In part two of a dive into CS2 pro thoughts about the 2025 calendar, Team Liquid’s Keith “NAF” Markovic explains the state of North American competition and why the region’s prodigies should consider moving to Europe — or another esport entirely.
Update: This article was originally published in 2024 and has been updated to include NAF's results and activities following IEM Melbourne 2025 and into 2026.
NAF and Liquid have had a busy few weeks.
The squad departed Brazil after missing the playoffs at IEM Rio to secure visas for the Shanghai Major, and with NAF in Canada while the rest of the team in Europe, practice for the BLAST World Final was limited to just five days.
It’s the sort of schedule they’d have to get used to in 2025 with the circuit opening up in a big way. The days of franchised leagues in Counter-Strike are over for now, but NAF believes it could spell doom for regions outside of Europe.
“I believe if you're playing in North America, you literally have zero chance to really improve or get into the tier-one scene,” he said to esports.gg. “There's a few opportunities; I saw some of my buddies from NRG able to qualify for ESL Pro League, so obviously there's those qualifications through for some tournaments, but that's pretty rough.”
NAF isn’t holding out hope for his NA CS2 peers
One advantage of a packed calendar is that top teams will be physically unable to attend every tournament, opening up slots for tier-two squads to slide in and earn valuable major qualifier points. Outside of this, however, NAF can’t see a clear path forward for his home region in North America.
“In my opinion, there's no point in playing Counter-Strike if you're playing in North America,” he said. “My best advice would be to go play VALORANT or try your best to get into European Counter-Strike.”
The removal of the RMR qualifier for CS2’s majors will heavily impact the smaller regions. Where once teams outside of Europe had a clearly defined pathway to the major, the necessity of earning enough Valve points to qualify has many worried as not every event will include a qualifier.
Crucially, NAF would have a little more faith in NA if more home-grown, grassroots opportunities existed in the region. With the loss of regular big tournaments, the departure of key South American sides back home, and a major exodus to the Riot Games shooter, there’s little happening stateside.
The framework exists, it just needs building upon
That’s not to say these projects don’t exist. Fragadelphia continues to chug along and the likes of Mythic and Complexity have chipped in with the Revival Series, just to name a few. But NAF would like to see more done to help spark NA CS again.
“Nobody wants to really like help the scene too much,” he said. “You still have Pro League there and Challenger League, but it's honestly just not enough to commit your life to playing Counter-Strike [professionally]. You can't really have the dream of potentially going pro, and now I kind of feel it’s not even possible or be in the tier-one scene in NA.
“With so many events coming in, maybe there's potentially open spots for some of the big events where the top teams will skip, meaning chances for some of the lower teams like an NRG or a FlyQuest that aren't high up on the rankings,” he continued. “It gives these teams a shot and an opportunity to go in there and get some points and shoot them up the rankings a little.”
For NAF, geography plays a big part in choosing events. Playing multiple tournaments in Europe in a row is ideal, and for Liquid, it wouldn’t be far from the norm given they’ve been forced into Europe to remain relevant. “You just feel rough mentally when you are constantly traveling,” he said on the matter.
NAF, like FaZe Clan’s rain, acknowledges there’s value in sticking to a main organizer like BLAST or ESL, and that ultimately the organization and management make the call.
Liquid gears up for Shanghai sprint
Unlike their European peers, NAF and Liquid will remain in Asia for a short while after BLAST in Singapore. “Instead of having to fly all the way back to Europe, be jet lagged for a couple of days, and then instantly having to fly back [for the RMR], we may as well just stay in Singapore.”
NAF is looking forward to scrimming against some of Asia’s finest whilst preparing for the NA RMR qualifier. Liquid’s form on paper seems enough to qualify for the pinnacle event, but with the likes of FURIA, paiN, Complexity, and M80 in their way, he isn’t taking anything for granted.
“There's some good teams here. So potentially, there's good practice here for us. Then, we can just go into the NA RMR and play and not have to worry about jet lag and all that stuff.”
Before the RMR, however, Liquid must navigate Singapore with their BLAST World Final elimination match against French squad Vitality later today.
Before the RMR, however, Liquid must navigate Singapore with their BLAST World Final elimination match against French squad Vitality later today. Fans can also follow match odds and predictions on esports betting platforms, which, like online casinos, provide real-time updates and detailed analysis for major tournaments.
Where is NAF in 2026?
As of 2026, NAF continues to compete in the esports title. He kicked off the year with a top-eight finish at BLAST Bounty Winter, following a strong showing in the closed qualifier.
Looking back at 2024, NAF placed in the top eight at the Perfect World Shanghai Major and competed at the BLAST Premier World Final. Throughout 2025, NAF had a mixed year, with standout results including third place at the CS Asia Championships and the Birch Cup. He also had a top-eight finish at IEM Melbourne.
In an interview with Esports Kingdom, NAF discussed Team Liquid’s state following the addition of Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek and the impact of coach DeMars DeRover. He said that despite being eliminated from IEM Melbourne 2025, the team showed significant progress after only two tournaments with suihy, including strong wins over NAVI and Virtus.Pro and a quarterfinal finish.
"Just a couple of weeks ago in Bucharest, we ended up 0-3 and didn’t end up getting any maps at all. So we’ve surpassed our expectations somewhat, just in the x amount of time we’ve had. In the group stage, the only team we lost to was Vitality, while we beat good teams like NAVI and Virtus.Pro. In the quarterfinal, just some small mistakes didn’t go our way. We ended up in the quarterfinals and we had a massive potential to end up in top four, that’s a lot of progress made in a short amount of time.”
NAF also praised suihy for allowing players flexibility in their roles while still providing leadership.
“So far, [siuhy] hasn’t really been a dictator, super micromanaging, or always forcing players to play a certain way or how he wants to play," NAF said. "He gives his teammates a lot of freedom in terms of their roles, and I’m sure a lot of those players on this team fit that kind of code of playing. So far it’s been pretty good having him here. He’s a great guy, he’s a great personality, he’s good at the game and leading a team.”
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