Team SoloMid punishes Golden Guardians, extends LCS winning streak

Team SoloMid found its fourth consecutive win of the 2020 LCS Spring Split with a victory over Golden Guardians.

Things are looking up for TSM. After a 0-2 start to the season, the fan favorite organization is now on an extended winning streak that puts it near the top of the LCS standings. Golden Guardians, on the other hand, is struggling to find the wins and has fallen to the bottom of the standings.

TSM took a page out of the LCK playbook and decided to pick Ornn in the mid lane.

The pick came as a surprise as Ornn is traditionally a support pick. Making it even more perplexing is that the champion is out of Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg’s comfort zone, as he generally prefers mages and assassins. Picking Ornn shows that TSM is changing its style from a mid-centric team to a side lane team. This strategy is not new, but was popularized by FunPlus Phoenix in 2019.

TSM gets inspired by the LCK against GGS

With Bjergsen on a support type of pick, the responsibility of carrying the team fell on top laner Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik and his Qiyana.

TSM started with a clean early game, slowly building a lead in each lane. The team invested its early resources in the top lane, trying to get Broken Blade ahead of the enemy. Securing a couple of ganks and enough gold was all that he needed to shine on the map. His Qiyana was extremely effective, constantly finding the angles to make the plays happen. Golden Guardians couldn’t counter Broken Blade and the team just played reactively.

Around the third dragon of the game, Golden Guardians showed signs of life. The team read Broken Blade’s intentions to make a flank happen and waited for him. Golden Guardians caught Broken Blade and that kill turned into control of the river and the dragon.

TSM didn’t let that play discourage them, and simply walked away to focus on the next objective. When the next dragon spawned, TSM decided to make things happen in the game. TSM found four easy kills in the river, denied the dragon soul, and transitioned to the baron buff.

TSM looked for a game-ending siege and Golden Guardians, far behind in gold and items, couldn’t do anything to stop them.

TSM has climbed up in the standings and is currently in second place with a 4-2 record. Golden Guardians is at the bottom at 1-4. TSM will look to keep its winning streak going against the undefeated Cloud9 on February 15.