Team Liquid defeat FlyQuest in exciting LCS Championship Upper Bracket Final
Team Liquid continue their undefeated path in the LCS after defeating FlyQuest in the upper bracket final of the LCS Championship.
In what turned out to be an exciting back-and-forth series, TL ultimately passed the test against a FLY team that continues to level up.
Team Liquid will now have to sit and wait to find out who will be their rivals in the Grand Finals, set to take place next Saturday (September 7th).
Team Liquid appear unbeatable
FlyQuest came into the series prepared to present Team Liquid with a worthy opponent.
After their impressive 3-1 victory over a strong Cloud9 roster last weekend, FLY were coming into the upper bracket finals with a lot of momentum.
Game 1
TL showed up to the first game with one clear intention, to prevent Bwipo from playing the game.
Bwipo’s 0/3 start to the game, however, was offset by Massu’s lane domination on Ezreal, as he quickly saw himself fly off to a 3/0 start.
Despite FLY’s lead in kills, TL held on to a gold lead thanks their remarkable understanding of the macro game.
A pick onto Impact around the 30th minute of the game, however, led to an uncontested Baron take from FlyQuest which put a dent in TL’s control of the game. And yet, Team Liquid always find a way.
A failed engage from Inspired on Amumu that simply wasn't synced up enough with the rest of the team led to TL wreaking havoc on FLY’s base, ultimately leading to the destruction of FLY's nexus
Game 2
Quad surprised viewers and pundits alike by picking Aurelion Sol for himself. Despite the champion's infamously bad early game, Quad set off to an early 3/0 start on the pick.
FlyQuest’s early drake control proved crucial as the game wore on, as TL were forced to fight FLY around every dragon in order not to let the dragon soul go over for free.
Eventually, however, the situation proved unsustainable, and FLY grabbed a 34 minute Infernal Soul.
With Infernal Soul and a late-game Aurelion Sol on their side, FLY threatened to take Baron. As soon as Team Liquid showed up to contest, FLY wiped the team out with a clean ace to end the game.
Game 3
FlyQuest chose to show up to Game 3 with the exact same comp as in the previous game, with the exception of picking Karma for Busio in place of Renata Glasc, which CoreJJ snatched away for himself.
This time, however, the composition did not work out. TL grabbed an early gold lead, which they then leveraged into pushing FLY around throughout the mid game.
Eventually, with FLY showing up to prevent TL from taking Cloud Soul, APA got himself a penta kill on Corki, after which Team Liquid were immediately able to end the game.
Game 4
For the fourth game of the series FLY decided to pick Zeri for Quad in the mid lane, and the power of the pick was immediately on display.
Just 24 minutes into the game, the Zeri pick shone through once more by picking up a triple kill as FLY aced TL around the Baron pit.
Demonstrating his superior understanding of mathematical successions, Quad decided that 4 must follow 3 as the South Korean mid laner picked up a quadra kill on Zeri only 5 minutes later. This immediately led to FLY taking down TL’s mid inhibitor as well as securing Cloud Soul for themselves.
As if trying to make sure he never gets his hands on the champion ever again, Quad carried his team to victory by scoring a penta kill on Zeri to end the game after 37 minutes of play.
Cue Silver Scrapes.
Game 5
With no other team pushing TL this far in some time, the team decided it was time to show the LCS exactly why the team has been able to keep their undefeated record after all this time.
With Bwipo being forced off the Renekton pick for the first time in the series, FLY opted to give the Belgian top laner Wukong.
Choosing to go for a lane swap, TL's bot lane did not allow Bwipo's Wukong to play the game, scoring two consecutive kills on the top laner in the space of 3 minutes.
Team Liquid leveraged their small gold lead into a fairly quiet mid-game in terms of action. FLY, in fear of extending TL's lead to the point of no return, allowed their opponents to grab most of the objectives they set their sights upon.
FlyQuest was able to find a couple of picks onto members of Team Liquid, however, which helped them stay in the game just a little bit longer.
Ultimately, however, the experience on TL's roster shone through when they needed it most. The winning moment came in the form of CoreJJ finding a crucial engage on to Quad's Zeri in the midst of a chaotic team fight. The rest of TL quickly pounced on the opportunity, taking down the mid laner, and eventually the rest of the team.
The fight led to TL taking the game, thus putting an end to an exciting series that proved that while they may not die, Team Liquid can certainly bleed.
FlyQuest awaits a rival
With Team Liquid getting a good nights sleep knowing their place in the Grand Final of the LCS Championship is secure, FlyQuest now wait to find out who their rival in the Lower Bracket final will be.
100 Thieves is set to take on Cloud9 on Sunday (September 1st) to find out which of the two teams will be the last LCS representative at this year's League of Legends World Championship. The winner of the series will also have to face off against FlyQuest on Friday (September 6th) to decide which team will go up against the titans of Team Liquid in the Grand Finals.
Make sure to catch all of the LCS Championship action live on the official LCS channels on Twitch or YouTube.
For the latest League of Legends news, follow Strafe Esports. Also, follow the Strafe YouTube channel for exclusive interviews with players and coaches.
Image source: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
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