LCS Summer Split: Liquid climbs to No. 3 after win over Counter Logic Gaming
Team Liquid quickly bounced back after conceding to 100 Thieves on July 2 in Week 3 of the Summer Split of League Championship Series as they defeated Counter Logic Gaming and took over third place the following day.
The win indicated Team Liquid is back on the right track after the small hiccup against 100 Thieves earlier in Week 3 in an otherwise unbeaten run. Ahead of Week 4, Team Liquid is looking to hit their second win streak playing Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses.
Team Liquid defeats CLG, takes third place
Taking over the win from CLG demonstrated that Team Liquid’s team and map rotation skills are still unmatched. CLG was well-aware of these and tried their fortune to limit Team Liquid’s movement in early-game.
CLG’s lineup comprises top-laner Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, jungler Juan “Contractz” Arturo Garcia, mid-laner Cristian “Palafox” Palafox, bot-laner Fatih “Luger” Güven, and support Philippe “Poome” Lavoie-Giguere.
Led by Contractz, CLG was aggressive from the get-go. The pro jungler did his job well by taking over Team Liquid’s buffs and stole Gromp for an early leveling-up advantage. Contractz was accompanied by Luger and Poome to lead the team in advance, with Team Liquid jungler Lucas Tao “Santorin” Kilmer Larsen missing out on what was transpiring.
CLG was also spot on during the pick and ban phase. The North America-based team picked Amumu to counter Team Liquid’s bot-laner and support duo of Steven “Hans sama” Liv alongside Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, with Amumu receiving crucial support buffs that posed a massive danger to the duo.
Santorin was quick to return the favor to Contractz, however. Not long after, Santorin was responsible for balancing the team’s gold input after taking on their second drake from the dragon pit.
Santorin’s feat was crucial as the entire roster was able to rotate around the map freely from that moment on. Team Liquid then continued to push the cornered CLG, with mid-laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg being tasked to halt any escaping members of CLG. Eventually, Team Liquid managed to secure Baron buff, and it was only a matter of time before Team Liquid’s made their fifth Summer Split win.
And so CLG’s early-game lead was undone due to Team Liquid’s dynamic display of team composition, and Santorin’s play of balancing the two teams’ gold was crucial behind their triumph.
LCS Summer Split standings info
Ahead of playing CLG, Team Liquid began Week 3 with a matchup against 100 Thieves, which led to their defeat. 100 Thieves has been phenomenal shortly after forcing Team Liquid to a defeat as the team also managed to climb the standings to second place behind the leading EG. 100 Thieves will only have to keep its consistency in Week 3 if they wish to catch up with EG, who at the moment recorded a 6-1 win-loss record in addition to an 86 percent win rate.
Meanwhile, due to recent results, Team Liquid is trailing close behind 100 Thieves, as both teams posted the same 5-2 win-loss record and are only a single game away from tying with EG.
