get an igl after this event otherwise this move doesn't makes sense to me.

2023-10-06 16:02

respect goat daps

2023-10-06 15:54

Daps has built multiple tier 1 teams. Optic and Nrg were good teams completely crafted by daps then stolen by botislaw and snake tarik. Daps is a better igl than yekindar. I don't understand why you people pretend like he has no history of igling good teams.

2023-10-06 20:23

daps is actually the main man behind most of the competitive NA teams... People forget that he has built of lot of these tier 1 NA teams lol

2023-10-06 21:57

He was also one of NAF's early mentors, I think NAF gives him credit anyway. ..

2023-10-09 08:03

Im not saying he's a bad igl or worse than yekindar #40

2023-10-06 22:35

They’d easily Smurf in the Americas RMR

2023-10-06 20:27

"easily smurf" They lost A map to forsaken lol

2023-10-06 23:01

They are negotiated for a new igl, but they cannot say anything without signing the new igl. Daps is the stand-in igl atm.

2023-10-06 15:00

Stick with rainwaker until u get a new igl At least with rainwaker they would have a chance to win this blast qualifer.

2023-10-06 15:30

#65

Hella experience. Naf will play better. Yekindar will play better since daps will still have a voice.

2023-10-06 15:15

#40

2023-10-06 15:28

A peaceful team environment I presume?

2023-10-06 22:52

I see

no see

2023-10-06 13:15

So they're not getting anyone new for now?

2023-10-06 12:31

na management

2023-10-06 12:40

meh o.o

2023-10-06 12:51

I think the story of who is igling for liquid is getting pretty stale now lol. Let’s see some results before this conversation continues

2023-10-06 12:57

even EG have more consistent IGLs than Liquid KEKW

2023-10-06 13:18

rainwaker got thrown under the bus lol "not having enough voices in the team" aka yekindar isnt an igl and should shut up like niko did and stick to secondary calling.

2023-10-06 13:02

for real like how did they expect him to be a voice in the team when he barely knew english

2023-10-06 14:06

13 replies

same with patsi tbf. No international experience. He supposed to be the second caller.

2023-10-06 15:01

12 replies

who? patsi? dont make me laugh, if anyone it should be naf with his experience

11 replies

Exactly

2023-10-06 15:23

#54

2023-10-06 15:29

but patsi was the igl and second caller in spirit ... what hapenned ? Naf is not even lurking anymore. How can you help that much if you play second or third in the pack ?

2023-10-06 15:27

8 replies

idk if he was or not a second caller in spirit, but chopper is their igl since forever

7 replies

No, when patsi came first in spirit, he was igling. Chopper took it back. He had a brief moment as the igl, like 3 months.

6 replies

There is a biggest_donk_fan guy who knows everything about spirit, i might ask him

2023-10-06 15:33

haha, no, but I remember, he was igling a bit in spirit. I don't blame him at all. It's hard to call in your second language. Liquid and Yeki gamble way too much. "English" is so easy. "Those EU/CIS players are so good". I agree, but when they have the perfect conditions.

2023-10-06 15:34

cis fell off hard and on the level of south america rn unironically. I dont consider Ukraine CIS btw

2023-10-06 15:58

Ukraine is CIS. Doesnt matter if you consider it or not

2023-10-06 21:20

Ukraine withdrew from cis long time ago and took european course, how it's cis?

2023-10-06 21:23

"patsi was never calling in main Spirit. he had a brief stint as an IGL in TSA and was a second voice in a previous Spirit lineup but that's it" what i got as an answer. Anyway Patsi should never be the second caller in English speaking team

2023-10-06 16:05

ok?

2023-10-06 13:11

So Daps stays indefinite?!

until the next igl ...

2023-10-06 15:02

One word needed. "Ego"

2023-10-06 13:25

so daps in't temporary? ahaha what a shitshow of a team

2023-10-06 13:28

They don't have a clue what they're doing :)

2023-10-06 13:30

Daps sneeky way to get back playing tier1 cs

2023-10-06 13:36

Sneaky? Botkindar is the one to blame. Just play your goddamn roles and stop igling. Same goes for elecbotnic in Clown9.

2023-10-06 13:53

botkindar isn’t IGLing lmao

2023-10-06 13:41

coach is warming up

2023-10-06 13:42

bench osee, take cadian, two problems solved for you, then bring in another decent player and you have a team. If Liquid don't do this they join the OG club of wasting their time on making dumb decisions

2023-10-06 13:46

Would do the same unless they want to stay NA.

2023-10-06 16:17

Patsi is great. They don't need anyone else other than cadiaN

2023-10-06 18:18

i meant they need someone instead of rainwaker/daps if they gonna swap osee for cadian

2023-10-06 22:48

Time after time TL/yekindar do more idiotic shit. Why are they acting as if they are going from csgo to fucking COD?

2023-10-06 13:48

daps beats stanislaw once and gets to IGL liquid. This is crazy.

2023-10-06 14:12

So many stupid decisions by liquid managment

2023-10-06 14:22

Liquid is gonna make me tear my eyeballs from my face

2023-10-06 14:28

Kekindar thought he could igl like jamezera

jamezera???

2023-10-06 15:57

Very bad move if daps is a long term option.

2023-10-06 15:03

daps long term solution?

imagine cadian quits heroic to join liquid lmao

2023-10-06 15:18

why lmao? He'd earn at least twice as much and Liquid is a top tier org regartdless of their current state in CS.

2023-10-06 18:19

stanislaw > daps

2023-10-06 15:36

Kekw

2023-10-06 16:55

Honestly I never understood this signing...

2023-10-06 17:08

Or just try to buy cadian im sure he will be able to utilise rainwaker.. im 100% sure that if forsaken had junior instead of wiz it wouldnt even be a close match as wiz tracking is that of a 100 year old person

2023-10-06 17:23

Oh so that's the reason why they almost lost to NA stack without salary :) good job yekindar , never IGL again pls :)

2023-10-06 17:56

buy cadian

YOOOO DAPS BACK LETS GOO

2023-10-06 18:08

Just buy Cadian, Cadian will be the NA savior again.

2023-10-06 19:31

Cadian seems like a no brainer right?

2023-10-06 21:01

Really don't like this idea of YEKINDAR being in-game leader, hopefully they will get a good IGL soon

2023-10-06 21:32

The problem with Yekindar is he severely lacks experience as an IGL. The role requires an absurd time in for it work not to mention he's emotional. Just look at nitro for example he had to switch early in his career to make it work but his best result is just a grand slam. Top tier IGLs have been IGLs from the start of the their career other than Apex maybe but Apex also switched role early in his career.

2023-10-07 17:00