Shox Explains Why He Got Benched From Liquid, Talks About Future in CS:GO

The French veteran, Richard "shox" Papillon, stepped down from Team Liquid's active roster earlier this week. While the North American organization had gone ahead to temporarily sign Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis for the upcoming IEM Cologne 2022, shox had remained tight-lipped on the matter until yesterday.

On 23^rd June, the 30-year-old came forward to talk about why he was removed from Liquid's active roster, along with his plans for his future in CS:GO.

According to the statements made by shox, it seems the decision was personal and was taken due to a largely problematic work-life balance that had started to take a serious toll on his mental health.

Shox explains the reasons behind getting benched from Team Liquid

The French rifler had parted ways with Team Vitality in December last year as the organization transitioned to an international CS:GO team. He had been picked up by Team Liquid owing to his abundance of international experience.

Even shox was excited to be a part of this project, getting an opportunity to play alongside talented riflers like Keith "NAF" Markovic and Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski and a proven captain like Nicholas "nitr0" Cannella.

His goal was to help the team out with all the experience he had gathered over the years and make them catch up with other top teams in the current meta. While the player side of things were clear, it was the personal side that took a hit and resulted in him moving out of Liquid six months down the line.

Shox was initially ready to embark on this 'American Dream' journey along with his family as it had been decided that he would be required to be in the USA (United States of America) for two specific periods spanning three months and two months in 2022, "I discussed this with my wife, and we thought that it could be beneficial as a life experience, for me, for her, for the little one too, for us."

They started to prepare for the big move from France to the US, obtaining visas, initiating the school transfer process for his kid, searching for an apartment, and they even informed all their friends and family about this decision. However, trouble struck when most tournaments that were supposed to take place in North America either got canceled or relocated to Europe.

This is where all the troubles started to pile up for shox, "The worst part was probably the RMR with all the last minute changes from Valve that forced the TOs (Tournament Organizers) to change their plans, creating a lot of extra travels and a lot of stress. As a result, in the middle of the season, it was a big blow for my family and me because this American life would not see the light of day as planned, at least not before maybe October 2022."

With his family in France but his obligations as a player in America, things quickly became complicated for him. Shox found little time for his family and almost no time to recover between all the traveling, tournaments, bootcamps, and media shoots.

Slowly over time all this started to eat away at his mental health, shox was dealing with a lot of burdens and the unhealthy work-life balance finally got to him after the PGL Antwerp Major 2022, "I continued to give what I could give until the end, even though I felt like I was getting very tired with all the ups and downs. At the end of the Major, I had a burnout, I had to go home as soon as possible"

According to shox, he was home only for 25 days since the beginning of January and in half of them he was working American hours from 19:00 to 03:00. In his eyes, the decision to put himself on the bench was inevitable, "It was not holy for me nor for the organization to continue in these conditions."

Talking about his future shox said that he is currently recovering and doing everything to take care of himself - mental coach, family resources, sports, psychological escape, "I felt a tremendous need for it."

He is already feeling the benefits of all that he is doing and will continue to do so to ensure a fulfilling life while also getting ready to give 200% for his next chapter with a new team.

Shox further revealed that he is free to explore other available options in order to take his next steps. He thanked everyone at Liquid for his time on the team and is moving forward with the positive memories!