TI 2024 champion Nisha leaves Team Liquid, MidOne stands in for 2-1 BLAST win

Team Liquid have parted ways with Michał "Nisha" Jankowski. The team announced on Monday, Sept 28, that its mid laner is leaving, GosuGamers reports.

Why did Nisha leave Team Liquid?

Nisha is stepping away to take a break from competitive Dota 2. Liquid have not named a permanent mid laner yet, so stand-in MidOne took his spot at BLAST Slam VIII.

The timing was tight. BLAST Slam VIII started the very next day, so Liquid brought in Nai Zheng "MidOne" Yeik as a stand-in. MidOne is a former Team Secret teammate of Nisha's.

What did Nisha win with Team Liquid?

GosuGamers counts six Tier 1 titles for Nisha with Liquid, headlined by The International 2024. He leaves with a 59.15% win rate across more than 1,100 games.

Nisha joined Liquid from Team Secret in December 2022, after four years with the Secret squad. At Secret he had played both carry and mid. That range mattered: his move to mid let Michael "miCKe" Vu go back to carry, esports.gg notes.

At TI 2024 his name went onto the Aegis next to miCKe, 33, Boxi and Insania, as Liquipedia lists. PGL Wallachia Seasons 3 and 4, BLAST Slam VI in February and 1win Essence II in early August also went to Liquid.

Liquid posted a stat sheet for his farewell on X. The highlights, as reported by esports.gg:

• 59.15% win rate as a Liquid player, across more than 1,100 games.
• 2,280 pro games in his whole career, with a 60.53% win rate.
• Most kills in one Liquid game: 29, against beastcoast.
• Most assists: 41, against BoomBoys.
• Most deaths: 14, against Yakult Brothers.

Liquid coach William "BlitZ" Lee said goodbye on X as well. In the post, picked up by dota2.ru, he wrote that he will love Nisha forever and that fans who say Nisha carried the team are right. He also said he was glad they won the biggest tournament together.

How did Team Liquid do with MidOne against Yakult Brothers?

Liquid beat Yakult Brothers 2-1 on Tuesday, Sept 29, to open Group D with MidOne in the mid lane. They took games one and three, closing the decider on Dire in just under 37 minutes.

Liquid won game one on Radiant in 36 minutes. Yakult Brothers hit back with a 31-minute win on Radiant before Liquid closed it out, per Field Level Media and Cybersport.ru.

This is a Liquid in transition. The BLAST lineup is miCKe, MidOne, Wisper, Boxi and tOfu, with BlitZ as coach. Offlaner Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard left on Sept 13, and Adrian "Wisper" Cespedes Dobles signed as his replacement on Sept 20.

With Nisha gone, the mid slot is now the second position Liquid need to fill since TI 2026, where they finished 5th-6th after a lower bracket loss to eventual champions Team Spirit.

Who do Team Liquid play next at BLAST Slam VIII?

Liquid face Aurora Gaming in the Group D upper bracket final on Thursday, Oct 1, at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST). A loss would drop them into Friday's Group D decider.

Aurora got there by sweeping GamerLegion 2-0, according to BLAST's schedule.

Every group is a four-team GSL bracket with best-of-three series. First place goes to the seeding matches and second place goes to the Last Chance Stage. The other eight teams go home, Dot Esports explains.

BLAST Slam VIII runs until Oct 11 at BLAST Arena Studios in Malta, with $750,000 on the line and $270,000 for the winner.

The bigger question sits past this event. Nisha's exit is the latest big move in a busy wave of transfers after TI, and Liquid's mid slot is now the one to watch.