Team Liquid is the only team to go undefeated and claim the first place spot without any contest in the LCS. Their roster changes are the best considering they upgraded two of the five roles to stronger players. They were also the first to announce some of their roster changes. TL has many strengths of a super team, but they still have weaknesses that other teams could use to their advantages.
Strengths
TL replaced Eugene “Pobelter” Park with Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, one of the strongest mid laners in the LCS. Jensen has found the most success than other domestic mid laners. He adds a new carry potential alleviating pressure from Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in took over the support role and the primary role as shot-calling. He meshes well with the team and starts most of their team fights.
They find success in every lane which allows them pressure to multiple places on the map to secure objectives. They continue to be active while their opponent focuses on winning one lane. Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Punchero is debatably the best jungler in North America. Each game that he secured Baron, they were able to close out the game with the buff.
Once they gain the lead, the game continues to extend it. Other teams gain a lead in the early game then become stagnant resulting in them losing. TL secures the game by strategically fighting to catch their opponent off-guard and sweeping them. They are the best team in the LCS when engaging and disengaging fights.
They were able to catch multiple FlyQuest members poorly positioned in their game, Saturday, causing them to take the lead. FlyQuest tried to put more pressure on the bot lane to keep Doublelift and CoreJJ behind. Xmithie assisted his other lanes while also helping his team catch out wondering FlyQuest members.
Weaknesses
TL may look invulnerable, but they still have weaknesses. They fell behind in the earlier stages of their last two games. FlyQuest and Optic Gaming took advantage of the early game mistakes but could not to convert them into a win. TL team comps are usually scaling team fighting champions and not for lane dominance.
FlyQuest and TL have similar play styles. They are both teams who focus on winning team fights while one member continues to push in the side lanes. FlyQuest kept TL separated in the early game which allowed them to gain the advantage in the early game. TL had the better team fighting draft so they were able to win multiple fights back-to-back.
They try questionable plays they could be punished for, putting them behind. TeamSoloMid strives at being active early game and take advantage of their early power. TSM has the ability to take over the game if they establish an early enough lead, given their track record of struggling in the late game.
There are also flank fights that separate the team so they can catch their opponent off-guard. They will lose the team fight if one member of TL gets caught out.
TL is the favorite coming into Week Four, but it’s possible that Golden Guardians have gained their synergy to compete with the best teams in the LCS. They underestimate the strength of their opponent which also leads to them falling behind in the early game. GGS improved in Week Three and looked dominant in both of their wins. GGS started to play scaling comps to allow them to win late game team fights. They can dismantle TL with their own strategies will they perform as well as they did in Week Three.
TL is the best team in the LCS at the moment with no competition. The other teams are still building synergy, so it is possible that is the reason they look so dominant.
Team Liquid aims to finish the split undefeated, but some teams may prevent that from happening. They face off against TSM and GGS this upcoming week, but they just may have the potential to end TL’s winning streak.
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Featured Image from Team Liquid Twitter