Sulfur
French CS isn’t the only one going through existential crises in 2022. NA CS is right up there with it, with their darling team Liquid disbanding into pieces. With a plethora of moves on the cards and a bunch of new teams ready to prove themselves, let’s look into how NA CS looks currently, and who could be the next king of the palace.
Team Liquid
We start with the team that inspired the whole article. Team Liquid disbanded in 2022, after a tumultuous 2021 where new IGL FalleN couldn’t integrate the whole team into a stable powerhouse. After EliGE revealed that the American camp is disgruntled amongst themselves and they’ll be breaking up soon, the pressure among them was instantly relieved, and the individual stars performed the best they had all year.
It’s a testament to how talented they are individually and that if they play under the right system with different players, they can become serious title contenders. Some of these players have a lot of experience, that they can use not only for themselves but for other younger players by mentoring them in different teams.
With that said, my secret wish over the years has finally come true. The stars in this squad are finally splitting up, and the priceless talent and experience is no longer concentrated in a single team. The whole scene will soon benefit from this fiasco.
EliGE and NAF are the only two players to have stuck with Team Liquid, with FalleN, Grim, and most importantly, Stewie2k, all leaving for a newer venture. The holes that were left were filled in with questionable decisions, to say the least.
shox, nitr0, and oSee have joined Team Liquid.
I do not need to emphasize shox’s worth and how good he was in his prime, but this transfer pops up questions in my head. How exactly will Team Liquid rebuild with someone who’s clearly a short-term fix, someone clearly past his prime?
This is in no way a shox slander, for I completely recognize his competitiveness and willingness to perform at the highest level without letting age win over his ambitions. That is something I commend.
But overall, it’s not the wisest decision. Add to that the fact that shox has been on French teams for all his career, and now playing under an American IGL and adjusting to it, communication-wise will be a process, not a given. Of course, he is fluent in English, so it wouldn’t bother him in normal situations, but when the stakes are high and the pressure is amped up, he will naturally face a few problems due to communication.
Overall, shox is extremely talented and Team Liquid signing him isn’t a disaster, but still questionable. I would have preferred Liquid signing someone like VINI, though.
Next is nitr0’s return to CS:GO after a stint in VALORANT. I won’t get into his VALORANT story, but getting a 26-year-old back to lead a rebuild is another decision that puzzles me. nitr0’s worth, experience, and brains are never to be questioned. But he’s been away from CS:GO for quite a while and the game keeps growing. The nostalgia of CS:GO that may have invited him back in may turn sour if things go south with Liquid.
Does nitr0 have it in him to catch up on the meta and then lead his team to bigger heights? It’s not gonna be easy by any means, and only time can tell.
oSee excites me. He’s fairly young and is basically the s1mple of NA CS. Of course, his previous team, Extra Salt, couldn’t make it to any big events and that hampered his worth, but now he is in a Tier 1 team. I’m excited to see how this AWPer performs against the big guns of Europe and CIS. I think he has it in him to join EliGE and NAF in the top 20 for 2022. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best.
These are the kind of moves that Team Liquid should make, though. Young, long-term players who can build strong chemistry and outlast an era. Maybe me being mad at Team Liquid is unwarranted. Maybe they’re opting for the one-player-at-a-time process, who knows.
Overall, there’s a new look to this Liquid squad. Just by the individual fragging powers of these players, they will most probably remain the best team in the NA scene. But we have some competition now!
Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses was a visible disaster in 2021. Falling down as low as Number 40 in the team rankings, it’s not an exaggeration to say that EG had to make some serious roster changes to even be considered a genuinely competitive team.
Parting ways with oBo, stanislaw, MICHU, and coach daps, Evil Geniuses put out a statement of their willingness to return to their 2019 highs.
They’ve signed the Cloud9 trio, the core that won the Major in 2018: RUSH, autimatic and of course, Stewie2k.
#EGCSGO 2022
?? @Stewie
?? @Brehze
?? @autimaticTV
?? @RUSH
?? @CeRq
?? @DamienMarcel (Coach)#LIVEEVIL— EG CSGO (@EvilGeniusesCS) January 20, 2022
Let’s start with the two players that EG retained, Brehze and CeRq. They’ve fallen quite a lot since their hayday, but they’re still young and have it in them to make it big again. There’s a reason they were the only two players that EG didn’t get rid of.
About RUSH, well, he is coming from Complexity, where he didn’t exactly have the greatest of times during the end of his stint there. But I feel that it was down to the system that was being played in Complexity, rather than the skill of the player himself. Hopefully he’ll find his footing back again now that he is playing with his old pals, and the team would benefit from it, even if he ends up playing a support role again.
Next is autimatic who’s another ex-CS:GO pro coming back from VALORANT. Is that even a surprise? Well, first off, just like nitr0, autimatic will have to catch up with a lot. nitr0 is an IGL, so most of his catching up will be tactical. autimatic relies more on his fragging powers, and since CS game mechanics are different from VALORANT, there will be a lot to unlearn and relearn for him.
Regardless, it’s great to see them back, and I hope both catch up quickly and shine for their respective teams.
Lastly, Stewie2k. Probably one of the greatest Americans to play CS:GO, stew’s talent needs absolutely no introduction. I’m just happy that the rumors that the legendary Stew will leave for Europe turned out to be false, and Stew is staying put in the NA scene.
What I also will touch a bit is stew acting as a leader and having a calling presence in the team. He has of course been given an IGL role in this team, and that is something that he’s not extremely new to. He and autimatic both had a visible calling presence, mini-IGLs of sorts, back when Cloud9 won their Major. It will be interesting to see how things will turn out.
The Captain. #LIVEEVILhttps://t.co/VAig6CylHr pic.twitter.com/rddmjoqPjD
— EG CSGO (@EvilGeniusesCS) January 28, 2022
Not forgetting the fact that G2’s ex-coach maLeK is now EG’s coach! It’ll be fascinating to see how he brings his European ideals to NA and helps this team rise.
At the end of the day, this squad is again made up of people either not reaching their potential, or clearly past their primes. The stars will have to align for them if they want to make it into the Top 15 teams.
As to whether they can take up the crown of NA’s best scene is anyone’s guess, but if I had to put my money on it, I would bet against them, personally. The best I hope is that Stewie2k and co. help CeRq find his long-lost form. If that happens, it will be a lot easier for the squad to reach newer heights.
Complexity
This is the team that excites me the most. The roster we see today is 100% different from the roster Complexity had in 2021, and it’s a huge change. COL have wiped the slate clean in 2022, and want to have a new start, a new beginning.
They have acquired the Extra Salt roster, meaning 3 out of 5 ES players will now play for COL, and the coach is from ES too. This move must definitely induce confidence in the 4 people, as they play for a top-tier team now. The two that left for other teams are oSee, who joined Liquid, and MarKE, who sits without a team.
The two replacement players are Grim from Liquid and junior from FURIA.
I don’t need to talk much about Grim. His performances at the end of the year, when the toxicity had melted down, were a great omen of his future, of his potential. Add to that the fact that he got a bunch of experience from some of NA’s greatest ever superstars, and he almost becomes the perfect guy for a young team like COL.
junior was released from FURIA, and he wasn’t too great there. But he has undeniable talent, and playing in a system with arT is way different than playing with JT. It’ll be interesting to see what happens of junior, and whether or not he can find a sweet spot between the two playstyles: the one he’s used to and the one he’ll have to get used to.
floppy and FaNg are great riflers. FaNg is only 19 and has a lot of time on his side to become a household name in NA CS. Great guys to look forward to.
JT is personally very exciting to me. He’s a great IGL, but has a high skill ceiling too, mechanically. I am excited to see how he strikes a balance between not becoming too passive/supportive and becoming a full-fledged “traditional” IGL.
All in all, the young, youthful squad of Complexity is my favorite in the NA scene right now. They’re still getting used to top-tier CS and don’t have much experience, but they have it in them to possibly topple Liquid to take the throne as the most dangerous CS side of the NA region.
Last Dance
I bet you were waiting for this. Last Dance. FalleN, fer, and fnx have reunited. The core of the team that dominated CS:GO in 2016 is back together. It’s a great storyline, to end a career with the ones you started it with.
But the core of this team is based on nostalgia, not competition. There’s a reason why coldzera did not join Last Dance and opted to play and mentor the young talent in try in 00Nation, instead.
It will be great for the fans to see their Brazilian heroes back together. It’s a great money grab scheme as well, with FalleN selling a bunch of stuff off the name of Last Dance. It’s good for these 3 players, as this will almost definitely be their last team in pro-CS. They might as well have as much fun as they can and earn as much money as they can while going out.
The other two guys in Last Dance are VINI and boltz. It won’t be their last team of course, but it’s great for them too to learn from the Brazilian trio.
COL’s ex-coach, peacemaker, is now the coach of Last Dance.
— Gabriel Toledo (@FalleNCS) January 23, 2022
The Rest
FURIA replaced the departing VINI with saffee. It’s clearly a short-term move, as replacing a 22-year-old high potential kid with a 27-year-old player is not the wisest decision. But given saffee’s great performances in the Major, it’s not that outlandish a move. FURIA have what it takes to break into Top 5. Let’s see if they could live up to that potential.
Seja bem-vindo à FURIA, @saffeecsgo! ?#DIADEFURIA #FURIACS pic.twitter.com/Zo9MnoLxbL
— FURIA (@FURIA) January 6, 2022
Ex-EG coach, daps, will be playing for an orgless roster, leading famous tier-two players like BNB’s Swisher and Party Astrounauts’ Infinite. The other two players to join the team are BNB’s Bwills and 18-year-old Minus, who EliGE picked as his potential Top 20 player in the years to come. Let’s see if daps can help the kid reach the potential that EliGE sees in him. Under coach Lucid, this team will look to qualify for some big events. Hopefully, the younger players can shine on this team and bag transfers to bigger teams.
Another high value roster change was that of 00Nation. They added some of the most interesting players to their squad. malbsMd, a 19-year-old Argentine rifler, was added to the team. 17-year-old Argentine, “try”, was KSCERATO and Ax1Le’s bold prediction for the future. 00Nation has signed the prodigious AWPer, and tasked the mentoring of his progress to none other than coldzera himself.
Other than m0NESY to G2, nothing makes me salivate more than coldzera leading try to greatness.
GAME ON ?
Bienvenidos, @tryRSS ?? pic.twitter.com/112i5euEX5
— 00 NATION DNB (@zerozeronation) January 21, 2022
In the end, NA has been plunged into complete chaos after Team Liquid’s breakup. The talent is all spread out now. Even ex-CS:GO players who left for VALORANT are jumping on this opportunity and coming back into the scene. It’ll be much, much easier now for young players looking to grow and be mentored by experienced players.
And isn’t that what we really want? A bunch of teams competing fiercely against one another and growing together as a result, instead of one single monarch team being tested and pushed to the limits only against European teams in high stakes tournaments.
Where NA is today, is where it should’ve been ages ago. Hoarding old talents under a single organization banner is extremely detrimental for the newer players in the scene. We have associated the NA scene to be synonymous with Team Liquid’s performance for years.
But I boldly state today that the death of Team Liquid marks the birth of NA CS.
