Team Liquid
Utrecht
Los Angeles
São PauloTeam Liquid (also commonly known as Liquid and TL) is a professional esports organization founded in the Netherlands in 2000. Originally a Brood War clan, the team turned professional in StarCraft II during the SC2 Beta in 2010, and has since merging with Team Curse in 2015 [1] become one of the largest and most well-known esports organizations.
Competitive History[edit]
Team Liquid was started as a Brood War clan in late 2000. With the release of Starcraft II, the clan would transition into a professional team organization. Coming into the release of the game, Team Liquid would field a lineup consisting of the long-time member Tyler "NonY" Wasieleski, the Random player Dario "TLO" Wünsch, the TL.net moderator Jonathan "Jinro" Walsh, and the three-time DreamHack champion Hayder "HayprO" Hussein.[2][3] Soon after, in August 2010, TLO, Jinro and HayprO would fly out to South Korea, to live and practice in an Old Generations team house. Through this partnership, Liquid's roster (which had been reinforced in September by the arrivals of Joseph "Ret" de Kroon and of the winner of the 2010 MLG Raleigh Chris "HuK" Loranger) flew to Korea and competed in the first seasons of the GOMTV Global Starcraft II League, with mixed results.[4][5] While TLO, Ret and HayprO were systematically eliminated in the early rounds, Jinro eventually realised a memorable achievement in the 2010 GSL Open Season 3: he indeed made his way to the semifinals where he was eliminated by MC, which was the best performance for a foreigner in the Korean league so far.
Game Timeline[edit]
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In addition to operating competitive esports teams, Team Liquid also hosts a number of websites.
TL.net[edit]
Originally launched as a Brood War community site in 2001, teamliquid.net, also known as TL.net, became a core meeting place for the StarCraft II community.[Citation needed] Over the years, it has expanded into more games. On August 30, 2012, TL.net announced its expansion into Dota 2.[6] Hearthstone followed 2 years later, on January 14, 2014.[7]
Liquipedia[edit]
Liquipedia is a wiki run by volunteers covering esports scenes in various games. Starting out as a wiki for Brood War strategies, the wiki has expanded to cover more than 17 games.[8]
Corporate History[edit]
Team Liquid started life as a Brood War clan, founded in late 2000 by two Dutch players: Nazgul and Trip, with the initial members being Spy and Meat, both who were also Dutch. One week later, a fifth member was added, the Norwegian Drone. During that time, Trip left the clan. The clan had 20 members over its lifespan. In May of 2001, the clan launched a website: teamliquid.cjb.net.[Citation needed] The website posted news and contained a forum. In September 2002 an updated website was launched: teamliquid.net (also referred to as TL.net).[Citation needed] This website became one of the main places for news from the Korean Brood War esports scene, as well as a central hub for the English speaking competitive Brood War community. Team Liquid hosted both tournaments and other events for Brood War for the next 8 years. The community for teamliquid.net would also go on to create a strategy guide wiki for Brood War, named Liquipedia. The scope of this wiki grew to also include esports content, which it grew to become known for. With the release of Starcraft II in July 2010, Team Liquid acquired sponsors and became a fully fledged professional team.[9] This was followed up on August 13, 2010, by a partnership agreement with Old Generations, which would allow Team Liquid to send three of its players over to South Korea, who would share a team house with the players from Old Generations.[10]
Meanwhile, teamliquid.net kept growing. In August of 2012, Team Liquid would announce expanding its coverage to Dota 2 content.[11] In December of 2012, this was followed up by the acquisition of a Dota 2 team.[11] In early January 2015, Team Liquid would announce its merger with Team Curse, under the banner of the former organization. This resulted in the owner of Team Curse, Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, becoming a co-owner of Team Liquid. A year later, on September 27, 2016, Team Liquid announced the sale of its controlling interest to aXiomatic.[12]
On May 21st, 2024. Team Liquid acquired Southeast Asia-based esports organization STUN.GG and their esports properties AURA Esports and ECHO, which were focussed in Indonesia and the Philippines respectively. With the acquisition, Team Liquid also gained the Mobile Legends teams that belonged to the organization.[13]
Corporate Structure[edit]
Active[edit]
Steve "LiQuiD112" ArhancetCo-CEO
January 2015 — Present
John "Tephus" LewisDirector of Esports
2012 — Present
Headquarters[edit]
.png)
Former[edit]
Team Liquid announced its first headquarters on November 24, 2010.[14] This office was based in New York, United States. On August 27, 2013, Liquid moved its headquarters to Utrecht, Netherlands.[15]
![First office New York City, United States[14]](/commons/images/d/d9/TL_HQ.jpg)
First office
New York City, United States[14]
![First office New York City, United States[14]](/esports/File:TL_HQ.jpg)
Present[edit]
On January 9, 2018, Team Liquid announced the Alienware Training Facility, a 9,000 square feet (approx. 836 square meters) open office based in Los Angeles, United States. The facility was designed to host TL's Counter-Strike and League of Legends teams, featuring training rooms as well as replay screening rooms, as well as staff acting in other areas within the company. Additionally, 1UP Studios, a video creation company, also has dedicated rooms in the facility.[16] Liquid announced the European counterpart to the North American Alienware Training Facility on September 16, 2020. The European Alienware Training Facility is based in Utrecht, The Netherlands.[17] On May 2nd, 2023 Team Liquid also revealed their third Alienware Trainign Facility located in São Paulo, Brazil [18]
![Alienware Training Facility North America Los Angeles, United States[16]](/commons/images/thumb/c/c3/Alienware_Training_Facility_-_Los_Angeles.jpg/675px-Alienware_Training_Facility_-_Los_Angeles.jpg)
Alienware Training Facility North America
Los Angeles, United States[16]
![Alienware Training Facility Europe Utrecht, the Netherlands[17]](/commons/images/thumb/5/5d/Alienware_Training_Facility_-_Utrecht.jpg/676px-Alienware_Training_Facility_-_Utrecht.jpg)
Alienware Training Facility Europe
Utrecht, the Netherlands[17]
![Alienware Training Facility North America Los Angeles, United States[16]](/esports/File:Alienware_Training_Facility_-_Los_Angeles.jpg)
![Alienware Training Facility Europe Utrecht, the Netherlands[17]](/esports/File:Alienware_Training_Facility_-_Utrecht.jpg)
Gallery[edit]
Rosters[edit]
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
The Grand Slam-winning squad
upon winning IEM Chicago 2019
From left to right:
nitr0 ∙ NAF ∙ Stewie2K ∙ Twistzz ∙ EliGE ∙ adreN
Logos[edit]
First logo
(prior to January 2017)
Second logo
(prior to September 2019)
Third logo
(prior to February 2020)
Fourth logo
(prior to February 21st, 2023)
Team Liquid Academy logo
(prior to 2017)
Team Liquid Academy logo
(prior to 2020)
References[edit]
- ↑ Nazgul (2015-01-06). "Team Liquid and Former Curse Become One". Team Liquid.
- ↑ riptide (2010-03-29). "Liquid` Members SC2". Team Liquid.
- ↑ riptide (2010-07-02). "Welcome to the Wolf Pack!". Team Liquid.
- ↑ riptide (2010-09-08). "Retribution". Team Liquid.
- ↑ riptide (2010-09-25). "HuK to Liquid". Team Liquid.
- ↑ Nazgul (2012-08-30). "TL to Cover Dota 2". Team Liquid.
- ↑ Nazgul (2014-01-14). "Introducing LiquidHearth.com". Team Liquid.
- ↑ "Team Liquid welcomes you to the esports wiki". Liquipedia.
- ↑ riptide (2010-07-26). "Presenting TLAF-Liquid`!". Team Liquid.
- ↑ riptide (2010-08-13). "Homecoming: Liquid` to Korea!". Team Liquid.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Nazgul (2012-12-07). "Introducing Liquid`Dota 2". Team Liquid.
- ↑ Rachel Young Guy (2016-09-27). "Team Liquid sells controlling interest to Golden State Warriors co-owner". ESPN.
- ↑ James Fudge (2024-05-21). "Team Liquid Acquires STUN.GG". The Esports Advocate.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Hot_Bid (2010-11-24). "TeamLiquid HQ". Team Liquid.
- ↑ Nazgul (2013-08-27). "Moving Headquarters to The Netherlands". Team Liquid.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Alienware Training Facilities". Team Liquid. January 9, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Team Liquid (2020-03-11). "The New Alienware Training Facility".
- ↑ "WELCOME AWTF BRAZIL! LIQUID COMES TO SÃO PAULO". 2023-05-02.