TSM win LCS 2020 Summer Finals after taking down FlyQuest

After an incredibly long playoff battle in which they played more games in the postseason than during the regular season, TSM have taken the win against FlyQuest and have won their first Finals title since 2017.

For TSM, the year started hopeful as they did a mini overhaul to the team, moving Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett to the jungle and Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup into the botlane along with Vincent “Biofrost” Wang; the latter having just spent two years on CLG before coming back to his old team. 

They finished Spring Split in 5th and ended playoffs in 4th; not a bad ending to a split that caused LCS production to change entirely when COVID-19 cases began.

Fans were shocked in the weeks before Summer Split when it was announced that Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng would be moving from Team Liquid to join TSM. This brought even further complications when Doublelift’s girlfriend and president of TSM, Aileena "Leena" Xu, was caught discussing the difficulty in trading Dardoch to another team while Doublelift was streaming. 

Doublelift returned to TSM (Picture: Riot Games/lolesports) 

Discussion throughout the community was wrought with conflict of interest questions, professionalism in League as a whole, and what would happen to Kobbe, who left his entire life in EU for a chance at TSM only for him to be swapped out after one split. 

Doublelift’s prowess as an ADC was also questioned given his motivation issues in the Spring Split that did not cause Team Liquid to fall into 9th place, but certainly did not help. 

Kobbe eventually found a home back in EU on Misfits Gaming. Dardoch, though no worse for wear after the public issues he found himself in, found a home on Dignitas.

They began their Summer Split with Doublelift taking his place in the botlane and Mingyi "Spica" Lu from their academy roster into the jungle. Although they had some questionable games, including their game against Team Liquid that ended their split in 4th, they did marginally well - although one could argue that they weren’t the powerhouse they may have tried to hint at with their pickup of Doublelift. 

Playoffs seemed to change that narrative, especially the games against Team Liquid in semifinals, where the Senna curse seemed to have been lifted, as Doublelift pulled his weight along with Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg.

The finals were an especially strong showing from TSM, which had been struck with a stressful mark in Game 2 where Jason “WildTurtle” Tran from FlyQuest lost power due to the massive heat wave in Los Angeles causing rolling blackouts. 

7 TIMES LCS CHAMPIONS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/PgSkTgRb1N

— TSM (@TSM) September 7, 2020

The game was paused for 45 minutes while he moved to the FlyQuest facility to continue playing. Although TSM had definitively taken the first two games, FlyQuest fought back and the series went to five games, though TSM was able to pull out the final win and the title.

TSM now move onto Worlds, where they wait to begin the group stage, which should begin 3rd October, 2020. Worlds Play-Ins, where Team Liquid will begin, starts on 25th September, 2020.

WE'RE GOING TO WORLDS LETS GOOOOOOO

— Vincent (@Biofrostlol) August 29, 2020

TSM win 2020 LCS Summer Finals