Doublelift: Replacing Xmithie at Liquid “could be a mistake”

On November 19, Team Liquid announced that Xmithie will leave the team before the 2020 season, later confirming that he will be replaced by former Fnatic jungler Broxah.

Xmithie has been a part of Team Liquid since the start of the 2018 season, during which time the team has dominated LCSgain championship in the Spring and Summer 2018 and 2019, and became the first team in LCS history to win four consecutive tournaments.

Despite its domestic success, Team Liquid has yet to be able to compete well with the world on the international stage. Although they made it to the MSI finals in 2019, they failed to make it through the group stage twice at World Championship.

Maybe they thought that replacing Xmithie could help them get on to the 2020 World Championship, news that has certainly surprised many fans – and it seems even Doublelift Not entirely agree with this change.

Douelelift said while watching Team Liquid bid farewell to Xmithie during a stream: “I still want to play with him next year.”

Doublelift even compared his move to TSM after the 2017 season, when he left the team that won both 2016 and 2017 Summer titles, and ultimately led to the emergence of the dominant Team Liquid roster ever since. Meanwhile, Team SoloMid has struggled through their seasons in the aftermath of the change.

“This could be a mistake. That was my thought. You don’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone.”

Team Liquid’s star also recounted some of his memories of playing with Xmithie, including how they came to team up at CLG. He also emphasized that their win rate playing against each other is extremely high – out of their 6 LCS appearances, they’ve won 5 times, only missing the 2015 Spring Cup on CLG.

“My win rate with him is great, we never lose, I swear to god it is. Me and Jake never lost.”

Doublelift says that playing time with Xmithie hasn’t always been smooth – they often argue with each other about the game, which Doublelift admits is sometimes due to him being a rather difficult player. However, he concluded that he would no longer be able to play with Xmithie.

It’s not yet known exactly where Xmithie will be after leaving Team Liquid, but some rumors suggest he could return to Immortals.

An official date for the return of the LCS for Spring 2020 has yet to be announced, but fans can still expect to see the teams return to action by the end of January.​