Despite signing 2022 world champion jungler Hong ‘Pyosik’ Chang-hyun ahead of 2023, Team Liquid have missed the Playoffs entirely after getting knocked out by CLG. This is an even worse finish than last year’s “super team” TL roster had.
Team Liquid wasn’t in great shape after 2022. Their incredibly expensive roster didn’t manage to make it to international competition, resulting in some big changes to their roster. Only CoreJJ remained after 2022’s failures.
After signing 2022 world champion jungler Pyosik, 2022 LCS Spring MVP Summit, and bringing up top-tier Academy talent in Haeri and Yeon, Team Liquid have missed Playoffs entirely.
This marks a worse finish than what was considered a disappointment from their previous roster, and a continued nosedive from one of the top organizations in the LCS.
Team Liquid get knocked out of Playoffs contention by CLG
Coming into Spring, Team Liquid seemed like a shoo-in for Playoffs at the very least. Their roster, on paper, was incredibly strong. A full roster that can speak Korean in North America was a huge part of their identity, and signing a roster that all speaks the same language was meant to eliminate many of the issues that come with importing players.
Then they began losing games. Loss after loss after loss made fans slowly lose faith in Team Liquid and, despite picking up a few solid wins at the later half of the split, they’ve officially been knocked out of Playoffs contention.
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That ends our playoffs run. We want to thank all of you for truly supporting us and helping keep our spirits high.We're looking towards the future.Enjoy our next few games 💙#TLWin pic.twitter.com/FvNPWJw0fE
— Team Liquid Honda LoL (@TeamLiquidLoL) March 16, 2023
Last year was rough for the organization, but they at least made it to Playoffs consistently. This year was supposed to be different for Team Liquid, but they’ve well and truly fallen short of expectations.
In Dexerto’s interview with Pyosik, he revealed that Team Liquid’s players were very nervous at the start of the split. He himself was more nervous stepping onto stage for his first LCS game than he was for the World Finals.
And, while he was able to conquer those nerves and look drastically better on the tail end, Team Liquid wasn’t able to get things together in time to snag a spot in the Playoffs. Their loss at the hand of a roster that has some of the best home-grown talent in North America makes it hard not to question TL’s methodology behind building their roster.
It’s hard to say what the future holds for Team Liquid and whether or not we’ll see changes come Summer.