Liquid to retain their current roster for the upcoming season

Liquid will not change any players during this off-season, their GM Steve "⁠jokasteve⁠" Perino announced on the organization's Discord this Wednesday, July 9th.

There were a lot of rumors around the Liquid camp after their disappointing run at the BLAST.tv Austin Major, especially around Keith "NAF" Markovic. However, Liquid has opted to keep the players and add a new coach in the form of Viktor "⁠flashie⁠" Tamás Bea.

flashie is already working with the team, and jokasteve said Liquid believe that the roster will improve in the upcoming season. The GM also touched on NAF's slump and that the Canadian is ready to work "harder than ever."

Coach flashie has already joined us and, for about a week now, has been implementing his new system. He’s had full player buy-in so far, and I can already tell he’s someone who will provide this talented roster with the direction and leadership it needs. Him and siuhy have been hard at work addressing a lot of our problem areas from last season and are off to a great start together.

NAF - While we can all acknowledge that Keith didn’t have a great last six months, it’s important to understand why. He’s been such a consistent player for us over the years. We believe in Keith bouncing back and finding more comfort in his environment this season. He got in his own head a bit recently and really needed a proper break after the Major. He’s assured us he’s ready to work harder than ever and do everything in his power to win and be a strong veteran presence for this young team.

We know the results haven’t been good enough. We also know that this young core is capable of much more than what we've shown so far. That’s why we believe that with a strong coach leading the way, a great IGL, and a ton of talent surrounding them this roster will only continue to improve.

With flashie taking over the reins, Jay "⁠DeMars DeRover⁠" Li will resume his analyst duties. The data analyst stood behind the team in the last four tournaments, after Liquid parted ways with Torbjørn "mithR" Nyborg in March.

flashie has plenty of work to do, as Liquid reached playoffs only once since Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek joined. They had a good run at IEM Melbourne, but the team struggled in PGL Bucharest, IEM Dallas, and the Austin Major.

Liquid will have to improve their game fast, especially because they're considered a European team in the eyes of Valve and the VRS.

This is Liquid's current roster:

• Keith "NAF" Markovic

• Russel " Twistzz" Van Dulken

• Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak

• Guy "NertZ" Iluz

• Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek

• Viktor "⁠flashie⁠" Tamás Bea (Coach)