Liquid not prioritizing IGLs in hunt for nitr0's replacement
Counter-Strike's competitive season for the first half of 2023 is finally over, with Heroic claiming victory over Vitality at the BLAST Spring Finals, which followed a surprising BLAST.tv Paris Major where the underdogs reigned supreme before Vitality took home the crown on their own soil. It's officially offseason time, which means that teams and players must make the difficult decisions about their future, especially as Counter-Strike 2 can come at any moment.
As for Liquid, they are well into their search for a new player to join the lineup after Nick "nitr0" Cannella announced he would retire from competitive play following IEM Dallas. nitr0 had previously taken time away from Counter-Strike in 2021 to spend more time with his family and participated in VALORANT. While his return was short-lived, it did produce two 2nd place finishes in top tournaments.
Liquid are now on the hunt once more to replace the in-game leader, but this time the search is a little different. Sources have informed Dust2.us that Liquid is not prioritizing an IGL in their search as they believe that Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis is more than capable of leading the team. The only exception to this would be if a "mega" IGL would become available on the market.
Moving YEKINDAR into the IGL role has not come without controversy. The Latvian was not brought in to be an IGL but he has transitioned into the role over the past couple of events. His first "official" taste of becoming the IGL was during the 2023 BLAST.tv Paris Major. When nitr0 took some time off of the pre-Major bootcamp to tend to his wife who was in labor, YEKINDAR stepped up during practice to call, rather than let coach Damian "daps" Steele take the lead. However, YEKINDAR's influence on Liquid's playstyle goes all the way back to when he first arrived on the team in the lead-up to IEM Cologne 2022.
When YEKINDAR joined the team, he was credited with bringing the team up to date on the European meta, changing the team playstyle, and even swapping several positions around with Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and Keith "NAF" Markovic to improve overall performance. It will be nearly a full year since it was revealed that YEKINDAR would fill in for Liquid at IEM Cologne 2022, where he was replacing the outgoing Frenchman, Richard "shox" Papillon.
As the team enters the player break and prepares for Counter-Strike 2, Liquid has opted to focus more on YEKINDAR as the IGL and building a team that is capable of once again immediately competing for titles, something that has eluded the organization for a long time. Sources tell Dust2.us that as of right now, Liquid are searching specifically for fragging riflers that can provide the additional firepower they need. Liquid, at this time, do not plan to make further changes to the squad.
One player that has received significant criticism over the last year has been Josh "oSee" Ohm due to his underperformance on a top-tier squad. However, given his recent performances and dramatic change by becoming the most vocal member of the team at Paris, the player has seen his importance to the team grow.
The organization continues the hunt and have a list of targets they are pursuing at this time. Given the current economic climate, player buyouts remain a stumbling block not just for Liquid, but other organizations throughout the space. Brazilian organizations have noted that the current buyouts are preventing several player moves to come to fruition. Liquid is making a concerted effort towards bringing on a new player, but with Cologne only five weeks away, the clock is starting to tick.
