LCS Spring Split Week 7: Cloud9 finally see a loss to TSM

Week 7 was all about upsets, which saw Cloud9 getting a loss, Team Liquid going 0-2 despite last week’s strong finish, and 100 Thieves and TSM going 2-0.  

Want to catch-up on the action? We rundown the biggest stories below.  

TSM take down Cloud9 

They said it probably couldn’t happen, but it did, and what a dominating win it was. In their first game of the week, TSM took down Cloud9 with a whopping 20 kills to eight.  

Both Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik on Sett and Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg on Zilean did amazingly well, and a couple of engages with Broken Blade really turned things around. 

This was just one play from Broken Blade in the river which gave Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup a triple kill on Xayah and almost gave TSM the Ace.  

Sett’s Showstopper completely demolished three players at once, with a fourth hobbling away for a second before being killed. Sett is a powerful champion, and Eric “Licorice” Ritchie on Shen could not hold a candle to how strong he is. 

This was an incredible game from a team that’s slowly been climbing up the standings and is now tied with FlyQuest for 2nd place.  

They hit another milestone by being the ones to take down Cloud9. TSM have been doing pretty well since their downward slope the last couple of years, currently at 8-6 for the split. 

Don’t fret if you’re a Cloud9 fan though. Their second game against Golden Guardians proved they still have the confidence to continue playing how they are, along with the confidence to try new things, even if it could cost them the game.  

It was unlikely any team could go 18-0, not even Cloud9, and as Licorice said in his interview during The Queue with James “Dash” Patterson, “Every team has gaps… an 18-0 season means you were scared to try something.” You can check out the entire interview with Licorice below.

Team Liquid problems resurface again 

Liquid fans are having to digest the possible truth their team may not make the playoffs this year, but some are finding new excuses; blaming Edward “Tactical” Ra as the reason for their issues, when just last week they were applauding him. The problem however isn’t just one player, it seems to be the team itself – but what the solution could be remains to be seen. 

Now others in the LCS have switched up rosters, teams who were not so strong in previous splits are doing much better (FlyQuest, TSM), and some have stayed the same or gotten stronger (CLG, Cloud 9). 

This may be the reason why Liquid is getting punished when previously only international teams would pick out their weaknesses. They’ve only experienced only domination in the last four splits in North America. 

Losing to CLG had to sting, especially with their old teammate in Eugene “Pobelter” Park, who had 11 of the 14 kills gained in the win against Liquid. His impressive triple kill below in the last few minutes of the game shows you how strong he was. 

Why was Team Liquid afraid to make decisions around the drake? Could Nikolaj “Jensen” Jensen have tried to flash in and engage on Pobelter to prevent him from getting kills later on?  

The game was pretty stalemate at that point and needed some action to make some moves either way, and it came to Pobelter to make that decision. But where were the decisions of the four veterans of Liquid? Both teams also used Academy players in their AD Carry role. There is less of an excuse to say the loss has to do with a rookie bot laner. 

They brought Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng back in for their game against Immortals, but it almost didn’t matter. Well timed ultimates from Jérémy "Eika" Valdenaire on Qiyana and a dominating Apollo “Apollo” Price on Aphelios were no match for anything Doublelift could do.  

Apollo even snagged a Pentakill in the last minute of the game as Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen was smiting the drake. They prevented dragon soul but at the cost of everyone’s health bars. 

After this week, Cloud9 officially locked in first place for playoffs, a feat that has been clawing at them for a long time.  

We’re looking at only a few weeks left, and with only a game or two separating 2nd to 7th place, the rest of the spots for playoffs will be locked in quite soon. Who do you think will join Cloud9? 

Be sure to catch more weekly recaps here on GINX TV and check out Week 8 of the LCS Spring Split beginning 14th March, at 22:00 GMT (13:00 CET / 02:00 PST). You can catch it on YouTube, Twitch, and lolesports.com.