Tales of the LCS – Issue #2

Contenders and Pretenders

Eefje “sjokz” Depoortere of Europe’s analyst desk hit the nail on the head when she stated that week 2’s matches would better allow us to separate the contenders for the League of Legends Championship Series titles from the pretenders. There were many surprises and shake ups to be had in the 20 games that took place, and even in surrounding events off the Rift.

One thing to note is the new format of the LCS. With 10 teams in each region and no super weeks, it takes a much longer time for each team to play matches with all its competitors. This means that while we can judge a team based on the overall flow of its wins and losses, other factors like strength of schedule make it difficult to form a definitive power ranking this early in the split.

With that in mind, let’s dive into the thrilling events that stood out in the LCS the past week.

The Story So Far…

Of Failed Gambits and Fallen Giants

One team that definitely used to be a contender in the European scene, and even the entire world, is Gambit Gaming. Once the favorites to win the Season 2 World Championships, the team’s now fabled Moscow 5 days are long gone. Instead, they stand as the only team in both Western regions to not add a single win to their name by the end of week 2.

Despite bringing in new AD Carry talent in Kristoffer “P1noy” Pedersen, and having a promising off-season spike by winning Intel Extreme Masters Cologne, Gambit looked utterly lost in their games. Questionable pick/ban phases as well as mid laner Sebastian “niQ” Robak being a non-factor thus far are the main causes for Gambit’s predicament as dead last in the region.

The new but yet to be improved Gambit Gaming squad

However, the caveat in this article’s intro rings true here. Strength of schedule is well on Gambit’s side, as its four losses come from the four teams touted as the best in Europe right now. After thrashings at the hands of Fnatic, SK Gaming, Elements and Unicorns of Love, look for Gambit to rebound in the coming weeks with a more lenient schedule of matches.

Gambit wasn’t the only team to falter this week. After defying all expectations and ending week 1 at 2-0, GIANTS! Gaming crashed back down to earth, swallowing two big losses in week 2. For now, it seems that GIA are pretenders to the throne because as soon as they ran into more competent teams in UoL and H2k, their lineup faltered.

After a simple ban on Jax, the champion Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas used to dominate games in week 1, GIA looked completely lost. Three of their players ended up dead last in KDA for their respective roles. They insisted on camping top lane despite Werlyb not being on a carry champion anymore, and lost map pressure all around.

Additionally, members of the team are pointing to several problems on the organization’s side that are preventing them from training properly, putting their immediate future performances in question. GIA needs to stabilize, both as an organization and a team, before they can live up to their name and tower over the opposition. If not, their brilliant opening week will quickly be branded as a fluke.

The Missing MYM Mid Lane

More tragedies befall the teams at the bottom of the European ladder. Another week has passed without any definite resolution to MeetYourMakers’ mid lane dilemma. For those who hadn’t noticed, MYM has fielded Marius “Blizer300” Hæsumgaard as their mid laner for the past couple of weeks. This is due to Marcin “Kori” Wolski, perhaps better known as Selfie when the team was still under the Supa Hot Crew banner, leaving the organization abruptly — a day before the LCS!

As Kori remains AWOL, Blizer300 holds down the mid lane as best he can.

Without the team’s main carry from last split, the other members looked lifeless. Ironically, Blizer was their only redeemable factor, keeping the team afloat until they eventually eked out their first win against the Copenhagen Wolves, a team struggling with their own mountain of problems.

After a controversial article on The Daily Dot reported that Blizer was also looking to be off the team, many fans were quick to sound the panic alarms. The article’s claims have since then been put into question, and as of this writing, what MYM will ultimately decide to do with their mid lane situation is unknown.

Another big question is where Kori ran off to. As it stands, he is in breach of contract, and if rumors of his efforts to join a North American challenger team prove true, Riot will have to step in and prevent him from doing so.

Early morning Feb. 5, 2015, Kori confirmed that he will play the rest of the season with Meet Your Makers after missing the first two weeks of the LCS Spring Split.

In a post to his Facebook fan page, Kori explained that he left the team “beacouse [sic] i didnt feel good with the team atmosphere and overall how people were speaking and acting towards eachother.” The decision was made abruptly, causing fans to speculate heavily that Kori will indeed transfer to another LCS team.

According to Kori, he did play with another North American team during his absence from MYM but there seems to be no mention of a future move on his part.

SK Resurgent

With a number of European teams in dire straits, it stands to reason that there would be teams that would reap the benefits of the weaknesses in their competition. This week, four teams scored a double win. Among them, a rebounding Elements squad, a Fnatic team looking less dominant than their first week performance but still fiercely competitive, and a surprise performance from newcomers, H2k.

Do you believe in this team’s hype?

However, one team stands head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in Europe, and that team is SK Gaming. SK hasn’t been a particularly flashy team in a long while (not since the days of Kevin “Kev1n” Rubiszewski and Carlos “ocelote” Rodríguez), but they prove that consistency does eventually pay off. Even their disappointment at last year’s Worlds wasn’t enough to deter them from refocusing for this split.

SK’s lineup is full of well-rounded players in the top, jungle and mid positions, all of which are at or near the top of the standings when it comes to KDA, kill participation and gold/minute for their roles. Additionally, the combination of bold playmaking AD Carry Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou and veteran strategical genius Christoph “nRated” Seitz in the bot lane has proven unstoppable thus far, with FORG1VEN having yet to die this split.

This extra carry potential combines with SK’s already brilliant macro strategy and in-game shot calling to produce a well-oiled machine capable of making correct decisions even without sufficient warding. As nRated infamously stated last week, he would “rather have brains than wards”, and brains this team seems to have in spades as they currently stand at the top of the table.

Spearheading the Competition

The landscape is a little different in North America, and we’re not just talking about geography. There’s currently a 3-way tie for the top of the standings between Team Solo Mid, Counter Logic Gaming and Gravity Gaming as NA continues its trend of being all around closer in competitiveness compared to Europe.

What do these three teams have in common? Aside from having a Season 1 veteran a piece for each squad, (TSM’s Marcus “Dyrus” Hill, CLG’s, Yiliang “DoubleLift” Peng and GRV’s Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco) each team is exhibiting awareness of the win conditions of the team compositions they pick. Whether it’s team fighting, fast pushing or making picks on the opponent, these teams have exhibited patience and a certain calculation lacking in other NA squads at the moment.

Another thing these teams share is an inclination for League’s newest Marksman, Kalista. The Spear of Vengeance is a particularly North American pocket pick, as no other region seems to be favoring her right now, but in week 2 alone, Kalista featured four times in North America, each time coming out with a win. Whether it’s using her poke to win 2v2 trades, rushing Runaan’s Hurricane for fast pushes or in CLG’s case, combining her with Blitzcrank to form the Balista combo (an insanely long-ranged hook when combined with Kalista’s ultimate) it’s clear that these teams have practiced her heavily, and that you can expect to see her again soon.

Dried Up and Undignified

While much of North America remained rather competitive this week, two teams really dropped the ball in terms of their play, those being Team Liquid and Team Dignitas.

Liquid seemed unstoppable in week 1, earning the highest scores across the board in their 2 wins, despite having a substitute player. However, the much-hyped arrival of World Champion AD Carry Chae “Piglet” Gwangjin fell completely flat. It was clear that the team didn’t have much time to practice with Piglet after multiple VISA issues delayed his joining with the team for the LCS proper. Combining that with a tough week of facing the only teams to win NA LCS championships in TSM and Cloud 9 meant that Liquid dried up quickly.

Will Piglet’s momentary lapses get to him again?

Piglet’s nerves were on display as their first loss to Cloud 9 was compounded by the unusual discovery that Piglet ran no masteries during the game. If Liquid is unable to solve this, along with any potential communication issues, Liquid’s well of victory may remain dry for a while. Thankfully, they have a much more forgiving schedule in week 3, going against Team Coast, a team that also failed to net a single win last week, as well as our next team in focus.

Team Dignitas is in trouble, plain and simple. The members look disjointed in their play, and give little to no resistance when pressured, slowly giving the game up until their Nexus falls. This problem apparently carries outside the game as well. Alberto “Crumbz” Rengifo, who has been with the team for three years in various roles, recently announced his decision to leave the team, citing a lack of communication, camaraderie and even general direction as symptoms of an unhealthy team environment he no longer desired to be a part of.

Jungling prowess aside, Crumbz will also be remembered for his seemingly prophetic predictions for last year’s World Championship matches.

With Dignitas losing their captain so early in the split, it’s hard to see them clawing their way to anything substantial in the standings barring a miracle replacement. The best a fan can hope for at this point is for Dignitas to find a way to avoid getting relegated, as the new LCS format means the last team in the standings at the end of the split is automatically demoted to the Challenger circuit with no chance at redemption.

Week 3 Matches to Watch

While the new format does make it harder to judge any particular team’s definite place within a region’s power curve right away, we can already look forward to matches that could showcase the qualities a top team needs to display to separate itself from the rest of the pack or even to stay afloat in the LCS. That being said, here are some matches to eye in the coming week:

H2k-Gaming vs Gambit Gaming

H2k surprised everyone with a 2-0 week, while Gambit was surprised by their opponents in back-to-back losses. For one team, it’s a chance to prove their run of good form isn’t a fluke and that they can hang with the big boys, and for the other, it’s their first test against a middle of the pack team to see if they have a shot at climbing the ladder.

Elements vs SK Gaming

This is a match many have been waiting for. The reigning champions of last split square off against the new polished team of Spring 2015. Will Elements find the spirit that led them to their previous first place finish, or will SK’s cold, calculating map control prove too much for the super team?

Counter Logic Gaming vs Gravity Gaming

This is a top of the table fight nobody expected to have before the split started, but two of the most vocal and established personalities in League history will do battle as Doublelift looks to prove everyone else is trash, while Saintvicious will fight to secure every buff, and enemy Nexus, on the path to victory.

Dignitas vs Team Solo Mid

How deep is the pit Dignitas is in now? Who better to test that than the reigning champions of North America, TSM? Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and company will show no mercy, which means Dignitas will have to fight tooth and nail if they want to come out of this match with a shred of dignity.

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