Why huk left liquid

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Playing StarCraft well without…. Customize Sidebar All good things There's just no way to soften the blow. HuK is no longer a part of Liquid. With his Liquid contract expiring soon, he has decided to sign with team Evil Geniuses. One year ago, HuK came to Liquid as one of the most promising players in this scene. Even now, I see in him the passion and intensity that drew me to him to begin with.

During the past year, I've watched and guided HuK as this desire transformed him from a good player into a great player, and in the process I've had the privilege of getting to know a truly exceptional person. As a long time veteran of the pro-gaming industry, I can say for a fact that Huk is one of the hardest working pro-gamers in the entire world.

Just recently, when he came to stay at my home for a few days following a disappointing loss in Helsinki, he decided to prepare for the NA Battle. Though that was a tall order for even a player like HuK, he gave it his all and managed to stream for 32 hours in that three day period. He isn't just a hard worker. Anyone who knows him will testify that he is a good friend with his heart in the right place.

The night before Jinro's important match against MarineKing, HuK stayed up all night nudging MC every time he ground his teeth a sleeping habit of his so that Jinro could get a good night's rest.

Now that he is leaving, he has embarked on lengthy shopping spree to ensure that everyone who's helped him in the last year receives a gift. And while it hasn't always been easy to work with HuK, you would be hard pressed to find a more honest person. He might disagree with you more often than you'd like, but he's always going to tell it exactly the way he sees it.

The last few weeks were the negotiation period of Huk's contract. We had known since a few months ago that it would be a difficult period. Coming off winning championships at Dreamhack and HSC, and with a legion of fans supporting him, it was obvious that there would be a lot of interest in acquiring HuK.

For us, this meant making him an offer that we felt would rival any other offer that we thought could be made. To the furthest extent our finances would allow, we tried to keep HuK with the team. HuK, too, wanted to stay very much. He loved being a part of Liquid, and was willing to stay with us for significantly less than other teams. However, the offer that he received from EG wasn't just significant, it was potentially life-changing.

EG fully recognized HuK's value as a player, and were absolutely single-minded in making sure they received his signature. Huk was placed at a crossroads that could influence the rest of his life and made the choice that he thought was best for him. I understand EG's reasoning in going after NA's best player and biggest superstar, and HuK's decision for joining them. I have to be perfectly honest here. As someone who is losing a player, I cannot say I liked his decision, nor can I deny that I feel some bitterness.

And though this move hurts me greatly, I'm still happy for HuK. As an excellent pro-gamer and a great guy, HuK deserves the fruits of his labor. Despite HuK's departure, I still feel that Liquid is in a very good position. We are still the team that has won numerous trophies, had the best success of any foreign team in the proving grounds of Korea, and is one of the most respected in the world. Though HuK will be missed, we're looking forward to demonstrating our skill as a team to everyone in the upcoming GCPL, where we will continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards.

Good luck, Chris. Wherever you may go, please keep your desire to be great. Chris, over the year that we've lived together, you've become one of the people I trust and respect the most. I've learned a lot about both SC and life in this time, and the oGs-TL house will be a lot emptier without you. I know you will continue to do well wherever you are, and for whomever you play. Thank you for the memories. Thats lame. Aww QQ husky is lame gl to HuK, but tbh ogs -tl must have better training partners than idra and puma.

So sad TT; I'm going to miss you, Chris I don't really know what to say, I'm pretty speechless and sad. Best of luck, Huk. Be the beacon of light for Foreigners, no matter where you go.

This can't be true :'. This was posted on TeamLiquid about 5sec before the EG announcement popped. So sick. Leaf fans were not this sad when Sundin went to Vancouver.

I am still a fan of liquid, and still a fan of Huk, but a very humbled version. I can't hold my head up in my jersey becuase its not the same one you wear, and the team doesn't stand together like it used to with you down in front.

I'm offended but I cant work up the enthusiasm to be upset at Alexander Garfield being so defensive. I'm not mad at you. I'm not going to start hanging around on EG's site either. A relatively unknown player at the time, HuK performed well in the beta, becoming one of the most successful North American players to date with two US.

Around May, he was ranked 1st in Platinum League Division 3 with a He came second in GosuCoaching Weekly 3 after losing to IdrA in the final match, once again demonstrating his strength in weekly events. HuK has also won an ESL event going undefeated throughout, including a final, also mimicking the same performance in a CraftCup and Inflow tournament. HuK's success in the beta led to an invite to Day[9]'s King of the Beta tournament as well as an invitation to join team Millenium.

HuK managed to take a series off of Tarson , but was knocked out of his group after losing to MorroW and Artosis. However, he managed to take the third place final against drewbie At MLG D. He lost to Loner in the third round and was later knocked out by Maka in the consolation bracket. This was still a high enough placement for HuK to maintain his number one seed rank in the MLG tournament series.

He would be the only one of the invitees to advance past the first round. HuK made it to the Round of 8 before falling to LosirA. HuK would be held off by teammate InCa , but managed to take down Choya to earn a place in Code S for the following season, making him the third foreigner to do so. He played against MC once more in the Round of 16, but lost to his teammate. The deciding set would be a rematch against Killer where HuK would make an unexpected comeback to take the match and advance to the Round of This would be his final game and victory as a member of Team Liquid.

Huk proceeded to the Round of 8 after defeating NaDa , where he lost to Mvp. HuK also played in GSL October where he placed third in his group with a score of , losing both games to Virus , therefore staying in Code S, but ending his current run. When he played his Round of 16 games, he did not perform as well as people expected. He lost his first match to Leenock , defeated NesTea afterwards, then lost the final set to Leenock again.

Placing third in his group, he would fall down to Code A. His record of earns him 2nd place and a spot in Code S after a head to head tie breaker with Center, sending Center to Wild Card Groups. HuK then got seeded into a group with previous Code S champion Sniper , who picked HuK to be in his group, as well as the two Terran players Bomber and GuMiho , both of which had an incredibly strong record vs Protoss. HuK ended up dropping out of the Group with a map score of , losing to both Sniper and GuMiho, and only winning a single match with one of his trademark gateway pushes vs Sniper.

After first moving to Korea, HuK had limited success in the foreign scene. During DreamHack Winter , he flew to Sweden together with teammates InCa and TOP , where he went undefeated in the group stage, but then lost to Socke during the first round of the playoffs. In , HuK continued to have difficulty in the foreign scene. He was subsequently eliminated in the first round by HasuObs , He would also be selected for the StarsWar Killer 6 tournament where he also was defeated immediately by MorroW.

Huk managed to place first in his group with an impressive set score of , including a win over eventual tournament runner-up Moon. In the finals, HuK managed to defeat Moon once again, with a score of His victory would be the first time that a foreigner took first place in a tournament scene that was consistently dominated by South Koreans. Huk participated in MLG Anaheim where he was seeded into pool play.

There, he placed second, falling only to DongRaeGu. Although he failed to reach the podium, he finished in 7th and was the only non-Korean in the top 8. He was also one of the invites to the North American Battle.

HuK's first opponent was ostojiy, whom he defeated , but he then fell to SeleCT and was knocked into the loser's bracket. In the championship bracket, he beat TriMaster and Noblesse before losing 2 - 0 to NaDa to finish once again as the highest placed non-Korean in 7th place overall. He placed first in his group, losing only to HerO , and then swiftly took out MarineKing in the first round of winners in the Championship Bracket.

Due to his success during the Circuit events, HuK was seeded second. He faced off against HerO first, winning There he faced Leenock and lost to the eventual champion. He finished 5th place overall, the second best non-Korean.

There, he finished second in his division with a record of and qualified for the Grand Finals. He would lose in his first match to HasuObs in a close series. There he would defeat Minigun , Socke , Ret and Oz to make it into the finals bracket. HuK would place second in his group with a score of , losing only to Heart In the Championship Bracket, HuK would defeat Naniwa in an incredibly close set, making him the last foreigner standing in yet another MLG tournament.

MaRin, like many South Korean players before, signed in China with LGD Gaming, where all he found was mediocre results and a lot more money in his bank account. Hey, just like Brady, no one can take away from his ring, and no one should blame the now-retired year-old for setting himself up financially for the future.

I then asked about the relationship with Tal "Fly" Aizik today and his response was, "It's something for later still Fly's departure from OG was a dramatic one. In speaking about his split, he said in a team interview, "the team hasn't worked for a long time, and I can say personally that I lost a lot of motivation when the whole situation arose where I could join EG, I felt a new surge of motivation where I felt this is really a team I could win with, as opposed to the previous team where I felt like we kind of hit a dead end and yet I want to win, and I want to do it with teammates I believe in.

Fly admitted that telling his former OG teammates about his decision was very hard; he and N0tail had been friends and teammates across multiple teams for several years. After TI, and years of trying, it felt like OG might never win the big one. Fly decided it was time for a change in scenery, and joined Evil Geniuses with the hopes of finally winning a World Championship.

Instead, it was OG that is having the last laugh, going on to win the next two consecutive World titles, with OG defeating EG in the winners bracket in both years. The "OpTic Dynasty" amassed countless championships, stockpiling a very full trophy case On Twitter at the time in a response to a question, he revealed that part of the reason for his departure was that he and Scump were on the outs: "Yeah, we haven't gotten along for a lonnnnng time.

I didn't agree with a lot of things he did and vice versa. We were on a downward spiral as a team since before we even won champs. IT was pretty inevitable we were imploding, and S1 this year was the nail in the coffin".

So far, so good. What's worse than losing one world champion? How about losing all the world champions? Oh, and throw in their sister team to boot. That's what happened when Samsung White and Samsung Blue, the two top South Korean teams in the world, decided that it was time to cash-in by leaving their home region of South Korea to sign with various teams in China's League of Legends Pro League.

The move, along with a slew of other top South Korean players moving regions for bigger paydays, is what became known as the "Korean Exodus," gutting what was the undisputed strongest league in the world. In the end, although the former Samsung members were paid well for their departures, not a single one has won a world championship since. This past offseason, former Samsung White starting support and Worlds final MVP Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong retired, officially ending the active legacies of all starting five members of that championship squad.

While this might not jump out at you now, this departure almost broke the Internet all the way back in wow, it's almost been a decade.

At the time, Chris "Huk" Loranger was one of the few western players capable of matching the best South Korean players in the world. For Team Liquid, a team which blossomed from a StarCraft fansite of the same name, he was their heart and soul. Not only is he an excellent player, but he was a close friend to the team.

We did everything we could to keep him on Liquid, but in the end Chris made the choice he thought was best. We respect his decisions regarding his career, and wish him luck with Evil Geniuses. We're adding an amazing player to our team in HuK, and we're looking forward to the amazing results that the combination of HuK, IdrA, and PuMa training together in Korea will undoubtedly produce.

It's definitely cause for some excitement. But at the same time, we're well aware that, to some - especially fans of Liquid - this announcement will be as shocking as it is upsetting.

Republic of Gamers Showmatches to be played!