Team Liquid vs Legacy eSports

The one game we've seen Liquid in has been quite an impressive showing. In fact, maybe that's even an understatement. They made quick work of MAD Lions in a fairly one-sided shellacking, but then again, they did so without being punished in the draft. For all intents and purposes, Liquid had the picture-perfect TL comp, with Broxah going for his staple Lee Sin, CoreJJ for Rakan, Jensen for Twisted Fate, and Impact for his Mordekaiser.

In other words, Liquid got the picks they wanted and were able to play one of the few team comps they truly excel at. Whenever they had these champions, Liquid looked nigh unstoppable. Jensen could roam with Twist Fate from the moment he got level six (and get his bottom lane ahead), Impact would persevere with Morde in the top lane and then wreck havoc in the mid and late game (not to mention utilize his ult to remove the jungler during those oh-so-important objective fights), and Broxah could find key openings with flashy plays on his now legendary blind monk.

MAD Lions went for comfort as well, but it meant very little against a team that's exceptional with a handful of champions. As expected, it was a fairly close affair early on, but soon enough, Liquid did Liquid things and broke open the game with relative ease. They waited things out, played carefully, and capitalized whenever they could. It was also quite obvious that they had no stage fright, no nerves, or anything similar. They have some of the biggest and most revered veterans under their banner, and that meant they didn't make any rookie mistakes. MAD Lions, on the other hand, obviously didn't adapt quite as well. They couldn't mount an offensive, and their inexperience was evident from the moment they stepped foot on stage. They're still a very young roster with little to no stage experience, and it showed.

Liquid, on the other hand, made it look easy. They're now looking to grow their win/loss tally to 2W-0L and eventually reach the Group Stage without having to compete in any Best of 5s. We're witnessing one of the most exciting Play-In stages in the history of the tournament. The gap between major regions and wildcards has shrunk considerably. The TCL, LCL, and PCS are all taking games off of fan favorites, and Liquid is wise to try to squueze into Top 16 without taking any risks.

Fortunately, they're well-equipped for the task at hand. Expect a fairly clean and dominant showing from the former LCS champions this time around as well.