Team Liquid's return to the international stage
When Team Liquid finished 3rd-4th in the Pre-Season Bootcamp in February, many fans were optimistic about their upcoming season. Even though they got reverse-swept by the eventual tournament winners, Twisted Minds, this was Team Liquid’s best international finish since building their core in the 2025 season. Everything seemed to be trending upwards for this North American powerhouse.
Then came March 16, and everything flipped on its head. Support player Rupal "Rupal" Zaman had been released from the team just days before the start of Stage 1, and Team Liquid were forced to play with an emergency substitute. This completely threw off the team's balance, forcing them to rethink every strategy and incorporate a new player while also finding a balance between Boston "Infekted" Fine and newly signed veteran tank Colin "Coluge" Arai.
Although Yasser "Escanor" Alotaibi showed some promise, having a traditional hitscan player slot in as flex-support while playing on ping was not a surefire recipe for success, which was made further difficult given Coluge’s inconsistent performances. Despite the odds, Team Liquid managed to remain solvent and end their run in 3rd place, just shy of qualifying for the Champions Clash.
Having to contend with the circumstances of losing a key player put Head Coach Cas "Casores" van Andel in a bind. Changes were necessary after their rocky first stage.
Ahead of Stage 2, Team Liquid released both Escanor and Coluge and looked towards Korea for answers. This is where tank player Kim "Attack" Jun-hwa and flex-support Jeong "KIVIS" Yeon-woo, alongside newly signed assistant coach Lim "F4zE" Si-hyun, came to save the day. Both F4ze and Attack had just come off of a decent performance with RODE ONSIDE GAMING, while KIVIS had just shown promise playing for ZAN Esports.
Team Liquid came out of the gate looking shaky, but ultimately found their footing. While the rest of the team was working on incorporating new players with a language barrier, their record didn’t seem to reflect any struggle. Team Liquid ended the regular season 3-2, having lost to both Dallas and Spacestation, while decisively winning against the remaining regional competition. Staying out of Promotion/Relegation was not enough for this once legendary team, and soon their eyes turned to the playoffs.
The playoffs were the biggest surprise for Team Liquid. Despite not winning once against the other top two teams, they came out of the gate swinging with a stunning 3-0 upset against the Dallas Fuel to book their tickets to Paris. This victory was a massive statement for the team, which had been written off so many times, and a much-needed boost to their confidence. While they settled in third place again, after losing to SSG and Dallas, qualifying for the Midseason Championship was the perfect break the team needed.
Heading into the Midseason Championship, Team Liquid enter as the third seed from North America and could be a scary dark-horse contender.
Team Liquid will begin their Midseason Championship journey on July 29 against Weibo Gaming.