LCS Playoff Preview: FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians

Golden Guardians accomplished what many hoped of them at the beginning of the split of making their first playoff appearance in team history. Even though they struggled to do so, they will be able to prove that they belong in the top six teams when they face FlyQuest on Saturday at 4:00 PM ET.

FlyQuest had some inconsistent weeks throughout the split and even finished the last week with an 0-2 record, but are still favored as the higher seed to take the series and move on to the semifinals.

Golden Guardians

Roster

Top Lane: Hauntzer

Jungle: Contractz

Mid Lane: Froggen

ADC: Deftly

Support: Olleh

Coach: Inero

How they got here

Golden Guardians have come a long way since the 2018 season. Still, the beginning of the split started abysmally for the Guardians, that started with an 0-4 even after revamping their roster. Golden Guardians went 4-2 in the following three weeks. Regardless of the slow start, Golden Guardians were able to qualify for their first playoff appearance in the team's history.

During the final week of the regular split GGS, went 2-0 picking up a victory versus OpTiC and FlyQuest. The win versus FlyQuest meant that a tiebreaker had to be played to decide, which team would qualify as the number four seed. During the Tiebreaker, GGS was unable to pick up the victory and thus will not have side selection in the first game of the first set.

Playstyle

It's all about team fighting for the Golden Guardians. Froggen is known as the scaling mid laner with highly unconventional picks, including Swain, Anivi, and Karthus. Team fighting might have started as a meme, but it is something that is very evident from the GGS side. Deftly has been showing some of his potential with the scaling picks and has shown him be able to handle some team fights more swiftly. It will be a key factor as it goes later into the game, especially against WildTurtle.

Hauntzer will also be a key factor and will want to show his veteran status as he plays against rookie V1per. It will be important to see how Contractz handles the early game portions of the game and helps his solo laners rach key power spikes will be a crucial win condition for the team.

FlyQuest

Roster

Top Lane: V1per

Jungle: Santorin

Mid Lane: Pobelter

ADC: WildTurtle

Support: JayJ

Coach: Invert

How they got here

Flyquest almost experienced the inverse Golden Guardians' experience. At the end of the second week, Analysts and fans considered FlyQuest lock for a definite top three team. After going 3-1, they faltered to a 4-5 to finish the first half of the split. Even though Flyquest finished in fourth place due to the tiebreaker, they did lose some momentum by losing the last two games prior to the tiebreaker.

Flyquest has proven many that doubted them wrong by showing up throughout the regular season and making it into playoffs. V1per had some standout performances at the beginning of the split, and towards the end of it, we saw Wildturtle get back into form and prove that he is still an incredible carry. FlyQuest currently holds a 6-1 all-time record against GGS and will be looking to push it all the way to nine wins after the series.

Playstyle

FlyQuest has a nice balance of veterans and rookies in their team that gives them a variety of strategies when it comes on playing the game. FlyQuest will rely on Santorin and Pobelter to help towards the top side of the map that can be the weaker side of the map for them. When looking at the bottom side FLY will want to see WildTurtle be the carry while playing against a more volatile matchup in Deftly and Olleh.

FlyQuest has been a good team fighting, that also relies heavily on how well their solo lanes perform. Pobelter is still the only native North American mid laner left in the playoffs and will be a key factor when fighting against a veteran such as Froggen. FlyQuest will also be looking to help V1per in his first playoff match as he faces Hauntzer and will be trying to apply pressure in the side lanes with his high mechanical skill cap.

Matchup to Watch

Pobelter vs Froggen

Froggen is a household name for many longtime fans of the LCS, and it will be refreshing to see him back in the playoffs after four years of not making it. He will be facing a veteran Pobelter, and this will be an extremely close matchup between two known veterans. Froggen is known for his wide variety of champion picks, but Pobelter should match up nicely as he has had experience playing against Froggen ever since Froggen came to NA.

This can be a potential coin flip but if GGS are able to get some of the strong picks that only Froggen is currently playing can be good for them and have FlyQuest on the backfoot.

Hauntzer vs V1per

It is no surprise that the solo lanes will be the main focus of the match as the game gets underway. The most impactful of the two matchups will probably be Hautzer and V1per. V1per is the clear candidate of Rookie of the Split, but he will be fighting against multiple time LCS Champion, Hauntzer.

The match will also be reliant on Jungle pressure not just on top lane itself but also on the bottom side of the map. This can be a volatile match up, but V1per has shown that he can handle the other matchups rather well. It is possible to see a Riven game in this series to have V1per show his full potential in his first playoff series.

Who do you think will take this match? Let us know via Twitter. Also, be on the lookout for other playoff previews coming up soon!

Image VIA: Tina Jo and Riot Games