Cloud9 and Team Liquid will be fighting for the championship in Oracle Arena. The two teams that earned a bye in the regular season reached the finals. Cloud9 finally succeeded to defeat TSM in a Bo5 series and Team Liquid again stood in the way of 100 Thieves.

※ Day 1: Cloud9 vs TSM

When C9 was cornered by TSM into a match point 1-2, Reapered boldly made the decision to sub in Goldenglue and Svenskeren, who led C9 academy team to the Academy World championship just the day before. They turned the game around to take the win 3-2.

In the first three games, Cloud9 played Blaber and Jensen. However, Bjergsen and Zven carried games 1 and 3 over Sneaky’s Quinn. In game 2, there were several skirmishes that TSM came out on top, but the macro game was in C9’s favor; after a few big wins in teamfights, C9 took the win.

Goldenglue and Svenskeren appeared in game 4. Although C9 lost a big teamfight at bot, the kills were on Mithy’s Tahm Kench. Sneaky’s Varus was as good as game 2, and the damage coming out from the two marksmen was too much for TSM. C9 closed the game without much trouble.

The final match went rather fast considering it was the most important match of the day. C9’s macro shined again, as they took down TSM’s turrets without giving up any of their own. When TSM went for the Ocean Drake, C9 found a kill on Zven’s Swain near top inhibitor and continued to apply more pressure. TSM tried to stop them, but they were forced on a 4v5 fight and lost. C9 destroyed TSM’s final Nexus in 24 minutes.

※ Day 2: Team Liquid vs 100 Thieves

100 Thieves started Rikara in place of Cody Sun. Team Liquid’s start wasn’t good; they gave up game 1, but won the following three games and succeeded to the finals. As of this win, they have secured a spot at Worlds as well.

After taking a week off, game 1 was creaky for TL. First blood, first turret both went to 100T. Ssumday and AnDa took control of the game with 100% KP. After slaying their second Baron, 100T marched on to destroy TL’s base.

The following games smiled to TL. Doublelift went 15/0/18 in the next three games, dominating the laning phase against Rikara. With the advantage in the bottom lane, Xmithie had more time to care for the other lanes. As a result, 100T again was denied by TL.

▣ 2018 NA LCS Semifinals

Game 1: Cloud9 (L) vs TSM (W)
Game 2: Cloud9 (W) vs TSM (L)
Game 3: TSM (W) vs Cloud9 (L)
Game 4: Cloud9 (W) vs TSM (L)
Game 5: Cloud9 (W) vs TSM (L)

Game 1: 100 Thieves (W) vs Team Liquid (L)
Game 2: 100 Thieves (L) vs Team Liquid (W)
Game 3: Team Liquid (W) vs 100 Thieves (L)
Game 4: Team Liquid (W) vs 100 Thieves (L)

▣ 2018 NA LCS Finals Schedule (Bo5)

September 8th: TSM vs 100 Thieves (3rd Place Match)
September 9th: Cloud9 vs Team Liquid (Finals)