After a shaky year of play, Team Liquid has announced the departure of its top-lane player Impact from the esports organization’s squad, but how does this roster change affect the team and player’s future?
Team Liquid may have had a strong showing in 2024, but the same can’t be said for 2025. The side was knocked out of the group stage of the 2025 First Stand tournament and didn’t qualify for any other international events in the year. Getting knocked out of the LTA North’s third split early and missing out on 2025 Worlds Championship qualification seems to have been the last straw for Jeong “Impact” Eon-young in particular.
Despite being a legendary top-laner who has dedicated over a decade of his life to pro League of Legends, Impact decided to step away from professional LoL play, at least for the time being, leaving Team Liquid to new uncertainty in the process.
Impact has said that he left Team Liquid because he lost the confidence and drive to perform to the best of his ability as a pro player.
According to the veteran, Team Liquid got one important win this year with the LTA 2025 Cross-Conference, but that still wasn’t enough. Things went downhill from there, and Impact felt his mental state deteriorate with every successive loss. Coupled with a lack of synergy with his current teammates, his emotions occasionally getting the better of him, and his recent breakup with his long-time girlfriend, Impact decided that he should step away from professional play.
I’m Leaving.
This doesn’t mean that fans won’t see the player again. In the official announcement video, Impact stated that he wants to find a new goal for him to work toward. While that goal is seemingly to “be the best,” he wants to find a renewed drive to chase it. To do this, Impact will take a break from professional League of Legends play to refresh his mind, potentially through traveling.
The player expanded on his decision on his personal X account, stating that he still feels that he can play well at the game’s highest level. He wants to prove that he has the skills that led him to winning so often in the past, and he wants to be satisfied with his career when he ultimately retires, which he apparently isn’t just yet.
Fans can clearly expect Impact to at least attempt a return to the professional scene, possibly as soon as with the first splits of 2026. Though Impact also shared that he’ll work to help other professional players through scrims if he isn’t able to find a suitable team to compete with on stage. But with a career as decorated and celebrated as his, and given his great popularity with fans, Impact likely won’t be hard-pressed to find a team to join up with. The only question is whether new prospective teams will offer him the potential for top-level success that he desires.
While it’s unknown who will replace Impact to play in the Team Liquid top lane, and wouldn’t be surprising if the role ends up being passed around among multiple players.
Impact was arguably the brightest star of Team Liquid’s most recent roster, having won Worlds with SKT T1 in 2013 and previously leading Liquid to winning various North American titles. Team Liquid has never won an LCS trophy without Impact, and his return in 2024 was marked by TL’s first domestic title win in three years.
In the three years Impact spent playing for other teams, Team Liquid swapped the top lane position between various players. From Alphari to Summit, no top laner was able to recreate the finesse Impact brought to the team, which is why he was ultimately brought back.
Considering that 100 Thieves will soon step away from pro League of Legends, 100T top laners Rayan “Sniper” Shoura and Niship “Dhokla” Doshi may both be viable options. Alternatively, Liquid may opt to pick up the top laner from a team that hasn’t been performing as well, whether it be Cloud9’s Park “Thanatos” Seung-gyu or Dignitas’ Kyeong “Photon” Gyu-tae. Regardless of the decision, Team Liquid’s other players will have to work hard in the wake of such a significant loss.
Feature image credit: Team Liquid
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