Two tried and true LCS teams have made their way into the LCS Lock In finals, with those two teams being Cloud9 and Team Liquid. There are some new big names on both of these teams and we are going to give a quick break down of how the teams line up and would should have the advantage in the best of five series.
Top Lane
There are two new players up in the top lane. Fudge and Alphari are two very different players and have also played at a very different level so far in the Lock In tournament. Fudge came into C9 to make room for Perkz and to be fair wasn’t expected to be better than Licorice, but his play has actually hurt C9 quite a bit. He has been abused in the top lane and almost gives C9 a crutch in some ways. Alphari on the other hand looks like the best import to come into the LCS this year. Alphari will likely crush Fudge and should be a win condition for TL in the Lock In finals.
Jungle
Santorin and Blaber have both been great for their teams so far. Santorin one of the quite but amazing pick ups from TL in the offseason. Team Liquid actually hasn’t lost a game since Santorin was able to make his start and really has been great. Blaber has also done great for Cloud9. Cloud9 to me at this point almost feels like they are playing a 3.5 vs 5 but Blaber has been able to play well enough with his bot lane to get them into the Lock In finals.
Mid Lane
The lane all C9 fans were super excited about this offseason was Mid. Perkz was the huge import to come over to NA and look to show out. Well so far he just hasn’t, it’s hard to really say anything else. Perkz has had games of feeling he played his role well but has yet to have a real pop off game. Jensen however has continued his great play and is likely the best Mid lane in the league at this point. Jensen will be very motivated to play well in this series to make that distinction and make it clear.
Bottom Lane
The two bot lanes of TL and C9 are quite possibly the best in the LCS. The supports do make these lanes as good as they are but the ADC’s are pretty damn good by themselves. Tactical is coming into his second year and even said he is starting to feel like a real ADC where he and CoreJJ are equals not CoreJJ telling him what to do. Then on the other side you have Zven who has been a big reason C9 was even able to make it this far. Zven managed 2 penta kills against 100 Thieves and really made up for his Top and Mid.
Support
Easily two of the best in the league at their positions. CoreJJ probably edges out Vulcan but both of these players are so vital to their team and Bottom Lane especially. Expect both to try and make big plays right from the get go, The series will likely come down to if C9 can win bot and take it to the rest of the map, but they will have their hands full.
Prediction
While Zven has had some pop off performances I just don’t feel the rest of C9 is good enough to truly win. I have Team Liquid winning the series (3-1) and expect Top to be a big reason why. Fudge really has just looked bad and he will be going against statically the best Top laner in the league thus far. If Cloud9 can end up winning it will either have to be Zven getting penta’s again or Perkz actually stepping up and being as good as we all expect. Watch with us over on the LCS youtube channel to see who will be the Lock In Finals champion for the first time!
In Other News
If you miss out on the semifinal matchups you can check out our articles on both TL and C9. Also if you love the LCS like we do check out our LCS Power Rankings that are updated every week!