Team Liquid Face Green Card Issues Ahead Of LCS Lock In

Team Liquid will need to adjust to its League of Legends roster ahead of the 2022 LCS Lock In tournament. As reported on Wednesday, January 12, the team’s support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in could not obtain a green card, meaning he likely won’t be able to play.

Team Liquid was very active during this offseason, completely restructuring its LoL esports roster, keeping only two members in jungler Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer and support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in.

To fill in the gaps, Liquid acquired some of the top Western LoL players. That includes Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg in the mid lane, Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau in the jungle, and Steven “Hans sama” Liv as the starting ADC.

With a squad featuring LEC and LCS top talent, Liquid was quickly billed as the strongest team from the region. And while that might be the case, it will take a while longer before we see the roster in action.

Liquid were expected to debut its new LoL roster on Friday, January 14, in the LCS Lock In tournament. However, according to recent reports, that won’t be possible.

As revealed by Liquid, their star-studded roster that was supposed to make a statement in the LCS might won’t be able to play together this week. The news follows the reports of CoreJJ being unable to acquire a green card.

As a result, CoreJJ will take up an import slot like Bwipo and Hans Sama. And since LCS teams can only have two imports in a roster, one of the three won’t be able to play.

So unless CoreJJ acquires a green card in time, Liquid will be faced with a tough decision. The team will need to attend the tournament without CoreJJ, Bwipo, or Hans Sama.

Team Liquid have yet to comment on the situation while the team looks to resolve the problem. However, according to recent reports, it might be CoreJJ or Hans Sama who will miss the LCS Lock In.

As reported earlier this week, Bwipo’s role in the jungle is safe, meaning Liquid will make changes in the bottom lane. And supposedly, Liquid plans to combine one of the starting bot laners with an academy player.

To fill in the gaps in the bottom lane, Liquid are expected to field one of the two academy players. Those are ADC Bill “Eyla” Nguyen and support Sean “Yeon” Sung.

Eyla and Yeon have been with the organization since December 2020, when they joined Liquid Academy.

Yeon arrived at the team from CLG, who picked him in the LCS draft. Meanwhile, Eyla joined Liquid Academy from ORDER from the Australian LoL league.

Since joining Liquid Academy, Yeon and Eyla have proven themselves as key members of the team. The duo played a significant role in Liquid Academy success in 2021, leading the team to three titles.

That includes gold medals from LCS Academy League Spring and Supper, as well as Arena of Legends 2021. Beyond that, the duo helped Liquid Academy finish second in the LCS Proving Grounds Summer 2021.

But while both are excellent players, fielding either of the two instead of CoreJJ or Hans Sama will be a clear downgrade for Liquid.

Nevertheless, Team Liquid is still confirmed to field a strong European trio in Bwipo, Santorin, and Bjergsen. The latter joined Liquid after spending the last seven years with TSM.

The Danish LoL esports legend will return to pro play this Friday for the first time in a year. He spent the last year as the head coach of TSM after he decided to temporarily retire at the end of the 2022 season.

The 2022 LCS Lock In tournament is slated to begin on Friday, January 14, and conclude on Sunday, January 30.