Official: Liquid unveil 17-year-old Jorko as ultimate replacement

After benching struggling AWPer Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak earlier today, Liquid have unveiled 17-year-old Bulgarian AWPer Georgi "Jorko" Mitev as his replacement, acquiring the player from FOKUS for an undisclosed sum.

ultimate leaves Liquid's starting lineup having spent just a few days under two years on the lineup, only behind franchise staple Keith "NAF" Markovic in seniority. For reference, ultimate was on Liquid longer than oSee, Grim, Hiko, and adreN. He was on Liquid just one day less than legendary NA AWPer Josh "jdm64" Marzano.

ultimate's time on Liquid was undoubtedly uneven as he had flashes of brilliance followed by periods of poor performance. Despite averaging a strong 1.11 rating over 43 maps during his first couple of months on the team, ultimate's form quickly dropped off as he averaged a poor 1.01 rating over the next 288 maps. ultimate particularly struggled against as his rating dropped to 0.89 over 64 maps against top five teams.

Expectations will be high for Jorko to not just improve the AWPing situation on Liquid, but to also help the organization recover from an extended slump that sees the team closing in on seven years without a trophy.

In a straight comparison, there is some cause to be optimistic as Jorko sits at a 1.07 rating over 109 maps against a slightly lower level of opposition. However, he is still quite early in his career so it will be up to Liquid to nurture him and avoid the slump in form we have seen with previous young prospects upon joining Liquid.

Liquid are expected to make one more change in the immediate future to replace Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek with Johnny "JT" Theodosiou from Passion UA.

Liquid currently consists of:

• Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic

• Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek

• Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski

• Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa

• Georgi "Jorko" Mitev

• Viktor "flashie" Tamás Be (coach)

• Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak (Inactive)