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Six thoughts going into Playoffs Week 3
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Four teams remain. Only three will make it to Finals Weekend in Houston. One will qualify for the Grand Finals this weekend.
Let's get it.
**100 Thieves**
We haven't seen the Thieves in over a week, but their last performance certainly left a lasting impression. Their 3-0 dismantling of Cloud9 was so thorough and one-sided that it still hangs over C9 even after they beat Golden Guardians 3-0 this past weekend. Of all teams in the LCS this split, 100 Thieves have had the most consistent upward trajectory over the final few weeks of LCS and into the playoffs. Like 100T mid laner Felix "Abbedagge" Braun said on broadcast, it's important to peak at the right time and that seems to be just what 100 Thieves are doing in mounting their title defense.
Going up against Team Liquid, 100T have a good matchup if Can "Closer" Çelik continues his early game domination against his opponents, affecting his lanes as early and as often as possible. While Bwipo is sure to have a few tricks up his sleeve in the top lane, Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho has had a standout season, not only in mitigating his laning opponents' pressure, but also providing a strong pressure point of his own that helped navigate 100 Thieves through some of their trickier times earlier this split. Additionally, I liked what 100 Thieves showed in picking the Lucian/Nami bot lane and playing around the lane's early push with Victor "FBI" Huang and Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun. Earlier in the split, I was hoping to see more of these powerful 2v2s work for 100 Thieves, but the team returned to more teamfight looks or 4-1 looks with Ssumday split-pushing on Tryndamere. It was nice to see such a strong bot lane as FBI and huhi play around with some more pushing power and showcases another pivot point around which 100 Thieves can play in their upcoming match if they so choose.
**Cloud9**
For me, someone standing on the outside and looking in, the idea of swapping now-former starting LCS support Kim "Winsome" Dong-keon for Cloud9 Academy support Jonah "Isles" Rosario was both desperate, and also made sense with their explanation. More interesting was how the team, and specifically their new bottom lane of Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol and Isles, looked after the change. They seemed much more focused on the bot 2v2, unsurprising given Isles' comfort with mage supports, which is an interesting pivot to consider in their upcoming matchup against Evil Geniuses to decide the final team that will attend Spring Finals Weekend in Houston.
Last week I asked if top laner Park "Summit" Woo-tae was "the problem, or the solution" and speculated on whether C9 would double-down on playing a top-lane-focused style with Robert "Blaber" Huang and Summit, or focus their pressure elsewhere. Against Golden Guardians, Summit had strong performances without being the primary focal point of their overall gameplan. Instead, it was mid laner Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami who stepped into the spotlight for C9, further proving how much he's grown in his new position. Perhaps I was asking the wrong questions. When asked how they beat C9, 100 Thieves bot laner FBI said it was because they were more of a team. This past weekend, C9 looked better coordinated than their previous showing, but will need to keep up that cohesion if they want to best EG.
**Evil Geniuses**
Similar to Cloud9, it's difficult to know how exactly Evil Geniuses will perform in their next series. Unlike C9, who showed absolute dominion over the league only to falter at the finish line and in their first playoff series, EG have been consistently inconsistent. Across the entirety of the regular LCS Spring Split, the largest winning streak EG had was two games. The largest loss streak they had was three, between Weeks 2 and 3.
Against FlyQuest in their playoff series on Sunday, EG did definitively look like the better team, but they also fell prey to some of their old weaknesses around neutral objective setups. This is particularly frustrating given that in their TL series, they had what is likely the most well-played Baron setup due to their side lane pressure of any LCS team all year. I talk constantly about what this team is capable of, precisely because of moments like this, where they neatly provide a glimpse of their true potential.
**Team Liquid**
Like their upcoming opponent in 100 Thieves, we also haven't seen Team Liquid in over a week and their lasting impression from their series against Evil Geniuses was not one of dominance, but one of a close five-game match where, if there are a few different draft decisions or a few less execution errors from EG, TL may have been kicked to the loser's bracket.
Team Liquid's greatest strength is one that the team members themselves — and, by extension, I myself — have repeated many times over this split. Everyone on Team Liquid can be a carry for this team, and if one team member falters or is targeted by their opponents, they can count on another one to rise to the occasion, using their collective strengths to cover individual momentary weaknesses. This will be an interesting factor going up against 100 Thieves, whose teamwork has returned to championship form as of late.
As I've said in previous columns, as recently as last week, where I think TL can best 100 Thieves is in their overall map pressure and understanding of side lanes, which matches up well against 100 Thieves' midseason tendencies of overgrouping. That being said, there are holes in TL's early game where TL are more hesitant than 100 Thieves, especially with Closer's strong attention to his lanes early. Currently, Team Liquid and 100 Thieves are the two best teams in the LCS and I'm particularly curious to see what Level 1 plans or general early-game adaptations TL have made since their 3-2 win over EG.
**And fond farewells to:
FlyQuest**
FlyQuest exit this LCS season the same way they came in: by defying community (and my personal) expectations in a positive way. When they had the worst start of any LCS starting roster on their first day of Lock In, they immediately turned around and won their next two games. When people ranked them near or at the bottom of their LCS post-Lock In, preseason power rankings, FlyQuest had one of the hottest starts of any LCS team and were tied with Team Liquid for first place at 5-1 by the end of Week 3. Even in their shakier weeks, FlyQuest managed some amazing come-from-behind victories due to surprising amounts of team coordination and teamfight prowess.
Although they lost to Evil Geniuses as many expected, FlyQuest still managed to put up a good amount of fight, forcing EG to take them seriously. The story of FlyQuest this split has been defined by their mid and jungle positions, with Loïc "toucouille" Dubois providing much-needed stability for Brandon Joel "Josedeodo" Villegas, who came into his own this year after a disappointing LCS rookie season. I find myself looking forward to whatever FlyQuest put together for this summer, because there's a strong foundation here upon which the team can continue to improve.
**Golden Guardians**
When I look back on Golden Guardians' season, two things stand out to me. The first is their lengthy, back-and-forth game with TSM. I maintain that this game — despite its sloppiness and myriad mistakes from both teams involved — was still one of the more interesting examples of a team adapting to a strategy they had seen before in a meaningful way. Their laneswap in response to the roaming support top strategy seen by FlyQuest and then TSM kicked off a series of games where the team visibly improved on things they were working on from week to week. Unfortunately, they never had strong neutral objective control and their game plans became less cohesive the longer games went, leading to losses like they had against 100 Thieves. There's a lot to like about this team that's more frustrating in the writing of this sentence because they did show flashes of brilliance but were undone by their own in-game errors.
