League of Legends: sorry Liquid you’re not the best LCS team of all time…yet

Comparing Liquid to past NA dynasties

Let’s take a look at Team Liquid’s reign during this two year stretch for a little more insight into what is holding them back from being the undisputed best team in the LCS. In those two splits during the regular season, TL has a combined 51-21 regular-season record (28-8 in 2019, when most would say they had an arguably better roster). That is a 70.83% winning percentage over that two year period.

When you factor in domestic playoffs as well for those two years (when they went a combined 24-8) their overall domestic record is 75-29, bringing their winning percentage up to 72.12%. Clearly, Liquid has been one of the most consistent teams during this run, never losing a single playoff series or more than four regular-season games during their stronger 2019 iteration. But let’s go back a little further.

You see, back before the Liquid dynasty emerged, there was another LCS dynasty running the table under the banner of TSM. Not surprisingly, ADC Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng made an appearance on that team before starting a new dynasty with Liquid. That TSM team won three straight LCS titles (one without Doublelift when he temporarily retired) and was called one of the best domestic teams ever. So how does Liquid compare?

Well, during this three-year stretch TSM went a combined 96-33 in the regular season (thanks to LCS being in a best-of-three format during that time) giving them a regular-season win rate of 74.42%. With a playoff record of 15-5 during that time, TSM had an overall record of 111 wins and 38 losses, a winning percentage of 74.50%. In terms of domestic dominance, TSM was slightly better during that three-year stretch than Liquid was during their four-year stretch.

But let’s go back further even. Before TSM’s dynasty got off the ground, there was an era where no team in North America could touch another even more dominant dynasty.

Back in Season 3, an upstart team named Cloud9 entered the LCS during the summer split and proceeded to wreak havoc over the league. They ran up a record of 25-3 during the regular split and swept their way to a championship with an overall record of 30-3.

The next season, C9 came back and did it all again in the Spring Split, posting a 24-4 record during the regular season followed by another perfect playoff run. Over these two splits, C9 posted a ridiculous combined record of 59-7. That summer, Cloud9 looked poised to cement their dynasty as the most dominant, with an underwhelming 18-10 regular season that still netted them the best record in the LCS.

After another 3-0 series win in the semi-finals, C9 lost their first playoff games ever during the finals series, losing to TSM. Over this three-split period, Cloud9 won two championships but posted an overall record of 82-20. That’s a winning percentage of 80.39% over this year-and-a-half spread.

So Liquid have not been as domestically dominant as the previous dynasties, but what about all their international performances. Well, about that…