Team Liquid announced this week that they’ll be disbanding their Overwatch roster. Several players are moving on to different games, others will be sticking with Overwatch at different organisations, and one is retiring from the scene altogether.
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MESR announced his retirement alongside the closure of the team. “To put it simply, I haven’t fully enjoyed playing Overwatch for awhile now,” MESR says, “and with that I think my passion for the game and the competitive aspects have slowly dwindled or faded away.”
Teammates Rapha, DaHanG, and id_ are all moving to Quake Champions following their competition at QuakeCon 2017. Similarly, AZK will be returning to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive following ESL lifting his ban from Valve events.
With the remainder of the team moving on, shadder2k and Fury have been released from their contracts with Team Liquid, but it’s expected they’ll remain in the Overwatch scene.
The announcement isn’t entirely unexpected as it follows an ESPN story last month that suggested the decision was in the works. Reportedly, Liquid did not feel that spending the $20 million to enter Blizzard’s upcoming Overwatch League was worthwhile for them.
Despite respectable performances, Team Liquid never managed to take the grand prize at a major Overwatch tournament. Their CS:GO team suffered a crushing defeat against a resurgent FaZe just this week, but the organisation as a whole are likely still riding high after their victory at the International last month.