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Six thoughts going into Playoffs Week 2
Let's get it.
**100 Thieves**
Prior to their unexpected 3-0 victory over Cloud9 — unexpected that, even those who had predicted 100 Thieves anticipated a lot closer of a series than we received — 100 Thieves beat Cloud9 in a single game in the final week of the regular season. This showcased exactly how 100 Thieves would best them a week later in playoffs: focus on keeping down Summit in top lane, both through Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho's ability to mitigate pressure in most matchups and Can "Closer" Çelik running roughshod over not just the top lane but the entire map. My favorite look from 100T was when they locked in Lucian/Nami for Victor "FBI" Huang and Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun in Game 3, mainly because I've been a strong proponent of 100T and pushing bot 2v2s, even when their execution was a bit off earlier this split.
All that being said, if 100 Thieves are to beat Team Liquid in two weeks they still need to shore up on their side lane pressure. The series against C9 told me that, with time and preparation, 100 Thieves can come up with strong gameplans to beat anyone, but the task is taller against the TL five, who have regularly had some of the best cross-map trading and understanding of side lanes in the LCS this split, the latter of which has been a 100T weak spot. Still, with mid laner Felix "Abbedagge" Braun performing consistently well and 100T's early game planning, this is by no means an assured Team Liquid victory.
**Team Liquid**
While Team Liquid emerged victorious this weekend, I think they'll have a lot of takeaways from their matches against Evil Geniuses, especially EG's Level 1s. Level 1 setups are all-too-often seen as "cheese" or unnecessary if you're a better team, but I'm here to remind you that TL are also a team who, as late as mid-split, were looking for Level 1 attempts even as they were recognized as the best team in the LCS. That Nautilus mid rush that every Nautilus player looks for was known as the Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in special (almost as much as his top-side roams) earlier this year.
Ultimately, the thing that continues to impress me the most about this TL team is how well-positioned they are to cover each other's opportunity areas with their strengths. Many teams trot out the "any of us can carry" line, but with this TL lineup I actually believe it. According to Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, EG's early-game creativity pointed out some holes in TL's gameplan to TL themselves, but this is the perfect lineup to adjust and coordinate to shore up those weaknesses. Most importantly, they still have a stronger understanding of side laning and wave management than most, barring that beautiful Baron dance by none other than EG in this past weekend's series.
**Evil Geniuses**
For as much time as I spent drawing an image of Renekton and then lighting it on fire, you may be surprised to hear that I'm somewhat of a Renekton enjoyer. Sacrilege, I know. Which is why I don't want to go as hard against Evil Geniuses' Game 5 draft as much as their execution and the situations around playing out a composition like this. Or rather, the facts that A: one-to-one comparisons to Damwon KIA's poke composition against Gen.G in the LCK Semifinals are specious due to the difference in ideal composition execution, and B: that drafting this type of heavy top-side early-game focus requires a different degree of difficulty than a more standard 5v5 teamfighting look. That is to say that while I personally didn't like EG's Game 5 draft, it's also not as simple as Renekton/Nidalee always equals bad composition. EG set themselves up for a much trickier time with this look and then were not able to execute on it during the early timing windows that they needed to hit in order for it to succeed. In fact, they missed the very first one right off the get-go when Joseph "jojopyun" Joon Pyun had mid shoved in, Jeong "Impact" Eon-young seemed to be prepping for a dive, and a ping went down but ultimately the play was called off.
Naturally, this type of risk is going to look worse when it loses in a crucial Game 5. Overall, I think that EG showed a variety of looks in the TL series along with good Level 1 prep that should make them a strong favorite against FlyQuest this weekend.
**Cloud9**
Last week I said that I wasn't worried about Cloud9. Now, I'm fairly worried. Unlike my correct desk counterparts in Joshua "Jatt" Leesman and Barento "Raz" Mohammed, I predicted C9 in this matchup due to a few factors.
I had thought that, while 100 Thieves would likely focus on taking red side, "counterpicking" (I'm using this term as loosely as possible in that Ssumday frequently picks last but not always hard counters in the top lane), sending Closer top side to stop Park "Summit" Woo-tae as quickly as possible, C9 would mitigate this with a combination of Robert "Blaber” Huang and stronger 5v5 teamfighting. We saw glimpses of the latter thanks to some brilliant mechanical plays from Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol even in losing situations, but nothing that stood out as well-coordinated play as a five-man unit. As FBI and huhi said in their post-match interview, the largest difference was that 100 Thieves was a team. C9 will now have to find their own footing as a team if they want to continue.
A playstyle cannot be a composition, and while I don't think C9's is per se, it's become apparent to LCS viewers what LCK viewers already knew when Kim "Croco" Dong-beom was having to camp his lane on Liiv Sandbox: Summit off of his signature picks can spell disaster due to his volatile playstyle. The question is now of whether it's a Summit problem or a Summit solution. Do C9 double-down and commit to a top-focused playstyle even harder, with potential scaling from their bot lane and maybe an enchanter mid for Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami, or another solution that makes the most of Blaber's counterjungling tendencies and Summit perpetually pushing his lane? We'll find out against Golden Guardians this Saturday.
**FlyQuest**
Given how Evil Geniuses went toe-to-toe with Team Liquid through creative Level 1s and a markedly better understanding of side lane pressure than what they had shown in-season, FlyQuest now have an even tougher task ahead of them. The EG that showed up on Sunday was not the shaky EG of the single-game round robin. With two weeks to practice and prepare along with an entire best-of-five to look at, I'm curious to see what FlyQuest will bring to the table. Their end to the split was anything but smooth, and while I enjoyed their look against Cloud9 with Johnson "Johnsun" Nguyen on Miss Fortune and Colin "Kumo" Zhao locking in Malphite into Summit's Tryndamere, the same strategy won't work against EG and Impact, who plays his lanes far less volatilely on the whole. It's going to take another dash of creativity and really strong coordination to beat EG. If FlyQuest are to do it, their success will likely come from their mid-jungle combination of Loïc "toucouille" Dubois and Brandon Joel "Josedeodo" Villegas who have been the one-two punch that FlyQuest have needed both in early skirmishes and late-game teamfights.
**Golden Guardians**
While Golden Guardians did not play last week, what they received was three games of a clear-cut blueprint to beat Cloud9, courtesy of 100 Thieves. Interestingly enough, the last time Golden Guardians faced C9, Coach Nick "Inero" Smith came onto the Analyst Desk afterwards, and talked about how Eric "Licorice" Ritchie opted into counterpicking Graves into Summit's Gnar, saying that even though it did not end well, he appreciated that Licorice was more than willing to opt for a favorable countermatchup, even against such a strong opponent. (As an aside, I also want to point out Licorice's Fiora, which he picked against Dignitas' Fakegod and took over the entire game with it.) Across their LCS split and in the series against 100 Thieves, C9 seemed to prioritize blue side. Obviously their plan could change, especially after such a devastating loss, but I'd love to see some creative red side looks from Golden Guardians that could make the most of whittling down Cloud9's known champion pools and locking in counterpicks. Golden Guardians' strengths have been their preparation and their early games. If they're going to win, it's going to come down to if they can get ahead early and whether they can then close the game out before C9's likely scaling options come online.
