100 Thieves is the new LCS champion after sweeping Team Liquid in a dominant 2021 LCS Championship final.
After taking down Liquid in a clean 3-0 fashion, 100 Thieves picked up its first-ever LCS trophy, becoming the fifth organization in history to do so. Previously, the LCS has been strictly dominated by TSM, Cloud9, Liquid, and CLG but now 100 Thieves has finally proven that another organization can reach the top. With this win, 100 Thieves moves on to its second world championship and this time it will be as the North American first seed.
It didn’t take more than the first game to show that 100 Thieves came to play today. After knocking out Cloud9 yesterday, it was a very confident 100 Thieves squad that entered Summoner’s Rift against Liquid who beat them in the upper-bracket final last week. This time around, 100 Thieves was way more prepared and proved that by stomping Liquid in the first game.
Being one game closer to the trophy, 100 Thieves didn’t slow down in the second game. Once again, 100 Thieves dominated the map right from the get-go, with jungler Can “Closer” Çelik crushing it on Viego. After getting all his lanes ahead, Closer still managed to take matters into his own hands and carry the game. In just 30 minutes, 100 Thieves secured the second Nexus of the final and put themselves on championship point.
In the third game, it was all or nothing for Liquid and the players had to step up. With two quick losses behind them, it was all about resetting mentally and just taking one step at a time. Unfortunately, Closer didn’t let Liquid breathe for a second despite being put on another champion than his dominant Viego. This time he was playing Lee Sin and it was even more dominant than before. With one world-class kick after the other, Closer put on a clinic and single-handedly put a final nail in the Liquid coffin.
With great help from mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun on Ryze, the two imports secured 100 Thieves another dominant win. This left Liquid without a single win in the final, making it go down as one of the most dominant in LCS history.
With this 3-0 sweep by 100 Thieves, the team will look ahead to Worlds in Europe where this team looks like the biggest hope for North America. While the team doesn’t have much experience on the international stage, there’s no doubt that the teamplay and confidence is there to make some good results for the struggling region.
100 Thieves will play at Worlds alongside Liquid and Cloud9, the three teams representing North America at the tournament.
