LCS Recap: 100 Thieves vs. Team Liquid

100 Thieves are coming into Week 2 at 0-2 looking rough and frustrated. For a team that made a few changes during the off-season, their first week back to pro play has them wanting more. Despite the rough loss against Counter Logic Gaming, the Thieves looked alive against Optic Gaming. That didn’t stop them from throwing away the game in a poorly chosen team fight. Nevertheless, in their matchup against Team Liquid, the Thieves aimed to take their first win of the Summer Split.

Draft Phase

In a move nearly every team is making now, Yuumi was immediately banned by Team Liquid. When it comes to 100 Thieves’ focus, strong flex picks were banned out early on while laying more focus down on the jungle later on. In a surprise pick, Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero picked a jungle Trundle, a champion rarely picked in today’s meta. Team Liquid aimed to pick off and delete members that were caught out across the map and to scale for late. For 100 Thieves, the team’s composition aimed entirely on plowing through team fights.

A Surprisingly Slow Start

Both teams early on were quiet, farming out their lanes and jungle camps without much issue. About six minutes into the game however, the map started to explode with fights. Top lane saw an invade from Xmithie and Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong forced an early flash out of Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider. On the other side of the map, the bot lane duos forced out summoner spells from one another. Minutes later, both Max “Soligo” Soong and Xmithie traded flashes with one another.

https://twitter.com/100TBlade/status/1137485924353347585

Finally, Team Liquid looked for an engagement on the 100 Thieves bot lane only to have their first blood matched by the Thieves. In exchange for Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black, the Thieves picked up kills on both Xmithie and Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in. From there, the two teams traded blow for blow with Team Liquid coming out on top in objectives. Despite that, Team Liquid only held a 2k gold lead at the 16-minute mark.

All Team Liquid

By the 20-minute mark, Team Liquid were able to balloon their lead to around 4k. Forcing down each of the tier one turrets and pushing their lanes. In an exchange mid lane, catching out Xmithie, 100 Thieves were immediately on the side of a losing team fight. Team Liquid moved over to Baron, taking it down quickly and picking up another kill on the backside. Even when behind however, 100 Thieves continued to fight for the match, something fans haven’t seen in a long time.

https://twitter.com/100TBlade/status/1137488348652691458

At about 29 minutes into the game, Team Liquid took their second baron and finished out the game without any real frustration. As expected, Team Liquid won and 100 Thieves finished day 1 at 0-3. Though it was an expected loss, the team showed growth.

A Glimpse Of Hope

100 Thieves lost yet again, something all too familiar for their fan base. While it was a 1 vs. 10 match-up from Spring, 100 Thieves have shown a small amount of change. A loss is a loss, that can’t be denied. With that being the case however, the team attempted plays throughout the game whether they failed or succeeded. The fact that this team rolled over all Spring and instead were fighting to the end in Summer is an improvement. If the Thieves can continue to keep that mentality and work together as a unit, the Thieves could generate more wins than most expect.

Featured Image Courtesy Of 100ThievesLive Twitter

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