What is Team Liquid's Plan?

It seems that the name of Team Liquid’s most recent acquisition sums up the organization perfectly, InsanityXXX. There once was a time that Team Liquid was a competitive League of Legends team but that just is not the case anymore. On the surface it seems as though the Team Liquid Organization is willing to acquire top talent, but the problem is they do not know how to use it. During the 2016 offseason, it looked as though on paper Liquid would be in contention for top 3 in the NA LCS; however, for some reason the team just never seemed to be successful.

It appears as though Liquid these days makes announcements more for fan reaction, rather than long term competitive success. We constantly hear new headlines about player acquisitions, but nothing really about team culture or changes to infrastructure to bring out the best in their players. In the Team Liquid YouTube video series there was a constant teaser to a new person being part of the roster. To the surprise of most it turned out the person was none other than former CLG mid laner, Link. This created for a good reaction among the community, but it did not translate to any competitive success. We as spectators never saw the impact Link had on the organization, but I guess it was cool to see him again.

When the team’s AD carry Piglet decided to role swap to mid lane, it made for an interesting story, but again did not produce results quality results. Bringing in Doublelift to save the team from relegation created a lot of entertainment for the fans, however it was not a long term fix to the team’s issues. Disney decides to invest in Team Liquid and another headline is created. Team Liquid signs midlaner Mickey. Team Liquid had stated they believed in GoldenGlue, and now after the signing of Mickey, we can all pretty much assume he will lose his starting position. The icing on the Team Liquid cake of chaos is the return of their former jungler Dardoch. Dardoch who recently badmouthed the organization is now back in the midst of all the insanity.

It’s evident at this point that the players are no longer at fault for the failures of the team. Instead it is the management who have not been decisive in devising a long term plan to become a competitive team again. They can sign all the players they want but it makes no difference if they have no idea how to use them. Whether they need to hire positional coaches, life coaches, or test the waters with a new head coach, something has to change. There needs to be an actual team culture developed for Team Liquid’s League of Legends team if they ever plan to be competitive again. Headlines are nice, but they’re even better when you make them for winning. Only time will tell what the intentions are for Liquid in the future.