Photo credit goes to: lolesports' Flickr
Too busy going on dates and eating chocolates to watch LCS this past weekend? Don’t worry, this lonely heart has you covered.
This weekend was not only a celebration of love, it heralded the halfway point of the NA LCS 2016 Spring Split. Whilst Immortals is still a dominant team, there were several exciting developments this weekend that indicates that the last four weeks of the split will be even more thrilling than the first five.
Cloud 9 and Immortals, toe-to-toe
Immortals are the long-undisputed best team in the NA LCS, currently (possibly the best in the west). At the end of Day One this past weekend, nine teams had taken a swipe at their crown, and while some had come close, none had succeeded. Cloud 9 had not found anywhere near the same success, and yet they’re still counted amongst the best teams in the league. Why? A lot of it comes back to the man who I feel I’ve talked about each week: their starting support, Hai “Hai” Lam, who brings a special sort of personality and captaining skill that pushes his whole team from mediocre to massive. They simply have not had the same success with their other support, Michael “Bunny FuFuu” Kurlyo. This week gave us the rematch between these two titans, with Hai instead of Bunny in the captain’s chair. I would give a recap here, but in all honesty the game is so exciting you need to watch it yourself. C9 may have lost to Immortals, but they gave us one of the most back-and-forth games of the split. An “Balls” Le got solo kills on SeungHun "Huni" Heo, Jason “WildTurtle” Tran went huge on Kallista, and Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi reached into his dank meme chest and played the newest champion, Jhin. If you watch nothing else, watch this.
Echo Fox fights as one again
Echo Fox started with such promise. Whilst not a typical “superstar” team, the one-two punch of their benchlord ADC, Yuri “KEITHMCBRIEF” Jew and their star european midlaner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen made it seem as though they would have a strong, but not earth-shatteringly so, start in the LCS. They went 1-1 their first week, which was expected considering how fresh the team was and how stiff the competition is. Unfortunately, visa issues for Froggen and Korean solo queue star Jeong-hun “kfo” Park meant that for three weeks Fox was playing with a mid and toplaner on loan from NA Challenger Series team, Ember. The subs did their best, but ultimately it meant that going into week 5, Fox was 1-7 and sharing the bottom of the table with LA Renegades. This week saw the team return fully formed, and they were nothing short of explosive. Against both Renegades and NRG eSports the team seemed completely untouchable, with Froggen not taking a single death in either game. Are they ready to take on the upper echelon of teams? Who knows? It’s really rather impossible to say, as very few of the teams in the NA LCS have played against the full Fox roster on-stage (though they have all scrimmed together). Time will tell if they can recover from their horrible spot in the standings.
Team SoloMid: has the curse been broken?
Last week was crushing for the new Team SoloMid squad. While they had their first 2-0 weekend of the split, they had some terrible games against the bottom table teams, Echo Fox and LA Renegades. These games really showed the glaring weaknesses in TSM’s play; namely, their communication, which their ADC Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has likened to a game of dynamic queue. Going into week 5, TSM had some pretty mentally taxing victories and defeats under their belts. Team Impulse and Counter Logic Gaming would be pretty stiff competition, but the veterans proved that they had the skill and the mental fortitude to overcome a crushing past two weeks. Against CLG in particular, who had bested them week 1 when they first squared off, TSM made a big statement that they weren’t a team to be trifled with. An odd draft from CLG (a 2nd round Ashe pick being the most curious thing), based around exploiting TSM’s early game propensity for being caught out, really punished them, as TSM played the map to perfection, with Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen really stepping up in the early game and carrying the team to an easy-looking victory.
Standings
Much like a cell dividing itself, the middle of the table continues to split further and further into its distinct parts. Immortals still reign as kings, and, barring some major disasters on their part, will likely stay there till the end of the split, as they’re three games up on the second place team, TSM. 3rd place is held by both CLG and C9, and 5th by NRG and Team Liquid. TIP comes in 7th, and Echo Fox has dragged themselves up from the depths to tie with Team Dignitas for 8th. Finally, Renegades faces almost certain relegation, as they are solidly in last place.
Looking forward, what might we see? Can TSM and Echo Fox keep up this momentum they’ve found for the rest of the split, or was it a fluke? Can anybody snap Immortals’ winstreak? C9 seemed one of the most likely contenders, and the only other team to even give them a bloody nose was TSM, and we’ll have to wait some weeks to see them fight again. We’ll meet back here in a week and see what’s changed. See you then!
