Either 100 Thieves or Team Liquid will be lifting their first-ever NA LCS banner.
Many were calling for a finals appearance for Team Liquid (although I was certainly not one of them). The organization acquired some big names in the off-season and the talent gelled together well throughout the course of the Spring Split. That has culminated in Liquid sweeping Cloud9 and beating Echo Fox 3-1 in order to reach their first finals ever.
The same cannot be said for 100 Thieves. The expansion franchise was an unknown heading into the season, but some of their veterans stepped up in a big way to lead the team to the No. 1 seed and an appearance in the finals.
NA LCS Spring Split Playoff Finals Betting Odds (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Team Liquid -190
100 Thieves +155
History
These teams split their two regular season meetings with 100 Thieves winning the first handily and Team Liquid winning the second in commanding fashion.
100 Thieves built a late game team composition in the first game and took over once CodySun’s Kog’Maw was able to get his build finished. Liquid fought back with some decent plays from Doublelift on Ezreal, but it wasn’t enough to lead the team back.
The second game was over relatively quickly. Liquid’s Impact was able to get a kill and an assist on Shen in the first six minutes leading to him snowballing his lane matchup with Sion. Shen is not a power pick, but he was able to become a monster early on and 100 Thieves had no answer.
Match-up to Watch
Although we are thankfully no longer in the Ardent Censer meta, support play is still extremely important. It’s no surprise that the two best in North America will be facing off in the finals.
Aphromoo has been one of the stories of the split. He was unceremoniously dumped by Counter Logic Gaming after Biofrost became a free agent, and he has been looking to show that was a mistake all split. Aphromoo has been fantastic this year, helping bail his AD Carry out of trouble often, but where he has really shined is as a shotcaller. His shotcalling has helped the team win numerous late game teamfights and was the primary reason 100 Thieves won the regular season.
Olleh has shown that he is not just a super-aggressive support that looks to make plays this split. He thrived in that role as part of Immortals, but he has proven that he can play a more defensive role very well too. That evolution has helped to make Doublelift even more dangerous.
Key Player
The entire League of Legends community has their hearts with Doublelift. Team Liquid’s AD Carry posted some heartbreaking news following their semifinals rout of Echo Fox. As a result, no one knew for a while whether he was going to play in this match or step away for a while, but he has decided to head with his team to Miami and will take the stage.
There is no AD Carry that has dominated North America like Doublelift. He may be a somewhat controversial figure because of his trash-talking, but he backs it up more often than not and there is no disputing his talent. Doublelift has been phenomenal through two playoff matches with a KDA of almost 40. He will be facing one of the other top AD Carries this split in Cody Sun and will look to continue his strong play.
Prediction
When I first started breaking this match-up down, I liked 100 Thieves as an underdog. However, the more I look at the match-up in the mid lane, the more I like Team Liquid. Pobelter is one of the most underrated mid laners in the world, and he does all the little things to help his team get ahead. He will take over and overpower Ryu to lead Liquid to a Spring Split Championship.
Outcome: Team Liquid knocks off 100 Thieves 3-2 in a close series
