After ages of speculation and rumor, it appears the pieces of Team Liquid’s Counter-Strike 2 puzzle are finally falling into place as Casper “cadiaN” Møller, Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, and Felipe “skullz” Medeiros have reportedly locked in with the American organization.
Team Liquid is finally ready to proceed with its competitive season according to a Nov. 27 Dust2.us report, with pen put to paper over the past few days. It is believed cadiaN and Twistzz’s obligations to their former teams at Heroic and FaZe Clan have been fulfilled at last week’s BLAST Premier Fall Final, and as such the pair are ready to commit fully to Liquid.
Also confirmed will be veteran coach Wilton “zews” Prado who, alongside Twistzz, rejoins the famous American organization after five years. The pair worked together briefly in 2017 and 2018 before zews departed, while Twistzz stayed to establish Liquid as one of the most successful squads in the late 2010s. He was an essential part of the lineup that all but dominated world CS in 2019 with seven LAN titles and an Intel Grand Slam. Four years on, Twistzz remains relevant after a hugely successful stint in Europe, particularly after the launch of CS2 with FaZe’s 18-series undefeated run only broken last weekend by Team Vitality.
CadiaN’s addition to Liquid marks his own long-awaited return to the North American region with the Danish sniper once representing Rogue in 2017 and 2018. CadiaN took a short break after his controversial exit from Heroic last October, making one final appearance for the squad at BLAST’s Fall Finals. 21-year-old Brazilian rifler skullz, who wrapped a year-long stint with paiN Gaming in November, rounds out the additions to the roster who will be looking to put their tumultuous 2023 behind them. The European version of Team Liquid utterly failed with the team failing to finish in the top eight of any tournament after the Paris Major.
Keith “NAF” Markovic, who extended his contract with TL last week, and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis are the only remnants of Liquid’s 2023 roster, and already we can safely say this squad looks and feels a lot stronger than anything the org has fielded so far this year. Liquid’s schedule remains clear for the end of the calendar year but the squad will need to gel quickly, with the all-important IEM Katowice and PGL Copenhagen Major qualifiers kicking off in Q1 2024.
