After an enigmatic second week of NA LCS play, we take a look at the North American landscape and try to make sense of it all.
Week two of the North American League of Legenda Championship Series left many scratching their heads. Cellar dwellers showed out, and top talents crumbled under the pressure. The weekend brought us upsets, forfeitures, embarrassing collapses, and substitutes for days.
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S tier
Immortals (4-0)
(courtesy of es-nc.com)
Business as usual.
Immortals took their first dings and dents against Team SoloMid on Saturday, but the contentious match proved that not only could IMT hang with the big boys, but that they could outpick, outplay, and outthink them. A far less contested matchup against upstart squad NRG eSports made this ever the more apparent, as they systematically picked apart the second place team even with an inferior composition. Amazingly, Adrian “Adrian” Ma suffered his only death of the split in garbage time Sunday. He has amassed a 51.0 KDA through four contests.
Nobody seems to know how to answer this team. Good comp, bad comp, mistakes, throws, nothing seems to knock Immortals off kilter. Out of players active in all four games, Immortals players constitute four of the top six spots in KDA (including the top two spots), two of the top five in total kills (including first-place Jason “WildTurtle” Tran), the two lowest total deaths, and four out of the top ten in total assists. Fantasy owners rejoice.
A tier
Team SoloMid (2-2)
(courtesy of dailydot.com)
If anyone has the gall to challenge Immortals, it’s NA mainstay Team SoloMid.
Each player has fantastic mechanical talent that will coalesce given a few more weeks. Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell’s 0 damage item Poppy found a solo kill on Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon’s Fiora without taking a tick of damage. Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg boasts the team’s highest KDA but has played more of a supportive role than usual, having amassed over twice as many assists as kills. The DoubleStar bot lane, however, has actually looked more pedestrian than expected. Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng is often caught out of position, putting TSM in a few precarious situations. He currently holds the lowest kill participation percentage on the team. Bora “Yellowstar” Kim has also struggled to find the big plays we expected from him.
With that said, this team is still starting to show their budding abilities as a unit. This team has arguably a higher ceiling than IMT. Give them time.
B tier
NRG eSports (3-1)
(courtesy of lolesports.com)
If you frame things a certain way, NRG now holds the fastest victory in NALCS history, at a staggering 0:00.
NRG was granted a win on Saturday due to an Echo Fox forfeiture following a roster eligibility problem. Perhaps the off time left them slightly cold as they were dismantled by Immortals. Such a loss is not too concerning, but the quality of wins through two weeks leaves a little to be desired. NRG’s only high quality opponent dominated them on all fronts. Their two victories are against middle-low tier teams, and a gimme win has them in sole possession of 2nd place. As it stands, NRG has a high floor but I can’t tell what their ceiling is yet.
We need to see more from NRG before we can believe the hype.
Counter Logic Gaming (2-2)
(courtesy of splyce.gg)
Counter Logic Gaming has unquestionable talent, but still have the air of streakiness that has prevented them from reaching their potential in past splits.
Their week one win over TSM was impressive, but their week two drubbing at the hands of Cloud 9 was anything but. They handled Team Liquid as expected, but lost the macro game against an objective-phobic Dignitas lineup. Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaha has so far been both a split pushing nightmare and a complete non-factor. Jake “Xmithie” Puchero’s Rek’Sai was a nightmare for TSM, yet missed an astonishing number of Elise cocoons against Cloud 9. Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes dominated Doublelift and Yellowstar, but failed to make much of an impact against a vastly inferior Team Liquid.
This squad will continue to lurk at the top of the rankings so long as they continue to trump top talent like TSM, but the red flags may be brought out of the closet very soon.
Cloud 9 (2-2)
(courtesy of lolesports.com)
I do not understand this team.
There has not been a single team this split that has looked so dominant one day and so woefully futile the next. The social media blame game has chosen multiple candidates as the responsible parties for Cloud 9’s two losses, namely Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurylo’s shot calling and Daerek “LemonNation” Hart’s champ select, but yet there is consensus agreement on what has brought them together on their wins. Hai “Hai” Lam may be the best shot caller in the history of professional League of Legends. Cloud 9 can beat anyone with him.
With that said, a loss against Team Impulse is inexcusable on any front. If they hadn’t “bodied” their Sunday opponent (CLG), Cloud 9 would have fallen into the depths of the C tier. I still believe, but they’re treading on very thin ice.
C Tier
Dignitas (2-2)
(courtesy of thescoreesports.com)
Pretty neutral week for Dignitas. They beat who they were supposed to beat and lost to who they were supposed to lose to. Their objective control wasn’t particularly strong in either game as always, and that will continue to hinder them. Billy “Billyboss” Yu took over the top lane duty for DIG this week, and looked entirely unspectacular, posting a 1/8/9 statline.
If they can patch up their baron and tower control problems, Dignitas looks passable. Apollo “Apollo” Price is a shining star on this team as expected, showing well on both Lucian and Ezreal this split.
D tier
Team Liquid (1-3)
(courtesy of lolesports.com)
With a loss to 2/5 of the Echo Fox starting roster, Team Liquid was looking at a big comfy seat in the F tier.
After being blanked for the majority of the game, TL played out a beautiful stall-and-scale strat and managed to pull off one of the largest comebacks I can remember ever seeing in the LCS. Regardless of the complete inability for Echo Fox to capitalize on anything at all, such a kind of win is still impressive and massively important for a team in turmoil. FOX did not make it easy for them, and they persevered. After the ragequit-esque retirement of jungler Christian “IWDominate” Rivera (which could have tilted the team into oblivion), this is exactly what TL needed, and I am sure this will be a turning point for them.
I don’t expect much out of TL this split, but moral victories like this will lead to more substantial victories later.
Renegades (1-3)
(courtesy of thesingu1arity.com)
I wanted to believe in this team, but they have given me no reasons to through two weeks.
Renegades got smacked this week by a C tier team and a very generous D tier team (one for whom I almost created a lower-than-F tier last week). Maria “Remi” Creveling seems to be finding hundreds of different ways to get killed and Alberto “Crumbz” Rengifo looks like a lost puppy (or void creature, as it were) in the jungle. Those two both fall into the top 5 in most total deaths in the LCS after two weeks. Dignitas is a superior team and a loss there is understandable, but losing to the five person human incarnation of a rotating door Team Impulse is just bad. Sure, they played well, but Renegades did their best to give away that win.
It’s still early, but I don’t see much light ahead for Renegades.
Team Impulse (2-2)
(courtesy of lolesports.com)
How?
Team Impulse was being written off as one of the worst teams ever to every play League of Legends on the professional stage. They were blasted by Immortals in record fashion, putting up no kills and taking no towers. They are now tied for third place. They have an equal or better record than teams such as Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud 9, Team SoloMid, Team Dignitas, and Team Liquid.
Let that sink in.
They utterly dismantled the Bunny FuFuu’d up C9, and then stuck it to Renegades in a close contest. Austin “Gate” Yu won with two different roles in as many games. Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong walked all over C9 after being called in to sub literally days before the match. The only other team to go undefeated in week two was none other than Immortals.
Team Impulse is a long way from contending for anything, but a 2-0 second week has turned on a few lightbulbs. Suddenly, TIP has momentum.
Echo Fox (1-3)
(courtesy of gamespot.com)
Welcome to the cellar, Rick Fox.
A roster with lots of potential didn’t perform up to expectations in week one. Roster reporting issues from an inexperienced administration then left FOX in the dust on Saturday, forcing an unfortunate forfeiture against NRG eSports. Sunday’s tilt with Team Liquid was decidedly one sided in favor of Echo Fox’s sub squad, pitching a perfect game and knocking down all three inhibitors before undergoing one of the most embarrassing collapses in recent memory. The two remaining members of the starting squad, Yuri “Keith” Jew and Terry “Big” Chuong, carried the game hard posting 12.0 and 11.0 KDAs respectively, but the three subs could not capitalize on any advantages.
Echo Fox still has a lot to prove, but they’re in the basement this week because of the resurgence of TIP. They will have 14 more chances to prove their worth, but they have a lot of work to do before they earn the right to be taken seriously.
Would be happy to discuss agreements or disagreements in the comments, or on Twitter.
