After a disappointing loss to Counter Logic Gaming, Team Liquid’s League of Legends squad has officially been eliminated from the playoff picture for the 2023 LCS Spring Split.
Early in the year, the organization was regarded as a possible top-three contender for the season, especially after acquiring multiple superstar talent like DRX jungler Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon and former LCS MVP Park “Summit” Woo-tae.
They joined forces with superstar support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in to help guide Harry “Haeri” Kang and Sean “Yeon” Sung as they made their LCS debuts on a starting lineup. These two prospects were also coming off of a successful run through the 2022 Academy scene, winning back-to-back Proving Grounds together.
Unfortunately for the Liquid faithful, the team stumbled out of the gate with only three wins through the first half of the season, with both prospects struggling to adjust to their new roles among the best in the region.
The rest of the team, on the other hand, continued to make unfortunate mistakes in both positioning and decision-making. Summit, for example, led all players with 35 deaths through the first nine games, according to competitive League stats aggregate Oracle’s Elixir.
In the second round robin, the team couldn’t stay consistent with their play and was steamrolled by stronger teams in the standings. Even though they had strong early games, as indicated by their formidable average gold difference of 1044 at 15 minutes, they couldn’t close out their matches, due to weak teamfighting or unforced errors.
Looking ahead, Liquid will now have a couple of months to look over its team’s shortcomings, before the 2023 LCS Summer Split begins later this year.
In the meantime, catch the 2023 LCS Spring Playoffs when the postseason begins on Thursday, March 23.
