Week six of the 2019 LCS Spring Split saw Cloud9 and Team Liquid pull away from the rest of the pack with 2-0s. FlyQuest and Echo Fox dropped 0-2s on the week, while the other six teams went 1-1. TSM, Cloud9, and Team Liquid are the clear top three in North America. Everyone else is within one win of each other, heating up the race for playoffs. Here are four players that stood out in week six.
The Fantastic Four recognizes four different players from different teams that exhibited different strengths in their gameplay. To review the qualifications for these awards, read week one’s piece.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
Doublelift returns to the Fantastic Four in week six, this time as The Thing. Team Liquid notched another 2-0 under its belt, and Doublelift’s consistency remains a key factor in the org’s success. He played safe on Ezreal against OpTic Gaming, while CoreJJ roamed to impact the rest of the map on Galio. While the Impact’s Kennen, Xmithie’s Jarvan and Jensen’s Leblanc dashed around and locked OpTic down, Doublelift played on the back line throwing out Mystic Shots and Trueshot Barrages to secure kills.
He showed up again on Ezreal against Counter Logic Gaming on day two. TL first-picked Ezreal for Doublelift, and CLG was able to draft against it. They opted into Sivir, just like OpTic, and did not get much going either. While most of the action was happening top and mid, Doublelift safely farmed up, built items and almost finished the game deathless again. Liquid’s bottom lane continues to impress, and Doublelift’s performance in week six is a great example of their consistently high play.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
Darshan gets the Mr. Fantastic for the second time this split. CLG’s top laner has had some of the worst individual performances in North America in 2019, which has left him plenty of room to improve week over week. After a pair of rough games versus Cloud9 and TSM last week, Darshan definitely stepped up in week six versus FlyQuest and Team Liquid. In both matches he secured a kill in lane, one of which was on Ornn against Jayce.
Matching up against V1per’s Riven, Darshan was able to take over in a split-push match-up. CLG even allowed FlyQuest to draft the Riven and answered with a last-pick Jax. Darshan lived up to the pressure of the lane and won. Team Liquid was a tougher opponent, and CLG lost the game, but Darshan’s Ornn made it through the Jayce lane fine. His item upgrades also provided a scaling advantage that may have granted CLG the win if they executed properly.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
TSM demonstrated a macro win versus Echo Fox and a macro loss versus Cloud9 in week six. However, both games Broken Blade played a crucial role in TSM’s success. Despite an 0-4-0 scoreline in game one, Broken Blade’s Ryze put on a split push clinic. He constantly put pressure on FOX to send Solo to answer his bottom lane push, while TSM kept the team busy around Baron. Bjergsen and Broken Blade ultimately opened up the base and closed it out for the win.
Although TSM lost game two versus Cloud9, Broken Blade was completely dominating the early game with a surprise Neeko last-pick. Licorice’s Aatrox fell considerably behind in farm, but, more importantly, lost several early turret plates. Broken Blade brought strong side lane pressure, yet again, and added to TSM’s oppressive poke-pick composition of Neeko, Zoe and Varus. He also creatively flanked outside of vision for scary Pop Blossoms. Week six was overall a peak for Broken Blade in the LCS.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
Echo Fox posted a disappointing 0-2 week six, dropping down to tied for last place. While every member had low points over the weekend, Panda made his LCS debut, and mostly impressed in the early game. In both drafts, FOX took Jarvan in the first phase and ultimately put him in the jungle. Substituting in a rookie at the jungle position halfway through the split is generally a risky move, but Panda made the most of it.
In game one against TSM, Panda won out on a gank bottom, then he and Hakuho ganked top together. FOX got out to a 2,500 gold lead early, took two Ocean Drakes and Rift Herald because of Panda’s pathing. Versus Clutch, Panda took the first dragon again, and made a great gank mid to almost secure First Blood. Once Clutch started to get going, FOX was not able to hold the reins. Panda played both of these early games well, nonetheless, and could potentially continue to start.
Images from LoL Esports Flickr
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