Tales of the LCS – Issue #1

The 2015 Season Begins

The second week of the European and North American League of Legends (LoL) Championship Series (LCS) is about to begin and the action is already heated. While a good number of matches confirmed some of the predictions made in our previous team profile article, it’s safe to say that there were equally as many unexpected turns that developed over the course of last weekend.

While we could just give you a play-by-play recounting of the games, this time will be something different. Today, and for the remaining 9 weeks of LCS, we’ll bring you the top stories that have either emerged or continued from previous weeks.

In this issue: parity, hype trains both on track and derailed and a shocking turn of events for the standings of the North American scene.

The Story So Far…

The European Hype Trains

The Unicorns of Love enjoyed an overwhelming amount of support for a new team coming into the LCS. After besting Millenium in the Promotion Tournament despite being heavy underdogs, UOL went on to defeat Team Solo Mid rather handily at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose last month. Their oddball picks and seemingly reckless style hearkened back to the days of old Moscow 5, and the crowd loved every minute of it.

The hype train of love seemed to roll right on to the LCS as the Unicorns dispatched Gambit Gaming with relative ease despite the latter being on their own little hype train after winning Intel Extreme Masters Cologne. However, despite a spirited performance from the Unicorns’ mid lane star, Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage, the team fell to a resurgent Elements, looking to rebound their week from a devastating loss. The Unicorns were largely flat throughout their entire second game, leading many to question if they truly are worthy of all the hype they’ve been afforded.

Speaking of Elements suffering a loss, that loss was actually to Fnatic, whom the majority of the analysts and fans had written off due to an almost total roster revamp, with Bora “YellowStar” Kim as the only returning member. The sparks made by Martin “Rekkles” Larsson’s controversial move from Fnatic to Elements certainly flared up as the young AD Carry prodigy was held at the mercy of his former lane partner. Fnatic’s statement was cemented by also dismantling H2k-gaming in convincing fashion, another grudge match as their mid laner used to play for H2k.

Not only did YellowStar perform up to his old standard, Fnatic’s two carries in Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten and rookie Pierre “Steelback” Medjaldi put up huge numbers, while jungler Kim “Reignover” Ui-jin showed a surprising amount of coordination, even displaying his ability to speak English fluently during an interview, dispelling any notions that the new Fnatic would have huge communication barriers with their Korean imports.

Look for UOL to try and get their train back up to speed this week, and for Fnatic to do their best to continue their surprise opening.

Making a Statement

Fnatic wasn’t the only team to stand out from the pack in the first week. A resurgent SK Gaming and, surprisingly, an untested GIANTS! Gaming squad also won both their matches.

The standout players for these teams were definitely SK’s Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou and GIA’s Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas. FORG1VEN was decidedly unforgiving and lived up to his hype of being the most aggressive laning AD Carry in Europe. So far, every bot lane player that has been interviewed cited the SK Gaming bot lane to be the toughest to play against.

Shifting to the top of the map, Werlyb led the Spanish armada to surprise victories on Jax. Werlyb can expect the champion to be banned against him after scoring multiple triple kills to carry his team.

After being left behind by Fnatic and Elements (then Alliance) last split, is SK finally looking to usurp the European throne in light of Fnatic’s restructuring and Elements’ subpar first week showing? And will GIANTS! prove that they are not some random team of neophytes but the next team to watch in the coming weeks? Only time can tell.

North America’s Even Footing

Crossing the Atlantic, we move to one of the big surprises of the North American scene: anyone can beat anyone! Of the 10 teams, 8 of them ended the week with one win and one loss. This included some upset victories in Gravity Gaming besting Cloud 9 and Team 8 turning a game around on Team Solo Mid.

Beyond the results, what was surprising was how polarizing most of the teams looked. Many were utterly crushed in their losses, but pulled a 180 and looked controlled and dominant in their wins. Even Winterfox, who had to play the week with three substitute players, managed to score a big win against Gravity Gaming.

While it certainly is exciting to see most of the NA competitors neck and neck, it’s too early to tell which teams are truly at parity, and which are merely struggling with bouts of inconsistency.

The Cloud and the Rain

On the subject of consistency, one team seems to have finally found it, while another has momentarily lost it. It’s shocking to even think that Cloud 9 could ever be at the bottom of the standings in NA. Even at their lowest point, they’ve never been shut out of the top half of the table. Now, after a loss to rivals TSM and the new Gravity Gaming, C9 enters week 2 without a win to their name.

As with heavy clouds, they disappear after the rain, and for now, C9’s glory has been eclipsed by Liquid Gaming. The team formerly known as Curse shot to the top of the standings after crushing Team Impulse and Counter Logic Gaming. The kicker is that Liquid managed all that without their most hyped player, World Champion AD Carry Chae “Piglet” Gwangjin, who was unable to participate due to VISA issues.

Challenger talent Yuri “KEITH” Jew filled the spot and was the most dominating AD Carry of the week, earning the most Fantasy LCS points by far. Liquid’s jungler, Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera, lived up to his name with a 85% kill participation and 13.67 KDA ratio, earning him the MVP for week 1.

Many questions about Liquid Gaming’s dominance will be answered soon, as the team is set to face North America’s two champions this week. On the flip side, this would be a great opportunity for Cloud 9 to save face and regain their hold over the scene.

Week 2 Matches to Watch

With the next round of LCS to resume soon, here are the matches that could potentially offer the most excitement when it comes to furthering the plot of this professional League of Legends saga:

Fnatic vs Team ROCCAT

Was neo-Fnatic’s first week a fluke, or is this new roster the real deal? This match may answer that question, as Fnatic take on the formidable ROCCAT, who barely missed a top 3 placing in the summer of last year.

Cloud 9 vs Team Liquid 

Cloud 9, the two-time NA LCS champs, will look to redeem themselves against a dominant Team Liquid. But with Piglet returning for this week, will Liquid’s bot lane be too much for the former top dogs of North America?

Elements vs Copenhagen Wolves

While not an all important match-up, this game will answer a lot of questions about Elements, the champions of last split. Their crushing defeat to Fnatic left fans scratching their heads, and should they struggle against the already inconsistent Wolves, their reign may not be long for this world.

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