2022 LCS Spring Playoffs Round 1: Thieves Sweep, Liquid Move On

100 Thieves continued their hot streak after they routed a Cloud9 that weren’t looking like they had all split long and Team Liquid bested a surprising Evil Geniuses in a hell of a grudge match.

André González Rodríguez

André González Rodríguez

06th Apr 2022 10:42

Images via ESPAT / @LCS on Twitter

2022 LCS Spring Playoffs Round 1: Thieves Sweep, Liquid Move On

League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) aficionados were treated to some mixed results this past weekend as during the 2022 LCS Spring Split playoffs both of the series at hand could have not yielded such different outcomes.

This resulted in 100 Thieves continuing their hot streak after they routed a Cloud9 that wasn't looking like they had all split long and Team Liquid besting a surprising Evil Geniuses in a hell of a grudge match.

With that in mind, here's how the first round of the LCS Spring Split playoffs went.

100 Thieves Sweep, Continuing Their Hot Streak

Not looking like the reigning 2021 Summer Split winners, the Thieves underwent some much-needed ramp-up time during the Spring Split regular season. This resulted in a red hot streak that had 100 Thieves take home seven games in a row in the last few weeks of the split, including a stomp against their eventual first playoff opponents, Cloud9.

That trend continued come playoffs as not only did they once again stomp Cloud9, but they—with clever planning and coordination—completely dominated them from start to finish every single game.

The whole series the Thieves showcased precise focus on the top lane, making sure that Cloud9's premier top laner, Park "Summit" Woo-tae, who has been dominating the league and is one of if not the frontrunner for the MVP award, couldn't gain an inch. Thanks to an all-out suffocating effort by the team, especially jungler Can "Closer" Celik, he was limited to only two kills and fell to 15 deaths. 

With him at the helm, 100 Thieves completely outplayed Cloud9 in all facets of the game. From not giving an inch to making sure that Summit wasn't allowed to build momentum, the Thieves looked poised for a deep playoff run.

Team Liquid Best A Surprising Evil Geniuses

Team Liquid was the clear favourite going into the series. A star-studded lineup that had won the year's Lock In tournament and was able to take the first seed in last-minute fashion, they were the team to beat. This put them in round one of the 2022 Spring Split playoffs in which they had to face the team they swept in the Lock In finals, Evil Geniuses. 

However, the Geniuses were keen on making sure that past result wasn't replicated, as they completely stunned the league, and Team Liquid themselves, once again providing an exciting series.

The series went back and forth, with trades between both teams. Team Liquid took games one and three while Evil Geniuses took games two and four. The fourth match of the series was the most surprising of all as the Geniuses completely dominated Team Liquid on the back of a 16-kill performance by Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki.

All this puts them against 100 Thieves in the winner's final of the 2022 LCS Spring Split playoffs on April 16.

While Cloud9 will face Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses will face FlyQuest in the losers' bracket round 1 on April 9 and April 10, respectively. 

 

André González Rodríguez

About The Author

André González Rodríguez

André is a Freelance League of Legends Journalist at GGRecon. He has written about his state’s local esports teams such as the Florida Mayhem and the Florida Mutineers on the Valencia Voice (Valencia College’s online newspaper). André has been watching esports since 2013 spanning different titles such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Ultimate, as well as other FGC titles.

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