How EliGE’s T-side entry struggles are derailing Liquid

EliGE has had a long career and has seen a lot of success in his role as an entry fragger. That longevity has had some massive peaks, and you don’t need to go too far to find them. In 2024, EliGE’s tenure in Complexity caught many eyes. Even after getting ousted from Liquid, EliGE was able to hold his own among the best entry fraggers in the world. To illustrate, here is a brief comparison between him and donk on the T-side in big events in 2024:

It’s pretty clear that EliGE was exceptional. Being that good on the T-side entries is what also helped him secure a spot in FaZe, while giving him a lot of headroom to dictate the team with his style of play. And while FaZe did not do too well, EliGE was still quite effective with his entries. On the T-side, EliGE had a success rate of over 52% while also having a very high opening attempt share of over 25% of the team. These are elite numbers, and they helped FaZe become one of the more potent teams on the T-side, despite not having a reliable closer.

His numbers in Liquid tell a bleak story

EliGE’s T-side impact was probably what Liquid had in mind when they signed him. Twistzz had already evolved into more of a supportive player on the T-side in FaZe. And while NertZ had been fairly good when left on his own, he wasn’t very reliable at bulldozing into bombsites. So Liquid had to get rid of Twistzz, and bring in a rifler who could bring Liquid’s T-sides into a lot of 5v4 situations. And slowly, with EliGE transitioning into the team, we saw the shift happen as EliGE (25.9%) started overtaking NertZ (25.1%) in T-side opening attempts.

However, this time, the results were drastically different. EliGE was nowhere close to finding the same success as he did previously. In fact, his success rate dropped to below 33%. And this number was closer to 28% before BLAST Open Rotterdam. To give you an idea of how poor this statistic is, karrigan holds a success rate of around 27% this year with around the same 24% attempt, despite how underwhelming FaZe has been.

However, with malbsMd, things have changed, at least for the small sample size of 16 maps so far. In their debut map on Mirage, the T-side was heavily reliant on EliGE to find openings. However, this changed quickly on Ancient, the very next map, as malbsMd began to take charge.

If you take a look at the number of openings malbsMd used to take on the T-side for G2, it was a lot. It was above the 30% mark, as he was head and shoulders above the rest in aggression. And even though in Rotterdam EliGE still had a very high number of attempts, his numbers improved drastically. It was also his highest-rated event so far in the Liquid jersey, as he was successful in over 42% of his duels.

For an entry fragger like EliGE, getting shut down early tanks confidence. And that has clearly shown. I am not sure if it is the overall structure that is not allowing him to perform at full capacity, but the arrival of malbsMd has had a noticeable impact. Even in the following tournament, DraculaN Season 6, EliGE had a success rate of 43.5% while having less than 25% in opening attempts. malbsMd is slowly picking up his pace, and this is the level I want to see alongside EliGE.

The T-side problems for Liquid and how they can be solved with a better structure

It often goes overlooked how poor siuhy has been at opening duels. And he is responsible for a considerable amount, too. For someone who entries almost 30% of the time, almost as close to EliGE, having a success rate of around 30% more often than not is not justifiable. Even if it means that you are being the sacrificial lamb during rushes and executes, this number is still far from ideal.

Because if you look closely, you have siuhy forcing himself into deaths in most rounds. Then your team is ranked in the bottom four among the top 25 when it comes to trading. And when you send EliGE to get openings, even he struggles. It boils down to 4v5s on most occasions, and then your team is still outside the top 20 teams at converting these 5v4s. Which essentially means that you are doomed on the T-side.

The problem with NertZ was that he could not be either of the two players Liquid needed. He could not be the hardcore cannon fodder entry fragger who you could rely on to get at least one opening or die trying. He could not be the secondary entry to get the multi-kills needed, either. Now with malbsMd, the difference is that he can be both, but for that, EliGE will have to adjust.

You can’t have two players fighting for those 30% attempts. Because that would lead back to the same problem Liquid is having, a lower success rate. You have potentially two players who can do both, but you don’t want them doing both.

The most successful lineup of G2, with malbsMd and NiKo, thrived because you had the best of all worlds. A combination of a highly aggressive player in malbsMd, and someone like NiKo, who is better at selective openings, where he does not engage a lot but has a high success rate when he does.

I think for Liquid to work, this is the kind of structure they will have to build. Let malbsMd be the hardcore entry fragger. Let siuhy lean more towards supporting the player. And you already have a much more reliable structure on the T-side.