LCS Championship: TL qualify 3-2, send FLY to Lower Bracket

Team Liquid qualified for the LCS 2024 Championship grand final. They were pushed to their limits for the first time this summer split by a FlyQuest team that would not have undeserved a victory and now finds itself in the lower bracket. Both teams delivered one of the best series of the year, both collectively and individually, as Rookie of the Year Fahad "Massu" Abdulmalek shined last night.

FlyQuest showed surprising patience and resilience from the very beginning of the series and maintained it throughout. They played evenly during game 1 with strong macro play from both teams. Despite TL's struggles with jungler Um "UmTi" Sung-hyeon getting caught, they managed to secure a smart Nashor call while FLY focused on drake. This pivotal play allowed TL to close out the game, putting them ahead in the series.

Second game, FLY slowly imposed their tempo and gained control, closing the game after 37 minutes. Team Liquid responded in Game 3 by taking control from start to finish in a low-kill game with only 14 kills overall. However, the highlight was Eain "APA" Stearns' Corki securing a pentakill, leading to the series' fastest game, ending in 29 minutes. Song "Quad" Su-hyeong felt the need to respond and secured a pentakill in game 4 on Zeri after a lengthy match. During most of the mid and late game, both teams sought out 5v5 fights with smart engages in the mid lane and around objectives.

FLY tied the series 2-2 and brought Liquid to game 5 for the second time this year. However it has not end the same as in spring as Sean "Yeon" Sung's Kai'sa has already 3 kills at 8 minutes after a great use of swap lanes in the early game. FLY would never really comeback as TL was slowly destroying turrets and controlling the whole map.

As expected, TL has secured their place in the finals and is on track to make 2024 an additionnal year of dominance, much like their reign in 2018 and 2019. It also means they are automatically qualified to Worlds main event as they will be at least LCS seed #2. FLY will have to wait for this Sunday match to know which team they will have to beat between Cloud9 and 100 Thieves to earn themselves a rematch. They are set to clash at 10 PM CET.