The crowded LCS Championship Playoffs get underway this week. Eight of the ten LCS teams have qualified for the postseason with only Dignitas and Immortals missing out on the playoffs. In this double elimination format, the No. 3 through No. 6 seeds will be the first teams to take Summoners’ Rift. No. 3 Team Liquid is a big favorite over No. 6 FlyQuest, and No. 4 Counter Logic Gaming is an underdog against No. 5 Cloud9.
The losers this week will face No. 7 Team SoloMid and No. 8 Golden Guardians in the lower bracket next week where losing a series means you are immediately out. Meanwhile, the winners will advance to the upper bracket where they will face either No. 1 Evil Geniuses or No. 2 100 Thieves. If you lose in the upper bracket, your hopes of going to Worlds aren’t over, as those teams will fall to the lower bracket in this double elimination format.
2022 League of Legends LCS Championship Round 1 Betting Odds
Team Liquid -385
FlyQuest +300
It’s been a disappointing year for Team Liquid. They entered the 2022 season as the clear favorites to win the LCS, but they were unable to win the Spring Split and finished two games behind Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves in the Summer Split. Team Liquid is still favored to take one of North America’s three spots at the World Championships, but a loss to FlyQuest in this series would deal a serious blow to those plans.
Bjergsen is as solid as ever in the mid lane. He was tied for the LCS lead with an 8.7 KDA in the regular season, and he was superb on Swain with a 21.5 KDA on that champion per Games of Legends. It will be up to him to mitigate FlyQuest star mid laner Toucouille, as he is the only elite player on FlyQuest.
Team Liquid beat FlyQuest in both of their regular season meetings, as they have more win conditions. Liquid have a solid bottom lane with Hans Sama and CoreJJ, and they have a jungler that can be a difference maker in Santorin. That will be enough for Liquid to win this series 3-0 or 3-1.
Counter Logic Gaming +170
Cloud9 -223
This should be a more competitive series. Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming split their two regular season meetings, but everyone is still doubting CLG even though they finished the Summer Split 11-7. CLG was one game away from being the worst team in the LCS during the Spring Split, but they bounced back in a big way despite a patchwork team.
CLG drafts well and knows its win conditions, but there is not a lot of talent on the roster. Dhokla might be the worst top laner left in the playoffs in the LCS, and Luger and Poome haven’t been great in the bottom lane.
Cloud9 have been up and down this split. They started the season on the back foot, and they have been searching to find themselves for much of the last two months. Zven is getting more used to his support role though, and Fudge is finding his footing in the top lane again. Blaber hasn’t been as dominant as he was in the past, but his deep champion pool allows this team to do a lot of things in the draft.
A best-of-five series will allow C9 to adapt, and their talent will shine through in a win over CLG.
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