EliGE: "We can definitely do some damage here"

Despite just joining up with Liquid, EliGE feels good about their upcoming CAC campaign.

With the invitation deadline for the StarLadder Budapest Major fast approaching, FaZe and Liquid turned heads with a big change, swapping North American riflers Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken.

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Liquid announce EliGE's return

EliGE had little time to get acclimated since rejoining Liquid as after this arrival the international side headed immediately to Gdansk, Poland to compete in the Birch Cup. After finishing third, Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek's troops are now shifting their focus to the CS Asia Championships in Shanghai.

On the second media day ahead of the tournament in China, EliGE spoke with HLTV about getting integrated into Liquid's system, his expectations for this event given his recent addition to the team, and the prospect of having limited opportunites for practice before the Major.

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Here with EliGE at CAC 2025, your first big event with Liquid in over two years. How does it feel to be back?

Feels really exciting. I've just been itching to come back and play and to get into the tournaments and everything like that. I wish that we had a little bit more time for practice, always do feel like that, but at least this is a bit better circumstances than Birch Cup was.

What has practice looked like between Birch Cup and now?

It's been a little bit scuffed, I'm not going to lie, just because of some travel complications, essentially. But we've gotten enough games in, and I think we've had enough practice time. Of course, I'd like more, but I think that we've had enough that we can do some damage here.

One thing you mentioned when we spoke with you at Birch Cup was that FaZe were initially receptive to your playstyle recommendations, but then shifted away later. It's only been a brief time on Liquid, but do you feel they are more receptive to your considerations?

Well, I think the main thing is just the team structure and playstyle that everyone is happy with the direction that you want to go, and that you're all speaking the same Counter-Strike. On FaZe, it was completely two opposite ends, where I think they were open to trying it in the beginning when I got picked up initially, and then it was probably just a little too different, I would say. As the year went on, trying to fit myself into their system as much as I can, but I can't be as vocal and come up with as many answers because it's just a different system from how I would approach doing things in my position.

Whereas, here on Liquid, I think we're already speaking the same language. I'm more trying to learn what they already have, and then make suggestions after. I don't really want to interfere too much, especially when they have the structure that I already like and stuff like that. For me, it's more about getting used to what they already say right now. The suggestions and working on things and all that stuff is going to come over time, and we're going to do that step by step. I think already I feel a lot more comfortable, being able to play naturally how I always do, essentially.

Speaking of that structure, what has it been like playing under the leadership of siuhy and flashie so far?

I'm still a little bit new, so I haven't gotten enough games in I'd say, but just initial first impressions, really positive. It's the type of way that you go about things and structure rounds that I'm very familiar with, and I think that we haven't had as much time in practice, so I'm not going to go off of our scrim results or anything like that. I think this is going to be a good first testing ground to see what we have, what we need to keep working on, and what we have to keep on refreshing or seeing ways that we can make sure that everyone's on the same page a little bit easier.

That's essentially what the structure is; structure to me is just an easy way to get everybody on the same page of how you want to do things, and when everyone is speaking the same language and you're able to communicate with each other properly and we have the correct expectations during and after the round of what we want to do and how we want to solve problems, that's when we can be succesful. Of course, there's going to be a lot more groundwork that you have to do, a lot more preparation as well to be able to get the results when you are playing in this way.

The only familiar face on the team at this point for you is NAF. I'm curious if you've noticed any developments in the way he plays over the last two years?

It's hard for me to say, because I feel like I just got here, so just overall first impressions, he's still very similar, maybe a little bit more talkative now, but it's really hard for me to say. I've heard a lot of good things about Keith, especially since the player break from all the guys, and I'm hoping to see that as well. I'm sure he's wanting to see how I've developed in the years that we've been away as well. Still early days, but overall excited.

What are the expectations for this event, considering the lack of practice and top teams? Do you expect to be in title-contending form right away?

We haven't really discussed expectations of like 'We're coming here to win the event' or anything like that. We understand our timetable of when I joined, how much practice we've had since then, I'm still getting used to the names, the structure, how we do things, so it's still super early days. But, as you said, there isn't a ton of top teams here, but they're no slouches either. Any tier-two, tier-three team, you can still lose to anybody right now, especially if you're not playing on the top of your game. Our goal, at least from my perspective, is we play as solid as we can, we play our best, and we come from this event with lots of stuff to work on. The stronger that we come out swinging, then we're going to have a little bit less [to work on].

I think we can definitely do some damage here. I would definitely like to make playoffs, minimum, that's just how I'm always going to think. At the same time, I know that it is super early days. I'm excited, but I'm also a little bit nervous at the same time, because I don't typically come into tournaments with this little practice and this little certainty of how we're gonna be playing. Having this little time makes me a little bit nervous, but I've just been so excited to get started. The time in between Birch Cup and now, I've been so excited to play, so I'm really really excited to get started here.

You guys don't have that much time between now and Bucharest either, though right? The first real opportunity for practice you guys are going to get is between Bucharest and the Major.

Exactly, we actually talked about that. It's a little bit scuffed. From start to finish, not the most ideal amount of practice in between all of these tournaments. Like you said, Birch Cup, to now, it's not really been that much at all. After we are done here, we got to Bucharest; I think it's three or four days, and then we go straight into Bucharest. I think everything is going to be on-the-job training, just on the job, whatever we have to learn, just take it day by day, talk after every single game, fix as much as we can, focus as much as we can, and try not to get into our own heads about all of the things that we have to work on, and just try to play our game.

You've got GamerLegion in your opening BO1; any thoughts on that matchup?

I think GamerLegion is a strong team. I think that they're one of the stronger teams in the bottom ten. I don't know exactly their ranking, but I consider them around that area, and I think we are as well. I think we're going to be pretty evenly matched, they're a hard team. In terms of map pool, I don't really know, that's for my coach and my IGL to decide, so I don't know. I think it's going to be a hard game, and we're just going to have to do as good as we can.