Heading into the new year, Liquid were one of the teams that experienced a major roster shake-up, with only Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and Keith “NAF” Markovic being retained from the 2021 iteration of the lineup. Following the move, the North American organization welcomed Nick “nitr0” Cannella, Josh “oSee” Ohm, and Richard “shox” Papillon in hopes of changing their fortunes in 2022.
The team’s performance being a step up from the previous year is debatable, however, as Liquid have fallen short of their goals and often bowed out of tournaments without being much of a threat to the elite teams. Eventually, change was needed and it came in the form of benching coach Eric “adreN” Hoag and rifler shox from the main roster.
Read more
Liquid bench shox and adreN
The Frenchman revealed through a linked statement posted on his official twitter account, which can be accessed in both French and English, his views on the half-year he spent in Liquid, the reasons for his decision to be placed on the bench, and the future of his career.
shox is taking some time off to recover from burnout as he ponders his future
Prior to joining the team, shox revealed his excitement to work with Liquid due to two reasons: the ‘sport’ and ‘human’ aspects. He praised his soon-to-be teammates such as nitr0 for his leadership and the potential oSee would bring to the team. shox also stated that his objective was to share his many years of experience playing the game with his new squad.
“My main goal was to bring back the maximum of experience that I have accumulated over the years,” shox said, “Europe being ahead in CS compared to the US, I wanted to help them catch up and become as competitive as possible in the current meta.”
“On the human side, it was agreed that I would be in the US for two specific periods of 3 months and 2 months in 2022. I discussed this with my wife, and we thought that it could be beneficial as a life experience, for me, for her, for the little one too, for us. Discovering a new culture, new ways of thinking, a new way of living can only be enriching to us and we were ready to embark on this ‘American Dream’.”
Things quickly took a hard turn when multiple issues regarding various tournaments caused the team to travel to Europe more often than expected, which greatly impacted shox and his family’s aspirations of being together in the United States more often. With Liquid constantly on the move, the 30-year-old oftentimes found himself without a place to call home.
“As a consequence, I find myself having my life in France but having the life and agenda of an American player which immediately makes things very very complicated. I’m always on the move, I have no time to relax and recover from this overloaded CS schedule,” shox explained.
“Not having a home in the US, I was either in a hotel during these periods or at the manager (Steve)’s house that I thank from the bottom of my heart because knowing my situation, he did everything to make my trip as pleasant as possible, many thanks for his accommodation.”
The aim now is to join another team and start a new chapter, shox says
With regards to how the team was performing, shox shared some positives such as their ESL Pro League campaign, where they ended in 5-8th place, but he also mentioned how Liquid‘s form began to dip on American soil due to the vast differences in their training at home and in Europe. “I could see our level regressing when we were there because the American training is far from the quality we can have in Europe, so all the work we had done was gradually decreasing.
“I continued to give what I could give until the end, even though I felt like I was getting very tired with all the ups and downs but I couldn’t do anything else, so I gritted my teeth and made it to the end. At the end of the Major, I had a burnout, I had to go home as soon as possible. That’s why I wasn’t present in Antwerp for the finals and I apologize for all the fans who were waiting for my presence.”
Since the major I have been doing everything to take care of myself in order to get better as quickly as possible
shox also spoke about how to revert the toll taken from his time without a solid grounding for him and his family. “The human aspect that requires a balance in my life that I have not had for 6 months, the choice to put myself on the bench was inevitable in my eyes,” he said.
“Since the major I have been doing everything to take care of myself in order to get better as quickly as possible such as getting a mental coach, family resources, sports, psychological escape,” shox said, exclaiming that he felt a ‘tremendous need’ for such things. “I can already start to feel the benefits and I intend to continue in this direction in order to be fulfilled in my life but also to be ready at 200% for my next chapter with a new team.”
He ended by expressing gratitude to both his teammates and those he worked with inside the Liquid organization, as well as stating that he’s open to a new chapter in his career elsewhere.
Read more
YEKINDAR to stand in for Liquid at IEM Cologne
Since then, Liquid have announced the necessary changes to their roster ahead of their next Big Event, IEM Cologne, welcoming Damian “daps” Steele as the team’s new coach in place of the benched adreN, and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis temporarily standing in for the North American side as their fifth man for the upcoming million-dollar tournament in Germany.
