The League of Legends Championship Series returned for Summer 2022 on June 17. All 10 teams in North America were in action as they began their long, grueling journey to Worlds in North America this October.
The LCS returned in style with a slate of heavy-hitting matchups that were perfect for the opening day. But it was a day of two sides, with perfection for some and entire sub lanes for others.
June 17 LCS results
Evil Geniuses 1 0 Cloud9 | Golden Guardians 0 1 FlyQuest | 100 Thieves 1 0 TSM | Immortals 0 1 Team Liquid Honda | Dignitas 0 1 CLG
Perfection for Team Liquid Honda
For just the seventh time in LCS, a team executed the perfect game. In their win over Immortals, Team Liquid Honda gave up no kills, no towers, and no neutral objectives. The 25-minute and 21-second match was about as dominant as it gets in professional play. It also announced Team Liquid Honda’s intentions for the split — they are going to beat you and there’s nothing you can do to stop them.
The perfect way to start out the Summer Split with a perfect game 🤩 #TLWIN pic.twitter.com/aPZPvmG6fq
— Team Liquid LoL Honda (@TeamLiquidLoL) June 18, 2022
Team Liquid will face Dignitas on Saturday while Immortals will attempt to bounce back against FlyQuest.
Cloud9 subs suffer
Cloud9 were not unable to field their full-strength roster on opening night, having to place Academy bot lane duo Calvin “K1ng” Truong and Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw. Prior to the match, the team confirmed the rumor that starting ADC Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol had misplaced his US visa. They also announced that starting support Jesper ‘Zven’ Svenningsen had entered Covid protocols.
Despite these setbacks, Cloud9 were still able to push Evil Genuises to a 45-minute match before eventually falling to the defending LCS champions. The timeframe for both Berserker and Zven’s returns are unknown, meaning Cloud9 may find themselves in an early hole in the LCS.
Was there ever any doubt? #EGWIN pic.twitter.com/mtPvnlxOys
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) June 17, 2022
Cloud9 will open Saturday’s matches as they face Golden Guardians. Evil Geniuses will appear in a marquee matchup against 100 Thieves.
Oh no, TSM are still bad (but not as bad)
Summer 2022 was when TSM was going to bounce back from their Chinese imports experiment and be a cornerstone of the LCS…and then they lost.
Now, you might argue that TSM lost to 100 Thieves, one of the best teams in the league and runners-up in Spring. But that is the exact sort of team TSM need to be beating if you want to regain any sort of footing in the LCS.
While it was not the cleanest win by 100 Thieves, Fans have pointed especially to a particularly bad performance by TSM ADC Edward “Tactical” Ra, who played the champion Ezreal as if it was his first time. This may have been exacerbated by TSM’s decision to start Academy support Choi “Mia” Sang-in in the LCS.
Something happends early game but we came back !! #100T
Gg @TSM— 100T Ssumday (@Ssumday) June 18, 2022
This was a winnable game for TSM and they blew it. They face CLG on Saturday.
The LCS continues on June 18. Cloud9 take on Golden Guardians in the opening match at 2130 BST/2230 CEST.
Header: LCS