Team Liquid played through their carries and won key mid-game skirmishes around objectives to steamroll Dignitas in the fifth week of Monday Night League in the 2020 LCS Spring Split.
It was an uncomplicated win for the reigning LCS champions, but the individual performances shone through from start to finish. Even with jungler Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen taking a backseat in the stats, he facilitated his teammates’ successes and seems to be taking tangible steps forward in every game.
After the loss to Evil Geniuses on Sunday, mid laner Nicolaj Jensen told Dot Esports that one of the symptoms of the team’s lack of team play on stage was the fact that they had struggled to control the first Rift Herald of each game, but you wouldn’t know it based on Liquid’s objective control on Monday, as well as their fighting around those objectives.
Two huge mid-game skirmishes highlighted this, especially a key turnaround in a fight that saw them lose the first Dragon of the game. They went from losing two members immediately to getting three kills back in the same fight and coming out on top, preventing them from falling too far behind before the 15-minute mark.
This has proved incredibly important for Team Liquid all split. When they can win lane, despite some of their team play-related struggles, they have the talent to snowball leads, and they brought a proverbial avalanche down on Dignitas.
Doublelift and company know that they have the individual talent to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the league, but even corrections good team play start at the individual level, especially if you play a carry position. On Monday, Doublelift did just that after putting together a solid performance in, strangely enough, his first career Miss Fortune performance in more than 630 games as a professional.
“Since Broxah came, I’ve been more self-reflective,” Doublelift told Dot Esports. “I wasn’t playing terrible, I just don’t think I was putting myself at a high enough standard.”
After TSM’s win over Evil Geniuses to finish Monday Night League, Liquid sit in a four-way tie for the last playoff spot, and the momentum will have to continue against TSM, who now hold sole possession of third place.
“It’s pretty hard to get complacent when you’re the second-to-last team in the LCS,” said Doublelift.
The two rivals square off next Saturday at 5 p.m. CT.
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