TSM Embarrass Team Liquid in Final LCS Spring Meeting

It was a new day for the folks of Team Liquid, and they strolled into the LCS Arena with a large Echo Fox-shaped monkey on their back. Luckily, they had one more shot to head into the postseason tournament with some momentum on their side. Unluckily, they had to face a surging TSM in their final match of the League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split regular season. A team that had beaten them once already this split. 

The rest? Well, that played out exactly like you’d expect it to if you’ve been following the play of Team Liquid of late. TSM embarrassed the league-leading Team Liquid and continue the trend of proving that Liquid are not the kings of the west anymore. The highlight matchup in our LCS Week 9 preview turned out to be a bonfire, rather than the barn burner we were hoping for. 

The Fall and Impact

Both teams survived the lane-phase pretty unscathed, but there wasn’t a very bright future for the team composition that Team Liquid picked up in the draft, come the late-game. 

Notably dependable Liquid jungler Xsmithie did not live up to his reputation, and there was no sign of a snap back to form anytime during the match. At the thirty-minute mark, Liquids bot-lane duo of Doublelift and CoreJJ were a shockingly poor 1/5/1, and if your carry doesn’t eat, then he starves. Even Impact in the top-lane, on a pretty heavily played Vlad couldn’t get things moving. The fall hurts the heart, but the impact hurts the body. 

With a 10,000 gold advantage, multiple Barons, and a handful of Drakes in their favor at this point, there was nothing to be done on the side of Team Liquid. Though, they did have a few decent stands on defense in their base. 

Ultimately, TSM’s pair of Zven in the bottom lane, and Bjergsen in mid were far too much for Liquid to handle, and the Nexus fell just before the clock struck 33:00.

Draft Kings

It all started in the pick and ban phase, where TSM sneaked out of the champion select with a harsh late-game composition, instead of going for a counter to the lineup of Team Liquid. 

“We had a really standard draft that was strong in the late-game, so we knew once we made it out of the early-game that we would win,” said TSM’s mid-laner Bjergsen in a post-game interview. 

Broken Blade in the top lane for TSM got fed on his Akali pick, and the snowball was unstoppable from there. His matchup up top against Team Liquid's  Impact was not even close (as the match clip above stated). 

Playoff Pushovers?

Team Liquid, even with their abysmal performances over the course of the last few weeks of the regular Spring Split season, head into the playoffs in the first seed. No outcome would erase the lead on the rest of the standing that Liquid built up over the first half of the split. 

But who is this version of Team Liquid? They have proved time and time again in recent weeks that they are not the rulers of the LCS they were once considered. Does that translate into poor performances in the playoffs? Or, do the veteran talents on the squad step up and shake off the negative momentum that trails them? 

With that #1 overall seed, Team Liquid gain a first-round bye, and they will be given the option of choosing between the two first-round winners in regards to who they will play. Luckily for Liquid, they only have to win two matchups in order to claim the title of Spring Split Champions. But there are a whole lot of great teams (some of which have had their number this season) that they may come across along the way.

One squad that Team Liquid are sure hoping to avoid are the surprise giant slayers in Echo Fox, who beat CLG earlier in the day to earn a berth in the postseason. 

The LCS Spring Split Playoffs kick-off on next Saturday, March 30th, at 2:00 PM PST.