2023 LCS Championship Finals Weekend Preview

Full schedule, matchups, and analysis of the 2023 LCS Championship weekend. Who will win?

Author:
Nick Geracie
Publish date:
Aug 18, 2023 11:18 AM EDT

The conclusion of the 2023 League Championship Series Championship is set to take place this weekend at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. All three teams competing have already qualified for the World Championship this fall, so aside from specific Worlds seeding, what truly is on the line is a shot at the title of 2023 LCS summer champion.

Lower Bracket Final: NRG vs Team Liquid Honda

NRG and Team Liquid Honda were the first match of the first round of the LCS Championship, and since their initial meeting, they have had very different routes through the post-season.

Following a slow start to the Summer Split, NRG went 6-3 to finish 9-9 and secure the 5th seed, but their post-season play has been on another level. NRG made quick work of 4th seed Team Liquid 3-1, but truly established themselves as contenders when they upset 2nd seed and spring finalist Golden Guardians by the same score, punching their ticket to Worlds 2023 in the process. NRG fell to Cloud9 3-0 in the upper bracket final, but the nature of the series was more competitive than the score would indicate.

After a disappointing 8th place finish in the LCS Spring Split, TLH came out of the gate strong in summer at 4-0, but only won a single match of their next five. TL Challenger mid laner Eain “APA” Stearns was promoted in place of Harry “Haeri” Kang, a move that paid off in a 6-3 finish to the Summer Split and the 4th seed heading into the postseason.

Team Liquid Honda has played more matches than any other team in the LCS Championship. After losing to NRG in the first round of the post-season, TLH ran the lower bracket gauntlet, toppling 8th seed 100 Thieves 3-1, 3rd seed Evil Geniuses 3-1, and 2nd seed Golden Guardians 3-2 on their way to a rematch with NRG in the lower bracket final.

If NRG were to take down Team Liquid Honda and Cloud9 this weekend, it would be the first tier 1 domestic title for every starting player sans AD carry Victor “FBI” Huang. Jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia has not been to the LCS finals or Worlds since his rookie split on Cloud9 in the summer of 2017, and for him to take them down to win his first-ever LCS Championship would make it all the more special.

If Team Liquid Honda were to win it all, it would be proof that the reset on the organization’s approach to competing in the LCS in 2023 was the right one. After missing Worlds 2022 by a single game, TLH built an all-Korean speaking roster around support Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in in an effort to get the most out of the former World Champion and put him in the driver’s seat.

More impressively, the team has continued to grow despite now fielding a starting mid laner that speaks no Korean at all. TLH hoisting the trophy this weekend would give the organization their first LCS title since they won four in a row through 2019 and 2020, and re-establish CoreJJ as one of the very best players to ever grace the LCS stage.

Grand Final: Cloud9 awaits at the top

The lower bracket final is bound to be competitive and interesting, but if the same ends up being true for the grand final, it would be a surprise. Cloud9 has utterly dominated the LCS for the past year and a half – they’ve won back-to-back domestic titles, finished 1st in both splits this year, and have not dropped a single LCS post-season series in that time. C9 is favored against whichever team they play against this Sunday, and if they win, it would be their third LCS title in a row – a first for the organization – and their 7th overall.

The win could be especially historic for jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang. If C9 starts the grand final 1-0, Blaber would eclipse Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg for highest winrate at 300 career LCS games, and a dominant win for Cloud9 would likely solidify him as the best jungler in North American history.