TEMPE, Ariz. – Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in has seen everything an experienced League of Legends player can.
He’s earned individual awards, winning the LCS MVP award twice. He played against and with some of the best players in the world, including the iconic mid-laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. He’s represented Korea at the Asian Games. He’s even claimed a League of Legends World Championship in 2017.
So, his words carry weight when assessing his team's potential. At LCS Lock-In, where the team failed to qualify for an international event, Jo saw glimpses of brilliance from his teammates during scrimmages that gave him confidence that the team had the right players and skills to compete at the international level.
“Some of the plays we are making are definitely world-class, but we are not consistent yet,” Jo said prior to the season. “Our level is quite low compared to the other top teams. I will try to help, so we can consistently make good plays, so that we can beat them.”
Team Liquid is making those plays a bit more consistently, stringing together a trio of series wins to earn a spot in the Mid-Season Invitational in Daejeon, South Korea. Their seed will be determined following their matchup against LYON at 1 p.m. at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
The winner advances directly to the bracket stage, while the loser must navigate a daunting four-team play-in bracket featuring all the second seeds from four other regions.
“The only thing I want right now is to win the final [today] and be the support player on the [first-place] team,” Jo said.
Translating it on stage
Team Liquid earned the reputation of being a strong scrimmage team at LCS Lock-In. The results, however, didn’t match the reputation.
They were on the brink of missing the LCS Lock-In Playoffs completely, defeating Dignitas in a one-game playoff for the final playoff spot. They managed to defeat Disguised in the lower bracket, but ultimately fell to the inevitable champion, LYON.
It did give the team a point of emphasis to work on in the time leading up to the Spring Split.
“We have really talented players, and sometimes our tempo doesn't match well,” Jo said. “So even during the scrims right now, the way we are winning is through more coordinated play as a team.”
But even after Team Liquid got off to a strong start, winning their first five matches, there were still moments where the team didn’t play connected.
“We made a bit too many mistakes. For our standards, so we're making sure why we are playing aggressively, we're nailing down getting perfect,” Jo said. “We know we cannot be perfect, but we are trying to get close to perfection.”
Team Liquid limped into the playoffs, losing back-to-back games to close out the regular season, but the best was still to come for Team Liquid.
Fluidity emerges
Team Liquid drew LYON in the opening match of the Spring Playoffs but fell into the lower bracket after a 3-2 defeat.
They rolled in their first lower-bracket series, defeating Shopify Rebellion 3-0. Team Liquid followed it up with a 3-1 win against Flyquest, setting up a bout with Cloud9 Kia for a spot at an international on the line.
They dominated, rolling to a seamless 3-0 victory against the undefeated regular-season champion in a complete team effort with the team playing well from top to bottom.
Jungler Brandon Villegas finished second in MVP voting, behind Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme. The award meant little to Villegas, who has been relaxed and been a stable force in the roaming position, especially with his attitude.
“When I play, I just enjoy the series,” Villegas said. “I try not to think too much, ‘I must win him no matter what.’ … It’s been working out for us.”
Mid-laner Lim "Quid" Hyeon-seung emerged as a stable force in the middle. Throughout the playoffs, Lim has 58 kills with 20 deaths and 81 assists. Additionally, Team Liquid is unbeaten if Lim doesn’t sustain three or fewer deaths.
“I feel pretty good. We enjoy playing with each other,” Lim said. “I’m happy.”
Park "Morgan" Ru-han is in his first season in the LCS after coming over from Korea. He played in his first playoff stage game, admitting that there was a small bit of nerves against Cloud9.
“After Game 1, I just enjoyed the game and the mood,” Park said. “It was exciting to play today.”
Jo credits Park for being flexible about how much impact he can have on a game.
“‘Morgan’ is always very reliable,” Jo said. “Even though he’s in a bad situation, he doesn’t get tilted. He always has a good vibe, in general, in the game and out. Individually, he’s strong. He’s the type of top laner that every team wants. He will carry if he gets resources. He will get the job if he doesn’t get resources.
Jo’s bottom lane partner Sean "Yeon" Sung, who is taking things one step at a time, has seen the team improve and is in the right position to finish the job and get a free bye into MSI.
All in all, it was just a matter of time before a group of five players consistently made the right choices and felt like a cohesive team.
“I would say the reason for our failure to be more connected has to do with being somewhat of a newer team. A lot of our ideas really clashed against each other at the start,” Sung said. “The vision that we saw in the game was not the same. But I think as time goes on, we keep talking about how we want to play the game, and I think we've aligned very well compared to the start of the year.”
Something to prove
Jo watched First Stand in Sao Paolo, Brazil, through streams following Lock-In.
He witnessed Europe’s G2 Esports’ biggest win against one of Korea’s top teams, Gen.G., in bracket play to earn a spot in the grand finals.
“Watching the first stand, I was very jealous of the G2 doing well,” Jo said. “Even the CBLOL teams are doing well in the Americas Cup. It’s a bit of a shame that we didn't make it [last split].”
Now with an opportunity to showcase its talents to LYON and beyond, Team Liquid isn’t passing up the chance to make some noise at the international level.
Paul Delos Santos covers esports for The Sporting Tribune. He is also the founder of Inside Esports, a newsletter covering the Fighting Game Community and Riot Games ecosystem. Subscribe at insideesports.media.