ORG HISTORY
-Team Liquid was founded in the Netherlands in 2000, making them another one of the oldest esports orgs accepted into partnership
-Liquid would go on to acquire a Dota 2 team in North America in 2012, marking their first venture outside of EMEA
-Liquid also noteably had a merger with Team Curse in 2015, causing the organization to expand drastically
-The organization has divisions and rosters in Apex, Artifact, Clash Royale, Fortnite, CSGO, Dota 2, Freefire, Hearthstone, Heroes of the storm, League of Legends, Rocket League, PUBG, Street Fighter, Smash, Tekken, R6, World of Warcraft, and Valorant
-Liquid's estimated revenye for 2021 was 87 million dollars. They noteable have some of their players listed as owners, such as EliGE and Hungrybox
ROSTER HISTORY
2020
-Liquid started as a free agent roster known as fish123, consisting of
ec1s
L1NK
soulcas
Kryptix
ScreaM-The squad would get signed by Liquid in mid August 2020.
-Liquid would go on to struggle in some of the ignition series with few podium finishes, but would find their form ahead of First Strike
-The squad would make it into playoffs of First Strike ahead of most teams, and secured a quarterfinals matchup against Heretics
-Heretics would take the series in a tight map 3 and go on to win the tournament, and Liquid would exit in 7th-8th place.
-At their next tournament Liquid would play in Redbull Home Ground and lose in the grand finals of a grueling Bo5 aganst G2, once again finishing second
2021
-Liquid made no roster changes going into the first VCT season, choosing to retain their current players. After a challengers 1 loss to FPX and a challengers 2 loss to Alliance, it became clear something needed to change
-ec1s was swapped out for Jamppi, a former CSGO player that had been banned. With this new roster, Liquid made their final push to attend Masters 1. Unfortunately, the squad faced an embarrassing Ro16 loss to Rix.gg thunder, Liquid were out of masters contention and were on the sidelines until April.
-Despite the loss, no roster changes were made, instead opting to give the roster more time to gel.
-Going into stage 2, Liquid again faced a loss in the Ro16, this time to Guild. Liquid now had one final chance to qualify for the closed qualifier, or they will be unable to be in contention for Masters 2, the first international tournament at the time
-After this, Liquid would go on an absolute tear, taking down Entropiq, Alliance, NiP, and BDS, before losing to FNATIC in the grand finals. Liquid had now secured their place in playoffs for Iceland
-In playoffs Liquid would continue their run, beating BBL, FPX, and even 13-0ing OXG to qualify for Iceland. They would lastly beat Fnatic in a 5 map series to go into Iceland as the #1 EMEA seed.
-Seeded into the UBQF, Liquid faced a tough upset against V1 (which I still think is one of the best series of all time), sending them to the lower bracket early. After beating KRU and Vikings, they would fall to Fnatic and exit the tournament in 4th place.
-Due to their high placement at Iceland, Liquid would recieve a bye into the Ro16 of Stage 3, and they earned a spot in the closed qualifier. After a loss to FPX, Liquid would have one final chance to qualify for Berlin through the final qualifier of the year
-An early loss in Stage 2 to Giants sent Liquid to the lower bracket, where they would have to fight all the way back to the finals to secure a spot in playoffs. They would best FNATIC in a 5 map series to secure a spot at playoffs
-Liquid would (AGAIN) receive an early loss to NaVi, and run the lower bracket. They would come one match from qualification to Berlin, falling to Gambit and eliminating them from Berlin contention. Gambit would go on to win Masters 3. Liquid had placed high enough to secure a spot at LCQ.
-After this loss, KRYPTIX stepped down from the roster, citing personal issues. Nivera, who is ScreaM's brother, would replace him on the roster, despite having no competitive experience in Valorant.
-Following this roster move, Liquid would go on a tear. They would beat OBG, Guild, G2, and Guild again to qualify for Champions in dominant fashion. At the second Red Bull Homeground, they would beat Futbolist, BIG, G2, Fnatic, Tenstar, and Acend and win the event.
-Their success would continue at Champions, beating KRU, Sentinels, and C9, before losing to Acend, the eventual winners of the event, and exiting Champions in 3rd-4th place
2022
-Liquid would retain their roster going into 2022, consisting of
-L1NK
-soulcas
-ScreaM
-Nivera
-jamppi-Liquid had a bumpy group stage, going 3-2, squeaking by into playoffs. They would stumble in the upper bracket to FPX, and would fall one match short of qualification following a loss to G2.
-Due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the winners of Challenger 1, FPX, were unable to attend Masters 1. As a result, Liquid would squeak by and attend Reykjavik as the bottom seed of EMEA.
-At Iceland, Liquid showed early strength in beating KRU and Xerxia, but back to back losses against LOUD and Zeta would send them home in 7th-8th place
-Liquid recieved a bye into the group stage of Challengers 2. They opted to swap out L1NK for Dreamas. The squad would see better success, going 4-1 in groups, but bombing out of playoffs with losses to FPX and M3C (Gambit). This would again put Liquid into the LCQ
-Following Stage 2, Dreamas would leave the roster, and L1NK would officially depart the org. Dimasick would be brought in as a replacement
-At LCQ, Liquid won their opening matches against BBL and NaVi, and would lose to M3C in the upper finals. Liquid would beat G2 in the lower finals, and get their revenge matchup against M3C in the Grand Finals, beating them 3-1 and qualifying for Champions (again).
-At Champions, Liquid lost their opener in brutal fashion to Leviatan, and would beat Chinese representatives EDG and Masters 2 runner-ups PRX to squeeze into playoffs. In playoffs, they would lose consecutive matches to Grand Finalists Optic and Fnatic.
RUMORED ROSTER MOVES
-Nivera and ScreaM are both set to depart for KCORP, leaving soulcas as the only remaining member of fish123
-nats and redgar from M3C are set to join the org, as well as Sayf from Guild
-Liquid's roster in 2023 could be:
-Jamppi
-soulcas
-nats
-redgar
-Sayf
-dimasick (?)ADDITIONAL THREADS
-FNC: https://www.vlr.gg/151396/fnatic-org-overview
-Americas: https://www.vlr.gg/151389/americas-orgs-megathread
-My twitter: twitter.com/RyanG2B
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