Team Liquid utilizes Kai’Sa, Udyr to secure LCS Lock In trophy

William Davis Published 02/02/2021

The LCS Lock In gave a great sneak peek of what the 2021 LCS season has to offer, both in terms of the team’s strength and champion meta. Here’s a look at the most dominant champions during the LCS Lock In and which players best utilized them.

While the new competitive season has just begun, the meta is already starting to develop and change from game to game. A total of 71 champions were picked during the 2021 LCS Lock In tournament, which indicates that a lot of options are viable in the current meta. Some champions saw more priority than others, but that isn’t surprising.

With Riot continuing to release big patches with changes to both items and champions, the meta will likely continue to change rapidly and make the upcoming weeks in competitive League of Legends that much more exciting for fans to follow.

Team Liquid’s Santorin used Udyr in important wins

A champion that saw great success in the LCS Lock In was Udyr and it was mainly because of the tournament winners from Team Liquid utilizing him well. Team Liquid’s new jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen got to play Udyr four times, and all four picks were wins. The fact that Udyr has become viable is unusual, but the Spirit Walker has turned out to be a strong pick in the hands of the right players.

Most notably was Santorin’s game on Udyr versus Cloud9 in the fifth and decisive game of the final. Santorin pulled off a world-class performance despite the pressure and ended the game with a 6-0-11 scoreline. Santorin also played Udyr twice during Team Liquid’s 3-0 victory over Evil Geniuses in the semifinals.

Udyr was picked up 12 times in total during the LCS Lock In, most of them being in the playoffs stage. With a win rate of 58% and 5.5 KDA, it’s fair to say that Udyr had a key role at the tournament.

Ssumday carried 100 Thieves with Renekton

One of the most impressive players at the LCS Lock In was 100 Thieves’ Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho. The experienced top laner had some dominating performances throughout the tournament, most of them being on Renekton.

While 100 Thieves didn’t make it past the semifinals after being reverse swept by C9, the whole team proved itself as strong heading into the rest of the 2021 LCS season. As one of the main carries of the team, Ssumday was placed on Renekton in five games and it paid off. Ssumday started out by dominating TSM in the opening match on Renekton, followed up with wins against Golden Guardians and Immortals on the champion.

Renekton has been a strong pick with the Goredrinker mythic item and Ssumday knew that. Other players also utilized Renekton’s strength during the tournament, putting Renekton at a 71% win rate over 14 games in total.

Ssumday

Kai’Sa was the most-picked champion at LCS Lock In

Kai’Sa didn’t pull off a spectacular win rate at the LCS Lock In but was by far the most-picked champion in the tournament. The popular marksman was picked a total of 28 times, which is eight times more than Graves and Leona, who were the second-most picked champions during the tournament.

For season 11, Kai’Sa has seen a big increase in popularity and is currently considered the strongest marksman in the game by many. She isn’t always on the winning side, but she is the safest and most versatile pick for the bot-lane position.

Kai’Sa had a win rate of 50% during the LCS Lock In tournament and a KDA of 3.6. These middling numbers indicate that she was a contested pick, played by every team at the tournament when given the chance. She wasn’t just a pocket pick for certain teams or a great champion in specific matchups. Kai’Sa was picked as a high-priority champion and will likely continue to be that when the 2021 LCS Spring Season starts on February 5.

Invictus Gaming Kai'Sa

What is Team Liquid?

Team Liquid is an esports organization with locations in the Netherlands and North America. Team Liquid was founded back in 2000 and has been a frontrunner in games such as League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for years. Team Liquid is perhaps best known for its League of Legends team, where the organization has won four LCS trophies, participated at the World Championship three times, and placed second at the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational.

Who are the members of Team Liquid?

The Team Liquid League of Legends roster consists of five members and a strong coaching staff behind it. This is the starting lineup for the 2021 season, for which Team Liquid picked up Barney “Alphari” Morris and Lucas “Santorin” Larsen for the top lane and jungle positions respectively.

The Team Liquid 2021 LCS roster is: