SumaiL to stand-in for Liquid as Boxi takes temporary leave
Team Liquid announced on Saturday (24 April) that Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan will be standing-in for their Dota 2 team for the remainder of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) as offlaner Samuel "Boxi" Svahn will be taking a temporary break from competitive play.
In a post on their official Twitter account, Liquid explained that Boxi "will be taking time away from Dota to be with his family" and that SumaiL will be his stand-in until he is ready to return.
"We look forward to when Boxi can rejoin us. Team Liquid wishes Boxi and his family the best, and hope that you'll join us in welcoming and supporting SumaiL too," said Liquid.
SumaiL is expected to take over as Team Liquid's midlaner from Maximilian "qojqva" Bröcker, who will be moving to the offlane role vacated by Boxi. Qojqva has notably played as the offlaner for some of his past teams and has already been seen practicing the role in his recent streams.
Please send your support to @boxi98 and his family, and to @SumaaaaiL as well for stepping in while Boxi is on leave. pic.twitter.com/cObCV1NPH0
— Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) April 23, 2021
SumaiL's last DPC appearance was in the 2019-2020 DPC with two-time The International (TI) champions OG, whom he joined in January last year. SumaiL was able to help OG qualify for the ESL One Los Angeles Major 2020 before the tournament as well as last year's DPC were cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic.
SumaiL was unable to join the rest of OG in Europe as he was stuck in the United States due to international travel restrictions at the time.
While he was still able to play with OG online, SumaiL's performance was understandably hampered by ping issues and the team struggled as a result. He then left OG last July.
Following his time with OG, SumaiL had a brief stint with the CIS stack Just Error alongside the likes of Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev, Vladimir "No[o]ne" Minenko, and Alexey "Solo" Berezin for EPIC League Season 2 at the end of 2020.
However, the stack underperformed in the tournament and was disbanded shortly after, with SumaiL remaining inactive until being enlisted by Liquid.
The youngest ever player to win the Aegis of Champions at TI5 with Evil Geniuses at just 16 years old, SumaiL will make his debut with Liquid on 27 April in the team's third match in the upper division of the DPC's European regional league against Brame Esports.
Liquid currently hold a 1-1 record in the league off of a 1-2 loss to Alliance in Week 1 and a 2-1 win over Team Nigma in Week 2.
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