TF Blade rumoured to play with Team Liquid in LCS
Ashkan "TF Blade" Homayouni is rumoured to step in for Team Liquid and compete in the 2020 LCS Spring Split in order to help them with the ongoing issue of visa delays which could prevent three of their members from joining the North American organization before the season kicks off.
Team Liquid are undergoing massive problems with the visa delays of their two junglers Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen and Shern “Shernfire” Cherng Tai and their head coach Jang “Cain” Nu-ri who are unable to join the team in order to start their preparation for 2020 LCS Spring Split.
While losing one player alone can cause severe problems for the team and their practice regime, losing both jungler would be a major blow to any team, which especially holds true for Team Liquid who are expected to contest their fourth consecutive LCS title this split.
It's worth noting that Broxah, Shernfire and Cain could eventually join the team, however, there is a serious possibility they will miss out on the starting weeks of Spring Split and Team Liquid have reportedly already forged a Plan B, which would allow them to compete and start off the season on the right foot.
The Plan B comes in TF Blade, who has joined Team Liquid as an Academy player and LCS substitute on January 17, 2019, but has yet to play a game for the North American champions.
https://twitter.com/TeamLiquidLoL/status/1085975501599109121
TF Blade is mostly known for his streams on Twitch, where he regularly sees around 10,000 viewers while mostly streaming League of Legends.
He is also widely regarded as one of the best Solo queue players in the world, having reached Challenger rank on four different servers: North America, Latin America North, Europe NE and Europe West, where he went from unranked to rank one in only 15 days.
With his impressive portfolio of achievements, it should not come off as a surprise Team Liquid are prepared to give TF Blade a chance to make an appearance in one of the strongest leagues in the world and while nothing is confirmed as of yet, TF Blade stated on his stream there is a good chance he might make his LCS debut with Team Liquid.
Either way, TF Blade claimed he is moving to Los Angeles where he will either help Team Liquid until their visa issues get sorted or continue creating content for his viewers.
TF Blade has never before competed in an official Riot Games' league besides his appearance at the Twitch Rivals and Tyler1 Championships, yet there is no reason to believe he won't be able to stack up with the best NA players.
Whether he will be able to live up to the hype and deliver on the big stage, remains to be seen, but it's worth noting that dominating SoloQ games is an entirely different thing as compared to competing in the highest-tier of the competition in front of thousands of fans, under flashing lights and the whole world watching.
The open positions in the team, however, don't match TF Blade's designated role as a top laner, which raises a question of where will he play?
Switching roles from a top laner to a jungler on itself is a huge move, and considering this would be TF Blade’s debut in the LCS, we can't expect TL to put this additional strain on him, meaning one of Liquid's current starters, namely their current top laner Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong could be switching over to jungle to make room for the new arrival.
Other speculations also claim Team Liquid's former mid-laner turned coach Eugene “Pobelter” Park could be playing as the team's jungler, as he was seen playing plenty of jungle games on his stream, which does suggest it could be Pobelter who will be taking over for Broxah.
https://twitter.com/TeamLiquidLoL/status/1213565879914573825
Either way, Team Liquid are working hard to resolve the issue and while there is still a slight possibility Broxah, Shernfire and Cain will be able to join the team before the season starts, TL seemingly already have a Plan B and Plan C in place.
