Evil Geniuses catch fire, Team Liquid continue to stagger in the LCS

The LCS returned this past weekend in an online setting. The North American league continued their regular season after a week long hiatus. Cloud9 has shown that the small break hasn’t affected their form in spite of spirited performances from Counter Logic Gaming and 100 Thieves. Evil Geniuses were the only other team besides Cloud9 who came away with two wins this weekend. With one week left in the regular season, only one spot is locked in for playoffs as six teams sit within two wins of each other.

© Team Liquid

Postseason Scramble

The logjam in the middle of the pack for LCS has been a theme for multiple years now, but the tiebreakers that could (or could not) take place next week will be one for the ages given the amount of ties in the current standings. Evil Geniuses did well to move themselves away from the pack with a big win over Team Liquid this week.

Svenskeren got his team going early with a proactive Lee Sin pick, and Jiizuke picked up the pieces as he put together another masterful performance on his LeBlanc. The star power of EG showed this game as Svenskeren, Bang and Jiizuke were able to exact small advantages given to them in the early game and seek them out over the course of the game.

Team Liquid picked up a rebound win Sunday against Golden Guardians, but the tiebreaker scenario isn’t looking too promising for the defending champions. Team Liquid lost twice to Immortals already. They could possibly be eliminated from playoffs if the tie comes down to these two teams.

On top of that, TL will face both FlyQuest and Cloud9 who are above them in the standings next week. Is a meteoric comeback in line for the four time North American champions? Or will Spring 2020 be a split to forget after next weekend? Inconsistencies in play continue to be an issue for Team Liquid and recent world events haven’t lessened those issues, whether on stage or online.

Standings mean everything

As we approach the final week of Spring Split, the standings will tell everything we need to know to determine who attains a first round bye alongside Cloud9. Team SoloMid tentatively has the easiest schedule between the three teams tied for second. A 2-0 weekend will surely secure them second place and a playoff bye given FlyQuest face Team Liquid and EG face Cloud9 in Week Nine.

Anything less than a 2-0 week for Team Liquid will surely spell the end of a monumental streak of LCS championships. Between visa issues, motivational struggles and player benching, the roadmap for success this season was not there from the start. Losing out of playoffs in spite of their roster upgrade with Broxah, will be a humbling moment heading into Summer.

Looking back at our 2020 Power Rankings, EG, TSM and Cloud9 are right at the top as expected. Flyquest and Liquid however, seem to have swapped places at the top. Who are we kidding, everyone predicted Liquid at the top of the LCS this season. And the team disappointed everyone.

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