jL to step in for NertZ on Liquid at the upcoming Roman Imperium Cup VI

Earlier today, HLTV released an article revealing that benched NAVI player and major MVP Justinas "jL" Lekavicius will play with Liquid at the upcoming Roman Imperium Cup VI. jL confirmed the news in a post not long after. Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz will be unable to attend the tournament due to travel issues, but is expected to return to the lineup for BLAST Open Rotterdam.

Coming off the back of poor performances at IEM Kraków and ESL Pro League Season 23, Liquid are in dire need of VRS points. With their chances to secure a spot at the IEM Cologne Major shrinking by the event, it is imperative that Liquid put up a strong performance at the Portuguese LAN. As one of the favorites on paper going into the event, the need for a stand-in is a real blow, even with jL's experience.

Though the year is still young, this is not the first time Liquid have needed outside help. At IEM Kraków, Keith "NAF" Markovic was replaced by Karim "Krimbo" Moussa due to urgent family matters. The result was a play-in exit in 17th-20th place, with Krimbo struggling in their decider match against FUT.

Though jL has a wealth of experience from his time on NaVi, where Liquid coach Viktor "flashie" Tamás Bea was an analyst, he has been out of the server for a while. Outside of an online tournament with a mixed team, his last official was at the BLAST Austin Major roughly nine months ago. Despite that, jL says he is excited to be back on the server, and he'll “do my absolute best to help my best friend out."

Liquid's opening match will be against the Latvian team OlyBet on March 13th at 06:00AM.