Team Liquid vs. TSM: Mid-Season Showdown betting analysis

William Davis Published 07/04/2021

Team Liquid and TSM will face off in an LCS derby for the last Mid-Season Showdown finals spot.

After Team Liquid knocked down TSM into the lower bracket during the first round of the Mid-Season Showdown, TSM will have a chance at revenge and an opportunity to continue its miracle run. Last split, TSM went all the way through the lower bracket to win the championship, and the chance to repeat history is still alive. They’ll have to Team Liquid in a best-of-five first, and that’s not an easy task.

To achieve victory, TSM will have to overcome the problems from the last time the two teams met. In that series, TSM was looking hot right from the first game but didn’t manage to close it out in time. With Team Liquid’s patient play, they ended up turning the game and taking a victory that they shouldn’t have. This clearly affected TSM for the rest of the series, which led to a disappointing 3-1 loss.

If TSM would have closed out that game cleanly, the outcome of the series might have been completely different. To avoid it happening again, TSM will need to clean up the communication and team synergy. TSM has shown a great ability to get leads through the early game but lacks coordination in the later stages of the game. If that happens, TSM can potentially take care of Team Liquid before they reach their comfort zone.

For Team Liquid, the task is quite the opposite. Team Liquid is very capable of playing scaling compositions, but the player’s laning phase and decision-making in the earlier stages are questionable. This was punished by Cloud9 in the upper bracket final, where Team Liquid lost 3-1.

Team Liquid top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris has proven that he can carry if given the resources. If jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen helps him out, Team Liquid has a clear win condition against TSM. Meanwhile, Team Liquid’s bot lane will need to play a more stable game after a shaky split in general. If bot laner Edward “Tactical” Ra finds his form from 2020, TSM will have a hard time punishing any lanes.

Jensen

Team Liquid vs. TSM rosters

Team Liquid roster:

Top – Barney “Alphari” Morris
Jungle – Lucas “Santorin” Larsen
Mid – Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
Bot – Edward “Tactical” Ra
Support – Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in

TSM roster:

Top – Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon
Jungle – Mingyi “Spica” Lu
Mid – Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage
Bot – Lawrence “Lost” Hui
Support – Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh

Team Liquid favored to beat TSM again in Mid-Season Showdown

After taking down TSM earlier in the Mid-Season Showdown, it’s no surprise that the bookmakers favor Team Liquid in this match. It’s clear that both teams have both strengths and weaknesses, but it looks like Team Liquid’s strong individuals and stable playstyle will have the advantage going up against TSM. With that said, TSM can pull out an upset if they play up to their best but it would require better teamwork than previously seen.

This is why a win for Team Liquid will only grant an odds of 1.47 while a win for TSM gives odds 2.50.