After a strong performance against a surging Golden Guardians squad, Team Liquid has not only advanced to the next round of the 2020 LCS Summer Split playoffs, but the team has also locked up North America’s second spot at the 2020 World Championship.
Golden Guardians did show some signs of life in all three games, especially during the early game. Their powerful bottom lane duo of Victor “FBI” Huang and Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun outplayed Liquid’s bottom lane in a handful of scenarios, while the rest of the team managed to find some good skirmishes before 15 minutes.
Unfortunately, GG weren’t able to take advantage of those leads. Liquid’s superior macro play and mid-to-late game shotcalling ended up taking over. This lack of ability in the mid-game cost the Guardians their shot at a possible Worlds berth.
Now, GG will have to take on TSM in a rematch of the first round of the playoffs. Last time around, they were able to stun TSM with their dominant bottom lane and great early-game pressure. This time, TSM should be ready to respond to their plans in the losers bracket.
TSM are still dealing with some roster changes of their own—the perennial NA champions haven’t announced whether Biofrost or Treatz will be starting at support in their upcoming series, which could prove costly if any synergy issues pop up because of this.
On the other side of the Rift, Liquid has proven they are ready to take back their crown from Cloud9. There’s still plenty of issues that need to be addressed—like their struggles in the early game—but it’s good to be prepared for future matchups.
