Liquid add steel; stanislaw out
Lucas "steel" Lopes has been acquired by Team Liquid for an undisclosed fee, replacing Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz with immediate effect. The move comes just prior to the start of IEM Oakland, where we will see the Brazilian debut on a North American roster for the first time in his career.
Liquid recently qualified for the ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, but will be unable to field steel as the player has already participated in the Closed Qualifer of the Americas Minor with Immortals. The team's manager, Steve "jokasteve" Perino, announced on Twitter that they would use Liquid's coach, Wilton "zews" Prado, in place of steel for this Major circuit.
The change comes amid mixed results for Liquid - they've proven themselves to be a capable team versus top-tier opposition at recent events, but have failed to close out matches in series play. A 2-3 loss to mousesports at ESG Tour Mykonos and a 0-2 defeat by the hands of Astralis at EPICENTER likely spurred the decision forward, although a 1-2 loss to Cloud9 at iBUYPOWER Masters this past weekend may have also influenced the change.
Immortals' future as a team is unclear - the team withdrew from IEM Oakland this weekend, and rumors point towards two players - Caio "zqkS" Fonseca and Lucas "destiny" Bullo - having visa issues and being denied entry to the United States.
Stanislaw's future is also unknown - the player joined the Team Liquid roster to in-game lead after spending a year on the old OpTic Gaming lineup. The in-game leader role was recently passed on to Nick "nitr0" Cannella, and will likely be taken over by steel as he acclimates to his new squad.
Team Liquid now consists of:
Nick "nitr0" Cannella- Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
- Josh "jdm64" Marzano
Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
Lucas "steel" Lopes- Wilton "zews" Prado (coach)
