Team Liquid beats Cloud9 in thriller final at the LCS Lock In

Team Liquid has won the first trophy of the year after taking down Cloud9 in an intense five-game series in the LCS Lock In final. 

Ever since the recent offseason changes for both Team Liquid and C9 became official, fans and experts have been eagerly waiting for this matchup. Luckily, the teams got to face off against each other in a best-of-five before the official season had even begun and it definitely answered some questions. As expected, the series was very close with a lot of back and forth play between the two teams. 

Team Liquid started out the series with a high tempo, punishing C9 for almost every mistake made in the early game. While C9 managed to come back and make the game close during the mid game, Team Liquid still outplayed in the big team fights. The great team coordination between the Team Liquid players once again showed and resulted in the first win of the final.

For game two, it was also Team Liquid who took the charge in the early game and it paid off. With great play all around, Team Liquid slowly built up a lead just like in game one. From that point it was already hard for C9. 

Once again, it looked like C9 was slowly making a comeback in the mid game but Team Liquid eventually shut it down by punishing mistakes from C9 and winning important fights. Team Liquid support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in was especially a deciding factor on Blitzcrank, where he secured several picks in very important moments of the game. 

C9 had to pull off something very special to come back from a 0-2 deficit against Team Liquid, but the team has done it before. In the semifinals, C9 managed to reverse sweep 100 Thieves but doing it against Team Liquid is a way bigger task. 

Once again, Team Liquid got the gold lead throughout the early and mid game but this time C9 got a hold of the objectives. With three dragons and a solid composition, C9 found the fight needed to get back in the game and get the Infernal Soul. With damage buffed up for the whole team, C9 was able to cruise its way to a win and keep the dream of a trophy alive. 

Game four was another great showing for C9, who stayed calm to force the series into a game five. Bot laner Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen managed to pop off on Kai’Sa, which was enough for C9 to take its second Nexus. 

With everything on the line in game five, it was time to see which team could keep the head cool. While C9 had the momentum, Team Liquid got a good draft and early-game lead through the top lane where Barney “Alphari” Morris was put on one of his signature champions Gangplank. 

Just like in the first games, Team Liquid got to snowball the early game lead and finally put an end to C9 after five games.  

Team Liquid will enter the 2021 LCS season as favorites

The LCS Lock In turned out great for the new Team Liquid roster, which will now be big favorites entering the 2021 LCS Spring Season. Team Liquid started out the LCS Lock In without its new jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen but quickly started to ramp up as soon as the Danish jungler arrived in North America. 

After picking up the LCS Lock In trophy against an opponent like C9, Team Liquid will be the favorite to go all the way in the spring season. Fans and experts expected C9 and Team Liquid to be close and that also seems to be the case. But the star-packed team from C9 clearly needs more time to synergize before hitting peak performance. 

Aside from C9, Team SoloMid and 100 Thieves might be a threat for Team Liquid in the upcoming season, but both teams will have to make improvements before that happens. 

The 2021 LCS Spring Season will kick off on Friday, February 5. 

Which teams play in the LCS?

The LCS consist of 10 franchised teams who all own a spot in the league. Here are the 10 teams participating in the LCS in 2021. 

• Team Liquid
• Cloud9
• Team SoloMid
• Evil Geniuses
• 100 Thieves
• Golden Guardians
• Immortals
• Dignitas
• CLG
• FlyQuest

When does the 2021 LCS Spring Season start? 

With the 2021 LCS Lock In concluded, the official start to the LCS season is up next. The 2021 LCS Spring Season will officially start on February 5, giving the teams a week to prepare before they once again hit Summoner’s Rift.