The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) playoffs have been quite the event. The best teams in each region have been either meeting expectations or exceeding them. Today is the wrap-up day of the playoffs, featuring final matches in both Europe and North America.
European FINALS – G2 eSports vs Splyce – G2 WIN 3-1
This series had so much build up, because of the regular season. G2 eSports came in as the number one seed and defending champion from the spring split. Splyce battled out of possible relegation in the LCS promotional tournament in the spring. Backed by an amazing front office and coaching staff, they took the second seed in the regular season and made it all the way to the final match.
G2 took the first game in an action packed match. The second game Splyce steamrolled through everything G2 eSports was trying to get accomplished. Splyce looked so strong because of their team composition. Splyce’s AD Carry Kobbe was on Sivir for the first two games, and she is widely regarded as the top ADC champion. G2 managed to ban Sivir out in game three, and consequently win the game. The last game was not even a competitive one. G2 took the series in a commanding fashion.
This match actually had massive World Championship implications outside of these two teams. H2K also managed to qualify alongside of G2, due to their victory. Splyce will have to battle in the regional qualifying tournament next weekend to decide their fate.
North American FINALS – TeamSoloMid vs Cloud9 – TSM WIN 3-1
The match between these two powerhouse organizations was the most hyped up a match in professional League of Legends has been in quite some time. A sold out Toronto Air Canada Center played host to this event. As far as competitive gaming events go, this might have been the loudest one that I have watched. Saturday’s third place match was just as explosive as Sunday’s Finals match.
TSM came into this match as the heavy favorite because of their 17-1 regular season record. They took both regular season meetings in a brutal way. Cloud9 caught fire at the end of the season so some analysts were thinking it would be a relatively close match. TSM’s mid laner, Bjergsen, was just crowned the regular season MVP and facing the second best mid-laner in NA, Jensen. The top lane match up was the other close one. First team all star top laner TSM Hauntzer was facing previous world champion Impact on C9. Bottom lane match up featured Rookie of the Split Biofrost on TSM against fan favorite C9 Sneaky.
Cloud9 came out of the gate and took game one right out from under TSM. The pressure of performing in front of 15,000 fans looked like it got to TSM. Jensen solo-killed the MVP Bjergsen for first blood, due to a misplay. Cloud9 got a double kill on the opposing bot lane and snowballed the game out of control. The second game was TSM’s bounce back performance. They crushed Cloud9 in game two. C9 Drafted a Zac Jungle pick for Meteos. As a result, this awkward selection led to another TSM victory.
Game four was the most exciting game in the match. It came down to the last team fight when everything was going Cloud9’s way. TSM just outperformed in it, taking out all five C9 members. The game snowballed in TSM’s favor after that. In front of a sold out crowd, they lifted their fourth NA title above their heads.
This series also had heavy World Championship implications. Cloud9 now has to go down to the regional qualifier and battle their way out of that, rather than qualifying from a first place finish. Counter Logic Gaming also qualified for Worlds with TSM’s victory, making them the second team to do so.