1- Okay everyone, this one was my fault. Last week I wrote about their chances of going 18-0 (when they were only 6-0) and on Wednesday, I interviewed Prince and also asked him how much he wanted to go 18-0. I also saw interview links to people asking Spica about how they are going to be able to get enough practice to face international competition.
They were 6-0, lol. Undefeated in 3 weeks’ worth of games, yet we were collectively treating them like it was impossible for them not to go to Worlds and that they were clearly head and shoulders above the rest. No matter how dominant they are in 6 games’ worth of data… It's too soon. It’s definitely the nature of the job in that we are going to speculate, but the consequence of this speculation can definitely give an inflated sense of accomplishment for the team (in this case, FlyQuest) and I genuinely feel like all of the adoration contributed to FlyQuest letting their guard down and losing to TSM. Anyways, we go next.
2- At first glance, it’s odd that C9 is making a roster change after starting 7-2 and sitting 1 game back from first while riding a 3-game super week win streak. But here we are: Diplex out, Emenes in. Do yourself a favor and type Emenes into your twitter search bar. From a quick glance it looks like:
- He has been averaging over 1 solo kill per game in NACL
- He’s been on about 8 different teams in 4 years
- NA is the FIFTH region he’s competed in (KR, OCE, TR, EU, NA)
- “Wait, is Emenes the same guy who came to OCE and afk’d and said mom sky in my soloQ games?” -Midbest twitter (yes)
There’s more… but you should experience it for yourself. Either way, this guy is insanely talented, and it’s going to be about how he works with the rest of the team and if he can not be toxic.
3- One of the worst 3-0 weeks ever. But they’ll take it. They had an early lead against 100T on Wednesday, only to have the game stall out and Bjergsen and Doublelift reach full build Jinx and Azir. It looked lost but then EG just… ran it down mid and killed the nexus.
Versus TL on Thursday, they trailed for most of the game, surrendered two Barons, but then capitalized on TL’s poor Baron power play to come back and ultimately win.
Only on Friday did they look solid against Immortals, but they were the weakest competition of the week.
This is a really hard team to analyze. On one hand, I feel like they’ve performed worse than their record indicates. On the other hand, they are finding ways to win and I also have a predisposition from last season that gives me a positive view of this team. So with everything being taken into account, I think they are accurately placed in 3rd? But objectively they are lucky to only be 1 game out of first place with how they have performed.
4- Golden Guardians' current 5-game win streak is the longest active LCS win streak. It’s the longest win streak in Golden Guardians' LCS history. Stixxay won Player of the Week and also hasn’t died in 5 games (in any of their wins). His 37/0/17 K/D/A through the last 5 games is one of the most impressive runs I’ve seen in the LCS. With that being said, they face Cloud9 on Thursday – a match that is likely going to be a banger.
5- Did anyone have TSM as their feel good team of 2023 Spring on their bingo card? I remember getting to their section in my pre-season power rankings, and not wanting to write anything because I didn’t want to come across as mean and hopeless and kick a team while they’re down. Well, here we are. TSM handed FlyQuest their only loss of the split so far, and completed the first round robin with a winning record and in playoff position.
Additionally, Maple is playing substantially better than he did last year and pairing really well with jungler Bugi. Most importantly, it feels like this team is happy and likes each other, something that has been noticeably absent from TSM squads of the past few years. They are refreshing and fun to watch.
6- “Don’t be surprised if this team starts 4-5… also don’t be surprised if they win the Spring Split” - [me, 4 weeks ago.][1]
Please don’t overreact to their terrible super week. League of Legends is hard. Coming back from a two year break is harder. This type of week is what I was expecting from 100T to start the year, before they surprised me with a 5-1 start. Their slow start just happened to arrive a few weeks late.
[1]: https://lolesports.com/article/10-thoughts-going-into-lcs-spring-week-1/blt21f08be959d8a1ef
7- So I’ve gone back and checked the broadcast, and I have a 22% prediction rate for this team. I’ve only correctly predicted their result versus C9 and FLY, and I was incorrect on the other 7 occasions.
Part of their total and complete unpredictability is that they seemed to be searching for their identity through the first four weeks. Their drafts varied wildly from week to week and sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. What I liked most about their 2-1 super week versus. strong opponents was how it looked like they found their style—carries top for Dhokla being the most obvious adjustment. When this team tries less to follow the meta and more to follow the strengths and tendencies of their players, they find the most success.
8- Of all the teams to have a 0-3 super week, TL’s has to be the most disappointing. They had leads in all 3 games and failed to convert any of them into victories.
They were up 440 gold vs. CLG, 4700 gold vs. EG, and 4400 gold vs. C9. Losing with gold leads is one of the most infuriating problems a team can have. Objectively, a lot is going right with the team to get the leads in the first place, but it also lends itself to a feeling of hopelessness because despite so much going right… you’re still losing every game, which is demoralizing.
What’s clear is TL actually has one of the best early and mid games in the league, but they are pairing it with one of the worst late games. I honestly don’t know what the solution is for that team, or if they’ll get there. The biggest hurdle will be working through the frustration of losing and fixing their late game – while maintaining what has given them the leads in the first place.
9- Pretty depressing week for IMT. I really like the personalities on this team but it’s looking more and more like they don’t have what it takes. TL and CLG is a really good week for them to find their footing, as both of those teams have been wildly inconsistent. If IMT loses both games this week, I’m willing to call it and say they’re out of the playoffs.
10- If Dignitas drop their first game of week 5 it will officially be the worst start in LCS history at 0-10. No team has ever gone 0-18 either.
There doesn’t seem to be much light at the end of this tunnel. Spawn is having one of the worst splits in LCS history with 6 kills across 9 games in a heavily bot lane focused meta. Santorin and Jensen aren’t doing much better, though. Santorin has 7 kills, and Jensen 10. Turns out when you kill 0 Nexus you don’t get many champion kills along the way.
A big part of me is hoping that openly talking about how terrible and hopeless things seem for DIG will jinx them into winning some games much like talking about FlyQuest’s run for 18-0 contributed to them losing last week. So yeah, let’s see if they can do what no LCS team has done before. 0-18, the dream.
