With Week 4 of the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split over, it’s time to take a look at who is dominating the standings. At the top, we have Echo Fox and Cloud 9 tied for first at 7-1.
Both of these teams are coming off the back of a 2-0 weekend. Cloud 9 having taken down the other contender for first in Team Liquid and also the newly revitalised Flyquest. Echo Fox having defeated The Golden Guardians, who have finally made it on the scoreboard, and Team Liquid whose place in the middle of the pack has been cemented.
Let’s take a look at the key games for each of these teams that put them in the position they are in.
Courtesy of Riot Games
Cloud 9’s superstar bot lane duo of Andy “Smoothie” Ta and Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi continued to prove they are the best duo in NA. Even up against Team Liquid’s Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, who is currently the best ADC in the league stat-wise, they dominated. This gave Smoothie the ability to roam frequently and snowball his other lanes on Alistar. However, the real story here is about rookie top laner Eric “Licorice” Ritchie being able to trade blows with the best.
With the assistance of an early roam from Smoothie, Licorice was able to completely crush the opposition. This was no easy feat as Team Liquid’s top laner, and former Cloud 9 member, Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong is highly seasoned. Even in a hyper carry vs hyper carry situation, Licorice just continued to outshine Impact, eventually leading to Cloud 9’s win.
Courtesy of Riot Games
Echo Fox. What is there to say about this team that hasn’t already been said before. They are an absolute powerhouse who have defied all expectations. Last night’s match against Team Liquid was no exception. Liquid had messed up right from the draft stage by giving over Zac to Fox’s Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett.
Dardoch has shown many times throughout the split just how proficient he is on this champion. Never thinking twice about his slingshots and picks, he dives headlong into the action and gets picks for his team. This is especially true when up against immobile champions who have no way of getting out of harm’s way when such a dive occurs.
It just so happened that in last night’s match, Double was on one of these aforementioned immobile picks. Not just any immobile champion mind you, but the epitome of immobility, Kog’Maw. Even though Double gave over no kills in these situations, he had to constantly use his summoners to avoid them. This left him at a disadvantage during team fights as he would have to stay far away to avoid being caught out. Therefore, making him less relevant.
Eventually Double began to scale up on Kog’Maw to the point where he could delete enemy squishies. However, it was pointless as by the time it came to a team fight, Liquid was always a man down due to Dardoch’s continuous picks. Thus, allowing Echo Fox to steamroll the match and win.
Next week we will finally see the stalemate broken as on day 2 Echo Fox will face off against Cloud 9. Finally, the best team in the NA LCS will be decided. Who will come out on top?
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Featured image courtesy of Riot Games
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