Team Liquid discuss 2019 World Championship expectations

Team Liquid organized an AMA on Reddit, and some of the team’s responses were revealing.

It’s been over a week since Team Liquid raised its fourth consecutive LCS trophy in Detroit. The current LCS champions took time to answer fans’ question before they head to Europe to boot camp. Jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero, bottom laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, and owner Steve “Liquid112” Arhancet joined the AMA.

Team Liquid at the 2019 World Championship

 

Is Team Liquid making it out groups at Worlds? That’s the question on everyone’s mind. After the performance at the Mid-Season Invitational, North American fans are dreaming with the title and so are the players.

“Beating IG made me think we could realistically win worlds, and losing so badly to G2 made me think if we practiced harder or differently we could’ve won MSI,” wrote Doublelift.

G2 Esports punched its ticket to Worlds early and is one of the favorites to take the title this year. Team Liquid wants to get its revenge but this is not the only team they want to face at the event. Xmithie has one particular opponent in mind.

“I’ve been watching Tarzan play for 2 years now and I’m excited to play against him in the next few months,” wrote Xmithie. The jungler added that he’s hoping to be on the same level as SK Telecom T1’s Kim “Clid” Tae-min, Royal Never Give Up’s Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan, and of course, Griffin’s Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong.

Xmithie has something over all three junglers: experience. As one of the oldest active pro players, the 28-year-old jungler values experience over youth.

“I have way better mechanics now. Knowledge and adaptation beats reaction time almost every time,” said Xmithie.

Xmithie is known as a selfless and smart jungler that brings the best out in his teammates. Xmithie is also currently the jungler with the most LCS titles with six total.

While Xmithie is getting ready to face the new generation of junglers, Doublelift wants to play against an old rival who only seems to get better.

“I think Uzi has the most raw skill of any ADC I’ve ever seen, so he’s the best in my opinion,” wrote Doublelift.

RNG will dispute the LPL Summer finals versus FunPlus Phoenix. In a league as competitive as the LPL, RNG keeps fighting to stay at the top of the ladder. The team already qualified for Worlds, but this is their chance to reclaim the throne that Invictus Gaming took from them in the spring.

Doublelift’s respect for Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is clear, but the bottom laner is also clear that his biggest rival is someone else.

“Myself. At my peak, I’m the best in the world and at my worst it’s jungle difference,” answered Doublelift.

Looking back at TSM, past teams

 

Some fans asked about the future and others took the opportunity to ask about past experiences. Doublelift talked about the differences and similarities between the environments at Team Liquid and at Team SoloMid.

“I think it’s similar in the sense that we’re all close, friends, been playing together for a while, and have a winning mentality. The difference is on TSM it was more of a frat house vibe, less mature but more fun, and a lot of issues went unresolved because of that,” explained Doublelift, who was kicked out of TSM in late 2017.

At the time, Doublelift said he was completely blindsided by the team’s decision to change the roster. TSM signed Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen to replace Doublelift, hoping to improve the team’s international performance. The plan completely backfired and TSM missed Worlds for the first time in 2018.

Doublelift also compared his former teammates with the current Team Liquid roster. The player had nothing but kind words for his current support, Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in.

“Core is the best overall player and teammate I’ve ever played with,” said Doublelift.

He also explained that CoreJJ is responsible for keeping the team grounded whenever they’re losing.

CoreJJ joined Team Liquid in 2019, and the former world champion said at the time that he left the LCK behind because he wanted to play Doublelift. The support has always been open about his decision to join the team because of Doublelift, who he considers one of the best players in the world.

=The 2019 World Championship kicks off on October 2 with the Play-In stage live from Berlin.