Bjergsen on TL’s improvements: “I think we did make changes in the short term [after 100T loss], they just weren’t good enough.” cover image

Bjergsen on TL’s improvements: “I think we did make changes in the short term [after 100T loss], they just weren’t good enough.”

Team Liquid spoke to the press in a post-series press conference following their 3-0 defeat to Evil Geniuses.

Team Liquid was forced to watch the LCS finals from home after losing to eventual winners Evil Geniuses. The heavily favored super team crashed out of the LCS spring playoffs lower bracket following a 3-0 sweep. Although the scoreline looks one-sided, the series was far from it. Team Liquid had every opportunity to take games off of EG, they just failed to do so.

Q: Were you guys mentally able to come back after the baron steal and penta in game one for the remaining two games?

Bjergsen: I think actually it wasn't too bad. Because we were playing a lot better than them I felt like in game one and we were really in the driving seat and we lost at that moment. And it's like, those moments happen and if we continue to play like this I think we still take the series. I think throughout the game we were playing better than them. But obviously, Danny had that big moment and we had a big lapse in judgement and play.

Q: What happened in this series for EG to win 3-0 from a coaching perspective?

Guilhoto: I think it's very hard to pinpoint one specific thing. I think it was a conjecture of a lot of small things. Game One, obviously, I think, as Soren said, we were in the driving seat, but then that that steal and penta kill happens, and then we are no longer there. But I felt the game was pretty much in our control.

Game two was also a very disputed game. But I think that our comp needs to be looked at and obviously they had Diana + Yasuo ready in that case, I think it's more towards not only they were better prepared, but I think that was something in game three as well, where I think that the way that the way they were team fighting and the confidence that they were showing, going into those team fights was bigger and was a decisive factor.

Q: Can you talk about the difference in approach in terms of the drafting?

Guilhoto: So on the first draft, we just thought that there was a very, very high chance that they would not let us have Jinx and that's how the series would start. We had a couple of answers into Jinx that we wanted to bring. The first one obviously was the Xayah and Jarvan combo. I think that one was probably the best bet that we had.

In the second draft, we felt that we wanted to be a bit more on the proactive side. So we needed to up our TF priority to have that. But in hindsight, I think that was the wrong approach that we had. And I think that if we had run back the draft that we had on game one, that would probably have been a better approach. But the change was mostly just we wanted to have a little bit more priority or more proactivity in our hands.

Q: After losing the opening two games, you had a great start in game three, what were the objectives in the last game?

Bjergsen: I think as Andre said, we wanted this more power in skirmishing and fighting because in the previous game we had Twisted Fate and Jarvan into Diana and Yasuo. This is hard to fight into because you have to avoid them and find these picks, which we did sometimes, but it's generally easier to execute if you have stronger skirmishing and fighting comp.

For game three, we just wanted a team comp where we could brawl it out. I think that we did that pretty successfully in the early game and I feel like we got a bit of a lead. We ended up being really disconnected at different points in the game and not really being ready to take the fights together. Whereas EG was more connected and more ready. I felt like so I think they just outplayed us in game three.

Q: There were a lot of different factors that led to this result, how do you see yourself overcoming this obstacle?

Guilhoto: The way we overcome and make sure this does not happen again is by having a good understanding of what those obstacles were, not now, but once everyone's heads are more grounded. We will make sure that our analysis is as low emotion as possible. The biggest regret was just the series against 100 Thieves. I think that's one that we should have won.

Q: Do you think there were small things you could have changed that would have changed the outcome of the game today?

Bjergsen: I think we did make changes in the short term, they just weren't good enough. We took some learnings away from the 100 Thieves series, that we lost despite being up 2-0 and looked at how our team kind of excels and what we do best. We tried to focus on that going into this week.

Obviously, that didn't show and I also think Evil Geniuses is a formidable opponent. But yeah, I think we tried to make the adjustments from the 100 Thieves series till now, as much as we could in the short term and look at what would be the best for us. I think they generally were the right call at the time. We just weren't able to execute on it.

Q: Bwipo, today it looked like you struggled a bit in the laning phase but executed a lot of roaming plays around the map. What were your thoughts during those roams and how do you feel you contributed to the team?

Bwipo: I mean, that was only in game one. In game one I really struggled in the lane. I didn't play the match up well but in games two and three, I don't think my laning phase was bad. Yeah, in game two I think I was in control of the lane. I was farming well, in game three we swapped and think I miss played there.

Q: CoreJJ obviously, this loss is devastating. But as somebody who has invested so much into the growth of and just the talent that exists in NA. What does it mean to you to see young players like Danny succeed as somebody who has always kind of believed that there are talented players in NA?

<em>EG Vulcan and Danny embracing. Image</em> <em>courtesy of LCS via Twitter</em>
EG Vulcan and Danny embracing. Image courtesy of LCS via Twitter

CoreJJ: Yeah so I always want young LCS players to be better, but obviously I don't want them to do better than us. It doesn't matter what happened today, they were overall better than us today.

Q: Bjergsen, following game one you spent a little extra time looking at your monitor, what was the mental process like as you try to prepare for the rest of the series?

Bjergsen: So somehow in game one my flash and teleport swapped, which is the reason I accidentally flashed in game one. Which is why I sat at my computer and went into a custom game to make sure it did not happen again, I don't know how that happened. But yeah, I wasn't gathering my thoughts as such, just making sure I didn't accidentally flash again [laughs].

Q: Corejj, we have already heard from the coach but what is one thing you would have changed about today's series?

CoreJJ: Well if I could change one thing it would be the laning phase. Their laning was really weak in the early game and maybe we could have smashed the lane harder than we did.

Featured image credit: LCS via Twitter

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