Most esports are mental games but few are quite as mental as top level World of Warcraft raiding, AKA The Race to World First (RWF). A raid usually goes on for at least a week, sometimes coming close to a month, working twelve to sixteen hour days all along that time. And for the true contenders — top two guilds, Liquid and Echo — there a myriad of tilting factors: like bugs, sudden shifts in boss balance, and the fact that each guild can see (and has to worry about) the other’s progress.

Scott, one of Liquid’s main tanks and a Co-Guild Master for Liquid Guild, has seen just about all the issues that the RWF has to offer — after all, he’s one of the main people that found fixes to those issues and set down an approach to the RWF that has now just earned Liquid Guild three RWF victories in a row. Scott initially joined Liquid as a tank in 2020, right before the Castle Nathria raid and rose through the ranks, becoming a Guild Officer in two races and Co-Guild Master in five more. But, nearly half a decade ago, he was primarily concerned with surviving on an entirely new level of raiding.

“I was pretty scared coming in. I had raided as a tank for another top five guild prior to applying for Liquid, but the jump from finishing fifth to a proper World First raiding guild was enormous.”

Read more: The full story and timeline of how Liquid Guild came to be

The biggest obstacle facing Scott was approaching fights blind. Most Mythic raiders watch and mimic one of the top three guilds when it comes to fighting bosses. A tank player in Scott’s position has to create those ground-breaking strategies, set those first footsteps, for everyone else to follow.

Luckily for Scott, he came in at a pretty good time for the Guild, which had just signed with Complexity and would go back to back in the RWF with a first kill on N’Zoth and Sire Denathrius. Winning two races in a row, things were looking great for the Guild — but the next raid, Sanctum of Domination, showed that the Guild still had plenty of room to improve. The raiders ran into a wall with Kel’Thuzad, the penultimate boss, finding them selves under-geared and underprepared. Their rival, Echo, lept ahead, never looked back, and ending Liquid’s winning streak at just two. 

A lesson in humility: The first great test

Liquid’s difficulties throughout the race through Sanctum highlighted the need to improve how they organized early split weeks and handled gearing up the raid team. More importantly, however, they needed to find ways to keep their heads on straight and their morale up — even in the most nerve-racking moments. Little did they know the next tier, Sepulcher of the First Ones, would test their morale in ways never before experienced.

Sepulcher might just be the most significant race in the history of the competition. Overtuned bosses are business as usual when it comes to World First raiding, but Sepulcher also featured three encounters which were completely overhauled from the version Liquid (or Echo) had tested on the PTR (public test realm) — making their preparation much less valuable than anticipated.

“It’s incredibly important that you allot your time correctly from start to finish—especially when a race could come down to a matter of minutes. Sepulcher taught us it's all about finding a balance when it comes to testing on the PTR. Test too little and you’re going to struggle when the race arrives. Test too much and you might find your hard work could have been used elsewhere. There’s no perfect answer, but remaining flexible and willing to adapt is essential when you finally reach that boss.”

That “hard work that could’ve been used elsewhere” was hugely meaningful in this case. The raid went much, much longer than normal and there is only so much hard work that anyone can tolerate. 

“No other race has tested us, physically and mentally, the way Sepulcher did. Looking back, I don’t think there will ever be a race like it ever again. We weren’t just competing against Echo, we were battling time.”

Read more: The inside story and timeline of Sepulcher, WoW’s most brutal raid

Scott arrived at the Boston LAN facility during the final week of February and by the time the end was even in sight, April was approaching. Burnt out by an incredibly long raid coupled with a number of brutal issues at the venue, Scott, Max, and Guild leadership had a choice: push on until they got second, or let the raiders, many of whom work day jobs and took time off to compete, return home and likely place lower than second for the first time in years.

“We had been there for about a month when Max and I decided we were going to withdraw from the race and allow our raiders to return home. At that point, the stress was incredible—both because we were losing the race, and because the guild members were being forced to neglect things back at home. We finished fifth because of that, but I know I made the right choice. We could have pushed harder, and maybe gotten second, but I couldn’t treat our players, all of whom are amazing, so callously.”

Sepulcher taught Scott and Max to be hyper sensitive not just about the game but about the raider’s needs outside of Azeroth, as well. In fact, the pair make a point of speaking to every raider on the roster once the race is complete.

“We know just how invaluable the players on our roster are, and we will do anything we can to ensure they can play at their best and enjoy themselves as much as possible.”

The following tier, Vault of the Incarnates, tested Liquid Guild’s mental mettle again but this time with balance changes. Echo and Liquid had battled it out on the final boss, Raszageth, and Echo had managed to gain a clear lead on what was proving a brutal challenge. Echo was in the lead and it was likely they’d beat Liquid Guild without a nerf, but Blizzard implemented a massive nerf that turned the once-towering proto drake into a mere murloc — while Liquid was asleep and Echo was in the middle of pulls. Even if Echo was on track to win without the nerf, the whole situation raised “what if’s” and made the loss feel much worse for some of the guild members.

“Raszageth was one of three bosses in Vault who felt unkillable, only to be nerfed into the ground after we had already been grinding against them for hours. The entire raid left a bad taste in my mouth. But it went a long way towards how we mentally approach unkillable or bugged bosses. Back then, we were incredibly frustrated, but we’ve learned to roll with the punches. Even if the boss wasn’t going to die, there’s something to be gained from every pull.”

Forged in failure: A new mentality

The next raid Liquid (Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible) gave the guild a chance to prove what they could do with a cooler head and better mentality. What Scott remembers most, however, is a discussion that came up with Sakareth’s end already in sight. Many raiders wanted to continue pulling to ensure they ended the race before Echo began raiding for the day. Scott insisted that they stick to their normal schedule, certain that Sarkareth would die quickly if they fought him at their best. Liquid eventually compromised, waking up early instead. 

Scott was relieved beyond measure the next morning upon discovering that Echo was still nowhere near killing Sarkareth. While the fight was a challenging one, Liquid played with confidence and closed the race out with time to spare. From the planning of splits months earlier to learning when to sprint versus when to pace themselves, Liquid applied the knowledge they gained in prior races all the way down to the fateful screams as Sarkareth fell.

Fresh off their convincing Aberrus World First win, Liquid went blow for blow with Echo in Amirdrassil. Both guilds met and matched each other’s pace on Fyrakk, often pulling the boss, and reaching new milestones, at the same breakneck speed. 

“The viewers love it, but pulling a final boss at the same time — knowing any pull could be the one — is the most pressure-packed moment you’ll ever encounter in World of Warcraft. It’s really easy to get caught up in all that emotion and lose your edge.

You could have one great pull, only to die early on in the next few attempts. All the while, the raiders are keeping tabs on Echo with WarcraftLogs and Twitch streams. Echo’s progress proved to be too much of a mental burden—and we had to settle for second place.”

Scott, ever focused on improvement, took note of how the raiders were affected by the rollercoaster of a race. He knew they would undoubtedly encounter a similar situation again one day, and he wanted to ensure that when it happened, Liquid would make the right decision and execute like only they can.

The unprecedented three-peat

“Going into a new expansion, we were really dedicated to taking the title back,” Scott explains of their The War Within plans. “We put a great deal of effort into it, but we maximized our time on the PTR and created a system that let us run more scripts than ever before.”

The preparation paid off and Liquid decisively defeated Echo in Nerub-ar Palace. Now, Scott's attention was focused on avoiding complacency heading into the second race of the expansion, Liberation of Undermine.

“[Complacency] may be a natural sensation after winning a race, but we were deadset on winning back to back races and we didn’t let that affect us.”

The guild doubled down, running back the same exhaustive preparation from the previous race. The preparation, the mental resilience, the focus on raider morale — it all paid off immensely. Despite power outages and DDoS attacks, Liquid persevered — recapturing the lead and holding it until the very end as they won the race for the second time in a row.

“We’ve seen pretty much everything over the years. We’ve been ahead in the race, but we’ve also fought from behind. We’ve dealt with bad food, unreliable internet and a world wide pandemic. There’s nothing that can shake us.”

Heading into the final race of the expansion, Manaforge Omega, Scott knew the pressure was on like never before. Having won both previous races during The War Within, the guild was flying high. Liquid held the lead early on but met their match on Fractillus, and Echo was able to leapfrog ahead. The guild rallied to get a World Second kill on Fractillus, but Scott could tell something was awry.

“I’ve raided with these guys for long enough to know when they aren’t fully focused. Max and I decided something had to be done. I got everyone together and told them, ‘If we don’t lock in now, we are going to lose the race.’ I never once doubted they would rise to the occasion.”

Progress on Nexus-King Salhadaar instantly put the team back on track; from there, it didn't take long for Salhadaar to fall. Back in the lead, Liquid charged onto Dimensius with Echo nipping at their heels and no idea what to expect from the boss ahead.

“Once we got to the third phase we realized that the race was going to come down to execution, pure and simple. We knew we had the damage and that our strategy was infallible.”

Years earlier, in Amirdrassil, Scott had watched the guild struggle to perform to their standards after electing to wake up ahead of schedule. With Dimensius close to death and Echo right behind them, Liquid found themselves in an eerily similar situation once again.

“There was a day where we were making incredible progress on Dimensius. In fact, most of the guild wanted to stay up another four hours, the idea being that we could win the race before Echo got their shot at him for the day. I wasn't so sure. Speaking to Max, I insisted that we stick to the schedule and start fresh in the morning. I had no way of actually knowing for certain that Dimensius wouldn’t fall while we were asleep, but we had to do what was right and trust the process we had instituted after five years of World First raiding.”

At race’s end, the guilds ended up pulling at the same time, with both teams trading new bests back and forth but Liquid never wavered. As Scott and the guild readied themselves for the pull that proved to be Dimensius’ last, they did so with the confidence gained from years of races and hundreds of fights. All they had to do was execute and the race, and an unprecedented three-race clean sweep, was theirs.

The philosophy of a champion

Reflecting on Liquid’s victory in Manaforge Omega, Scott knows that the seeds for such an unrivaled, historic victory were planted during Battle for Azeroth, an expansion released more than seven years ago.

“Max and I will talk about how losing the first two races (Uldir and Battle for Dazar’alor) was the best thing that could have happened to Liquid. How it forced us to confront our weaknesses and learn from our mistakes—no matter how much it might hurt our ego. Those failures, and how we dealt with them, shaped the culture of success we enjoy to this day. There have been moments when our fire has ebbed, but we’ve come back even stronger every single time. Even now, having won all three races during The War Within, we have areas in which we can improve.”

“Personally, I think that’s a good thing,” he adds. “Winning the Race to World First is beyond difficult, and the fact that we keep finding ways to improve and optimize our process is encouraging. The upcoming expansion, Midnight, is going to revolutionize the game, but we know we’ll rise to the occasion…”

When asked about the future and what lies ahead for Liquid, Scott’s response is simple. “The guild is in the best spot it’s ever been. I can’t wait to find out.”

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