Team Liquid has officially added Nikita “SKillous” Gurevich to their roster for Starcraft II, the hit real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment.
An announcement video reveals that Gurevich had publicly spoken up against the war in Ukraine, and would have trouble going home to Russia. In fact, SKillous refused to be represented by the Russian flag on Liquipedia, where he’s currently set as “Countryless”.
As a result, Team Liquid opened their doors to Gurevich in the Netherlands, and the combination of his personality and skills made him an ideal member of their Starcraft II roster.
According to the full thread from Team Liquid today, adding SKillous to their team marks the “first official esports visa issued by the Netherlands”:
Team Liquid’s move is a profound example of the real impact that gaming can have. Team Liquid ultimately transformed a terrible situation into a career with meaningful relationships. This later afforded Gurevich the opportunity to volunteer for Ukrainians that the Netherlands has supported.
SKillous briefly speaks about his experience joining the team during a difficult time in today’s welcome video. They’ve already proven tremendous talent over the last few years, with an unusual level of consistency.
Since SKillous has clearly demonstrated his ability to succeed well into the future, hopefully this paves the way for other organizations across the industry to support everyone the same way. Though entertaining, both the gaming industry and eSports are also great unifiers, like any other sport.
Starcraft II has been around for a very long time, and its playerbase has admittedly declined a bit. But its place in eSports is fairly sturdy, as there are still regular tournaments and plenty of fans.
You can read more about Team Liquid, various eSports orgs, and other great titles from Blizzard Entertainment by checking out the rest of our news section!
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