LCS Summer 2020 Semifinals Preview and Team Analysis

The Playoffs Stage of LCS Summer 2020 only has 6 teams left. The Semifinals are scheduled for today (August 20^th) and tomorrow. In this article, I will take a brief look at the teams and their chances of winning.

LCS Summer 2020 Playoffs Results

So far, we had matches for the Quarterfinals and Losers’ Round 1. In the Quarterfinals, FlyQuest narrowly defeated Evil Geniuses (3 – 2) while Golden Guardians demolished Team SoloMid (3 – 0), in spite of being considerably weaker on paper. Both of these teams then went on to easily win their Lower Bracket matches. TSM defeated Dignitas (3 – 0) while Evil Geniuses defeated 100 Thieves (3 – 0). Both teams will be waiting for their opponent in the Lower Bracket. And now it’s time for the Semifinals.

Semifinals Predictions

The two Semifinals of LCS Summer 2020 are the following:

Team Liquid vs. Golden Guardians

This match heavily favors Liquid. And there are 3 reasons for that.

First of all, Liquid has been throughout its recent history a much stronger competitor than Golden Guardians. This is the team that won both splits last season and in spite of having a disastrous Spring split (9^th place), the roster changes they made immediately fixed the problem.

The second reason has to do with Liquid’s performance during the Group Stage of LCS Summer 2020, which was impressive: 15 wins and just 3 losses, compared to Golden Guardians’ 9 W – 9 L.

And third, we have the results of the direct confrontations. In the Group Stage, TL met GG twice. Both times, Team Liquid won. The matches weren’t easy. One took around 40 minutes and the other 35. So it’s quite clear that the match is not entirely over before it begins. But still, a Bo5 is almost guaranteed to end with a victory for Jensen’s squad.

Based on this data, I anticipate a score of 3 – 1 in favor of Team Liquid.

Cloud9 vs. FlyQuest

In the Cloud9 vs. FlyQuest match we have a similar situation. Not only Cloud9 won both of its matches against FlyQuest during the Group Stage of LCS Summer 2020. The team also had a much better performance than its opponent in recent years. Keep in mind, C9 dominated the Spring split this season, ending it with 17 wins and just 1 loss. The second-best team had 10 wins and 8 losses. That’s how astronomical the skill difference was. Cloud9 then went on to win the Playoffs, defeating FlyQuest in the Grand Final without losing a single game. And this happened just several months ago.

In the Group Stage of LCS Summer 2020, Cloud9 finished 2^nd with 13 wins and 5 losses. So it’s quite obvious that they’re not exactly out of shape.

Based on this data, I anticipate a score of 3 – 0 or 3 – 1 in favor of C9.

 

Photo credit: Riot Games