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With only a week until the beginning of 2016’s North American League Championship Series Summer Split, Team Liquid has suspended jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett on grounds of behavioral issues.
TL began their Spring Split with a bumpy road, having assembled a new roster mixed with some of their former talent and a list of star rookie players they promoted from Team Liquid Academy. One such player was the up and coming jungler Dardoch, who quickly began to make his presence known amongst NA’s junglers for his impressive plays on champions such as Lee Sin, and his undeniable synergy with rookie top laner Samson “Lourlo” Jackson. As the split carried on, Liquid stuck true to their form and achieved 4th place in both the regular season and playoffs, but not before competing in a close five game series with eventual NA champions and MSI runner up Counter Logic Gaming.
Just as Liquid began to come into their stride, an unforeseeable folly strikes at the worst possible time. While bootcamping in Korea to improve their strength as a team for the upcoming split, Dardoch was reported to have severe behavioral issues with the group, namely insubordination. Seeing Dardoch’s refusal to work with his team as a threat to their performance, head coach Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-sup saw it best to suspend the player until further notice.
We have decided to suspend Dardoch due to his insubordinate behavior. It may come as a surprise to our fans that we're starting the season this way. Yet as a coach, I believe that League of Legends is fundamentally a team game and a player who can't see eye to eye with that and can't put the team before oneself regardless of his skill will only stunt the team in the long run. We believe that 5 players under a single vision, putting everything we have to improve as a unit and working selflessly, is the best way to a healthy and a successful team environment. While this is a big change, we are moving closer to that environment with the suspension. We're going to succeed through our teamwork and effort, not individual players, and I still remain confident that we have a bright Summer Split ahead of us. - Choi “LocoDoco” Yoon-sup
This leaves Liquid with a role to fill and only a week to do so before the LCS begins with its new best of three series format. As of now, Liquid has yet to announce who they will have to fill in. The most likely option looks to be newly acquired TLA jungler Galen “Moon” Holgate, who competed last split for NRG eSports. While Moon saw much scrutiny over the course of the regular season, he did see improvement overall. Not to mention it would be far easier to simply transfer Moon over for the time being than to search for a brand new player on such short notice.
After the news was released, Dardoch noted on Twitter that he plans to come forward in the future to give his own opinions on the matter. Liquid does say that they plan to work with Dardoch through these problems, but it is possible that Dardoch may have to fully transfer to a new organization if they feel that he is unfit for them.
With only a week remaining until the LCS begins, things look very concerning for Liquid. A new jungler in such a short amount of time will no doubt be a tough transition for a team that worked so diligently over the year thus far to achieve their strong bond. Hopefully the players who trained in Korea can use their new found experience to carry this now handicapped team through what will no doubt be a rough early split.
