Liquid withdraw from Fragadelphia Blocktober citing illness

Liquid has confirmed their intentions to HLTV to withdraw from Fragadelphia Blocktober, with Liquid General Manager Steve "⁠jokasteve⁠" Perino citing health issues as the motivating factor. According to Perino, health issues within the team made the decision to withdraw from Fragadelphia Blocktober "clear", with Perino saying the organization has to prioritize the health of its players.

The decision will see of the event's marquee teams withdraw from the competition and forfeit their openings matches, effectively giving bye wins to the Gabagool and another team in Group D (either MINLATE or Copenhagen Wolves).

Fortunately for Liquid, due to the group stage of Fragadelphia Blocktober not receiving coverage from HLTV, Liquid will be spared the loss of any VRS points from their decision to withdraw, effectively only forfeiting their sign-up fees for the event.

This decision has drawn its fair share of reactions, with many lamenting Liquid's decision to skip the pivotal NA LAN, while others feel that Liquid should be punished more heavily for their decision to exit the event outside of FRAG's 17-day deadline.

However, Liquid's sudden withdrawal seemingly unearthed another significant issue for Fragadelphia as Graham "messioso" Pitt revealed a significant integrity issue with the way the groups were formatted, explained below, leading to HLTV scaling back coverage to sixteen teams. This decision has been received an overwhelmingly negative reception from the community, with many decrying it as an example of HLTV's favoritism to European events and of the dangers of letting a private company handle the VRS.

With Liquid withdrawing and a new scope of coverage defined, Fragdelphia Blocktober will still kick off on October 2nd.