Team Liquid And FlyQuest Punch The First Two Tickets To Worlds
The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) decided its first two League of Legends World Championship representatives after its second straight week of playoffs. Both teams dominated their opponents, with Team Liquid sweeping the surging Golden Guardians, and FlyQuest getting revenge on their Spring Split Finals opponents - Cloud9. Cloud9 kept their Worlds and playoff bracket hopes afloat, sweeping Evil Geniuses, while Team SoloMid reverse swept the Golden Guardians - who swept them in the previous week.
Cloud9 vs FlyQuest
FlyQuest got revenge on the team who swept them in this year's Spring Split Finals, defeating them in a commanding 3-1 victory. They continued the momentum they built up before this match, dating back to the last few regular-season games and the near reverse sweep they faced against Evil Geniuses in the first week of the playoffs. The matches they won were solid victories, while the only loss they encountered was a rather close one.
Cloud9 put all their eggs in the Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen basket as he played Ezreal all four games paired with Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme’s Yuumi. Ultimately the basket fell over as no matter how many heroics Zven performed, it would ultimately be not enough. FlyQuest off of the back of Lucas “Santorin” Larsen’s early game and Colin “Solo” Earnest’s Shen proved to be too much.
FlyQuest also secured their first Worlds trip as an organisation with this victory.
Team Liquid vs Golden Guardians
Although Team Liquid doesn’t have the flashiest of styles or the biggest of champion pools, they stuck to their guns, sweeping the team who swept Team SoloMid in the previous week in the Golden Guardians. In Team Liquid fashion, they continued their wait-and-see style, allowing for the game to come to them.
The small hiccup in game two of Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell picking the Lillia top would prove beatable, as Team Liquid would get past through its gimmick. Hauntzer was performing well throughout the match, but Team Liquid would punish him at every turn, making sure that he couldn’t get any side lane pushes going by picking him off.
For the final game, Golden Guardians would go all-in with aggressive picks like the Lucian mid. Golden Guardians picked up all the steam, but ultimately it wouldn’t be enough as Team Liquid were able to tire them out in their slow style.
Cloud9 vs Evil Geniuses
Cloud9 made quick work of Evil Geniuses as both teams were sent to the lower bracket by FlyQuest. It would be a back-and-forth game one, as Evil Geniuses were the early aggressors. Evil Geniuses were the first to start the objectives while Cloud9 responded well and punished.
Going into the second game of the series, Cloud9 would bring out the Kalista and Blitzcrank combo, while having every member of the team have a better overall match compared to the previous, with a lot of playmaking in the early game.
In a bloodbath of a final game of the series, Cloud9 showed glimpses of the Cloud9 of old, always looking for plays to make although they were losing skirmishes in the early game. Even though Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon got ahead on his signature Rumble pick, Cloud9 punished him constantly in the side lanes — ultimately sweeping Evil Geniuses
Team SoloMid vs Golden Guardians
Team SoloMid reverse swept Golden Guardians in the only five-game series of the week. Team SoloMid brought back Vincent “Biofrost” Wang in place of Erik “Treatz” Wessén in hopes of having a stronger laning phase against one of the stronger bot lane duos in the region.
Golden Guardians looked to be poised to have a repeat of the first time these two teams met last week, having won the first two games. In game one of the series, Team SoloMid had a gold lead throughout the mid-game, having performed better in this game than they had in all of their matches in the last series. Golden Guardians managed to claw themselves back due to their good team fight positioning and objective play.
Throughout game two, Golden Guardians would be the clear aggressors from start to finish, even though Team SoloMid had the tempo and pressure all game. Team SoloMid’s Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg had continuous picks onto Hauntzer in the side lane, but crucial Bard ultimates from Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun would put a stop to that leading to a commanding 2-0 lead.
Game three and four would be a complete turn around for Team SoloMid, seemingly having found their limit switch. Team SoloMid dominated Golden Guardians from start to finish off of Bjergsen’s back. In the last two remaining games of the series, Team SoloMid stuck with a Renekton top and Nidalee jungle that proved to be unbeatable for Golden Guardians. All of this was possible due to Bjergsen absorbing multiple bans each game. All of this culminated in a Team SoloMid reverse sweep, keeping their worlds and playoffs hopes alive.
What to expect from next week’s playoffs
Only one spot remains as the first two are locked in for the World Championship. A match between long-standing rivals Cloud9 and Team SoloMid will be the decider. The winner claims the final World Championship spot and a chance at Finals, while the loser finishes in fourth place.
Team Liquid look to cap off the best regular season for a split in the organisation’s history with a victory, as they face a team who are looking to gain their first championship gold of their own in FlyQuest.
Images via lolesports
