TSM's Bjergsen Breaks 100 Playoff Games Milestone

It’s not very often in the world of Esports that a player will, or even can, spend most of their career with a single team. Roster changes are a very common aspect of the business.

In the world of League of Legends, the names Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Team SoloMid are synonymous. Yesterday, in their SemiFinals match against Cloud9 in the 2019 LCS Spring Split Playoffs, that very Bjergsen played his 100th Playoff game in the North American League of Legends circuit. 

Happy birthday to the ?@Bjergsen! pic.twitter.com/e9lphBD2Jv

— TSM (@TSM) February 21, 2019

The Denmark native Bjerg got his start in professional League of Legends on teams like European’s Copenhagen Wolves, and a brief stint with Ninjas in Pajamas. The young mid-laners skill saw enough time in the spotlight that teams in North America took notice. Back in those early days of the LCS and LEC, it was the league stateside that looked across the pond for talent often, as most agreed that EU players were more skilled in general.

The Delivery of BjergerKing

One of those first big acquisitions was that of baby Bjerg. At the start of the 2013 LCS Spring Split, the then 18-year-old Soren Bjerg came to fill into the mid-lane on North America’s most proud and popular franchises in TSM. It was a lot to ask of the BjergerKing (as he soon be dubbed), but Bjergsen truly delivered. 

In the past five years, with Bjergsen on the starting roster, TSM has only missed out on qualifying for the League of Legends World Championships once. His reign of terror in North America doesn’t look to be coming to an end anytime soon either. Just this last playoff series against Cloud9 earned Bjergsen another Player of the Series award. 

Player of the Series // 2019 #LCS Spring Semifinals // @TSM vs @Cloud9 // @Bjergsen #TSMWIN pic.twitter.com/my24GWjnaC

— lolesports (@lolesports) April 7, 2019

Currently, Bjergsen and his team are riding a high wave, turning their season around from a slow start to make the 2019 Spring Split Playoffs. In two rounds so far, TSM has beaten the Echo Fox squad 3-0 before completing a reverse sweep to beat Cloud9. Now, TSM are packing their bags and heading to St. Louis where the grand finals match will be played. 

With 5 North American Championships (Summer ‘14, Spring ‘15, Summer ‘16, Spring ‘17, and Summer ‘17) Bjergsen will be playing for his 6th trophy next weekend. As a fun bit of trivia, Team Liquid’s Doublelift will also be playing for his 6th Championship.

Humble Papa

In an interview with LCS Host Ovilee after their win against Cloud9, Bjergsen spoke about his role these days on the TSM team, as a veteran of the LCS. “Yeah, I’m a little old now,” joked Bjergsen after it was mentioned that he passed the 100th Playoff Game milestone. “I think there is always a little bit of nerves, but I have learned to deal with them much more than a lot of other players that haven’t played as long as me,” he said regarding still getting nervous on the LCS mainstage. “I feel like, since I’m the veteran, I have to be the one to kind of make my teammates feel comfortable and make them feel ready to play the game,” added Bjergsen. “That kind of takes the nerves off of me, because I feel like I just have to focus on my teammates,” 

This mindset truly marks both the kind of veteran Bjergsen is, and the type of team leader TSM has in him. In a league where rosters can change often, and fresh players can make their debut as any moment, this kind of core is what team managers dream about. 

Now, at 23-years-old, Bjergsen has accumulated 311 Wins and 177 Losses over the course of his entire career. He is currently 5th all-time in professional League of Legends for games played, behind the likes of Bang, Faker, Mata, and xiaohu. His presence and time with Team SoloMid in North America is something that won’t be soon forgotten when he eventually retires. For now though, BjergerKing is still making a statement with his insane mid-lane plays, and his extremely humble leadership in the locker room. 

Bjergsen and TSM will take the stage again next Saturday, April 13th, where they will play a best-of-five against league-leading Team Liquid to see who will be crowned the 2019 LCS Spring Split Champions.