Dardoch rejoins Team Liquid, leaves CLG amid ‘culture’ clash

One-time NA LCS Rookie of the Split Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett is returning to where it all began. Hartnett will be moving from Counter Logic Gaming back to Team Liquid, both teams announced Tuesday.

Liquid announced the move in a Twitter video Tuesday night.

CLG announced the move in a press release, choosing to highlight Hartnett’s apparent unwillingness to work with the team.

Over the course of the split, we found that Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett did not align with our focus on teamwork and culture. We therefore brought in Omar “Omargod” Amin as part of a six-man roster in order to show Dardoch what a group of five people invested in teamwork can accomplish. Dardoch helped the team find their competitive spirit early in the split and we knew that if we could help Dardoch learn to make those sacrifices - we would have the roster we needed to become LCS champions once again. Unfortunately, Dardoch was unwilling to adhere to the set of standards expected of every member of the team.

This isn’t the first time Hartnett has left a team amid turmoil. After initially being suspended by Team Liquid in 2016 for “behavioral problems,” he parted ways with TL before joining Immortals. He left Immortals a split later. Both teams released videos at the end of those splits that did not paint Dardoch’s interactions with coaches and players in a very positive light.

Dardoch joined CLG before the start of this split, joining what looked like a potential super-team with the hopes of bringing the organization back to former glory. CLG has performed well, and sits in second place with a 10-3 record (just behind his former team Immortals). But the team has recently been subbing in Omar “OmarGod” Amin in the jungle, and he’ll be carrying the mantle from here on for CLG.

Riot Games

Team Liquid has struggled this season, following up an eighth-place finish in Spring with a 4-10 record so far this split, good for ninth place. After their first 2-0 weekend all split, the team has now made two major moves: first, bringing in former LCK mid laner Son “Mickey” Young-min Monday, and now bringing in Hartnett.

With the move, Team Liquid now has three junglers listed on the roster: former NA LCS MVP Yeu-jin “Reignover” Kim, former NA LCS Rookie of the Split Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett and former NA LCS Rookie of the Split runner-up Rami “Inori” Charagh. The smart money is on Dardoch starts the majority of TL’s remaining games, considering Inori’s poor play of late and league rules preventing more than two imports in one starting lineup (choose two between Mickey, Reignover and Piglet).

TL’s starting roster most likely looks like this now:

• Top: Samson “Lourlo” Jackson
• Jungle: Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett
• Mid: Son “Mickey” Young-min
• Bot: Gwang-jin “Piglet” Chae
• Support: Matt Elento