Team Liquid runs over MAD Lions in Worlds 2020 EU vs. NA matchup

Team Liquid beat MAD Lions in a confident fashion in the first EU vs. NA matchup of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. 

The rivalry between North America and Europe started out with a clash between the LEC’s MAD Lions and LCS’ Team Liquid. MAD Lions went into the matchup as a favorite, with Liquid attempting to prove that LCS can play at a high level. They most definitely did. 

Team Liquid defeat MAD Lions, prove LCS belongs at Worlds

Both teams picked some interesting champions for the game, with a lot of invisibility from Evelynn on MAD Lions. Liquid played Twitch, a pick that hasn't been seen in a long time. Even MAD Lions couldn't help but point out the impactful and peculiar pick after the match. 

The game started out pretty evenly, with a slight edge to the European squad. MAD Lions mid laner Marek “Humanoid” Brázda got a great lead on Syndra, while Liquid top laner Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong got really scary on his Mordekaiser. Fans were excited to see Impact on Mordekaiser, if not a little surprised that MAD Lions let it happen. 

 Team Liquid slowly started to get a foothold in the game. With Twitch as a late-game scaling insurance, they started to look like a winning team. MAD Lions kept running down the mid laner to force a fight, but Edward “Tactical” Ra dealt way too much damage on Twitch while Impact got good flanks off. It seemed as though Tactical was keeping his Summer Split promise of "showing up" at Worlds. 

As Liquid secured the Baron Buff it appeared very unlikely that MAD Lions could make a comeback. The North American team was able to play its slow and controlled macro play style, which worked out perfectly. 

With this win, Liquid takes the first point in the EU vs. NA battle at Worlds. They also top group B together with Legacy Esports. MAD Lions are now 1-1 and will have to pick up the pace if they want to win the group.