With the finals tomorrow, there’s a lot to unpack about the matchup between these two teams. Each role has some interesting stories to follow as we go through the games. This is why we watched for three months. To see the two best teams in the LCS duke it out in St. Louis. With so much going on, let’s take a look at things to consider going into the LCS Spring Finals.

Rock-Paper-Scissors Is No More

In the regular season, the top three teams couldn’t find separation from one another. Nobody was making up ground, but nobody lost their footing at all. This is because of the perceived rock-paper-scissors in the league. TSM 2-0’d Liquid, Liquid 2-0’d Cloud 9, and Cloud 9 2-0’d TSM. With a semifinals matchup that made TSM face Cloud 9, it looked for a while that the ole ro-sham-bo would hold steady. Cloud 9 started the series up 2-0 and were very close to closing out the sweep in game three. Instead, Cloud 9 remains cursed domestically and would end up getting reverse swept.

That threw everything we thought we know out the window. Obviously this isn’t as serious of a point as anything else, but it’s something that’s interesting. Is TSM going to get swept now that they broke the trend? Will TSM just steamroll TL and prove to be the best team in the LCS? Will Liquid follow in the footsteps of TSM and reverse sweep? It’ll be interesting to see.

Top Lane

If you’re looking for the most intriguing lane to watch during the finals, I’d direct you to the top lane. On one side, we have one of the best to ever play. A former world champion who’s continued his success into North America. On the other side, we have a young rising star. A player taken from a minor region (Turkey) and brought onto the most successful franchise in NALCS/LCS history. Impact vs. BrokenBlade looks to be a turning point for the entire series. Questions circled in the regular season about Impact. We had no clue why Liquid was ineffective when he played carries. Was he bad with them, or was Liquid as a team bad with them? These questions were answered quickly, as Impact played incredibly well in the semifinals match against FlyQuest. He combined a 9/4/12 KDA in the sweep, playing Kennan, Jayce, and Viktor. For those who don’t know math, that’s a 5.25 KDA, which is pretty good.

BrokenBlade has had his ups and downs throughout the split, which is to be expected from a less experienced player. He played well against Cloud 9, but sometimes his impact was minimal. In game 2, he went 1/1/0 on Kennen, which seems impossible on a champion like that. To be fair, that game was a stomp, and after that game he looked a lot better. He combined for a 17/9/16 KDA in the 5 game series, equaling a 3.66 ratio. He was put onto tank duty in game 4, playing Cho’Gath and going 2/2/4.

It’ll be interesting to me what both teams want to do. BrokenBlade is a carry player, and has been the entire split. Before the Cho’Gath game, the only tank BB played was Sion back in week 1. TSM will want to opt in to the carry top laners, and will put their faith in BrokenBlade to outplay Impact. I’d like to see if Liquid will opt into carry vs. carry, to see if the Impact playoff buff really is that strong. I doubt we carries the whole series from Impact, but with the meta shifted that way, it should be high priority.

Akaadian

As with BrokenBlade, Akaadian also had some highs and lows throughout the split. This was reflected heavily in the Cloud 9 series. The first three games might be the worst I’ve seen from him this split. Multiple missed smites, questionable decisions, and just flat out getting out jungled by Svenskeren. He turned things around after those three games, but he can’t afford to play that poorly against Team Liquid. He’s facing off against likely the best jungler the LCS has seen so far (not saying much, but it’s true). He’s also facing a team that capitalizes on mistakes like no others. If he struggles, it could be disastrous for TSM. It looked like he really pulled himself together after a rough start last week, and his turnaround should be a boost of confidence for TSM. Bjergsen said after the match that he didn’t know if Akaadian had it in him. Because he did, it should mean well for this TSM squad.

Jensen’s Championship Woes

Since joining the LCS in 2015, Jensen has yet to find success at the domestic level. He was 3-0’d in the finals last split by Team Liquid. Before that, his last time in the finals came in Spring 2017. This is the series that created the idea that Jensen was “cursed”. In game five of the series, Jensen died early in a late game team fight. To make matters worse, he was playing Ekko and didn’t use his ultimate or Zhonya’s. Obviously there were problems beforehand that put C9 in that situation, but that’s the moment everyone remembers. Jensen dying without using anything.

Now with Team Liquid, and maybe the strongest lineup the LCS has ever seen, he’s looking to finally find a title. It’s no easy task for him, as he faces Bjergsen, someone who consistently finds ways to outperform him. We’ll talk about Bjergsen more a bit later. Jensen has been incredibly good this entire split. His Jayce game vs. FlyQuest wasn’t great, but his Zoe games (say what you will about the champion) were incredible. If he can right his wrongs, maybe the narrative will change around Jensen’s domestic success.

The Fight For The Crown

The two most storied players in the LCS are facing off for the chance to claim the thrown once more. Two players with the same amount of LCS championships, but coming in very different fashion for both. Both players attempting to claim their 6th championship. For TSM, it’s Bjergsen. Since 2014, Bjergsen has been the mid laner for TSM. He’s been through every single iteration of the team except the original. He’s been through it all. Dyrus retiring, WildTurtle and Doublelift joining, leaving, and joining again (alternatively of course), bringing in a super team that only finished 6th in the regular season, bringing in the best bot lane in the west (only for it to crash and fall in front of them). Throughout everything, Bjergsen has been right there. He’s the building block for TSM, their franchise player. He’s lead the team to many championships, and looks to do so again tomorrow.

For Team Liquid, former TSM ADC Doublelift looks to take a very different route to the championships he’s won. Doublelift has bounced between teams a bit in the past few years, winning a championship with each one. In 2015, he helped CLG win their first LCS championship. The next year, he’d win the Summer Split with TSM. He took Spring 2017 off and came back to help Liquid avoid relegation and then would win another championship with TSM. TSM would get rid of him due to the team’s lack of success internationally. That brought DL back to Liquid to help them win both splits last season. A crazy storyline that culminates in five LCS titles to his name. While they won’t be facing off in lane, it’ll be exciting to see who gets to claim their 6th championship.

The LCS finals begin tomorrow, Saturday April 13th, at 4pm EST. The winner goes on to MSI, in hopes to prove that NA isn’t as bad as everyone apparently thinks it is.