League of Legends LCS finals preview: How strong is the Liquid playoff buff?
By Josh Tyler
Mid lane
Probably the most hyped match-up in the series is going to be the rematch of Bjergsen vs. Jensen for the LCS championship. These two have faced each other in the LCS finals twice before, with Bjergsen coming up victorious both times. Now, though, Jensen looks poised to finally take the crown from Bjerg.
Like Xmithie and Impact, Jensen has also surpassed his regular season performance, which was quite good. He too has improved his kills per game, assists per game, kill participation, kill share, and damage numbers. He also faced Liquid’s former mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park, who performed solidly in the regular split, so his improved numbers didn’t come against inferior competition.
On the other hand, though, Bjergsen’s performance in the playoffs as compared to the regular season has been lackluster. His gold generation numbers, both in GPM and gold share, are below his regular season line, and he’s actually averaging a gold deficit coming out of lane in the playoffs. This is in spite of the fact that he faced Kim “Fenix” Jae-hun – one of the worst mids in the LCS last split – and Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer. Nisqy is a good mid laner, to be sure, but Bjergsen was one of the best laners in the spring split and shouldn’t be falling behind that badly that often in lane.
But there is one other elephant in the room that needs to be mentioned before I declare the Liquid playoff buff enough for Jensen to beat Bjergsen. The mental edge that Bjergsen has over his Danish opponent.
Over his career, Jensen has a record of 19-25 (.432 win percentage) with a 160/93/226 KDA (4.15 overall KDA). Compare that to just this last split where he had a.778 win percent and 14.17 KDA overall.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Bjergsen has absolutely owned Jensen in their head-to-head meetings, particularly in the playoffs. There is a lot of mental baggage on the side of Jensen he’s trying to overcome in this playoff series. He has the playoff buff on him, but can he finally conquer Bjergsen and get the monkey off his back? I don’t think so.
Advantage – TSM