It would be impossible to talk about the history of North American LCS without talking about the formally great Team Liquid. Though this team never won either a spring or summer split they heavily shaped how the game was played in the early seasons.
However, recent splits have not been so kind. They went from a middle of the pack team in the last few years to a second to last team this split and unless they seriously improve in this last week before finals they will be facing relegation and risk not returning to the LCS.
Given their current state the team has made a few desperate calls. They were able to get former Finatic jungler Reignover and since he is one of the best players in North America it was expected that the team would succeed.
However, that wasn’t the case.
The team’s main carry has been for years the former SKT T1 ADC and season 3 world champion Piglet. But with the current meta being particularly hard to carry from the ADC position the team decided to move Piglet to mid lane.
Which may seem insane, but he showed promise and was able to hold his own against other mid lane talent in the region, but this move wasn’t even their biggest change. Team Liquid then picked up Doublelift, who, up until recently, was on a break from professional play but planned to return to Team Solo Mid (TSM) in the summer.
Doublelift replaced Piglet in bottom lane, but with little time and preparation a huge improvement couldn’t have been expected, and wasn’t really seen, in fact in the last 2 weeks the team went 1 and 4, which only move them from last to second to last and still in threat of relegation.
If the team wants to save their spots in the LCS they have to beat out Echo Fox which would place them 3rd from last and safe from spring relegation.
But, since one of the games is against the current split leader TSM this will be a very tough week for them. Here’s hoping these drastic changes are enough to save the once great Team Liquid.
XJustified 