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NA LCS Spring Split 2016: Week 4 recap


Photo credits go to: lolesports' flickr

Were you too busy prepping for/watching the Super Bowl to watch the NA LCS last weekend? Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in.

This week brought no great shifts to the NA LCS. It was rather business as usual: Immortals dominate, the mosh pit for 2nd place has yet to break up, and the bottom of the table continue to struggle to eke out wins against anyone other than each other. What was interesting this week? Read on, Macduff:

8-Imm0rtals

This weekend was the last big test for Immortals. Rapidly approaching the half-way point, they had two big fishes left to fry: Counter Logic Gaming, the winners of last split who have largely the same roster as they did last year, and Team Liquid, who had been on a  4 game winning streak. If anyone was going to knock Immortals out of their winstreak, it could've been one of these two. It was not to be, however, and like the 6 teams before them, they fell before Immortals’ superior teamplay and raw skill.

Cloud 9 and Team SoloMid go 2-0

Cloud 9 and Team SoloMid finally got their day in the sun by securing their first 2-0 weekend of the split, proving that in the NA LCS, pretty much anybody can beat anybody. C9 went toe-to-toe with both Renegades and NRG eSports, who had just crushed TSM in a shutout match last week. The scary thing for future opponents of C9 is that even An "Balls" Le, generally viewed as the weakest member of the team, had some incredible games this weekend. To an extent, it seems that merely having their support, Hai “Hai” Lam, in the game with them makes the rest of the team play at a much higher level.

TSM themselves had an easier weekend, playing against the two ninth place teams: Echo Fox and Renegades. The games were certainly not as clean as the star squadron would have liked, giving away free kills and generally falling behind in the early game. Despite almost having a completely different roster, it seems that TSM has been meeting with the same pitfalls they did last year: they lose in the early game, and have to scrap together a beautiful mid/late game teamfight to bring themselves back. When they do, it’s gorgeous. When they don’t, you wonder why a team with so much talent struggles so mightily to execute ganks and rotations early on.

Standings

Despite the promises made in the previous NA recap, the standings have not diversified themselves much at all. Immortals still sits, almost unassailably so, at the top of the standings, 8-0. Second place is a complete moshpit, with four teams clumped together. Liquid and Team Impulse drop to 6th and 7th, respectively. Finally, the bottom of the table is still in the firm control of Echo Fox and Renegades.

Next week will be the end of the first half of the split. Immortals are likely to go 9-0, as their last match-up is Team Dignitas. After that, we’ll get to see the repeat games. We’ll see if TSM has improved enough to take down their long-time rivals, CLG, and if C9, with their strong team spirit and unity, can topple Immortals from their throne. Try to watch, but even if you can’t, we’ll be here, same time next week, to fill you in.

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