Sights Set On Worlds

September 27 2019


If you’re a longtime Team Liquid fan - long enough to have been a Curse fan - then you probably remember the 3rd place decider match against LMQ. It’s only been four years since then, but the gap between then and now feels massive. It’s made all the more massive by retirements, name changes, and the fact that Akali’s meta now.

In the old days, Team Curse had always been just shy of Worlds. That 4th meme wasn’t just about being upper middle of the pack. It was about being just shy of the mark. Almost there, but not quite. So when Team Curse jumped out to a 2-0 lead over LMQ, it finally felt like the curse, the meme, the disappointment, was all over. It felt like it was finally time to see Curse break into the next level competition.Even if them winning Worlds was a long, long shot, so many fans still wanted to see them make it to the championship.

But none of that was meant to be. Over the course of the next three games, Team Curse gradually fell apart and lost the series in heartbreaking fashion. They fell back on comfort picks in Game 5 and got crushed. Curse’s run was over in less than 25 minutes, 28 kills to 8.

If you’re a fan of any NA team, then you felt the hype when Team Liquid toppled Invictus Gaming, 3-1 in the semifinals of this year’s MSI. You felt the sheer joy that comes with one of the biggest upsets in the history of League of Legends. The shaky North American team that scraped into the knockout stage without a 4-6 record took down one of the best teams in the world.

We had brought the best team NA had ever seen to MSI and we looked good. We looked like we had a read on the meta and the other teams. We looked like a team with our own style, one that could counter an aggressive meta. We seemed destined to win it all and bring home NA’s first international trophy. It was even the 4th MSI. But no amount of destiny or 4th memes would get us that trophy. In the MSI Finals, we faced off against maybe the best European team to ever exist, and we got crushed, 3-0. It wasn’t just brutal, it was “shortest international series ever” brutal.

Sometimes, it hurts a lot more being almost there.

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But if you’re a Liquid fan then you know that the pain means something. You know that it’s not just the pain of your team’s chances dying. It’s not just the pain of your favorite players losing. It’s not just the pain of your region getting destroyed on every social media platform imaginable. It’s a growing pain. It’s a part of making it to the top.

If you’re a long time fan then you know we never started at the top. We started at 4th place, middle of the pack. We started as a meme, not the team to beat. And we felt the sting of the “almosts” more than any other org. We felt it with the double teleport form CLG, the reverse 3-0 from LMQ, against C9 in the gauntlet.

And now, after years of build-up and battles, we’re the team that gives them their almosts. Clutch Gaming almost had the upset of their franchise. TSM almost had a chance to go to MSI this year. C9 almost had a chance to win their first finals in 5 years. We worked our way from fourth to foremost, almost there to almost had us.

So if you’ve stuck with us this long, then you know who we are. We’re the team of blood, sweat, and tears. We’re the team that adapts, that makes hard moves, that changes everything when it needs to be changed, that builds higher and taller than anyone else. If you’ve stuck with us from fourth to first, from meme team to dream team, from up and comer to major org, then you know what we’re coming for.

We’re coming for the top.

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We’re not just settling for Groups, for Quarters, for Semis, or for Grands. We’re not interested in what happened at MSI, we’re not worried about what happened at Rift Rivals, and we’re not looking back at the hard past NA has had before that. We’re coming for NA’s first trophy. We’re coming to draw first blood.

Steve Arhancet didn’t make this roster to win NA. We had already been there and done that. Core didn’t come here to see California. He’d already seen it. Jensen didn’t come here to surprise people. He already surprised people in the Gauntlet and at Worlds he was in. All the years, all the sweat, all the losses, all the time of being talked down to by other franchises. All of it adds up to one. One tournament, one trophy, and a number one team coming out of NA for the first time ever.

Sometimes, it hurts a lot more being almost there, but we know those are growing pains and every one of them was worth it because it got us here. It got us to the best team NA has ever had going into a World Championship that has never been more wide open and wild.

In the rush of yet another 5 game series, after the 4th LCS title, Steve said it best himself, “Finishing in the finals in MSI, beating the previous world champions, it’s kind of a taste of what could come. So for us, we want a World Championship.”
“And is this the split for that to happen?” Ovilee asked.
“Abso-fuckin-lutely.”

Let it be known the world over. We’re done growing and we’re done with almosts. We’re coming for that trophy. Send G2, send SKT, send RNG, send anyone at all and we’ll face them and we’ll win.



如果你是液体的老粉——老到还在粉Curse的时候,那你可能还记得对阵LMQ的三四名争夺战。 虽然仅仅过去了四年,但是好像发生过翻天覆地的变化,比如选手退役,名字变更,还有阿卡丽的大改动。

那时候,Curse一直无缘世界赛。第四名诅咒困扰着Curse,成绩上总是止步第四名,队伍的状态也一直不好。当Curse 2-0领先LMQ的时候,大家仿佛看到了打破魔咒的希望,终于能够看到Curse突破自我再前进一点点了。虽然离世界赛依然十分遥远,但粉丝还是想要看到他们夺冠。

但是造化弄人,接下来的三场比赛中,Team Curse逐渐崩溃,令人唏嘘地输掉了后面的一系列比赛。他们在第五场比赛中选到了自己熟悉的阵容但是依然被暴打,不到25分钟,以28:8输掉了比赛。

如果你是北美战队的粉丝,那今年MSI Team Liquid 3-1 战胜IG的时候肯定无比激动。本来对阵IG让很多粉丝感到沮丧,紧接着惊喜便取而代之。一个以四胜六负的成绩晋级,摇摇欲坠的北美战队,能够3-1战胜世界冠军IG,可以说是《英雄联盟》历史上最令人惊讶的事情了。

我们打出了北美战队在MSI上的最好成绩,和IG的比赛我们发挥得也不错。像是摸透了自己的阵容和其他队伍,打出了自己的风格,能够从容应对对面的激进打法。看起来我们就要赢下所有比赛,把北美赛区的第一个世界级冠军奖杯带回家了。但是幸运女神并没有降临,我们对阵的可能也是欧洲赛区历史上最厉害的欧洲战队,被3-0带走,这还不是最惨的,最惨的这还是“有史以来最短的世界级比赛”。

比失败更难受的是“就差那么一点点”。

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不过,如果你是液体粉丝,你就会知道痛苦还有着更深刻的含义。它不只是看着你主队的机会之花逐渐凋零,看着你喜欢的选手输掉比赛,看着你的赛区在网上被铺天盖地地谩骂嘲讽。它还意味着——化茧成蝶。

如果你是液体的老粉,你肯定知道,我们从来都没有一开始就站在巅峰。我们是第四,是普通平凡,是大家所调侃的“梗”,一点也不能打。我们比任何别的战队都能够感受到“就差那么一点点”的折磨,那些来自于对阵CLG,LMQ还有C9的苦涩。

而现在,在多年的积累和磨炼之后,轮到我们来给别人制造这种“就差一点点”的折磨了。CG几乎丧失了统治力。TSM几乎有机会去MSI。C9几乎能赢下他们5年来的第一个总决赛。我们从第四名一路走到第一名,最后把机会紧紧攥到自己手里。

如果你是液体的老粉,你就会知道我们是谁。我们是由热血、汗水和泪水组成的队伍。我们是一支能适应任何环境的队伍,我们会做出艰难的决定,我们会在需要改变的时候改变一切,我们会努力比任何人都更强大。如果你坚持从第四名到第一名,从魔咒队到梦之队,从后起之秀到头号种子,那么你就知道我们的目标是什么了。

我们的目标是世界之巅。

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我们不只是满足于小组赛,四分之一决赛,半决赛,或者是奖金。我们对成为历史的MSI不再感兴趣,我们也不因欧美对抗赛发生过什么而担忧,我们不回顾北美赛区的艰难过去。我们是来拿北美第一个奖杯的,我们要的是一血。

Steve Arhancet组这个阵容的目标就不是为了仅仅在北美赛区获胜,这一点我们已经在做到了。CoreJJ来这里不是看加州的,他看过了。Jensen来这里不是为了给人们惊喜的。他已经在入围赛和世界赛上给人们带来了惊喜。所有的岁月,所有的汗水,所有的失败,所有被其他的队伍统治的时间。所有这些加起来等于一场锦标赛,一座奖杯,一个来自北美的冠军。

有时候会很痛苦,但我们知道那些痛苦都意味着成长,一切都是值得的,因为这些痛苦带领我们来到了这里,让我们成为了北美有史以来最好的战队,进入了一个从未如此广袤无垠而又激情澎湃的世界赛舞台。

在第四次获得LCS冠军之后,在今年决赛BO5的冲刺中,Steve说得很好,“MSI在决赛中结束,击败了前世界冠军,这是我们可能性的一种尝试。所以对我们来说,我们想要一个世界冠军。”

“这是你今年会实现的吗?” Ovilee问道。

“那绝逼是!”
让所有人知道,我们已经成长,我们已经克服了那些“就差一点点”,我们为了奖杯而来,我们为了第一滴血而来。让G2来吧,让SKT来吧,让RNG来吧,随便让谁来,我们会从容面对,我们会赢。

Writer // Austin Ryan
Translator // Vikki Wu