Since forming during August of 2011, Curse has been one of the most storied franchises in all of esports. Curse’s legacy of consistency has carried them throughout the last three years, battling storied rivals TSM, CLG and Dignitas to reach the top of the North American throne.
Their first event, MLG Raleigh in the summer of 2011 – with now co-owner Steve “LiQuiD112” Arhancet playing on the starting roster – ended in a disappointing fourth-place effort. Their final tournament, the 2014 NA LCS Summer playoffs, ended in heartbreak, only a single game away from reaching their goal of the World Championships. Even with strong management and a talented core of players, their dream of Worlds was cursed with bad luck and knife-edge losses.
TeamLiquid, an integral part of esports growth in the West since their launch in 2001 to cover Starcraft: Brood War, has continued to expand their horizons. Having already delved into StarCraft, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, the question has always been: When will TeamLiquid finally make their mark in League of Legends?
We have always held the virtue of patience, not simply entering a field because it’s popular or because it would be the easy thing to do. With the announcement of the Curse roster and management leaving their title sponsor after three years, the perfect opportunity finally arose.
With the experience TeamLiquid has obtained throughout their years, the brains of the owners and coaching staff, and the ability the five players possess, the goal is to finally sit atop of North America. From there, the world, and everyone who challenges.
Today, the Curse ends. In its wake, Liquid rises.
Diego "Liquid`Quas" Ruiz
Top
From Venezuela, Quas has been playing professionally since the middle of 2013. He began his career on Challenger teams New World Eclipse and Gold Gaming LA, tearing up the competition with his strong solo mechanics and bullying opponents in lane. Quas was hailed as one of the quickest rising stars outside of the LCS, quickly making a name for himself through his performances in online competitions.
Picked up by Curse only a few months after his official debut, Quas is now entering his second full year as a pro player. With the Top lane meta as it was the past year, mainly centered around tanks and meat shields, Quas wasn’t truly able to show off the mechanical dueling abilities that made him one of the most feared players online. Now, with carry champions coming back into favor, this is the year where he will make the statement – he has all the tools to be the best Top laner in the Western scene.
Christian "Liquid`IWillDominate" Rivera
Jungle
The opposite to his teammate Quas, Dominate has been a staple of professional League of Legends since the beginning in 2010. Playing with Dignitas until the end of 2012, Dominate’s career stalled when he was banned from professional play due to behavior during games online. With his dreams of playing in the LCS during S3 dashed, he applied himself to changing his actions online, hoping one day to have a chance to play as a pro once more.
A year after his ban, his second chance was given him to by Curse. Dominate has not let his second life go to waste, performing as one of the best Junglers in North America since having his ban rescinded. He’s matured as a player and person during his time on the team, becoming one of the pillars that make them a challenger for the NA LCS crown. With a diverse champion pool to select from, he is a terror for other teams to prepare against.
Kim "Liquid`FeniX" Jae Hun
Mid
The newest member of the Liquid roster, Fenix comes over from OGN Champions in South Korea. He started out his career as a practice partner in the CJ Entus house, playing Top lane under legends Lee "Flame" Ho Jong and Park "Shy" Sang Myeon. Fenix transitioned over to the Jin Air Falcons, where he would come under the tutelage of another former CJ great, Bok "Reapered" Han Gyu.
Learning from some of the best in Korea, FeniX had the raw mechanics to match up with anyone in lane, but didn’t have the team around him to truly succeed. Now, moving from the Top to Mid, FeniX will have the added pressure of not only going to a team wanting to contend, but a new position all together. After moving from a discombobulated situation on the Falcons, this is the new Liquid mid-laner’s shot at performing on a well-rounded team.
Chae "Liquid`Piglet" Gwang Jin
AD Carry
Also making his North American debut, Liquid’s ADC has one of the most storied careers in all of professional League of Legends. Alongside former teammates Lee "Faker" Sang Hyeok and Bae "bengi" Seong Ung, Piglet is one of three players in Korea to have played over 100 career games and have a win-rate of over 70%. Two-time OGN Champions winner and Season 3 World Champion, Piglet brings a win-or-go-home mentality. He is also known for his insane work ethic, not happy with a victory or championship if he doesn’t perform up to his capabilities.
Behind his tireless practice, Piglet is in an in-your-face AD Carry, aggressive in lane and always looking to get a kill early. He worked in tandem with Faker on SK Telecom T1 K to not only conquer the world in Season 3, but formed the scariest carry duo in the pro scene that led to an undefeated SKT conquering OGN Champions Winter 2013-2014. Now on a new team after a disappointing end to 2014 and not qualifying for Worlds, Piglet has the potential to be the star carry on a team without being in Faker’s shadow for the first time. With his slick moves in team fights and one-on-one dueling ability, Piglet has what it takes to become the best carry – not just AD carry – in all of NA LCS.
Alex "Liquid`Xpecial" Chu
Support
When you talk about legends in the North American scene, no discussion can be without Xpecial. One of the best supports since he won the World Cyber Games in 2011, he has been a consistent in his performance even against the world. Winning countless titles under the TSM banner as their star support, Xpecial moved to Curse last year for a new start and hasn’t missed a beat since his transfer. His ability to transition throughout all the changes the game has gone under in the past three years shows his power as a player.
Not only has he been able to keep up with changes in the games, but with bot-lane partners as well. Having played with countless players in his career, his new partnership with Piglet will give him possibly his most dangerous weapon yet. Xpecial is a player with the decision making to get the best out of his AD carry, be it a safe bottom lane or a blitzkrieg death match, and the formation with Piglet will give him a chance at being a part of the best bottom lane in North America once more.
On January 07 2015 04:38 MoonBear wrote: Piglet looks like a serious Taeja. How can we possibly lose?
If taeja's track record is anything to go by his wins will be directly proportional to the amount of times he promises to retire. So somebody at the house better make him hate LoL
On January 07 2015 04:38 MoonBear wrote: Piglet looks like a serious Taeja. How can we possibly lose?
If taeja's track record is anything to go by his wins will be directly proportional to the amount of times he promises to retire. So somebody at the house better make him hate LoL
On January 07 2015 04:37 739 wrote: Holy fucking shit. My faith is restored. It happened, Liquid purchased Curse, best option possible, I'm so fucking hyped I can't even say.
So I stopped following the lol scene after I'd spent what I thought was a fair amount of time on both dota and lol to see which I liked better, so fill me in, where does Liquid stand in the ranking of koreans>chinese> all the way to Divin0 playing a non Vayne hero?
On January 07 2015 04:57 Jaaaaasper wrote: So I stopped following the lol scene after I'd spent what I thought was a fair amount of time on both dota and lol to see which I liked better, so fill me in, where does Liquid stand in the ranking of koreans>chinese> all the way to Divin0 playing a non Vayne hero?
I think the most popular order would be Korea > China > EU = NA > SEA, and with this lineup Liquid looks to be top of NA
Though it's hard to say if Korea is still above China because most of the top Koreans were bought by Chinese teams.
Finally! Haven't been here in a long time, but I had to drop by and wish you good luck. Always regarded Liquid as one of the most professional managers in LCS despite Curse's lack of trophies, maybe the name change will dispell the 4th place curse
TL has been my favorite foreign SC2 team and Dota team. Xpecial has been my favorite player since I started playing league and the reason I play support. I can't describe how awesome it is to have my favorite org own my favorite player!
On January 07 2015 05:02 RagequitBM wrote: I think the most popular order would be Korea > China > EU = NA > SEA, and with this lineup Liquid looks to be top of NA
Though it's hard to say if Korea is still above China because most of the top Koreans were bought by Chinese teams.
Yeah it should be interesting to see how the China/KR balance is now, very excited for IEM Taipei - should be 2 CN vs 2 KR vs 2 TW (and a SEA and OCE)
I don't think I've used Teamliquid.net for 2 years at least. Had to remember my username and password just so I could login and say WOOHOO! They've finally expanded into League!
On January 07 2015 06:57 Artunit wrote: Can't wait for LCS! Hope Liquid picks a Eu team too! Unicorns of love?
That's not prohibited by Riot though. One LCS team (in either region) and one challenger team (in either region) per sponsor/org.
It is prohibited by riot.
No Team Owner or Team Manager may own or control, directly or indirectly, or have a direct (e.g., ownership) or indirect (e.g., a contractual arrangement) financial interest, or be an employee or contractor of, more than one League of Legends team in a professional e-sports league.
Thank goodness I have a new team to root for. The old TSM that I fell in love with is dead and gone -- the days in which TRM would roll around in a puddle for money or get a number from a waiter at IHOP are long gone -- and with those days, my love for the team as well.
Thank goodness the team that I loved during my WoL years is now in the LCS.
On January 07 2015 07:24 Lightswarm wrote: Is TL going to break off LoL from the main site like DotA2? I kinda liked having the community together around one central site.
We are a separate and stand alone site but all non specific forums are still related to TL.net
On January 07 2015 07:24 Lightswarm wrote: Is TL going to break off LoL from the main site like DotA2? I kinda liked having the community together around one central site.
You can still access tl.net's community forums from liquidlegends.net. It only counts the posts for one site though. It doesn't connect subscribed threads though.
With Scarra, QT, and Zion leaving Dig I was already considering switching allegiances this LCS. This announcement just fully pushed me over the edge. I can't wait for Liquid.Quas/Dom/FeniX/Piglet/Xpecial.
On January 07 2015 08:07 Zess wrote: Best bot lane NA? Excited for what the new roster can achieve, and double excited to be rooting for my home team
From what I saw when they first duo'ed together, Xpecial and Piglet had no synergy. Even worse, after the first few disastrous games they stopped duo'ing and practicing bot together. Hopefully I'm getting a false reading from a few times I watched the streams but it's not a good sign when your support and AD won't practice together in solo queue. Scrims aren't enough imo.
I wouldn't expect too much from the first few weeks, its hard to get past the language barrier, not to mention the synergy that needs to develop. Don't get your hopes too high, they will be a top team by the end of the season anyways.
Really looking forward to seeing how everything goes this split. That bot lane has the potential to be a real terror once Xpecial and Piglet get used to each other.
Also extremely happy Team Liquid is the one to take over this team, was dreading who Curse was going to be picked up by, I can see now I was worried for nothing.
I would vouch for an AMA, there are still a lot of questions to be answered like where's our house tour? Is it exciting for players like Fenix and Piglet to be a part of a team that has presence and history in korean esports etc.
On January 07 2015 11:41 ptbl wrote: So, who is our main rival in the league scene?
I think it depends on how the team does. If they are near the top of the standings it will be C9 or TSM. But if they are towards the middle of the pack it will be CLG or DIG. I've personally always liked the CLG Curse rivalry, so I hope that continues with Team Liquid.
Friendly reminder that this should have happened long ago around the time of IPL 5 but Nazgul has a severe superiority complex and bias against League of Legends.
Always enjoyed TL mostly as a lurker since I enjoyed watching SC, but disliked playing it. Hard to believe TL picked up Hearthstone before League of Legends, but better late than never.
Can't wait to see how Fenix will compare to other NA mids. Haven't seen any games of him, but I don't expect much considering that he is role swapping from top to mid.
I do like this team for TL, I think they match something of what Team Liquid represents but I still don't have the highest opinion of them yet. There's a lot of growing pains to go through first, but in a relatively weak NA LCS I wouldn't be surprised by a top 3 finish. I think there's no real fear anymore of the 4th place curse.
Hype! So happy to have a name like TL's to support in League now, especially since EG is gone. Plus they picked up Fenix, so I really can't not be a fan.
This is great, I loved really enjoyed Liquid in the competitive scene and their awesome informative site back when I used to play mass amount of Broodwar and Starcraft 2. Now that they are coming into League, I feel like League will be able to grow more and start to get a lot more interesting.
On January 08 2015 02:32 angelxd19 wrote: the team looks strong other than jungle ( then again I'm bias against IWD. ) mostly rooting for this bot lane
Will be watching team Liquid closely once the season starts, but I don't have any big expectation, especially due to the new Mid laner who has never been proven in a professional scene and is role swapping (people know how that usually ends up).
Even though im going to have to get used to all the drastic changes that happened over one off season, im still a curse or hould I say Liquid fan till the end. Liquid or Die!
On January 07 2015 04:37 739 wrote: Holy fucking shit. My faith is restored. It happened, Liquid purchased Curse, best option possible, I'm so fucking hyped I can't even say.
On January 07 2015 04:37 739 wrote: Holy fucking shit. My faith is restored. It happened, Liquid purchased Curse, best option possible, I'm so fucking hyped I can't even say.
Full merger of the two; not a purchase! World domination of esports incipient!
EPT
