Team Liquid Honda came into the 2022 League of Legends Championship season fully expected to win NA. With a super team formed in the off-season, TL came into the 2022 year as overwhelming favorites to dominate the region; but things have not gone to plan. In the 2022 LCS spring split, their run was cut off by the 2021 LCS champions, 100 Thieves as they finished in third place. And now after finishing third in the regular season, right behind 100, they will face off once again with a spot at Worlds 2022 on the line. For TL’s jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, its not about making Worlds, it’s about winning NA in a way that only TL can do.
“Last year, when I was on Team Liquid, we had two second places — which equals four,” Santorin joked. “We got third in spring so to get four we have to get first, if you are a diehard TL fan everyone knows the four meme so that’s what we are going for.”
Santorin is only one of two members that played on TL both this year and last. The second-place finish in the 2021 LCS summer playoffs came after a brutal loss to, you guessed it, 100. Over the course of the last three best of fives the two franchises have played, 100 have won them all. To say 100 has TL’s number would be an understatement — but Santorin doesn’t think TL is cursed.
“I’ve always felt very comfortable and confident going into 100 Thieves; sometimes we still get shit on, but I do feel like we’re the stronger team,” Santorin said.
With that said, Santorin has major respect for 100; after all, it would be foolish to write them off, especially looking at recent history.
“100 Thieves have very good fundamentals and they are always very good at finding ways back into the game if they’re behind,” Santorin said. “I feel like we almost always have the stronger early game against them but then they find angles to pick us off, it’s always scary going up against them.”
Part of the reason why Santorin is very confident going into the 100 series is that despite the poor record recently, their last best of five series in the 2022 LCS spring playoffs, TL were actually up 2-0 before 100 made the reverse sweep to send TL to the losers bracket. That series is something that Santorin still thinks about but is better for it.
“We literally stomped them the first two games and I think we might have gotten a little too ahead of ourselves, we didn’t take it one game at a time,” Santorin said. “That’s something we’ve tried to work on because we are sometimes a team, even in scrims, where we kind of just roll opponents and then let our guard down a little bit, it’s a really bad habit,”
The results of that can already be seen after their 2022 LCS summer playoff win against FlyQuest. The team actually lost their first game and turned on the jets for the remaining three games to easily move on in the bracket. Those three wins were all clean. Santorin was upset that they lost a game in the first place and that comes with the strive to be as consistent as possible.
“Sometimes we’re playing really good League of Legends and I feel like we can take down anyone but then sometimes we’re making so many mistakes,” Santorin said. “Being consistent is what really matters especially in a best of five, I see our highs being very very high but we also have some very low lows.”
Taking a step in the right direction, Santorin thinks the team is getting closer to their peak and is excited to see the team come correct against the franchise’s recent bracket demon. A win by either team will qualify them directly to Worlds 2022.
“I always love playing 100 Thieves because I feel like either team can win,” Santorin said. “And that’s the best League of Legends — when you feel like there’s a lot on the line… it’s gonna be good League of Legends.”
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