Team Liquid Releases LCS Head Coach Guilhoto

Following their fourth-place finish in the LCS Summer Playoffs, the Team Liquid superteam failed to accomplish their two “expected” goals: win the LCS and make Worlds. Weeks after their elimination, Team Liquid CEO—and the lead proponent behind the creation of the superteam—Steve Arhancet, posted a statement on the official Team Liquid League of Legends Twitter page stating that the 2023 Team Liquid LCS roster “[would] be different” than this year’s iteration.

What Has Been “Different” So Far?

While no further elaboration has been made on Team Liquid’s part, speculation has run rampant, and roster moves have already gone underway. The most significant change, so far, has been Hans sama’s departure from the team. Reportedly returning to Europe to play for KCorp (Karmine Corp), the former Rogue ADC is looking to enter the LFL for the 2023 season with hopes of returning to his 2021 form.

Up To $1500 Risk-Free First Bet at Caesars

While Hans sama’s performance has been lackluster this year, his previous performances on Rogue impressed some of the best players in the scene. Most notably, Gen.G’s ADC, Ruler, who plays in what fans consider to be the most “difficult region in the world” (the LCK: League of Legends Champions Korea), publicly stated that he was impressed with Hans sama’s performances in scrims during Worlds 2021.

Outside of Hans sama’s departure, the fate of the rest of the squad is yet to be determined. Speculations have been made, however, about promoting the 2022 Spring/Summer LCS Academy Champions from the bot lane onto the main roster. The bot lane duo of Eyla and Yeon have been touted as “LCS-ready” players since their victory in the Spring Proving Ground Grand Finals. The only issue with their promotion would be the status of CoreJJ. Replacing CoreJJ with Eyla would mean releasing their longest tenured player, who is largely regarded as the franchise player of the organization. As of right now, these three players remain on their respective rosters and only Hans sama has been removed from the starting LCS lineup.

It’s a Coach Diff

While other roster changes are likely on the horizon, Team Liquid has decided to make some changes to the coaching staff. On September 26th, Team Liquid posted an official announcement on their League of Legends Twitter page stating that they would be releasing their 2022 Head Coach André “Guilhoto” Pereira.

Although the internal struggles that resulted in Team Liquid’s subpar performances this year were largely between the players, it appears that Team Liquid is looking to rebuild their infrastructure completely heading into 2023. Guilhoto, who was signed to coach TL’s superteam in November of 2021, has led Team Liquid for a little under a year. He was acquired from Immortals after they dismantled their roster to rebuild completely in 2021.

While his opportunity with Team Liquid was certainly his biggest gig, Guilhoto has been in the scene on many teams since 2016. He began his career with For The Win Esports, a Portuguese team that plays in the LPLOL. After less than six months with the team, he received an opportunity to coach Giants Gaming, an LVP SuperLiga team. After spending a year with Giants, Guilhoto was hired to coach Schalke 04 in the LEC. His stint with the team lasted the entirety of the 2018 season before he moved on to coach Origen, another team in the LEC. This time, Guilhoto remained with the team for two years, the longest coaching tenure of his entire career, before moving on to work with Astralis for two months.

His time as Astralis was short as he found another opportunity, this time in North America. Hired by Immortals, Guilhoto coached the team for the entire 2021 season before Team Liquid bought him out to guide their new superteam.
With TL’s superteam dissolved, it appears that Guilhoto will have to look for his eighth coaching position for the 2023 season.