When I was young, one of my friends had a playset from The Phantom Tollbooth. She also had a miniature car that we would drive through and then pretend to get lost in the Doldrums. The Doldrums involved lying on the floor of her basement, staring up at the ceiling, and sighing until we grew bored (this probably took only five minutes but seemed like hours) before working our way out of The Doldrums with the help of her parents and their dog.
We are in The Doldrums, my friends, and instead of a literal watch dog or my friend's dog with a posterboard clock hung over their back, we have more roster changes. Let's get it.
**1. 100 Thieves 24-9 (Summer 13-2)** *Qualified for playoffs*
There are multiple win and loss streaks happening right now in the LCS and the most impressive one is definitely 100 Thieves knocking off eight wins in a row. Their two losses all Summer both came from specific drafting choices as well. The Week 1 loss to Immortals showcased the mid Karma pick before 100T paired it up with Closer's Xin Zhao, and 100T's Week 3 loss was the first win for CLG's then-surprise Vi/Galio composition. 100T probably still wishes those losses were wins, but they're easy to point to and move on, especially with how consistently 100T have been playing.
It's worth reiterating the amount of draft flexibility that 100T has, both from the addition of Abbedagge in the mid lane and the amazing evolution of FBI and Huhi as the strongest LCS bot lane duo. Anyone on this team can carry, but they can also take a backseat when necessary, which is arguably more important.
That being said, since 100T have been so consistently good, it's time to point out some of their weaknesses that could stop them from becoming a championship team (sorry, I show my love through nitpicking). The majority of these opportunity areas revolve around their mid game and a sudden decrease in lane-to-jungle communication from their early game, poor objective setups, or not pushing their advantages as hard as they could and allowing opponents to get back in the game. 100T still manage to win these games — and keep playing fairly loosely or confidently while doing so, even when they make mistakes — but it's these small things that could trip them up in a best-of-five.
**2. TSM 23-10 (Summer 11-4)** *Qualified for playoffs*
Talking with Lost on the desk revealed that he thinks their latest bot lane focus has less to do with the team experimenting and more to do with general drafting on 11.13. Regardless of what is behind the shift, it's working out and I've enjoyed watching it. For all of the numerous flaws in SwordArt's gameplay that have been pointed out ad nauseum by the community, he's best when given agency and allowed to roam to make plays. Spica has been a standout performer on this team all year, and now that they've had priority bot lanes with Kalista, he's playing smartly around those too.
Like 100 Thieves, I'm going to be a bit harsher on TSM going forward. I still think there are too many times where SwordArt seems ahead or behind his team on the initiation in the early-to-mid game, which makes some of these plays look particularly bad visually. (Alternatively, I'm happy to see them going for some of them, especially if they're far ahead and the tradeoff is closing out the game sooner.) Given that TSM know that PowerOfEvil isn't going to roam as frequently as other mids, they need to play better around the pressure he does bring while being a staunch control point on the map, especially if he is in a matchup with lane priority. Again, these are nitpicky things, but I'm already looking ahead to how this team can win the LCS, given that they've already established themselves as a top Summer contender.
**3. Cloud9 21-12 (Summer 8-7)**
Cloud9 got back on track this week thanks to a baseball cap for Perkz to help protect his post-op eyes from the harshness of the stage lighting and better coordination from the bot lane. Considering Zven was the starting bot laner previously, and had pre-existing synergy with Vulcan already, it's not surprising that after one week, they already look much better. His return is still not THE solution to all of their problems, but it's definitely another step in the right direction. Coupled with some strong Vulcan performances (especially on the Galio against Immortals) Cloud9 should be in good shape by the end of the split, provided that Perkz can be more consistent.
Cloud9's game against TSM was their worst, and a lot of it came down to small errors that ended up being immediately exacerbated by TSM — placing TSM in the exact position that they love the best, punishing others' mistakes. From Vulcan's Level 1 death that led to the acceleration of the TSM bot side to an untimely recall from Perkz in the top side blue jungle that led to a TSM baron on the heels of a won teamfight for TSM and third drake, it was easy to see how Cloud9's mistakes led to a TSM win. Fortunately, they're still in a good position in the standings and have more than enough experience from their coaching staff and players to iron these out.
**4. Team Liquid 20-13 (Summer 8-7)**
With everyone collectively on Alphari Watch for the top lane, I'm actually going to turn my sights to the Team Liquid jungle first.
Santorin said multiple times publicly that he'd be much more comfortable and happy in a meta where he can affect his lanes earlier than a farming jungle carry meta. However, the meta shift unfortunately coincided with the onset of his health problems that led to him missing the Spring finals and now an undetermined amount of time in Summer. The point stands that TL looked at their best as a team when their jungler could easily set his sights on a double-scuttle play (thanks, 2021 Spring Split Udyr) and transition that pressure to his lanes, albeit a bit later than a heavy ganking jungler would have.
One problem that TL had this past Spring, and admitted to, was how frequently they would misuse or not use the overwhelming amount of pressure that Alphari could create in lane and transfer it to the rest of the map. TL has always been more comfortable transferring pressure from bot side and we saw glimpses of that this past week in their drafting and early map movements.
Shoring up early lane pressure and communication with Armao, regardless of who starts in the top lane, should be first priority for TL. That being said, it would still help the entire team if there was another obvious point of pressure like the one Alphari could provide top side.
**5. Evil Geniuses 19-14 (Summer 9-6)**
It seems like years ago that Evil Geniuses had an 0-3 week to the Summer split. Or perhaps it's because a lot of those games didn't feel like EG losses for most of them, and the losses only happened through poor mid-to-late-game map movements or decisions. With both C9 and TL still looking shaky for a variety of reasons, EG has stepped up to fill the vacuum and is now contesting them for a top-four spot in the standings with a five-game win streak. This is the weird and wacky EG that you already know and maybe love but now they're getting more consistent Ws.
Jiizuke is an obvious point of discussion that I've already spoken and written about at length so I'm going to talk about potential LCS rookie-of-the-year Danny. When I interviewed Danny at the start of the split, he said one of his main goals was to ensure that he wasn't the reason why his team lost. On the desk this past week, he reiterated that this remains one of his goals while also talking about how he feels like he has a voice on the team and hasn't lost his aggressiveness shown in amateur play. In North America, there's a tendency for players to lose some of that proactivity as they make their way up the ladder towards LCS. I'm happy that Danny hasn't lost his, and while his laning does need work, his teamfighting is already remarkably strong.
**6. Dignitas QNTMPAY 17-16 (Summer 6-9)**
With wins over TSM and Golden Guardians, Dignitas righted their ship a bit and seem to be heading in a more cohesive direction.
When Dardoch was on the team, an obvious focal point was getting him ahead early. This meant that Soligo (and for a brief moment in time, Yusui) would try to facilitate him as the carry as opposed to taking certain resources for themselves. With Akaadian, there is still a focus on the jungle position as a carry, but now the Dignitas jungler is much more involved with his lanes.
**7. Immortals 15-18 (Summer 8-7)**
After Immortals' Sunday victory over Dignitas, I ran into Insanity, Guilhoto, and Revenge and chatted with them a bit. Since I had been the analyst desk member most critical of their drafts, I had to ask about their drafting this past weekend to which Insanity said something to the effect of, "They're fun, right?"
Yeah, okay. You know what? This is why I actually really love watching Immortals.
This team is uncompromising in the decision to draft compositions that are comparatively difficult to execute. And despite going 1-2 this past week with losses to both Cloud9 and TSM, on Sunday they still drafted something that required more specific execution than their opponents and won. That kind of team has to be at least a little bit fun to play on and is certainly entertaining to watch.
**8. CLG 9-24 (Summer 4-11)**
I'd say it's a rough time to be a CLG fan, but it's almost always a rough time to be a CLG fan, save the unexpected Madison Square Garden Summer 2015 victory and the 2016 iteration's surprising MSI success. I get it. I'm a KT Rolster fan. It hurts. Of all teams at the bottom, CLG is the one that I hate talking about the most, simply because everything is so sad right now and piling on more misery on top of that is just mean.
So I'll talk a little bit about where CLG could go forward from here.
Picking where I left off last week with the quippy "a composition is not a playstyle" I still think it's important to further unpack what that means for CLG. The all-engage composition isn't something new (even Vi/Galio isn't new) but it's important to understand what it does effectively: get an entire team onto the same page regarding initiation and teamfighting. Ideally if everyone presses their R buttons in the same vicinity of one another, the composition works. Playing around engage, or engaging consistently to turn suboptimal skirmishes into advantageous 5v5s is more of a playstyle and then it's a matter of finding champions that fit that playstyle.
If CLG wanted to continue with such initiation-heavy looks, it may have been better for them because of what the Vi/Galio compositions did to get them unified in teamfighting. Swapping to another surprise pick (Rek’Sai) with a lack of identity like the all-engage composition had, wasn't the answer. Going forward, I'd like to see CLG build on something good that was able to come out of the all-engage compositions and try to draft around that without punting lane priority.
**9. FlyQuest 9-24 (Summer 3-12)**
In light of FlyQuest's 10-game loss streak and recent roster changes, I want to take a moment to mourn what could have been. At the beginning of the year, FlyQuest were one of my teams to watch given the potential of their lineup on paper. I picked them as a dark horse to potentially go far in Spring playoffs. Their collapse has been sad to watch given the talent on the team.
Okay, now that the moment is over, let's talk about how fun FlyQuest's former Academy team and current starting lineup are. This is a highly aggressive team that still needs work in the mid-to-late game but are very proactive early, especially in setting up their dives. This change was obvious when it was only Kumo, Tomo, and Diamond making the jump. The team looked re-energized but were unable to transition their early game leads into a victory. When compared to FlyQuest's initial roster, this was a very different problem and one that could be more easily solved, given how well the former Academy lineup works together.
**10. Golden Guardians 8-25 (Summer 5-10)**
We never know what goes on behind the scenes of a team but something must have happened for Golden Guardians to pick up Licorice and announce him as a player they believe they can build around. Solo's laning was an upgrade from Spring, offering much-needed stability for the team. Both Iconic and Ablazeolive have looked much more comfortable this Summer as a result. Ablazeolive in particular has been playing with more confidence, making his hesitation on Tristana in that one Spring game against 100 Thieves a thing of the past.
Licorice is having the worst competitive year of his career. I think he's been unfairly criticized at times for team mistakes, but there's no doubt that he has struggled when compared to his C9 days (and admittedly the success of some of those lineups makes this comparison a bit unfair). What I am most curious to see or hear about is how vocal Licorice will be in comms. Evolving from being a younger player led by veterans to someone that others look to for leadership was something he said had previously been a struggle for him. If he is at the point where he's figured this out and can coordinate better with his new team, we could be in for some pleasant surprises.
