League of Legends: NRG takes on Team Liquid Honda for spot in NA LCS Summer Split Finals

The NA LCS Summer Split is in its final stages. NA’s fourth and fifth placed teams fought through the playoff brackets and earned their spots in the Lower Bracket Finals on August 19 in New Jersey.

The winner will receive a trip to the NA LCS Summer Split Finals, also in New Jersey, where they will go head to head with first placed Cloud 9 on August 20.

Because NA has struggled historically at international tournaments, the NA LCS crown has often been the only trophy NA teams have been able to capture. For many NA players, this is their only realistic shot at a championship.

NA LCS Lower Bracket Finals and Grand Finals details

NRG will face Team Liquid Honda in the Lower Bracket Finals on August 19 in New Jersey. The winner of the series will advance to the NA LCS Summer Split Finals on August 20, also in New Jersey. They will play against the number one seeded Cloud 9, they had a 14-5 record during the regular season. Cloud 9 defeated Evil Geniuses and NRG in the Upper Bracket Finals to earn their spot in the Summer Split Finals.

Team Liquid Honda

Team Liquid are the betting favourites to win the series on Esports betting sites. They have -220 odds on Bodog despite losing to NRG 3-1 in round one of the upper bracket. Team Liquid finished with a 10-8 record during the regular season. To get here, they defeated 100 Thieves, Evil Geniuses, and Golden Guardians, two of the top three teams in the NA LCS this split. Team Liquid’s roster received some love this year from the NA LCS.

Former world champions Changhyeon “Pyosik” Hong and Yongin “CoreJJ” Jo were selected to the 3rd LCS All-Pro Team. TL’s ADC Sean “Yeon” Sung won Rookie of the Year. Team Liquid’s mid laner Eain “APA” Stearns was third in the Rookie of the Year voting.

Liquid was only able to take one game off NRG in their first series, game three. But Team Liquid was competitive for most of the series, winning a close third game 20-20. Top laner Summit had a strong game, he was able to split push and finished 6-2-10 on Jax. If they can clean up their play, they should have a good shot in the rematch.

NRG

NRG are the underdogs heading into the series. They have +165 odds to win the series on Bodog. NRG defeated Golden Guardians and Team Liquid to get here. They defeated Team Liquid in round one of the upper bracket 3-1. The series was back and forth at times, but NRG consistently separated themselves from their opponents as the game went to the later stages and capitalized on Team Liquid’s mistakes.

After winning game one of the series in a 45 minute battle, NRG won game 2 in a close game 20-15. Juan “Contractz” Garcia and Victor “FBI” Huang had big games. NRG secured four dragons in the game. TL secured 0 dragons.

FBI finished with a 8-1-6 score on Ezreal, 4-1-12 score for Contractz on Poppy. NRG ended the series in the fourth game, defeating Team Liquid 3-1. They took down 10 turrets to Team Liquid’s two and won the game in under 30 minutes. If they can keep the game close, they have proven that they can compete with Team Liquid in tight games and come out on top.