Last week, the LCS Summer Split 2023 playoffs intensified with the Lower Bracket fighting for their chance to make the Summer Split finals but also chart their course to the League of Legends World Championship in South Korea. In the Lower  Bracket, Team Dignitas looked to upset the number 2 seed Golden Guardians after Golden Guardians lost shockingly 3 to 1 to NRG. After a shocking Game 5 win, against TSM the week prior, Team Dignitas looked to keep their playoff run alive against Golden Guardians.

On the other side of the lower bracket, Team Liquid looked to keep their playoff dreams alive fighting against the cleanly swept Evil Geniuses; in the prior week, EG lost to Cloud 9 within three games. Meanwhile, Team Liquid had a strong series of matches against 100 Thieves to advance to the Lower Bracket 2nd round. If TL or EG won, they would go on to face the Winner of Golden Guardians Vs Dignitas. No matter what, each of the winning teams in the Lower Brack would have to play two games throughout the weekend in order to make it to the LCS Summer Finals.

Team Liquid vs Golden Guardians Results

Rather than recapping the series in its six-game entirety, we will be going over the basics of what happened. Game 1 Team Liquid had a lead but threw the lead to Golden Guardians. Then in a mid-fight, Golden Guardians took a bad team fight, and Team Liquid was able to push down mid and end the game. In game 2,  the kill count was low early in the game, but once Baron spawned, Team Liquid started picking up kills on Golden Guardians. Team Liquid was able to bait Golden Guardians to pick off their carries and then just march down mid-lane yet again.

In game 3, Golden Guardians were able to regain their composure and pick up some easy kills by using tanks and burst champions; throughout most points in the game, Golden Guardians had doubled or more the kills of Team Liquid. With momentum starting to swing towards Golden Guardians a reverse sweep was looking possible. With a catch in the bot lane, Golden Guardians was able to blow up Team Liquid’s most fed member APA. This allowed GG to get triple inhibitors and then move to Baron. Team Liquid looked to stop it, but GG was able to ace them and end the game.

This brings us to game 5 and this is where things get complicated. Now, many will argue that you should be able to play no matter what happens, but a bug in game 5 caused GG to pause the game and report the bug. Rather than returning the game to an earlier state, Riot chose to have the game remade because they could not fix the bug. The problem here is that the Game 5 remake killed all the momentum that Golden Guardians had and gave Team Liquid the chance to adapt and adjust.

In the end, Team Liquid would win but not without controversy. When we spoke with Golden Guardians’ Jungler River, he stated that the pause and the remake derailed their momentum and they were unable to focus.

After Game 5/6, we sat down with TL Marksman Yeon to discuss the series.

Team Liquid Yeon Interview

Coming off Game 5/a series win how do you feel?

TL Yeon – Really good and tired now that the series is finally over, especially after going to a pseudo 6th game.

Speaking of game 5/6, with the momentum previously swinging towards Golden Guardians, do you think the pause over the bug issue killed their momentum?

TL Yeon – No, I think both teams were really happy during the spot. I think for us, we were going to go play short side and win the same way we were winning. Because it was like that during the series. I think both teams were okay with it. Especially since we felt like we were in a very advantageous spot with our Viego having 2 kills and Pyosik had gotten his first item. It definitely did feel bad for both teams.

With facing NRG, after previously being knocked down to the lower bracket by them, how do you feel getting to face them again?

TL Yeon – It definitely feels good. I think I was definitely the least excited, everyone else is on such a high. They are unbelievably happy. It definitely feels good to win. It’s more like, I am glad we didn’t lose.

For me personally, I am pretty happy I will get to face them again, especially because getting knocked down to the lower bracket meant I had to eliminate one of my friends myself (Armao and Eyla). I am definitely hoping to smash them harder than anyone else.

With the win, there’s that riding the high. What do you feel could have been done better in the series?

TL Yeon – During the series, in the third game, we had a complete accident happen where during the fight two calls were made and rather than picking one over the other, we tried to do both and it turned out poorly. In the fourth game, I think we were just not as prepared. In the 5th/6th games, we just fought them to the death.

Now that you guys have won and going to the next round, what is your mentality with facing NRG? Do you want to stomp a certain player? Do you want to just be the best ADC? 

TL Yeon – I just want to beat them. Go on to the next.

If you want to learn more about Team Liquid’s Marksman Yeon, you can watch the full interview down below. In the rest of the interview, we discuss how TL Yeon got into League of Legends, time with the game, his favorite things, inspirations, and much more.