Liquid sign Sloan Sports Conference research paper finalist as data analyst

This evening, Liquid announced the addition of one more member of their Counter-Strike sqaud, a new analyst that comes from the world of VALORANT. Xiao "Jay" Geng Li is a former member of NRG's VALORANT squad where he worked as an analyst for the team. He was also spotted working with the Liquid team during their run at the 2023 IEM Rio Major.

Xiao is a recent graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he earned a Masters in Business Analytics. His impressive resume also includes winning first place in the Research Paper Open Source Competition at the 2022 Sloan Sports Conference.

For the uninitiated, the Sloan Sports Conference is an annual event hosted by MIT's Sloan School of Management as an analytics conference in the sports world. Every year, research is presented at the conference featuring cutting-edge analytics work showcasing new approaches to the world of athletics among hundreds of professionals from teams, clubs, and leagues. It is considered the premier conference for discussing analytics and is colloquially nicknamed "Dorkapalooza".

Below is a clip of Jay showcasing his work in front of the conference, which included needing to explain the very basic concept in the esports world of what an "eco round" is.

Xiao is Liquid's first analyst, in any role, since the departure of Hunter "Lucid" Tucker from the organization in November 2022.