The return of Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella at Team Liquid and especially, on CS:GO had been leaked several weeks ago now. So it’s no surprise that Team Liquid announces his return to the position of captain of the formation.
After a stint on VALORANT at 100 Thieves originally unwanted by nitr0, due to a lack of proposals on CS:GO for the American player, he returns today to his first passion, Counter-Strike. Despite qualifying in 2021 at the Berlin Masters on the title of Riot Games, where the Thieves succeeded to grab the Top 4 of the event, the year 2021 was not easy for the formation of Los Angeles. At the VCT Last Chance Qualifier, the team failed to clinch their place for the VALORANT Champions, losing their first chance to Rise in the Upper Bracket Finals and then to Cloud9 in the Lower Bracket Finals. This is the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, which will have allowed nitr0 to return to CS:GO.
nitr0 is well known to the CS scene, he who spent almost his entire career on Valve’s game. He was even already present from 2015 to 2020 at Liquid before temporarily transitioning to VALORANT. In an interview granted by the player to washington post, we learn that it is during a discussion with Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski that he sensed an opportunity for him on the side of Team Liquid. He also explains that at 100 Thieves, it wasn’t much to lose his place on the roster, the team having already freed from steel, another CS:GO veteran a few months ago. His choice was greatly influenced by thean extension at Liquid of Keith “Naf” Markovic, he explains.
His new role as captain at Liquid, however, will not be not easy. He finds himself in charge of straighten out a team that has experienced many internal problems over the past year. Team Liquid experienced a sort of “war of egos” between its different players, who did not have the same vision in their way of playing. Some members of the roster had even been accused to be too lax in training. All this put end to end will have sunk this team which, on paper, had everything to become a dominant team on the American scene. During this time away from CS:GO, Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella says he learned a lot. The fact ofbecoming a father made him mature and it now asserts itself much more. He confides that he has also greatly evolved in the way he communicates with his teammates. At Team Liquid, his goal is simple, restore the image of the training, which has not shined for some time. At his side will also arrive the French Richard “shox” Butterfly, formerly of Vitality but also Joshua “oSee” Ohm, new roster sniper.