Team Liquid bets on 17-year-old Jorko as esports org deepens Sui blockchain partnership

Team Liquid just signed a 17-year-old Bulgarian AWPer named Georgi “Jorko” Mitev to its Counter-Strike roster, replacing Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak after a rough stretch of competitive results. Team Liquid isn’t just any esports org, it’s one with deepening roots in the Sui blockchain ecosystem, and that intersection is where things get interesting for crypto watchers.

The signing, announced on July 9, 2026, comes during a year that’s been, charitably, a struggle for Liquid’s CS squad. The team barely scraped into IEM Cologne Major 2026 qualification and was promptly eliminated in Stage 1. Ultimate had been on the roster for two years before getting benched. Jorko, meanwhile, carries a 1.07 rating from his time with FOKUS and was ranked the 28th top prospect by HLTV. Born on December 11, 2008, he’s younger than some of the peripherals his new teammates use.

Why crypto investors should care about an esports roster move

The org established a multi-year partnership with Mysten Labs, the company behind the Sui blockchain, back in February 2024. Since then, Liquid has built out two key products: Liquid Vault, a digital collectibles platform, and MyBlue, a fan engagement system. The results have been tangible. Fan engagement jumped 37% following the integration.

The roster gamble and what it signals

Jorko joins a roster that still includes established names like NAF, EliGE, and malbsMd, with flashie coaching from the sidelines. There have also been rumors about potentially adding Johnny “JT” Theodosiou as a new in-game leader.

What to watch from here

The 37% engagement increase from the Mysten Labs partnership happened during a period of mediocre results. For crypto investors, the signal here is about whether tokenized fan engagement can become a sustainable revenue model for esports organizations, and whether chains like Sui can position themselves as the default infrastructure for that category.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.