Team Liquid Coach Shares His Thoughts After the Team’s Victory at 1win Essence II

William “Blitz” Lee stated that the Team Liquid players are happy about their victory at 1win Essence II, as it proved the effectiveness of the team’s strategies ahead of The International 2026.

The player made this statement on wTV.

“Yes. I think that after spending so much time on a professional team, especially if you’ve made it to the finals, you’re going to give it your all. Anyone who says they don’t care and were just practicing is talking complete nonsense. Because there’s still a lot of money at stake, and it gives you the confidence to test your ideas. If you’re a good team, you need the opportunity to see if your strategies work or not, right? It seems to me that Dota has evolved to the point where you have to stay a good player at all times, rather than trying to cling to a specific strategy. Would anyone be surprised if a team played with Centaur at TI? Or that certain heroes are highly valued? Probably not.”

According to William “Blitz” Lee, players who claim that winning isn’t important to them are simply being disingenuous, since there’s a lot of money at stake and the effectiveness of the team’s strategies is on the line. The coach believes that the pro scene is so competitive right now that teams have to constantly improve, which is why the opportunity to test the effectiveness of their team strategies is very valuable to Team Liquid players.

As a reminder, Aiden “INSaNiA” Sarkoy previously criticized Team Liquid’s Dota 2 training regimen.