The much-anticipated duo of Steven “Hans sama” Liv and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in finally made its full debut for Team Liquid in the ongoing LOCK-IN tournament. The pair played the first game of the bo3 series against Fly quest, which Team Liquid won comfortably.
Hans Sama is one of the many big names that joined Team Liquid before the start of the 2022 season. The former Rogue AD carry has been one of the best performing AD Carries in Europe for the past few seasons, ultimately earning him a spot in Team Liquid.
His pairing with former LCS MVP CoreJJ was much anticipated; however, due to Visa issues, the duo couldn’t play simultaneously for the first two weeks of the Lock-In tournament as only two imports can be in the starting lineup. Team Liquid’s management has been rotating between Hans Sama, CoreJJ and new signing Bwipo but never played the duo of CoreJJ and Hans Sama until the quarterfinals clash against Fly Quest.
CoreJJ picked Thresh while Hans Sama locked in his trademark Kalista in the first game of the series. As expected, the pair was dominant from the get-go. Despite Kalista not being in the meta, Hans Sama comfortably manoeuvred the champion, and his high ceiling was evident. He secured the first kill of the game, and there was no stopping after that. Once out of laning phase, the duo of CoreJJ and Hans Sama spread their lead across the map and snowballed the game in Team Liquid’s favour.
Hans Sama ended the game with a scoreline of 4/0/ 7 while CoreJJ racked up 11 assists. It was a comfortable win in the end, and the entire Liquid lineup looked solid. Unfortunately, the duo only played one game, and CoreJJ was substituted in the next game to make way for Bwipo. Ultimately Team Liquid won the series 2-0 and booked their place in the semifinals of the Lock In tournament, where they’ll face Dignitas.
