SumaiL free agent once again as Boxi returns to Team Liquid

Let’s be honest. Team Liquid’s elimination from the WePlay Dota 2 AniMajor playoffs was a huge upset. Even Liquid themselves admitted to it being an “emotional rollercoaster”. It’s therefore great to see Samuel “Boxi” Svahn set to return, following his hiatus from the competitive pro scene.

With the redemption arc complete, this now leaves Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan a free agent. SumaiL came to the rescue as a brief stand-in for Team Liquid, while Boxi attended to family affairs earlier this year. Admittedly, we have no doubt that he’ll be picked up by another team soon, given his impressive prior runs and accolades.

SumaiL’s impact on Team Liquid

SumaiL played a significant role in maintaining the integrity of Team Liquid during Boxi’s absence. SumaiL assumed the mid lane role, whilst Maximilian “qojqva” Bröcker filled Boxi’s offlane role.

During his brief tenure with the team, SumaiL assisted in securing Liquid 2nd place in the Dota Pro Circuit Upper Division for Europe, earning the team a direct seeding in the WePlay Dota 2 AniMajor. 

(Picture: Movistarlpg)

Of course, Team Liquid’s performance at the WePlay AniMajor was... er… less than adequate. This, unfortunately, meant that they did not secure a direct invitation to The International 10.

With Boxi’s return and all members of the team back to their original roles, there’s plenty of room for recovery in the upcoming regional qualifiers.

Blitz cleared the air of rumours about Boxi’s return

William “Blitz” Lee also took to Twitter to clear the air of rumours regarding SumaiL permanently replacing Boxi. These rumours simply aren’t true.

Boxi took some much needed personal time off and is now ready to play once again. I hope people are understanding and try not to speculate about his break too much. Thank you to the fans for being patient with us during this time and for your continued support

— William Lee (@Blitz_DotA) June 8, 2021

He also thanked SumaiL for helping Team Liquid during their time of need, demonstrating his utmost support toward any of SumaiL’s future endeavours.

Thank you to @SumaaaaiL for helping us during our time of need, I wish we could have gone further but it was an absolute pleasure. Our results here were absolutely not his fault and he performed incredibly well under the circumstances. The team will root for you wherever you go!

— William Lee (@Blitz_DotA) June 8, 2021

Blitz also confirmed Boxi’s return to Team Liquid, ahead of the regional qualifiers and reminded fans that it was Boxi’s decision to leave. It’s clear that there are no hard feelings between any of the players or organization members, and the entire ordeal was handled amicably.

Update: Boxi will be returning for the TI qualifiers. As stated beforehand, it was his choice to take the break and his choice to come back. There has been some speculation that we were trying to see who we would do better with but that could not be further from the truth

— William Lee (@Blitz_DotA) June 8, 2021

Team Liquid is set for the TI 10 Western European Qualifiers

We look forward to seeing what Team Liquid has in store for us. With Boxi’s return, we hope that they will recover and bounce back stronger ahead of The International 10 Regional Qualifiers.

The qualifiers, which are double-elimination playoffs, are set to begin on 7th until 10th July 2021 and includes mammoth organizations, such as Alliance, Team Nigma, Tundra Esports and two-time TI champions, OG.

• Read more: Fans call for Dota 2 rollback feature after WePlay AniMajor rematch debacle

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