Misfits Dominate Tiebreaker against TSM and Advance to Quarterfinals
Misfits put on an incredible performance in their tiebreaker match against TSM and secured a spot in the quarterfinals. They played flawlessly and outperformed NA’s top-seeded team at every step.
TSM, on the other hand, disappointingly resembled their performance at MSI earlier this year. They played passively, focused on avoiding losses rather than aiming for victories. As a result, NA LCS fans once again face disappointment for the third year in a row.
Many fans will attribute TSM’s struggles to their picks and bans, similar to the issues they faced at MSI. In their first games of the day, they opted for late-game compositions but failed to survive the early game onslaught. In the tiebreaker against Misfits, they drafted an early game Jayce for Hauntzer, but neither Svenskeren nor Bjergsen matched Misfits’ aggression towards the top lane. Ultimately, it was too little, too late.
However, the draft was just the beginning of TSM’s struggles. They played with no assertiveness, lacked proactivity, and showed no aggression. The only notable display of map control came from Svenskeren’s invade at level one. After that, they fell back into their predictable routine, avoiding risky rotations, tower dives, and forced plays. Their gameplay was stale, and they paid the price for it.
On the other hand, Misfits can be proud of their performance. Despite being expected to perform poorly compared to Fnatic, they have improved with every game in Worlds. In the tiebreaker against TSM, they looked flawless and proved themselves to be a formidable threat in the knockout stage.
The group stage continues tomorrow at 12 am ET/12 pm CST, with SK Telecom T1 facing off against ahq e-Sports Club.
Misfits, TSM, tiebreaker, quarterfinals, performance, picks and bans, draft, aggression, proactivity, gameplay, threat, knockout stage, SK Telecom T1, ahq e-Sports Club