It’s been rather difficult to pinpoint exactly how the 2023 LCS Spring Split playoff bracket is going to play out. After eight weeks of the regular season, where pro North American League of Legends teams had their share of over and underperformances, the six teams who used their momentum to their fullest advanced closer to a potential LCS title.
While the competition remained fierce in the first round of the playoffs, teams continued to fluctuate through their highs and lows, with those anticipated to make it to the end living up to expectations and others failing to find proper footing.
Amidst the chaos, FlyQuest, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, and Golden Guardians have pulled through and are advancing to the second round, set to begin on March 31.
But before the playoffs continue, here’s a breakdown of what the first round had in store for players and fans alike, and how these four games are already shaping what is going to be a hectic tournament.
Reaching for even more
All six teams that qualified for the Spring Split Playoffs took their opportunities to shine during the regular season, regardless of the position in which they entered the bracket. From FlyQuest and 100 Thieves’ seven-game win streaks to CLG and Golden Guardians running through teams at the top of the standings, there was an ample amount of motivation pushing each team into their Playoffs bracket runs.
But for C9 and FlyQuest, the first and second seeds entering the bracket, being just a handful of games away from the LCS trophy appeared to bring out the potential that had laid dormant for a few weeks. These two teams have already qualified for Raleigh, but whether they enter through the upper or lower bracket remains to be seen.
FlyQuest began the playoffs with an unprecedented sweep of 100T, despite fans and analysts believing the team of LCS greats and rookies had the potential to bring the first bout to a five-game League series. The slow and methodical playstyle of FlyQuest completely overwhelmed 100T in all three games, forcing a team that normally thrives in picks to adjust rapidly to teamfights around objectives.
As for C9, if they wanted to dive at level four, they were going to dive at level four—and come out completely unscathed. The fearlessness that has become synonymous with all members of the current C9 roster paid dividends in their own start to the playoffs, with either Blaber securing early leads of their own or him being readily available to answer when Contractz tried the same.
Though these two teams possess such different outlooks on the game, FlyQuest and C9 both continue to leave a mark on the competition following the start of the Spring Split Playoffs and are likely to only continue doing so.
Stiff competition remains…
The Cinderella story of Golden Guardians’ run through the 2023 LCS Spring Split fully retained its momentum as the playoffs began, while also remaining one of the most closely-followed stories an LCS team has seen in some time.
But the team’s start in the playoff bracket proved to be rather rocky, culminating in a five-game series against 100T that had the team struggling to prevail in teamfights—an area that has normally come naturally to them after acquiring early leads. As the series progressed, Stixxay once more proved to be a crucial piece of the team’s winning strategy, sporting a combined 19/11/21 KDA funneled directly into him by exploiting 100T’s poor mid game.
A shaky split for EG culminated in a refocus on playing around former LCS MVP Inspired, who spent a large portion of each game in the series against CLG fixated on his bot lane, FBI and Vulcan. Not only did this place the bot lane duo ahead, but Inspired was then free to run around the map as he pleased, both answering Contractz and forcing his opposition in the jungle to respond to his own pressure.
…but some have to go
Such one-sided losses placed even larger expectations on both 100T and CLG as they ventured from the upper bracket into the uncertainty of the lower bracket, where they’d be met by further competition unprepared to end their runs before they started.
100T appeared much more focused after being sent to the lower bracket, but with that focus came overzealousness that caused their dwindling synergy to further plummet.
While the team was more than willing to initiate teamfights for themselves in each game of this five-game series, the team did not seem to be locked in on the same target each time, ultimately giving GGS chances to counter through the large lack of vision 100T had.
CLG’s split-long message of “trusting the faith” dwindled further as, little by little, EG expanded the cracks forming within the team’s synergy thanks to the map awareness held by former LCS MVP Inspired. The popular League roster struggled immensely to deal with constant early-game pressure, leading to yet another lopsided series for the team—though this time without a single victory of their own.
There’s no clear indication as to what went wrong for 100T and CLG at the start of their playoff runs, nor is an easy-fix solution evident.
Fortunately, these two teams have shown throughout the regular season that, when all of their players are on the same page, success can be easily grabbed, so there may not be too much to work on in the few months before the start of Summer.
Rather stale meta continues, with exceptions
Patch 13.5 has yet to shift the playstyles of these LCS teams by much.
The first four matches of the Spring Split Playoffs included many of the same champions that appeared frequently in the regular season. Between the NA specials of Zeri/Lulu versus Lucian/Nami and questions as to whether Jayce will actually win games, each match has come down to which team has a better handle on the meta.
Yet teams have been willing to experiment at times, often doing so successfully—and on occasion, to their own demise. VicLa’s Veigar was an immensely important part of FlyQuest’s triumph over 100T thanks not only to the champion’s great scaling but the access to crowd control that forces opponents to react quickly. In two games with the champion, VicLa earned a KDA of 17/3/10, successfully showcasing the power of this pick as something that is more than likely to return as the tournament progresses.
100T’s support Busio, who’s been known to shake up the meta since his LCS debut with Azir support, reached deep into his arsenal to accompany Doublelift to the Rift with Blitzcrank in one of the games against Golden Guardians.
The rookie player appeared much more confident on this strong yet obscure pick, giving his lane partner a perfect game but ultimately being bested by his own ideas when Huhi grabbed Blitzcrank for himself in the final game of the series.
The bracket narrows
It was inevitable that the top two teams in the LCS would meet in the Spring Split playoff bracket at some point, but in the minds of many fans, this might not be the only time C9 and FlyQuest battle in this tournament.
The playstyles of FlyQuest and C9 have not shifted from how they performed in the regular season, particularly when the two met in a fight for sole possession of first place in a tiebreaker match. Where FlyQuest has a plan laid out for the next 40 minutes or so, C9 are ready to act quick—yet the two have balanced out to create mouthwatering League games perfectly mixed with aggression and strategy.
Ultimately, the outcome of this upcoming match—and any possible subsequent meeting between the two teams—isn’t going to be based on who makes the first move.
Instead, the result will likely stem from how willing the teams are to answer one another’s plays around crucial objectives. If the tiebreaker was any indication, neither is going to want to give up their hold on a lead.
Yet the fire pushing GGS and EG, the only other teams remaining, has yet to be extinguished. These two teams meet once more in an elimination match following one win and one loss apiece during the regular season, with both teams acknowledging in their post-game interviews they feel prepared for their next meeting—with particular interest on how the teams’ junglers, River and Inspired, impact their matches to come.
The second round of the 2023 LCS Spring Split Playoffs begins on March 31 with C9 vs. FLY in a clash that would well shape the remainder of the bracket.
