After being gifted a second opportunity, Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #16 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Enzo Enzo Mestari Mistic James Orfila Keiko Georgio Sanassy return to Reykjavik to challenge for the crown once again.

One of the staple teams of European Valorant, Team Liquid were among the original pair of teams that represented EMEA at Reykjavik one year ago. Back then, they were dealt a semifinals exit by the other European team in attendance, FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 Leo Leo Jannesson Derke Nikita Sirmitev Boaster Jake Howlett Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder .

In Stage 3, Liquid were painfully close to qualifying for Masters, being a single round away from knocking out Gambit Esports Gambit Esports Inactive Redgar Igor Vlasov Chronicle Timofey Khromov d3ffo Nikita Sudakov sheydos Bogdan Naumov nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin – the eventual winners of the tournament – and going to Berlin in their stead. This missed opportunity prompted a roster change ahead of the Last Chance Qualifier.

The team parted ways with James "Kryptix" Affleck and called upon a familial connection by bringing in Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom's brother Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom. Nivera had been a part of a relatively successful Team Vitality iteration in CS:GO, but was a complete rookie in competitive Valorant.

Inexperience never seemed to hinder the young Belgian though, and he got an ace in his very first round under the Liquid banner, ushering in a new era for the team. With the Benrlitom brother buff in full force, Liquid went on an unstoppable run of form in the lead-up to Champions.

First, they took the crown in LCQ over other favorites like Guild Esports Guild Esports Inactive and G2 Esports G2 Esports Inactive . Then, they took another trophy at Red Bull Home Ground #2. With all four Champions-bound EMEA teams in attendance, Liquid dismantled the competition, losing only one map across the whole tournament.

Team Liquid in a group huddle Team Liquid thrives on their roster synergy. (Photo: Michal Konkol/Riot Games)

Expectations were sky-high for Liquid at Champions, with many people pegging them as one of the primary contenders for the title. However, they fell short at the penultimate hurdle, losing in the semifinals to eventual victors Acend Acend Europe Rank #10 ALIVE Gilad Hakim musashi Alessio Xhaferi Br0die Jack Emmott baddyG Kamil Graniczka chiwa Egor Stepanyuk Vuubit Roope Eilola .

Despite this difficult loss, Team Liquid decided to retain their roster over the winter break.

“I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't change rosters before you've met your full potential,” Jamppi said. “In many teams I've been on, you usually see when you've reached your full potential and it's time to make a roster change. With our team, I think we are only at 50% of our potential.”

Liquid started the 2022 season with a mixed bag of results: they qualified for playoffs as third place in their group, finding wins against NaVi NaVi Inactive , LDN UTD LDN UTD Inactive feqew Lukas Petrauskas Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius Destrian Tomas Linikas MOLSI Michał Łącki and BIG BIG Inactive but meeting their match against FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks and Gambit.

"We had some problems in our team which meant we couldn't really practice before the Gambit game, so it was kind of annoying to play one of the best teams in the world at that time," Jamppi noted. "Of course we had higher expectations and I think we could have won against all of the teams, but at least we won the three games which were enough for us to go to playoffs.”

Liquid started their playoff run well by besting G2 in the first round. Between themselves and FPX, it was the latter that booked their ticket to Reykjavik through the upper bracket, sending Liquid down to their last life. After dispatching Guild in the lower round 1, they found themselves rematching against G2 for the final Masters slot. This time, G2 got the better of them with a 2-0 victory.

“I think in the first game, we were probably more prepared than them. When we faced G2 the second time I think they did their homework really well and we didn't adapt. We played basically the same way that we played the first game and that was one of the big reasons we lost the second game.”

When Riot announced that FPX would be unable to attend Masters Reykjavik, Liquid received a replacement invite and were gifted the opportunity to play at an international LAN once again.

"I think we should go into this tournament without any pressure, because we shouldn't really be here,” Jamppi said. “Sometimes in life you get these second chances and you need to make the best out of them. We cannot look back and tell ourselves 'we shouldn't be here' or something, we now need to go all-in and just trust ourselves, and hopefully we can win the whole tournament."

ScreaM celebrating on stage ScreaM has been Liquid's headline player ever since the inception of the roster. (Photo: Michal Konkol/Riot Games)

Team Liquid is one of only four teams to make their return to Reykjavik, alongside Fnatic, KRÜ Esports KRÜ Esports Latin America South Rank #3 keznit Angelo Mori Klaus Nicolas Ferrari Shyy Fabian Usnayo Melser Marco Eliot Machuca Amaro heat Olavo Marcelo , and the rebranded XERXIA Esports XERXIA Esports Asia-Pacific Rank #85 basbabe Atsadrawut Khunthong aLerT Wattanachok Yingnakorn Potter Sutthichai Promsrikaew D4rf Vickyz Sakthithat Phattharaampornchal siraphop Siraphop Honghirun .

Back then, expectations for Liquid were different: They came in as the first seed from EMEA, having beaten Fnatic for the regional playoffs title. Losing to the second seeds from NA and EMEA in Version1 and Fnatic respectively came as a disappointing result.

This time around, Team Liquid has the advantage of an underdog status. They are only the third EMEA seed, and they wouldn't even be here if not for extraordinary circumstances, which might make some people forget this is the very same roster that made it to the semifinals at Champions, defeating NA's last hope along the way.

Liquid finds themselves in a tough group, with all four teams having a wealth of international experience. Their first opponent is KRÜ, whom they faced off against at two previous international events.

“Last year, when we practiced and played against them, we knew they hadn't reached their full potential yet,” Jamppi said about KRÜ. “It was super nice to see how they managed to do at Champions, and I have big expectations for them again in the upcoming year. I think it's going to be a really good match.”

Team Liquid are hungrier than ever for the title: “This year we have higher expectations than we had last year. We want to win the whole tournament, and I think we have a good chance of doing so.”

When asked who they'd want to face in the playoffs, Jamppi was quick to bring up Fnatic: “We have faced them so many times, and it's always a good matchup. They dropped us out of the semifinals last year, and it would be super amazing to face them again and knock them out of the tournament, or even face them in the finals. That would be the cherry on top of the cake.”

Team Liquid are going to Reykjavik to prove they are still a mighty force to be reckoned with.

“For us, when everything clicks and everyone understands how we want to play, we are going to be dominant,” Jamppi said.