100 Thieves’ exit from the 2023 Spring Playoffs was a disheartening moment for League of Legends fans, especially after the team’s resurgence at the end of the regular LCS season. On March 24, they got clean-swept by FlyQuest and then lost to Golden Guardians in a close, silver-scrape series the next day.
In an interview with Travis Gafford following their Playoffs exit, 100 Thieves’ mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg talked about the one major issue that ailed his team.
“I think we kind of an issue with team fighting, especially how we deal with flanks. We lost in key moments in team fights,” Bjergsen said. He pointed out the team’s failure in responding to Spica’s and Licorice’s flanks in the FlyQuest and Golden Guardian series respectively.
“We had a lot of problems and we kind of band-aided those problems by playing very one-dimensional,” he said. “We have so many lock-bans and very obvious pick order and champions.”
In both playoff series, the enemy team always prioritized banning Closer’s champions. The 100 Thieves’ jungler played a key role in the team’s seven-game win streak during the final two weeks of the regular LCS season. This tactic reduced Closer’s comfort picks and his engage potential in games.
According to Bjergsen, such one-dimensional drafting made them easy to counter. “I think to win a championship you don’t have to be able to play everything, but you need to be less predictable,” he said.
Going into the 2023 LCS Summer Split, Bjergsen thinks the team needs to work on their shortcomings. “We are aware of our individual weaknesses both in terms of play and champion pool that is making us such a one-dimensional team,” he said. “We individually need to shape up and be more like diverse.”
The 2023 LCS Playoffs continues with Golden Guardians set to face Evil Geniuses on March 31 from 3.30pm CT.
