LCS Week 4 Roundup: Evil Geniuses Stay Top, Signs of Life in TSM
The reigning champion extended their winning streak to 4 games after taking down Team Liquid.
The first round robin of the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) summer season has concluded with the defending champion, Evil Geniuses, extending their winning streak to four games after leapfrogging Team Liquid. 100 Thieves, on the other hand, is tied in second place with a pivotal win over Counter Logic Gaming.
LCS Week 4 Full Results:
Day 1
- 100 Thieves 0-1 FlyQuest
- Dignitas 0-1 Evil Geniuses
- TSM 0-1 Cloud9
- Immortals 0-1 Counter Logic Gaming
- Team Liquid 1-0 Golden Guardians
Day 2
- FlyQuest 0-1 TSM
- Counter Logic Gaming 0-1 100 Thieves
- Evil Geniuses 1-0 Team Liquid
- Cloud9 0-1 Immortals
- Golden Guardians 1-0 Dignitas
Match Of The Week: Evil Geniuses vs Team Liquid
Evil Geniuses kicked off the week against Dignitas in a head-to-head match which ran contray to expectations. Using Shyvana in top lane has been getting more popular among LCS teams as weeks passed. However, she had not a noticeable impact on the match even though Noh “Gamsu” Yeong-jin was the only player who completed the game with a positive scoreline. Both teams had late-game compositions, but Evil Geniuses was one step forward thanks to Gangplank’s power spike. LeBlanc was also a threat to Zeri though Lulu devoted herself to protecting her marksman. With the help of an astonishing Poppy performance by Kacper “Inspired” Słoma , Jeong “Impact” Eon-young led his team to victory before they went up against Team Liquid.
The jaw-dropping matchup between Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid was where the knot was untied for the first round-robin. The NA superteam decided to try unusual champions to stun Evil Geniuses. In the pick-ban screen, TL went for Zilean and Aatrox to combine their functional abilities. However, it was a disastrous early game as the top-jungle duo of Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau and Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen could not find any advantage on top side of the map while EG conveyed resources to Inspired and Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki. The young star completed the game with 11 kills, taking the responsibility when his team most needed it. Evil Geniuses put an end to the match at the 35th-minute mark, capturing the second perfect week in a row.
How long does 100 Thieves need to recover?
100 Thieves has looked shaky so far, and this will likely not change until playoffs. Having been conquered by FlyQuest in their opening match, 100 Thieves secured a win against Counter Logic Gaming to stay in the race with EG. However, the 2021 Summer Champions were on the brink of losing their second place position to Team Liquid. If Liquid had bested league leaders Evil Geniuses, the Thieves would have dropped to third.
Counter Logic Gaming built up a late-game team composition around Jinx and Fiora, while pitting Juan Arturo “Contractz” Garcia’s Vi against Can “Closer” Çelik’s Poppy. 100 Thieves headed to Rift Herald while Counter Logic Gaming secured three dragons in the early stage of the game. However, it was CLG who destroyed all the external towers even without securing Heralds. Everything went as planned for CLG until the mid-late game. On the flip side, Abbadagge and FBI found a lot of kills in skirmishes, allowing them to reach their power spike earlier than possible. When it came to team fights, CLG may as well have been four as Vi scarcely managed to use ultimate before being blown up. 100 Thieves destroyed the enemy nexus during the 28th minute, taking a make-up win over CLG.
Signs of life from TSM
TSM left behind Dignitas and Immortals in the standings with a vital win over FlyQuest. It is unknown what changes if TSM makes it to playoffs. In the previous season, TSM was out of the playoffs for the first time in the organization’s successful history. CEO Andy “Reginald” Dinh stated on the TSM subreddit in February that: ”We wanted to build over three years, not one. Parth recommended against this option, and I still agree. We don’t want to make safe bets to be in the top four in [North America] for one year and then rebuild again with veterans.”
It was an awful season for players and fans alike. Competing in the playoff stage, no matter how it will result, could be uplifting for TSM. Dignitas, on the other hand, is in free fall as the NA team backed out of the playoff competition due to their abysmal performance during week four. Cloud9, on the other hand, still has a lot to improve to be a contender for the championship.
Week 5 of the LCS 2022 Summer will begin on July 23 with the matchup between Cloud9 and Dignitas, followed by an action-packed game between EG and CLG. It will be a tough week for CLG as they will go up against Evil Genius on day one and Team Liquid on day two. 100 Thieves, on the other hand, will have their opportunity to break the streak of Spring champions Evil Geniuses. You can watch all the upcoming games on the official LCS Twitch channel.
Berat Ozkan
@berattozkan
Berat (He/Him) is an aficionado of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a rich collection of comics and figures. Furthermore, he has been replaying the Devil May Cry series every year since he knew himself. As a News Writer at DualShockers, Berat realizes his greatest passion, keeping the community informed about some beloved games.
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