The 2022 League of Legends Championship Series Spring Playoffs are entering the second round after a lively weekend of matches. Upsets and a best of five series have already made the LCS Spring Playoffs memorable, but there’s still more to come. Here’s a look at all the excitement to come next weekend.
LCS Playoffs upper bracket
Team Liquid vs. 100 Thieves
The most prominent matchup in the playoffs, but an unexpected one. While 100 Thieves started the season shaky, they finished on a strong 5-1 note, only losing to Dignitas in the final game of the season. Their series against Cloud9 in round one also showed the team could peak at the right time.
Everything seemed to come together for 100 Thieves as they quickly swept Cloud9 in the first round of the playoffs. They focused on shutting down Park “Summit” Woo-tae, banning a large number of his aggressive, carry champions while picking Ornn for Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho to further stifle him in lane.
That was a solid game plan for 100 Thieves to use on Cloud9, but Team Liquid are a different beast. TL are a wall of consistency that plays basic, front to back compositions with strong players in every position. Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau is one of the best tank players in the world, Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg brings years of experience with control mages and the bot lane duo of Steven “Hans sama” Liv and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in is hard to top. On paper, Team Liquid look like they have no weaknesses.
As a result, 100 Thieves certainly have their work cut out for them if they hope to keep their hot streak burning.
Hai: "When did you learn how to do this?"
Corejj: "Is this game 3?"
Hai: "Yes"
CoreJJ: "Game 3."#LCS pic.twitter.com/CjWYJCnI4K— LCS (@LCSOfficial) April 4, 2022
LCS playoffs lower bracket
Cloud9 vs Golden Guardians
There is a drop off between the top four in the LCS and the rest of the field entering the playoffs. Despite Cloud9 losing like they did in the first round of the LCS Spring Playoffs, they are still one of the best collections of young talent in the entire league. That’s unfortunate for the Golden Guardians, as they might just be a road bump for Cloud9 as they look to fulfill their playoff expectations.
If there is a shining ray of hope for the Golden Guardians, it’s jungler Milo “Pridestalker” Wehnes, who specializes in assassins. With Rengar getting buffs on patch 12.5, Cloud9 could find a curve ball coming their way. Still, C9 jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang expressed confidence that his team would still make it to Houston for the LCS Spring Finals.
FlyQuest vs Evil Geniuses
This matchup will not be close. Unfortunately, Evil Geniuses outclass FlyQuest in almost every lane. Despite FlyQuest having some decent results during the season, including a win over Team Liquid during Week 7, the team simply does not look as consistent as their opponents.
The most impressive part of FlyQuest’s season so far has been the rise of Loïc “toucouille” Dubois. Most notably, he has +1.6 CS differential at 15 minutes and a +32 exp differential at 15 minutes, according to gol.gg. While those differentials are barely above the average, it says a lot that a rookie has been able to do well against some of the best mid laners in the league and push his team into the playoffs.
Better to focus on growing for the Summer, though, as even toucouille’s season will not be enough to defeat Evil Geniuses. They have players who are experienced in a playoff environment, such as Jeong “Impact” Eon-yeong and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme. Evil Geniuses have also had the chance to play a best of five on stage, against one of the best teams in the league, Team Liquid. That’s just a high bar for a growing team like FlyQuest to clear.
