Blitz Talks About MATUMBAMAN’s Replacement in Team Liquid for 2023

Team Liquid’s coach, William "Blitz" Lee, recently talked about the team's plans for the upcoming season with caster Austin "Cap" Walsh on the latter’s podcast. While the duo mainly talked about Team Liquid’s experience at TI11 (The International 2022), Cap asked his former co-caster about his team’s roster for the upcoming DPC (Dota Pro Circuit) season. Team Liquid ended up achieving a top three finish at TI11 and now it is looking for a new carry following Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen’s retirement from the professional scene.

While the team is looking for a new carry, Blitz also stated that Team Liquid’s roster would mostly remain the same for 2023.

“It’s going to be a Top season” - Blitz hinting at  Liquid.Topson

The duo mainly talked about Team Liquid’s journey from the Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ) to the top three finish at The International 2022 (TI11). They also spoke about their experience with other personalities at the event. Austin "Cap" Walsh also asked his former co-caster a specific question regarding his team’s roster for the upcoming season.

The team is looking for a replacement for carry player Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen after he announced his retirement from the scene earlier this year. Blitz explained that he had approached Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau as a potential replacement. But, the German mid laner told him he would be staying with Entity for the next season out of loyalty.

 “First, I never want to break up a team. Like people say that we offer a lot of money for a player, but we don’t do that. For example, I approached Stormstormer. We really like him obviously and he fits the bill perfectly as a person & a teammate. However, he said that “I would really like to stay loyal to my team and see how things unfold next season.” And that’s the end of the conversation. No pushing.” said Blitz.

Blitz also stated that he wanted to approach Enzo "Timado" O'Connor during the final few days of TI11, after hearing that the player got kicked by TSM. However, the rumor turned out to be false according to TSM captain David "MoonMeander" Tan.

“One of the last days [at TI11] while I was in the sauna, somebody told me that Timado was kicked. Instead of messaging Timado, I contacted MoonMeander about the situation. I asked him if he kicked Timado as we would be interested in him as a player. However, Moon completely denied the rumor as he said that “No, he’s still with our team [TSM].” and I ended the conversation there.”

He added on by saying that Team Liquid will retain the majority of its roster for the 2022/2023 DPC season before ending the podcast by saying that “It’s going to be a top season”. Many believed that the phrase at the end was Blitz hinting that Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen will be joining the team.

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The move could realistically happen, as Topson has stated that he will be returning to Europe with his family in a recent livestream. However, following his short stint with T1 at the LCQ it remains unclear where Topson will end up in the roster shuffle season.