Team Liquid's victory over Evil Geniuses on day 1 of week 3 in the 2022 LCS Summer Split was their first match to feature their fully intended starting roster in a competitive game. Support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in acquired his green card last week, which has allowed him to attain LCS resident status, leaving both import slots on TL's LCS roster open for top laner Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau and AD carry Steven "Hans sama" Liv.
CoreJJ's first game back with Team Liquid looked as though he had never left. CoreJJ went 0/3/12 on Nautilus with 85.7% kill participation in his first game back on TL, and in his post-game interview with Gabriella “LeTigress” Devia-Allen, the happiness emanating from the veteran support was palpable. However, there was one thing CoreJJ was sad about in regards to a specific ripple effect of his green card acquisition and return to the starting roster of Team Liquid.
"I feel like there is no better support than Eyla in the LCS," CoreJJ said. "I don't know, I'm glad that I can play here now, but I'm sad that I can't play against potentially the second-best support player in the LCS."
There's no doubt that CoreJJ is a better player than Team Liquid Academy support Bill "Eyla" Nguyen, who started in CoreJJ's spot while he waited for his green card, but in his time in the starting LCS roster, Eyla solidified himself as a no-doubt LCS-caliber talent in the support position.
Eyla won a MVP award for his performance in the his debut OPL season in 2019, and his ability to compete at the LCS level allowed Team Liquid to solidify an interim roster rather than their revolving door approach in which Eyla, TL Academy AD carry Sean "Yeon" Sung and top laner Bradley "Bradley" Benneyworth that they used for the first chunk of their games in the LCS Lock In. Eyla's 75% First Blood rate in his four LCS games is second only to the 100% of CoreJJ after two games.
Whether Eyla is the best support in North America aside from CoreJJ is heavily debatable, but one thing that isn't debatable is that Eyla is a bonafide LCS-level support.
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