LTA
LEC
LCK
LPL
LCPLearn more
Events & Standings
10 thoughts going into LCS Championship Weekend
-
**First thought: Danny stepping down**
Far and away the biggest news of the week was released on Tuesday, with EG announcing that Danny will not be competing at this weekend’s LCS Summer Finals due to mental health. It was incredibly shocking news, but at the same time helps explain the odd ways in which EG had been approaching games in the playoffs.
Throughout the regular season, EG completely funneled their ADC Danny so that he could have all the gold and could carry teamfights. In the last two playoff series, EG was putting Danny almost exclusively on Seraphine and Miss Fortune, and relying heavily on Impact and Jojo to carry games.
Without getting into the Mental Health aspect, the way that EG successfully (although barely) qualified to Worlds and kept their LCS season alive with a completely different strategy and style is pretty incredible. Now the question becomes how the team will adapt to playing with their Academy ADC Kaori in Finals.
**Second Thought: How to use a sub in Finals Weekend**
Amazingly, I have firsthand experience with this very question! In Spring of 2021 with Team Liquid, we lost our Winners’ Final to C9, in small part because Santorin was experiencing migraines and wasn’t able to perform at his normal level. With 3 days remaining before Finals Weekend, we had to take the difficult decision to play with Armao. There’s several different ways to approach it, but here’s what we did to try and give it the best chance of succeeding:
- **Make the new player as comfortable as possible.**
- Rather than trying to get the new player to fit into the existing system of the team, have the rest of the team adjust to the new player. In TL’s case, this meant letting Armao play what he is most comfortable with and to play his style. I think EG should do the same thing with Kaori. Kaori preferred some lane dominant picks such as Kalista and Lucian in Academy, as well as a strong ability to play Zeri. I think EG should try and play towards those picks.
- **Make your scrim opponents easy**
- Confidence is so important when bringing a sub into the main team. You’re not guaranteed to win on stage, so schedule some easy scrims and get some reps in winning to build up good vibes. If I remember correctly TL scrimmed No Name (an amateur team) and 100T Academy on the 2 days leading up to finals.
- **Unite around the adversity**
- Do your best to make sure everyone is aligned that you can win with the new player. In the case of Armao, everyone on the team thought we could win, and based on Kaori’s skill that he displayed in Academy I think EG will be able to find this belief as well. Discussing this, and sharing this throughout the team is important to keep confidence up.
So how did it go for TL? Pretty well.. We 3-1’d TSM in 3rd place and then lost the two final games in the C9 final to lose 3-2… I still think about it to this day but I was really proud of how the team played in the finals considering the circumstances. Hopefully EG can have a similar (or better) result.
**Third Thought: 100T is so good at making the other team uncomfortable**
I’ve written in the past about how a lot of LCS teams don’t hold 100T in high regard because they lost so often in scrims. I’ve also been thinking a lot about why TL didn’t work out, and why this 100T team continues to find success. A lot of this comes down to what happens after *25 minutes*.
**Fourth Thought: Why “25 minutes” is so important**
25 minutes is roughly the average game time of a scrim in North America. The average game time of an LCS game is closer to 34 minutes. 100T in particular average 33 and a half. Scrims are a very explosive environment. It’s a place for limit testing and greater risk taking, and it’s easy to lose focus after an extremely strong or weak early game. Additionally, kills are extremely accelerated due to more aggressive play and games just naturally end faster. It’s quite realistic to practice early-game in scrims. It’s almost impossible to practice realistic late game scenarios in scrims.
This is where 100T are just better than the rest. They’ve kept the same 5 players together for 3 splits straight. They’ve kept the same Jungle, ADC, Support pairing around for 5 splits. They’re just so much more *comfortable* than other teams after 25 minutes. They play with so much discipline on stage. They also never play with that discipline in scrims, so weirdly, nobody has played against it until they play them on stage. When I look at 100T’s gold graphs throughout the split they’re just exceptionally good at winning in the late game. It’s because this squad has been there more than any other team in the LCS – and it shows.
**Fifth Thought: Why has C9 been so good (as an org)**
This is probably a section and debate for a whole new article, but C9 has a strong case for being the greatest org in the history of the LCS. I learned today (from a random twitter DM from a fan named “chris”) that C9 has made finals EVERY SINGLE YEAR OF LCS. You know how crazy that is?? They’ve been through so many roster iterations, been through so much chaos, but reliably, every single year, they’re able to reach the finals. That speaks to organizational excellence and needs to be appreciated.
I haven’t done a full deep dive on this but C9 does some things much different than other orgs. They have highly structured systems in place with how the team exercises in mornings, how the coaching staff needs to pass along feedback to upper management, and how they all still use the gaming house model. Without experiencing the “C9 systems” it’s hard to say exactly why they work… but the results speak for themselves.
**Sixth thought: Why C9 fits the patch**
Fudge plays counters to all of the meta picks. You pick Ornn, he picks Camille. You pick Aatrox, he picks Fiora. You ban Fiora and pick Aatrox, he picks Kennen. Also, C9 is the only team who can flex pick Sejuani.
Berserker is comfortable with all of the ADC trades. You pick Sivir, he picks Zeri, you pick Zeri he picks Sivir. You didn’t ban Kalista? Okay, have fun losing. You picked Kalista, he picks Aphelios, etc.
Zven plays all of the perfect support combos for Berserker’s picks: Renata, Lulu, Yuumi. Actually a great split to role swap because those 3 champs haven’t been meta in years.
Jensen is cruising on old comfort picks: LeBlanc, Azir, Orianna, Zilean.
They are EASILY the most flexible team in draft and it’s allowed them to be set up for success on several occasions.
**Seventh thought: 100T vs. EG prediction Spring**
So this is a rematch of the Spring Final, and I have a confession. I originally predicted 100T to win that Finals. Every analyst on the desk did. However, when I saw the introductions and saw the massive fan momentum that was given to EG, and when I saw the confidence in the EG players as they walked onto stage... I pulled out my phone and quickly texted the producer to flip my prediction. So basically, within 30 seconds of my prediction being shown on screen I had the other team. Does that still count? You tell me. History says it does. But it also means that this prediction MIGHT CHANGE LAST MINUTE SORRY.
**Eighth thought: 100T vs. EG prediction Summer**
Alright. I weirdly have faith in Kaori. Moreso I have faith that EG’s core has been absolutely dominating the LCS all Summer Split. I actually believe in their ability to adapt to a new player, and I believe in their ability to not feel the pressure of playing finals with a new roster. I’ll also say that every single Lower Bracket series has gone to 5 games. So: EG 3-2
**Ninth Thought: Losers Bracket Buff**
Before we get to finals – a quick history note. There have been 5 playoffs since the LCS switched to Double Elimination playoffs. In only two of the 5 splits has the team from the Upper Bracket won the finals. Losers’ Bracket momentum, right?
**Tenth Thought: C9**
Those two teams to win from the Upper Bracket were C9 both times. C9 SYSTEMS LET’S GO!
Prediction: C9 vs. TBD, C9 3-1
