It’s no secret that TSM and CLG have been on completely different trajectories throughout the course of 2021. One team is pushing towards first place, while the other is barely hanging on to a playoff spot. And of course, in typical LCS fashion, the team that had no business winning this matchup managed to do so, as CLG beat TSM tonight in 39 minutes.
And by all accounts, tonight’s game was actually an important one for the sliding CLG. After six straight losses, a win against one of the league’s top teams should help keep their heads above water in the race for the final league’s playoff spot. With less than three weeks to go until the regular season comes to a close, CLG need every win they can get.
Tonight, they were propelled to victory by the efforts of their rock solid top-side trio of Finn, Broxah and Pobelter. The three caught fire early on in the game and managed to outscale TSM—despite a few misplayed teamfights. Finn, in particular, played a huge role in the CLG victory, posting a scoreline of 6/2/10 on the newly-reworked Dr. Mundo.
With tonight’s loss, TSM’s record drops to 23-11 on the year, but the team still has a 1.5-game cushion over their next closest competitor in the standings, Cloud9. When chasing a team like 100 Thieves at the top of the league, however, TSM need to find ways to secure every winnable game down the stretch of the season. Dropping games to teams like CLG, whom TSM had a 14-game advantage over coming into tonight’s contest, is downright inexcusable.
“I think our skirmish, teamfighting, and macro play was lacking a lot,” TSM top laner Huni said after tonight’s loss. “That’s why we mainly lost tonight’s game.”
Combine tonight’s result with the fact that 100T extending their winning streak to eight games—tied for the longest by any team in the LCS this season—and things begin to look dire for a TSM team that might have to settle for the title of “second-best.”
Still, there’s plenty of games left on the schedule for TSM that the team can use to make up for tonight’s loss, including a rematch with CLG on the second-to-last day of the season. They’ll finish the weekend with another winnable matchup against Golden Guardians, as well as an all-important match with 100 Thieves.
