Tale of two mids: Bjergsen vs. Hai in the NA LCS Finals
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Team SoloMid's Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg knows Cloud9 well. This will be the fourth time he and TSM have faced off against C9 in the North American LCS Finals. "We know what they play, they pretty much know what we play," he says. "It's going to be a lot about how the teams play."
On the other side of the Rift, Hai "Hai" Lam and the rest of Cloud9 are preparing themselves for what Hai calls a "grudge match" between the two squads.
At the core of the matchup is the two mid laners. The talented solo lane carry and the mastermind shot caller will be going head-to-head this Sunday to once again find out who can lead their team to victory.
Hai, on the other hand, is a bit more scared of the matchup, saying "I'd argue that Bjergsen is better than me, but I wouldn't say that he's better than me by a lot. If the lane was left 1 vs. 1 and I have a good champion pick into his, I don't imagine either of us dying or getting behind that far."
He continues, "I don't necessarily think there's a huge mechanical difference from X player to Y player. For example, people can say that Bjergsen is the best mid laner. That's probably true, but how much better mechanically is he than another person? He's really good, don't get me wrong, but the reason he's so dominant is because of his wave control."
"I don't think there's a player that's that much better than another that they can just win a game by themselves, at least at the top level of play. After that, it just comes down to who plays it better and who's smarter. Who has a better draft and who can play the game better? It revolves more around that than individual play at the top tier."
Hai notes that Cloud9 has become known for staying ahead of the rest of the world in terms of new picks, particularly from the support position. "Lemon happens to be really good at finding out what champions are good and bad in the current meta," he says. "He picked up Nautilus right away, he picked up Veigar right away. It helps to be on top of the meta. If you fall behind, it's going to hurt you. We're very open to experimenting and trying new things."
Hai seems a bit more nervous. "I think if we play like we did this week, it's very likely that we'll lose next week. Even though we won [the Semifinals against Team Liquid], I don't think our level of play is high enough to take first."
Will Cloud9 step it up? Or will TSM ride high to their second NA LCS Championship in a row? Keep your eyes on Lolesports to find out. And if you miss the Best of 5 series, check out the spoiler-free VODs page to catch up.
Riot RoboTayCo is a Leona main. That means he only goes in. Like, all the time. You can follow him on Twitter for his thoughts on everything from League to bands you don't care about. That'd be cool of you.
We win as a team
There is a temptation to compare the two players on their individual merits. Sure, Bjergsen may have the 1 vs. 1 advantage on paper, but even he admits that those sorts of matchups don't matter as much as they used to. "The current meta isn't really much about the 1 vs. 1," he says. "We don't really see LeBlanc vs. Zed skill matchups. Someone might not die in the laning phase. It's very passive. We pick for the team, and what we do is for the team. It's a lot more jungle focused and team focused than the 1 vs. 1."
Hai, on the other hand, is a bit more scared of the matchup, saying "I'd argue that Bjergsen is better than me, but I wouldn't say that he's better than me by a lot. If the lane was left 1 vs. 1 and I have a good champion pick into his, I don't imagine either of us dying or getting behind that far."
He continues, "I don't necessarily think there's a huge mechanical difference from X player to Y player. For example, people can say that Bjergsen is the best mid laner. That's probably true, but how much better mechanically is he than another person? He's really good, don't get me wrong, but the reason he's so dominant is because of his wave control."
"I don't think there's a player that's that much better than another that they can just win a game by themselves, at least at the top level of play. After that, it just comes down to who plays it better and who's smarter. Who has a better draft and who can play the game better? It revolves more around that than individual play at the top tier."
Execution, execution, execution
According to both Hai and Bjergsen, the matchup will be decided on each team's ability to execute their plans. "I think both us and C9 have very similar champion pools and play styles," says Bjergsen. "Going up against C9, it's about who plays better on the day." Prior the Semifinals, TSM and C9 had been scrimming each other in order to prepare for their respective series. That means it's going to be pretty tough for them to pull out any surprise champion picks. Don't think they won't have something up their sleeves for the Best of 5, though. Bjergsen in particular feels he needs to be ready for what Cloud9 can pull out. "I think Hai is definitely going to pick up more champions," he says. "I'm pretty sure he played Corki pretty much every game. He has a week [to learn new champions], he can play a lot of new things. In scrims [last week], we were practicing for Team Impulse, not to counter C9. So, right now, we don't have counterpicks. We're going to look to prepare for that [for the Finals]."
Hai notes that Cloud9 has become known for staying ahead of the rest of the world in terms of new picks, particularly from the support position. "Lemon happens to be really good at finding out what champions are good and bad in the current meta," he says. "He picked up Nautilus right away, he picked up Veigar right away. It helps to be on top of the meta. If you fall behind, it's going to hurt you. We're very open to experimenting and trying new things."
Confidence
So, who's going to take the home the NA LCS trophy? Bjergsen is feeling confident. While many analysts and players have recognized that TSM tends to win based on a mid-focused strategy, TSM's star mid laner says that they've developed past the point of Lucas "Santorin" Larsen camping Bjergsen's lane much of the game. "We've been slowly moving away from just pressuring mid," he says. "I don't think anyone can just go into the game saying that TSM will camp mid lane, because it's definitely not what we did against TiP." With their newfound strategic diversity, he says, TSM should be a force to be reckoned with both in the NA LCS and internationally.
Hai seems a bit more nervous. "I think if we play like we did this week, it's very likely that we'll lose next week. Even though we won [the Semifinals against Team Liquid], I don't think our level of play is high enough to take first."
Will Cloud9 step it up? Or will TSM ride high to their second NA LCS Championship in a row? Keep your eyes on Lolesports to find out. And if you miss the Best of 5 series, check out the spoiler-free VODs page to catch up.
Riot RoboTayCo is a Leona main. That means he only goes in. Like, all the time. You can follow him on Twitter for his thoughts on everything from League to bands you don't care about. That'd be cool of you.
to the top once again! And TSM will 
back to the bottom. #Punsfordays #PunsofDMG #TSMSucks #FREESM #HatersGonnaHate #Aintersgonnaaint #Cloud9ForLyfe
