No one would have imagined that of all the teams to take down TSM, it would be Clutch Gaming in the quarterfinals. TSM’s loss against Clutch breaks a record five years old and ten seasons running. Created seven years ago, TSM has become nearly synonymous with the championship of the NA LCS after having won 6 of the last 10 NA LCS titles. In fact, since the official start of Spring and Summer Splits in 2013, TSM has never finished in position other than first or second. But that all changed when Clutch Gaming beat them handily 3-1.

After having a rocky start, TSM looked poised to take the victory against Clutch. While Clutch has done well this split – and even better now – they have lacked a certain panache that many of the teams have had. Apollo has said in many interviews that the team has been well aware of their poor reputation among fans and analysts. Jatt even said during one game that even if Clutch managed to win the Spring split, he would still find himself doubting just how good they really are.

This is because Clutch has averaged some of the slowest, lowest kill games of the entire split. Their style has been a slow whittling of their enemy, often with a priority given to CS over objectives or even kills. In this way, Clutch has actually resembled some of the past World champion teams, more so than any other current NA LCS team.

At Worlds 2017, SKT and Samsung Galaxy both had several games that relied on a controlled pacing to out-scale and out-strategize their opponent, but they also showed an ability to adapt to their enemies playstyle quickly and efficiently. This was what happened in the quarterfinals when TSM forced Clutch into a corner they thought would surely take them out. Instead of buckling when forced out of their usual pace, Clutch rose to the challenge, and after only a single loss, they came back hard to defeat TSM 3-1.

What the game came down to was decisiveness and surety. Clutch was sure of what they were doing and what they were committing to. TSM played like a team without a headset. In just this early engage, MikeYeung can be seen backing away from the gank that Bjergsen is going headlong into and then having to turn back to reengage. By comparison, once Febiven moves in to fight, he doesn’t waver. He doesn’t flinch even as TSM comes at him hard, and the difference in their confidence was what made plays successes and failures. Skill never even came into the equation because as a team, Clutch believed in and committed to the plays they made.

Meanwhile, TSM just played like a team out of sorts. Engages were muddled and sloppy, coordination was nearly nonexistent, and once again, their bot lane seemed to be operating on a different plane than the rest of the team. None of which is to diminish Clutch’s win.

For the first time all split, Clutch looks like a team that just might take the NA LCS championship, and with games like this, they’ll have earned it.