"I don't think it was mentally healthy to get in the same spot every day and just play against the same exact teams online," nitr0 said. Star-studded finals versus Na'Vi and Astralis became repetitive series versus Evil Geniuses, Gen.G and FURIA. Liquid, a fully North American squad, became region-locked - unable to play European teams - as play moved online. 1 - it was "the best feeling in the world," according to nitr0 - but now they didn't even get to face the best in the world. For a brief period of time, Liquid held the title of No. The only other team to accomplish the feat was their rival Astralis. Last year, Team Liquid was one of the best teams in the world, just the second team to win the Intel Grand Slam.
Now, every day was basically the same: practice, play, eat, sleep, repeat. From 2019 to early 2020, nitr0 found himself on the road more than half the year - whether that was in Team Liquid facilities in Los Angeles or Utrecht, Netherlands, or competing in Denmark, Germany, Sweden or another country.
As Nick "nitr0" Cannella booted up his PC on July 3, he plopped down into his chair at his Louisiana home for the final day of his 2020 routine.įor the previous six months, since COVID-19 put the majority of the world into quarantine, the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player's schedule had changed drastically.