Ahh, Week 9 – the last week before playoffs for the NA LCS, and one of the final weeks of games for the EU LCS. As the Spring Split comes to a head, some teams have risen to the challenge of making playoffs and some have fallen on their faces. It’s been a weekend of ups and downs for sure – and that means we’ve got plenty of goods, bads, and weirds to talk about today.
The Good
Caps relives the glory days of Fnatic
Backdooring is something of a time-honored tradition on Fnatic, and Caps must have been eager to take part. When his team got into a fight with Giants near the Baron pit, Caps decided it was his time to live up to xPeke’s legacy. GIA’s towers didn’t last more than a few seconds each when put up against his Kayle’s damage output, allowing Caps to take out the Nexus single-handedly. Well, almost single-handedly. If only Soaz hadn't channeled Teleport...
Vitality’s gamble pays off
Team Vitality haven’t usually been considered to be a risk-taking team, but they made the gamble of a lifetime against H2K. After the death-bush strategy they attempted was sniffed out by H2K, Vitality ran off to the toplane to try and trade their mid inhibitor for a single turret in the toplane. It was a terrible trade, but it lulled H2K in a false sense of security as they ran back towards their own towers to recall. That’s when Vitality pulled the trigger, engaging on H2K from an unexpected direction and taking down Jankos and Febiven in a flash. The two kills translated into a Baron for Vitality, bringing them right back to even with H2K. Sometimes, gambling works out.
The Bad
Joey’s LCS debut
To be fair, most of this was out of CLG Joey’s hands. He had to sub in at a moment’s notice, play while jetlagged, and attempt to coordinate with the rest of CLG’s roster all in the span of about twelve hours. However, his first performance on the LCS stage was, shall we say, lacking. Joey was all but unnoticeable throughout the series, as his eleven deaths will attest, and it felt as though CLG was playing a man down even when they had all five members up. Guess Joey’s got a lot to learn before he returns to the LCS.
Team Liquid drop to relegation
The “always fourth place” meme was getting pretty stale, but this is a far, far worse outcome for Team Liquid. Despite all the roster swaps, free agent acquisitions, and favors called in for TL, they can’t quite avoid relegation as the NA Spring Split comes to a close. They were SO close too – if only they’d been able to pull out a victory against FlyQuest in game 3. Instead, we’re facing a universe where a team as storied as Liquid may be gone from the LCS.
The Weird
Krugs are OP
Executes are very rare in League of Legends, and executes in professional games are rarer still. Unintentional executes are practically a one-in-a-million occurance – which makes DIG Chaser’s death to the Ancient Krug all the stranger. We’ve all tried to keep farming while low on HP before, but the professionals should know better than anyone if they can successfully clear a camp. Either that, or Riot stealth buffed krugs without telling anyone.
Fiora can’t block an anchor
Realistically, this one makes sense - Fiora’s little dueling foil has absolutely no chance of Riposting Nautilus’s gigantic anchor in real life. However, in the game world, it’s supposed to not only block the anchor, but also return a stun onto Flame. A known bug prevents CLG Darshan from deflecting the staggering blow though, and he goes down for first blood. Why is this weird? It’s weird enough that a sword can deflect the anchor, but weirder still that Darshan paused the game afterwards. It was a known bug, man – you should have expected that.
