FalleN Replaces Stewie2K as Team Liquid’s New IGL

Team Liquid’s Brazilian AWPer Gabriel "FalleN'' Toledo has been announced as their new in-game leader, replacing Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip from the role. Stewie2k will now be able to focus on rifling as he is no longer going to be Liquid’s shot caller, passing on the duties to Liquid’s newest recruit. The decision was revealed by Keith “NAF'' Markovic on 17 Feb during a video interview with ESL. Team Liquid had signed FalleN in Jan 2021, just ahead of their campaign at BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020. The Brazilian was initially confined to the role of AWPing, definitely helping Stewie2K within the server but not taking complete charge of the team which is not the case any longer.

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Team Liquid: FalleN takes over IGL duties from Stewie2K

FalleN was revealed to be Team Liquid’s official IGL in ESL’s video interview with NAF for IEM Katowice 2021 Play-ins. In the Interview, NAF explained, “After our recent performances we’re trying to implement FalleN as our main IGL now, so yeah with that the AWP and IGL role has been taken up by him”.

 FalleN later posted on Twitter about their wins during the IEM Katowice 2021 play-ins. In one of his Tweets, he says “Thanks Stewie2K for calling on nuke super well. I’m taking notes”. This confirms that although he has taken over the official role of an IGL, the team still relies on Stewie2K to call the shots for them when playing on Nuke due to FalleN’s inexperience on that particular map.

Team Liquid acquired FalleN right before BLAST Premier: Global Final 2020 to fill in the spot left by Russel "Twistzz" Dulken, who had parted ways with them towards the end of last year. The team did not assign FalleN the role of an IGL right away, but he was used to help the team out every now and then, mainly acting as their primary AWPer. 

As pointed out by NAF in his interview, FalleN is finally being implemented as Team Liquid’s IGL because the team faced two consecutive losses to FaZe Clan at BLAST: Spring Groups 2021.

NAF also pointed out that "The big holes in our team were always that we never had a dedicated AWPer and we never had a dedicated IGL,” this is because Stewie2K took over the leadership role just last year after the departure of their former IGL Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella.

Now that they have FalleN on their side, they finally have their dedicated IGL and AWPer. NAF further explained in the video that "FalleN is a lot more experienced with his past on previous teams and the way he plays the game”. They believe that he will be a great leader for the team with his experience, but gave him a bit of time to get comfortable with the roster.