BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Americas

Official: Liquid bench Rainwaker; daps to play at BLAST Showdown

3-10-2023 19:33

The Canadian coach will hop on the server for the first time in 18 months.

daps will step onto the server for Liquid

Liquid has announced that Aleks "⁠Rainwaker⁠" Petrov has been benched ahead of the Americas BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, confirming an earlier report by Dust2.us. Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele will move from a coaching role into the active roster for the tournament and is expected to take over in-game leadership duties from Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis.

Media: Liquid bench Rainwaker, to use daps as IGL in BLAST Showdown

Rainwaker joined the North American organization in June in an unexpected transfer from 500 and has played only 34 maps for the team, during which time he averaged a 0.96 rating as Liquid struggled to get results.

After their summer transition to a European roster, Liquid missed out on a spot at the IEM Cologne main event and were eliminated in the first round of Gamers8 by ENCE.

Their latest endeavor at ESL Pro League S18 also failed to bear fruit after losses to Virtus.pro and Eternal Fire meant they exited the tournament in the group stage.

daps, who will be replacing Rainwaker for the BLAST Showdown, was previously set to replace Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov for their opening match at ESL Pro League S18.

The Russian's timely arrival to Malta prolonged the Canadian tactician's return to the server, which will now happen against Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's Forsaken.

It is currently unknown whether daps will be a permanent addition to the roster or if Liquid is on the lookout for a new fifth, with Liquid simply stating, "Our goal is finding a solution and this tournament allows us to try some new approaches."

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2023 Americas
05/10/2023	Liquid 21:10 Forsaken	Match

Liquid will play the BLAST Showdown with the following roster:

Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic
Josh "⁠oSee⁠" Ohm
Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis
Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov
Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele

expected

2023-10-03 19:33

18 replies

Daps pull an uno reverso card

2023-10-03 19:41

11 replies

bro daps realized how much he wanted to play so they voted rainwater off the island, NAF told me

2023-10-03 20:19

9 replies

didnt understand the transfer in the first place

2023-10-03 21:51

7 replies

sure but what is the point of having your coach as your fifth in an important tournament?

2023-10-04 01:41

4 replies

"important" is a matter of perspective. Everyone is looking at first cs2 major. Blast fall events are not important in that perspective.

2023-10-04 14:06

3 replies

still, what is the point? play it with the guy, how is it worse than playing with your coach?

2023-10-04 15:18

2 replies

I think it is less about rainwaker and more about finding out if they need a real IGL and if other guys can sort out roles. Maybe also if Yekindar can still frag like he used to.

2023-10-05 04:09

If Liquid didn't see a future with Rainwaker anyway, playing with daps allows YEKINDAR to be freed of IGL duties which can enable him to perform like he did in VP which is what Liquid bought him for in the first place. Also, a change in IGL can improve other players massively, just look at torzsi for example. EDIT: spelling

2023-10-05 09:49

i am sure you dont, nobody in the UK play csgo :)))

2023-10-04 09:28

1 reply

+1 it’s true

2023-10-05 09:15

yekindar told me you're a liar. rip bozo

2023-10-03 22:13

daps about to make stanislaw his b for once

2023-10-05 09:52

How are you always first MIBR_IS_OVERRATED?

5 replies

little key on my keyboard

2023-10-03 19:42

He's retardo

2023-10-03 21:55

no life, no job. thats the result

2023-10-04 00:48

Wdym? Guy is living the life everyone here wants

2023-10-04 01:13

he is living rent free in everyone's mind

2023-10-05 14:40

Hope Liquid lose

2023-10-03 19:53

+1 in a Bad way🙏🏻

2023-10-04 02:59

2023-10-04 04:41

No way?!?!?!?

noway is going to imp hltv.org/news/37191/media-imperial-reach..

2023-10-04 13:03

=,,,D

2023-10-05 02:37

liquid w

Finally

2023-10-03 19:34

3 months in and Liquid already had a scapegoat, rainwaker already benched lmao.

10 replies

your scapegoat can't do any shit without radarhack, how unexpected

2023-10-03 19:46

+1¹1¹1¹1¹

2023-10-04 05:57

Tbf he was very bad at his roles and was a shadow of himself when in 500, watching Rainwaker try to lurk,play with timings,entry and anchor was painful. I’m sure it’s not what they saw on his 500 online demos when trying to build CIS structure. At least daps has experience and maybe alleviate some of the pressure on Yekindar and Patsi. I’m excited for change but expect no difference in results

2023-10-03 19:47

6 replies

To be honest I’m not sure they gave this lineup enough time to succeed. I think there had to be other issues forcing this move.

2023-10-03 23:01

Yea they didn’t culminate talent or wisely pick out a player to fit roles, teams do take time to germinate and grow but honestly watching Rainwaker make decisions,try to lurk with timings, play anchor and support and even basic clutching factor showed he’s not ready for these roles in Tier 1, was not what Daps and Yekindar saw in his 500 demos probably depicting him as “talent” and Liquid aren’t very smart to begin with cutting EliGe so it worked out as it should...a shit show and disorganized version of CIS counter strike lookalike

2023-10-03 23:19

When I look back at the current G2 lineup, how many months did it take them to even start competing? They were getting destroyed series after series until finally something clicked. I have not watched much detail on Rainwaker so I will have to take your word on him but I don't think he was supposed to one of the stars on the team. Maybe it had more to do with moving Yekindar to a star role and getting a new IGL. I dunno but its really strange considering CS2 will now be played and its a huge change in the game and meta.

2023-10-03 23:30

Oh in that case his anchoring and mechanics would be a huge factor and they’re just not there especially for an open game like cs2, they should have probably kept EliGe and tried to find someone to free up Yekindar but certainly Rainwaker wasn’t a good choice, seems like a compliant teammate and decent but not a free thinking experienced role player. Wish him the best of luck and hope Liquid get their crap together for cs2

2023-10-03 23:37

Didnt he also said in an interview that it was hard for him to call in english in complexe situations? Being late for a split second on a call because you have to translate dont forgive at that level.

2023-10-05 06:50

Yea I did hear he had comms issues but not sure, judging by how he played off information and with teammates it was apparent there was some lack in communication, but thats probably the least of Liquids worries..it was watching him try to fit into his roles or attempt to clutch that was most painful for such experienced players like NAF or Yekindar I'm sure what they saw was unacceptable.

2023-10-05 07:16

His name is Rainwanker, dude

2023-10-04 21:24

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaps - Gaules

im looking so forward to tomorrow just to hear his excitement by saying DAAAAAAAAPS he was already excited to EPL when in a game of mibr I think he announced that DAAAAAAAAAPS would be playing, unfortunately... im also looking forward for the MEU NOME É MALEK when he broadcasts EG vs CoL

2023-10-03 21:48

why is gaules so excited for daps? are they friends or something?

2023-10-03 21:57

its cuz he laughs at some of his plays, same as karrigan, apex, you know, igls that usually dont frag and are well-versed when it comes to cs but often do stupid plays like rushing alone and pushing when it isnt needed clips.twitch.tv/CourteousDeliciousBarrac..

2023-10-03 22:05

ah, yeah daps wasn't exactly a good fragger hah

2023-10-03 22:56

How does this translate to Fantasy ?

daps for the price of rainwaker

2023-10-03 19:39

Liquid is NA again!!!!

Come back to NA

2023-10-03 19:35

back to NA pog

this org...

2023-10-03 19:43

GOAT IS BACK

2023-10-03 19:44

when it rains it pours

2023-10-03 19:45

I really hope daps knows what he is doing, and outside has been doing non-stop training

2023-10-03 19:50

l m a o m a o

2023-10-03 19:51

Liquid Officially a Canadian team !? Lets goooooo

2023-10-03 19:59

Nilo to Liquid.. you saw it here first

good riddance his name was making problems you wanted to say it's rainwalker but it was waker

2023-10-03 20:01

he improved in EPL and now they throw him away

2023-10-03 20:18

couldn't they get stanislaw? isnt he free atm?

2023-10-03 20:20

daps is better than stanislaw

2023-10-03 20:32

daps is better at developing talent but stanislaw delivered S tier trophies, something daps never did in his entire career

2023-10-05 02:14

Snakeislaw? I doubt daps would agree on that.

2023-10-03 20:45

Reminds me of FaZe when NiKo was mistakenly thinking he's the IGL. Yekindar is just as bad at that, but the rest of the team gets replaced.

2023-10-03 20:44

DAPSGOD LETS GO its gunna be bad but fun to see Liquid with the NA flag again

2023-10-03 20:46

"Bad but fun" is like the motto for NA CS past few years lule

2023-10-05 12:05

lmao can still remember people trying to tell me this rainwaker guy was good and the next big star

2023-10-03 21:15

with daps in the team, even t3 teams have a chance against liquid now

2023-10-03 21:31

Tier 3 teams has already beaten liquid wdym?

2023-10-04 07:08

Lets be honest, this was just matter of time. Patsi is also disappointment. Also... daps... LUL Let's hope they figure something out towards end of the year. There will be more shuffles i guess, so maybe liquid can pick right players this time.

2023-10-03 21:36

patsi was 0.9 rating before going to liquid for a long time why tf they took him alongside with rainwaker thinking they would be better than elige(esp in eng speaking team), who played with them forever

2023-10-03 23:52

- Daps + Stanislaw When? Complete the full circle.

2023-10-03 21:38

dont worry, tarik will make a way for DAAAAAAPS to be kicked

Haaaa!!! Thank you, I needed that laugh today. Honestly.

2023-10-04 16:48

DAAAAAPS

-daps + BNTET

2023-10-03 21:52

whatever they do I just hope they stay NA this time around

Either daps or stewie2k will become liquids fifth. Makes no sense for the coach to take over IGL roles if they weren’t testing him out or planning on finding another IGL and letting yeki go back to entry. The only way I don’t see it being stewie2k is if liquid manage to pull some really good IGL from Europe or if stewie decides to not play cs2, it seemed like when liquid asked him to play pro league he was excited to do it just didn’t want to only play 2 games.

2023-10-03 23:03

13 replies

I’m sure they’re searching for a replacement real fast. Takes a little time to get contracts done

2023-10-03 23:23

If they bring back Stewie I will become a liquid fan again

2023-10-04 05:59

am I crazy to think Liquid will stay this way? CS2 so far doesn't have room for coaches so maybe they are going ahead of the other teams and not having a coach anymore? Who knows whether Valve will completely remove coaches from the game? Of course, they can still have analysts.

2023-10-04 13:46

Why would that ever happen? link me the source of no coaches in cs2 because i have seen nothing of that.

2023-10-04 16:56

hltv.org/news/37139/what-go-features-are.. That being said, PRACC has launched a plugin to allow that, as stated at twitter.com/PRACCgg/status/1709272615070..

2023-10-04 16:58

yeah I would not worry about that, honestly I would not care if daps became the fifth until liquid found a good replacement. I just want yekindar off the igl role.

2023-10-04 17:02

I just don't see who would be worth signing is the thing. There is absolutely no one in Europe that is going to make liquid solid, I am all for sticking it out during the rough times, but if you are going to be horrible you might as well have a chance in the Rmr next march.

2023-10-04 17:00

if stewie take over igl role in liquid this would be so funny seeing yekindar and stewie arguing. I'd even pay for it

2023-10-03 23:31

I'd pay it to watch along with you, btw you should change your flair to cloud9 now don't you think?

2023-10-04 07:09

that sounds kinda sus ngl. why should i change my flair to cloud9?

2023-10-04 10:45

Because NA

2023-10-05 17:02

Friend, Na is wildcard, nouns, f0rsaken, evil geniuses. Cloud9 is not NA, Liquid is not NA, Complexity is not NA

2023-10-05 18:16

yeki would be secondary calling, and honestly everyone on the team should just say "yeki you had your shot and you ran us into the ground, time to give it up"

2023-10-04 16:57

2023-10-03 23:11

L org.

2023-10-03 23:28

Lol replace rainwalker by a bot

thats good news, I hated his nickname

2023-10-04 00:51

Sounds good. Got that core rifler trio back in Yekindar naf and Patsi I like that; daps IGL and Osee awp

2023-10-04 01:26

anything is better than rainwaker at this point

2023-10-04 01:40

thats what happens when you take a Bulgarian, who wasn't even the second best on a t2 team

2023-10-04 01:48

return of stewie10am pelase

2023-10-04 02:42

might as well get Stephanie10AM back and see him argue with yekindar every game for the lulz

2023-10-04 03:17

steward2k would save this team

2023-10-04 03:22

I don't understand what the point of this? Just let rainwaker play until you will find a replacement. He is better than daps anyway. So stupid.

2023-10-04 04:23

what they need is a solid awper so that Osee can focus on rifle. Modo at TSM might be a good choice.

2023-10-04 05:14

na is back

2023-10-04 06:59

I mean he would be great as a permanent this bring a lot of stability and restore roles so i actually rate it as W move Also more then 10 IGLs in top 20 ranked teams are either over 30 Or close, he's still fit to play considering that age I will also not mind Stewie as IGL that will be WW move retain daps as coach and get Stewie as IGL

2023-10-04 07:26

Daps comeback era

Liquid should just buy entire new mouz nxt rosters, they are more potential talents.

2023-10-04 11:44

Sooo TL is back to NA now? Let’s go

2023-10-04 14:40

daps instead of rainwaker - huge upgrade. Now daps igling, yekindar on fire

2023-10-04 14:44

daps xddddddd

2023-10-04 17:28

-oSee +cadiaN is the most efficient move for Liquid. Patsi & Rainwaker should go in favor of young NA talents.

2023-10-04 19:19

from the start i questioned the rainwaker move, not sure what they saw in him

2023-10-04 19:29

same tbh, was surprised to see him getting signed by Liquid

2023-10-04 20:10

daps vs stanislaw

2023-10-04 20:09

Clash of trash

2023-10-04 23:29

you get what you deserve, fixing shit

2023-10-04 20:50

Ripwanker

2023-10-04 20:56

kinda expected, taking unknown tier 3 player into tier 1 won't help you winning tournaments,

2023-10-04 21:25

-oSee +cadiaN +dupreeh

2023-10-04 22:17

They want to stay NA

2023-10-05 04:51

They shouldn't have sold EliGE then

2023-10-06 13:22

Botwaker

2023-10-04 22:33

Daps the bot

Rainwanker gone finally i dont have to watch 20iq plays fro him anymore, dont know why they signed this clown in the first place

2023-10-05 02:59

"Our results are disappointing" kekw

2023-10-05 03:33

-daps +Cadian

daps 34adr game incoming

2023-10-05 04:52

Rip my fantasy + pickems

2023-10-05 11:16

going eu was dumb anyway

2023-10-05 11:35

rainwalker was not the problem tbh

2023-10-05 11:43

they should take cadian

2023-10-05 12:24

Do liquid need a majority na roster to play in blast na? If so this makes sense

2023-10-05 13:28

Yes and no. If I'm not mistaken, coaches are also counted which made it 3eu, 3na

2023-10-05 13:35

they were registered for the NA spot before they made the changes to an EU team. if they were to continue with a european roster, they would be registered as an EU team for the next blast season.

2023-10-05 14:58

Well come cadian

2023-10-05 15:48

So does this make Liquid NA again?? lol patsi looks solid, but rainwaker was always a wtf move imo.. would like to see Liquid bring up some more NA talent, get Fang on this team, why not.

2023-10-05 17:03

NAF: "I already feel we're way better than what we had playing the previous years"

2023-10-05 17:13

Imo NAF is just in a good mood because his gf is from EU and now he's close to her + didnt have to anchor anymore (even though he was known as one of the best anchors in the game) He mistook him personally feeling better with the team being better.

2023-10-05 18:11

I think people who think they are going NA are crazy. Think they made their minds up. It wasnt a 'We need CSGO trophies before the game goes away!!' This was to get the guys over to EU where they can practice against the best teams consistently and play EU FPL. This has more to do with the Rainwaker gamble not paying off. They will probably assess how Liquid plays with an actual IGL in the team (daps) this tournament and see if that's really the piece they need.

quick and ez disband

2023-10-05 18:46

Stewie2K

2023-10-05 19:29

Jokasteve in a statement when they benched elige: "Trust us, we know what were doing". 2 Months later: our results are disappointing.

2023-10-05 19:42

He was definitely one of the players of NA CS in his prime

Cadian inc ?

2023-10-06 13:14

This is big troll move, Rainwaker was their best player by far last played games. I belive they told him to throw as liquid does (fixed results), but he didnt, and that made them kick him. Close enough Rain?

2023-10-07 09:39