2022 LCS Championship Finals preview - Cloud9 vs Evil Geniuses or 100 Thieves
After nearly a month of play, the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Championship is finally reaching its endpoint.
This upcoming weekend, the 2022 LCS Championship will hold its finals in Chicago's United Center where Cloud9 will face the winner between Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves. The winner of the finals will not only get to hoist the LCS trophy but will get to proudly represent the North American region at the 2022 League of Legends World Championship as its first seed.
The playoffs all started with the likes of Cloud9 surprising the whole league and 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses - the last split's finalists - playing catch up. Now, it'll all end with these three teams.
Will Evil Geniuses retain their throne? Will 100 Thieves re-capture it? Or will Cloud9 claim it?
A Dannyless Evil Geniuses look to retain their crown
At the top of the playoffs, and overall the whole LCS Summer Split, Evil Geniuses were undoubtedly pencilled in to retain their championship thrown, and they proved why.
From the get-go, once they returned from their not only first-ever Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) trip but their first-ever international appearance, the Geniuses were domination incarnate. With only three losses to their name in the regular season, they essentially completely outmatched every other team from top to bottom, as evidenced by four of their five members being voted as First Team All-Pro. That level of performance granted them a first-round bye, one that they would apparently regret.
To start the playoffs, Evil Geniuses had to face off against this finals' first team, Cloud9. Riddled with unexpected issues, such as ADC's Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki's underperformance, and a surprising sluggishness, they quickly fell into the Lower Bracket. However, once there, they took care of business, including the final world's spot qualifying match against Team Liquid. Albeit, a Team Liquid team that failed to fix their season-long mid to late game issues.
Going into the finals Evil Geniuses will look to maintain their through, however, it will be without their star player, Danny, as he will be taking a break "in order to focus on [his] mental health," ahead of Worlds. In his place will be the team's Academy ADC, Hasan "Kaori" Şentürk, an import from the TCL region who has been the team's best performer, and bright spot.
Even with a sub, Evil Geniuses look to keep that throne for a long time.
100 Thieves' heist never ends, a second championship is in order
Following their disappointing 2022 LCS Spring Split finals loss to Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves have been determined. These mastermind heist runners haven't skipped a single beat upon that wake-up call as opposed to their regular season performance in the Spring Split, they came out the gate swinging and swinging hard.
Click to enlargeAs the original new-age team to take home the LCS Championship for the first time, 100 Thieves have their sights on once again sitting atop the LCS with their second trophy in less than two years. The roster, since its formation last year, from top to bottom has solidified itself as one the strongest to date in the region, continuously and consistently making sure they are amongst the top… If you're a team that wants to get to the top, you'll have to go through them.
Their start to their playoffs was pure fireworks as they were able to thwart off a Team Liquid reverse sweep following their playoff bye. But then, once they faced an unsuspecting Cloud9 it all fell apart, just like Evil Geniuses.
100 Thieves are looking to steal back what's theirs - reclaim their throne once again.
Cloud9's playoff story is one for the record books, it just needs a strong ending
Amongst all the hubbub of Team Liquid super team this, Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves that, Cloud9 has sat idly waiting for their moment. Sure, their moment already came in the form of the 2022 LCS Spring Split where the team not only performed one of their patented dominant Cloud9 Springs but did so with an MVP-winning top laner in Park "Summit" Woo-tae.
This moment, however, did not last as long as it should've in their eyes as not only did they demonstrably fail come playoff time, but they were dismantled in the process. This forced the team to think and think hard, making some significant changes to its roster… Cue the re-joining of former mid-laner, Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen and the return of AD Carry now support, Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen.
Click to enlargeWith two new, or in this case old, members in its roster and a return of Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami in the top lane, this Cloud9 team took on a new look come the LCS Summer Split. It was one that although didn't yield the best of results compared to the likes of the top finishing teams Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, Team Liquid, and even Counter Logic Gaming, showed that the pieces were clearly there, they just needed to make it work.
Thankfully for them, coming to the 2022 LCS Championship not only did it work, but it also yielded more than surprising results. A 3-1 over Evil Geniuses, and another 3-1 over 100 Thieves, and just like that they sent out this spring's finalists into the Lower Bracket.
Now they sit inches away from the throne they've held many times before and although it's not the roster that was expected to do it, they are hell-bent on taking it once again.