Liquid's new roster by the stats

Over the last couple of weeks, Liquid have abandoned their hope of a European contending lineup. They have removed the newest addition, Aleks "Rainwaker" Petrov with fellow newcomer Robert "Patsi" Isyanov out of the door soon as well. In a direction few could have expected, Liquid has returned to the Americas... but not strictly North America.

Removing Rainwaker and Patsi does present an interesting dilemma. How does one replace their ultra-passive and ultra-aggressive roles, the exact opposites of the playstyle spectrum?

According to the most recent reports, Liquid's lineup for the 2024 season will feature Casper "cadiaN" Møller at the helm, coached by Major-winner Wilton "zews" Prado. Keith "NAF" Markovic and Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis will be the only two remaining from the previous iteration of Liquid. Felipe "skullz" Medeiros, a lesser-known Brazilian, joins from paiN while Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken disembarks from the Major and Grand Slam-winning FaZe lineup to return home to Liquid.

It may not be hard to surpass the previous roster's results, zero playoffs, and a 45% map win rate is not a particularly impressive resume for an organization of Liquid's caliber, but that's not nearly enough. With a reported $600k buyout for skullz and surely an impressive salary for Twistzz and cadiaN, this team must be a championship contender to be worth the price.

So then, do Liquid's marquee signings make sense? Let's see how the roles fit in the newest iteration of Team Liquid.

That's not too much red. Twistzz, despite his "support" role, if such a thing even exists, plays active positions on some maps, such as Inferno, Anubis, and Mirage. Liquid's issues, while still problematic, are good issues to have. When most rosters upgrade by replacing an ailing member with a star, they often run into role issues with multiple players butting heads for the most active spots on a map, such as Bathrooms on Overpass or Connector on Mirage. In Liquid's case, their CT clashes are because their players' roles are too passive.

Most maps have a simple setup: two passive and two active players. In the previous Liquid lineup, Rainwaker and Patsi constituted one of each. Removing Patsi, an active player, allows some of Liquid's new players to step into a more impactful position.

Take Overpass for instance. Patsi played inside Bathrooms, the most impactful rifling position in the map pool. With Patsi removed from the squad, YEKINDAR could step up into that role, using his solo play-making for full effect with NAF or skullz slotting into the B Rotate role.

Inferno is a similar fix. Moving either NAF or skullz to Pit should not step on too many toes. Both Pit and B are similar supportive positions facing an onslaught of terrorists with flashbangs and Molotovs. Someone will need to accompany YEKINDAR to anchor the A site on Vertigo, but, the fact remains that overall, these are fewer conflicts than one would expect from a team swapping out three different players.

There's also the silver lining in Liquid's struggles over the past few months. Liquid constantly rotated positions around to find an orientation that clicked with the team, hopefully. As history tells us, that never happened, but it did give YEKINDAR and NAF recent experience with changing duties.

On the T-side, a team lacking in active players will feel the absence. YEKINDAR can retake the hard entry duties from Patsi, but in general, without further role changes, Liquid will run into issues with their extremity players. There are only two extremes on a map. You cannot split three players, NAF, Twistzz, and skullz, among those.

One of those three will likely become more of a pack player as the team evolves, abandoning their lurking positions in favor of joining an entry pack to take bombsites from the front.

We also cannot forget the cadiaN effect. In Heroic, cadiaN constantly innovated and pushed the boundaries of what we call roles in Counter-Strike. In cadiaN's system, a player who lurks one round may entry the next and could be a pack player the round after that. CT roles mean less when you gamble-stack 4-1 and 3-0 constantly. We have yet to see how much of his vision cadiaN integrates into Liquid. He must first negotiate with zews and former IGL YEKINDAR, but it's difficult to believe that Liquid opened up the coin purse for cadiaN without allowing him to have his way.

We can see a better representation of the difference in playstyle when we look at each player's trading and opening playstyle. What Liquid lose in individual playmaking with Patsi, they gain in pack mentality with Twistzz and skullz out-trading anyone on the previous roster. This suits cadiaN's death-ball approach well in theory, but let's wait to see it in practice.

Patsi's aggressiveness is readily apparent in the opening profile. The same graphic shows us that none of Liquid's new additions really fit that active playstyle hole that Patsi leaves behind, leading us to the same conclusion as earlier: some roles will have to be shifted around.

The big question comes down to which style of play Liquid goes for with this roster. Will it be zews' system, shaped by his years with Brazilian teams? Or will cadiaN have free rein to implement his death-ball, roleless, gamble-stacking unique style? Heroic has maintained a top-five team with weaker firepower than this roster. Will cadiaN finally break that ceiling with the new international squad? Or will it even be YEKINDAR chipping in to build the team around himself? He hasn't had much success in the past few months as IGL, but perhaps he can still shape his own game.

Despite the apparent upgrades in the squad, roadblocks are still in the way. cadiaN has not led an international team since his Rogue days. skullz has never spoken English on a team before. YEKINDAR must release the captain's reins he's been so eager to take. Given the track record of each player, this team should be a dominant force on the international stage, but we've seen better-looking squads crumble at the start line.

Each of these players has individually proven that they are capable of greatness. Now, it comes down to putting it all together.