Philadelphia Liberty disband after Relegation troubles

Philadelphia Liberty have announced that their roster is disbanding, following a tragic end to the squad's Relegation run which saw the team fall to Unjustified at the last hurdle while utilizing coach Trong "piepiepoppin" Nghia Dao in place of Wayne "castro" Einarsson.

Although Philadelphia Liberty came into the ESEA Advanced Season 40 Playoffs as underdogs, the second-lowest seed overall, there were certainly signs that the team had the potential to make a deep run. Although their regular-season record of 9-5 was not the most confidence-inspiring, close victories at the tail end of the season over first seed Infinity and fifth seed Touch Point showed that Philadelphia Liberty could put up a fight with some of the top dogs in the playoffs.

Philadelphia Liberty kept up the momentum from their impressive end-of-season victories into the playoffs, upsetting second seed Omega 2-0, before continuing their upper-bracket run with 2-0 wins over Magic School Bus and Kinship. The team got dismantled by Mythic in the upper-bracket final, before narrowly losing to Unjustified, preventing the revenge match against the stream team and sending Philadelphia Liberty off to Relegation.

Philadelphia Liberty put themselves in a prime position to reach ECL Season 41, edging out BHOP in their opening match to put themselves only one more win away from promotion. Unfortunately, this is where things started to fall apart, as Bad News Bears made quick work of the squad, knocking them down to the lower bracket. Here, their run met a tragic end, as the team was unable to take down Unjustified in their second match against that squad en route to promotion. The circumstances around this match were marred by controversy on the side of Philadelphia Liberty, with Jeremy "taiwi" Wang clarifying that castro did not show up to play the match, forcing the team to utilize coach piepiepoppin in one of the team's most important games of the season.

That loss marks the end of a Philadelphia Liberty season that was so close to paying off. With the team being sent back down to Advanced for Season 41, the organization and the team are opting to part ways, with players Andrew "Tender" Cote and Graham "GRAHAM" Smith already announcing their intent to hunt for a new team for the next season. In the meantime, the organization has stated it will be "reviewing its options" heading into Season 41, leaving open the potential for the organization to sign a new squad.

The players formerly of Philadelphia Liberty are:

• Graham "GRAHAM" Smith

• Wayne "castro" Einarsson

• Jeremy "taiwi" Wang

• Garret "garret" Henry

• Andrew "Tender" Cote

• Trong "piepiepoppin" Nghia Dao (Coach)

These players will be eagerly searching for a new home before the start of ESEA Advanced Season 41, which is slated to begin April 25th.