The first 2023 LCS Championship lower bracket series has come and gone, with one team advancing towards redemption for the Spring Split, while the other may be saying its final farewells to the North American professional League of Legends scene.
After five games of both League teams giving everything they had to ensure their finals dreams could persist, Dignitas successfully bested TSM and will continue their lower-bracket run into next week.
Though they ensured Dignitas wouldn’t get by easily, TSM have now become the first team eliminated from the LCS Championship bracket in what was more than likely the final time fans will see this organization featured on the LCS stage.
This past May, following a circulation of rumors regarding the future of TSM as part of the LCS, CEO Andy Dinh confirmed the organization would be departing the North American League scene in favor of pursuing its endeavors in another tier-one region. What followed was a convoluted Summer Split for TSM, complete with roster uncertainties and fluctuations in performances week-by-week—but ultimately granting the roster of tenured talent a hard-earned place in the playoffs bracket after a sixth-place finish in the regular season.
It was this momentum that propelled the team into their first playoffs match against Evil Geniuses, one where many fans yet again expected TSM to falter. The five-game series saw the members of the team reach deep into their champion pools to match the strengths of the third seed, while also continuing to highlight Insanity’s position as a pivotal part of the TSM puzzle.
The team appeared unshaken after DIG’a attempt to surprise them in tonight’s series with unexpected strategies like Tristana/Ziggs, Sett support, and LeBlanc top, allowing them to advance into yet another game five situation.
But ultimately, it was Dignitas’ control of teamfights that forced the members of TSM to scatter from safety, ripping the victory from their grasp.
Should this be the last we see of TSM in the LCS, the org leaves the NA scene as one of the most storied outfits in the history of professional League internationally. Between seven domestic titles, visits to multiple World Championships, and helping to grow some of the most recognizable faces inside and outside of the LCS, TSM will remain immortalized as an organization pivotal to growing the scope of League in NA.
For Dignitas, this is just the first step in an upward climb through the LCS Championship bracket, one that is anything but impossible for the team that has continued to try and avoid repeating the missteps that plagued their Spring run.
Their next obstacle comes in the form of either Golden Guardians or NRG, who have both spent most of the 2023 League season exceeding all expectations set upon them.
