Team Liquid has revealed their new support with a creative and campy spoof video.
Andy “Smoothie” Ta will man the position for the team next season, confirming a report on the Daily Dot last month. The 18-year-old rising support player from Canada competed on Team Dragon Knights during the last League Championship Series (LCS), an ill-fated run for the last place team. But Ta showed that he has talent as a young up-and-coming player, and will now take over on Team Liquid where he will replace one of the game’s veteran stars Alex “Xpecial” Chu.
The way Team Liquid revealed the move certainly wasn’t what you’d expect.
In a video spoofing Iron Chef-style cooking shows, they set Ta up as a mystery judge for a smoothie making competition between jungler Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera, mid laner Kim “FeniX” Jae-hoon, manage Steve “Jokasteve” Perino, and team owner Steve “Liquid122” Arhancet.
“I hope this Smoothie doesn’t leak!” quips Rivera in his introduction, poking fun of the fact that he was one of the sources of the leak behind last month’s report.
Regardless of the circumstances of the move, Ta will wear Team Liquid’s blue-and-white next season. It’s an interesting move for the team considering the man he replaces, Chu, is a support stalwart long hailed as the best at his position in the region. Ta provides fresh blood and perhaps better fits the team dynamic. He regularly duo queues with his AD carry Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin and he’s less likely to butt heads with team captain and shot caller Rivera.
Team Liquid will hope a fresh face will help improve their performance after another fourth place finish, this time one game away from reaching an elusive berth at the League of Legends World Championship.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr
