After a disappointing finish and another failed qualification bid for the League of Legends World Championship, Team Liquid and its marksman Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin may part ways, sources close to the player and organization tell the Daily Dot.
The team has already begun searching for Piglet’s potential replacement. Liquid co-owner Steve “Liquid112” Arhancet approached European marksman Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek last week after he told the Daily Dot that he was interested in moving to North America. The organization has not made a decision on its new marksman, but one source says that Kněžínek is a frontrunner.
Piglet, for his part, reportedly has plans to build his own team in Korea, though beyond that details are scarce.
His potential departure adds to Liquid’s ongoing restructuring following the Summer Split. Last week, the Daily Dot reported that support Alex “Xpecial” Chu had been benched. But the team also lost its coach Peter Zhang, who left to coach its Challenger squad, Team Liquid Academy, on Sept. 7.
This wouldn’t be the first time Team Liquid imported talent from the European region. Last year, the organization nearly made a deal with Greek marksman Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou. But after Piglet left SK Telecom T1 K and began searching for a new home, Arhancet and staff quickly made a trip to Korea to secure his talents.
But ultimately, the Season 3 World Champion didn’t make the difference for Team Liquid last season. And for the fourth time since its inception in August 2011, the team failed to qualify for Worlds after a loss to Cloud9 on Aug. 31.
Update Sept. 28, 4pm CT: In a tweet, Team Liquid says Piglet re-signed with the team on Sept. 21, extending his contract through November 2016.
Update Jan. 4, 5pm CT: Team Liquid has announced its final 10-man roster. It includes Piglet and will use its Challenger squad, Team Liquid Academy, as substitutes.
Correction: An earlier version of this story indicated that Piglet had formally parted ways with Team Liquid. Despite remarks to the contrary, he re-signed with the team in November.
Editor’s note: Given the temperamental nature of esports signings, we elected to withhold corrections to this story until Team Liquid’s final roster was formally announced.
