LCS 2022 Spring is ending this weekend with three teams remaining: 100 Thieves, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses. Although the regular season was mainly chaotic and most teams didn’t impress, with their playoff form, all three of these teams deserve recognition. Let’s shed some light on their achievements and performances from this season.
These three managed to leave behind FlyQuest, Golden Guardians and a Cloud9 which looked very strong during the regular season and booked their place for the final weekend. Team Liquid will face Evil Geniuses first, and then the winner takes on 100 Thieves to decide who’s representing LCS and North America at MSI 2022.
100 Thieves
The Thieves had a pretty unexpected start in the regular season. As the last champions, they were expected to be one of the best, but especially during the middle of the season, their performance was mediocre, making everyone question if they have what it takes to win the LCS a second time. However, “Kral” Closer and his friends managed to turn that around during the last few weeks and the playoffs.
Most recently, 100 was able to reverse sweep Team Liquid to stay in the upper bracket. The amazing Ssumday manages to get better each year and accumulated a KDA of 8.71 in 8 playoffs matches, an impressive record. Abbedagge offers flexibility in the mid lane, playing 7 different champions in 8 games.
Ssumday always wins top, Abbedagge brings flexibility, Closer leads with his consistency and FBI is the carry. The Australian ADC played champions like Aphelios, Zeri and Lucian to take on the responsibility of dealing damage, and he has done a great job when they win. FBI and huhi just have to solve the problem where they get invisible when 100 Thieves falls behind. No matter who their opponent is, 100 Thieves will be the favourite in the grand final.
Team Liquid
After being undoubtedly one of the two best teams this regular season, TL is definitely shadowed by 100 Thieves, but don’t let that fool you. Looking at the names of the players give you chills: Bwipo, Santorin, Bjergsen, Hans sama, CoreJJ. This roster might be the “best” NA has ever seen, but can they produce the best performance NA has ever seen?
During the regular season, three players with the best KDA was owned by TL: Bjergsen with 8.9, Santorin with 6.13 and CoreJJ with 5.96 (he played 11 games). However, TL played 10 games during the playoffs and won 5 of them, drastically affecting their stats. Bjergsen’s performance will definitely be decisive against EG and 100 Thieves, but Santorin owns the best KDA, so his performance might be as important.
In terms of efficiency, Santorin and Hans sama are behind Danny and Inspired. Plus, Bjergsen is a huge advantage, but jojopyun is impressing every single analyst with his unique style. Team Liquid has two tough challenges that shouldn’t have been hard for them, considering their roster and the expectations before the season. Their problem is being the best roster but not performing to that lev and to solve that, they need a mental reset, and their coach Guilhoto should be working on that before this two-match weekend.
Evil Geniuses
Instead of C9, EG pulled them apart and became the surprising third factor on the road to the playoffs. Their aim is not the championship, but they are on a road now and if they end up with a trophy, they would gladly take that. How did they manage to be here, after an ordinary regular season that should have ended when they faced Cloud9? A romanticized answer might be “because they believed”.
EG doesn’t have pressure on them, they don’t have expectations and they have a new roster. On the other hand, their opponent was Cloud9 which also had a pretty new roster, but when you play LoL under the C9 banner, you are always expected to run for the championship. EG took advantage of the chaos within their rivals. 100 Thieves is a solid team but Team Liquid might have the same weak spots that EG could utilize.
They are relying on their young ADC Danny and superstar jungler Inspired in their pursuit of the LCS trophy. On top of that, they have another youngster in the mid lane, jojopyun. If they win, they will have an incredible story. If they don’t, they lose nothing. That’s what’s making EG incredibly dangerous.
Schedule and betting odds
First game at LCS 2022 Spring final weekend will be played on April 23, Saturday:
Team Liquid (1.50) vs Evil Geniuses (2.40) - 21:00 CEST
On Sunday at 21:00 CEST, the winner will face 100 Thieves for the LCS trophy. If you want to watch the game live or place your bets on your favourite teams, check out Luckbox.
