League of Legends LCS finals preview: How strong is the Liquid playoff buff?

The North American League of Legends championship will be decided this weekend. Is the fabled “playoff buff” enough to propel Liquid to another LCS title or will TSM end their streak?

The LCS finals approach this Saturday as TSM looks to end the reign of two-time defending champion Team Liquid (“TL”). After three months of grinding soloQ and scrims, it comes down to one best-of-five match for the title of best League of Legends team in North America for spring 2019.

Legacies will be formed, solidified, or changed with the outcome of this series. A TSM win would make their mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg the player with the most LCS titles (6) over the course of a career. A TSM win would also make ADC Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen the only player in history to have won both an LCS/NA LCS and LEC/EU LCS title.

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On the other hand, a win by Team Liquid would give ADC Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng the winningest player in LCS history in terms of titles, as it would give him his sixth championship. It would also tie jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero with Bjergsen for titles (it would be his fifth).

This would also be the first title, of any kind, for TSM’s Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik or Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham or (incredibly) for Liquids Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen.

With so much on the line, the only real question is this: who will come out on top Saturday?