According to sources close to Sheep Esports, Jungler Ganbat "Yuuji" Ulziidelger is set to join Team Liquid in the LTA as a part of their six-man roster. He will be sharing the jungle position with Um "UmTi" Sung-hyeon. Yuuji is the reigning NACL champion and the back-to-back NACL MVP — the only player to ever win MVP honors two splits in a row. The last three NACL MVPs to enter the LCS all reached top 8 at Worlds: Niship "Dhokla" Doshi, Alan "Busio" Cwalina, and Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek.

Despite his dominance at the Tier 2 level, uncertainty about Yuuji's residency — and unfortunate timing — denied him the opportunity to find a position on an LTAN, LEC, or top ERL team in the offseason. In the eyes of analysts, his debut has been a foregone conclusion for over a year. Expectations are high, and the pressure to perform, especially on an organization with Team Liquid's pedigree, is near-unparalleled.

Falling flat at Team Liquid

After a weak performance during the LTA regular season, the community, expecting the fourth-seed team to fall quickly in São Paulo, began calling for TL to make roster changes. UmTi was at the forefront of the criticism, already seen as a weak point for the team in 2024.

As TL kicked into gear for the Cross-Conference stage, the calls to make mid-season changes ebbed — they'd qualified for the inaugural First Stand in dominant fashion and proved themselves the best in NA. After the tournament began, however, things went south quickly. Even at their best, the team looked indecisive and lacked confidence — a far cry from the fast-paced, lane-dominant team that dominated the LCS for most of 2024.

TL gave Top Esports their only two game wins at the tournament and lost to CTBC Flying Oyster, the top seed from the LCP. After a slew of baffling individual plays and consistently disconnected team play, criticism of the TL roster came back in force — though they decided against making a change, it made sense for the team to explore options. Unless something drastically changes before the Split 2 playoffs, it doesn't seem likely that TL will make it to MSI.

Promising NACL prospects

Before the LTA roster lock on March 25, Team Liquid held last-minute tryouts for midlaners and junglers, assessing options for both mid and jungle. With only three weeks between their early elimination from First Stand and the start of the LTA North's Split 2, options were limited. TL mainly considered players from the NA developmental system. They tried out Yuuji and James "Kisno" Woo for jungle and Alex "Toasty" Chea for midlane.

After the tryouts process, TL decided to not make any immediate changes, but continued scrimming with Yuuji, splitting practice between him and UmTi. As Head Coach Jake "Spawn" Tiberi explained on the Sack Down podcast, the system allowed the team to examine and isolate their issues. Eventually, TL decided to pick Yuuji up as a 6th man jungler, similar to FlyQuest's İbrahim "Gakgos" Samet Bulut.