North American League of Legends can be summed up in 4 names: Team Solomid, Cloud 9, Counter Logic Gaming, and today’s subject, Team Liquid. All four of these names have been the primary North American flag bearers for the past 8 years. Each of these teams have had their chance to go up against the best teams in the world and each time they have failed. For years North America has been in the shadow of China, Korea, and Europe but as each year passes(or as more imports get residency slots) North America gets stronger. Following a grueling series against long time rivals Team Solomid, Team Liquid once again for the third split in a row managed to cement themselves as North America’s fighter of choice. Domestic dominance is clearly something that comes easy to Team Liquid as they’re currently sitting at a play-off record of 21–4 since the Spring Split of 2018 and are only the second team in history to win 3 NALCS splits in a row. However international success is something that Team Liquid can’t claim to be a holder of as their current record at international tournaments since Spring split 2018 is 9–11 with most of their victories being against the lower ranked teams at those tournaments. With the Mid Season Invitation soon beginning this could be Liquid’s last stand.

The current line-up for MSI presuming that TL and FW both win their play-in matches(which they likely will) is going to be: SKT, IG, G2, TL, FW, and a wild card team. Most power rankings are currently placing IG and SKT at the top with G2 being a close third then TL/FW fighting for fourth place, but is this analysis correct? As we see Team Liquid was pulling no punches with their pick ups for this years LCS season, they clearly were not happy leaving worlds in the group stage and have set their sights higher this time around. So let’s take a look at this roster and see what it can do against these 3 pieces of powerhouse competition from around the world.

Starting with top lane we have Impact, a player whose name is known all around the world. Following his season 3 Korean dominance Impact quickly made waves the world over as being ‘the guy who played top lane in Faker’s team’ a moniker only 8 players can say they have the right to claim. Impact will have to go up against TheShy, Khan, and Wunder three of the best top laners in the world right now. All of these players have highly aggressive playstyles and will punish you for every mistake you make. Luckily for Impact MSI is being played on patch 9.8 featuring buffs to Nautilus, Ornn, and Bramble vest so hopefully Liquid can just stick him on a tank and pray he doesn’t fall too far behind.

Next up is Xmithie in the jungle, for years Xmithie has been looked at as being the leading North American jungler and one of the most valuable pick ups a team can make considering he doesn’t take up an import slot. Xmithie is famous for maintaining a huge champion pool and showing results on every meta jungler since the beginning of his career. On patch 9.8 three of Xmithie’s core champions(Sejuani, Gragas, and Trundle) received direct and indirect buffs with items such as Bramble vest and Cinderhulk both receiving significant buffs. If Team Liquid can secure Xmithie one of these junglers that he is not only comfortable on but are also in a top spot in the current meta then he should be able to hold his own against the likes of Ning, Clid, and Jankos. These pick will allow him to keep up in the early game and provide sufficient peel and engage in team fights for the rest of his team.

The most talked about role at this tournament is the mid lane, this tournament features three of the greatest mid laners to ever do battle on summoners rift in Caps, Rookie, and the legendary Faker. All three of these mid laners have achieved great things throughout their careers and have shown time after time that they can solo carry games if given the right tools. Following the recent pick up of Cloud 9’s Jensen Team Liquid have been seeing far more success in playing around their mid laner compared to when they had Pobelter as their starting mid. This tournament will be a true test for Jensen as he goes up against these three star studded opponents who are sure to give him a run for his money in mid lane. Jensen’s champion pool consists mostly of assassins such as Leblanc or Akali as well as control mages such as Zoe, Lissandra, and Cassiopeia. These champions all currently thrive in the meta and and will be hotly contested at this tournament. One thing to look at is Jensen’s recent prioritizing of cheesy mid lane champions such as Zilean and Heimerdinger. These cheesy pocket picks could be a double edged sword for Jensen as they can bring that x-factor of surprise or if the opposing laners have prepared for these picks they could end up costing his team the game.

Finally we have Team Liquid’s bot lane Corejj and Doublelift, two legendary players in their own right. Both of these players have accrued masses of international experience boasting a combined 9 World Championship appearances between them. The bot lane competition at MSI is fierce but if Doublejj come in swinging then they may be able to get their team the victories they need. Against G2 and IG Team Liquid should be able to play around their bot lane and transition the early lead they get into a victory, though having to play around Perkz’ ever surprising champion pool and Jackeylove’s early game aggression is something that Team Liquid should be weary about. For Team Liquid their primary objective should be getting Doublelift onto one of his comfort champions such as Kaisa, Sivir, or Varus then providing the support he needs in the mid and early game to be the late game team fighting hyper carry that they need.

The ideal team composition for Team Liquid to see victory at this team tournament will be as follows; Ornn/Kennen top lane, Gragas/Sejuani Jungle, Lissandra/Zilean mid, Sivir/Varus ADC, and Braum/Galio support. This line up will give them great early to mid game control as well as providing Doublelift with the tools he needs to be a late game hyper carry threat.

For the past year and a half it has been clear that no North American team can hold a candle to Team Liquid’s current line-up, especially after they revamped their roster following last year’s failure at worlds. With three straight splits of dominating North America many Team Liquid fans are setting their sights high and are looking at MSI as TL’s time to shine, this is make or break for them. TL’s current iteration brings together 5 of the best players to ever see action on the North American quadrant of summoners rift, a veteran top laner with a champion pool next to nobody can rival in Impact, a jungler that can play around and provide his team with whatever pick fits the occasion in Xmithie, a mid laner who has shown time and again that he can hold his own against some of the best mid laners in the world in Jensen, an ADC more seasoned than any professional player currently attending MSI in Doublelift, and a support with a world championship and multiple LCK playoff attendances to his name in Corejj. Can this roster achieve greatness and be the first North American team to head home from MSI as the victor? Probably not, but we can at least jest at the idea before our hopes and dreams come crashing down in a wave of Chinese, Korean, and European dominance.