Week 3 - Of Upsets and Letdowns
With the first Summer Split round robin behind us, the LCS is in shambles, giving way for scrappy teams to rise.
Hey there, Scuttlers!
We have quite the week to launch the newsletter, but the LCS has been full of upsets, roster changes and the completion of the first round robin as we approach Week 4. Let’s get into it.
On the Rift
Being so close to games for Week 4, I won’t dig as deep into games from Week 3 as I normally would, but it’s worth highlighting some of the nail-biters, upsets and headlines.
We had a surprising 3-0 week from CLG who strayed from the meta in running a hard engage comp around Galio, Vi and Rakkan. Sprinkling in threats like Kalista, Sett and even a pocket Kled, the easy-to-execute composition took matchups head-on and smothered enemies in layered CC. While straightforward and delivering a dominant victory over 100 Thieves on Friday, Evil Geniuses both failed to ban out key composition elements and didn’t adapt outside of giving Danny Xayah to deal with engages.
Cloud9 had a demoralizing 0-3 week, earning losses from Evil Geniuses, Immortals and TSM. With losses from 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians earlier in the season, this weekend proved that Cloud9 will have trouble breaking into the top two spots. Losses to Evil Geniuses, Immortals and especially Golden Guardians also highlighted sloppy gameplay from the post-MSI roster. Heading into Week 4, there’s a chance to reclaim wins over Golden Guardians, but 100 Thieves and CLG on the upswing won’t make it a free 3-0 week.
Finally, I wouldn’t do the week justice without mentioning an iconic Immortals versus TSM game on Friday. Probably nothing to spoil here considering how much attentioned it garnered online, but on top of Immortals putting up an impressive performance against the league’s top dogs, the game ended in a base race ultimately decided by seconds. TMS, and especially Huni, demonstrated tremendous discipline in committing to toppling the nexus while a handful of Evil Geniuses players flooded his base. While it padded TSM’s record, it allowed Immortals to puff up their chest a bit, hopefully giving them some giant-slaying power as they move into weeks ahead.
As a result, we’ve got TSM (19-8) at the top of the leaderboard, followed by 100 Thieves (18-9) and then Cloud9 and Team Liquid (17-10). The differential between the third place teams and the fifth place teams are three wins, and considering the unpredictable nature of the league right now, it’s not as steep of a climb as you may think. I wouldn’t expect the standings to change in a week, but I would expect the third-place spot to continue to be highly-contested, especially if 100 Thieves and TSM can maintain their composure heading into the next round robin.
Off the Rift
Three teams stole attention this week when it came to moves outside of gameplay this week: Cloud9, Dignitas and Team Liquid.
Team Liquid made some substantial announcements leading up to Week 4, so perhaps this close-to-the-bell newsletter was all just a huge IQ play. In brief, the team announced that Santorin is still suffering from health issues, so now he will be taking a leave to sort them out. His replacement is Armao, who has seen his way around the rift. While Santorin wasn’t an MVP candidate in his role, he’s not an easy player to replace during his indefinite departure. In that same vein, Team Liquid revealed that Alphari’s break — which was tied to motivation issues it appears — ends June 27, but Jenkins will be staying on the LCS roster to make a 6-man team.
However, the team’s biggest loss was on the management side in Jatt resigning. Jatt’s tenure is an impressive one, but the backlash he got for the early-season decision to bench Alphari was met with a whirlwind of criticism. It’s unclear as to what caused his resignation, but it appeared to have Team Liquid leadership shook during their press conference where it was announced. It’ll be interesting how Liquid moves forward with a team that now blends three seasoned veterans with two players that have less synergy with the current roster.
Quick Take: Team Liquid is still going to be a good team, and I hope that Jatt stepping down (despite it being incredibly unfortunate) encourages them to take gameplay risks that we see are paying off for the rest of the league. Plus, the 6-man roster is going to be very fun to watch develop.
Dignitas probably had the second-most impactful shakeup to their roster with the announcement that Dardoch is no longer with the organization. We saw Akaadian join Digniatas’ LCS ranks, and despite his experience in pro League, he’s filling someone who coach Jimmy called one of the cornerstones of the team along with Aphromoo. Moving into Week 4, Akaadian will stay in while mid could be split between Yusui or Soligo.
Quick Take: While Akaadian is no slouch, this is a huge change from Dignitas, a team that is going through an identity crisis despite having a relatively successful Spring Split. We knew Dardoch would be a big personality to deal with, but when he’s running your shotcalling, it’s going to be a big voice to fill. I don’t expect Dignitas to bounce back easily, regardless of who is in the mid lane.
Finally, Cloud9 is getting their beloved Zven back after subbing K1ng in for the first round robin. The announcement was made just as suddenly and mysteriously as Zven’s benching announcement — no explanation on why he was benched and not acknowledging K1ng’s performance. With Zven returning, Cloud9 has their MSI roster back, and hopefully their play reflects their pre-MSI ways.
Quick Take: While getting Zven back is probably an improvement, but K1ng was still a strong ADC — probably in the top half of the field. While it’s easy to chalk Cloud9’s poor summer performance to that change, it’ll take more than Zven returning to get the team in motion again.
Pocket Pick: Round Robin 1 Power Rankings
The end of Week 3 means each team has played each other once, giving us a pretty decent idea of how the league is stacked up so far. I chalked up my thoughts on performance and direction as we look at Week 4 in order of current standings.
TSM | Consistent
TSM is at the top of the list because of two reasons: consistency and the lack thereof from apex competition. It's without a doubt that TSM has a ton of talent in leaders like
Spica and PoE, but it feels like PoE and Huni aren't fully on board with the meta and need to commit either way. TSM probably has the least to work on as a team, but I worry that their
skill ceiling isn't as high as other teams. Either way, ironing out the small teamfight and macro issues they see will be key to holding the top spot. If they make it to worlds, I wouldn't
put a ton of stock in them as anything but an average NA performance. They really need to make a move and be inspiring to improve.
100T | Upward Trend
100T has some great tools to work with, and I think the team is finally realizing that. They've moved out of this self-discovery phase and are starting to leverage the talent they have to their benefit. Abbedagge is still a mystery mark, but I have high hopes and feel like he fits well in the dynamic -- perhaps not as a leader, but as a solid cog in the machine. FBI is for sure a league-leading ADC, especially with Huhi. 100T's weak side mentality works, but against premier top laners who focus on being carries, I feel like they can struggle. As they continue to establish what their game is, play into FBI more, push for earlier first bloods and continue to be a top contender. Could be an international wildcard.
C9 |Downward Trend
The C9 we see now is not the C9 we saw at MSI, nor the C9 we saw last season. K1ng is great, but certainly not Zven. Blaber is far from being an MVP candidate this split and Perkz is lacking the star power he is known for. Fudge is still a rising star as long as C9 gives him carry tools. Vulcan is a bit slept on in a lot of social media chatter, but is a huge key to C9's success. With K1ng, less so, but still potential. The team feels uninspired and just plays the meta poorly. With Blaber and Perkz underperforming, put faith in K1ng (and now Zven) and Fudge to make plays. Would not be proud to send them back to internationals.
LQ | Consistent
I truly think LQ has some of the most raw talent in the league, but it's just about tapping into it the right way. Jenkins is holding his own -- he's not Alphari, but for sure a reliable fill-in. Jenkins always feels second-best and the bot duo always feels slick and top of the pack. Would love to see some more aggression and confidence out of this team, which they should be able to back up. LQ feels content, but probably has the most international-caliber team if they play like it. Santorin is solid, but his absence will certainly be felt. Jenkins will need to grow into his role, but I see a lot of upside. I'd want to see LQ at internationals, but am hesitant on their performance as of now.
EG | Upward Trend
EG has always been an upper-middle team, but I think Danny is bringing the energy they need to start their climb. Jizuke is a madman, and I hope he continues to get buy-in from his team to be a playmaker that threatens a slow-playing NA league. With Alphari gone, Impact rivals Fudge for the top, and I even think Impact wins out for consistency's sake there. Ignar feels less impactful in his role, so seeing him and Svenskeren enable Danny (perhaps with dominance in mid from Jizuke), I can see him popping off late-game to their benefit. They have a good thing going, and I want to see them lay into it. Most international-compatible playstyle.
DIG | Downward Trend
DIG's coach said the team was finally getting into the groove of playing around Aphromoo and Dardoch's shotcalling/experience and then they shifted things around. Yes, the meta wasn't ideal for Soligo, but he shouldn't have been benched for Yusui just yet, who seems like a good Solo Queue player, but fails to be on-mark with the team. Aphromoo is seasoned, but lacks playmaking potential that he needs to bring. Neo is high-caliber but lacks team support to grow into. Not sure how I feel about FakeGod, but seems incredibly mid, especially without synergy around him. Don't sleep on Akaadian, but he's certainly not Dardoch. Find what works and stick with it, don't keep fidgeting when you lose a few games. Will continue to lose and not make
internationals.
IMT | Upward Trend
I honestly don't know what IMT put in their food overnight to be so good so quickly, but it's working. Their wins recently have been huge upsets, which shows they have the highest skill cap out of any team so far. Insanity is growing into his shoes, as is Xerxe. Raes feels super volatile, but has huge peaks when he pops off. They shouldn't get complacent or see any team as a free win, but if they continue to dominate like this, they could really make a run for the top of the league. They're not internationals-ready, but could be on this path.
CLG | Upward Trend
CLG made some incredibly bold plays to start winning, and I think they will be the most disruptive force in the league. We know they have talent through their veteran roster, but seeing them disregard the meta and play what they want to play is inspiring. I hope other teams take notes. Their back-to-back wins with the Galio/Vi/Ect team despite it being predictable means that other teams haven't figured them out yet, so there is still gas in the tank. Another team with high skill caps that probably won't make the international cutoff, despite me wanting to see how they would do there.
FLY | Consistent
FLY just doesn't stand out in any lane or gameplan. They play slightly off meta to no avail. Josedeodo was supposed to be a huge leader and feels adequate at best. Johnsun seems to be the best player on the team, but rarely pops off due to poor support from Jose or Dreams at times. Licorice is mid-tier and that may be generous, and Palafox feels hit-or-miss. This team needs to do something huge to shift their playstyle in order to consistently take games. No shot at internationals, but I'm sure some coaching adjustments over the season can get them in a
fighting position for next season.
GG | Upward Trend
How GG is taking games off of top teams is beyond me, but it feels like it's part of volatility. Ablazeolive has a ton of potential, but lacks consistency to make him good. He rivals top mid laners in the league at times. Chime and Solo are also incredibly solid and have made a name for themselves all things considered. I'm not optimistic that they will continue to upset leading teams as they become more consistent, but this momentum could encourage them to get scrappy. Stixxay doesn't feel great nor does Iconic, but with some adjustments, could be a solid contender for bottom-middle of the league, if not higher.
Closing Thoughts from the River
I’m really excited for Week 4. It feels like the first round robin allowed teams to play around with strategies due to carried-over records and a longer split this time around, but I think we’ll see some teams settling into their playstyles (and hopefully rosters). I’m especially excited to watch Immortals, CLG and 100 Thieves play this week, but I’m also looking forward to seeing how players entering or reentering teams shake up gameplans. The LCS is in shambles right now, so strap in for some excitement.
Probably getting benched next week,
Nick Mo