LCS 2022 Summer Split Week 5 Takeaways
Continuing where it left off following its one-week break, the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) was a doozy in its fifth week.
It was a mishmash of fighting amongst the top with teams like Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves, duking it out leading to a Thieves' Grand Finals revenge, while this split's surprise performer, Counter Logic Gaming, managed to upset the league's super team, Team Liquid.
It was a lot to take in this week. With that in mind, here are some of our takeaways.
Counter Logic Gaming Upset Team Liquid To Kick Off Week 5
It's no secret that Counter Logic Gaming has been this split's surprise performer. With a lot of trust and backing of its young players, the organisation's investment has begun to bare its much-needed fruit.
So far this summer, this willingness to try their hand at younger players and develop a new team, in both coaching staff and roster, has shown its bright moments through the split - it's been a sight for sore Counter Logic Gaming fans' eyes. This was evidenced by the team completing an upset over the North American super team, Team Liquid, to kick off Week 5 of the LCS.
This victory can be largely accredited to the team's mid-laner, Cristian "Palafox" Palafox getting a surprisingly sizable gap against one of the region's greats, Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg as he outplayed him both in lane and in late-game team fights, earning himself Player of the Game after boasting seven kills, six assists and one death.
However, it wasn't just the Palafox show as the team's jungler, Juan "Contractz" Garcia got his fair share of action as with his Poppy, he executed tons of engages from multiple angles. Both Palafox and Contractz and the rest of Counter Logic Gaming were incredibly proactive throughout the match.
100 Thieves Enact Grand Finals Revenge Over Evil Geniuses
Evil Geniuses have continued where they left off in the 2022 LCS Spring Split, proving to be the team to beat by a fairly wide margin. Boasting only one single loss up until their second matchup versus the Thieves, they looked poise to take the trophy a second time in a row.
However, 100 Thieves weren't going to sit idly by as the team that swept them in the most recent LCS finals and took their Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) spot away from them continued to dominate the region they once stood atop of.
To round out their Week 5, 100 Thieves did the unexpected and took down the Geniuses, knocking them down from their uncontested first-place high horse while also making sure the trailing teams lagged further behind.
It was a slow and methodical game, one that 100 Thieves successfully tilted in their favour after whittling away at Evil Geniuses. This forced the blue-themed squad to take unfavourable and overzealous pushes, allowing for 100 Thieves to further increase their gold and kill lead. It all came to its head on the final Baron fight that although was as close as can be, the Thieves narrowly won out.
Evil Geniuses Take Down Counter Logic Gaming In The Rematch
Up until their loss against 100 Thieves, Evil Geniuses looked neigh unbeatable, the only blemish came from a surging Counter Logic Gaming early on in the split. To many, this was just a one-off loss to a team that has surprised everyone in the league, but to the Geniuses, one can rest assured that they weren't too happy about it.
Knowing that a chance at their perfect split got thwarted, the Geniuses were out for revenge, and unfortunately for Counter Logic Gaming, they couldn't handle the heat as Evil Geniuses made sure to never allow them to gain even the slightest of leads.
It was a quick one as thanks to mid-laner Joseph "Jojopyun" Pyun's constant pressure on the Akali, hitting at their flanks and blind spots, Counter Logic Gaming could never act. Couple that with top laner Jeong "Impact" Eon-young and jungler Kacper "Inspired" Sloma rounding up the Counter Logic Gaming members perfectly for Jojopyun, add a game-deciding 23-minute team fight, and it was all over in one fell swoop.