Team Liquid Benched the Player Who Helped Them Qualify and Will Start an Eighteen-Year-Old Against Paper Rex in Shanghai
Team Liquid have benched purp0 for 18-year-old academy duelist GSR, two weeks before their Champions Shanghai opener against Paper Rex.
Team Liquid have benched Semyon "purp0" Borchev and promoted 18-year-old Serbian Ognjen "GSR" Bondžić to their starting lineup for Valorant Champions Shanghai, the club confirmed on 9 September.
purp0 played for Liquid throughout the 2026 season and was part of the roster that qualified for Champions as EMEA's second seed. GSR joined Team Liquid Academy at the start of 2025 and will make his tier-one debut at the event. VLR.gg reported that he has been added to the main roster on a contract running to 2029.
Liquid's lineup for Shanghai is nAts, GSR, kamo, trexx and Kicks, with LohaN as head coach. The team did not qualify for Masters London after Stage 1 but reached the VCT EMEA Stage 2 grand final.
The change comes two weeks before Liquid's opening match against Paper Rex, the Singapore organisation that qualified as the Pacific's third seed. The two teams are in Group C with TYLOO, China's first seed, and G2 Esports, the fourth seed from the Americas, who meet in the group's other opening match.
Each of the four groups uses a double-elimination format, with the top two teams advancing to an eight-team double-elimination playoff bracket. The group stage and early playoff rounds are at the Jing'an Sports Center, and finals weekend moves to the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The event runs until 18 October and carries a US$2,250,000 prize pool, with US$1,000,000 for the champions.
The Pacific's other representatives are Global Esports, Nongshim RedForce and T1. Global Esports, the Pacific's top seed, open against Team Vitality in Group B.