LCS: Gori buries Golden Guardians’ hopes for direct participation at Worlds

The last question before the LCS finals was the battle between Team Liquid and Golden Guardians for the last sure spot at Worlds.

The last crucial duel for Worlds seeding is over. The duel between Team Liquid and Golden Guardians was a battle of two different approaches to the game. It would seem that the series had no favourite, and if so, the slight favourites were Team Liquid players, who, although they started the playoffs horribly, were able to respond very decisively in the elimination rounds.

On the other hand, the pleasant surprise of the season – Golden Guardians, had higher ambitions. The team confirmed the performance upswing during the season and ranked among the favorites for the title.

Unfortunately, the second team of the regular season failed miserably in the very first playoff series and had to repair its tarnished reputation, just like Team Liquid.

For the key duel of the summer, when both teams were not assured of a world championship, the teams had to put in more effort. Thus, the key battle could begin.

The black scenario for Guardians came true for the first two games. At times, Team Liquid’s play was almost professorial as they trampled their hard-playing opponents. World Champion Pyosik and his Viege were showing their masterful form. Guardians also helped their opponent with mistakes and the main drivers of the team did not show the quality that was expected of them.

To the happiness of all the spectators and especially the Guardians, the Liquid players were quick to celebrate in the third game and after two clear-cut series, we finally got a proper drama. The Guardians tied the game and suddenly the graceful play of Liquid started to catch some serious cracks.

Unnecessary mistakes doomed the Guardians to an additional qualifier

The nervousness was definitely palpable in both camps. The game even had to be replayed after an unfixable bug in the game. Ironically, the pause gave the heavily Korean team playing for Liquid exactly what they needed. However, the balanced game was grossly marred by the incomprehensible mistakes of the Guardians’ young midfielder, Gori.

He greatly reduced the Guardians’ chances of advancing. Whether the cause of the mistakes was just youthful inexperience or immense pressure, only the young talent knows.

It was these mistakes that helped Liquid turn an evenly matched game into a coveted promotion to the world’s elite. Team Liquid, who had fallen well short of expectations during the spring, finally got to where the team had set their pre-season goal.

After the setback, the Golden Guardians will have to wait and see how things develop on the European side of the field. The Season Finals in the LEC will play out over the weekend, where the top six teams for the entire season will battle it out for three sure tickets to Worlds, similar to the LCS.

The fourth team from Europe will then become the fated opponent for the Guardians. The series will be a battle for the last ticket to Korea. The so-called World Qualifying Series (WQS) will be played in America. Strong speculation that the series would eventually be played in Korea has yet to be confirmed.

What we do know for sure is that the winner of this additional qualifier will then play in the Worlds Qualifier or Play-ins. There they will face the champions of the smaller regions and, new this year, two teams from Vietnam (VCS) and PCS (former LMS and old PCS – Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau/Southeast Asia).

Source: LCS, Kaza LoL, Leaguepedia