Team Liquid methodically picked LYON apart in an impressive Grand Finals performance to defeat LYON 3-1 and secure the LCS Summer trophy.
LYON Jungler Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma was hoping to secure a record-breaking sixth title in a row in the region, but Liquid’s coordinated roster overcame the Pole’s individual prowess.
Josedeodo secures Finals MVP in Team Liquid LCS Summer triumph
Team Liquid delivered a League of Legends masterclass in macro to upset LYON 3-1 in the Grand Finals of the LCS Summer 2026 split, outplaying the LCS 2026 Lock-In and Spring champions convincingly.
The victory was primarily a team effort, with Liquid overall showing strong map control, playing situations in textbook fashion, and showing strong synergy in teamfights.
Brandon ‘Josedeodo’ Villegas did, however, secure the Finals MVP after outstanding performances on Lee Sin, Qiyana, and Wukong to help his team towards victory.
As for LYON, the team never quite looked like themselves throughout the playoffs, falling to Cloud9 3-1 in the Upper Bracket, before falling to Liquid in the Grand Final.
The roster was largely dominant throughout the year, competitively peaking with a third-placed result at MSI 2026, where they ran eventual champions Hanwha Life Esports extremely close.
But LYON have not looked as solid since Inspired’s hiatus, which saw the LYON Jungler step away from competition for most of the LCS Summer regular season, raising questions about whether their form will recover in time for Worlds.
Corejj and Spawn provide the basis for Team Liquid rebuild to succeed
The Team Liquid roster went through a major rebuild before the start of 2026, with only the bot duo of Sean ‘Yeon’ Sung and Jo ‘Corejj’ Yong-in remaining on the roster.
100 Thieves Mid Laner Lim ‘Quid’ Hyeon-seung joined the roster to start the rebuild, with Isurus Jungler Josedeodo and BRION’s Top Laner Park ‘Morgan’ Ru-han completing the rebuild.
Therefore, outside of the bot lane, the roster started as a largely unfamiliar group, requiring time together to grow, initially placing fourth in the LCS 2026 Lock-In tournament, but powering up throughout the year.
In that regard, the roster has clearly benefited from the huge experience of both their veteran Support and veteran Head Coach Jake ‘Spawn’ Tiberi, providing the roster with a strong base of fundamentals and protocols.
The victory was Corejj’s sixth LCS split victory, with another title coming in the form of the LTA 2025 Cross Conference, the first cross-regional trophy of the short-lived LTA.
Deserving a huge amount of credit for the style of the win, the victory was the third title for Spawn, who has been head coach at Liquid since November 2023.
The Liquid Head Coach immediately changed his focus to Worlds 2026, tweeting, “Number 3 was pretty special today. Woke up and knew it was in the bag so was able to enjoy every moment. Everyone on the squad worked their ass off. Let’s do some damage at Worlds.”
Can Liquid do some damage at Worlds? Share your predictions with us on the Insider Gaming Discord.
Meanwhile, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok helped Korea win another Asia Games gold medal. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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