Evil Geniuses end Team Liquid Honda’s season, head to Worlds 2022

The two summer split favorites playing in a five-game thriller is just perfect League of Legends but the fact that this was for the last Worlds 2022 spot instead of the first was heartbreaking for the loser. Unfortunately, Team Liquid Honda will missing out Worlds 2022 after their loss to Evil Geniuses in the 2022 League Championship Series summer playoffs.

EG go deathless for the final 13 minutes of the game! #LCS | #EGWIN pic.twitter.com/WWcS5TdRPI

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) September 4, 2022

With teams figuring out how to play against EG by targeting Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun Game 1 had all eyes on the Rookie of the Year to see if he had learned to play with added pressure from both the crowd, and opponents. In a battle of the LCS G.O.A.T Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Jojopyun, EG’s young star outclassed TL, even gapping him by 100 CS in the process as Jojopyun led EG to a Game 1 victory.

TL WITH THE TURNAROUND #LCS pic.twitter.com/QTkTfgWHEV

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) September 4, 2022

TL played aggressively to start Game 2. Barely after minions spawned, Lucas “Santorin” Larsen Level 2 ganked bot lane to take out Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki for first blood, putting the star EG bot lane behind. While the bot lane couldn’t get anything going, TL took Jojopyun out of the game as well. Through TL’s strong bot lane and EG playing essentially four versus five, TL tied of the series 1-1.

SUPPORTAL COMBAT #LCS pic.twitter.com/Lm1MqSI451

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) September 4, 2022

TL again took an early lead in Game 3. However, despite having kill advantage, EG held the gold lead at 20 minutes; all thanks to Jojopyun stepping up with two early kills to offset Steven “Hans Sama” Liv’s 3/0/0 start on Jinx. In a battle between Jojo’s Viktor and Hans Sama’s Jinx, Jinx was the overwhelming victor — TL put EG on match point going up 2-1.

TEAM DIE. @Impact | #LCS pic.twitter.com/XHb8xrT53e

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) September 4, 2022

EG decided to let Hans Sama have Jinx again in Game 4, as they thought they had an answer for it this time. Jojopyun was back on Viktor for Game 4, but it was Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme’s Bard pick that proved to be the equalizer; EG shut down TL’s bot lane, and with a 10k gold lead at just the 24-minute mark, EG completely outclassed TL. EG’s Jeong “Impact” Eon-young even picked up a Pentakill on Gangplank as they pushed TL to a decisive Game 5.

TL did not play well enough for the first 30 minutes of Game 5, as — EG through the young duo of Danny and Jojopyun — were able to bully out TL; they even collected Mountain Dragon Soul in the process. With the game fully in their control, the young duo showcased their lack of experience in a bot lane fight as the two got a little antsy which opened the door for TL to collect a few kills and shutdowns.

The snowball started to roll in TL’s favor, and 35 minutes into the game, the gold was only 1k in EG’s favor. Another misstep by Danny gave TL the gold lead just two minutes later. And when Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau caught out Danny again, Jojopyun and the rest of EG turned around a potential game-losing fight into the winning one. With Elder Soul, Mountain Dragon Soul and Baron, EG were way too strong to throw the lead. EG pull off the win and earn their spot at Worlds 2022.

EG still has a chance to capture their second consecutive LCS title next Saturday as they play 100 Thieves in the lower bracket finals. As for TL, their season is now over.