2022 LCS Championship: C9 Route 100T, EG Eliminate TL

Before the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Championship finals could be played, two matches had to decide which teams would participate.

First, Cloud9 had to face off against 100 Thieves in the Upper Bracket Semifinals, the winner claimed the first spot in the finale. Second, Evil Geniuses had to take on Team Liquid, the winner not only moved on to the LCS Championship bracket but also claimed the third and final Worlds spot. Cloud9 did the unthinkable and Evil Geniuses took home the final spot in nail-biting fashion.

Knowing this, let’s look at some takeaways from the two series.

Cloud9 surprise 100 Thieves, taking the first finals spot

While Counter Logic Gaming was the surprise performer of the regular season, Cloud9 took on that role in the LCS Championship. 

At first, going into these playoffs, Cloud9 wasn’t necessarily in the same conversation alongside the Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, and Team Liquids of the world. In short, this team was one that, if given the right opportunity, and themselves show up, could shock the whole bracket. Not only did they do so, but they’ve also done it in style, swagger, and overall, unexpected strong play. 

On the flip side, 100 Thieves ever since their LCS Spring Split finals loss to Evil Geniuses, the team has been determined as can be. That state of mind netted them one of the two playoff byes that eventually led to a thwarting of Team Liquid’s reverse sweep to start the Upper Bracket. Knowing all of this, seeing Cloud9’s performances and 100 Thieves will win, fireworks of a series were surely to occur.

However, in four games. Cloud9 stopped all of that in its tracks as they took a book out of their series against Evil Geniuses. 100 Thieves this series wanted to make it tit-for-tat and overall they kind of did, but in the end, Cloud9 was just too much. Anything 100 Thieves did, Cloud9 did better—Cloud9 could seemingly do it all and then some.

That performance—and the performance before it—netted them the first 2022 LCS Championship first finals spot.

Evil Geniuses take the final worlds spot over Team Liquid in a close bout

Giving the Team Liquid versus 100 Thieves match a run for its money was a five-game nail-biter between Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid, one that, when push came to shove, the Geniuses showed up big time.

Both Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid stumbled early on in the Upper Bracket of the LCS Championship, this meant that they had to make a push via the Lower Bracket. Thankfully for them, they both were able to make their way through which eventually led to one of the most anticipated series. 

Following their five-game series against Team SoloMid, the Geniuses went into it by removing as many comfort picks as they could from Team Liquid. To start the series, Evil Geniuses struck first with a sold game one. In response, Team Liquid took the next two games, putting them at series point.

Staring elimination in the face, Evil Geniuses put all of the eggs in the Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme Bard basket to great effect. No matter how hard Team Liquid’s members tried, they could not escape Vulcan’s stuns, leading to a dominant win that boosted the team’s morale and was topped off with a Pentakill from top laner Jeong “Impact” Eon-young.

From then on, Evil Geniuses took full advantage of that garnered momentum and, in the end, outplayed their counterparts until the Nexus exploded.

With this, Evil Geniuses not only took the third and final Worlds spot but they also get to face off against 100 Thieves on finals weekend. If they win, they get a chance at revenge over Cloud9 in the grand finals.