G2 vs Team Liquid Predictions, Game Preview, Live Stream, Odds & Picks
While a lot of teams haven’t played a single official game in the past few weeks, there has been quite a lot happening behind the scenes. Some teams used their break to simply rest and get ready for the upcoming tournaments, and on the other hand, some teams used their off-time to find reinforcements in an effort to get better results in the 2nd half of the season. G2 Esports and Team Liquid kick off their return, bringing out new additions to their lineups.
jks and HooXi Join G2
We recently covered the recent acquisition of JKS and HooXi for G2 and talked about the issues this team faced during the last couple of tournaments. The incoming duo take the places of Audric “JACKZ” Jug and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, who were allowed to explore other opportunities after what had been a disappointing start to the year for the European squad.
Looking at jks, he comes to G2 after spending the past nine months on Complexity’s bench when the organization opted to pivot away from the renowned “Juggernaut” project. In his year-long tenure with the Dallas-based organization, jks averaged a 1.02 rating across 189 maps, but the team were unable to achieve any noteworthy results.
More recently, however, the Australian was called up as a stand-in for FaZe during IEM Katowice, filling the shoes of both Robin “ropz” Kool and Håvard “rain” Nygaard at various stages of the tournament. In what became one of the biggest Cinderella runs in Counter-Strike history, FaZe went on to win the event outright, with the Australian posting an impressive 1.14 rating on their way to the championship.
The final piece of the puzzle comes in the form of HooXi, who is to be at the helm of this new-look G2 roster after taking over the reins from Aleksib. The Dane joins the team after notably leading his side to a quarter-final appearance at the PGL Antwerp Major whilst a part of Copenhagen Flames.
Kicking off the tournament in the best manner is going to be crucial for this new G2 roster, especially if we consider that they are facing a Team Liquid that couldn’t find much success in the season so far. And as expected, the CSGO odds are in favor of G2 for their first series of the event.
Yekindar Continues Run with Liquid
After an impressive debut that saw the North American side reach the quarter-finals of IEM Cologne in July, the 22-year-old Latvian will make his second appearance with the team, making it their highest big-event placing since they underwent core changes at the beginning of the year. The organization and the players have made no secret of their plans to pursue signing YEKINDAR permanently, repeatedly praising the ever-aggressive rifler while in Cologne for having a big voice on the team already and for his contributions to the team’s improvement.
“YEKINDAR not only has helped EliGE find a new-ish role that maybe fits his playstyle, but also in terms of his voice in the team has been pretty amazing so far” said Damian “daps” Steele, current Team Liquid CSGO coach. ” I played with a lot of players in my career, but the fact that he’s standing in and he’s already taken charge, to an extent, and he’s teaching the guys a lot, I’m learning a lot from him“, he added.
It’s very clear that Yekindar is making such a huge impact within the team even outside of the game, which is the main reason why this team is very adamant about continuing their 2022 run with him on the roster. If there is a chance that Team Liquid ends up picking the victory over G2 Esports, it is going to be in great part thanks to the Latvian player.
G2 vs Team Liquid Game Information
- Date: Saturday, August 20
- Time: 8:00am ET
- G2 vs Team Liquid Live Stream: BLASTPremier – Twitch
G2 vs Team Liquid Predictions
It is no surprise that in a NA vs EU matchup, Europe comes in as the favorites to win the match, and this case, it isn’t the exception. I still remember one of our esports picks we shared with you for one of G2’s matches against Liquid at the PGL Major Antwerp back in May, and I expect the outcome to be the same one.
While both teams have made significant changes in their roster, I still think that G2 has the upper hand in almost every aspect. Their recent acquisitions could be considered much stronger reinforcements than Yekindar is to Liquid. Sure, the North American squad has looked great with the Latvian player in their lineup, but it’s still not going to be enough to take over the game against one of Europe’s most beloved teams.
