For the first time in the history of the LCS, a playoff bracket will not feature TSM. The legendary North American franchise was eliminated from 2022 Spring Split playoff contention for the first time in franchise history tonight with a loss at the hands of 100 Thieves, ending a decade-long streak of playoff appearances.
Tonight’s loss saw TSM fall behind early, with four of the team’s five starters facing a gold deficit at the 10-minute mark. After TSM gave up first blood to 100T mid laner Abbedagge, he took control of the game, finishing his night with a career-high 14 kills. The performance allowed 100T to keep pace with Cloud9 and Team Liquid at the top of the standings.
Currently, 100T hold sole possession of third place in the LCS with two games left on the schedule. As for TSM, they join Immortals as the first two teams to be knocked out of the Spring Split playoff race altogether.
TSM was one of the original franchises to be initiated into the LCS when the league launched in 2013. In the nine seasons that they’ve played in the league, TSM had never missed the playoffs of an LCS split until now. For 18 consecutive splits, the team finished at least in the top six of the league. That streak ended tonight.
TSM’s previous worst performance in a single split came in the Spring of 2016 when the team finished with an even 9-9 record and barely eked into that split’s playoffs as the sixth seed. Despite a relatively weak performance that split, TSM made up for it in the playoffs, coming just one game away from hoisting an LCS trophy.
Thankfully for the 2022 iteration of TSM, Spring Split records will not carry over into the Summer Split like they did last season due to a rule change made by the LCS following last year’s professional League of Legends season. The team will begin the Summer Split later this year with a fresh 0-0 record and a completely clean slate. TSM will round out their Spring Split schedule with games against CLG and Liquid.
