Team Liquid is a pro gaming team founded in the Netherlands in 2000. Originally a Brood War clan, the team switched to StarCraft II during the Wings of Liberty beta in 2010 and became one of the most successful foreign teams. The team roster's achievements in premier events include winning four DreamHacks, two MLGs, two Assemblies, and one NASL. Liquid is also known for its early involvement in the Korean scene, through a partnership with Old Generations which allowed its players to practice in Korea and to compete in the GSL.[1] As such, the team has been present in Korea for a longer time than any other foreign organization, and has also been one the most successful in GSL with its players reaching the semifinals four times. Furthermore, Liquid was one of the two foreign teams which competed in a season of the GSTL on its own as well as the first (along with Evil Geniuses via a joint roster) to attend the Proleague.[2][3]

Team Liquid is also one of the best-known and most widely supported teams in the StarCraft II scene, having some of its players mentioned in mainstream media.[4][5] The team's activities include the organization of several events, the most notable being the Team Liquid Starleague, an online premier tournament, the third edition of it being one of the most highlighted foreign events in 2011.

Team Liquid is also strongly associated with its website, TL.net. Launched on May 1, 2001, it has developed through the years into a focal point for StarCraft coverage, eventually became the most-browsed StarCraft-related website in the world, gathering thousands of members (including several professional players) and centralizing news about the global SC2 scene. The website also feature a progaming database, the TLPD, as well as a wiki dedicated to Brood War, StarCraft II, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone, the Liquipedia.

Aside from its StarCraft II team, Team Liquid also fields a DotA 2 team launched in 2012. They also launched a Super Smash Brothers Melee team in March 2014 consisting of Ken Hoang (Ken/Sephiroth Ken) and Korean DJ (Daniel Jung), both of whom were featured in the documentary The Smash Brothers.[6]On January 13, 2015, Team Liquid announced it had signed on 5 players to a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.[7]

History [ edit ]

Main article: Team Liquid History.



Early days and first steps in StarCraft II (Mar – Dec 2010) [ edit ]

Team Liquid was originally a StarCraft: Brood War clan created by Victor "Nazgul" Goossens around the end of 2000. The clan's website, TL.net, developed into one of the most active StarCraft: Brood War websites in the world.

The team got on board with StarCraft II during the beta, and upon the official release of the game, its line-up was featured four players: the long-time member Tyler "NonY" Wasieleski, the Random player Dario "TLO" Wünsch, the TL.net moderator Jonathan "Jinro" Walsh, and the three-time DreamHack champion Hayder "HayprO" Hussein.[8][9] With the arrival of a sponsorship from The Little App Factory in July, Team Liquid became a fully-fledged pro-team.[10]

Right after Wings of Liberty's launch, the team signed a partnership agreement with the Korean organization Old Generations, which allowed Team Liquid to become the first foreign team to be involved in the Korean scene on a concrete basis. The move also demonstrated the team's commitment to the South Korean scene as part of its overall development plan.[1] Through this partnership, Liquid's roster (which had been reinforced in September by the arrivals of Joseph "Ret" de Kroon and of the winner of the 2010 MLG Raleigh Chris "HuK" Loranger) flew to Korea and competed in the first seasons of the GOMTV Global Starcraft II League, with mixed results.[11][12] While TLO, Ret and HayprO were systematically eliminated in the early rounds, Jinro eventually realised a memorable achievement in the 2010 GSL Open Season 3: he indeed made his way to the semifinals where he was eliminated by MC, which was the best performance for a foreigner in the Korean league so far.

Despite its focus on the Korean scene, Team Liquid did not neglect the foreign tournaments. In October and November, its line-up achieved three podium placements in premier events: HuK took third place in both the IEM Season V - American Championships and the 2010 MLG D.C., and Jinro gave Liquid its first major victory in the 2010 MLG Dallas. The team was remarkably successful in the latter event, with four of its players reaching the top 8; Nazgul also proved that he was more than just a regular team manager by defeating the reigning MLG champion IdrA during the early rounds of the competition.[13]

Focus on the Korean scene and HuK's success in Europe (Jan – Jun 2011) [ edit ]

On January 1, 2011, Team Liquid announced its upcoming TeamLiquid StarLeague 3, a premier online event featuring top players from all around the world battling each other for a $34,500 prize pool scheduled to kick-off in March.[14] The team was very successful in January and February: TLO, who had headed back in Europe two months before, won the PokerIdol.com European Championship (a major offline event held in the UK). A few days later, Jinro repeated his performance from the last GSL, and reached the semifinals of the 2011 GSL January Code S, defeating the reigning champion MC twice in a row in group stage. In February, Team Liquid's roster brought back its second victory in a premier event, as Ret triumphed over MorroW in the finals of the SteelSeries StarCraft II Challenge. The Dutch player would be a lot less successful in the 2011 March GSL Code A (he was eliminated in the first round) and headed back to Europe, leaving HayprO, Jinro and HuK as the only Liquid players left in the oGs-TL house.[15]

HuK's time under Team Liquid colors reached his peak in June 2011, when he won the DreamHack Summer 2011 and the HomeStory Cup III within a week.

Jinro also marked a step backward in March, being eliminated of the Code S in the round of 16. He wouldn't be the only player of its team competing in the next Code S though, since HuK made his way through the Code A and the Up and Down matches, hence making Liquid the first foreign team succeeding in placing two representatives in Code S. At the end of the month, the TeamLiquid StarLeague 3 kicked-off, and while it was a success in terms of viewership and entertainment, it turned out to be a disappointment for Liquid's roster; all of its players but Tyler were eliminated in the first round, and the latter dropped out the tournament as well in the next round. Team Liquid suffered another bit of an upset in the 2011 MLG Dallas held during the first weekend of April. Jinro being unable to defend his crown because of a busy schedule, it was TLO who realised the best performance for the team with the fifth place of the tournament and was the only member to reach the top 8. The tournament also featured a memorable event if the rivalry between HuK and IdrA, as the latter quit prematurely a game after his opponent used his Sentries to hallucinate some Void Ray (IdrA eventually knocked-out HuK the day after).[16]

Team Liquid's performance decrements continued in the 2011 GSL Code S May, with both HuK and Jinro failing to proceed to the playoffs, meaning that they would have to fight for their Code S seeds in Up & Down matches. The Canadian player retained his seed, but Jinro fell in Code A for the first time since the Code A/S inception. Both of them soon remained the only players from the team left in the oGs-TL house, as HayprO headed back to Europe a few days later, after two unsuccessful attempts to qualify for Code A.[17] He joined his teammate TLO in his recently-created joint progaming house located in Sweden.[18]

These setbacks didn't prevent the team from securing another sponsor, as Liquid welcomed Razer as its new head sponsor (alongside The Little App Factory) on May 8.

Things didn't get better in early June, with Jinro's and HuK's anecdotal runs in the 2011 GSL Super Tournament (eliminated in first and second round, respectively). Ret made it to the 2011 MLG Columbus top 8 (seventh place), while TLO realised his worst performance in the American circuit by far, with the twenty-eighth place. The explanation of this under-performance came a few days later, when the German player announced that he was experiencing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands, and therefore had to take a break from playing StarCraft II.[20] The situation took a turn for the better at the end of the month, when HuK went on a winning streak in foreign events. The Canadian player indeed won the DreamHack Summer 2011 in a dominating fashion, losing only three games in the entire tournament, and became one of the few foreigners who won a premier event in which notable Korean players were participating. One week later, he won the HomeStory Cup III as well, defeating fellow top Protoss players MC and NaNiwa on his way to the coronation.

Upheaval in the team and HerO's big break (Jul – Dec 2011) [ edit ]

A few days after his memorable achievements in Europe, HuK succeeded in retaining his Code S seed in the 2011 GSL July, reaching the round of 16. The next week, he had for the first time of his career the opportunity of competing in the GSTL (as a member of oGs-TL), and delivered a convincing performance against team Prime, knocking-out Check and MarineKing in order to claim victory for his team. His teammate Jinro on the other hand made a short-lived run in Code A, and failed to earn a spot in the Up & Down matches. The next week, during 2011 MLG Anaheim day one, Team Liquid signed its first player in roughly ten months and welcomed Shawn "Sheth" Simon, a Zerg player usually praised for his manner.[21] Liquid was the most successful foreign team in this MLG, placing five players in the top 20, while HuK was the best-ranked foreigner with the seventh place.

The team provided a significantly poorer performance in the ASUS ROG Summer 2011 one week later. HuK's elimination in the group stage was indeed the main upset of this tournament, and his teammates weren't much more successful. It was just a temporary setback though, since both Ret and Sheth qualified for the BlizzCon 2011 during the following days, being the winner and the runner-up, respectively, of the European and North American Battle.net Invitationals.

On August 10, Team Liquid welcomed the first Korean player of its history, Seong "HerO" Hyun Deok.[22] This good news was tempered by Jinro's defeat in the first round of the 2011 GSL August Code A the same day, meaning that the Swedish player would have to fight for a Code A seed in the next preliminaries.

In the Code S, HuK advanced again to the round of 16, but Liquid fans would soon find out that the his match versus Killer ought to remain his last appearance with the blue shirt. It was indeed revealed, a few hours after the match, HuK was leaving Team Liquid for Evil Geniuses, where he would partner with his long-time rival IdrA.[23]

Liquid fans had another major source of disappointment in early September, when Jinro failed to qualify for the upcoming 2011 GSL October Code A, which would therefore be the first GSL he didn't attend since his first participation in November 2010. The Team still managed to have one of its player competing in the Korean league though, with HerO making his way through the preliminaries. His run in the Code A wasn't overly enthusiastic and he missed his chance to enter the up & down matches, but he delivered a decent showing for his first attendance to a foreign offline event, to the DreamHack Valencia Invitational, where he defeated IdrA. Jinro's miseries continued in early October in the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Guangzhou, his first participation in a foreign live event in months, where he was ended up at the last place of his group. The next major gathering occurred in Atlantic City the next day, during the IGN ProLeague Season 3. Team Liquid realised a mixed performance as Ret, who reached the quarterfinals, was the only member getting through the first round. The team was upset again two weeks later by the outcomes of the 2011 MLG Orlando. With Ret's ninth place being the best placement for Liquid's roster, it was the first time the team failed to have at least one player in the Top 8 (except for the first event of the 2010 circuit, the 2010 MLG Raleigh, where the team didn't attend). At the end of the month, Sheth and Ret were both eliminated in the BlizzCon 2011 loser's bracket round 2, while HayprO was eliminated in the Round of 16 of the Electronic Sports World Cup 2011. A week later, Jinro failed again to qualify for the upcoming GSL Code A. The only good news in this disappointing October was the signing of the streaming service Twitch.TV as a new sponsor.

In November, the whole roster was gathered for the first time in a while in the 2011 MLG Providence. This tournament was the theater of one of the biggest upset of the season as HayprO, who had shown average performance during the past months, went on a commanding and unexpected run. He indeed made his way through the championship bracket as the underdog, and became one of the only three Zerg players who defeated NesTea in an official match. Mvp barely stopped HayprO at the seventh place, the best result for Liquid in this event. The day after, the team introduced its new recruit, the Korean Zerg player Choi "Zenio" Jung Min, formerly on team oGs, and announced the upcoming production of a documentary made by Michael Krukar and dedicated to the team.[24][25] In the DreamHack Winter 2011 held during the next week-end, Team Liquid realised its best performance since June; HerO indeed won the tournament, narrowly defeating PuMa in finals, hence making his big break on the global scene and giving Team Liquid its fourth victory in a premier event, while Ret gave a solid impression by taking the third place. HerO and Zenio earned their spots in the next GSL up & down matches a week later.

In early December, HerO and Sheth attended the NASL Season 2 main event. The latter was barely eliminated by PuMa in the first round, while HerO made a clean run to the finals, defeating Sen 4-0. HerO had to settle with the second place though, being unable to beat PuMa for their second encounter in the final of a premier event. On December 8, Team Liquid made a terrible performance in the IPL Team Arena Challenge 1, being all-killed by SaSe for team Quantic Incredible Miracle. The team was eliminated in loser's bracket round one the next week, being overwhelmed 5-1 by Team ReIGN. In the last days of 2011, HerO was upset in the 2011 Blizzard Cup, being eliminated in group stage without a single win. He wasn't more successful in the GSL up and down matches, failing to proceed to Code S, unlike his teammate Zenio who therefore allowed Liquid to have one representative in Code S for the first time since Jinro's drop in Code A in April. At last, TLO and HayprO announced their upcoming return in Korea.[26][27]

TaeJa's momentum (Jan – Sep 2012) [ edit ]

Team Liquid didn't have the most auspicious start in 2012, being upset by Zenio's early drop into Code A in the GSL Season 1, by Ret's, HayprO's and HerO's eliminations in group stage in the HomeStory Cup IV (as well as in the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Kiev for the latter player). Things got better when Zenio placed fourth in this same IEM event, followed by Ret taking the third place of the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Kiev in early February. Throughout February and in early March, the team made a convincing run in the IPL TAC 2, where it eventually placed fifth/sixth. At the same time, Zenio made his way through the GSL Season 1 Code A to get a Code S seed back, and made it to the IEM Season VI - World Championship quarterfinals, while HerO qualified for Code S for the first time of his career via the up & down matches. Later in March, Liquid won its first major team league, when it defeated mousesports 3-2 in the grand finals of the North American Star Team League, following a clean run throughout the tournament (the team had topped the group stage, and had dominated FXOpen e-Sports 3-0 in the semifinals).

The entire roster (with the exception of HerO and Zenio) then gathered in Columbus for the MLG Winter Championship, where it made a mediocre showing. None of the players competing in the open bracket managed to reach either the pool play or the championship bracket, while Ret and HayprO, who were seeded in the pools, were promptly eliminated in the championship bracket (the Dutch player still finished within the top 16). A few days later, on March 29, Team Liquid welcomed its third Korean player in the person of Yoon "TaeJa" Young Suh, who was referred to by the team's CEO Nazgul as "Liquid's biggest acquisition in history".[28] This transfer increased the number of members of the team starting in Code S to three for the 2012 GSL Season 2, which was (and still is) the highest amount of Code S competitors achieved by a foreign team.

The entire roster gathered in Las Vegas for the IGN ProLeague Season 4 in early April, only to achieve a mediocre collective performance; TaeJa's finish at the 21-24th place was indeed the best result for the team, while the majority of his teammates ranked outside of the top 50. The next weeks featured a more fortunate chain of events for Team Liquid, with Ret making it to the semifinals of the DreamHack Open Stockholm 2012, as well as with HerO and TaeJa reaching the GSL Season 2 Code S semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively (Zenio, on the other hand, dropped again into Code A). Team Liquid also announced the impending start of the TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 on April 25, while GOMTV unveiled a week later that Liquid would join the upcoming 2012 GSTL Season 2 along with Fnatic, as the two first foreign organizations to compete in the Korean team league on their own.[2][29] In May and June, Liquid went through a string of disappointing results. Zenio lost his Code S seed for good in the GSL Season 3 up & down matches, and the team's debut in GSTL turned out to be a significant setback as Liquid placed last in its group and was eliminated from the league, after two heavy defeats against ZeNEX (all-killed by Life) and New Star HoSeo. Liquid also failed to qualify for the Evil Geniuses Master's Cup Series VII playoffs as well, ranking sixth in the group stage. The team's five players attending the MLG Spring Championship displayed poor performances, with only Ret and Sheth managing to rank within the top 50. The next day, HerO dropped into Code A after placing fourth in his GSL Season 3 Code S round of 32 group.

Things started to get better in at the end of June with HerO reaching the quarterfinals of the DreamHack Open Summer 2012, while TaeJa made it to the Code S quarterfinals (where he would be defeated by MC). The Terran player also started to carry Team Liquid in the IPL TAC 3, notably all-killing Prime in the winners bracket. Liquid was successful as well in the NASL Season 3 in mid-July, where Ret placed fourth while HerO reached the quarterfinals. A week later, Team Liquid ended its streak of disappointing results in the MLG Pro Circuit 2012 when TaeJa defeated Alicia in the finals of the MLG Summer Arena in order to win his first premier event. The only notable setback in July was Zenio dropping out of the GSL after his defeat in Code A round of 48.

On July 28, the TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 kicked off with TaeJa and Ret being the only members on the roster qualified for the event (Both Ret and TaeJa's runs were short-lived, as they narrowly lost to Squirtle and First in the first and second round of the tournament respectively). The Terran player was much more successful in the Assembly Summer 2012 held in early August, where he bested MC in finals to win a second premier event in this summer 2012. On August 7, Team Liquid bid goodbye to Jinro, who announced his retirement from competitive StarCraft II. The Swedish player explained that his dream of being a progamer was now tenuous and half-remembered, and that he couldn't keep running on empty anymore.[30] Four days later, Liquid faced Incredible Miracle in the IPL TAC 3 grand finals. The Korean team eventually won the match despite being all-killed by TaeJa in the first series, and Liquid placed second. TaeJa had carried his team throughout this league, achieving an unprecedented 23-3 record which was by far the best of the tournament. Toward the end of the month, TaeJa failed to defend his MLG title, losing to First in the MLG Summer Championship semifinals after team-killing HerO in the round of six. The latter player later retained his Code S seed by topping his up & down group five days later. On September 9, the TeamLiquid StarLeague 4 came to an end, crowning Creator champion (with Life as runner-up, the distinguishing feature of this tournament was the fact that its finalists were both 15 years old). Two weeks later, HayprO announced his retirement, stating that his motivation for the game had been declining and that he had decided to finish school and start the next chapter of his life.[31]

Great ending to the 2012 season (Oct 2012 – Present) [ edit ]

In early October, Liquid signed Yum "Sea" Bo Sung, a former Team 8 member who had switched to StarCraft II in May 2012 along with the other KeSPA players, and who was famous for being the 2006 Proleague finals MVP (leading MBCGame HERO to their only championship by winning the grand finals ace match at the age of 16), as well as for being one of the very few Korean progamers to have interacted with the foreign community during the Brood War era.[32] In Korea, the GSL Season 4 ended quite successfully for the team, with TaeJa and HerO reaching the semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively. The Protoss player also placed third in the WCS Asia Finals a few days later, which made him the only member of the roster qualified for the Battle.net World Championship. The team was much less successful outside of Korea though, with Liquid placing last in its IPTL Season 1 premier division group (but later managed to retain its seed in the up & down matches), and with Sheth and Ret making a mediocre showing in the 2012 MLG vs Proleague Invitational.

In November, the GSL Season 5 turned out to be a setback for HerO and TaeJa, who both dropped into Code A at the outset. They also had mixed results in the MLG Fall Championship, with TaeJa making it to the top 8 while HerO quickly dropped out of the tournament. Ret and Sheth, who were competing in the open bracket, both ranked outside of the top 30. The latter two players continued their string of disappointing results by making unimpressive runs in the Lone Star Clash 2 held a few days later, going no further than the losers bracket round two.

Liquid realised one of its most memorable achievements in the DreamHack Open Winter 2012, where HerO and TaeJa were champion and runner-up, respectively.

Sea made his debut in individual leagues under Liquid's colours by attending the GSL Season 5 preliminaries along with Zenio, but both failed to qualify for Code A, the Terran player falling short of one game to earn a spot in GSL on his first attempt. The next week, HerO made a noteworthy appearance in the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, where he reached the quarterfinals after placing second in a tough group featuring IdrA, Stephano and RorO. Toward the end of November, Ret, TLO, HerO and TaeJa gathered in Sweden to attend the DreamHack Open Winter 2012. The latter three all qualified for the playoffs, but Ret placed last in his group and came under scrutiny as he played his last match against NightEnD in a way that has been described as if he was not trying to win, which later led Nazgul to suspend him for the upcoming IGN ProLeague Season 5 (the Dutch player apologised for misbehavior).[33][34] TLO fell to Snute's mastery of the Zerg-versus-Zerg match-up in the round of 12, but TaeJa and HerO made their way through the bracket for an unprecedented all-Liquid finals. This last match was quite one-sided, since HerO crushed his teammate 4-0 to become the first two-time DreamHack champion. In the IEM Season VII - Singapore, which was held the same week-end, Zenio made a smooth run to the quarterfinals, where he was eliminated by sLivko. Sea made his first appearance in a premier event the next week, when he attended the IGN ProLeague Season 5 along with HerO and TaeJa. The latest recruit of the team immediately dropped into the losers bracket, where he defeated Genius and NaNiwa before losing to Life. TaeJa failed to reach the final bracket, being eliminated by Sniper, whom later ended HerO's run as well.

The first two weeks of December were marked by several good news and achievements for Liquid, which started on December 4 by the announcement of a partnership with Evil Geniuses meant to create a joint roster to compete in the upcoming 2012-2013 SK Planet Proleague.[3][35] This venture made the team and its new partner the first foreign organizations to ever compete in the prestigious Proleague, which boasted an unprecedented $275,000 prize pool for this season. Meanwhile, in California, HerO and TaeJa competed in the NASL Season 4 main event, where they faced each other in the quarterfinals. Like in the recent DreamHack Winter finals, the Protoss player overwhelmed his teammate, and went on to defeat Polt and viOLet to win the championship and its $30,000 winner's prize.

On December 15 and 16, Team Liquid played in the Evil Geniuses Master's Cup Series VIII playoffs, where it had earned a spot by topping the group stage rankings with nine wins and two losses. Liquid eventually took the upper hand on Team Empire and RoX to win the title and its $5,000 prize. The team then went on securing a new sponsor, Barracuda Networks, three days later.[36]

Liquid had a few downturns in December though; Sea indeed announced his retirement, roughly two months and a half after joining the team, citing his inability to regain joy for gaming.[37] Both TaeJa's and HerO's run in the GSL Season 5 Code A came to an end in the round of 32, which meant that they would have to play in the next up and down matches to regain Code S seeds. The latter player was also eliminated in the group stage of the 2012 GSL Blizzard Cup.

Player Roster [ edit ]

f.l.t.r: Ret, Tyler, Sheth, TLO, Nazgul, HotBid, HayprO, HerO, and Jinro

Currently Snute, MaNa, Bunny and uThermal are living in their native countries, Norway, Poland, Denmark, and the Netherlands respectively. TLO currently lives in Canada with his wife Wyf, a manager with the team. The opposite picture depicts the roster as it was in August 2011, during the 2011 MLG Raleigh.

Active [ edit ]

Best Yearly Result:

Active Squad ID Name Join Date 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Clem Clément Desplanches 2020-02-21 - - - - - - 49 - 64th - 9 - 16th 9 - 16th 2nd Harstem Kevin de Koning 2020-02-21 - - 5 - 8th 9 - 12th 9 - 12th 5 - 8th 1st 9 - 12th 9 - 16th 9 - 12th 21 - 24th MaNa Grzegorz Komincz 2014-02-21 2nd 2nd 1st 5 - 8th 7 - 8th 2nd 9 - 16th 9 - 16th 2nd 9 - 16th 5 - 6th TaeJa Yoon Young-seo 2018-09-24 17 - 32nd 17 - 24th 1st 1st 1st 5 - 8th 5 - 8th - - 17 - 24th 13 - 16th uThermal Marc Schlappi 2016-09-04 - - - 17 - 24th 17 - 24th 5 - 8th 1st 5 - 8th 5 - 8th 9 - 16th 5 - 6th

Inactive [ edit ]

Best Yearly Result:

Inactive Players ID Name Join Date Inactive Date 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Bunny Patrick Brix 2014-02-21 - - - 9 - 12th 5 - 8th 3 - 4th 5 - 8th - - - Snute Jens Aasgaard 2013-01-09 - 9 - 16th 1st 2nd 2nd 3 - 4th 1st 2nd 5 - 8th 17 - 24th

Former [ edit ]

Transfers Summary [ edit ]

Organization [ edit ]

Staff ID Name Position Nazgul Victor Goossens Founder, co-owner & Co-CEO LiQuiD112 Steve Arhancet Co-owner & Co-CEO Wyf SC2-Manager

Grounds [ edit ]

Team Liquid doesn't own a team house by itself but the team has a place in New York City where its headquarters are settled. All players beside HerO and Snute are living and practicing at home. HerO lives in the IM house[38] and Snute lives in the CJ Entus House.[39]

In the past Team Liquid had access to three training facilities: the oGs-TL house, located in Incheon, South Korea, the Stockholm Joint European Team House, a facility set by TLO in 2011 in order to offer good training conditions to European players and the EGTL house.

oGs-TL House [ edit ]

As the first foreign team involved in the Korean SC2 scene on a durable basis, Team Liquid has a base in Incheon, away from Seoul and its GOMTV studio. This base is actually the training house of the Korean team Old Generations with whom Liquid has had a partnership since August 2010.[1] The first members to move in were Jinro, Nazgul, and TLO, who went to Korea right after signing the agreement. They were followed by HayprO on October 8, and by Ret and HuK in November, increasing the number of Liquid players in the practice house to four.[40][41] TLO, Ret, and HayprO each headed back to Europe in November 2010, March 2011, and May 2011, respectively.[15][17][42] Jinro and HuK therefore remained as the only Liquid players left in the oGs-TL house until roughly three months later, on August 10, HerO was added to the team (HerO was already living in the house at the time, being a former member of Old Generations).[22] Just six days later, HuK signed for Evil Geniuses and subsequently left the team and house as well.[23] Even though another former member of Old Generations was recruited in November 2011 (Zenio), Jinro and HerO remained the only members from the team in the house, since Zenio had specifically left the Korean team as he preferred to live on his own.[24] In 2012, former inhabitants TLO and HayprO decided to go back to Korea roughly one year after their departures, with HayprO arriving on January 15, 2012 and TLO expected to join them in the near future.[26][27] The German player eventually flew to Korea on May 15.[43] After the disbandment of Old Generations in May 2012 all Team Liquid Players left the teamhouse.

Stockholm Joint European Team House [ edit ]

On April 12, 2011, during the 2011 DreamHack Stockholm Invitational, TLO, who was missing the Korean practice experience with having other pros around all the time, announced that he had asked fellow players SjoW, MorroW, Bischu and Maven to move in with him in a joint venture pro-gamer house located near Stockholm.[44] Two weeks later, the first information about the place were released, describing a house placed in the middle of a forest, 20 minutes away from Stockholm and 15 minutes away from the nearest beach.[45][46] Notable guests include HayprO after his departure from the oGs-TL house, as well as Apollo, alongside whom TLO broadcast several events toward the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. However, the house lost all of its Team Liquid members, as HayprO headed back in Korea On January 15, 2012,[27] and TLO left in August 2011.[47]

EGTL House [ edit ]

The Korean Players had access to the EGTL house in South Korea since December 2012, which was closed in October 2013.[48]

Team Liquid HQ [ edit ]

In November 2010, the team unveiled its New York City headquarters.

On November 24, 2010, as TL.net head programmer R1CH and Team Liquid counsel Hot_Bid were appointed full-time staff members, the fans were told about team's headquarters located in New York City. The place, which was to become the home of the two above-mentioned members, can also accommodate any TL staff that wants to visit, and welcomed Team Liquid's founder and CEO Nazgul, as well as official staff members Heyoka, WaxAngel, Mango, and many others.[49] The headquarters were also the theater of the finals of the TeamLiquid StarLeague 3 on May 15, 2011, when ThorZaIN defeated NaNiwa in order to claim the $15,000 winner's prize.[50] On August 27, 2013, Nazgul announced that the headquarters would be moving to Netherlands. While the NY headquarters housed Waxangel, Heyoka, R1CH, and Hot_Bid, the new headquarters in Netherlands is housing R1CH, Hot_Bid, and disciple.[51]

Media [ edit ]

As an organization which puts an emphasis on the community development, Team Liquid naturally dedicated itself to improve the communication between the esports industry and the fans, and therefore developed tools and piloted projects aiming to fulfil this objective.

Websites [ edit ]

Liquid's website was founded on May 1, 2001, by Liquid`Nazgul and Liquid`Meat with the name teamliquid.cjb.net and some pages of this first website have luckily been preserved and can still be seen.[52] On September 22, 2002, the website moved to its current address, with the grand opening post being a recap of the 2002 SKY OSL semifinals.[53] The next day, the website featured its first poll ever, which confirmed tl.net to be the domain name.[54] The website grew bigger and bigger throuhghout the years, eventually becoming the main source of StarCraft-related information on the web. Its increasing success led Team Liquid to appoint two two full-time staff members, in November 2010, R1CH and Hot_Bid, who would be living and working together at the new headquarters in New York City.[49] On top of its forum, the website also has several features which are described here. In 2012, a referral link "TeamTaeJa.net" to the main TL.net website was added following TaeJa's performance in the IPL Team Arena Challenge 3.

The latest addition to TL.net was a spin-off of the main website called TeamLiquidPRO, which was launched on May 11, 2011. TeamLiquidPRO was designed as an area dedicated to the coverage of the Liquid Team, as well as a better representation of its sponsors. Hence, the website features VODs of Liquid's players, detailed profiles about them, as well as an event calendar. Furthermore, by being the central nerve about the coverage of the team, it would allow the main domain TL.net to better focus its efforts on being a central hub for the entire community and fans of all teams, not just Liquid.[55]

TLPD & Liquipedia [ edit ]

The TLPD (Team Liquid Progaming Database), which was launched on July 28, 2007, is a tool that lists and presents statistics and factual informations about the players, teams, maps, and tournaments.[56] Liquipedia on the other hand is a StarCraft-dedicated wiki which was launched on June 6, 2009. Originally set to focus on the strategy aspect of StarCraft: Brood War and to present informative articles about useful build orders or use of special tactics, the wiki was later enriched by famous players bios, information about current and past leagues, and team histories.[57]

On March 9, 2010, during StarCraft II beta, Team Liquid launched its Liquipedia 2, which was scheduled to provide the same spectrum of information on the StarCraft II scene.[58] While Liquipedia I is more focused on the Korean Brood War professional scene, Liquipedia II eventually came to gather informations from all over the global StarCraft II scene, and especially made a name for itself for the swiftness and the accuracy of its tournaments live-update. This particular aspect was highlighted in 2011, when several well-known shoutcasters checked Liquipedia II on stream in order to know about the recent results of the tournament they were casting (namely RotterdaM during the HomeStory Cup IV, or TotalBiscuit and Apollo during the Battle in Berlin).

Publications and shows [ edit ]

TeamLiquid: Attack! is an event where ordinary players from Battle.net become champions of the community in single combat with a guest progamer. The hosts of the show, who are observing the game, engage the guest in conversation while they are playing. Originally modeled on Korean TV programs like MBCGame's Battle.net Attack, the show has continued from Brood War into StarCraft II and has many of its own traditions. To provide additional challenge, the player is typically called upon to use a creative or unlikely strategy while answering questions from the hosts; this can tax even a professional player's multitasking ability.[59]

Liquid` Weekly [ edit ]

On August 6, 2010, right after the official release of StarCraft II, Team Liquid launched a weekly news review dedicated to its activities. Each edition featured informations about the team and its roster, inside sightings, replays, VODs, and/or short interviews. The last issue took place on April 21, 2011, after which Liquid` Weekly's assignment was taken by the newly-created TeamLiquidPRO.

Documentary: Liquid Rising [ edit ]

In November 2011, Team Liquid released a mysterious picture which led the fans to speculate on what it would mean for the team.[60] On November 16, it was revealed that the first pictogram was about the upcoming production of a documentary directed by Michael Krukar and dedicated to Team Liquid, which was scheduled to be released on February 2012.[25] On February 6, 2012, the team released an interview with the filmmaker, and reiterated its will of releasing the documentary by the end of that month.[61](The two others pictogram were about a new TL shirt design, and the recruitment of Zenio). On March 6, 2012, Hot_bid announced that the Liquid documentary had been further delayed due to the recruitment of Zenio into the team. On June 4, 2012, a trailer for the documentary was released announcing a release date of June 22, 2012.[62]

The full documentary was released on a "Pay-What-You-Want" model on June 22, 2012.[63]

Gallery [ edit ]

The team in November 2010, gathered for the 2010 MLG Dallas.

Victor "Nazgul" Goossens, CEO and co-founder of the team.

Robyn "Bumblebee" Nymann, team manager since March 2011.

Dario "TLO" Wünsch, member since March 29, 2010.

Joseph "Ret" de Kroon, member since September 8th 2010.

Shawn "Sheth" Simon, member since July 28, 2011.

Song "HerO" Hyeon Deok, member since August 10, 2011.

Choi "Zenio" Jung Min, member from November 21, 2011 to January 14, 2014.

Yoon "TaeJa" Young Suh, member since March 29, 2012.

Tyler "NonY" Wasieleski, member from October 23, 2008 to March 3rd 2013.

Yum "Sea" Bo Sung, member from October 4, 2012 to December 17, 2012 .

Hayder "HayprO" Hussein, member from July 2nd 2010 to September 19, 2012

Jonathan "Jinro" Walsh, member from March 29, 2010 to August 6th 2012.

Chris "HuK" Loranger, member from September 25, 2010 to August 16, 2011.

Logos [ edit ]

Original logo prior to January 2017

Logo prior to September 2019

Logo prior to February 2020

Interviews [ edit ]

2013 [ edit ]

2010 [ edit ]

Trivia [ edit ]

Ranked 1st on the Liquipedia list of Accomplishments in Premier Tournaments based on individual players' results with 18 golds. 11 of those golds where won by TaeJa.

Statistics [ edit ]

Earnings Statistics

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Team Medal Statistics

Tier Total Premier 1 0 0 1 Major 2 2 1 5 Minor 3 2 0 5 Show Match 1 2 0 3 Total 7 6 1 14

References [ edit ]



