Photo: LoL Esports
Since the beginning of the year, Team Liquid was not in full possession of his faculties. Even if the team managed to win the pre-season tournament (Lock-In), the technical staff had never been able to align their standard team… The reason? Jo’s Green Card”CoreJJ” Yong-in had not yet arrived! The Korean, present on American soil since November 2018, therefore still counted as an imported player. Since Riot Games imposes rules on the number of non-resident players (two holders maximum ), Team Liquid had no choice and had to rotate. Between Hans Sama, Bwipo and CoreJJ, only two potential starters could be on the pitch and very often, the Frenchman had to share his botlane with Australian support Eyla It was a big nerve for the team and even if the latter was not unworthy, his level of play remains light years away from that of the former world champion.
But after these adventures which will have lasted several weeks, the good news has finally arrived! CoreJJ has received his resident card and he no longer counts as an import! He will therefore finally be able to be aligned at the same time as Hans Sama and Bwipo… The two defectors from the LEC will therefore be able to evolve more serenely and aim for a new title.
Team Liquid favorite for NA title despite no NA player?
Team Liquid won the Lock-In when they couldn’t line up their starting 5. Logically, we can therefore consider the team as the favorite to win the Spring Split and go to MSI. However, it will be necessary to be wary, among others, of Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses, two strong competitors. But since the beginning of the year, Hans-Sama has shown he fears no one and his stats are impressive. 13 wins for 2 losses, a KDA greater than 6 and impeccable farming (10 CS/M). What is even more impressive is that he has played almost all of his matches with Eyla… He is likely to be even better now that he will be able to play with CoreJJ, one of the best supports in the game. world.
The team is now complete and we can’t help but notice the oddity. Team Liquid is an NA team but there are no American players on the team:
- Bwipo is a European import (Belgium)
- Santorini is a resident player thanks to his many years in NA (Denmark)
- Bjergsen is a resident player thanks to his many years in NA (Denmark)
- Hans-Sama is a European import (France)
- CoreJJ also became resident player (South Korea)