arrived at Worlds 2026 as the LCS champions, after beating
3-1 in the Summer final for their first title since Spring 2024. The team that rebuilt around Sean “
” Sung and Jo "
" Yong-in took the top seed in North America, but the
Swiss Stage did not start as planned. TL lost the opener to
, the LCP’s second seed, in a relatively close game.
The result puts Liquid at 0-1 and sends them to the second round against
. Right after the match,
Sheep Esports had the opportunity to speak with the team’s AD carry.
What are your first thoughts on the match?
Sean “Yeon” Sung: “Obviously, it’s very disappointing to lose to CFO. They’re not weak, but I do think we should have been at least stronger in this head-to-head. It’s quite a shame that we couldn’t even show our actual potential and our skill level compared to what we showed in the LCS.
What are the weak points Liquid still needs to adjust?
Yeon: I feel like our early game didn’t go very well, and we struggled to bounce back with a better mindset about wanting to win the game. We let our fundamentals fail us, because of the pressure we must have felt being a little behind.
What was Liquid doing well in the LCS, and what do you need to keep doing at this level?
Yeon: I think our fundamentals were quite good compared to other teams, and our team play was quite good. But it seems we let our fundamentals drop in this first game.
Do you think there is a gap between North America and other regions?
Yeon: North America has fewer players than regions like Korea, Europe and China. About the LCP, I’m not too sure about their player base, to be honest. But I would say the level is not that different, especially in the top tiers. When you get to solo queue and the lower-tier teams, we don’t have enough players compared to them. So our base is a bit lower, but our highs should still be quite good.
What needs to be different from your last international, when Liquid went out early?
Yeon: I think the 0-1 teams are all quite good, especially the teams that lost today, but we just have to bounce back and make sure we play our own game. I think we did not do ourselves a service the way we played today.
What did you think of the bot lane matchup against and ? Did anything surprise you?
Yeon: Their pick was quite random, I think they ran out of picks, to be honest. But there was nothing that surprised me. It was just a regular game.
Is there a team that has surprised you in scrims? Your coach said LØS caught his attention. Do you agree?
Yeon:
was a lot better than I expected initially, yes. And
was even better than I thought as well.
Is there a team or a player you would still like to face at this Worlds?
Yeon: It’d be quite fun to play against
(
Steven Liv). I like him a lot, and I’m very friendly with him.
Many people say AD carries are acting more like supports than hyper carries in this meta. Do you agree, and do you like to play that way?
Yeon: To be honest, I don’t really mind which way I play. But I do think the hyper carries are definitely not as strong as the utility AD carries, mainly.
To finish, what went wrong today, and what can you change for the next games?
Yeon: Like I said before, I think we did ourselves a disservice and let our fundamentals down. We didn’t really show what we are actually good at, and we kept falling into a loop of being low on tempo, which is something we’re usually very good at, and playing as a team.”
