Group Liquid are so near CS2 greatness. The management duo of Viktor “flashie” Tamas Bea and Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek is beginning to click on, including consistency to the performances of Keith “NAF” Markovic, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, and Man “NertZ” Iluz.
There’s only one downside. That’s solely 4 members of the workforce, and the identical can’t be mentioned for his or her AWPer, Roland “final” Tomkowiak.
Maybe the one AWPer in Counter-Strike who’s criticized greater than Helvjis “broky” Saukaunts, final’s place on the workforce is continually questioned, and his continued presence will lengthen the time the workforce spends out of the highest ten.
Not Reduce Out for Tier 1?
One factor has grow to be evidently clear: final is solely not a tier one AWPer. There’s no disgrace in that; not many AWPers are as of late. It’s most likely the toughest it’s ever been for Counter-Strike’s conventional stars to shine, but it surely’s additionally the simplest it has been for them to fade into the background, and supreme doesn’t try this.
As an alternative, due to his aggressive playstyle, final is the shining gentle of all the pieces fallacious with Group Liquid.
The humorous half about that, although, is that final doesn’t truly take that many opening duels. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Ilya “m0NESY” Ospipov, and Danil “molodoy” Golubenko all take between 3-8% extra of their workforce’s T aspect opening duels (and the identical is true for CT aspect, too) however they’re all additionally simpler than when they’re the primary to battle.
Much more passive AWPers than final, like Adam “torzsi” Torzsas and Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, are simpler than the Pole after they take the opening duel, begging the query why final does it in any respect.
In fact, a gap duel, though the obvious type, isn’t the one marker of aggression with Counter-Strike. Makes an attempt to retake house, or just the angle you select to carry when house is misplaced, can be indicators of how aggressive a participant is. That is the place the vast majority of final’s aggression is discovered, resulting in a better deaths per spherical than any of the aforementioned AWPers, and sadly for him and his workforce, a decrease kills per spherical than any of them, too.
The actual fact is, final merely isn’t expert sufficient to be taking these kind of duels. molodoy can, and does it to nice impact, resulting in 0.63 sniper kills per spherical. Even ZywOo and m0NESY, who’re each recognized for rifling extra incessantly than different AWPers, have extra sniper kills per spherical than final, with each of them having 0.47, in comparison with final’s 0.40.
The truth is, there isn’t a single sniping metric during which final outperforms any of those AWPers, and that’s a giant downside for a workforce that’s nonetheless making an attempt to determine itself as a contender for the primary time in years. That is particularly a difficulty every time he has to play towards one among them, as defined within the podcast beneath.
Figuring out a New Sniper
Sadly, final simply hasn’t improved since becoming a member of Liquid in 2024. The truth is, he’s solely gotten worse as groups have realized to adapt to his playstyle and countered him extra. On condition that it’s now been 18 months since his recruitment, that may solely imply one factor: it’s time to maneuver on.
However who to? As we mentioned, AWPers are having a tougher time now than ever earlier than, so who can truly shine in what remains to be an extremely impactful function?
The apparent reply can be former Spirit and Falcons AWPer, Abdul “degster” Gasanov. A participant who, admittedly, is barely overrated due to his MVP efficiency at PGL Bucharest previous to his Falcons benching, he’s the one AWPer price choosing up who can be a free agent, and that makes him an interesting prospect.
He’s additionally a longtime tier one participant with loads of expertise, and one who has traditionally levelled up in arenas at that. That’s not one thing we’ll be capable of say concerning the different names we’ll recommend.
Given his standing as a recognized amount, although, and the visa points he’s had up to now, there are some points with him. And there are additionally extra bold choices if you understand the place to seek out them.
One such choice can be MIBR’s on-loan AWPer, Klimtentii “kl1m” Krivosheev. The previous star of G2 Ares, kl1m has been tearing it up in South America ever since signing for MIBR, and like ZywOo and m0NESY, can be proficient with rifles, one thing that could be a nice profit to have at the same time as molodoy continues to redefine the AWPing meta.
There may be the difficulty that he hasn’t actually established himself in Europe, although, though his sturdy displaying on the StarLadder Budapest Main regardless of MIBR’s struggles suggests he’s greater than able to make the step up. That simply leaves a buyout to contemplate, though we will’t think about that it gained’t come at a excessive value.
Nevertheless, if Liquid need an AWPer that already has confirmed himself in Europe, then they need to look no additional than BIG’s Gleb “gr1ks” Gazin. A participant whose status took successful after HEROIC unceremoniously benched him, he has since exploded on BIG, firing them to a number of (small) occasion wins and with spectacular sniping stats as well. In fact, he would additionally probably come at a excessive value, however that’s the associated fee that comes with making an attempt to be a trophy contender.
Because it stands, although, it doesn’t matter which of those AWPers they go for – so long as they go for one among them. Or anybody else for that matter, simply so long as final doesn’t stay on the workforce. Roland from Poland simply doesn’t lower it, and Liquid will see themselves unable to clasp their fingers round a constant playoff berth whereas he’s nonetheless holding the large inexperienced for them.
