TSM vs Golden Guardians: 2020 LCS playoffs betting analysis

William Davis Published 13/08/2020

Team SoloMid and Golden Guardians will kick off the 2020 LCS Summer Split playoffs with a match on Thursday.

TSM finished the regular season in fourth place, followed by Golden Guardians in fifth. TSM and Golden Guardians played two times in the regular season, and on both occasions, TSM walked away with the victory. In these matches, TSM showed that it has a perfect read on Golden Guardians’ style.

The two matches followed a similar pattern. Mingyi “Spica” Lu played early through the top lane, setting up Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik for a successful laning phase. The early kills top created a deficit that Golden Guardians couldn’t make up anywhere else. From that point, Spica played through the bot lane, prioritizing the dragons.

Spica rarely ganks the mid lane, in part because Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg is constantly roaming. When it came to dragons, it is never a one-versus-one between jungler. From the early levels, TSM fights for the objectives as a team, burning teleports if necessary. This is a way to support Spica against Can “Closer” Çelik, arguably the best jungler in the LCS behind Team Liquid’s Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen.

What TSM achieves with this strategy is not only getting its laners ahead, but also the neutralizing of Closer. Golden Guardians’ jungler is accustomed to playing carry champions that allow him to be the star of the game. With his lanes under constant fire, Closer is forced to play more defenisively and cannot easily set up plays.

TSM found a way to make Closer play passive by never giving him a fair fight. TSM also prioritizes Closer over the rest of the team’s targets, as TSM understands that Closer is the real force powering Golden Guardians.

TSM is always the first of the two teams to make a play, forcing situations that are to their advantage. Golden Guardians is then forced to play reactively, a strategy that doesn’t fit with the team’s desired style.

TSM favored to win against Golden Guardians

Unfortunately for Golden Guardians, it will play the worst opponent possible in the first round. Odds have TSM the winner with 1.3 against Golden Guardians’ 3.38. Not everything is lost for Golden Guardians, as the team might get a strong punch in. The series is likely to end with a 3-1 score or even a clean 3-0 in favor of TSM.

The loser will not be out of the race just yet. The team that fails to advance instead falls into the loser’s bracket, while the winner moves one step closer to qualifying for the 2020 World Championship.

If you are looking for an esports bookmaker, feel free to try out winners.bet and if you’re looking to find a specific betting related feature or read reviews of bookmakers, visit winners.net

Read Also

League of Legends

T1 Esports Challengers vs Galions: WSCI Semifinals best bets and predictions Wasif Ahmed T1 Esports Challengers faces Galions in the World Star Challengers Invitational semifinals. Honoring their organisation, T1.EA is one of the two favorites to win the event, easily defeating every opponent they’ve faced so far. Against them, Galions also made quick work of their Korean quarterfinal opponent. Here are our predictions and the best bets for T1.EA vs GL. The org of LoL champions is also a stronghold in tier 2. ...

League of Legends

Solary vs DN Soopers Challengers WSCI Semi-Finals: Bets and Predictions Ben Boland Solary goes up against DN Soopers Challengers in the semi-finals of the World Star Challengers Invitational 2026, the inaugural edition of the tier 2 World Championship. Europe and Korea have been dominating the tournament, and only those two regions remain in the semi-finals. This is the first time that secondary leagues face off internationally, making this the first true test of those regions’ strengths. Is the LFL the best tier ...

League of Legends

LYON vs Shopify Rebellion LCS playoffs lower bracket: Best bets and predictions Ben Boland LYON faces Shopify Rebellion in the lower bracket of the LCS Summer Playoffs 2026. The winner of this match claims North America’s final spot at the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, while the loser ends their season in fourth place. Neither team should have been in this spot. LYON entered the playoffs as the favorite and they’re now in the loser’s bracket, and SR was expected to lose much ...

League of Legends

Team Liquid vs Cloud9 LCS Playoffs Upper Bracket Finals: Bets and Predictions Ben Boland The LCS Upper Bracket finals are one many would not have predicted. Team Liquid takes on Cloud9 to see which team will lock in their spot in the Worlds 2026 Swiss stage and the LCS Summer Grand Finals. League of Legends bettors are in for a treat in this best-of-five, with many good bets available. Let’s take a look at some of the best bets for the Cloud9 vs. Team ...

League of Legends

The LEC’s Viewership Is Down 20% From Summer 2025 Ben Boland As the Summer Split has concluded, the results are out — and the LEC’s viewership keeps declining for the second year in a row. Even though Europe has achieved strong results this year, fewer viewers follow these teams regionally afterwards. According to Escharts, the LoL European league has recorded 173,989 average viewers in Summer 2026, and 438,821 peak viewers. In 2025, the LEC had an average viewership of 213,292 with ...

League of Legends

Is Voice Chat Coming to League of Legends in 2026? Ben Boland After a decade of being opposed to it, Riot has finally taken steps to implement voice chat in League of Legends. However, the launch of voice chat in LoL has been delayed as the feature is experiencing setbacks. Here’s a rundown of the situation. Earlier this year, players discovered voice chat-related files on the LoL Player Beta Environment (PBE). Following them, Riot communicated on March 13 that they were now ...

League of Legends

LoL: Europe Shines Against Korea in 2026 As NA Struggles To Keep Pace Ben Boland In 2026, Europe has had its best results against the East in LoL Esports history. While their losses to North America may overshadow their achievements, EU has a winning record against South Korea this year. Meanwhile, NA has the LEC’s number but has its worst head-to-head against the East since 2023 — here I will break down the key statistics that show this. After years of Europe being a shell ...