0.87 Rating and Zero Major Playoffs: Team Liquid Cut siuhy, But the Real Disease Is Elsewhere

Hook

I didn't believe it at first. In April 2026, when Polish in-game leader Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek arrived at Team Liquid on loan from MOUZ, I wrote in my notebook — this roster is going to a Major playoff. The reasoning was simple. At MOUZ, siuhy wasn't just a shot-caller; he was the architect of a system. Around him at Liquid were "several strong pieces" — a phrase lifted from Dust2.us's report, and it is the most uncomfortable part of this whole story. Despite those strong pieces, across 185 maps siuhy's individual rating settled at 0.87. Across three Majors, Liquid played a 5-11 map record, a 31 percent win rate, and zero playoffs. Now siuhy is a free agent. But the question isn't about cutting siuhy. The question is why Liquid is standing in exactly the same place after cycling through four shot-callers.

Context

Liquid's CS2 in-game leader position has been a spinning wheel. Casper "cadiaN" Møller, then Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken, then siuhy, and now Johnny "JT" Theodosiou. Four shot-callers, each arriving with the promise of fixing a broken system. This pattern isn't rare in CS2, but turnover this frequent in this short a window is a symptom of a specific disease — strategic identity collapse. Each new caller rebuilds scrim routines, default setups, and mid-round calling philosophy from scratch. Chemistry then starts from zero, and in sixteen months it never reaches completion.

One thing needs clarifying. CS2 is a Valve-controlled, mechanics-driven title. Patches don't arrive every two weeks like Riot's. That means Liquid's failure isn't due to any patch-targeted playstyle. The cause is internal — calling, form, structure. siuhy arrived on loan in April 2026, and his tenure ended with a benching, then a release. Sixteen months. The single biggest success in that entire span? A top-4 at FISSURE Playground #2. That's a tier-2 or tier-3 event.

What a Major is also matters. In CS2, a Major is the highest-prestige, Valve-sanctioned championship, and its format runs on the Swiss system — teams with identical records face each other. This format is unforgiving. It catches inconsistency, especially in the early rounds where BO1 volatility is highest. From my twelve years of watching matches, I'll say this: the Swiss group stage is where unstable rosters break first.

Core

There's a common misconception about the 0.87 rating. Many assume a low rating is normal for an in-game leader, since he focuses on calling over fragging. That's partly true, but this case is different. siuhy's 0.87 isn't merely low by IGL standards; it falls in a band associated with underperformance. And the problem is doubled — because alongside the team's failure, siuhy also failed to deliver frags personally. He delivered neither the intangibles (calling) nor the tangibles (frags).

I think the real point hides right here. There were strong pieces around siuhy — this framing matters, because it places blame on leadership and cohesion rather than raw talent. In other words, this wasn't a talent-deficit rebuild. This was an integration failure.

Shot-caller churn is a classic indicator in CS2. cadiaN to Twistzz, Twistzz to siuhy — two separate eras had already ended before siuhy. So the problem didn't start with siuhy. He arrived into an already unstable structure, and that structure ultimately placed the blame on him. He was successful at MOUZ, arrived at Liquid with promise, but the formula never matched. This isn't a loss of fundamental skill — it's the friction of system adaptation.

I've seen this pattern elsewhere too. In-game leaders moving from Europe to North American organizations often hit the same wall. The cause is structural. Top EU orgs like MOUZ can lend star or rotational talent on loan — meaning that in the talent hierarchy, Europe is the exporter and NA the importer. Liquid is a NA-headquartered org, but its CS roster is largely EU-based. This import dependency signals a structural weakness, and siuhy's failure merely repeated that signal.

Now the hard numbers. A 5-11 map record, a 31 percent win rate — this sits well below the competitive band expected of a Liquid-tier roster. And zero playoffs across three Majors means repeated Swiss-stage exits. In CS2, the Major is the heaviest performance benchmark. Failing to convert across three separate appearances signals a structural problem, not incidental bad luck. A top-4 at FISSURE Playground #2 alongside zero Major playoffs paints a familiar picture: right at mid-tier events, exposed at the top tier. In football this pattern is called a flat-track bully. Like a team that wins group stages through set-piece goals — brilliant in groups, helpless in knockouts. Liquid played a Major-heavy calendar in this window, but never reached the ceiling the roster was built for.

Now a financial angle. siuhy departed as a free agent, meaning Liquid received no buyout or transfer fee. Zero fee. This is a pragmatic signal — the org valued clearing the roster slot over monetizing the contract. But a mid-season IGL release typically carries sunk-cost write-downs — remaining salary, signing-bonus amortization, plus the cost of a replacement. The numbers aren't disclosed here, but the cost is real.

For siuhy, the picture is now personal. A 0.87 rating over 185 maps is a damaged résumé. But a free agent means no buyout fee — he's attractive to budget-conscious orgs, provided they accept the form risk. A bigger market story is also running right now: 100 Thieves is rebuilding a CS roster, and s1mple has moved to BC.Game. This cluster signals an active transfer and free-agency market — a pre-window reshuffle. Liquid also has a Dota 2 midOne vacancy, meaning the org is resetting across multiple titles at once. This multi-title reset posture can create internal resource competition.

Finally, JT. He's the IGL now, but installing a new caller mid-cycle means a honeymoon-to-adjustment transition that can mask or delay deeper problems. Whether JT is a fifth lap or a genuine reset — time will tell.

Contrarian

Now let me stand against my own argument. I said siuhy's rating makes him guilty. But rating doesn't fully measure an IGL's value. An in-game leader's real work — strategic direction, mid-round calling, economy management — sits outside rating. So maybe siuhy was actually calling well, and the failure was in his teammates' execution?

That argument is weak, because despite strong pieces the team didn't convert. If the caller is excellent and the fielders are strong, where does the failure come from? The answer is often leadership. And second, 0.87 isn't only about calling — it's frag output too.

But one possibility I can't dismiss: maybe the problem isn't siuhy or JT, but the org's impatience. Sixteen months, best result a top-4 — this pattern suggests the org was waiting for the roster to click, a passive stance that delayed necessary change. Then the blame lies with structure more than replacement. And one data caution is essential: the source has a date inconsistency around the benching that needs verification.

Takeaway

siuhy is a free agent, Liquid's slot is open, no replacement is named. My firm prediction: if Liquid doesn't secure a genuine, long-term shot-caller within the next six months — and it isn't just another name change — this reset becomes the fifth lap. The question of converting at Majors isn't about a caller's name; it's about structural patience.