Golden Guardians Upset FlyQuest To Qualify for the LCS Finals and Take NA’s Second MSI Spot

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Golden Guardians Upset FlyQuest To Qualify for the LCS Finals and Take NA’s Second MSI Spot

Golden Guardians will face Cloud9 in the 2023 LCS Spring Finals.


FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians would’ve been considered an unlikely Lower Bracket Finals matchup at the start of Spring Split. FlyQuest was heavily favored to make the Finals directly and win the league while Golden Guardians were seen as a mid-table team. But despite the low community opinion about them, the Guardians surprised everyone during playoffs with their amazing run. On the opposite, FlyQuest drew more and more criticism as the split went on, with their chances to lift the trophy heavily questioned as we got to this series.

The main part of the criticism was directed at the FlyQuest mid and support, especially Eyla. The org itself might’ve felt the same way as they made an unexpected substitution before the series. Winsome returned to the starting support position with Eyla stepping back. With Winsome, FlyQuest went 8-1 during the regular split and the bot lane coordination with Prince was a lot better since Winsome is also a Korean speaker.

FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians Game 1

Not a lot of surprises in the draft phase for either team. A hyper carry bot laner for Prince with a beefy front line on the FlyQuest side while Golden Guardians went for an aggressive pick for River with Elise.

River and Golden Guardians played the early game really well, taking advantage of their jungle matchup. They won everything on the map including a quadra kill for Stixxay’s Zeri at Herald, except for the first drake. But FlyQuest solo laners were huge in teamfights as they kept shutting Stixxay early on. Multiple fights in a row going toward FlyQuest’s way meant they were able to secure the Ocean Soul and a Baron, bringing the gold lead toward their side.

FlyQuest did a much better job at leveraging their lead. They pushed Golden Guardians into their base and eventually found a favorable fight at the Elder. Licorice almost saved the game with a hero play, but an ahead FlyQuest with Elder was too much to hold back and the Guardians found themselves one game behind to start the series.

  • Teams: FLY 1 – 0 GG
  • Time: 32:50
  • Kills: 26 – 14
  • Turrets: 9 – 2
  • Gold: 68.3k – 55.5k
  • Dragons: 5 – 0
  • Barons: 1 – 0
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FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians Game 2

The spicy drafts started showing for Game 2 for Golden Guardians with a Kennen top and Jarvan support.

Golden Guardians once again had a much better start to the game. Despite giving up the first drake again, the Guardians found multiple early kills and the first Herald for a nearly 5k gold lead. FlyQuest’s numbered play attempts were answered by the Golden Guardians mid-jungle duo. They gave them no comeback angles while snowballing their leads. The game was looking over with Golden Guardians going for a Baron but Spica found the miracle steal and kept his team in it.

The prolonged game wasn’t that much help for FlyQuest. They kept getting caught around the map and weren’t even strong enough to contest 5v5. Golden Guardians grew their gold lead as they waited for Baron and Elder to spawn, but they didn’t even need the latter as they just aced FlyQuest around the drake to tie the series.

  • Teams: GG 1 – 1 FLY
  • Time: 38:15
  • Kills: 33 – 6
  • Turrets: 9 – 3
  • Gold: 79.2k – 62.5k
  • Dragons: 4 – 1
  • Barons: 1 – 2

FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians Game 3

Both drafts were more standard for Game 3 so we got a slower early game. Golden Guardians had a 1k gold lead, but FlyQuest was content with their late game scaling comp and their first two drakes. FlyQuest was winning most fights they took a very disorganized one near Baron at 20 minutes. Golden Guardians found three kills and secured the objectives, but they gave over two kills back to FlyQuest ADC which meant they couldn’t utilize their buff. As the game went on, FlyQuest comp started showing its strength during 5v5s. With them taking a Baron and the mid lane inhibitor, Golden Guardians tried to go for a flank play. Unfortunately, it was too disorganized and FlyQuest turned the fight around, ending the game right there.

  • Teams: FLY 2 – 1 GG
  • Time: 30:18
  • Kills: 13 – 5
  • Turrets: 6 – 2
  • Gold: 53.9k – 50.7k
  • Dragons: 3 – 2
  • Barons: 1 – 1
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FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians Game 4

FlyQuest got themselves a very comfortable draft with Prince on Lucian and a counter pick Sylas for GG’s Malphite pick. FlyQuest also found the early gold lead first time in the series. With the early kills going to Prince, Fly was able to move their ADC around the map and convert the lead to objectives. FlyQuest was comfortably in the lead but Prince made a critical misstep in the mid lane when he gave a shutdown to Gori. This gave GG the confidence to contest the Soul point where they found a massive engage from Malphite and Rakan, acing the enemy team and sending the series to Silver Scrapes.

  • Teams: GG 2 – 2 FLY
  • Time: 31:08
  • Kills: 10 – 9
  • Turrets: 7 – 6
  • Gold: 54.8k – 53.3k
  • Dragons: 1 – 3
  • Barons: 1 – 0

FlyQuest vs Golden Guardians Game 5

Win or go home, FlyQuest put all their chips into their bot lane’s pocket with the Sion level one invade and bot side dive strategy. But a great response from Golden Guardians prevented the dive and they got the first blood on Stixxay. River followed it up with another gank and kill in the mid lane, giving his team a 1k early lead. FlyQuest stabilized the game with a smart lane swap and they were stacking drakes, but their momentum stopped once they took a couple of bad fights. Mistakes from their side started to pile up and Golden Guardians further pushed their lead by taking a Baron with a massive Fiora performance from Licorice.

There was only one thing FlyQuest could do at this point, engage and hope for the best. The best was not good enough as they got aced one last time.

  • Teams: FLY 2 – 3 GG
  • Time: 28:47
  • Kills: 5 – 25
  • Turrets: 2 – 9
  • Gold: 45.4k – 60.8k
  • Dragons: 2 – 2
  • Barons: 0 – 1

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