Team Liquid announced their withdrawal from the Heroes of the Storm scene via Facebook today.

This announcement comes on the heels of Team Liquid’s failure to qualify for the 2017 Heroes Global Championship circuit. Despite their decent success earlier in the year, Liquid’s roster has dwindled and stagnated over the past few months and finally reached turned the page on its last chapter.

Team Liquid was one of the first organizations to pick up a competitive Heroes of the Storm team back in 2014. Centered around former SC2 player Sheth, the original squad was NA based and included some of the superstars we know today like DunkTrain and KingCaffeine. The team didn’t stay together long, but they played together during the 2014 BlizzCon exhibition matches while the game was still in beta.

It wasn’t until June of the following year that Team Liquid would re-enter the scene, this time with their sights set on Europe. El NeXo, the Spanish super team spearheaded by the former SC2 players VortiX and LucifroN was acquired by Team Liquid in late March. Under the new organization’s banner, the team went on to completely dominate the Heroes scene in Europe for the next six months.

During this period, Team Liquid established themselves as the most creative and mechanically superior team in Europe and in the West as a whole. A spree of major tournament victories from the PGL Spring championship to back-to-back DreamHacks to qualifiers for BlizzCon accumulated enough gold medals to earn them the nickname “The Golden Armada”.

In the first international tournament featuring MVP Black, they went toe to toe with the Korean giant in a David versus Goliath battle. Though Liquid lost, they were the first Western team to have ever taken a game off of MVP Black, a feat which they would take even further at WCA by winning an entire Bo3 series against Black later that year.

Liquid’s most unfortunate failure in 2015, however, was not qualifying for BlizzCon. Despite being the best team in Europe for most of the year, two other teams were on the rise: Natus Vincere and Bob Question Mark (newly acquired by Team Dignitas). In perhaps the most one-sided Heroes tournament of all time, Natus Vincere swept the 2015 HWC Europe Championship in Prague and sent the other teams packing—including Team Liquid.

Shortly after BlizzCon, the formerly undefeatable team began to fall apart. Cracks began to form in their teamwork, and questions about team stability began to come into question.

Blackscorp and FalcoN, Liquid’s core Illidan/Hammer duo, announced their retirement. Perhaps sensing the rift in the team, GranPkt also parted ways with Liquid for Na`Vi. Still, the Durán brothers persisted and rebuilt the roster from the ground up. Former Fnatic captain Lowell was brought in to replace Blackscorp as the team’s melee flex, and German players Cris and GerdamHerd filled in the remaining gaps.

The new team looked strong. They placed respectably in second at DreamHack Winter 2015 and were by far the highest performing Western team at WCA. Unfortunately, it was time for the Durán brothers to make their departure. Citing a lack of interest in the game, VortiX decided to return to his roots in StarCraft 2; LucifroN was eager to go back to school and finish his degree.

Flex player Shad and former G2 player Jowe were chosen to replace the brothers, but it was clear that much of Liquid’s success came from the studied shotcalling of LucifroN and offbeat creativity of VortiX. 2016 was a year of steady decline for the team as they struggled to fill the void left by the Spanish brothers.

Despite being an amazing flex player and analyst, Jowe wasn’t cut out to be a tank main. He was replaced by Latvian player bkbgrnrjefek (“bkb” for short), who ended up also underperforming. In each tournament, Liquid struggled against noname teams and only occasionally made it through to playoffs by the skin of their teeth.

Lowell finally called it quits and went on to study and play Street Fighter while former ROCCAT player Sportbilly took his place. Once again, the revolving door swapped out bkb for Atheroangel, one of the top tanks in EU. While their first offline tournament at Valencia went well in terms of results, the team never quite found their stride.

The team failed to even qualify for the next regional championship. After the subsequent departure of Athero to Dignitas, the team looked in ruins. Cris was benched, and no substitutes were officially recruited to fill the two missing spots on the team.

The final nail in the coffin was failing to qualify for the 2017 HGC spring season. There is no premier competition outside of HGC for the next six months, so it’s no surprise that Liquid let the players go. But for many fans, it’s heartbreaking to see such an iconic symbol of hope and creativity leave the scene.

The remaining members of the team—GerdamHerd, Shad, Sportbilly, and Cris—have been released from their contracts. Cris managed to qualify for HGC 2017 with another team named Diamond Skin. The others may play in the Open Division during spring 2017 for cash prizes and a shot at getting back into the premier league, but none have announced their plans just yet.

No one will forget the organization’s dedication to the game through thick and thin. During the early days of competitive Heroes of the Storm when other esports organizations were just dipping their feet to test the waters, Liquid wasn’t afraid to jump in headfirst. They never prevented their players from pursuing their dreams, even if they lay outside the game. There were a few weak moments and a few strong ones, but the legacy they left behind is undeniable: creativity, dedication, and determination.

Best of luck to the former members. We’ll miss you, Liquid. Godspeed.