Quick Scope is series of oftentimes short opinion pieces written by Steven Cropley.

With the rumor mill starting to turn and accusations being thrown, I figured now would be a good time to make a case for why Liquid shouldn’t make a change…yet.

Now this of course applies if there aren’t major issues within the team in terms of relationships that can’t be mended or not without significant time and effort that they don’t deem worthwhile.

My main case is the insane upside of this lineup which NAF has been a huge part of. This roster showed something absolutely insane when they cruised through event after event on their way to six tier 1 tournament wins in a row in addition to grabbing the $1 million Intel Grand Slam bonus.

Photo: Team Liquid

They weren’t just winning over the best teams, they were dominating. The rosters pure mechanical ability trumped the rest and their spacing and proper trading meant coming out on top of an engagement was near impossible against the North American side. Even if you did though, the repeated clutches by NAF, ELiGE, or Twistzz would only help to destroy their opponents confidence.

NAF has been one of the main pillars that held up the roster and their ability to play this way with his ability to make big impact plays, secure clutches, and remain cool in almost every situation.

The 21-year-old has shown his impact plenty of times and earned his MVP award during Liquids fifth tournament win of the year at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles.

Photo: StarLadder

I do believe the player break stalled the teams momentum and an initial drop in performance at the StarLadder Major in turn hurt their confidence which I believe was a massive part of their success. Their willingness to take fights confidently was an important aspect of the style that saw them winning so frequently prior to the break.

However, if they can muster up a tournament win and reignite that confidence then they can return to that form with this lineup.

Similarly, I’m not of the mind that one roster move, especially in the form of a NAF removal would see the team return to the same level as before.

NAF’s importance in the roster can’t be overstated similarly to the likes of ELiGE and Twistzz and it’s entirely too early to pull that plug.

Related article: