?Introduction
If you look at the state of the North American competitive scene and compare it to a time before LCS, you'll notice that a lot of the veterans, while still solid, are not holding the torch and being represented as the strongest teams in their region. While Team Solomid is still doing well, they were once the undisputed kings of North America. When Cloud 9 popped in, massive changes were on the horizon as their performances were astounding.
Now, we see a lot of teams in a bit of a rut with the pressure higher than ever. No longer can teams skimp on practice and still remain at the top of the North American region. The competition is stiff and each team is being tested on their vitality as a squad when put under the pressure of losing their jobs. Let's take a look at what each team needs to do to have a chance at worlds in the North American LCS playoffs.
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??Since adding Bloodwater to the team Vulcun has been a new team. Everything that Vulcun had go wrong for them pre-Bloodwater looks to have been remedied. After a decently long break between the Spring and Summer split Vulcun came into the LCS looking a bit shaky. With a subpar start in the first two weeks going 4-3, Vulcun turned up the heat to start their chase towards Cloud 9. Since that period Vulcun has only lost 5 games and maintained the second best record for 6 straight weeks. With perhaps some of the most improved players in from the spring split Vulcun has the opportunity to hold onto one of the top spots in the S3 Summer Split Playoffs.
Vulcun throughout the split combined for a total of 20-8 and also managed to not fall below .500 against any team. With Vulcun playing so solid and the improvement of every one of their players , Vulcun looks to be one of the teams able to strike fear into the hearts of many teams tbo come.
What Vulcun needs to do:
Vulcun needs to play like Vulcun in order to succeed. In week 7 of LCS Summer Split Vulcun tried to go out of their comfort zone and try the Cloud 9 Strategy. While Vulcun didn’t drop the week completely, they came close to their first no win week. In order for Vulcun to succeed the comfort zone has to be there for the bot lane. Zuna’s sub par laning phase will be a target for teams that will play them, so the other lanes will have to make up for it as they have been all season. If Vulcun can successfully pull out of the laning phase with minimal losses then teams will have to be prepared to face one of the most terrifying team fight skilled team in the LCS.
Vulcun will need their MVP Midlaner to continue to play as strong as he has been all season. Mandatory Cloud throughout the split played impressively gathering the most kills in the two splits of LCS with a combined total of 167. Vulcun is a team that relies heavily on each other with a heavily reactionary playstyle. In order for them to succeed the team will need to get each player to his comfort zone, once that is attained very few teams will be able to stop this bullet train.
Cloud 9’s rookie campaign into the LCS was predicted early on to be highly successful, however nobody dreamed that they would end the split losing only 3 times all season. Cloud 9 has proven since the first week that they were a team on a mission and that each of their players want nothing more than to win. This North American team has been called out over and over with one of the highest possible praises that League fans could possibly give, they play like Koreans. The truth of this is they have taken what they have learned from the Korean teams and have added their own style.
With only two teams to have beaten this team all split, nobody really wants to play against them. After Patch 3.10 was implemented into LCS, fans thought that they would fall off from the tower buffs. Teams tend to forgot that Cloud 9 did not always play like the koreans, as they came into LCS successfully dominating Complexity. With their great synergy and brilliant theory crafting, CLoud 9 is one of the most fearsome teams in the LCS if not the most.
What Cloud 9 need to do:
Cloud 9 like Vulcun just need to continue playing at the same pace they have been playing all season. Cloud 9 is a team that relies on comfort seeing as they have the least amount of champion diversity in the NA Summer Split with 29 different champions. Cloud 9 prefer to play with champions that they know will work and fit with their playstyle. Of the players of C9, Meteos would be the prime target to remove from his comfort zone with Nasus and Zac as his two most played champion. Both of these champions combine for an impressive 18-0 win/loss and average a 28.88 KDA. If Cloud 9 is to keep the entire team running optimally they would have to have their star jungler be in his prime comfort zone.
While their comfort is important to the teams fantastic plays, Cloud 9 also has one major issue that bugs them. Of the losses that Cloud 9 have suffered in LCS, they have been plagued with level 1 issues. When Cloud 9 lose out on their pre-laning phase they don’t perform quite as well as they normally do. If everything goes right for Cloud 9 pre-laning phase then it will be hard for teams to slow down that momentum train that they utilize so often.
After the acquisition of Edward from gambit Gaming fans believed that this is the push that Curse needed to propel themselves to the top of the standings. Curse started off the summer split in terrible form, as they entered the first week going 1-4. The team had a variety of issues coming in as Edward had to adjust to english with his new team and poor performances all around. After such a rocky start Curse finally managed to show some promise at superweek going 4-1 to push them to 4th place.
While this team doesn’t look as strong as the spring split version, the summer split curse has aggression. With Edward at the helm of bot lane, Curse has achieved a team that can go full aggression at any time of the game that can completely change the tides of battle. Curse will enter PAX with momentum that few teams will be able to stop if they played like week 9.
What Curse needs to do:
The old Curse relied on Voyboy and Saint to carry them from game to game, however when needed Jacky was never hesitant to step up. This new Curse however needs all 5 members to act more like a team instead of 5 top tiered solo que players. The team still has some ways to go with synergy, but one thing for sure is the bot lane has finally synced together. Cop and Edward are perhaps the brightest ray of hope as they coordinate as well as Batman and Robin. With the aggression from Edward, Cop has finally started to play with aggression of his own making these two a formidable opponent to any lane.
SaintVicious is notorious for missing his smite. If Curse want to advance to Worlds then the team cannot afford to have their jungler mistime his smite over and over. With a website specifically meant to call out the last missed smite, Saintvicious will have to prove that even Grandpa still can keep up just as well as any young one. This will be a core component of the teams success as they will play Dignitas in the first round. Both of these teams constantly are drawn to baron like insects, but whoever wins the Baron will take the lead. In order for Curse to come out on top Saint has to either hit the smite, or Curse should focus on other objectives as the Baron pit is a deathtrap for all teams.
Dignitas has been in the LoL eSport gaming for years, marking themselves as veterans in a sea of up and coming North American squadrons. While the team has strong statics such as Imaqtpie and Scarra, many of the old roster has moved on to play with other teams or perform other roles. Most notably would be Jatt, Dignitas’ ex-jungler, moving on to be one of two ofthe most admired casters in the scene.
Coming from a relatively successful background and a 2nd place finish in the Regionals last season, Dignitas is in a bit of a rut when compared to previous glory. While the team ultimately can and have taken games from any other team in the split, they’ve shown and uncomfortable level of inconsistency in-between weekends. The “hit-or-miss” quality of performance has proven a massive hindrance with the increasingly consistent performance shown by all teams in North America. It may be hard, but Dignitas at full potential could actually take fi
What Dignitas needs to do:
The key to performing well for Dignitas is going to be the same as it’s always been in the LCS -- developing strategies and unique picks for Scarra that are studied little and allow him to completely carry. Scarra has the uncanny ability to take a champion not seen much in competitive play and absolutely dominate with it, granted the team does not have a way to properly study and counter it beforehand. We saw this the first time he pulled out Master Yi in the LCS, utterly smashing with it until it was used far too often. If Dignitas does that and the rest of the team builds around Scarra, the team will be grateful for this decision.
On the other hand, Dignitas isn’t completely “the Scarra show.” In fact, Scarra only truly shines in light of the aforementioned situations while players like Crumbzz, Imaqtpie, and Patoy are often the ones with the strong backs for the teams. Do note that KiWiKiD was, in fact, intentionally left out. This is not because he is a bad player, but because Dignitas needs to take a unique approach to apply his playstyle in areas of strength that compliment his weak laning vulnerability. Having been picked up in the Asian regions, a champion like Yorick would be a great pick up for Kiwikid, or perhaps some better practice with Zac, who is one of the hardest champions to dive successfully. Crumbzz should avoid Kiwikid’s lane altogether and instead focus on snowballing Imaqtpie, while Scarra grabs a safe 1v2 AP champion -- unless of course he pulls something out of his sleeve.
Team Solomid has been a staple in the international gaming scene for years, but for the first time ever, they have a slight risk to not make it on the world stage. Without a doubt, Team Solomid has been the best team in North America for up until this point, and that is undisputable. However, the team morale and attitude was completely different when they were, well...winning everything all the time.
Having placed third in the Season 1 World Championships but being immediately knocked out immediately by Azubu Frost in the Season 2 World Championships may show a weakened global presence from the old “on-par-with-M5” days, but their strength on the western shores remains unwavered. While perhaps not as strong as Cloud 9, Team Solomid is still a force to be reckoned with and a close second.
What Team Solomid needs to do:
The success of Team Solomid is almost strictly going to be dictated by Reginald’s quality advancements in the leadership role. Having been called out by both his team as well as the community, Reginald is a young man who has to put up with an incredible amount of pressure, running the company as a CEO, being the shotcaller, taking the majority of the barrage of hate for Team Solomid, and keeping in tip top shape as a midlaner. While he has suggested in a vlog that he would definitely be bringing on a coach, the team will not reap the benefits of that for the playoffs. With morale recently shattered, the team must rebuild themselves from the ground up.
Team Solomid has always played incredible at North American LANs and has placed well when it truly matters, slumps or not. The crowd is always roaring with chants of “TSM!” and they thrive off the energy to put on strong performances. Team Solomid needs to be careful to not fear Cloud 9 too much at a lan setting as well as prepare for their deepest rivals. Most importantly, the biggest performance changes we should see will be from Dyrus and Xpecial, and not because they have gotten better, but because it will be a direct result of the changes in Reginald’s leadership qualities. If there’s any indication of how strong Dyrus and Xpecial can be without the fear of being scolded, look no further than All-Stars.
Counter Logic Gaming is the epitome of a veteran LoL team, competing since the birth of LoL being considered as a serious electronic sport. The team roots back to a time when having 5,000 people viewing a stream was unheard of, unless you were HotshotGG. Even being the eldest of team and as unfortunate as it is to say, Counter Logic Gaming have not seen the kind of success you would expect for quite a few years now, and holds a “underdog” facade despite their long life span.
While fans have always felt the pain of being a CLG fan due to consistency problems, it’s something CLG has been actively working towards fixing. With the new lineup having had several weeks to settle, things are finally looking good again for Counter Logic Gaming. Arguably a better global threat than TSM, CLG still shows hardships in consistently doing well in the North American scene from Season 2 onward.
What Counter Logic Gaming needs to do:
The interesting thing about Counter Logic Gaming is they really don’t need to change their playstyle very much. As opposed to the original “everyone else isn’t important, feed godlift” strategy that plagued CLG far beyond the strategy’s viability, the team has shown their adaptability in recent times. The team cohesion and atmosphere is good, so it’s time to see how well CLG can apply Montecristo’s coaching. Montecristo has put a lot of time into bootcamping the team into Korean-level conditions, putting the team as possibly the hardest working team in North America.
If Counter Logic Gaming can apply what they’ve learned over the course of their bootcamp, they could very likely take first. CLG has proven time and time again that they can take down the titans, but have faltered against some of the easiest of foes. However, most of this was suffered before the coaching and the adaptability of their new roster. With Nientonsoh and Bigfatlp quickly becoming the top in their field at their new, once questionable roles, CLG has an extremely strong roster as far as individual skill takes them and also doesn’t have as much drama as some other North American teams. This means that utilizing their coaching is the door to success for the team.