Team Liquid's iNSaNiA: Sorry for lack of performance, but 'good times coming ahead'

Despite lacklustre performances throughout the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, Team Liquid Dota 2 captain Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi assured fans of the team that there are still "good times coming ahead" as they look towards The International 11 (TI11) Western European regional qualifiers.

"I'm sorry for our lack of performance recently. I know it's tough to be a Liquid supporter but there are good times coming ahead," iNSaNiA told Liquid fans in an interview with Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia at ESL One Malaysia 2022.

Before the 2021-2022 season started, Liquid looked like one of the strongest teams in Western Europe after they added Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen and Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg to their roster.

Liquid's early results were promising, as they finished first in the Winter Tour regional league and second in the Winter Tour regional finals.

Things then started falling apart for Liquid in the Spring Tour. The team finished third in the Spring regional league and then bombed out of the ESL One Stockholm Major in 9th-12th place, falling to Eastern Europe's BetBoom Team in the first round of the lower bracket.

It was a similar story in the Summer Tour. Liquid finished the Summer regional league in second place to qualify for the PGL Arlington Major. The team once again got booted off a Major in 9th-12th place after they lost to BOOM Esports in the first round of the lower bracket.

Liquid's underperformance wasn't limited to DPC events, however, as they also bombed out in all the third-party tournaments they attended this season. They finished in 9th-10th place in the Riyadh Masters 2022 in July and in 11th-12th place in ESL One Malaysia.

It's a trend that Liquid fans are all too familiar with.

Their team will look dominant in the online regional leagues against fellow Western European teams but will then fall apart against international competition during the Majors and third-party tournaments.

Despite all that, iNSaNiA assured fans that the team is still improving and remains optimistic about qualifying for TI11 in Singapore.

"We have a lot of good things in the works and I feel like we're finally getting on the same page a bit more. Keep supporting us and hopefully we can see most of you guys in Singapore," said iNSaNiA.

Liquid's campaign to qualify for TI11 will begin in the Western European regional qualifier, which will take place from 3 to 18 September.

Three teams from the Western European qualifier will get to fly to Singapore, with the winners earning a spot in T11 while the second and third-placed teams getting another chance in the Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQ).

TI11 is this year's iteration of Dota 2's marquee million-dollar world championship tournament. It will be hosted in Singapore in October, featuring a revamped format with 30 participating teams and a new LCQ.