Today Team Liquid is proud to announce the creation of our Civilization Team and an initiative to launch Civilization VI into the world of competitive esports. We are also excited to introduce our newest addition to the Liquid family, legendary strategy gamer Stephen "MrGameTheory" Takowsky who will serve as the team's captain.
The foundations of Team Liquid are built on strategy games. My Team Liquid co-CEO, Victor "Nazgul" Goossens, began his competitive career with StarCraft, and he transformed Team Liquid into the most popular StarCraft website on the internet. While Victor was shaping the competitive StarCraft scene, and before I began competing in League of Legends, I was polishing my competitive bearings with the Civilization franchise. It was through competing in Civilization IV at the highest level that I found the confidence to jump into the world of esports and leave behind my job in the world of finance.
The strategic depth required in Civilization is beyond compare. Many feel the game is simply too complicated to break into esports. However, as the gaming community evolves, we are witnessing the rise of elite gamers yearning to display the true level of their skill. Civilization provides the perfect platform for players to showcase their gaming intellect and we feel that Firaxis is on the cusp of bringing the franchise to a competitive esports level. It is inevitable that Civilization will take its place alongside the top esports in the world.
MrGameTheory is a former world champion Civilization player who achieved the rank of #1 on the Civilization Revolution leader board, Civilization IV international league, and Civilization V international league. He holds the records for most 1v2, 1v3, 1v4, and 1v5 ladder victories in Civilization IV. He is commonly referred to by members of the competitive community as a the "God" or "Legend" of Civilization. MrGameTheory currently plays for Team Liquid's Clash Royale team and has completed hundreds of the top games on every platform. When he is not gaming, you can find him working in the financial sector or spending time with his wife and two daughters.
Civilization holds a very special place in my heart, and I still feel nostalgic about those times I used to enter "C:\games\civ\civ.exe". I spent countless hours spamming settlers and phalanxes back in 1991. It was in Civilization IV where I hit my peak, and that's when I decided to create my own team, dominating the multiplayer scene in weekend CCC events—decathlon-like Civilization events with 10+ person teams playing in various formats (ironman, anc ss, medi, occ, etc)
When Civ V came out I was too focused on building the foundation of what would become Team Liquid to participate as actively in the multiplayer community. However, with the release of Civ VI and after spending hours watching twitch streams, looking at the various game modes, mod features, and the hints to the resources, and noticing the new focus on FFA multiplayer, I'm once again excited. What really thrills me is the real evidence that Civilization VI is going to be competitive and will be here to stay, even with any dramatic changes to the teaming structure that MPers have grown used to playing with.
We'll be launching a tournament soon, and the revitalization of the Civplayers and Civfanatic communities will be a great start to what will become of the scene.