Last weekend’s North American League of Legends Spring Split finals, held at the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri, was one for the history books.
It was an epic showdown between Team Liquid and Team Solo Mid (TSM), with Liquid down 0-2 before executing a reverse sweep and taking the crown, US$100,000 and being directly seeded to the upcoming US$1 million (minimum) Mid-Season Split taking place in Vietnam and Taiwan in May.
TSM’s Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik and Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham both put out masterful performances to give TSM the early lead, but Liquid clawed back through great team fights to make it a best of one.
While TSM took the early lead, it was Liquid and their Baron kill — thanks to a misplay by TSM’s bot-laner Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen — that got them a fighting chance, before winning team fights and finishing off TSM after 45 minutes in style.
The win puts Liquid with three consecutive LCS titles and six for Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, while fellow Liquid mid-laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen has finally won a LCS title — his previous best was second place with Cloud 9.
While Liquid will now focus on the upcoming MSI against the best teams in the world, its expected that TSM will regroup and focus on besting their opponents next time. TSM has shown marked improvement since picking up top-laner Broken Blade last November, and he absolutely smashed it during the finals.
TSM’s redemption arc is not anywhere near finished, expect to see the team carve out a spot of its own in the future, though it will still have to climb the hill that is Team Liquid.
