Team Liquid in big trouble at Worlds 2020 after loss to Suning

William Davis Published 05/10/2020

Team Liquid took another tough loss in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship after getting run down by Suning.

.@suning_gaming beat @TeamLiquidLoL and pick up their first win! #Worlds2020 pic.twitter.com/ARqifx7HPU
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 5, 2020

With all LCS teams still being winless at Worlds going into day three, it was up to Liquid to finally get a win for the region. Suning, who almost managed to take down LEC champions G2 Esports in the first round of the group stage, was in their way. The LPL’s third seed quickly showed itself to be far too much for Liquid.

Suning went for a confident draft with Draven in the bot lane and Jax up top. The picks have not been common at this year’s Worlds, but with Liquid underperforming against Machi Esports, there was no fear from Suning.

The bot lane instantly succeeded for Suning, as Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng’s Draven got a big CS lead and an early kill. Liquid bot laner Edward “Tactical” Ra had to hang on for his life on Twitch but had a really hard time scaling after being perfectly countered by Suning.

The early game lead from Suning quickly spiraled out of control and Liquid didn’t have the individual skills to hang on. Once again, the LCS region took a loss against a better opponent and is still looking for its first win of the group stage. Suning tied up its score 1-1 in the group and is now neck-and-neck with Machi Esports.

Suning’s Draven dominates Team Liquid at Worlds 2020

One of the big win conditions for Suning was the Draven pick in the bot lane. It’s an uncommon pick that is rarely seen at this level of play, but Suning clearly went into the matchup with a lot of confidence.

Huanfeng is only 19 years old and is playing in the first Worlds of his career. Despite his lack of experience, he went on to dominate as Draven at a world-class level. His gold lead over Tactical quickly snowballed out of hand, despite Tactical being considered the top player of Liquid. The gold difference between the two bot laners was over 3,000 at 20 minutes.

The focus on the bot lane was the perfect tactic from Suning to shut down Liquid completely. Suning clearly switched its priorities after losing to G2 and that could set them upsettle into second place in their group.

It’s do or die for Team Liquid at Worlds 2020

Another loss for Liquid puts them at 0-2 in group A, which forces them to perform in the upcoming days. All teams in group A have picked up at least one win, so reaching the top two seems like a tough task for the LCS squad.

The loss against Machi was a big blow for Liquid and it clearly affected their play against Suning. Liquid played without any confidence and let Suning take over the whole map, and offered little resistance in securing objectives. Suning secured the Ocean Soul after 24 minutes and was about to get the Baron right after, but Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen made a miracle steal.

The Baron steal was enough for Liquid to stall out the game for a bit, but they still didn’t have a chance against the Ocean Soul in team fights. Liquid woke up too late in the game and will probably have to focus on a more aggressive early game in the upcoming games.