LCS fans, it's okay to come out of hiding. The League of Legends Championship Series…is fun again?
Let's get it.
**1. 100 Thieves 2-0**
One of the main reasons why 100 Thieves were rated so highly by analysts going into this season was that they were a bottom-lane-focused team. In a world where Teleport changes meant that top laners could no longer TP behind pushing bot lanes before 14 minutes, 100 Thieves were slightly ahead of the curve, having practiced how to play around pushing bot lanes like Lucian/Nami at the World Championship. Victor "FBI" Huang and his bottom lane partner Choi "huhi" Jae-hyun were also consistently one of, if not the, strongest bottom lane in LCS last year, so this style seemed a natural fit. Much of Lock In tournament, even with their untimely exit, was based around trying to execute lanes like Caitlyn/Lux to similar effect while still trying out some looks at dives in both bot and top.
That's why it was really interesting to see 100 Thieves return to their more standard style of front-to-back teamfighting this past weekend, using the most of their best-in-LCS bot lane with Huhi on engage supports like Leona and Sett, and FBI on Aphelios and Jhin. It's not a different look for 100 Thieves, especially with top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho on Ornn in their first match and Can "Closer" Çelik leading things on Xin Zhao, but a return to form, and a reminder that they can play multiple ways around a very strong duo.
**2. Cloud9 2-0**
There were shades of what was to come for Cloud9 once they had their starting lineup. They could be found during their Lock In performances, primarily in top-laner-turned-mid Ibrahim "Fudge" Allami's rune and itemization choices, and a cursory glance into coach Nick "LS" Di Cesare's overall League of Legends philosophy for years, yet it was still somewhat surprising to teams and fans alike to see such a strong adherence to this style on the Rift.
(As an aside, an echo effect has already been seen in Academy, where as I am typing this, I am watching Immortals Academy mid laner Prodromos "Pretty" Kevezitidis play Ivern.)
When most looked at this lineup, many wondered how Robert "Blaber" Huang would fit on this team. All-too-often last year, Blaber looked torn between rotating to top side and the rest of the map. He is an aggressive jungler who sometimes overreaches when he feels like he needs to make a play.
You know what helps with that? A 220 base with 80 percent scaling AP ratio Ivern shield. The compositions that C9 are running around enchanters play into Blaber's aggressiveness in a really interesting way, allowing both him and rookie phenom Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol to pop off in teamfights. With C9 using these compositions to their advantage, they'll be a fascinating team to watch this split.
**3. Dignitas QNTMPAY 2-0**
It was a shakier week for Dignitas, especially their game against TSM, but they remain yet another interesting LCS team to watch.
First, this is due to the arrival of Kim "River” Dong-woo, who doesn't even mind counterpicking himself into a Poppy if it means he still gets to orchestrate the team's early game on Jarvan IV. With River and mid laner Ersin "Blue" Gören roaming the map and snowballing Dignitas' bottom lane, Dignitas' plan is clear, but no team save Team Liquid has been able to counter it since River's arrival.
I'd be remiss not to mention the return of Vincent "Biofrost" Wang, whose timing with River and 2v2 laning with bot laner Toàn "Neo" Trần have both been strong, reminding myself and the general LCS community why he's the most decorated bot laner in LCS history.
Right now, Dignitas are at a point where they're continuing to make a case for themselves as a truly formidable team. While I do wonder what will happen once teams take away the Jarvan IV pick more consistently, provided that River is still on something where he can affect his lanes early and he still has strong communication with Blue and Biofrost, they'll stay that way.
**4. FlyQuest 2-0**
Much has been made of FlyQuest's use of Smite supports top, whether they're a good, bad, (and almost certainly) ugly strategy, and what this means in relief of FlyQuest's current 2-0 record after Week 1.
Keeping all of those things in mind, I'd like to bring up something that FlyQuest support Zaqueri "aphromoo" Black told me a little over a week ago, before FlyQuest debuted this strategy in the LCS.
"Before it was just such a buzzkill, 'You got TP? Okay now I can take this trade. I'm under the tower? Oh I can't do that because they have double, triple TP,'" aphromoo said. "Now thank god you have laning phase where they don't get unleashed until 14 minutes so it's a lot more skill expression bottom lane. You see a lot of people playing Caitlyn/Lux. You've just got to dominate lane, get the CS advantage, take the plates, you can stay longer in lane, no need to roam, you can bring the jungler to you and have your laners play around you. It's a lot more fun I would say."
Given that the Smite support top strategy involves said supportive top laner roaming — usually to the bottom lane — after acquiring their first spell rotation, looking back on this quote was fun. I'm not going to say that FlyQuest pressured their advantages as well as they could with this strategy, but they showed enough of an understanding of how it should be played, even with a few missed in-game timings, and are currently undefeated.
**5. Evil Geniuses 1-1**
It's odd to think that Evil Geniuses are tied for fifth-place but such is the life of a team in the LCS one week into the split. Evil Geniuses are still a top team in the league and with a few tweaks to their execution (diving mid Soraka repeatedly perhaps) they could have come out 2-0. They still have a strong coordinated early-game effort between jungler Kacper "Inspired" Słoma and Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme, their two wunderkinds of mid laner Joseph "jojopyun" Joon Pyun and Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki are still cracked, and Jeong "Impact" Eon-yeong is still one of the most consistent performers in his role and an important point of stability for the squad. This team works well together and that was visible even in their loss. Perhaps more importantly, they've kept their signature style from what we saw from Lock In — consistent with their beliefs in their own hands which is always welcome in the LCS, a region where teams have historically defaulted to more reactive, almost hesitant playstyles.
**6. Team Liquid 1-1**
Similar to their Lock In Finals opponent, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid are also 1-1 despite being one of the best teams in the league even without their star support Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in able to start for the team yet due to green card issues. They fell to a 100 Thieves team that returned to their roots in their season opener, and quickly rebounded with an absolute shellacking of Immortals on their second day.
Alongside more aggressive looks from Evil Geniuses, the mid lane enchanters from Cloud9, and the bot-lane-focused teamfighting from 100 Thieves, Team Liquid have been consistently standard in their looks outside of top laner Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau, his aggressive laning, champion choices, and builds. It's a great setup and additionally credit is due to Team Liquid Academy support Bill "Eyla" Nguyen for substituting in for CoreJJ thus far and making it seem like Team Liquid haven't missed a beat.
**7. CLG 0-2**
CLG had two rough showings in their LCS debut with this lineup with a few bright spots that still showcase how this team may be able to take the occasional game off of a top team while sticking to their goals of incremental improvement and talent development. Their first game was against FlyQuest's Smite Janna top — a strategy that CLG themselves were rumored to have practiced. Although the early game was, frankly, miserable for CLG and jungler Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia who was stymied by a misplay early and then the support top strategy for most of it, the team rallied in the mid-to-late game and will certainly want that game back. It's a rough loss and one where they could have capitalized on mis-timings from FlyQuest, but also one that still shows that CLG will look for opportunities even while significantly behind. In their second game against a rebounding 100 Thieves, they locked in what is probably the most CLG composition they could, given the players on their lineup, and were outmatched. Again, it's not all doom and gloom for CLG despite their record and mis-executions. You can still see an outline of what the team wants to do, now to track whether they'll be able to improve on that week-to-week.
**8. Golden Guardians 0-2**
Golden Guardians are currently winless, but they're stronger than their record would suggest, and certainly an interesting team to watch with a developing identity around Nicholas "Ablazeolive" Abbott's solid mid lane performances and the carry potential of Milo "Pridestalkr" Wehnes who has already drawn bans for his Zed. Both of their games were well within their reach and there's a lot to look forward to from this team in terms of how they can shore up their mid game execution. With so many LCS teams starting to form separate identities and ways of seeing the game, Golden Guardians have interesting pivot points in Eric "Licorice" Ritchie and their bottom lane of Lawrence "Lost" Sze Yuy Hui and Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung.
**9. Immortals Progressive 0-2**
Of all teams in the LCS right now, Immortals will likely be the one at the bottom of people's post-Week 1 tier lists. While their performances in Lock In looked to be testing a few strategies out, especially the Twisted Fate for mid laner Tristan "PowerofEvil" Schrage, their performances in LCS have been similarly lackluster and discordant, despite the talent on this lineup.
That being said, again, I want to stress that Immortals' mistakes are fixable and you can see where the team is trying to come together, particularly with POE trying to make some moves out of mid lane more often. However, none of it seems to be working and when it comes to teamfighting, something that all of these players should gravitate towards in terms of an overall team identity, they're woefully out-of-sync. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that both of their losses were against current top LCS teams in a surging Dignitas and Lock In Champions Team Liquid and their schedule doesn't get any easier this week with games against 100 Thieves and Cloud9.
**10. TSM 0-2**
Another team that is certainly better than their 0-2 record shows, TSM is fun to watch. The players themselves have been very upfront that it will take time for this team to grow together, especially around, now if not veteran then certainly experienced, jungler Mingyi "Spica" Lu. Already we've seen the team rally around Spica's pathing and vision control. Despite execution errors as a team, the five-man unit of TSM have had strong individual performances as well, particularly from rookie mid laner Zhu "Keaiduo" Xiong and some early engages from support Wei "Shenyi" Zi-Jie. Honestly, based on what I had heard from scrims, I expected this team to be much more loose and almost out-of-control than they have been on the Rift thus far. I've been pleasantly surprised by how coordinated they are.
