Team Liquid win third straight LCS title with reverse sweep of TSM

William Davis Published 14/04/2019

Team Liquid is the 2019 LCS Spring Split champion, as the squad has achieved its third consecutive title after a win over Team SoloMid.

The spring season has come to an end after four months of intense competition. Ten teams started this journey but only two could make it to the final stage in St. Louis.

The two deserving contenders met at the Chaifetz Arena. On one side, Team Liquid the defending champion and the number one team throughout the regular season. On the other, TSM looking to return to its former glory after two splits of poor results in 2018.

This match would decide the spring champion and also break the tie between Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng for the player with the most LCS titles.

TSM started strong with two straight wins. In games one and two, the squad was quick to punish the Liquid’s mistakes. Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik dominated the top lane on Vladimir and Irelia while his lane opponent, Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong, struggled to make his carry Kennen pick work.

TSM looked like the clear winner with their early match point opportunity, but Team Liquid would not go down without a fight. TSM focused on neutralizing LCS spring MVP Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, the strongest initiator in Liquid’s composition and Doublelift’s steadfast protector.

TSM Jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham on Rek’Sai was everywhere on the map and the strategy worked for the most part until Team Liquid showed its first real signs of life 26 minutes into the match.

Liquid slowed the pace of the game and went for the neutral objectives. Their discipline paid off and Team Liquid secured its first win of the day.

Game four was a quicker affair with fully Doublelift unleashed on Varus. TSM let Team Liquid take control and after just 25 minutes the series score was evened at two and two.

In game five, both teams drafted comfort picks including TSM picking Zoe for Bjergsen and Ezreal for Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen.

Broken Blade set the game into motion with a solo kill in the top lane. TSM had control over the early game and started to scale, and that control continued through the mid game when they aced Team Liquid.

The defending champion were somehow able to absorb the ensuing pressure. At 35 minutes, Zven made a dramatic misstep on Ezreal, allowing himself to be caught out and enabling Team Liquid to secure a baron buff. This brought Liquid to push for TSM’s inner turrets.

Impact on Vladimir had more than enough time to recover from his disastrous laning phase and was the secret weapon in the later team fights.

In the final minutes of the game, TSM made more crucial mistakes as Zven was again caught out. That may ultimately have cost TSM the game and the title. Team Liquid secured the win at 40 minutes.

Liquid achieved its third consecutive LCS title, the sixth such trophy for Doublelift. This is the first title for Liquid’s new mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen.

The LCS returns on June 1 for week one of the summer split.

William Davis

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