Team Liquid has announced, as of February 21, 2016, that they will be doing tryouts during the two week IEM break. They currently sit at 2-8 and tied for last place in the NALCS. Team owner Steve Arhancet commented in an on stream AMA, “We really wanted to have a carry kind of bot lane… We also saw jungle as a very important role, so we went with our two import slots for [Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin] and [Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin].” With the ADC role shifting to a more utility role, a rumor has spread that Piglet may move to the mid position. Arhancet declined to comment on what roles specifically they’d be trying out, but said all options are possible at this point.
In this piece I’ll look at some of the options Team Liquid have in improving over this two week break in an attempt to make a comeback out of last place.
Piglet at Mid and Find a New ADC
This sounds more of a “CLG move” having a player switch positions like this halfway through a split. We’ve seen it previously on other teams like CLG and XDG, and it hasn’t been successful. Making a position change is more of an off season thing, not a mid split decision. Piglet did formerly play mid and switch to ADC in the past though.
Looking at who could replace him at ADC, there’s very few viable options. Austin “Link” Shin has apparently been duoing with support Matt “Matt” Elento. Link was a former mid laner, but with the ADC switching to a utility position, the transition may be easier than what Piglet is trying to accomplish.
Allen “xFSN Saber” Chen may be someone to look out for. He’s currently a sub for the challenger team Tempo Storm. He has some decent montages and has expressed interest in getting into the LCS. The real question is, what challenger ADC is willing to join a team that’s most likely going to crash and burn? It may hinder their young careers and give them bad publicity being on a low tier LCS team.
Team Liquid not having a challenger team this split makes it rough to look at any Challenger talent at the moment. Most ADC’s that are looking to get into LCS are already on established Challenger Series teams. The free agent pool isn’t very experienced or vast. There’s also no time to import talent either.
Could we see the return of the king himself, Michael “imaqtpie” Santana to the LCS? This is more of a troll pick honestly. At least he’s a popular streamer that would be great publicity for Team Liquid.
Bring back Arcsecond and Piglet stays at ADC
Lyonel “Arcsecond” Pfaender is a mid lane streamer who also subbed formerly for Team Liquid as a jungler during the gauntlet last summer. He had a decent performance in a role that he didn’t main. He’s also known for putting out decent educational LoL content on YouTube and Twitch.
Scrims will need to make sure that Arcsecond is fit for the starting mid position. Having mained mid since he has been in challenger, most would have to give him the edge over Piglet. Arhancet also commented that scrim results proved that Goldenglue was a better mid laner for the team than Link was. Link needed time to develop back into the mid he once was, but Liquid is short on time right now.
Finding a new face in challenger that will need to lane against the likes of Jensen or Bjergesen is a tall task for any amateur player. Trying to find an import halfway through the split may be a more daunting task though. Visas take a long time, on top of needing to mesh with the team. Arcsecond is familiar with the Team Liquid organization, so at least he’ll have that going for him.
ShipHtur in Mid and Piglet Stays at ADC
Danny “Shiphtur” Le was last seen in LCS on Team Dignitas before they were relegated. He was often labeled as a passive player who was only good at Ahri. His stream highlights are undoubtedly some of the best mechanical outplays in League of Legends.
When asked about Shiphtur during Liquid’s AMA, owner Steve Arhancet said they hadn’t contacted him. Maybe he’ll come into consideration after the AMA. Most people were surprised to see that no teams had contacted Shiphtur during the offseason. Both LCS and Challenger Series decided to not recruit him for a roster spot.
He still shows up on Reddit every now and than with an insane outplay. With the free agent pool not looking too vast at the moment, Shiphtur definitely wouldn’t be a bad choice to look towards.
This team will have nothing to lose sitting at 2-8 and basically out of the playoff picture. They’ll be looking to save themselves from relegation heading into the second half of the split. Arhancet has made it clear that any roster options are possible at this point.
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