YEKINDAR explains why cadiaN's leadership didn't work and addresses form criticism

"I understand fans who are angry about my form. My game is not worthy of my team and myself," the Latvian said in a recent podcast appearance.

Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis appeared on a Friday podcast with Georgian YouTuber and founder of CYBERSHOKE Erik "⁠shoke⁠" Shokov. In it, he shared his thoughts on why Liquid's time with Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller didn't work out and addressed criticism about his form in 2024, among many other topics.

When speaking about his former captain, who was benched after just six months on the new Liquid lineup, the Latvian suggested cadiaN's micro-managing style didn't fit the roster.

"At the beginning, I thought cadiaN shared a lot of similarities with Jame. The biggest similarity is that he does a lot of micro-managing of his players," YEKINDAR said. "Generally, it's good, but I think most players lacked some individuality."

"I explained that international teams are carried more by an individual level and decision-making. That's why I think there were some inconsistencies, like Twistzz arrived from FaZe where he had some freedom in his roles, same with me and NAF."

"We had to adjust to each other a lot, so it was hard to find form as a team. There was no consistency," he went on. "cadiaN is a smart captain, but in this lineup it didn't work with the individuals we had and teamwork."

The 24-year-old also addressed the community criticism he has faced in this new roster due to his underwhelming form. He averages a 1.01 rating against top 30 opposition in 2024, a steep drop from his time in Virtus.pro and earlier iterations of Liquid, which earned him the 8th and 15th spot on the Top 20 players of 2021 and 2022 rankings.

"I understand fans who are angry about my form. My game is not worthy of my team and myself," he acknowledged before going over the reasons behind his drop in form.

YEKINDAR explained that despite putting more focus on his individual game since he stopped in-game leading upon the creation of the new Liquid, a lack of confidence has caused him to second-guess himself.

"I started playing a lot of FACEITs because I thought 'm0NESY plays a lot of FACEITs, donk plays a lot of FACEITs, I will too. It was great and I felt good when on FACEIT, but then I go to a tournament and kind of overthink," YEKINDAR said.

"When you suck for a while, you start believing less in yourself. These micro-moments when you decide to go or not to go, especially with my roles, they make a difference. When you overthink, you lose confidence, start playing worse and it becomes a never-ending cycle of mistrust in yourself.

"I started taking things easier. In the end, it's just a game and I understand I accumulated a lot of stress when I was in-game leading because of the fans. There is even a lot of skepticism about the fact that I was kept on the team, but in the end I realized I just need to enjoy it. Enjoy and don't worry, it will be all good if you deserve it."

In the podcast, YEKINDAR also shared new details around his departure from Virtus.pro in mid-2022, including two big names interested in him after his benching — MOUZ and G2.

"There were two teams who talked to me about making the move; the rest wanted to make changes after Cologne. Those were Liquid and MOUZ," the Latvian said. "Many teams wanted me after Cologne. For example, if I were to join G2, it would have happened after Cologne. We talked but didn't reach an agreement."

He ended up joining Liquid after buying himself out of his contract with Virtus.pro. In the interview, YEKINDAR shared that the buyout figure was at least $500,000.

The full two-hour podcast, conducted in Russian, can be found below: