Justinas “jL” Lekavicius will stand in for Team Liquid at Roman Imperium Cup VI in Portugal from March 12–15, replacing Guy “NertZ” Iluz after NertZ was sidelined by travel issues; Team Liquid expected NertZ to return for BLAST Open Rotterdam the week after, as confirmed by HLTV.
jL confirmed the stand-in on X, writing that he was “Happy to be back even though it’s not for long,” and saying he’d do his best to help coach Viktor “flashie” Tamás Bea and the squad. You can read his post on X here.
Since it is confirmed by HLTV, yes I will be standing in for @TeamLiquid in their upcoming LAN.
I know how important VRS points are for them right now and I'll do my absolute best to help my best friend out @flashieCS2 .
Happy to be back even though it's not for long ❤️
— NAVI jL (@jLcsgo_) March 9, 2026
The Lithuanian rifler voluntarily benched himself from Natus Vincere in July 2025, citing physical and mental health concerns, a focus on his marriage, and a wish to grow his content work after being named PGL Copenhagen Major MVP earlier that year. Since the benching he played one HLTV-recorded stand-in match in August 2025 (a 2–1 loss while filling in for fish123) and worked as an analyst at IEM Kraków, alongside streamer collaborations.
jL will now reunite with flashie, who had been NAVI’s analyst until July 2025 and moved into a coaching role at Liquid. The familiarity could help a Liquid roster that, by multiple accounts, has struggled to find consistent form this season. Liquid entered the week sitting 26th in Europe’s regional rankings, about ten places below the position they need ahead of the April 6 Major cutoff, and 35th in the global VRS standings. The team skipped PGL Cluj-Napoca and had an early exit from ESL Pro League Season 23, leaving them in need of LAN wins to climb the VRS table.
Liquid will try to rebuild momentum across three events this month: Roman Imperium Cup VI (March 12–15), BLAST Open Rotterdam (March 18–29), and DraculaN Season 6 (March 29–April 2). At BLAST Open Rotterdam they begin with a matchup against Danil “donk” Kryshkovets’ Team Spirit. For more context on Counter‑Strike’s competitive calendar, see our coverage of PGL’s 2027 and 2028 roadmap.
Liquid heads to Roman Imperium Cup VI on March 12–15; share your thoughts in the comments and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram.
