TSM Does The Impossible, Wins LCS Summer 2020 Playoffs

What a fabulous ride this has been! If you’re a TSM fan, you know how unlikely this victory was. Team SoloMid went into the Playoffs Stage of LCS Summer 2020 with almost zero chances of winning. But somehow, after an incredible Losers’ Finals and spectacular Grand Final, they somehow did. Here’s what their journey looked like.

LCS Summer 2020 Group Stage Results

The Group Stage of LCS Summer 2020 ended with an unlikely winner: Team Liquid. And the reason I say unlikely is simple: Liquid had finished the Spring Split in 9^th place. In light of that horrific result, their 15 W – 3 L record for the Summer Split was quite impressive. But where was TSM during all of this? They were not as good but not terrible either. Bjergsen and his squad finished 4^th with 12 wins and 6 losses. But here’s the catch: they had lost both games against Team Liquid, as well as FlyQuest. And these two teams were going to be their final two rivals in the Playoffs.

Playoffs Stage

The Playoffs Stage of LCS Summer 2020 started badly for TSM: 0 – 3 against Golden Guardians. If a team of this caliber had so little trouble against them, what chance did they have to get a deep run? Everyone just assumed that they were finished. But, lo and behold, TSM decisively won their first Lower Bracket match against Dignitas: 3 – 0. Then came another important victory, this time against their Upper Bracket nemesis, Golden Guardians. This was their first miraculous comeback, from 1 – 2 to 3 – 2.

In the Losers’ Round 3, TSM faced the winner of Spring Split 2020, Cloud9. After winning with a score of 3 – 1, Doublelift’s team drew everyone’s attention. Because the odds were clearly stacked against them. And if that wasn’t enough, Team Liquid somehow managed to win against an opponent they supposed to beat, FlyQuest (2 – 3).

Subsequently, TSM was going to have to beat Liquid to get to the Grand Final. And this was the match of the biggest match of LCS Summer 2020, in most people’s eyes. If TSM could win this match, they could do anything. And once again, a 1 – 2 situation was turned into a 3 – 2 victory. In particular, the last two games took 50 and 42 minutes respectively. That’s a lot even for Dota 2, let alone League of Legends. With this victory, Doublelift got his revenge over the team that sold him to the competition. But now it was time to win the ticket to Worlds.

Contrary to all the other Playoffs matches, the Grand Final looked completely one-sided, but this time in TSM’s favor. The first two games ended with their victory and everyone assumed that the match would end in 3 games. But that didn’t happen. Games 3 and 4 went to FlyQuest, after TSM’s Ashe + Sett combo got deciphered. In game 5, FlyQuest tried to steal TSM’s Ashe and Sett combo, but it turned out they didn’t know what to do with it. So they lost.

 

Photo credit: Riot Games