TL;DR
- 100 Thieves leverages roster continuity and strategic opponent placement for Group A dominance
- Evil Geniuses holds roster stability advantage over Team Liquid’s newly formed super team
- Group B features the tournament’s most competitive matchup with significant playoff implications
- Early scrimmage partnerships between groups create unique preparation advantages
- Bot lane performance and jungle additions emerge as critical success factors

The LCS Lock In tournament serves as the premier kickoff event for North America’s competitive League of Legends season. With the 2022 group stage format now finalized, this analysis provides comprehensive predictions for how the initial phase will unfold, including strategic insights that could shape the entire tournament.
Understanding the Lock In format is crucial for appreciating team strategies. Unlike standard splits, this tournament allows defending champions to influence group composition through strategic opponent placement. This creates immediate psychological advantages and shapes scrimmage partnerships that can determine early tournament momentum.
For teams preparing their Class Guide strategies, the Lock In provides valuable early-season testing grounds for new compositions and playstyles.
100 Thieves Leads Lock In Group A
Group A enters the tournament under the leadership of 2021 LCS Summer Split champions 100 Thieves. As title defenders, they exercised first selection rights to place a key opponent in the opposite bracket. Their strategic decision to position Evil Geniuses in Group B reveals sophisticated tournament preparation thinking.
The 2022 #LCS Lock In Draft Results
Matches kick off on 1/14/2022 pic.twitter.com/P2KZbPYqta
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) December 15, 2021
Christopher “PapaSmithy” Smith, General Manager of 100 Thieves, provided critical insight into their selection rationale. The organization identified Evil Geniuses as potentially the strongest day-one competition, making strategic avoidance while maintaining high-level scrimmage partners the optimal approach.
For context to our fans, we picked EG as the first overall pick of the draft to send to Group B because we believe they'll be the strongest team day 1 of January.
Group A teams will scrim Group B teams, so incentivized to pick strongest possible team for best practice https://t.co/Ny23wpWPLW
— Chris Smith (@PapaSmithy) December 16, 2021
Our projections position 100 Thieves emerging as Group A’s dominant force, with Cloud9 securing a competitive second place and TSM rounding out the top three. This confidence stems from 100 Thieves’ unchanged roster configuration and their ability to leverage aggressive play patterns to establish early tournament control.
Common strategic mistakes in Group A include underestimating the value of roster continuity and over-prioritizing individual matchups over team synergy. Teams should focus on establishing early game priorities rather than attempting complex late-game compositions.
Group B Lock In 2022 Predictions
Group B presents the tournament’s most compelling competitive narrative, featuring the newly assembled Team Liquid super squad against Evil Geniuses’ formidable lineup. These two organizations clearly stand as frontrunners for Group B supremacy, creating a must-watch opening week storyline.
The return of Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg to competitive play for Team Liquid introduces significant variables. His performance level will need to approach peak capacity for TL to establish favorite status over Evil Geniuses in this bracket.
Our analysis aligns with 100 Thieves’ power assessment while projecting Evil Geniuses to claim top position in Group B. EG benefits from greater roster carryover compared to Team Liquid’s substantial reconstruction, providing established lane synergy advantages from previous seasons.
Evil Geniuses maintains bot lane strength as a cornerstone, with the addition of Kasper “Inspired” Sloma expected to amplify this strategic focus. Teams looking to improve their Weapons Unlock approach can learn from EG’s focused lane priority system.
While Team Liquid possesses day-one upset potential against Evil Geniuses, statistical modeling favors EG as the more probable group winner. Remaining Group B competitors will likely contend for third position barring unexpected performances.
Advanced players should note that Group B success often hinges on jungle-mid coordination and objective control timing. Spending 15-20 minutes analyzing opponent pathing patterns can yield significant early-game advantages.
The inter-group scrimmage partnership system creates unique preparation dynamics that can significantly impact playoff readiness. Teams that maximize these practice opportunities often carry momentum into the elimination stage.
Early tournament meta typically favors aggressive compositions with strong early-game agency, making champion selections with lane priority particularly valuable. Understanding these trends is essential for teams consulting our Complete Guide to tournament preparation.
Performance indicators to monitor include first blood participation rates, objective control efficiency, and mid-game transition smoothness. These metrics often provide better performance predictors than simple win-loss records.
The 2022 LCS Lock In tournament commences on January 14, 2022, setting the stage for North America’s competitive League of Legends narrative.
Tournament success frequently correlates with adaptive draft strategies and flexible playstyle execution. Teams that can successfully pivot between early aggression and mid-game scaling demonstrate the highest championship potential.
Action Checklist
- Analyze team draft patterns from first two games to identify strategic tendencies
- Monitor jungle pathing efficiency and early objective control rates
- Track team fight execution percentages during critical mid-game transitions
- Compare roster synergy indicators against pre-tournament projections
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