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Team Liquid is a name that rarely falls out of the news on the esports scene, with the organization holding some of the best rosters in the most popular games in the world. While the chatter around the organization and its teams is usually concerned with their wins or upsets, a recent announcement from their World of Warcraft team has left fans shocked and concerned.
Read on to find out how Maximum from the WoW roster of Team Liquid announced their team's exit in the Race for the World's First contest.
Warning: Video contains profanity.
Team Liquid's World of Warcraft team exits Race for World First event
This year's Race to World First has been trending extensively as it looks to be the longest event of its kind that fans have seen. The last time the event entered its fifth week was in 2017, just after the release of the Tomb of Sargeras, when both the concept and the bosses were relatively new, and so the guilds took some time to clear them.
This time, the inability to clear the final boss, The Jailer, has had top teams scratching their heads for nearly a month. Except for two teams — NA's Team Liquid, and EU's Echo Esports — no other team has even been able to clear the 10 bosses before the Jailer.
This is why the news of Team Liquid's exit from the contest is particularly disheartening for fans. Announcing the news, the team's WoW roster's IGL Maximum said during a livestream:
"I have some news. We are f***ing zoiked (laughs)... We were consistent two days ago. It's been hard to get back to that point."
He explained that the team's month-long struggle to make it through the Tower of Sargeras has had a detrimental impact on the players, saying:
"People's motivation, their mental fatigue, their rest... People are absolutely f***ing bricked."
He also laid out some details on what Team Liquid plans to do further, saying:
"So we are going to play until dinner tonight... Take some time off, spend some time together, maybe watch a movie, rent out a bowling alley, and then we're going to fly home tomorrow. We'll come back home on Monday and finish the race."
Moments before this announcement, Echo Esports almost came close to killing the final boss and claiming the title. Taking that into account, this announcement of a break from play can be considered an official exit from the tournament.
In true TL fashion, the streamer also acknowledged the stellar performance of Echo Esports in the event, saying:
"Clearly, Echo played better than us. They're going to kill the boss today. Congrats to them."
As per Maximum's prediction, Echo Esports successfully took down the Jailer an hour after he made this announcement.
Fans react to Team Liquid's exit from the Race to World's First Tournament
Fans of the team as well as the World of Warcraft community at large, who have been monitoring their performances closely, were shocked by the news.
Some users suggested incorporating mental health guidelines for the league to ensure that an exit is not prompted due to similar issues again.
A large section of the fans acknowledged the massive difficulty level of the raid and congratulated TL on their commendable, albeit unsuccessful, performance in the league.
Team Liquid is scheduled to return to the contest tomorrow to continue their battle with the final boss, although the fight will be for the title of runner-up. The team has been able to push the Jailer below the 40% threshhold, but will have to face a fourth reset of Jailer's health as the contest enters its fourth week on Monday.
