“We should play better” - nAts after Liquid fails to achieve the perfect run in EMEA Stage 2 Group Stage

The last game for Team Liquid in the Group Stage of VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - EMEA Stage 2 was anything but smooth sailing. While some expected the series to go to the top seed of Group Omega, Karmine Corp showed resilience, grit, and stole Team Liquid’s chance to achieve a perfect 5-0 score heading into Playoffs.

THESPIKE.GG caught up with Team Liquids in-game leader Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin to break down their first loss of Stage 2 and reflect on the team's growth throughout the group stage.

“This match could have gone either way but we messed up from time to time in some crucial moments. We should play better.”

VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - EMEA Stage 2

Team Liquid

1

X

2

Karmine Corp

Group Omega, Best of 3 - August 15, 2025 - 5:30PM

14

Lotus

12

13

Bind

15

12

Sunset

14

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

trexx

1.12

201

56/52/35

+4

1.08

71.2%

126.1

22%

71%

10

4

nAts

1.10

219

58/54/29

+4

1.07

76.1%

142.2

22%

73%

8

3

paTiTek

1.06

204

55/52/33

+3

1.06

75.1%

134.8

27%

60%

6

4

Keiko

0.98

185

59/54/18

+5

1.09

67.4%

124.3

26%

26%

5

14

kamo

0.90

181

48/60/28

-12

0.80

70.2%

121.4

25%

52%

14

13

Karmine Corp

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

marteen

1.27

255

72/53/19

+19

1.36

66.6%

162.0

45%

60%

18

12

SUYGETSU

1.21

222

66/48/29

+18

1.38

80.0%

151.5

42%

25%

1

3

avez

0.85

198

52/64/15

-12

0.81

62.5%

125.4

33%

38%

8

13

Saadhak

0.77

166

43/55/23

-12

0.78

72.5%

113.2

33%

44%

8

10

pyrolll

0.63

133

39/56/11

-17

0.70

63.8%

91.3

38%

33%

3

6

Taking down Fnatic

Heading into Friday’s match, Liquid were undefeated in Group Omega with a 4-0 record. After taking down Fnatic the week prior, Liquid were expected to do the same to KC but came up short. All three maps went to OT, and this time, Liquid couldn’t close.

“We are still going to be improving and learning something new. We played very well last week against Fnatic, but today we didn’t manage to play on the same level.”

As the reigning VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - EMEA Stage 1 champions, Fnatic were considered Team Liquid’s biggest threat in the group. Map one was a nail-biter that went to overtime, but on Ascent, Liquid absolutely dismantled Fnatic 13-1.

“Our Ascent looked good, we were prepared for them. I was sad that it wasn’t 13-0 honestly. 13-1 is okay but 13-0 would be something cool to have.”

trexx thriving on the new squad

In mid-July 2025, a roster change was made: Maikls "SerialKiller" Ždanovs was benched, and former Team Vitality player Nikita "trexx" Cherednichenko was added to the squad. According to nAts, adding a new player is like “starting over from zero again.” The team now has to rebuild chemistry, develop new strategies, and implement fresh calls. But already, nAts sees how much trexx is bringing to the table.

“He’s a very good addition, it's something new from what we had before. He helps the team a lot especially in the crucial moments when something goes wrong.”

Despite the added responsibility as IGL, nAts himself has massive impact in games. He continues to multi-frag and contribute in clutch moments. Still, he remains humble, saying his main goal is “to master some of the aspects of in-game leading and leadership,” and that he’s not “at the level that I would want myself to be yet.”

“I’m not really thinking about that (fragging) anymore. Since I moved to IGL, I’m still trying to do the job and help in terms of shooting. My goal is not to lose easy gunfights. For me the most important part is to lead the team and not let them down when a hard situation in-game is happening.”

Eyes on a rematch

To no one’s surprise, nAts hopes to take the team to VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions—but for now, the focus remains on one match at a time. The IGL emphasizes that it’s impossible to prepare for every team, so it’s crucial to build a stronger overall unit.

Looking ahead to playoffs, nAts isn’t picky about opponents, but getting revenge on Team Heretics could be a satisfying start. Heretics were the ones to send Liquid home in the Lower Finals of VCT EMEA Stage 1.

“I think if we would play our best game and Team Heretics theirs, that would be interesting to see. Because in Kickoff, we destroyed them and in Stage 1 they destroyed us. So we’ve played two times where one team was in their prime and the other not. That's why it would be good to get a rematch.”

The bigger picture

In VCT, nAts’ most notable trophy is from VCT 2021 - Stage 3 - Masters Berlin - Playoffs, which he won playing for M3 Champions. He joined Liquid in 2022 and has now been with the team for three years. Though he hasn’t lifted another trophy since 2021, he remains hopeful.

“I would still love to lift some trophies and qualify to the deeper stages in the international events, and I think it will come anyway one day. I think hard work pays off.”

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