After a year long hiatus from the game, one of esports’ biggest franchises is returning to Dota 2.
Team Liquid revealed the “reincarnation” of its Dota division today as it picked up promising team $5Jungz$ featuring a veteran lineup headlined by veteran German stars Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi and Adrian “FATA-” Trinks. Rounding out the lineup are Finnish pair Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, and Bulgarian up-and-comer Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Borislavov.
The team, formed in late August ahead of this season’s roster lock, has already qualified for the Nanyang Dota 2 Championship, a $200,000 tourney in Singapore later this month. The new Team Liquid team will bootcamp prior to the event at the Team Liquid complex in the Netherlands, an early benefit of joining a big organization.
“Our relatively new team—KuroKy, JerAx, Matumbaman, Mind_ContRoL and myself—is working hard on becoming one of the best teams in the world and it is a great feeling to be backed up by Team Liquid on this journey,” Trinks said. “The organisation has been around for years, marking their stability and experience and I sincerely believe that they will greatly support us throughout the year.”
In addition to the players, Team Liquid is adding Alexander Reinhardt, a long-time friend of the two German players, as coach, with Mohamed Morad filling a managerial role.
Team Liquid owner Victor “Nazgul” Goossens says the organization has worked to sign a Dota team for the past year, but couldn’t complete a signing until now.
“Dota is a game that’s close to my heart, and some of my best esports memories are thanks to our Dota teams,” he said. “I’m thrilled to be working with this new Liquid team and can’t wait to see what the future brings.”
The team will don the Team Liquid colors for the first time today when they face Virtus Pro in a qualifier for The Summit 4. Then, this weekend, the team will compete to qualify for the first Dota 2 Major.
Image via Dota 2
