NALCS: A Look at Team Liquid's New Roster for 2019

Amongst the craze of this year’s offseason, Team Liquid has been quick to finalize their starting roster for 2019. Keep reading to find out more about their new Season 9 line-up and what you can expect from TL as they hit the ground running after a disappointing Worlds run!

If Team Liquid was already the hero of NA LCS in 2018, they’re sure to go super Saiyan mode in Season 9 with their new stacked roster. Remaining on the team from this year’s roster are Impact, Xmithie, and Doublelift, with new additions in mid-lane and support – Jensen and CoreJJ.

That’s right, this is one competitive roster and almost a dream come true for all Liquid fans! In case you need some catching up, here’s a brief rundown of the team’s past successes and their new roster’s individual achievements over the years.

Jung “Impact” Eon-Young (Top)

With one World Championship title already under his belt, Impact has continued to find success in top lane in the game’s competitive scene. With experience playing in both LCK and NA LCS, Impact is consistently one of the world’s best performing top laners.

Known for his refined and reliable tank style, Impact has been playing League competitively since Season 2 and it’s safe to say that he brings a lot of experience to the table. With the occasional hard-carry on Gangplank, Impact’s play is not as one-dimensional as you may think. Having played in several top-tier teams such as SKT T1, C9 and now TL, Impact is a four-time NALCS Split Champion hoping to once again, bring his regional success to the international stage.

Jake “Xmithie” Puchero (Jungle)

Like Impact, Xmithie has played competitive League since Season 2 and has maintained his title as one of, or if not, the best native jungler NA has ever had. As a four-time NA LCS Split Champion himself, Xmithie played most famously for CLG and Immortals before joining Team Liquid for Season 8.

While Xmithie has not had much international success (yet), he is famed for his supportive jungling style and un-tiltable mindset which makes him extremely valuable to TL’s current roster of veterans. He is arguably the rock for Team Liquid and his wide champion pool will surely help support TL’s carries in Jensen and Doublelift. Hopefully, TL’s jungle and support synergy between Xmithie with CoreJJ will form a foundation for the team’s success in the upcoming season as well.

Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen (Mid)

One of this year’s most surprising off-season roster moves is Jensen’s departure from Cloud9 to join Team Liquid. Having started playing in the NA LCS in 2015, Jensen has since made a name for himself as one of the best mid laners across NA and EU. Most notable of his achievements is finishing in the semi-finals of Worlds 2018 with Cloud9, something no NA team has done since Season 1.

With the ability to play both carry champions (Fizz, LeBlanc) and supportive ones (Zilean) at a top-tier level, Jensen’s flexibility as a player is priceless for the new TL roster. Team Liquid no longer has to play a one-dimensional-protect-Doublelift game and can mix it up, now that they have a new carry in Jensen. With Jensen’s addition to the team, who else is looking forward to TL vs. TSM matches now, with both the TSM-Doublelift rivalry and Bjergsen-Jensen rivalry?

Yiliang/Peter “Doublelift” Peng (Bot)

Is there even a need to introduce our beloved ADC trash-talker? Doublelift has been a staple pro-player in the NA LCS since Season 2 and is even prized as NALCS’ best native player of all time. Having come from difficult beginnings, Doublelift is the living incarnation of every anime protagonist, constantly trying his best to climb the ladder and find success despite all the obstacles thrown his way.

Despite never making it out of World’s group stage, Doublelift is recognized by both fellow pro-players and his massive fanbase as one of the world’s best bot laners. Even new support CoreJJ has praised Doublelift already, without even playing together yet. Having consistently earned a spot in the annual LoL Worlds Top 20 player list, Doublelift’s individual skill combined with his new team’s strength is sure to propel him further for the next Worlds tournament in 2019.

Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-In (Support)

Having only started playing support competitively in 2016, CoreJJ is a player filled with talent and experience as both an ADC and Support. Like Impact, CoreJJ is a World Champion from the LCK, having won with Samsung Galaxy in 2017.

Thankfully, there should be no communication problems between CoreJJ and the rest of the team as CoreJJ has played in the NA LCS back in 2015. Fans have already started calling their new bot lane DoubleJ and with the duo lane already joking around on Twitter, we hope both these star players will synergize well and form one of the world’s best bot-lanes in 2019!

What’s there to look forward to?

Obviously, TL’s new roster looks incredibly strong on paper and hopefully, they will also play well together in the upcoming season. The team already has two back-to-back NA LCS Split Champion titles from the 2018 spring and summer splits. With this new roster, a dope futuristic-looking (and of course, effective) training facility, and an experienced head coach in Nuri “Cain” Jang, the team should achieve even more than they did this year with utter domination.

TL’s previous mid-laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park has since signed with FlyQuest as their starting mid laner so hopefully, casters will play on his rivalry story-line next year as well. Currently, Kim “Olleh” Joo-Sung is rumored to sign with Golden Guardians as their starting support so we wish him luck in his new team too!

Next. CLG Huhi is now 100T Huhi. dark

What do you think about Team Liquid’s new roster? Will they be as strong as fans predict them to be in 2019? Let us know in the comment section below!

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NALCS: A Look at Team Liquid’s New Roster for 2019

By Richelle Lau | Nov 30, 2018