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6 thoughts going into Summer Playoffs Week 1
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After going through an 18-game, 8 week regular season it’s easy to forget how long playoffs are. The LCS Championship runs for 4 weeks, features a losers bracket, and contains many best of 5s. For instance, if CLG were to lose in their Round 1 matchup vs. C9, but then win every Bo5 in the losers bracket on the way to a title they would play in SIX BEST OF FIVES. That’s anywhere from 18-30 games in the next 4 weeks that are possible to be played just for CLG. Anyways, even though the regular season gives us a sense of team strength… playoffs is where the most important things happen. As a general note – more detailed sections for EG, 100T, TSM, and GG will be included next week when their games are scheduled to be played!
**1. EG - The Best they’ve ever been**
Their 15-3 Summer Split record gets them a first round bye. They won’t be playing this week. Instead, they will be scrimming and awaiting the result of the CLG vs. C9 game to see who they have to face next. Even though this team has their eyes set on a title, it’s important to note that they just have to win their first Bo5 to guarantee themselves a top 3 finish and a trip to Worlds 2022. Also, it’s likely that they will clean up in Awards season after Danny had his 3rd split in a row leading the LCS in Kills, and Inspired won 3 Player of the Week awards (almost a lock for MVP).
**2. 100T - Kings of consistency**
Their 14-4 Summer Split record also gets them a first round bye, and they await the winner of TL vs. FLY. Huhi mentioned to us as he was leaving the analyst desk that he expects TL to beat FLY and they are preparing for TL first and foremost. He also said TL would beat C9 if C9 had somehow fell to the #6 spot (by losing the tie-breaker to FLY, which they won). Regardless, they earned this spot thanks to their consistent play.
**3. TL - If there was ever a time…**
Looking at the big picture, this is an extremely disappointing finish for TL. All Spring they’ve been looked towards to be the best team in the LCS due to the names on their roster. They also finished 1st in the Spring Split standings at 14-4, only to flame out during finals weekend and finish 3rd. In Summer… they’ve just stayed 3rd.
Santorin and CoreJJ were in a similar situation just last year. They had a tumultuous Summer Split and TL went into the playoffs as the 5th seed! They then went on to beat C9, TSM, and even 100T to place them into the finals before being swept and ending the split in 2nd. Overall I think the players on TL have a ton of playoff experience, and ‘should’ be able to put up a strong performance against FLY.
The concern is going to be how they approach the series. Are they going to try and play a safer/more consistent style? Or are they going to continue strong early game compositions in hopes of snowballing to victory. They’ve tried both approaches this year, and statistically they have the best early game in the LCS. This week will give us a good preview of TL’s style during playoffs where mistakes can no longer be tolerated.
**4. CLG - Imposter syndrome**
Every year it feels like there is one team who breaks through and feels like an imposter at the top of the standings. In 2021 it was Dignitas, who finished 11-7 in Spring which gave them 5th seed… they then were unceremoniously swept out of the playoffs. In 2020 you could say it was FLY, who finished 10-8 in Spring with a slow plodding playstyle. Unlike DIG, FLY finished 2nd in both splits and also finished 3-3 at Worlds. In retrospect they’re probably the most forgotten great team in NA history.
So which team is CLG? They’ve had moments of brilliance this split; taking games off of EG and TL. They’ve also been exceptionally strong on the red side with a 7-2 record. Having side selection for game 1 against C9 is a bigger advantage for CLG than I think it is for most teams. They also had an opportunity to jump over TL in the standings heading into super week but then fumbled with a horrible loss vs. TSM. I’m currently in the camp where I really *want* CLG to do well. I think it’s great for the league when an old org rejuvenates old fans. I also really like their players and their stories. I’m also in the camp that they *probably* won’t win the series against C9.
**5. C9 - Jack of all trades master of…?**
In many ways playoffs can be a reset button for teams. In the regular season you’re preparing for two different opponents per week, and reacting to patches every two weeks. In Playoffs, you have one week to prepare for one unique opponent, and the patch doesn’t change the entire run. I think this type of stability and focus will help C9 substantially in the playoffs.
During the regular split, Cloud9 was a team who never settled on a style or strategy. They started the split by trying incredibly aggressive mid 2v2s like Yasuo/Gragas with Jensen and Blaber, and they ended it by going back to Zilean/Xin (which gave some flashbacks to 2018 C9 where Jensen and Blaber played Zilean Kindred to much success). Champion diversity can be a blessing or a curse. The best outcome is it gives C9 the flexibility to craft a specific strategy vs. CLG and the depth to pivot in their bo5. The worst outcome would be if C9 hasn’t reached a high level of comfort to fall back on if things go astray.
**6. FLY - It’s Tuki time**
They actually had such a great finish to the Summer Split, only to be completely deflated by the tiebreaker game vs. C9. 3-0 in super week, 0-1 in the tiebreaker. 6th place. Going up against TL in the first round is a very tall task. It’s not a friendly situation to be in considering they finished the regular split only 1 game behind CLG in wins and tied with Cloud9 before tiebreakers. I still think that this team’s success continues to ride on the backs of Toucouille and Josedeodo. Toucouille led all players in player of the game awards with 6 (winning PoG in 6 of the 10 FLY victories) and Josedeodo is a large part of that success. When they work in tandem together and jungle can buy space for mid so that Toucouille can excel in teamfights, (where I think he’s probably the 2nd best teamfighting mid in LCS) they shine.
Where they get in trouble continues to be where we expected them to. Philip has been much better than expected but Philip vs. Bwipo is going to be the most dangerous matchup for FLY in their series vs. TL. In both regular season matchups Bwipo was ahead in CS and gold in lane vs. Philip, and solo killed him once. It’s also about more than the laning phase, Bwipo is one of the best when it comes to playing on side lanes and finding engages for his team. Philip has a tendency to sacrifice waves to try and surprise the other team with a flank engage for a teamfight, rather than the traditional method of pushing the wave and then moving. Throughout a series I think that’s going to be difficult to execute against Bwipo.
