Farewell ALGS

It’s never easy to say goodbye but sometimes it’s for the best. Today, we are officially announcing that Team Liquid will no longer be fielding a team in the Apex Legends Global Series. Though the writing has been on the wall—and on social media—we understand this is probably confusing given how well the team has performed, even after they lost Gildersons.We’ll do our best to offer both an explanation to our community, and an apology to the roster.

As with our experience in competitive PUBG, Team Liquid is an organization governed by the realities of this industry, both financial and social. On the financial side of things, the ALGS and how it is moving forward with monetization for teams simply doesn't fit with our operations, and so we need to take our leave, though we take no pleasure in doing so. That said, we're not leaving the Apex Legends ecosystem entirely. We will still be fielding content creators like Rogue and Acie who will stay on as our ambassadors in that community. We still have a huge love and belief in Apex as a game and we are only stepping away from the competitive scene.

In stepping away, we had to make tough decisions that unfortunately caused our team to get less coverage than they deserved. We fielded a roster that grew into a world-class competitor - led by what could be the best coach and IGL in Apex history - and as they grew we were scaling up our Apex content team to match them. We had a number of great content pieces planned that would let the squad—and their fans—shine. We had to cut these pieces down early due to the shift in direction of the ALGS. We do regret missing the opportunity to highlight this superstar squad—and our talented Apex staff.

All this said, Team Liquid has had an incredible run in the competitive Apex Legends scene, and even as we say goodbye to our roster, we want to celebrate all of their accomplishments. Their time with our organization may be over, but these wildly skilled players aren't done yet, so consider this an ode to them and all they've done for us over these past few years.

Rise to Apex Predators

Team Liquid's presence in Apex was originally a coincidence, as we had signed a Call of Duty: Blackout squad—Casper, Caliburn, Flanker, and Rogue—that didn’t have a lot to do. With Apex Legends taking the Battle Royale scene by storm, it seemed like a no-brainer to transition the CoD guys over. The only problem was team size, as the Blackout team had four members, while Apex only allows for trios. Instead of dropping one of the players, however, TL decided to sign another two players and create two Apex squads, Team Liquid Blue and Team Liquid White, which were managed by TL's current Senior Talent Programs Manager Nicholas Cleope.

Upon entering the newly forming competitive Apex Legends scene, TL were unsure if we would be allowed to run two teams in the same league. As luck would have it, one squad was already looking to move on from the org, so things naturally worked themselves out. The early days were rough, as there weren't yet private custom servers to hold tournaments in. But once EA got them in place, the ALGS started to pick up speed, as did Team Liquid.

Cleope describes the current era of TL's Apex team as its golden age, but it took time to shape the squad into one that was able to perform so consistently. The first building block was Brandon "oh Nocturnal" Singer, who joined the squad in 2019. 2020 brought superstar coach Haris "Hodsic" Hodzic, who has since proven himself as an indispensable part of this team's strategic thinking. Brandon "FunFPS" Groombridge, a.k.a Funjamin Demarcus II, came on in 2021, giving the TL squad a solid foundation. But they were still missing a high firepower third. They got exactly who they needed in the form of Zachary "Gild" (formerly "Gildersons") Dennis in 2022, though he has since transferred over to NRG.

Part of their success was certainly down to experience and skill, but it also helped that the members of TL's Apex squad and coaching staff were always willing to experiment with the meta and show off their mastery of different Legends. FunFPS is arguably the best Fuse player in the world—and one of the best on Gibraltar. Nocturnal made a huge statement with his rat play on Horizon when she first hit the competitive scene, making the most of her vertical utility to hide on top of a light pole and pick off enemies from above. And most recently, and maybe most impactfully, Hodsic pioneered using Loba on Storm Point during this past year's ALGS season to enable faster rotations and greater map control.

(The rat play of a century.)

This squad showed off just how in sync they were when they played in the 2022 ALGS Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina this past summer. The road there looked a bit shaky, but TL showed exactly what they were made of by placing second in the entire world after taking on brutal back-to-back series against the best teams the world has to offer. It seems that the team were playing on a completely different level during that event, maybe in part because of the state-of-the-art facilities they were staying in during their time in Europe.

"We were all blown away when we went to our EU facility," the team's current manager, Crusader, reminisced. "It put us in the most confident and locked-in headspace. I've never seen the boys more fueled by motivation. I've never seen them more focused ever in my two years here. I really think that the EU facility, just the sights of the Netherlands and how well and comfortable the boys were at the facility really contributed to that."

No team makes it this far without great rivals to compete with and grow stronger against, and TL's Apex squad was no different. In their journey, the TL guys formed a strong rivalry with their peers at Complexity, with multiple members of both squads living in the same house together. In the past year and a half, they've set their sights on TSM as well, since they're a storied team in the Apex Legends scene with plenty of wins under their belts. And, of course, the Team Liquid roster always considered Alliance to be their equivalents in the EMEA region. It was exciting for the two squads to get to meet and spend time together at the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs LAN event in Stockholm, Sweden.

Going forward, we hope to see this team find a home that allows them to take full advantage of their potential, and puts all its support behind them. We’ve also waved their buyouts and any restrictions on them during this trade period in effort to make those hopes a reality. They have already made so many strides under the TL banner, we know that they'll be able to stand at the top of the podium wherever they end up next, and we wish them the best as they take their next steps.

A letter from Steve “Liquid112” Arhancet

A letter from Aditi “Fly” Shukla

A letter from Malik “Crusader” Forrester

A letter from Santi “ChickenPie” Duenas

Fan Favorite Moments

"Watching TL go from near knockout and performing a Cinderella run to secure their spot in finals in 3rd place , probably one of the only times I've cried during an Esports event. Watching that reminded me why I love Team Liquid and why they're the best team to support 💙"

~Vluezy

[Editor’s Note: LiquidFanTV has been an Apex diehard for years and came to us with a list of clips and context for them that we’ve listed below as a walkthrough of Liquid’s history in Apex.]

Apex Legends Global Series Online Tournament #3 Finals: The first notable win for Team Liquid in Apex, also one of the first events when Hodsic came on as coach, and definitely a long awaited win for the fans.

An indicative highlight from Nocturnal: Nocturnal just casually downing two players in the distance while communicating that they are dead essentially right after giving the info about the original damage, it’s not overly flashy, but I feel like it’s just so representative of Nocturnal as a player in my opinion.

Nocturnal’s legendary Solo Rat Play: This play is as much a part of Apex history as it is TL history. Nocturnal going from 16th place to 4th place while snagging some kills in a very hectic final ring closure is definitely one of the all time best rat plays.

(Hodsic broadcast interview to recap)

TL going Back to Back to Back wins to secure 25 Points in Round 6 of Split #2: Liquid was NOT confirmed to be heading to the Split 2 Playoffs in Sweden heading in to Round #6 and the bottom of the board was exceptionally tight. Liquid needed 25 points (1st place overall that week) while other close teams had to also perform poorly. It was incredible to watch the team absolutely dominate in the final week and was a quintessential TL fan experience to be stressed out the entire time.

Second place overall and cracking jokes throughout😆

We are incredibly proud of @oh_Nocturnal @Gildersons_ and @funFPS, this is only the beginning #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/TI6l0u1Z49

— Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) May 1, 2022

Fun & the boys goofing around during Stockholm Grand Finals: This is a great representation of Team Liquid with Fun and Nocturnal. They are always goofing around and having a good time when they compete. I feel like this is the embodiment of the Team Liquid competitive spirit and I know that win or lose it’s always going to be a good time tuning into their stream.

~LiquidFanTV