Tales of the LCS, Issue #7
The Standings Settle In
Now that week 7 is over, we officially enter the home stretch of the 2015 Spring Split. With each team only having four games left to play, each encounter becomes ever more crucial. As team records can now effectively be drawn and read off, it also gets easier to predict the outcome of the remaining matches.
However, as previous LCS seasons have taught us, anyone can make a run at the end of the split, so for the top teams, it won’t pay to be complacent. For the bottom teams, it is imperative to be flawless to avoid the dreaded 10th spot and auto-relegation.
The Story So Far…
A Classic Case of Revenge
The last time El Clásico happened, Fnatic bested SK Gaming in convincing fashion, surviving SK’s feared early game lane dominance to churn out won teamfight after won teamfight. The story was different for round 2, despite being eerily similar.
Fnatic looked to be beating SK at their own game, snowballing a controlled laning phase by repeatedly diving Simon “fredy122” Payne in the top lane. Fnatic was scoring kills across the map and countering any aggression SK tried to throw their way. So when that didn’t work, SK then tried to beat Fnatic at their own game… and it worked.
Konstantinos “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou and the rest of SK Gaming are back on top of the European standings.
SK warded up heavily, sneaking dragon after dragon and avoiding fights. Then when a key pick presented itself, they deleted Seong “Huni” HoonHeo, a key player to Fnatic’s momentum, from the map. Off that, they took a Baron to stall the game, masterfully maneuvered to the coveted fifth dragon buff and overpowered Fnatic in the late game.
SK’s win once again cemented them at the top of the EU standings, and truly earned them the right to represent the region in the upcoming Intel Extreme Masters tournament. That they did it using such a magnificent role reversal is just icing on the cake.
The Battle at the Bottom
While the battle for the top is always going to be in the limelight, there are also those who struggle at the bottom, and with the split drawing to a close, their situations are dire.
Four teams stand cut from the rest of the league by at least two games, and while it isn’t out of the question that one of these teams could make a late run and squeeze into the top 6 for a playoff berth, their track records make this possibility less likely.
We first start with Team ROCCAT, a team that was destined for brilliance with big off-season pick ups in Paweł “Woolite” Pruski, the breakout AD carry of 2014’s Summer Split, and Erlend “Nukeduck” Våtevik Holm of Lemondogs and Season 3 World Championship fame.
Though they’ve shown flashes of brilliance, ROCCAT remains largely inconsistent, but if they can keep their heads in the game, they’ve proven that they definitely have the skill to control the flow of a game against other teams, making them the prime candidates to escape relegation.
Henrik “Froggen” Hansen’s Elements squad need to shape up to avoid relegation.
Under them is the surprise of the year so far, as Elements have fallen from reigning champions to low end team. Their shot calling has been shown to be weak, their play reluctant and their roster still a tad in flux. Recreating the old Counter Logic Gaming EU by reuniting with Mitch “Krepo” Voorspoels has done little to improve their results.
It’s not that their players are bad, but it just seems like they’re collectively refusing to play together, or even properly at times. It would be a sad sight indeed to see Elements in relegation.
Then we move to GIANTS! Gaming and Meet Your Makers. The Giants have not found their footing ever since their one ace in the hole of getting the Jax pick for Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas was quickly nullified. MYM, the team marred by scandal and controversy, are understandably not gelling at all, despite new top laner Jesper “Jwaow” Strandgren breathing some life into their recent games.
Will the LCS prospects of one of these teams end soon?
It is most likely one of these two that will see automatic relegation in the 10th place spot. Will the Spanish armada fully go down the drink, or will MYM have one more reason to say “big sorry” for their performance?
Not Just the TIP
Team Impulse is a team that’s never had a bad week in the LCS, having cruised through since the start of the season with a 1-1 split record each time. By that logic, they’ve never had a stellar week either, always on the cusp of greatness, reaching with just the tip (aha, get it, like Team Impu — nevermind) but never puncturing through to the top — that is, until this week.
Impulse came in with a thundering statement by handing Cloud 9 what could arguably be their biggest loss of the season. Lee “Rush” Yoonjae is proving that he is worthy of the hype that came with him being touted as the player to reach the top of the Korean solo queue. His early ganks for his solo lanes and dominance in the jungle netted Impulse crushing leads in the early game.
This carried on to their insane stomp of Team Liquid, ending at 21 kills to 3 with over 20k gold in the lead. For the second game in a row, their opposition could not find any kills on them in the early game at all, nor could they push or make a dragon play.
Xian “XiaoWeiXiao” Yu is also reminding everyone why he was the Summer Split MVP in 2014. Some wondered where his quirky picks and farming prowess as a previous record holder for reaching 300 minion kills in the fastest time were. The old XiaoWeiXiao showed his face again in two magnificent games as Karthus, a champion that had fallen out of favor for the longest time.
How Team Impulse’s XiaoWeiXiao must be celebrating after his flawless performances in last week’s games.
Going a combined 11/0/15, XWX gave new meaning to Karthus’ passive, Death Defied. He worked with his team to skillfully coordinate ambushes and engages nearly every single time his Requiem was available to snowball the game. He also racked up 300 farm around the 23-minute mark once more, a feat that proves increasingly difficult to do in the new jungle with larger respawn timers on neutral camps.
Team Impulse simply looked like the total package, and a top team this week. The scariest thing about that is they’ve already beaten Cloud 9 and Team Solo Mid in recent weeks, leaving mostly “weaker” teams in their path to the playoffs.
Outfoxed
One team has struggled with its roster for the better part of the split. Winterfox entered Season 5 with no less than three substitute players, and has yet to find something that works for them despite all the tools at their disposal.
Winterfox has historically been centered around its two solid carries in mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park and AD carry Johnny “Altec” Ru. Despite the team’s losing ways under the Evil Geniuses banner, these two individuals kept posting up points and making plays, with many considering them a pair of young prodigies for the North American scene.
Winterfox’s mid laner Pobelter remains one of the few stable factors on the team.
However, the other positions could never seem to find stability. From playing with three Challenger Series talents including Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad this season, they then had to acclimate to Shin “Helios” Dongjin’s return from Korea to lead his team from the jungle. After minimal success, Helios’ real life brother Shin “Avalon” Deongyheon came and manned the top lane. Later still, their support Jang “Imagine” Hyeonsu didn’t even get to play until week 5!
All that Korean talent influx led the team to switch default comms to Korean, leaving Altec as the only one not fluent in the language. They then pulled another baffling switcheroo, as head coach Choi “Paragon” Hyun-il moved to starting AD carry, making Altec switch to support. None of these tricks are working for the team however, as they faced another 0-2 week, despite nearly upsetting Team Solo Mid.
With a wonky communication structure, a playing coach and the threat of relegation looming on the horizon, one has to wonder if Winterfox just outfoxed themselves out of playoff contention with their roster shenanigans.
Week 8 Matches to Watch
The LCS will be on hold this week to make room for the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice, Poland. The top teams from all over the world will convene and give us a little preview of Worlds 2015 as they vie for bragging rights and an extra spot of prize money, care of the Electronic Sports League (ESL).
So in short, the matches to watch during the coming week will be… all of them! You won’t want to miss seeing the likes of Korea’s GE Tigers, Taiwan’s yoe Flash Wolves, Team Solo Mid and Gambit Gaming going head to head.
Catch the IEM tournament on March 13 to 15, and see which region’s top dog reigns supreme.
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