North America’s 2022 Lock In tournament continued into the quarterfinals stage over the weekend. TSM and Immortals fell out of the event, finishing fifth in their respective groups. Since Team Liquid finished second in Group B, they matched against Group A third place FlyQuest. Honestly, TL took the 2-0 fairly easily. They continue into the semifinals, where they will face upset-winner Dignitas. Here are 3 takeaways leading into the matchup.
[Related: 3 Takeaways for Team Liquid from the Lock In Week 1]
Now that most teams have played six to seven matches, fans have seen what they are bringing to the table to start the season. Due to the current competitive patch, teams rotating starters, and the low-stakes nature of Lock In, so far teams have locked in 62 unique champion picks. The meta’s openness has expressed itself most in Group B, with TL, Evil Geniuses, DIG and CLG all playing more than 20 unique picks so far.
TL takes the flexibility to another level when taking into account their substitutions. DIG is the only other team with so many unique picks that played an Academy League player. Meanwhile, Liquid has played Yeon, Eyla and even Bradley over the course of Lock In. The constantly rotating players and drafts make TL a very difficult team to prepare against. Expect more mind games this weekend against DIG.
Team Liquid’s stats are pretty impressive so far at 2022 Lock In.
Team Liquid has been superior to DIG in every area of the game, including laning, objective control and consistency. TL tends to start far ahead, take all objectives and have won 100 percent of games when ahead at 15 minutes. Meanwhile, DIG generally bleeds gold over the course of the game, and lose one third of games when ahead at 15 minutes. Neo and Biofrost are the only Dignitas players starting the game with a lead, while both Yeon and Hans sama also average ahead.
Sure, DIG surprised against 100 Thieves last weekend, but the gig is up now. Liquid will not underestimate them and make the same mistakes 100T did. Not to mention, 100T had a terrible mid/late game rating on Oracles Elixir back in Week 1. They just absolutely crushed the three teams they beat. But when FlyQuest held it together for the first 20 minutes, they ran away with the game. Look for Liquid to do the same, if not simply destroy DIG.
Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses and Dignitas all fought in Group B during Group Stage, and all three beat their Group A opponents, including the DIG upset. CLG was the other member moving on from Group B, and they put up a good fight versus Cloud9. Overall, that should demonstrate that Group B’s teams were stronger from the start. Since EG and TL finished first and second in that group, they are the likely finalists.
It makes sense, as these two teams had some of the most exciting offseason roster-building, the most dominant early games and a lot of draft flexibility. Look forward to seeing Tryndamere mid versus Zilean mid, Bard support versus Thresh support, or Diana jungle versus Trundle jungle. Jojopyun and Bjergsen continue to battle for best mid in the tournament. Which bot lane will prevail? The teams have to make it through semifinals, but EG and TL do seem like the most likely and the most fun to anticipate.
Images from Team Liquid LoL’s Twitter
Listen to The Liquid Lowdown Episode 10: What is Going on with Alphari?
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Images from Team Liquid LoL’s Twitter
Listen to The Liquid Lowdown Episode 10: What is Going on with Alphari?
You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Thomas!
