Breaking: Liquid bench YEKINDAR

Liquid have announced the benching of Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis, seeing the embattled Latvian rifler moved to Liquid's after 26 months on the organization's lineup. YEKINDAR moves to the bench following Liquid's top-eight finish at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, a decent result to endcap what has otherwise been a tumultuous two years for Liquid, with multiple roster shuffles failing to return to the organization to their pre-COVID heights.

Liquid's failure to lock in a single trophy during this extended period saw YEKINDAR struggle to maintain a consistent level of form. YEKINDAR ended 2024 with a 0.99 rating and 1.09 impact rating over 191 maps, a far cry from his time with Virtus.pro and the start of his tenure with Liquid.

These lagging results resulted in YEKINDAR being a lightning rod for criticism directed towards the team, especially as the Latvian survived multiple shuffles within Liquid's ranks while fans eagerly waited for a return to his earlier star form that never came.

This is despite YEKINDAR having many chances to reinvent himself under multiple different IGLs and leadership styles, with YEKINDAR himself being given the reins on Liquid's ill-fated EU majority roster before being given further chances under Casper "cadiaN" Møller and Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken.

With YEKINDAR being benched, Liquid are now:

• Keith "NAF" Markovic

• Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken

• Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak

• Justin "jks" Savage

• Torbjørn "mithR" Nyborg (Coach)

• Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis (Inactive)

Liquid will look to secure a new fifth ahead of the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025: Closed Qualifier on January 14th.