“We deserve to be doubted in the last few months because our results were very underwhelming.”

James "Kryptix" Affleck minced no words. Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #22 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak had been slumping for months. Fans were calling for a complete overhaul of the roster.

“But I think being doubted can be a positive because it makes you work harder and want it even more to prove people wrong.”

Rather than completely overhaul the roster, however, Liquid swapped out just one player. They took team captain and IGL Adam "ec1s" Eccles out of the lineup, and put Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen into the roster.

“Jamppi brought so much to the team straight away. First day he instantly fit in, he was cracking jokes like he's been in the team a year,” Kryptix said with some laughter. “We used to have a problem with not being able to bounce back from hard situations in-game when we were losing. But he keeps the mood up and hypes everyone up to be confident to come back.”

“We also didn't have an Operator player when we played with ec1s and already with how little he has played compared to everybody else he is one of the best Jett Operator players I've seen.”

Jamppi has played Jett for Team Liquid almost exclusively since making the swap from CS:GO to Valorant. His mechanical ability transferred seemingly with ease from one tactical shooter to the other as he instantly lit up scoreboards when he started playing for Team Liquid. But he still flashes his inexperience — or perhaps it's just how he'll always play — with silly mistakes or unreasonable aggression or otherwise questionable plays, earning him the playful title “superjampnoob” from Kryptix while he described the extra firepower he brought the team.

But that firepower, combined with his personality and his ability to main the Operator for the team, has been crucial in Liquid's turnaround. Getting a player who could specialize in using the game's sniper weapon, particularly one as good at it as Jamppi, meant Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom could be freed up to use rifles.

ScreaM has long been the point to Liquid's spear, taking on the role of whatever entry duelist the team needed be it Reyna or Jett. But his explosive ability shines best while using rifles, an attribute that has been no secret to Liquid if the “1tap” nickname Kryptix referred to him with is any indication, and he often was forced to take up the Operator instead just because he was their best choice on that weapon, too.

With Jamppi on the squad, that's no longer the case. Everyone on the team is now freed up to play roles and use weapons that fit them better. That means everyone can play at their best all the time.

But Jamppi isn't the only factor in Liquid's resurgence. By just swapping one player, the team was able to maintain one of the key aspects to its early success.

“Our success at the start of the game came from us all knowing each other from CS:GO, we already had very good chemistry and we started grinding practices from day one of beta,” Kryptix said. “We were really far ahead compared to other teams back then so tournaments were pretty easy to win.”

Of course, Liquid lost the advantage of their early grind as more teams and players got a chance to practice the game more, which then reflected in Liquid's results. But the team still has three players from the days of its beta dominance, and still has four players from when Liquid first signed the roster. The chemistry is still there.

The three players from the team's beta success joined Liquid last year alongside their coach, Connor "Sliggy" Blomfield, who is still with the team. He's the next crucial piece that Kryptix points to.

“Sliggy is a massive key to our success, he is one of the most hard working coaches I've ever seen,” Kryptix said. “We practice for up to nine hours a day and he does hours and hours of VOD watching after we play.”

But both the chemistry and the coach have been with the team for some time. So what else besides Jamppi has recently boosted the team?

“The switching point was when the team went to the Alienware Facility,” Kryptix said. “It helped us massively to prepare for the VCT qualifiers all being in one spot.”

He's referring to Team Liquid's Alienware Training Facility, which was opened in Europe last September. The facility is located in the Netherlands, and has rooms for practice, recovery, and dining.

“Our biggest progression has been within the last six weeks,” Kryptix said. “Having a gaming facility to go and just non-stop grind in helped us tremendously.”

The extra practice together and the additional player allowed Team Liquid to finally return to its beta glory. The squad finished second in Europe's Stage 2 Challengers 2 before taking the EMEA Stage 2 crown to qualify for Valorant's first ever international LAN. “It means a lot to us to bounce back from where we were a few months ago,” Kryptix said. “We had a lot of disappointing results in tournaments for a while.”

But they're not content with simply being the best team in EMEA.

“We really want this first place at Iceland. We have been grinding so hard, anything less would be a disappointment.”