LoL - First Stand: Team Liquid's international redemption (3/5)

Ahead of the first-ever LTA season, nearly everyone — from fans to pro players — considered FlyQuest the strongest team in the Americas by far. However, after weak performances in the LTA North regular season, Sao Paulo was, unexpectedly, dominated by Team Liquid.

After fighting for the LTA trophy and a spot at First Stand, it became clear Team Liquid isn't the same team they were last year. In 2024, TL's best international performances were at MSI and EWC — First Stand, then, is the team's opportunity to prove that Worlds 2024 was merely an exception to the rule.

Only two LTAN teams retained their full rosters coming into 2025 — FLY's incredible performance at Worlds may have placed them at the top of preseason power rankings, but TL was always just behind them. In intra-conference play, however, Cloud9 and 100 Thieves took upset wins over the projected top two and earned favorable seeding in Sao Paulo. Most had the same view of the upsets: FlyQuest had a bad day, but Team Liquid didn't look the same whatsoever.

Throughout 2024, laneswaps were Team Liquid's biggest competitive edge. On the international stage, several LCK and LPL learned directly from their lane assignments and approaches. With in-game leadership from Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in and Jeong "Impact" Eon-young, two of the longest-tenured veterans in esports, macro was always TL's strength and aneswaps were perfect for them.

This year, though, Riot's early attempts to blunt laneswaps only ended up simplifying them. The option tree was trimmed, and TL couldn't exert their early game advantages nearly as well.

It didn't help that Um "UmTi" Sung-hyeon and Eain "APA" Stearns, who were once the key to TL's dominant early games, hadn't seemed like themselves in months. After losing the last-ever LCS trophy to a minion backdoor, both players failed to find their competitive footing — until Sao Paulo.

TL has always been greater than the sum of their parts. When every player does their job, they win off of coordination, decision-making, and laning fundamentals. They're not a slow team, they're just calculated. Jake "Spawn" Tiberi put it well in a recent post-series press conference: "We believe [that] if everyone just does their job on the day, we'll win and be the best team."

Though UmTi and APA caught the most criticism in the larger community, everyone on the team struggled at points. Even in Sao Paulo, where TL ramped up quickly in the semifinals and grand finals, they were the only LTAN team to drop a game against the LTA South teams in the quarterfinals. At different points throughout the split, every player on TL has looked shaky — except one.

By the end of the grand finals, Sean "Yeon" Sung proved himself the best player in the LTA. Lim "Quid" Hyeon-seung may have argued if 100T had won the series, but TL's 3-0 shut down any argument. Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek may have stolen hearts on the Worlds stage, but Yeon was the best LTA AD Carry all year. Even in non-traditional lanes, where his lane-dominant style didn't serve him nearly as well, there was never an argument.

Somehow, Yeon managed to level up again. Even in lost games, he was the reason TL could keep fighting — his mechanics, laning prowess, and experience have made him a consistent super carry for TL.

All eyes are on TL's match against the LEC's Karmine Corp. Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert, KC's prodigious ADC, will be a litmus test for both players — if Europe's hyper talented rookie ADC can take down Yeon, this year's international EU vs NA matchups may look very different.

But Yeon won't go down easy. If TL and KC play like they did in their respective grand finals, both teams will set their sights on the LCK and LPL teams.