Team Liquid Win 2022 LCS Lock-In

The North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) squad, Team Liquid, won the organization’s second LCS Lock-In tournament on Sunday, January 30. Liquid stomped the tournament favorites, Evil Geniuses 3-0, and kicked off the new season on a high note.

Team Liquid ended the 2022 LCS Lock-In on a high note, beating Evil Geniuses in the grand finals 3-0, to prove to the world that they are the top dogs ahead of the LCS 2022 Spring season.

Liquid already won the tournament in 2021, when they edged past Cloud9 with 3-2. Albeit at the time, Liquid was playing with a much different lineup with jungler Lucas “Santorin” Tao and support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in as the only carryovers from the 2021 roster.

However, while Liquid ended up picking up the trophy, their run to the title was anything but smooth.

Team Liquid kicked off the 2022 LCS Lock-In in Group B, alongside Immortals, Dignitas, Counter Logic Gaming, and Evil Geniuses. Although Liquid have done well enough to end the group in second place – behind Evil Geniuses – they have had some close games.

However, once the playoffs rolled around, Team Liquid found their stride. They stomped FlyQuest (2-0) in the quarter-finals and performed admirably well against Dignitas in the semis.

Billed as one of the favorites to go all the way, Dignitas won the first map of the series but were unable to keep up with Liquid, who picked up the remaining three maps and won 3-1. With that, Liquid booked a spot in the finals with Evil Geniuses.

Unlike Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses enjoyed a flawless run through the tournament. They won Group A with a perfect 4-0 record and added two clean sweeps of Golden Guardians (2-0) and Cloud9 (3-0).

But while Evil Geniuses looked much better throughout the tournament and were heavy favorites to win the LCS Lock-In tournament, they couldn’t deliver.

The 2022 LCS Lock-in final match was expected to be a close one, and it was. But while Liquid struggled to get their footing at some points of each of the three games, their strong macro play and solid decision-making allowed them to run over EG in the late game.

The two League of Legends teams went back and forth for the entire series. But no matter how good Evil Geniuses looked in the early game, the late game belonged to Team Liquid.

Evil Geniuses started strong on map one, and it seemed like the game was all but for them. However, a crucial mistake in the late game saw Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg pick up four kills, allowing Liquid to fight their way back into the game.

The back-and-forth that followed eventually ended in Liquid’s favor, as they took the series lead 1-0.

Game two was all about the bottom lane, where Steven “Hans Sama” Liv dominated the matchup. The French ADC denied EG from getting any pressure in the land, helping his side secure drakes, which Liquid would then use to overrun EG in the late game.

The Evil Geniuses’ bottom lane found a way to hold their own, but due to the pressure Liquid managed to create, left Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun vulnerable in the mid lane. By denying EG’s main win condition, Liquid won the second map and went 2-0 up in the series.

On map three, Evil Geniuses took an early lead, and it seemed like they had the game in their hands. For over 20 minutes, EG held a massive gold advantage, but everything fell apart in the late game when Liquid won a crucial team fight and created a clear path to the Nexus and their second LCS Lock-In title.

By upsetting the tournament favorites, Team Liquid secured $150,000 in tournament winnings and the organization’s second LCS Lock-In title. Now, the LoL esports teams have less than a week left to get ready for the start of the new season.

The LCS 2022 Spring kicks off on February 5, when Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, and the remaining eight teams will kick off the season. Due to their success in the Lock-In tournament, Liquid will be the main favorite to win the LCS 2022 Spring trophy.

But we have yet to see Cloud9, FlyQuest, and TSM with their complete rosters. So it will be interesting to see whether Liquid will manage to live up to the expectations and look as dominant as they did this past week.