Team Liquid have wasted no time in reshuffling their roster after a loss to TSM on the opening day of LCS Summer.
In a video posted to Twitter, head coach Jatt announced that the team would be playing with academy top laner Jenkins “for at least the rest of the weekend”, and that current starting top laner Alphari would be moving to the bench. The decision comes after a loss to TSM in which Alphari performed reasonably well, going 2/3/9 on Lee Sin top lane and by no means seeming like a liability for his team.
Jenkins will join the TL starting roster after over two years with the organization on their academy team. He attended Worlds with the roster in 2020, although he did not start for the team at any point throughout the tournament. As a part of Team Liquid’s Academy roster throughout 2020, he wasn’t able to showcase particularly strong performances, with the roster failing to qualify for playoffs in either Spring or Summer. In Summer, they finished in last place in the Academy tournament with only three wins to their name.
In the announcement video, Jatt highlighted that the decision to bench Alphari was not solely based on gameplay. He explained that there were a huge amount of contextual factors that went into the decision and that these contextual factors were something that it would be “unfair to share publicly”. The team have made no indication as to how long the swap will last, although they have clarified that Jenkins will at least start in the next two games of the opening super weekend.
Team Liquid’s next matchup will be against CLG, on June 5, 7pm CT.
Source: https://dotesports.com/league-of-legends/news/team-liquid-bench-alphari-after-their-opening-game-of-lcs-summer
