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6 thoughts going into MSS Finals Weekend
We've narrowed the field down from six playoff teams, to four, to three. Let's get it.
**1. Riding high**
The question going into Cloud9's Lock-In Finals rematch against Team Liquid wasn't of whether Cloud9 could be TL (they could) but how much they had evolved since that initial best-of-five loss. Back in the Lock-In Tournament, Perkz was still adjusting to his new team. They relied on him to play the likes of Galio or Twisted Fate to help out side lanes.
[Last week I wrote about Vulcan][1] and how he had the chance to showcase that perhaps he was snubbed for first all-pro support. His roaming and timing with C9 were better than that of CoreJJ and TL, not to mention his excellent teamfighting. Fudge, who had been cited as a potential weak link through no fault of his own and entirely due to the individual prowess of Alphari, responded by taking over games with the rest of the team. Blaber controlled the early game better than Santorin, Zven (an unsung hero for C9 all split) performed better than Tactical, and Perkz naturally assumed the spotlight that had been reserved for him all split.
Yet even in listing off how C9's individuals outperformed TL, what was most impressive about C9 this past weekend was how they played as a team. Their teamfighting was stronger than TL's, their jungle-to-lane communication was stronger than TL's, and even if you hated their drafts objectively, they played them out with a stronger understanding of what they needed to do to win than TL. This is a hungry C9 team who is now indubitably the favorite going into Finals weekend.
**2. One foot in front of the other**
Given Cloud9's dominion over the majority of the 2021 LCS Spring Split, the comparisons between this team and last year's C9 have been low-hanging fruit. Fudge and Perkz took the places of Licorice and Nisqy, but the framing of the team's regular-season dominance ran parallel to 2020 C9, whose Spring title is referenced only to bring up how the team then failed to make Worlds after bombing out that summer. Last Spring, C9 unceremoniously won Spring but didn't have a Mid-Season Invitational to attend and celebrated their victory from their practice room. This year, they'll take on their Finals opponents at the Greek Theatre with MSI looming on the horizon.
Talking to members of C9 — especially Vulcan, Blaber, and Zven, all of whom were part of last year's Summer collapse — reveals that the team is thinking of MSI but not overlooking their North American opponents. In every broadcast or community interview, C9's players have been both confident while also recognizing regional disadvantages and the team's own prior mistakes. Not only is this a team that has grown together since Lock-In, but they're also a team that seems to have taken lessons learned from last year into this year, making them a significantly stronger unit.
**3. We must love**
We don't always choose our fandom. Sometimes fandom chooses us in a way that seems inevitable. Sometimes a friend tells you to tune into MLG Dallas in 2013 to watch a showmatch between a South Korean team called KT Rolster B and one of, if not the, best team in the west at that time in Gambit Gaming (formerly Moscow Five). Sometimes you see a team do something you've not seen before, showing you something new, and fall in love.
Sometimes, you're a teacher in Leicester, England whose Twitter handle matches up with one of the best western League of Legends players of all time.
One of the most entertaining stories to come out of the LCS fandom this split has been the story of Emily Perkins, her guinea pigs, and an accidental tag on Twitter to her handle (Perkz) from a popular content creator. The tag not only catapulted her into momentary esports Twitter fame, but accidentally dragged her into the world of being a C9 fan (and as previously mentioned, it's an excellent time to be a C9 fan). This split, Perkins has made the journey from "what is this game?" to rooting for the team every weekend and now being signed on as a content creator in her own right as part of the C9 organization.
Here's to both Perkzes, Perkins' guinea pigs, and fandom as a whole. Sometimes love finds us in the most unexpected ways.
**4. Draft dependent**
There are myriad parts to drafting, preparing for draft, and actually executing it in a high-pressure game on a timer. One slight deviation from the plan that a team doesn't account for can mean an entire draft swing in favor of their opponent. Perhaps a player decides that they're not as comfortable on a champion that was prepped on that specific day. Perhaps the draft is objectively good, but something that hasn't been practiced by the team.
These aren't specific references to either series this past weekend, but a framework through which to view drafts in both the TL/C9 and TSM/100T matches. Both playoff series were even more heavily draft-dependent than previous series or single games, especially where execution was concerned. It was hardly a case of "winning draft automatically equals better draft," but the way these compositions played out, a winner was frequently decided compositionally due to strong or poor execution well before the games' actual finales. Here's to seeing more holistic drafting for Finals weekend. All three teams have playstyles and identities they want to play towards, and hopefully their drafts will reflect that alongside execution.
**5. There are [three] of us, actually**
It's odd to say that a team with the fanbase, history, or offseason noise of TSM has been overlooked, but going into this weekend, TSM are definitely the underdogs of the three teams remaining. Even with Team Liquid's uncharacteristically poor performance against C9 — where they were taken aback by C9's Sylas pick and then subsequently tunneled on C9's picks without similar coordination — TL are the expected finalist to face off against C9 on Sunday.
Given the sloppiness of the 100 Thieves series, TSM have a lot to shore up going into their matchup against TL on Saturday and it starts with their two most-maligned players since this past offseason in Huni and SwordArt. Both are players who are always going to look better on a team with stronger coordination and a set gameplan given how they each like to play for the team. If there are cracks in that coordination, both players will look worse by comparison because their initiation and timings will be off. This doesn't excuse some of the individual mistakes, particularly from SwordArt's target-marking, but TSM's woes in the 100 Thieves series (which they won) come down to team synergy and macro play rather than individuals for the most part. Against Team Liquid, I'd like to see TSM stick to what works for them with stronger drafting to support their team identity.
**6. Get them to the Greek**
It's been over a year since the LCS went online. We've since accepted and internalized the situation, but there are obvious limitations to an online broadcast and players playing from their bedrooms or, following COVID-19 protocols, from their training facilities. As previously mentioned, C9's Spring Split victory last year is all-but-forgotten outside of the context of their season. They celebrated quietly and weren't able to attend MSI. As then-FlyQuest jungler said after qualifying for Worlds last Summer, it's difficult to be nearly as hyped when you're playing from your bedroom as opposed to being onstage.
That changes this weekend.
The first step in going back offline as a broadcast started during these playoffs with Dash, wandering around the newly-refurbished LCS Studio like an energetic albeit lonely ghost, talking to us giant heads on moving LED monitors.
While I'm a rookie broadcaster — outside of streaming talking heads shows and a few journalism video packages in college, also known as several lifetimes ago for me — I can say with full confidence that it's going to be amazing to have the Finals in person.
I'll see you there in my flesh suit.
[1]: https://lolesports.com/article/6-thoughts-going-into-mss-week-3/blt4cbe2bfbf5a595e4
