1- FlyQuest continue their dominance of the league with another 2-0 and another Player of the Week award for Prince. They also have perhaps their easiest schedule in week 4 facing up against IMT, TSM, and CLG, all teams in the bottom half of the standings. I’d say it’s more likely than not that FLY end the first round robin with a perfect 9-0. Here’s where things get pretty interesting.
Initially, Eyla was meant to be the starting support for this team, but has been delayed due to visa issues and hasn’t been able to join the team. Assuming he arrives at some point this split – what should FlyQuest do? On one hand, it’s unfair to Eyla to hold his visa issues against him and not let him play… On the other hand, if the team is actually undefeated it would seem foolish to change up the roster by subbing out Winsome. Very curious how this is going to develop throughout the rest of the split.
2- There was a lot of wholesome stuff coming out of the big 100T vs. FLY game in Week 3. Mainly, the fallout from the super hyped matchup of Doublelift vs. Prince. After the game they swapped jerseys, and Prince got emotional because he had stated that he started playing ADC thanks to Doublelift. [Travis Gafford also had a great interview with the two of them][1].
From the interview, Doublelift clearly said, “Prince is better than me,” which might be the first time I can remember Doublelift saying that about another ADC in the LCS. Is that because he’s older and more mature now, or is it because Prince is just that good? Can’t wait for their rematch.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw6zUJNlbtg&ab_channel=TravisGafford
3- The very first game of week 4 is going to be EG vs. 100T, which will be the first time FBI and Ssumday (now on EG) will be able to play against Closer and 100T, the team they went to three straight finals with.
Tenacity will also be playing against Ssumday for the first time on stage. For two years, Ssumday held the LCS spot while Tenacity was a hyped Academy prospect. Seeing the “jailer” (Ssumday) going up against the “convict” Tenacity will be a great watch.
4- Zven was a guest on The Dive this weekend and I think it was one of the most enjoyable podcast listens of the year. Check it out [here.][1]
One interesting topic they dove into was the concept of Zven not getting credit for playing enchanters well, but more importantly how sticky narratives can get once people have a perception on something. He kind of took aim at CoreJJ with this quote: “I don’t like this narrative that I only play enchanters,” “I played whatever I had to to win,”
“Nobody ever says, ‘CoreJJ can’t play Ashe’.”
C9 play TL Friday. I wonder what the bot lane support picks will be?
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb9JuYlS0Ys&ab_channel=LCS
5- TSM just keep doing it. In Week 3 vs. CLG they first picked Elise, drafted almost nothing that traditionally synergises with it, and then outscaled (after Elise helped Sion get a large amount of early game gold). I do think they are overperforming in truth, but wanted to discuss some of the ways they are picking up wins.
They aren’t good at generating their own advantages in top or bot lane, so generally Bugi is ganking like crazy in the early game and trying to make things happen. They also have drafted the team comp with superior scaling the majority of the time. So, if Bugi is able to make something happen in the early game it “bridges” the team comp into a place where it can outscale and wins. I don’t think this is the type of play that can win an LCS title. But I do think it can continue to pick up sneaky wins for the team.
6- Summit is possibly the most confident person in the world. While watching TL this weekend with other analysts, we couldn’t help but notice how, AT LEAST once a game, Summit will do something absolutely terrible. In Week 3 he expertly outplayed a turret dive… only to walk up after and give up his bounty to the opponent laner. In almost every game, he’ll have one teleport or engage where it’s just Summit vs. the entire enemy team and he’ll die hilariously.
This got us thinking, if Summit had any other job that wasn’t League of Legends top laner – how disastrous would it be? Can you imagine if this guy was an air traffic controller, a construction worker, or a bus driver? Mass destruction. Anyways… Summit’s confidence is also what makes him capable of getting so many advantages in the first place, so it’s hard to find the balance. What’s clear so far though, is he’s too confident at the moment.
7- This team had by far the hardest schedule in the league for the first two weeks. In a way – it was a blessing. In Week 1 they had to play with a substitute mid laner, and in Week 2 they were getting used to playing with Gori. There’s a decent chance they would have lost those games vs. anyone in the league – so it’s actually good that they played the best teams in the league right away.
Last week, their schedule got easier while GG finally had enough time with Gori and could play like the team was designed. They had SOLID wins vs. both CLG and IMT, and face TSM, DIG, and 100T in Week 4. There’s an outside chance GG can win all 3 of those games and end the first round robin 5-4, which would be a complete shock for most people after seeing them start 0-4.
8- Things might need to get worse before they can get better. After starting the split 2-0, CLG has gone on a 4-game loss streak and is set to face TL, 100T, and FLY for Week 4. There’s a real possibility that they could end the first round robin on a 7-game losing streak.
We made a pretty big point about talking up CLG’s continuity and commitment to their roster being a contributing factor to their 2-0 start. But what now? There is no excuse for losing 4 (or maybe 7) games in a row when the team has already been together for so long. It will take a lot of maturity from the team to be able to improve from this, since they can’t throw out the “we just need some time to gel” excuse that so many other teams can.
9- Kenvi had perhaps his best game ever on the LCS stage – and it was on Graves vs. Dignitas. It wasn’t from the scoreline or from fancy jungle pathing, but it just looked like he was so CONFIDENT in game. He would dash into fights when the team was down 5k gold, and he would routinely zone and push enemy carries back simply from how he was positioning Graves in teamfights.
For a hyped Academy player who’s most played champions are Viego, Lee Sin, Kindred, and Graves, it’s pretty unfortunate that his most played champions on the LCS stage are Wukong and Poppy. In fact, that was his 23rd LCS game and his first time playing Graves.
Immortals Progressive hasn’t looked amazing this year, but I definitely want them to put Kenvi on his comfort champs more often and see what he can do – after all it’s why he was promoted to the LCS in the first place.
10- This content team actually had a pretty nice idea and good execution for a “post-match thread” where their players [go through a reddit post match thread and react][1].
Unfortunately… they still haven’t won a game so the segment is becoming increasingly brutal and I’m no longer sure if it’s advise-able to continue it… something to track.
In other news, IgNar is back this week! Hopefully he can breathe some life into DIG’s bottom lane. It’s my opinion that they have been the worst performing bottom lane in the league, and it’s one of the reasons enemy teams can throw so many resources into shutting down Jensen. If their bottom lane can perform, they should be able to start picking up some wins.
[1]: https://youtu.be/DZz61dPkI-o
