Liquid’s decision to skip next month’s PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 has sparked debate within the community. Was it the right move and can Liquid really afford to miss out on this opportunity?
With that being said, Spirit, Vitality, NAVI, and G2 have also opted out of the $1.25 million event in Romania – but unlike Liquid, they hold firm positions in Valve’s Regional Ranking.
A luxury that Liquid doesn’t possess.
mithR explains
Liquid’s head coach, Torbjørn “mithR” Nyborg, addressed the situation in a roundtable discussion ahead of IEM Katowice, revealing that the choice to skip PGL Cluj-Napoca was made by the Liquid organization, not him or the players.
During the talk, host Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill asked mithR directly:
– I know you’ve said that you let JokaSteve (Liquid GM) handle a lot of the decisions. Is he the decision-maker there?
mithR responded:
– I know that I’m not [the decision-maker]. We discuss what tournaments we want to go to. But yeah, that’s one of the things, where we’re being told what tournaments we go to, and I think that makes sense. There are a lot of details and meetings. I don’t know who has discussed what with who. At the end of the day, there are some tournaments we go to and some that we skip. It’s not going to matter too much for us whether it’s one or the other.
He elaborated:
– It’s not like I’m totally excluded from these kinds of discussions, but at the end of the day I’m here to coach the team and there are others who are making the decisions as to what tournaments we’re attending – and I’m totally happy with that, mithR said.
Liquid’s choice to skip Cluj-Napoca raises concerns about how it might impact their path towards the Major in Austin. While other top teams can afford to miss the event without immediate consequences, Liquid’s position is far more fragile.
For a detailed breakdown of why this decision could backfire, HLTV’s Milan “Striker” Švejda has rolled out the situation in a column on HLTV.
Read it here.