100 Thieves win staring contest against Liquid, force tie for third place in LCS Summer Split

Two LCS powerhouses in Team Liquid and 100 Thieves played one of the slowest games in the league’s recent history today, with the two squads only combining for 12 total kills across the 32-minute duration of the Summer Split match-up. In the end, it was 100 Thieves who outlasted Liquid, winning the game on the heels of a mid-to-late-game comeback, and improving their record to 4-2 on the split.  

Today’s game showcased patience from both 100 Thieves and Liquid, who took over 25 minutes to claim First Blood. Eventually, Liquid top laner Bwipo earned the first kill of the game on 100 Thieves’ AD carry FBI at the 25:04 mark of the contest. All 12 kills in the game came in the final seven minutes of the match. 

It looked as though the scoreless drought may have been broken 17 minutes in when the two teams had an old-west style face-off in front of the dragon pit, but all ten players walked away from the mid-game confrontation unscathed. 

Liquid was able to control the map in the early stages of the game, mounting a 2,500 gold advantage purely through their laning dominance and ability to control objectives. However, once 100 Thieves came online in the game’s final moments, the power of their late-game-focused teamfighting composition was too much for Liquid to handle. FBI’s Aphelios pick in particular helped carry 100 Thieves to victory, accounting for over 27 percent of his team’s total damage to enemy champions while participating in eight of 100 Thieves’ 10 kills. 

With this win, 100 Thieves slide upwards in the standings, moving into a tie for third place with Liquid. Evil Geniuses (who won earlier in the day) and CLG (who play later today) sit above both teams in the LCS standings. Tomorrow, Liquid will have a crack at CLG, while 100 Thieves close out the third week of the split against Immortals.