CoreJJ brings world championship experience to Team Liquid

Team Liquid announced former World Champion Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in as its starting support for 2019.

CoreJJ is returning to North America, this time wearing the colors of domestic champion Team Liquid. After three years spent competing in the LCK and a World Championship victory to his credit, CoreJJ decided to switch regions once more.

The support player started his career in 2014 playing for two different smaller organizations in Korea. He then joined Team Dignitas in North America before later transferring to Samsung Galaxy.

In 2017, Samsung Galaxy would win the 2017 World Championship over SK Telecom T1. The team was rebranded the following year as KSV eSports, and again later on as Gen.G Esports.

Gen.G failed to find domestic success in 2018, as the team finished fifth in both the spring and summer splits. Against the odds, the team ran its regional gauntlet to qualify for the World Championship but failed to make it out of the group stage.

Underperforming teammates and poor results pushed CoreJJ to find a new home in 2019, as the support player explained in an official interview published on Team Liquid’s website.

Not everything has been negative for CoreJJ in 2018. The support was part of the Korean team at the Asian Games, where he played with Korean stars including Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and CoreJJ’s former duo partner Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk.

Korea made it to the final where the team lost to China.

“I looked around the world for the team that wanted me, and I believed that being in NA with Team Liquid will enable me to head towards the next step,” CoreJJ said.

CoreJJ is replacing former Liquid support Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung, who dealt with anxiety and communications issues throughout the year but particularly when Team Liquid played on the international stage.

Liquid’s management will hope that CoreJJ’s international experience will keep him calm where his predecessor once faltered.