Liquid’s rapid IEM Melbourne 2025 improvements show siuhy’s value

Sometimes, it’s easy to overcomplicate the solutions to a Counter-Strike team’s problems. In the case of Team Liquid’s woes throughout the first quarter of 2025, it always felt like they needed a real IGL. Twistzz being allowed to cosplay karrigan was sandbagging the team, which is why they brought in siuhy from MOUZ on loan through to the end of the BLAST.tv Austin Major.

When MOUZ benched siuhy earlier this year, it came as a massive surprise. What was perhaps more surprising was the fact that MOUZ actually got better as a result, which didn’t exactly help his personal stock. However, the young IGL has been given his chance, and he seems to be grasping it with both hands. At IEM Melbourne 2025, we’ve seen a rapid improvement from Team Liquid, with the team now locked in for Playoffs after taking down NAVI in Group B’s Lower Bracket. Let’s take a look at the journey so far.

PGL Bucharest 2025 was a rough starting point

Admittedly, siuhy’s time on Liquid got off to a very poor start with PGL Bucharest 2025. Clean sweep losses to Legacy, Virtus.pro, and The MongolZ ensured there was no instant honeymoon period, as Liquid bombed out without a single map win. At this point, siuhy had been with the team for just a few days, so it’s understandable that he hadn’t yet had the time to stamp his authority on the roster.

Realistically, it could only get better from here.  And guess what? It did!

siuhy’s infectious energy leads the way for IEM Melbourne 2025

For me, siuhy is the driving force for Team Liquid’s massive improvement at IEM Melbourne 2025. By the numbers, everyone on the roster is having their best event in months, but there’s one player in particular who seems to have benefited from the IGL’s arrival – ultimate. The AWPer has been going through a rough period of late, but his rating at IEM Melbourne is his best since ESL Pro League S21, a significant improvement over his numbers at PGL Bucharest and BLAST Open Spring. I raise this point as siuhy was the catalyst for torzsi’s massive improvements on MOUZ – he seems to be an AWPer’s IGL, which is an invaluable quality at the top of the game.

With two weeks of break between Bucharest and Melbourne, you can see the difference that has been made just by looking at the energy after winning rounds. Previously, Liquid had a reputation for being a quiet team, which made it very difficult to build momentum mid-match, even when on a winning streak. With siuhy, Liquid are getting authentic energy, a player who has never been afraid to get loud when necessary. This has seemingly infected his teammates, too – gone are mithR’s previous attempts at feigning hype. Instead, it’s now a Team Liquid team ready to bring the energy to IEM Melbourne 2025.

There’s a lot more to siuhy’s success than just his willingness to bring up the mood, but from the outside looking in, it’s certainly one of the most notable improvements. Given more time, I have no doubt that he’ll continue to get more from his current pieces, and Liquid will be looking to pick him up longer-term than just the BLAST.tv Austin Major.