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Team Liquid's changes

A lot has happened during the off-season for Team Liquid. Let's review the changes together.

Team Liquid (TL) experienced their greatest journey thus far this year. Ranging from changes in the roster to the changes in management, TL had made critical changes, which will eventually translate into the next year. Here we will take a look at a few of their changes and decisions they have made.

IWillDominate taking executive decisions

It is known that Christian "IWillDominate" Rivera has been the dedicated shot-caller throughout the year. His transformation from a roleplayer into the shot-caller he is now did bear fruit with the successful regular season during the summer split. However, the team was plagued with dissapointing best of five games for both regionals and playoffs.

There were specualtions about Rivera's retirement from League of Legends, but it was stated that he was the front-runner for Xpecial's benching, hinting that he may stay longer with the TL organization. Whether Rivera asked to gain the authority to change the roster in the team is not clear, it was said that Rivera made the ultimate decision of the roster change. We should look out for more changes ahead that Rivera may make this year as the off-season prolongs.

Smoothie replacing Xpecial

The veteran player, Alex "Xpecial" Chu, was benched after Rivera's expression for the need to change. Andy "Smoothie" Ta will replace Xpecial's position. There are two things to take from this:  

  1. We will need to watch Smoothie's performance for next year.
  2. Xpecial's future with the organization is in the air, meaning that we should watch out for his future decisions. 

Read more details here.

Piglet's contract extension

There were many rumors surrounding Piglet's dismissal from the TL squad. Daily Dot published an article stating that GwangJin "Piglet" Chae would leave for Korea as he would be assumed as a freelance. However, Team Liquid made a clear statement that Piglet will be staying with the team's organization as his contract was extended to the next year. This will mean that Piglet will continue growing as an NA player. His language problems have been slowly resolved during the spring split of 2015. This will mean hope for the bottom lane for Team Liquid.

Peter Zhang leaving the team

Peter Zhang first stepped down from the head coach seat to be the coach for Team Liquid Academy. However, in a Twitlonger statement by Zhang, he stated that he would look to be a coach for a different organization.

"I also considering about quitting league and go back to china before, but thoorin inspiring me keep coaching and I don’t want all the fan sad, so i think i might be keep doing it." -Peter Zhang

Dismissing retirement is out of the picture. However, it looks as if he will be staying in the LoL competitive scene a bit longer to see if he can make the impacts he wants to make. 

There are two things to watch out for as Zhang stepped down as the head coach:

  1. Who will be leading Team Liquid's management?
  2. Where will be Peter's next stop be, despite his retirement consideration.

Conclusion

So that's all we have for Team Liquid thus far. There are so many speculations and possibilities to consider for Team Liquid. However, all that's left for us is to wait for the next season to observe if TL's changes were necessary. For now, let us enjoy what will be the biggest League of Legends event this year!

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