Concluding the last regional Spring Split, LYON beat Team Liquid to become the LCS Spring champion. While TL put up a close fight in their first playoff metting, LYON took them out in a quick 3-0 this time. With this result, the back-to-back LCS champion will represent North America as the first seed at MSI, and Liquid will have to go through the play-in.
TL came in to fight at the LCS Spring Split, and it wasn’t the spirit that was lacking. In the first game, they built a significant lead in the initial 30 minutes. Then two fights later, LYON was toweringly ahead. LYON went on to win shortly after, and that would be the last time TL had a lead in the series.
Games 2 and 3 were complete stomps by LYON. Liquid never lost spirit, and Brandon “Josedeodo” Joel Villegas had an impressive streak of Smite steals. Nevertheless, spirit isn’t enough and LYON closed it out 3-0. The last map even threatened to be a perfect game as the champions started with a kill score of 15-0.
LYON stomped TL to win the LCS Spring Split final 3-0. Image source: Riot Games
The elephant in the room after this weekend is C9’s result. After a perfect regular season, Cloud9 did what many expected. The team limped into the upper final, then lost both qualification matches 0-3.
This is the eighth time in a row that C9 loses in playoffs, and seventh that they even fail to qualify. Despite consistently doing great in the regular season, they haven’t attended an international since 2023.
On the winners’ side though, LYON will get a second shot after a quiet First Stand. At that event, they were able to barely beat Brazil’s LOUD before losing to both China and Korea, taking a single game off them.
During the Spring Split, LYON looked worse than they did at the end of the LCS Lock-In. However, they found their strength again in the playoffs – the same way they did in Winter. The six-man roster has helped them and they’ve looked motivated and in shape. Will it be enough, though? LYON has their work cut out for them.
As for Team Liquid, they’ll go through the play-in stage where they’ll compete with Deep Cross Gaming, Karmine Corp, and T1 over one single bracket spot. TL will get a chance to prove themselves against the LEC and LCP.
In fact, TL vs KC would give the first NA vs EU battle of 2026. However, no matter how this ends, neither team should stand a chance against T1.
The play-in stage begins on June 28, in Seoul.
Featured image credit: LYON
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