Which Team Liquid Shows Up Against Invictus Gaming?

It’s been two weeks since the beginning of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational, and we’re down to only four teams remaining. The top four teams from the Group Stage of six squads will play in a tournament playoff knockout bracket to determine the winner of this year’s MSI. 

With their win on the final day against G2 Esports, North America’s Team Liquid punched their ticket to the knockout stage where they will be going up against the 1st seeded Invictus Gaming. The reigning League of Legends World Champions from China only dropped a single match in the Group Stages, and it was their last. 

It’s going to be a tough one, but the beauty of a League of Legends best-of-five series is that anything can and has happened. 

Bot-Lane Bout

The heavyweight fight in the Semifinal round will surely be in the bottom lane of the Rift. Team Liquid sent over one of the best bot-lane duos the region has ever seen in Doublelift (now 6-time NA LCS Champion) and CoreJJ who won Worlds in 2017 with Samsung Galaxy. 

“Doublelift may be a good ADC player, but … he’s never won against me.” - JackeyLove, Invictus Gaming

Across from them will be the dynamic and hard-to-predict JackeLove and Baolan, both of which were crucial in Invictus Gaming’s 2018 World Championship. 

“It’s crazy. Both of our matches against them we could have easily won. We were so close,” said Doublelift in the teaser video. 

In the best-of-five series, be sure to keep your eyes on the bottom lane because this duo versus duo matchup might be one of the greatest spectacles in modern League of Legends competition. 

Which Xmithie Will Show Up?

In this tournament alone Team Liquid has seen enough ups and downs to last them a lifetime. Part of the reason for the “coin-flip” games (as some might call them) is their jungler. Heading into MSI 2019, Team Liquid filled North American League of Legends fans with huge hopes. Those were quickly buffed by an easy-looking 3-0 over Phong Vu Buffalo in the Play-in knockouts, but they fell quite a bit due to the lackluster play to start the Group Stage. 

“At the start of Group Stage, they didn’t play that well, but towards the end they always played brilliantly, so we can’t keep thinking that they’re a very weak team.” - Rookie, Invictus Gaming

Sure, they beat the two teams that everyone with any passing knowledge of League of Legends would put below Team Liquid on the standings, but it was the way they lost that looked tragic. Then, every so often, Xmithie would show up and play out of his mind, securing Team Liquid two more wins across the next eight games. 

These victories earned Team Liquid enough space on the standings to get invited to the knockout stage, but it also raised a lot of questions regarding their chances. Especially when questioning their chances against the World Champs. 

The biggest question remains; will the top-tier Xmithie show up? Or will Team Liquid have to try and do this without him being a leader, a monumentally difficult task.

Can Team Liquid Win? 

There hasn’t been a single conversation about MSI 2019 without it inevitably ending up in a situation where Invictus Gaming are at least playing in the Grand Finals, let alone winning it all. 

In his first split with Doublelift, Team Liquid’s new mid-laner Jensen said that if his bot-laner could carry him to a domestic championship, he would return the favor by helping Doublelift get out of Groups at an international tournament.

finally

— Yiliang Peng (@TLDoublelift) May 14, 2019

So, it should go without saying that this TL squad playing in the final-four at the second most important tournament of the year, and first as a team, is pretty outstanding. 

"People think the difference between us and the best team is huge ... It's like one outplay. It's like one solo kill, or dragon, or blue buff. It could be anything." - Doublelift, Team Liquid.

Crunching the numbers and looking over the books, there is a small chance that Team Liquid can beat Invictus Gaming in the Semifinals tomorrow. However slim it may be, its existence is a pretty powerful motivator for the team to show up in a big way. 

As noted on the official LoL Esports podcast The Dive, this is the first time that a North American team clutched it out (and in epically dominating fashion) when their international tournament lives were at stake. Normally, that’s when NA plays its worst. Which is very promising. 

No matter the outcome, nothing will come easy for Team Liquid against Invictus Gaming, who have proven time and time again that they are setting the new standard for League of Legends dynasty.

Invictus Gaming may be powerful, but they are coming into the Semifinals against Team Liquid after suffering a brutal defeat at the hands of SK Telecom T1. Team Liquid on the other hand, advanced to the next round on an extremely high note, so perhaps this head-to-head will come down to momentum. 

How to Watch? 

You can watch the action unfold right here, via the Riot Games Twitch channel embed. 

Watch live video from Riot Games on www.twitch.tv

The 2019 Mid-Season Invitational Semifinals between Team Liquid and Invictus Gaming will begin at 3:00 AM Pacific Time, on Friday, May 17th.