posted by Malystryx.GDS,
Team Liquid became the first team to ever win a TI Grand Finals 3-0. In 2 days time they will emerge from the darkness but will they be the same team?


Liquid will soon emerge from the shadows
Almost 2 months has passed since Liquid's historic victory at TI7. After defeat to iG in the upper-bracket Liquid carved their way through SIX different teams to become champions, in the process becoming the first team ever to not concede a game at a TI Grand Finals.

lb Maroun 'Gh' Merhej in less than a year emerged from the darkness to win $2.3 million and steer Liquid back on track after a rocky first few months after TI6. de Kuro S. 'KuroKy' Takhasomi after seven years of trying finally become a TI champion. jo Amer 'Miracle-' Al-Barkawi missed out on the Boston Major while his former team were crowned champions only to then be part of Liquid's revival and achieve what OG never could, a TI victory.

Kuroky chose his roster and the management behind it, manager Mohamed and coach Heen. In terms of making history Liquid have done that, the only question is whether they will go on to create a legacy.

A search for new motivation?
On stage after winning TI7 Kuroky said "It feels good. Planning to come here again next year and stay here again."

For Liquid the route to TI8 has been laid out rather neatly for them. They received direct invites to 4 Minors and 1 Major off the back off their TI7 performance but where they are right now in terms of motivation only time will tell.

Both after the win and after the event Liquid's carry player fi Lasse 'Matumbaman' Urpalainen voiced his feelings about how the experience left him feeling "empty".

Liquid featured on a True Sight episode and also released their own documentary about their epic TI7 win, and after seeing both, fans will be hoping the team stays together at least until the next TI. The key to doing so will be finding new motivation, whether that is defending their TI title or their honour.



Fact: Only 2 of the last 6 TI winners survived the next TI
Of the last six TI winning teams only se Alliance and cn Invictus Gaming revisited TI the following year with the same roster.

After their TI1 victory ua Natus Vincere released ua Ivan 'Artstyle' Antonov and played with ru Sergey Antonovich 'Ars-Art' Revin at TI2. Following his TI4 win cn Zhang 'xiao8' Ning left to rejoin LGD, while after TI5 ca Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling was kicked from Evil Geniuses. Meanwhile, TI6 Wings Gaming's motivation dwindled over time to the point that the team disbanded and none of the roster competed at TI7.

A swift change of personnel like Newbee or EG seems unlikely for Liquid and thankfully the team has decided to stay together. Captain Kuroky took Matumbaman, Mind_Control and GH from aspiring pro players to global stars, and the current roster was only formed at the end of 2016 after poor results in the Boston Major season.

Of the six past TI winners only Alliance and iG's roster stuck together until the next TI


Fortunately for Liquid Valve has perhaps done them a favour by introducing the Pro Circuit, which as we remember from the end of the TI7 True Sight episode, Kuroky even mentioned in the player coach leaving KeyArena. In terms of focusing on a new goal mastering the Pro Circuit may well make the long road to TI8 not seem so far off. Team Liquid have the potential to gather quite a few TI8 Qualifying Points from the upcoming 5 competitions this year.

Will this be enough to help them maintain the level that saw them eliminate six teams in a row at TI7? The first clue to understanding that will be the upcoming Starladder i-League S3 Minor.


Liquid are one of only 2 direct invites to the SL i-League S3 Minor


A tough group to make their return: 3 brand new teams to face
As reigning TI champions the attention will inevitably be on Liquid at the first Minor of the Valve Pro Circuit. The TI7 runner-up and the only other direct invite Newbee, already proved with their qualification for the DreamLeague Major on the weekend that they still mean business, eliminating LFY twice in the process as well as the new team of the moment cn Vici Gaming.

Liquid's group is a difficult one as they face three brand new rosters. Their first game of the tournament is against the new my Mineski. Mineski captain my Chai 'Mushi' Yee Fung brought in 3 new players during the reshuffle including sg Daryl Koh 'iceiceice' Pei Xiang and th Anucha 'Jabz' Jirawong.

Mineski have dominated SEA, winning 4 Regional Qualifiers to qualify for four Pro Circuit Minors, and they've won 11 of their last 13 matches. The scenario is not too dissimilar to world Team Faceless*'s incredible run after TI6 but will hopefully end with a better record when it comes to the LAN segment.



On the other side of their group is as mentioned before the new Chinese threat, Vici Gaming. VG brought in iG.Vitality's cn Zhang 'Eurus' Chengjun and reinstated cn Zhi Cheng 'LaNm' Zhang as the captain. Based on their performances in China, VG will mostly likely breeze past br SG e-sports, meaning a tough second round for Liquid should they pass Mineski. That is not to say sGe is a weak team. The Brazilian organisation rebuilt their squad after TI7 and have been the dominant force in the South American Regionals, just as Mineski has been in SEA.

Team Liquid's return to competition has been a long time coming but they have quite the group to make their debut in. Fingers crossed they've had enough of a break to come back even stronger this season.




How do you expect Liquid to do?

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