The regular season has ended and now begins the brutal slog through a combined Summer playoffs and World Championship qualification bracket. There's no better time to reflect on where these eight teams started, the ups/downs/overreactions to single games in Summer, where they are now, and what their chances are at winning the LCS title.
Let's get it.
**1. TSM (Seed #1)**
It's odd to remember that less than a year ago, both Doublelift and Bjergsen were taking to the Rift in TSM jerseys. TSM were the reigning LCS champions going into the Summer split, and all that anyone remembered of them was their abysmal 0-6 group stage performance at the 2020 World Championship. (That, and maybe Spica's desperate Lilia ultimates with zero follow-up from the rest of his team.)
During one of our broadcast preparation meetings for the Spring Lock-In Tournament I laughed at the realization that Spica was the longest-tenured TSM player going into the 2021 season. Now at the end of the season, even while surrounded by experienced veteran teammates like Huni, PowerOfEvil, and TSM's most controversial and expensive pickup in SwordArt, it's Spica who has had a career year and been TSM's standout performer.
This TSM team is — looks around wildly to make sure no one is listening — dare I say, fun? Even while experimenting with compositions with which they were visibly uncomfortable, TSM has been interesting to watch. Despite the dread spectre of last year's 0-6 hanging over them and the ubiquitous moniker of "boring" assigned from past TSM iterations and PowerOfEvil's general refusal to leave the mid lane, this TSM team has earned their first seed, and even branched out to be a bit more proactive early than initially anticipated.
**2. 100 Thieves (Seed #2)**
The Spring 2021 struggles of 100 Thieves seemed to be a distant image in the figurative rearview mirror after the first few weeks of the Summer split. After a minor overreaction to Karmabbedage (I'm properly calling myself out here, as I was one of the overreactors) the community quickly saw not only what a strong combination Xin Zhao and Karma could be but also the fact that Abbedagge brought much-needed draft flexibility to 100 Thieves mid lane. I've said it before and I'll continue to repeat it here, I don't think 100 Thieves' recent issues are due to draft but errors in their mid game that were always there, and increasingly became a problem as other teams around them (EG, TSM, and towards the end of the split, C9) improved.
There's no doubt that 100 Thieves made these roster decisions with an LCS championship and a Worlds berth in mind. Signing Abbedagge and Reapered aren't moves you make mindlessly — they're ones that definitively state that you're aiming for the title and possibly more. The Abbedagge acquisition in particular — mid-season and bought from another team rather than picked up off waivers/free agency — speaks to a fervent desire for a title or bust. As they are right now, 100 Thieves will need to improve on their mid-game macro and thought processes around objective trading (or even something as simple as when to start fights and when not to) in order to claim the title they so desperately seek.
**3. Evil Geniuses (Seed #3)**
Remember when Evil Geniuses started 0-3 on the year and there were the odd rumors of potential roster changes on the horizon? We did an entire Analyst Desk segment on how EG were the best worst team in the LCS — their loss to FlyQuest in particular sticking out as a remarkably sore spot.
Now, EG are heralded as the best team in the league. Even with TSM and 100 Thieves ahead of them in the standings, it's EG who have taken the LCS by storm. In a world where LCS teams are finally playing to different playstyles from team to team, EG are the vanguard with their fast and loose split-push style.
The last time I had the chance to talk to Jiizuke was mid-split during EG's initial rise. He had a lot of words for people who considered him to be a coinflip player and by extension EG a coinflip team. This perception of him as a player harkened back to his Vitality days, and when EG performed fairly well in the Lock-In Tournament but looked mediocre in Spring, the moniker continued to stick.
EG's only change in roster from Spring to Summer was an unassuming one that flew under the radar when compared to 100 Thieves, and then in Week 1 whatever was going on with Team Liquid. Danny in for Deftly. An amateur player bumped up past Academy and into the LCS. Now Danny is a Rookie of the Year frontrunner and EG is a team where everyone seems to be on the same "coinflip" page. A true coinflip gives you 50-50 odds: two choices with equal probability of both. It's the intangibles and the fact that all of EG seem united even at their most visibly sloppy that pushes them over that line.
**4. Cloud9 (Seed #4)**
The rumors of Cloud9's death have been, unsurprisingly, over-exaggerated.
One need look no further than their final match against Team Liquid this past weekend to see how strong Cloud9 can be. Cloud9 are at their best when they're using compositions that make the most of their mechanical skill and ensuring that the early game is both volatile enough to disarm opponents while also being stable enough for them to get Blaber involved early. With the jungle meta in particular shifting towards something that's more C9-favored (hello, Olaf) there's no reason why Cloud9 shouldn't be a title contender. Now that Cloud9 are on an upward trend, my prediction/hot take/lukewarm take/whatever you want to call it that Cloud9 could look stronger in this playoff bracket than Spring doesn't seem too far fetched.
That's not to say that Cloud9 don't have a lot to work on. Their Summer wasn't anything close to their Spring dominion and their initial roster swap and post-MSI slump shouldn't be ignored. Even in their more recent matches where Cloud9 has looked much better, they've made some lets just say interesting macro decisions that definitely haven't worked in their favor.
However, it's impossible to forget how many capable and talented players are on this roster and how they can force plays from their opponents even when they're not playing at their best. The C9/TL rematch in the top of the bracket will be a test for both teams, and even if C9 drop down to the lower bracket, they'll be a tough team to beat in best-of-fives.
**5. Team Liquid (Seed #5)**
Amongst the jokes around roster drama in the LCS this split and how we couldn't go a week without some sort of roster swap or rumor of internal strife, Team Liquid were at the forefront of at least half of these discussions.
With the Alphari benching, Jatt leaving his position as head coach, Armao coming in for Santorin while he continued to grapple with migraines, Alphari returning, and finally Santorin returning — Team Liquid have been through a lot. In a way, it's a bit remarkable that they held on to competing for a top four spot for so long, and only started slipping to fifth in the final few weeks. It's a bit like how they nearly won Spring, despite missing Santorin for their last two matches in the Mid-Season Showdown.
The question Team Liquid now has to answer is one of whether they can catch up and surpass their opponents with the same amount of space in playoffs. Where their opponents will likely be building on foundations laid across the Summer split, Team Liquid are, in a way, just starting to come together as a starting five. Santorin's return was a much-needed addition if TL are to contend for the LCS title, but as Cloud9 proved in their last single game against each other, if TL's early game is volatile, they sometimes struggle to respond. The foundation is there. The players are individually-talented. Now it's time to see if they can either expand or perfect their win-lane style.
**6. Dignitas QNTMPAY (Seed #6)**
Another LCS roster in Summer 2021, another story of roster changes mid-split. First there was the swap of Yusui for Soligo, and then it was Dardoch leaving the team and Akaadian taking over the starting jungle role.
Although Dignitas aren't even close to being a dark horse for the title for me personally, I do want to say that I think this iteration of Dignitas seems a bit more coordinated than their Spring counterpart. That team would win around playing towards jungle early, have a poor mid game, and then rely on miraculous late-game fights where everyone on the team suddenly appeared coordinated. They won several times with deficits and it wasn't a sustainable strategy, even if their teamfighting synergy was surprisingly good.
The Dignitas of now has a set idea of how they want to play around mid/jungle and then transfer that pressure to the bottom side of the map. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you can at least see their thought process and the steps they want to take to win a game. It's tough to see them beating Evil Geniuses this weekend, but I appreciate how you can track their improvement with this specific roster over the back half of the Summer split.
**7. Immortals (Seed #7)**
I find myself saying this every week but Immortals are such a weird team. They vacillate wildly from having truly brilliant single-game performances, and then have thoroughly lackluster or awful showings like their Week 7 match against Counter Logic Gaming. Like Dignitas and Golden Guardians, I think it will be near-impossible for Immortals to make a serious title run, but I respect their stubbornness and can only hope that when they go out, they'll go out with some sort of weird composition in an odd blaze of glory.
Not much was expected out of this team at all. Their Spring highlights consisted of Revenge's initial Irelia game against Alphari and finishing just outside of playoff contention in seventh place. This Summer has been a story of improvement for Immortals and one that had the entire LCS community talking about them for a short period of time.
Immortals have looked more coordinated, played better around their vision setups, tried out some difficult-to-execute compositions and weirdly succeeded with some of them throughout their inconsistent results that landed them in seventh place again (if it had just been Summer standings, they would have moved up one place to sixth). Xerxe has quietly had a standout split as Immortals' jungler, and you can see visible improvement from both of Immortals' solo laners: Revenge and Insanity. If the team's metric is individual growth for their players, then they've succeeded in a few respects.
**8. Golden Guardians (Seed #8)**
So you're saying there's a chance.
Against all odds (and with a little help from Counter Logic Gaming in the end) Golden Guardians scraped by enough wins on the back half of the year to qualify for playoffs. Sure you can insert whatever joke you want about how the LCS has eight playoff teams and ten total teams, but I genuinely love this for Golden Guardians and think that they were the best of the bottom three teams (Golden Guardians, Counter Logic Gaming, and FlyQuest) all vying for that final playoffs spot going into the last week of the Summer split.
Two large roster changes headline this split for Golden Guardians. The first is Solo and later Licorice in for Niles in the top lane and then Chime in for Newbie as the team's support. With these moves, particularly the mid-split pickup of Licorice, Golden Guardians looked significantly improved. They suddenly had an early game plan that they were visibly executing on in every game. Their use of triple Teleport and diving Tier 1 turrets early allowed Ablazeolive to shine not only as one of the LCS' most talented rookies, but one of the best-performing mid laners. His individual success from Spring to Summer has been massive and shouldn't go unnoticed.
