Team Liquid boss Victor Goossens has explained the decision to disband the current Dota 2 roster came after team captain KuroKy shared an ambition to again build his own new team.
In a shock announcement made on Friday, TI9 runners-up Team Liquid announced that the current roster of Kuroky, Miracle-, w33, MinD_ContRoL and GH would be leave the organisation.
October 2nd update
Team Liquid confirmed its new roster will be the ex-Alliance team of:
- Michael "miCKe" Vu
- Maximilian "qojqva" Bröcker
- Samuel "Boxi" Svahn
- Tommy "Taiga" Le
- Aydin "iNSaNiA" Sarkohi
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Kuroky decides to go it alone
In a video posted on YouTube, Liquid founder and co-CEO Goossens said: "After TI9 I sat down with KuroKy and Mohamed (Morad, team manager) to talk about the future together and unfortunately they shared that this is the year they want to pursue their ambition and dream of starting their own organisation.
"Of course that definitely saddens us but we do really respect and admire the ambition and hope they do well."
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KuroKy - real name Kuro Salehi Takhasomi - had previously formed his own team 5Jungz in 2015, which was subsequently signed by Liquid.
Related: KuroKy Dota 2 profile
The 26-year-old German is seemingly ready for another crack and his former boss at Liquid believes he has the credentials to be a success.
Goossens said: "I have a lot of respect for KuroKy and I've known him to be an incredible and inspiring leader who would take on the entire weight of the entire team and roster on his shoulders.
"He's honestly always done his all and he's taken care of the players to the absolute best of his ability while showing them loyalty and respect. I have a lot of confidence and faith that he's going to do well.
"I'm honoured that we've been able to work with these players and teams and we've achieved some amazing results that I never thought would be possible."
KuroKy has amassed earnings of close to $5m during his professional Dota 2 career.
