Team Liquid support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in has still not yet obtained a green card, which would allow Team Liquid to field their full starting roster for the 2022 season, sources told Upcomer on Wednesday. As a result, Team Liquid will play either CoreJJ or former Rogue bot laner Steven “Hans sama” Liv during the League of Legends Championship Series Lock In tournament depending on the game.
Academy support player Bill “Eyla” Nguyen will take CoreJJ’s place on the main lineup when TL fields Hans sama and Academy bot laner Sean “Yeon” Sung will play alongside CoreJJ when he does start.
The situation exists because the LCS allows only two international players on a starting roster. If CoreJJ cannot get a green card, then Team Liquid will have to continue benching either him, Hans sama or former Fnatic top laner Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau. Sources told Upcomer that either CoreJJ or Hans sama would be benched in that case.
Both Eyla and Yeon have been scrimming with the main lineup, sources said, in order to prepare for this scenario. Earlier this week, CoreJJ and Eyla began splitting time.
The former world champion has played for Team Liquid the past three years. Elya, who played for Oceania team ORDER prior to joining Team Liquid’s Academy squad, has played for the organization since December of 2020.
Team Liquid will have to rely on mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg as well as Bwipo to shore up the roster in CoreJJ’s absence. Bjergsen left his longtime team TSM this offseason to join Team Liquid to form a roster that is among the best in the LCS on paper. Team Liquid hoped to use the roster upgrades to find international success after Liquid missed the knockout stage at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship.
This is a developing story. Alejandro Gomis and Warren Younger contributed to this report.
