LoL: Four clean sweeps in the opening week of LTA North

LTA North resumed with Split 3 on Saturday, July 26, featuring two best-of-threes determined by Split 2 standings. FlyQuest, reigning champions, faced last-place Disguised, while Cloud9 went up against LYON. The next day, Team Liquid played 100 Thieves and Shopify Rebellion faced Dignitas. All four series ended the same way — clean 2-0 victories for the favored teams.

As expected, FlyQuest came out on top in the opening series against Disguised. FlyQuest had a respectable run at MSI, sweeping G2 Esports 3-0 and putting up a solid fight against Bilibili Gaming. Their Esports World Cup run was less successful, falling to Gen.G in the quarterfinals. Just a week later, they’re back in the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles, once again asserting dominance over the league.

Disguised never held an advantage at any point during the series. In Game 1, FlyQuest fielded their usual starting five with Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau in the toplane. For Game 2, they subbed in their new signing, İbrahim "Gakgos" Samet Bulut, who made his tier-one debut — just months after competing in LFL Division 2.

C9 delivered the fastest BO of the week, with neither game reaching the 30-minute mark. The result was expected — LYON recently changed toplaners, as Eric "Licorice" Ritchie left the team. Frankie "Zamudo" Lin is set to take over the role, but couldn’t play this match due to visa issues, so Venezuelan player Gerardo Andres "Yayo" Leon Bijani filled in for the BO. The Split 2 finalists were clearly a step above in both games and secured the win.

As expected, the longest BO of the week was between TL and 100T — the two teams with the closest level among the four matchups. In Game 1, 100 Thieves even managed to put the Split 1 champions under pressure, holding a 2k gold lead by the 24-minute mark, but eventually gave in. In Game 2, Sean "Yeon" Sung was unstoppable on Ezreal, dealing over 50,000 damage and finishing the game with a dominant 11/1/10 scoreline.

In the final BO of the week, it was once again the AD Carry who stole the spotlight and earned the MVP title. Ju "Bvoy" Yeong-hoon delivered a standout performance on Ezreal in Game 2, helping his team bounce back and secure the win. In both games, Shopify Rebellion were trailing by over 2,000 gold against Dignitas, but the breakout team of Split 2 managed to turn things around and claim their first victory of LTA Split 3.

Four new best-of-threes are coming up in LTA North. First, 100 Thieves will take on FlyQuest, and in an interview, Rayan "Sniper" Shoura said: "I just hope they sub in Gakgos", adding that he finds him pretty good and wants to face him. Right after, Team Liquid will go up against LYON, and as usual, Eain "APA" Stearns had a jab for his opponents: "I don't think they're that good right now."

These two matches will be played on Saturday, with 100T vs FLY kicking off at 1 PM PST, and TL vs LYON following around 4 PM. The last two series — Dignitas vs Cloud9 and Disguised vs Shopify Rebellion — will take place on Sunday at the same times. Dignitas will be looking to bounce back after their opening loss despite the debut of Kyeong "Photon" Gyu-tae, while Disguised will face the team they reportedly “can beat in scrims,” according to their jungler Lawrence Lin "eXyu" Xu.