kassad: “Remove ultimate, remove EliGE” – Serbian analyst outlines radical plan for Liquid revival

kassad: “Remove ultimate, remove EliGE” – Serbian analyst outlines radical plan for Liquid revival

Serbian coach and analyst Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović has called for sweeping changes at Team Liquid, arguing that the club must overhaul both its roster and working culture if it wants to return to the top of Counter-Strike.

In a strongly worded post on X (formerly Twitter), the former Renegades and 100 Thieves coach said that “if Liquid has any intention to go back and once again have a respectable, successful CS team, they will remove ultimate and EliGE.” He went on to urge management to stop giving players control over key sporting decisions, writing: “Stop allowing players to choose their coaches and teammates. Change culture, mentality, and structure. Everything.” 

The message was explicitly addressed to Team Liquid co-owner Victor “Nazgul” Goossens and long-time CS general manager Steve “jokasteve” Perino, underlining that kassad sees the problems as structural rather than purely individual. 

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A direct hit on Liquid’s current core

Kassad’s comments come at a moment when Liquid are again under scrutiny for inconsistency. The club’s current CS2 roster consists of Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek, Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak, Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski, Keith “NAF” Markovic, and Guy “NertZ” Iluz, an international five that has kept the organisation within the top-10 conversation but short of title contention. 

By naming EliGE and ultimate specifically, kassad is targeting two of the most visible players on the lineup:

• EliGE, a long-time face of the organisation, returned to Liquid in 2025 after stints with Complexity and FaZe. The American rifler is a six-time member of HLTV’s Top 20 players and an Intel Grand Slam champion from Liquid’s dominant 2019 run, and is widely regarded as one of North America’s greatest ever players.

• ultimate, a 22-year-old Polish AWPer, joined Liquid in mid-2024 after spells with domestic sides such as Illuminar and AGO. He was initially announced alongside Australian rifler Justin “jks” Savage as part of a major rebuild that also brought in coach Torbjørn “mithR” Nyborg. 

Ultimate was billed as a high-ceiling, aggressive sniper and, in the early months, posted strong numbers and quickly became one of the team’s top-rated players.  However, his form has since fluctuated against tier-one opposition, a trend kassad himself analysed in a long article on Liquid’s rebuild, noting both the Pole’s mechanical strengths and his inconsistency under pressure. 

Kassad’s new comments go much further than that written analysis, though. Where the Skin.Club piece framed ultimate as a promising but still-developing AWPer, the X post suggests that Liquid should now move on from him entirely – and from EliGE as well.

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“Change culture, mentality, structure”: criticism beyond two players

The most striking part of kassad’s thread is that it does not stop at individual criticism. After listing the two players he would remove, he broadens the attack to the organisation’s working methods:

“Stop allowing players to choose their coaches and teammates. Change culture, mentality, and structure. Everything.” 

For years, Liquid’s star-driven rosters have often involved veterans having heavy input on roster and staff decisions. That approach has produced both spectacular highs and disappointing resets; the 2019 EliGE-led squad that completed the Intel Grand Slam in a record 63 days is still the organisation’s benchmark. 

Kassad’s view is that this model no longer works. By calling out the “culture” and “mentality” around player power, the Serbian is arguing for a more top-down sporting structure, where executives and coaching staff define the direction instead of deferring to star names.

The message is consistent with his broader public persona. On LinkedIn and streaming platforms he regularly describes himself as someone who “says things you need to hear,” emphasising discipline and organisational control in his coaching philosophy. 

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Why kassad’s opinion carries weight

Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović is not just a random pundit shouting from the sidelines. The 39-year-old has a long track record as a coach and analyst at the highest level of Counter-Strike:

• He previously coached Renegades and later 100 Thieves, overseeing the Australian core that made deep runs at several international events. 

• He later worked with Cloud9, and in 2023 returned to the server as head coach of BLEED Esports for their move into CS2. 

• Away from team benches, he has been a recurrent broadcast analyst for ESL and other tournament organisers.

Most recently, he has written detailed analytical pieces – including the November 2025 article “Team Liquid’s Rebuild: Progress & Challenges,” where he dissected Liquid’s map pool, role distribution and individual form using HLTV stats. 

In that piece, kassad highlighted long-standing structural issues in Liquid’s CS2 project: overlapping roles between riflers, underperformance from former star Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis, and questions over the impact of then-coach mithR. He concluded that the roster, despite its talent, had at most “five months” before serious changes would be needed. 

Given that history, his latest comments can be read as a continuation of that critique – but now aimed squarely at Liquid’s new iteration featuring EliGE’s return and a different leadership structure.

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EliGE in the crosshairs again

Targeting EliGE is especially controversial. The American rifler is synonymous with Team Liquid and, after his 2023–25 spells with Complexity and FaZe, his return to the organisation earlier this year was celebrated by fans and the club alike as a homecoming. 

In Liquid’s own announcement and subsequent interview, EliGE spoke about wanting to help restore the team’s identity and bring back the winning culture that defined their late-2010s peak. 

Statistically, EliGE remains a high-impact rifler by global standards and was still included in HLTV’s Top 20 players list as recently as 2024.  But his transition back into Liquid’s structure has not immediately translated into trophies, and the team has continued to fluctuate in form at big events – enough, in kassad’s view, to justify a clean break.

The Serbian coach did not elaborate publicly on why he believes EliGE should be removed beyond the short X post, leaving room for speculation about whether his criticism is based on performance, leadership, or locker-room dynamics.

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ultimate under pressure as the “modern AWPer”

The call to remove ultimate comes after more than a year of scrutiny for the Polish sniper. When Liquid first unveiled him in mid-2024, many analysts highlighted the move as a gamble on raw skill. Ultimate had been a standout performer in several Polish lineups but had limited tier-one experience. 

In his November 2025 article, kassad actually praised the scouting behind the signing, noting that Twistzz and the organisation had identified him after watching extensive demos and Faceit games. He described ultimate’s positives as “excellent mechanical skill” and a high skill ceiling, but warned about “performance inconsistency and poor utility usage,” especially against top opposition. 

Since then, ultimate has continued to be a high-variance presence on the server: capable of explosive games when his aggression connects, but prone to quiet series when opponents successfully neutralise his impact. Public statistics portray him as a solid but not yet elite tier-one AWPer, still adapting to the very top level. 

Kassad’s latest stance suggests that, in his opinion, Liquid can no longer afford the development phase and should move towards a different profile in the sniper role – though he did not name any potential replacements.

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A broader debate about team building in modern CS2

Underlying the drama is a familiar argument about how successful teams should be built in the current CS2 era.

On one side, organisations like Liquid have often leaned into star-driven models, giving veteran players substantial input on roster moves and coaching hires. That approach can help attract top talent and maintain locker-room harmony, but it also risks creating cliques, power imbalances, and short-term thinking.

On the other side, coaches such as kassad advocate for strong, centralised sporting structures. In previous interviews, he has emphasised the importance of clear hierarchy and accountability, and his recent tweet echoes that line: management, not players, should ultimately decide on staff and teammates. 

By telling Liquid to “change culture, mentality, and structure,” he is effectively arguing that the organisation must move away from its historically player-centric model if it wants to compete with modern, data-driven European powerhouses.

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What happens next for Liquid?

So far, Liquid have not publicly responded to kassad’s comments, and there have been no official indications that EliGE or ultimate are on the chopping block. The roster remains registered as EliGE, NAF, NertZ, siuhy and ultimate across tournament and statistics sites. 

Given the scale of the criticism – calling out both specific players and the club’s leadership – it is unlikely to be ignored internally. Whether Team Liquid’s management agree with any part of kassad’s assessment, however, is another matter entirely.

For now, the Serbian’s post has mostly fuelled discussion among fans and pundits:

• Some see his stance as a harsh but necessary wake-up call for an organisation that has cycled through multiple expensive projects without replicating its 2019 success.

• Others argue that cutting a franchise icon like EliGE so soon after his emotional homecoming would be an overreaction and a PR disaster, especially when the team is still stabilising around a new in-game leader and system.

What is clear is that kassad has once again put himself at the centre of the CS2 conversation, using his platform to challenge a tier-one organisation’s direction in blunt terms.

Whether Liquid ultimately follow any part of his prescription – removing ultimate, parting ways with EliGE, or rethinking who calls the shots behind the scenes – will be one of the key storylines to watch as the North American giants continue their search for a way back to Counter-Strike’s summit.