Liquid Valorant Team Plays Red Bull Homeground With Substitutes Due To Absence Of Russian Players

Sports

High drama for Team Liquid’s first tournament with its new squad.

In an interview with Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen earlier today, Twinfinite learned that Team Liquid will play the Red Bull Homeground tournament with two substitutes after newcomers Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin and Igor “Redgar” Vlasov were denied entry visas from Russia .

“Unfortunately, they couldn’t get their visas in time to join us in the UK so we had to take on two temporary staff… it’s a shame we can’t show our full team here but it is what it is,” Jamppi told me this morning.

Taking their place are two accomplished players from other European Valorant esports organizations: Enzo “Enzo” Mestari (ex-Fnatic) and Johan “Meddo” Lundborg (ex-G2).

“They’re still two really great players and I think we still have great chances to do well here, but of course it’s not the same vibe that there would have been with our entire team.” Jamppi admits.

As confident as Jamppi is, the team didn’t have much time to practice. In fact, they’ve only had one day so far.

“Basically we had a practice day with the two new guys, so we’re doing quite a bit of freestyle for the whole tournament, but we’re still confident.”

As for the roles and who will play what after losing two big names, Jamppi explained that Meddo will take on the guard role as Nats’ replacement, but they are approaching the tournament with a loose style that will incorporate that.”many different comps.” Jamppi told me:

“We’re not going to play like we would if we were playing with our own team because we haven’t had practice. We’re just going to come out with a great mindset on an individual level instead. There will be many different and fun competitions for sure.”

He later explained that although he’s had the helm of Liquid himself as IGL in the past, he wouldn’t return to that role for Red Bull Homeground — even if Redgar wasn’t involved. Instead, Sayf, who has been helping out with secondary calling since joining the team, will step in as the full IGL for the tournament.

Red Bull Homeground begins tomorrow, December 9th. The tournament will take place in Manchester, UK and will feature multiple teams partnering with Riot Games for next year’s Valorant Champions Tour League. There is a $100,000 prize pool for the eight invited teams to compete for. Team Liquid is the defending champion.

Keep an eye out for Twinfinite’s full interview with Jamppi in the coming days. Until then, be sure to check out Valorant’s latest patch notes if you haven’t already.