Hans Sama Reportedly Looking To Return To Europe

According to recent rumors, Team Liquid’s ADC Steven “Hans Sama” Liv is set to leave the North American esports organization ahead of the next season. But instead of joining another League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) squad, the French ADC is reportedly looking to return to Europe for 2023.

Hans Sama joined Team Liquid as one of the most prolific signings of the 2022 pre-season. He signed a two-year deal with the North American esports organization, which was looking to build the next superteam, which featured some of the top Western LoL players.

Besides signing Hans Sama, Liquid also acquired Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau and Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, who teamed up with Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, forming one of the most stacked and experienced rosters in the league. But despite fielding a star-studded lineup, Team Liquid didn’t live up to the expectations.

Still, Liquid got off to a solid start, winning the LCS 2022 Lock-In tournament and the LCS 2022 Spring regular season with a 14-4 record. Unfortunately, the team didn’t deliver in the LCS 2022 Spring Playoffs, which Liquid finished in third place.

From there, Liquid struggled to emulate their success from earlier in the season and finished the LCS 2022 Summer regular season in third place. But the worst has yet to come.

Despite locking in an upper seed for the LCS 2022 Championship, Team Liquid did not live up to their name as the main favorites and crashed out of the playoffs in fourth place with defeats against 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses. So not only have Liquid failed to win the LCS title, but the prominent North American esports organization also missed out on qualifying for the LoL World Championship.

Following what was billed by many as a highly disappointing season, Team Liquid naturally decided to make changes to its lineup. And while it has yet to be revealed which players will leave the team ahead of the 2023 season, recent reports suggest Hans Sama is highly likely to depart.

Hans Sama joined Team Liquid on November 23, 2022, as one of the key pieces of Liquid’s project of building the next LCS superteam. The 23-year-old ADC arrived at Team Liquid from Rogue, with who he has spent two years competing in the LoL European Championship (LEC).

With Rogue, Hans Sama hasn’t won a single LCS title, but he has helped the European organization establishes itself as one of the top teams in the region. Notably, with Rogue, Hans Sama won LEC 2020 Summer and LEC 2021 Summer regular seasons and claimed bronze medals in both summer playoffs.

Widely regarded as one of Europe’s top ADC players, Hans Sama was expected to play a key role in Liquid’s plan to dominate the LEC, yet the plans fell through. Still, despite the team’s lack of success in the 2022 season, Hans Sama has shown up individually, averaging some of the best performance figures in his position.

But regardless of his individual showings, Hans Sama and Liquid are reportedly set to part ways ahead of the 2023 season, mainly due to Hans Sama’s desire to return back to Europe.

Although Hans Sama’s departure from Liquid has yet to be confirmed, recent reports suggest that the French ADC has already set his eyes on LEC, and one team in particular. Many reports are linking Hans Sama with the defending European Masters champions, Karmine Corp, who are said to join the LEC next season.

If the rumors prove to be true and Hans Sama ends up joining Karmine Corp, he would replace Carl Martin Erik “Rekkles” Larsson, who is supposedly allowed to explore his options and make a triumphant return to the LEC after spending the last season competing in the French regional league.