Throughout a typical Summer Split, League of Legends teams in North America usually play out 18 games during the regular season. But TSM have already played out a whopping 20 games in the Summer Split playoffs.
From their 0-3 series loss at the hands of Golden Guardians to their triumphant victory over Team Liquid yesterday, TSM have already played out an entire season’s worth of matches in the span of a month. This doesn’t even account for the upcoming 2020 Summer Finals, which will go to a guaranteed three games.
As a result, TSM have gotten a ton more practice “on-stage” than FlyQuest, who they’ll be facing against today in the finals. FlyQuest have only played out 14 games in their run, since they were able to remain in the upper bracket. Even still, by the end of their series with TSM, they will have played a minimum of 17 games in the playoffs.
This number of games is comparable to the amount played in the LPL, which is currently running a best-of-three system for the regular season. Each team can play an upwards of around 35 to 40 games before going through the playoffs, giving them plenty of time to hone their skills both at a micro and macro level.
The only problem, however, is that a best-of-three system was never popular with fans in North America and Europe. Viewership was pretty low when this system was implemented, and because of this, Riot Games switched both regions back to a best-of-one environment.
We will see if the six extra games TSM played will make a difference when the two finalists clash in the 2020 LCS Summer Finals. You can catch the epic conclusion to the season when the finals begin today at 3pm CT.
