LCS Lock In Week 2: Flyquest’s redemption and the start of Playoffs

After a preseason packed with great signings, legends retiring, emerging regions flexing their collective muscle and a new format announced, competitive League of Legends is back in action in North America.

We started the second week of the LCS Lock In with the remaining games of the Group Stage, with great duels between the leaders of Group A, and the battle for survival in Group B.

The end of the groups and Josedeodo’s debut

On the one hand, Cloud9 managed to take the victory against Dignitas, which secured their place in the playoffs, finishing in second place in behind only Evil Geniuses.

While in the Group A, 100 Thieves got the victory they needed to secure their spot as leaders of Group A thanks to their victory against Team Liquid, the latter securing second place after their victory against TSM later that day.

The big story though was undoubtedly FlyQuest's amazing comeback securing their qualification to the Playoffs by taking two victories in a row against Evil Geniuses and Immortals, with the help of its debutant star and who so much hope rests on: Josedeodo.

After struggling to obtain a visa, which duly affected the team's performance in Week 1 when without the Argentina Jungler the lost their first two matches, he was finally able to make his debut in the North American competition with great plays and good dominance, a masterful play with a baron steal without Smite available, made him the player everyone was talking about.

In this way, the Group Phase ended as follows:

Group A:

• 100 Thieves: 3-1
• Team Liquid: 3-1
• TSM: 2-2
• Golden Guardians: 1-3
• CLG: 1-3

Group B:

• Evil Geniuses: 3-1
• Cloud9: 3-1
• FlyQuest: 2-2
• Immortals: 1-3
• Dignitas: 1-3

The Playoffs begin: LCS Lock In Quarterfinals

Now onto the serious stuff as the following day marked the start of Playoffs with eight teams entering the quarterfinals.

100 Thieves vs Immortals was first up with the former continuing the form shown in the group, moving onto the semifinal after a resounding 2-0 victory.

The second game proved to be a close battle, as it faced two old foes, Cloud9 and TSM. This time, Cloud9 managed to win the match after a great fight that ended up opting for them, in a match with great errors by TSM and with an 11 K gold difference, finishing the series with a 2-1 score.

On Sunday, the first game was between the favourites to win the competition, Evil Geniuses, against the Golden Guardians, who had just given a decent performance in the group stage. However, this was not enough, with EG demonstrating why they are the favourites delivering two devastating performances that saw them emerge victorious.

Finally, the Quarterfinals closed with the duel between Team Liquid and FlyQuest, in an anticipated rematch of the Semifinals of the 2020 Summer Playoffs. This time, despite what FlyQuest showed in the Group Phase, Team Liquid managed to dominate completely due to poor compositions from their opponents, taking a 2-0, thus punching their ticket to the next round.

LCS Lock In: Playoffs Schedule

The matches for the Semifinals are as follows:

• January 29: 100 Thieves vs Cloud9, 3:00 PM PST
• January 30: Evil Geniuses vs FlyQuest, 1:00 PM PST

(Picture: Riot Games)

The LCS Lock In finals will take place on January 31, 1:00 PM PST, through their official Twitch and the LoL Esports’ YouTube channels.