LCS At Worlds 2021 Group Stage Day 1
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship is here, and North America sent out three teams to represent the region. 100 Thieves is at the tournament as the first seed after winning the LCS Summer Split, Team Liquid went in as the second seed after losing to 100 Thieves in the Summer Split finals, and Cloud9 rounds it all out as the third seed after finishing third in the same playoffs.
While Cloud9 had to battle in the play-in stage in order to qualify for the main stage, both 100 Thieves and Team Liquid got to play their first match of Worlds. The day ended with North America going 1-2 for the day.
Going into the tournament, each team had a different set of expectations. As the team that dominated the spring and got to represent the region at MSI, Cloud9 were looking to right the wrongs of the past. The past goes as far back as their 2020 season in which, like this season, they dominated the spring, giving themselves their first-ever MSI trip. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MSI didn’t happen - Cloud9 missed out on something they sought for years. This season culminated with the organisation missing their first-ever Worlds.
Thankfully for them, they began to right the wrongs this season by winning the Spring Split, making it to their first MSI and eventually making Worlds.
Team Liquid, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily have to right any wrongs from the 2020 season, but still had to endure their own battles. Although they won the first LCS Lock In tournament, they weren’t quite up to par once the spring split regular season began. This led to them meandering in the middle of the pack until the playoffs rolled around. Once they did, they got back in shape, but were quickly knocked down a peg by Cloud9. This called for a rematch in the finals in which Cloud9 took the victory over a hobbled Team Liquid who had to play with a substitute jungler - this would be the beginning of their problems.
Click to enlargeTheir problems continued in the Summer Split as they benched their top laner and their jungler once again had to step down, this was rounded out by their head coach resigning. Nonetheless, Team Liquid were able to keep themselves afloat all the way through the end of the split. Once in the summer playoffs, like the spring, they returned to form - it was an even better Team Liquid. This version of Team Liquid got themselves to the finals, in which they faced off against the team they sent into the losers’ bracket, 100 Thieves. This ended matchup ended in a swift, almost record time series victory by the Thieves.
100 Thieves on the other hand were different from the other two. Like Team Liquid, they started off the Lock In tournament well, but unfortunately were knocked out prior to reaching the finals. They were able to continue this momentum in the regular season of the spring split, but weren’t able to close it out. This called for midseason changes.
A swap in the mid-lane and a bringing of a new head coach was all this team needed as once in the summer, the Thieves were on in full force all the way into the playoffs. In the playoffs, they won a close 3-2 bout versus Evil Geniuses but later lost the finals qualifying match versus Team Liquid, being sent into the losers’ bracket. In the losers bracket, they quickly made work of Cloud9 and subsequently made quick work of Team Liquid in the finals, winning their first-ever LCS championship.
LCS teams at Group Stage Day 1
Cloud9
As the sole team to come from the play-in stage, Cloud9 had some work cut out for them. They started the stage strong, putting themselves at three wins and zeros losses, making it only one win away from auto qualification for the group stage. An unexpected loss to Unicorns of Love that led to a lost tiebreaker match versus DetonatioN FocusMe forced them to play one last best of five to make it to the group stage. There, Cloud9 dominated PEACE, putting themselves in the main stage’s Group A.
Today, Cloud9 had to face off against Rogue. Here they got completely dismantled and looked to be like the team that lost to UOL DFM. When Cloud9 wins, they win hard, but when they lose, they look disjointed and discombobulated.
Team Liquid
The only winner of the bunch, Team Liquid, won their first match of Worlds in style and swagger, completely dominating MAD Lions. The two seed took down the European one seed in an unexpected suffocating type of play. This was unexpected due to their play being inconsistent all year long. This was the Team Liquid that people wanted to see.
100 Thieves
The last match for North America belonged to 100 Thieves, in which they faced off against one of the tournament favourites, Edward Gaming. Like Cloud9, they got dominated at every turn.
