Team Liquid

Team Liquid is an American esports organization that fields teams in a wide array of games. They were active in the Halo scene from May 2015 until their withdrawal in December 2017.

History
Team Liquid was founded by Victor "Nazgul" Goossens in 2000 as a StarCraft: Brood War clan. After years as a clan, the organization expanded with the creation of TeamLiquid.net, which became the most visited StarCraft-related website in the world. As time went on, the organization became a cornerstone of the StarCraft community and a very successful team. Until 2015, they were known primarily for StarCraft, but in January 2015, Team Liquid merged with fellow esports organization Curse Gaming, acquiring their League of Legends team.

HCS Season 2
On May 14, 2015, Team Liquid announced their entry into the Halo scene, with a roster of captain Ninja, Aries, Shooter, and Spartan, with coach Elamite.They had a strong showing in their first tournament under the Liquid banner, finishing 3rd in Cup 2. They followed this up with two top 6 finishes in Cups 3 and 4, and improved on these with repeating 4th place finishes in Cups 5 and 6. In Cup 7, Team Liquid was upset by the underdog team Reality Check in the round of 16. Liquid would get their revenge however, defeating Reality Check in the early rounds at HCS Indianapolis. Unfortunately for Liquid, they would then lose to Denial eSports and Winterfox en route to a top 8 finish. Going into the HCS Season 2 Finals as the #7 seed, Liquid had a formidable first opponent in Denial eSports. They were swiftly 3-0d by Denial and sent to the LB where they faced OpTic Gaming. OpTic won a very close series against Liquid 3-2, ending Liquid's event and season with a top 8 finish.

Halo 5: Guardians
On August 21, Spartan confirmed on Twitter that he was no longer a member of the Liquid roster. On August 27, Liquid announced its new roster, consisting of Ninja, new captain Ace (brother of coach Elamite), Mikwen, and Chig. At Iron Games Daytona 2015, Ace and Elamite of Liquid competed as a part of a team called "Liquid Vibe". They finished in the top 8. On November 10, Mikwen left the team in a transfer to Team EnVyUs. On November 16, Team Liquid confirmed the acquisition of UnLegit from eLevate as their new fourth.

Liquid were upset in the quarterfinals of the first Halo World Championship 2016 NA Online Qualifier by a relatively unknown team called OverDrive. Possibly due to this, Chig left the active roster shortly after in favor of an unspecified role in management. For the next two cups, Hysteria acted as Liquid's unofficial fourth. On January 13, Liquid made a roster change, releasing Ninja and acquiring APG and Heinz. All of the recent team changes were officially confirmed in a roster update on Liquid's site on January 27. Due to their performance in the first cups, Liquid was invited to the X Games Aspen 2016 for a chance to compete for $15,000 and a gold medal. Liquid then qualified for the NA Regional Finals as the 4th seed. At X Games, they were 3-0'd by both Team Allegiance and Renegades, ending their chances of advancing to the bracket, but they did earn a moral victory in a 3-0 sweep of Epsilon eSports.

At the NA Regional Finals, Liquid came out much stronger, sweeping Renegades, Astral Authority and SoaR Gaming en route to 9-0ing their group and qualifying for Halo World Championship 2016. In the quarterfinals, they were upset by the 11th seeded team Denial eSports, taking a top 8 finish. At Worlds, Liquid had a perfect record in their group, upsetting the favored Team Allegiance. In the quarterfinals, they were again defeated in 5 games by Denial eSports, ending their event with a top 8 finish.

On April 10, 2016, Ace confirmed that he was leaving Team Liquid to return to OpTic Gaming. On April 29, Liquid announced its new roster, with APG and UnLegit (now known as Eco) staying on board and being joined by StelluR and a returning Spartan.. Their first event together was the HCS Pro League Summer Qualifier 2016, where they finished in the top 8, with APG notably playing through a concussion. On May 13, APG announced that he was temporarily stepping down from the active roster. His replacement until further notice was revealed to be Assault, who had served as Liquid's coach at the Summer Qualifier. In the Last Chance Qualifier, Liquid finished 1st with Assault, successfully qualifying for the Pro League. APG made a post on the Beyond forums stating that he intends to remain on the roster as a substitute, with Assault acting as the team's official fourth moving forward. After an unimpressive 0-4 start to the Pro League season, Spartan confirmed that Danoxide would be joining the team as an emergency substitute for Assault for the 3rd week of the season. Details regarding the state of the emergency have not been made public. Liquid's fortunes improved little with the acquisition of Danoxide, as they would finish 7th in the League with only two wins, not enough to qualify for Finals or the Fall Season. Hoping to keep their spot in the League, Liquid fought in the Relegation tournament and finished 1st, qualifying for the Fall 2016 Season. Despite their qualification, Spartan decided to leave the team and join up with Commonly, Penguin, Rayne and coach 'Symbolic, who held Cloud9's Pro League spot. Team Liquid acquired this roster shortly after its formation. After a 3-3 start to the Pro League season, the new Liquid roster attended its first LAN event - HCS Orange County 2016. They finished 3rd, below OpTic Gaming and Team EnVyUs. Liquid ultimately finished 3rd in the Fall Pro League season with a 7-7 record. Weeks later, Team Liquid attended HCS Las Vegas 2016 alongside five other Pro League teams. They notably defeated Team Allegiance followed by Team EnVyUs in the Winners Finals, but were unable to seal the deal as EnVyUs earned a Grand Finals rematch, which they won by taking two consecutive series off Liquid. At the Season Finals, Liquid were defeated early by OpTic Gaming. In the Losers' Semifinals, they beat Str8 Rippin in a nailbiting 7-game series. In the following round, they were swept by Team EnVyUs, who went on to defeat OpTic Gaming and win the event.

On December 29, Spartan and Commonly left Team Liquid to form Problem Solvers. Rayne and Penguin recruited StelluR and a returning Eco to complete the roster, which was first revealed in ESL's post-roster lock press release. The new roster's first event was UGC St. Louis 2017. Liquid came out strong, sweeping the cE.Fs Starboys and taking a close 3-2 victory over Inconceivable before being knocked out of Winners in a narrow 3-2 loss to OpTic Gaming. In Losers, Liquid denied Str8 Rippin a top 3 finish with a 3-1 victory and moved on to face Team EnVyUs in the Losers Finals. After a closely contested series, Team Liquid came out victorious with a 3-2 victory, knocking EnVyUs out below second for the first time since Summer 2016. In the Finals, Liquid faced an uphill climb against OpTic, but battled hard and took the series to seven games before being sent home. At ME Las Vegas 2017, Liquid looked to build on their performance and qualify for Halo World Championship 2017. They came out strong with sweep victories over SetToDestroyX and Pnda Gaming to qualify, followed by a dominant 4-1 victory over Team EnVyUs. In the Winners Finals, Liquid were again defeated by OpTic Gaming, resulting in a Losers Bracket finals rematch with Team EnVyUs. Though NV took the first two games, Liquid battled back to take the next four and solidify themselves as the #2 team in North America. Unfortunately, they had little for OpTic, who defeated them 4-1 to take the event. At Worlds, Liquid were placed in a pool with Luminosity Gaming and London Conspiracy, both of whom they 3-0d to earn a top seed in the bracket. In Winners Round 1, they again defeated Team EnVyUs, this time 4-3. This was followed by a 4-0 sweep over Str8 Rippin and a 4-1 WB Finals loss to OpTic Gaming. In the LB Finals, they were unable to overcome a hot Team EnVyUs, who defeated them 4-2 to end their night with a 3rd place finish.

At the first event on 2017 settings, UMG Daytona, Liquid split their two series with Splyce in Pool Play, resulting in a match with DoZe Esports in Winners Round 1, which they won 3-0. In the next round, they played Splyce for the third time of the weekend and won 3-2. In the Winners Semifinals, they dropped a 5-game series to OpTic Gaming and responded by sweeping Str8 Rippin to set up a fourth match against Splyce for the event. Liquid came out on top of a seven-game affair and moved on to face Team EnVyUs, looking to reclaim their spot in the top 2 after losing it at Worlds. EnVy had other plans however, sweeping Liquid in the best-of-7 and sending them home in 3rd. After a weak start to the Summer Pro League season that saw them sitting in an uncharacteristic 5th place tie, Team Liquid made a roster change, sending Rayne to Str8 Rippin in exchange for a returning AcE. The change helped Liquid move up in the standings, with the team ultimately ending the season in third place. At the DreamHack Atlanta Finals, Liquid started off strongly with sweeps over Wise Gaming and Luminosity Gaming, but they were taken out in the third round by Splyce in five games. After eliminating eRa Eternity, Liquid were defeated by Team EnVyUs in five games, leaving Atlanta with a fourth place finish.

During the offseason, Liquid dropped Ace, replacing him with a returning Spartan. The new roster finished the Fall Season with a 5-2 record, taking losses to only OpTic Gaming and Team EnVyUs. At the DreamHack Denver Finals, Liquid started off with back to back 3-0 sweeps over Radiant Esports and Evil Geniuses. In the third round, Liquid were defeated 3-1 by OpTic Gaming. Liquid took out Europe's finest - Team Infused - in four games to secure a top four placing. In the Elimination Semifinals, Liquid dominated Team EnVyUs in a 4-0 sweep to secure top three. In the Elimination Finals, Liquid handled Summer Champions Splyce in similar fashion, moving on to the Grand Finals after another 4-0 sweep. Waiting in the finals was OpTic Gaming, who took Liquid out with a final score of 4-1. On November 13, it was confirmed that StelluR and Eco were leaving Team Liquid to join Splyce. A month later, the departure of Spartan and Penguin to join Team Reciprocity was confirmed, and Liquid announced its withdrawal from Halo.