After an unexpected start to their split, Team Liquid finally managed to break their three-game LCS losing streak. In a convincing win against CLG, they showed glimpses of their former selves with a fast 23-minute victory. This is only their third win this LCS split as they currently occupy the 9th place in the LCS standings with a 3 – 5 record.
It all started in draft
Unlike previous Liquid games, the team finally went back to their roots, picking strong laners. What is more, instead of trying to play the meta, they picked champions they were comfortable on and their confidence was obvious. Peter “Doublelift” Peng seemed far more comfortable on Varus than he did on champions like Senna and or Kalista. If we take a look at CLG’s draft, we see a very typical Yasuo centric composition. Unfortunately, for that kind of composition to work, the Yasuo must not fall too far behind. Well, this is exactly what happened, and CLG’s composition completely fell apart.
A massive bot difference
Even though it’s often used as a meme, the “bot diff” in this game was painfully obvious. By the 10 minute mark, Doublelift was already 20 CS up on Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes, and also had a kill. This all combined into a full item advantage and showed tremendously in fights. It only escalated, and Doublelift finished the game with a 41 CS difference, 7 kills and no deaths, finally looking like the Doublelift we used to know.
Impact doing Impact things
It wouldn’t be a TL stomp without Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong doing what he does best. CLG put a lot of early focus trying to shut him down, but he just wouldn’t crumble. Even though he died on the first gank, it didn’t set him back at all. With a solo kill on Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min, Impact made it known that the top lane was his domain. We also have to give some credit to Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen, who helped his top laner after his first death, not letting him fall too far behind.
What does this win mean for Team Liquid in the future?
While this win gave Team Liquid fans some hope, we shouldn’t judge their performance in a win against the last-placed team. However, there are some positive takeaways that might indicate a brighter future for the Liquid squad. Doublelift looked much better than he did in their previous games, which can only be a good thing. Either he finally found his footing or the champion he picked fit him better than in the past games. Secondly, Broxah didn’t seem out of place and made a big impact, especially in the early game. Getting a new jungler in the middle of the split is always tough and takes time to get used to it. And the squad finally played good in team fights. They looked coordinated, knew how to execute on their composition, and this was obvious as they were simply unbeatable in team fights. So yes, while this win doesn’t show their true form yet, it should give them an important confidence boost.
Do you think Team Liquid’s form will only improve from here on out, or will they fail against stronger teams? Let us know in the comments below!
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