Team SoloMid thwart a FlyQuest reverse sweep to win the 2020 Summer Finals
Team SoloMid have won their seventh League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) title after preventing a reverse sweep from FlyQuest. Team SoloMid defeated Team Liquid in a close 3-2 bout in order to qualify for the Grand Finals.
Only three teams remained in the final playoff week for the LCS. A battle on Saturday between Team Liquid and Team SoloMid decided who would face off against the team who made it to the Grand Finals through the winner's bracket — FlyQuest.
Team SoloMid were the victors of that match, reaching the Grand Finals for the first time since the 2019 Spring Split in which they got reverse swept by Team Liquid.
Team Liquid vs Team SoloMid
Click to enlargeThis was the series to watch in some spectators eyes this week, as it contained multiple storylines going into game one’s start — as we mentioned in our LCS 2020 Summer Finals preview article. Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng got revenge on his former team, while Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg solidified the rivalry between himself and Team Liquid’s Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen.
A neck and neck first game started the series between these two storied organisations. Although Team SoloMid got their comfort picks of Renekton top and Nidalee jungle, it was their bottom who lane who got the wheels rolling as Doublelift, alongside Vicent “Biofrost” Wang, got first blood in a two versus two engagement in the bottom lane.
Team Liquid clawed back after a Rift Herald steal from Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen, but ultimately it would not be enough as a fight at dragon broke the game wide open for Team SoloMid. Team SoloMid were able to slowly close out the game and get ahead in the series.
Team Liquid showed great draft adaptation going into game two, Jensen got to play Twisted Fate, and that covered a lot of Team Liquid's issues in game one.
This allowed for Team Liquid to be able to respond to what Team SoloMid was throwing at them, as well as create plays for themselves. Apart from the Twisted Fate, the 2020 Summer Split Mvp Ho "CoreJJ" Young-in, got to showcase why he was awarded that with his Thresh play.
It was the Broxah show for game three as he terrorised both the top lane and the mid lane with his Trundle play. Broxah forced both Bjergsen's and Sergen "Broken Blade" Çelik's flashes, later getting successful repeat ganks.
Broxah took over the early game which netted Team Liquid an early lead. It all culminated in a masterclass team fight by Team Liquid in which they corralled Team SoloMid in the top lane — helping put the final nail in the coffin.
In a surprise to many, Team SoloMid brought out the Shen jungle pick for game four. Although an early lead for Team Liquid, later translating into the mid-game, Team SoloMid were able to come back off of the back of key plays across the map with the help of Mingyi “Spica” Lu’s Shen. Spica was able to utilise his ultimate to influence plays all across the map, and that was all that Team SoloMid needed to force it to a game five.
It only took Team Liquid two key plays, two key plays in which they botched their lead to lose the series and their chance at regaining championship glory. First at Baron and second at dragon. Both times they tried to bait the objective just to get collapsed on and punished by Team SoloMid — this was their downfall.
FlyQuest vs Team SoloMid
Team SoloMid came out the gate swinging - winning the first two games in decisive fashion. Team SoloMid brought out their top side focused playstyle once again, having Bjergsen blind pick mid-laners while having Broken Blade counter pick in the top lane. Both Spica and Bjergsen were proactive throughout the series, always looking to create plays for their team.
Game one was a statement game for Team SoloMid to begin the series. Although FlyQuest had a very strong draft picking themselves a very FlyQuest composition — apart from the surprising Viktor pick — they never stood a chance as Team SoloMid ran laps around them.
It was a near-identical pick and ban phase for game two, with the slight exception of Bjergsen playing Twisted Fate which ran amok across the whole map. Team SoloMid utilised their globals to perfection this game as they were able to get an easy First Blood for Broken Blade after a four-man gank onto FlyQuest’s Colin “Earnest” Solo.
Eleven minutes into the game there was a 43-minute pause due to a power outage, forcing Jason “WildTurtle” Tran to move locations. This didn’t do much for Team SoloMid, as they came out of the pause performing another four-man gank, but this time in the bottom lane.
Team SoloMid was about to get flanked by FlyQuest, but Team SoloMid pulled the trigger. This was the straw the camel’s back that earned them an early 2-0 series lead.
Come games three and four - FlyQuest finally woke up. Team SoloMid looked to continue their global playmaking pressure with Bjergsen’s Twisted Fate as they initiated a four-man dive onto FlyQuest’s bottom lane.
This was all ruined by PowerOfEvil making the key play of stopping the Bjergsen Twisted Fate ultimate, allowing them to turn around the gank. Couple that with early game plays, FlyQuest kept themselves alive in the series.
Game four was closer than it should have been due to Spica smite stealing what could have been dragon soul for FlyQuest twice. Team SoloMid tried their hardest to keep it competitive, forcing FlyQuest to fight tooth and nail to force game five.
Team SoloMid reverted back to what got them their first two wins of the series, even though they got off to an early game deficit in the bottom lane. FlyQuest four-man dove Team SoloMid’s bottom lane for the double kill and the First Blood.
Although FlyQuest started the game off so well, Team SoloMid stuck to their strength of playing through the top side of the map. In the end, Team SoloMid’s relentless pressure was too much for FlyQuest as Team SoloMid were able to close it out slowly and methodically — giving them their first LCS title in three years.