YouTube Theater saw a bloodbath Friday and Saturday afternoon as FlyQuest carried out the brutal executions of 100 Thieves and Team Liquid Honda. After conquering 100 Thieves in a 3-0 victory, FlyQuest still walked into Saturday’s match with the odds in favor of its opponent, Liquid. Despite Liquid’s dominant performance throughout the Summer split — almost emerging undefeated — its two hard carries, Impact and APA, could not squeak out a win against FlyQuest’s indomitable quintet. 

Going into Saturday’s series, most League Championship Series fans, no matter team affiliation, predicted Liquid to continue its triumphant streak. FlyQuest was not expected to win, nor was it the favorite — the team was too good to be fairly labeled an underdog but too overshadowed by Liquid to reap the benefits of mass fan faith. Regardless, FlyQuest surpassed expectations.

“The players overcoming the pressure was probably what led us to win today,” said FlyQuest “League of Legends” Head Coach Nukeduck in a post-game press conference. “Last time we were in the final, we weren’t able to play our game because of the nerves, so I would say the whole team overcame that this time around. That was very important for us.” 

FlyQuest and Liquid played an electrifying four-game series, each match subverting expectations. The series opened with a display of jungle dominance from Inspired’s Lillia, running circles around Liquid to victory. Combined with Bwipo’s stellar Olaf gameplay, which he also showcased Friday against 100 Thieves, the top laner and jungler took the first game for FlyQuest. 

In game two, Liquid fought back. FlyQuest let Nasus through the initial ban phase despite the champion catching bans in almost every game of the weekend. This inch of opportunity was all it took for APA to run away with game two on Nasus — with help from Impact on Jax and Yeon on Kalista — as FlyQuest struggled to find an answer to the infinitely scaling champ. 

Unfortunately, Liquid couldn’t find its footing after its first and only win of the day. Not only did Liquid allow Renekton to escape without a ban, resulting in Bwipo — a reported “Renekton one-trick” — instantly picking the champion, but it was also met with an unexpected Seraphine pick from Massu, FlyQuest’s AD carry. 

“My coach messaged me yesterday to play one Seraphine game, so I played her last night. We thought it was a good pick when we have enough carries top-side, so it was just a good angle to pick Seraphine,” Massu said. “I’ve played it a few times before so we thought the champ was good.”

Massu’s Seraphine, combined with Busio’s Alistar and Inspired’s Zyra, spelled disaster for Liquid as it struggled against FlyQuest’s infinite crowd control. Overall, FlyQuest put on an oppressive performance over Liquid during the third game, taking a nearly 7,000 gold lead in just 20 minutes. Needless to say, this game was a quick and clean win for FlyQuest.

“Credit to [FlyQuest], they did really good prep work, which ended up in a couple of good drafts for them — especially that game three draft,” said Liquid “LOL” Head Coach Spawn.

The fourth and final game was by far the closest, with the two teams swapping their leads multiple times throughout the match. Though Liquid led the early game, FlyQuest pulled ahead. After an unsuccessful attempt to end the game by FlyQuest, Liquid’s nexus was left open. However, Liquid wasn’t ready to give up, acing its opponent and heading straight to the enemy base to end the game. 

Unfortunately, Liquid made a key mistake — it forgot to send someone back to defend its base. The series concluded with the lifeblood of Summonor’s Rift: minions. As Liquid desperately chipped away at FlyQuest’s base, super minions melted its Leagnexus, crowning FlyQuest as the LCS champions. 

Claiming its first LCS championship title, FlyQuest will progress to Worlds later this year as North America’s top seed on Sept. 25. Whereas Team Liquid will take its shot at redemption at Worlds.