Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
Team Liquid entered its opening match of Champions Shanghai as an underdog against fan favorite Paper Rex and lost 2-1, but showed more fight than most may have expected.
One of the bright spots for Liquid in the match was rookie player GSR, who ended the series as the team’s highest-rated player at 1.05. The Team Liquid Academy graduate, who turned 18 this past August, made a milestone, becoming the first player in the partnership era to make their debut on the Champions stage. He opened up about his first-ever VCT game, as well as the feeling that comes with making the debut.
“To be honest, like at first, I was really nervous,” GSR told Ult Orb. “Then after the second map, we started to win some rounds, I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, I was made for this.’”
It’d be hard to blame the Serbian for being shaky in the Jing’an Sports Center, which is already said to be the highest-capacity venue for an international group stage, but once he got past those early jitters, he seemed to enter a real flow state.
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“Ever since then, it’s been really fun,” he said. “I hear the crowd, it’s so much fun, and I cannot wait to do it again.”
Liquid head coach LohaN shared some insight on the decision, which has not come without criticism. Duelist player purp0 had been a starter for the entire year, only to be replaced ahead of Champions Shanghai.
“It was a really hard decision to make,” he said. “I love purp0 as a person. I mean, it’s nothing personal, but at the end of the day, this is a competition. It is esports. Like in any other sport, I made the decision because I believe it will give us a higher chance to get deeper into the tournament.”
GSR, long hailed as one of EMEA’s biggest up-and-coming talents, has been in Liquid’s system since the beginning of 2025, competing with the academy roster and helping it reach Challengers EMEA five times in two seasons as a consistent top-two team in Challengers NORTH//EAST.
“I think GSR is a great player,” LohaN said. “Obviously in terms of flexibility, we can take other types of directions in terms of compositions and whatnot. I think he did good today. I have full trust in him, and it will only go up from here.”
In the series, Team Liquid’s lone map win came forth thanks to an obscure Haven comp with Yoru/Raze, with Harbor as the solo Controller. LohaN shared his thoughts on how the comp played out, and why TL went with the off-the-wall picks.
“Obviously, we have limited time for preparation for Champs,” he said. “It was an idea we wanted to try. It worked well in practice, and I think it went well. It was the only map that we won, so I would say it went well.”
The comp, which caught many by surprise, got Liquid a 13-7 win on its pick of Haven. Looking ahead, Liquid will be sent to the lower bracket in Group C, set to take on a TYLOO squad that is looking to bounce back after losing to G2 Esports.
