FlyQuest outlasts TSM to advance in LCS Spring playoff

After a back-and-forth first four maps, FlyQuest dominated Team SoloMid in the final map, winning the match 3-2 Sunday to advance to the third round of the lower bracket in the League of Legends' North America-based League Championship Series spring playoffs. FlyQuest will face Evil Geniuses next Saturday, with the winner facing Cloud9 for the championship a day later.

On Sunday, TSM opened with a win on the red side, needing nearly 48 minutes before finally winning the map. Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg led the way with a 39.1 kill percentage as Viktor. FlyQuest then won the next two maps, both on the blue side, winning Map 2 in 36 minutes and Map 3 in 44 minutes, continuing a theme of long, drawn-out games. But in the fourth map, TSM not only stayed alive but dominated FlyQuest. Through 15 minutes in each of the first three maps, FlyQuest led in gold by an aggregate total of 3,170. But through 15 minutes of the fourth map, TSM led by 5,560 gold. Ultimately, TSM won on the red side in 25 minutes.

But FlyQuest returned the favor in the final map, winning in 26 minutes to take the match. Mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage led the way with a 9.0 KDA and 90.0 kill percentage as Azir in the final map, finishing off a series that saw him notch a 4.8 KDA and 35.4 damage percentage to net him Player of the Series.

"We didn't talk about how we would play the next game, we just said the other game was unlucky," Lee "IgNar" Dong-Geun said in the post-match interview of his team's approach to the final map. "... I just think we have better players." The champion will qualify for the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational, which will feature the top teams from every League of Legends region worldwide.