Just over a year ago, we said goodbye to the last Dota team to play under the Liquid banner. Today, I can finally say that we're back and stronger than ever. We have signed the team formerly known as $5Jungz$: KuroKy, FATA-, Matumbaman, JerAx, and MinD_ContRoL. The team will make their Liquid debut today at 15:00 GMT (+00:00) in The Summit against Virtus Pro and they will attempt to qualify for the first Dota Major this weekend. Hopefully you will all tune in to support their efforts!
The team already had its first success in qualifying for the Nanyang Dota 2 Championships. To prepare for the Nanyang tournament, they have decided to bootcamp at the TeamLiquid facilities in the Netherlands. Earlier this year we opened up an apartment here next to our HQ to provide players with a dedicated bootcamping location before big tournaments. It's just one of the ways we try to provide the best organizational support for our teams.
In addition to the players we're also bringing on new staff members. Alexander Reinhardt—a long time friend of KuroKy and FATA- since their mouz days—joins us as team coach, while Mohamed Morad joins us in a managerial role to give the team logistical support. We're looking to support the team in every way possible, and hope to bring exciting games and entertaining content to our fans.
Finally, I'd like to thank all of our fans for waiting so patiently. Dota is a game that's close to my heart, and some of my best esports memories are thanks to our Dota teams. We've worked hard to sign a Dota team over the past year, and there were several opportunities this year where we were close. Unfortunately, those things don't always work out the way you want, and it was extremely disappointing each time we ended up having to keep you guys waiting longer. I'm thrilled to be working with this new Liquid team and can't wait to see what the future brings.
- Victor "Nazgul" Goossens
From the players
I am proud to announce that the roster of 5JungZ will now play under the banner of Team Liquid.
Our relatively new team—KuroKy, JerAx, Matumbaman, Mind_ContRoL and myself (FATA-)—is working hard on becoming one of the best teams in the world and it is a great feeling to be backed up by Team Liquid on this journey.
The organisation has been around for years, marking their stability and experience and I sincerely believe that they will greatly support us throughout the year.
- Adrian "FATA-" Trinks
We are glad that Team Liquid is supportive of our endeavours and wishful for a successfull cooperation. Shoutout to our fans and supporters, keep cheering so our work may be fruitful.
On October 09 2015 23:11 BobMcJohnson wrote: Woooo nice, finally a dota team again, and it's not even some kind of NA clownstack what more can we ask :D
On October 09 2015 23:45 ref4 wrote: so TLdota is officially locked in EU region for all the future tournaments huh? feels weird to me since TL has always feel like NA to me.
Well TL's headquarters are situated in the Netherlands so...
Well Kuro and Fata as public personalities are likeable and none of the other 3 have done anything to irk me. I hope they deliver on competing at the highest level.
On October 09 2015 23:09 Ej_ wrote: so when do they disband?
5jungz are one of the more stable teams that should last long at leasta year or more i hope
Not quite sure how you can make that statement after just a couple of months.
compared to majority of NA teams who change player every now and then they are definetely gonna last longer lol
and kky + fata should provide stability i hope
That's been said of many teams though. Whatever, I'm as hopeful as the next guy but the history of Dota doesn't really allow for words like "definitely" and the like when it comes to stability.
Good pickup, however! I'd have preferred Monkey Business but I understand the decision. Better and with a more solid competitive history among the players in 5jungz.
especially happy for jerAx .. that guy has been around the world playing dota and now he wears one of the most established and recognized banners in esports.
Kuroky and Fata? Man this is sick. I'm assuming Kuroky is gonna be 1st pos.? Don't ge me wrong he is an excellent support, but I remember when he played first pos. on Secret (I think) on his Dusa getting Ultra Kills and shit.
On October 10 2015 00:57 crbox wrote: What!? YESSS
Kuroky and Fata? Man this is sick. I'm assuming Kuroky is gonna be 1st pos.? Don't ge me wrong he is an excellent support, but I remember when he played first pos. on Secret (I think) on his Dusa getting Ultra Kills and shit.
Can't wait to see your games
they have been playing under 5jungz for a while now actually no he's playing 4 pos
On October 10 2015 00:57 crbox wrote: What!? YESSS
Kuroky and Fata? Man this is sick. I'm assuming Kuroky is gonna be 1st pos.? Don't ge me wrong he is an excellent support, but I remember when he played first pos. on Secret (I think) on his Dusa getting Ultra Kills and shit.
Can't wait to see your games
they have been playing under 5jungz for a while now actually no he's playing 4 pos
and uhm he wasn't a great carry
He was awesome ; ) - but lets make no discussion out of this. Results speak.
On October 10 2015 02:06 Thaniri wrote: Other than Mind Control who I don't know anything about, I have higher hopes for this lineup than the previous one.
At the moment Mind Control has been carrying them alott, his theier best player atm!! This might be the best Team Liquid yet ;-)
First time ever Liquid picked up a lineup that I like. Kuro and Jerax might be the fy&fenrir of west. I've been following Jerax since 4Anchors, he never disappoints. I might become a liquid fan afterall.
Very nice. I just started following Dota 2 earlier this year and was very shocked that liquid didn't have a Dota 2 team. Now I am happy and know who to root for.
5Jungz was a team I was actually excited for, so I'm glad to see Liquid pick them up. Looks like it'll be a more stable crew than the last time around...
I'm so happy this finally happened ! When Nazgul says it was a long process I can assure you it was - Dota was always in the center of everyone's thoughts on TL. The splash page with the tomb stone was actually made months ago just in case the day comes when it will be used. I personally never stopped believing TL dota will be back and I think this will be the roster to go down in the history pages one day as one of the best in the world
an amazing pickup, and in all honesty props to nazgul for probably being on the lookout since the last TL team disbanded. there was not a better time, or team for that matter since the last liquid (which were up for grabbing), worthy of actually holding the TL name. and this comes from a person who has generally disliked TL teams from SC to it's first d2 team.
i don't think there was a better steal than this team and nazgul kept a keen eye on talent opened for what felt like forever.
Fata, jerax were probably the only 2 players who i believed had the potential to compete against big names consistently but felt their talents were in fact wasted by other team members. or in other words the 2 most underrated players not on a big team. then you have kuroky who was literally on the strongest or 2nd strongest team this coming TI and had a fall off. despite his mistakes, he's still a tier 1 player. i honestly believe these guys are in fact a better team than the current secret lineup. can't wait to see them prove me right.
After the fall of Narvi last year, I've been heavily searching for that one NA team to support. Thought Archon v1 would be it, they failed, then Archon v2 (Fire) didn't really pique my interest, DC did but I need to see results even a liiiittle bit ._.
Told myself "If TL gets a team, I'm jumping on that fucking horse." they may not be NA but whatever. Go Team Liquid, I'm happy to be a fan now. Was still in HoN during TL 1.0
Understandable pickup, I just do not like KKY and FATA. Expected them to disband fairly soon, but it might be delayed now. By no means a bad team, I would just be surprised if they mesh well over time, on a personal level.
Wished Nazgul did more psychological profiling, so TL could catch a break, because he has an eye for talent.
On October 13 2015 00:26 Dracolich70 wrote: Understandable pickup, I just do not like KKY and FATA. Expected them to disband fairly soon, but it might be delayed now. By no means a bad team, I would just be surprised if they mesh well over time, on a personal level.
Wished Nazgul did more psychological profiling, so TL could catch a break, because he has an eye for talent.
Heh, most employers in the world have almost 0 skill in doing any psych profiling while interviewing new candidates so nobody expects Nazgul to be able to do it even though its possible because of the sheer amount of games you can watch with Kuroky playing to understand his decision making process and attitude.
Regardless, its too bad Alliance beat Liquid today to prevent them from qualifying.
On October 13 2015 00:26 Dracolich70 wrote: Understandable pickup, I just do not like KKY and FATA. Expected them to disband fairly soon, but it might be delayed now. By no means a bad team, I would just be surprised if they mesh well over time, on a personal level.
Wished Nazgul did more psychological profiling, so TL could catch a break, because he has an eye for talent.
Just because Kuro didn't get along with RTZ and fata didn't get along with Envy doesn't mean they aren't good people. Some personalities just don't work. Look up the thread right after Kuro was booted from Navi and you'll see people begging Nazgul to pick up Kuro because of how outstanding of a guy he is. People were saying things like "Oh a team with FATA andKuro won't survive many losses" after they lost their first qualifier but they're still going strong. I'm not trying to convince you to change your opinion of them but you not liking them has very little to do with how they'll perform/behave with this particular squad
Kinda anticlimactic announcement so far. Only this writeup and couple comments from 2 players, wish TL would release more stuff about their new team, interviews,plans etc etc.So far its just "hey we got team with these 5 guys, cheer for us thx bye"
EPT
