EliGE said he was excited for malbs’s addition, but showed mixed feelings about the implications for Americas Major qualification.
Honestly the VRS is so complicated to me,” EliGE said. “That’s why there are dedicated VRS people that orgs commission to tell them what tournaments to go to make it to the Major.
This is crucial context for the trade that G2 and Liquid effectuated involving NertZ and malbsMd. Liquid was in dire straits just two weeks ago, when they had just a 29% chance of making it to the IEM Cologne 2026 Major, as per MischiefCS2’s VRS analysis on X.
But with this sudden trade, Liquid went from being a European team to an Americas team, upping their chances to 93% overnight. That being said, EliGE said that he thought the point of the move was not to “yoink” a spot from another Americas team, despite also saying he had nothing to do with it.
I think [the VRS implications] are unfortunate […] but I don’t feel there was anything being abused,” EliGE said. “It’s not something that was planned to my knowledge, […] to just yoink a spot.
Nonetheless, EliGE did say he understands the frustration of the competing NA teams.
Even though we didn’t break any rules, it does suck,” EliGE said. “Of course, there’s expenses for [other NA teams] going to tournaments and they’re budgeting for that, […] I think it’s up to Valve to make the rules for that.
Despite not knowing, “excited” to play with MalbsMd
“I think he fits the profile of the type of player we need to find stability,” EliGE said. “He has a lot of attributes personality-wise and in-game that we can structure the team around.
EliGE praised malbs’s mechanics in M80 and early G2. He also said that there was some overlap between him and NertZ when asked about it.
Liquid’s recent “disappointments” and stance towards critical fans
The fans should demand that we play better,” EliGE said. “There’s not much [for fans] to be positive about when we’re losing to teams that we shouldn’t and it’s disappointment after disappointment.
Listen to the full interview with EliGE here:
