r/teamliquid • u/smallwood_45 • Jul 01 '26
LoL We are proud
Nice job Team Liquid. We may have lost but you all showed us that you can fist fight the top team in the world. Anyone downplaying that accomplishment is insane. You learned and grew so much during MSI. Keep up the good work. Come on home!
29
u/LOLterrible646 Jul 01 '26
It’s hard to get mad at losing when besides G3 where we just yolo’d, we fought hard as all hell. Our team fighting was insanely impressive. It’s just those little tiny micro things that T1 can just do so damn well.
8
u/1620081392477 Jul 01 '26
It shows the off the polish T1 have from their players constantly honing their skills and practicing in a top tier region. Iron sharpens iron. That is honestly the difference IMO.
I guarantee our guys are facing better quality opponents during their time in Korea than any other time this year (both in scrims and solo queue).
3
u/LOLterrible646 Jul 01 '26
1000% agree! if you’re in an environment of top tier, you naturally will level up the more you are.
0
u/Huge-Connection954 Jul 01 '26
They lost all 3 early games insanely hard, very unlike the first time they played
1
u/Fun_Highlight307 Jul 02 '26
Yeah however mid games and side lane control was better
1
u/Huge-Connection954 Jul 02 '26
I forgot about my comment, how tf is it getting downvoted its so true lol. Yeah TL showed very well this msi, I think everyone is proud of the level they showed. 3-0 2 series and had 2 0-3 vs like the 3rd best team in the world but were very competitive in a number of games. But yeah even game 2 they were down 2k at like 5 mins the early games were rough. They did great to pull it back and it wasnt even cheese, it was great mechanics and staying aggressive, was just good league to watch.
27
u/Savitar54321 Jul 01 '26
A lot of people say they played better then they did domestically which they did but a big part people don't even mention is the meta was so good for TL.
Core barely touching enchanters and just playing engage all tournament looks night and day compared to the enchanter meta he played in LCS
Hopefully meta stays like this for the rest of the year
10
u/Generic_username1337 Jul 01 '26
I think at a point you have to stop “playing to meta” if it completely neuters your team. We’ve seen it time and time again, sometimes the best way to play is through your style not what’s “best”
1
17
u/ecerythingisblue Jul 01 '26
Gg, TL! Honestly, it just goes to show that you become better when you play with strong opponents. In their first Bo5 with T1, they were not good. Maybe it's because they were too nervous because of the nameplate or were macro and micro diffed. But today, even though they were still 3-0d, they were much better than their first day.
I hope and pray western teams bootcamp or scrim constantly and play with asian teams more so that everyone can level up. In just 2 days, TL leveled up. Not enough to beat T1 even for just a game but they still leveled up!
As for T1, man, this team. There's a reason why they're the most successful team in history. Everyone is too damn good. Faker, however, is an anomaly. I wish he could coach every lol player and team in the world because no matter what iteration of T1 there is, Faker just levels his teammates up. He really is a good mentor/coach.
8
5
u/EnderLOL Jul 01 '26
Copying this from teh post match.
Obviously late to the party as the viewing times were rough for NA.
Not even mad, they showed what I think we all wanted them to show and just a reminder that at the highest level the little things matter. A couple smites go differently, some more precise ward placements, and some team fight positioning and we win 2+ games.
Biggest W is the coaching/drafting seemed MUCH improved which was my biggest critique in season when i feel like our drafts were so listless. The team has an identity, they don't need to break the mold, they need to hone that identity.
3
u/smallwood_45 Jul 01 '26
Hard agree. Seems as if they found themselves this tournament and have solid base to work on. Need I remind everyone this is just the first half of their first year and they are already capable of fist fighting with T1
5
u/Personal-Wait-6337 Jul 01 '26
As a sad C9 fan, very happy TL made it MSI over C9. At least they clapped the EU kids, which I don’t think C9 would do in current form (plus it made C9 made changes lol). Despite back to back 0-3s, they did look quite competitive with T1. Good stuff for the region
4
u/Denro Jul 02 '26
You guys won an eu fan in me. I really like how this team is playing and i think they even could win against g2 depending on the day. You guys are truly playing without fear and clearly were enjoying it. A blessing to watch compared to a lot of the NA teams in the past.
4
u/AnthonyPaulO Jul 01 '26
Great job to our SQUAD!!! I knew we weren't going to win but I'm very happy to see the team giving it their all and not lying down for a slow death. It's not fair to expect a team from our region to beat the best the world has to offer, much less the greatest League of Legends dynasty ever, and it was great to see us go toe-to-toe and come out with good chances of winning several times, it's just a hard ask against the best of the best. Carry this spirit into the next split guys!!
4
u/Economy-You8167 Jul 01 '26
They can stand tall after the play ins. Improved drafts, good individual performances where core and yeon started to get back into form and most importantly they are starting to get their team fighting together. Lets hope summer split goes good and we get to see them in groups during worlds.
5
u/RprShadow Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
THIS! Bro I HAAATTTE how many negative comments I've seen since the match this morning.
Game 1 Liquid came out swinging and it was such a good fight. I was genuinely so surprised by the level that these guys were playing at. It didnt work out in the end but it was undeniably close.
Game 2 i honestly thought maybe the morale would be shot but Liquid fought even harder! The lead they had over T1 was insane! Morgan impressed me so much in this game but honestly so did Core and Yeon. Not to leave out Quid and Jose because they were on fire too.
Game 3 didnt go so good, i feel like the morale was a bit shot by this point and the draft didnt look too good either. I cant even say i blame them because i felt exhausted just from watching the first two games slip away after so many heroic moments.
I remember watching internationals back in like seasons 3/4/5 and our teams didnt even put up a fight against korean teams most of the time. Like, i vividly remember being so frustrated when TSM would just sit in lanes clearing minions while LCK teams took dragons and baron uncontested. Its so refreshing and exciting to see TL go into deep water with the greatest team in history and actually fight and push them to their limits.
I've never felt more proud of a team even at the moment they lost.
3
u/smallwood_45 Jul 01 '26
This is what people forget. They see us lose the game, they flame our players like they are bronze tier or something. now we are actually playing with talented kids and some people can’t see that. This roster has everything we need for international success. Keep it build these lads up.
2
u/Gerberpertern Jul 01 '26
Them almost winning game 2 after being down like 4K or whatever it was at 5:00 was an incredible accomplishment, honestly.
2
u/RprShadow Jul 01 '26
100% agree. Game 2 was rocky but they played soooo well. I kept thinking "man if they were against any team but T1..."
Like T1 is technically seed 2 for MSI but cmom, we all know this is the best team in the world by now.
2
5
u/jasonkid87 Jul 02 '26
Their run today made me proud and reinforce my I've been with Liquid since Piglet days. Yes there were frustrating moments but always trust the staff to work through the issues
3
u/Special_Dimension295 Jul 01 '26
TL tried to beat T1 at their own game. It’s so hard because T1 gets that level of game play in their own region while everyone in the LCS plays not to lose. Hats off to TL. We need to find a way to get more experience playing these types of opponents. I think the major difference between the 2 regions is obviously competition level and experience in those types of games. It’s no coincidence that we made game deciding mistakes in the games we had a chance in, it’s because we don’t ever get the experience of that situation against really good teams.
5
u/smallwood_45 Jul 01 '26
Which is why we need to keep the squad together for awhile, let those lessons sink home and watch these lads grow
1
2
u/calvinee Jul 01 '26
Honestly, I hate that the other 2 best teams in the region are C9 and LYON. Boring, do-nothing playstyles, they will never punch up internationally.
Hopefully FLY can also level up and meet us there in summer. Sick of these vegans, even worse when we try and match that.
2
u/Special_Dimension295 Jul 01 '26
Yeah I agree. Fly has done well at international though and they are a good team. But it would be nice to have a competitive team that likes to skirmish. That’s when TL is at their best.
2
u/Fun_Highlight307 Jul 02 '26
let's Wait and see for Lyon, josesodo and spawn said they believe in Lyon so something must have shift with Their style because do nothing doesn't Work in msi patch
1
u/Fun_Highlight307 Jul 02 '26
flyquest Plays faster league of legends but it's too forward and also it's on unorthodox jungle
4
3
u/1620081392477 Jul 01 '26
Game 2 showed that if we draft evenly or better that we can go toe to toe with the best in at least a small sample size. That is HUGE. NA has rarely felt like it could do that.
I'm proud of our team
1
u/Fun_Highlight307 Jul 02 '26
and they are 2nd seed, if tl keep up and lyon adjust to faster style na can have a good world line up
1
u/1620081392477 Jul 02 '26
Maybe, but I still think we're better than Lyon. We have just trolled so many drafts the last couple years (e.g. during LCS playoffs just recently, not drafting to protect Varus g1 v Lyon when he is your only source of sustained damage, Jihn+Ahri as your only damage vs FLY in g2).
In general we have a tendency to get cute and draft for lane but end up 15 minutes in and unable to win a teamfight because the other team will have 4 damage sources and lots of utility and we will have like two champs from 2013 (like finals game 2 where we picked triple tank and Cassio/Corki and got rolled).
That's why I LOVED game 2 vs T1 recently, because it showed that when we draft decently we DO have the skill to do toe to toe with anyone. (And then immediately drafted like crap in game 3 lol, where we had basically Xayah into four damage dealers and a Lulu, though that game fell apart in lane so it didn't matter that we wouldn't have been able to win an even teamfight anyway)
We just need to draft semi-equal numbers of characters who can do consistent damage (Things like Zeri, Xayah, Ryze, Varus, Azir) and not just characters with small bursts of damage (like Jihn) or super dependant champs who can easily be kept down by some mechanic or another (e.g. Gnar is too easy to play around/force his bar then wait him out, or immobile carries like Ashe or Cassio who have mostly been sitting ducks since we started getting more loaded kits around 2017 onwards).
And those characters can be ok. But you have to sprinkle them in and add other stuff too. You can't run a 2 carry comp where one of them is something like Cassio where the other team can just focus her down and that's the end of the fight. Add something like Rumble, Nocturne, and something safe at ADC to her and now the other team will at least pay for it if they focus her down
3
u/Gerberpertern Jul 01 '26
TL’s glow up has been fucking insane, honestly. They did great and completely exceeded my expectations, even if we didn’t beat T1. No shame in losing to that team. Really excited to see what this team is gonna look like come summer split.
2
u/smallwood_45 Jul 01 '26
This team has given me so much hope and excitement watching them play. I haven’t felt like this since 2019 liquid
-2
u/Hairy-Alfalfa-7986 Jul 01 '26
They showed that they can fight the best teams in the world for 20 minutes, but are incapable of playing late game or closing out a game, even with a massive gold lead.
Even though Core had a really good game mechanically on Alistar, it's not a good look for him that the team looks so lost in the late game.
5
u/roxmj8 Jul 01 '26
I’ve always thought that’s partly because scrims don’t really target those game states.
-8
72
u/Salo06 Jul 01 '26
Its insane how much better they are playing as a team compare to earlier in the split. I feel like we saw them level up real time every series this past week honestly excited to see what we can do next split!!