The LCS has gone through a lot of changes for the 2021 season. The format is different, the league has rebranded and most of the teams have almost entirely new rosters. This should be a new era for the LCS for a lot of reasons and heading into the Spring portion of the season (no longer known as a Split), teams will be looking to show that they made the right moves. To start things off, here is the 100 Thieves 2021 LCS Spring Preview.
[Related: What is the 2021 LCS Start Date?]
While 2020 was a weird year for everyone, it was even more so and more of a continuation for 100 Thieves from previous years. They made playoffs finishing tied for second and on a three-game winning streak heading into the Spring Playoffs. In it, they quickly were swept by C9 and lost a nail-biter to TSM. For many fans, they were at least happy to see the team playing well in most regards but assumed changes were coming. Then the team struggled in the summer while also replacing Meteos and Stunt with Contractz and Poome respectively.
Again there was a situation with Meteos and the team limped their way into the Summer Playoffs, along with seven of the other 10 teams making it, with a 7-11 record. This lead to another early exit with Evil Geniuses sweeping the Thieves 3-0 and knocking them out of the losers bracket. After two years of weird situations and even three, if one counts the last half of 2018, this team is ready for more consistency with the roster and better performances.
Top- Ssumday
Jng- Closer
Mid- Damonte
Bot- FBI
Sup- Huhi
For some people, the expectations for this roster are high, for others not as high but even still those people have them contending. This is because the core four of Golden Guardians comes over already with established chemistry after playing very well in the 2020 Summer Playoffs. By adding Ssumday to this roster, there is a chance they could really make some noise. There are some questions about Damonte and analysts and fans alike wonder if the FBI Huhi bot lane just had the perfect meta? Either way, this is a team that should be ready to compete.
The full schedule is still not known. Only the Lock-In teams have been revealed along with the dates for when the team plays in the regular season. They do not include who they face or at what time.
Being in a group with CLG, GG, TL and TSM is not going to be a walk in the park. That said, the already established connection with most of this roster should give them early success in a big way. Look for them to maybe drop a game to TL or TSM but likely not both. Then once they make their way to the knockout stage, it could be time for 100 Thieves to truly shine.
100 Thieves should at least make it to the semifinals where they will probably battle it out against TL, C9 or TSM. After that, they will face the winner of the other two of those teams in the finals. Again their early synergy will be key. If they end up facing TSM in the finals then they have a pretty solid advantage, if they get TL or C9 their fortune may not be as great. No matter what they will have to go through one of these three teams to win it all. For 100 Thieves fans, this tournament will be an excellent litmus test to see how good they really are and if their Summer Playoffs form has carried over into 2021.
The regular season will be a lot different than the Lock-In tournament for 100 Thieves. Mainly because their biggest advantage will start to erode as the season goes on. TL and C9 will have had their chance to gel, along with TSM and these three teams will be tough. For 100 Thieves to really make their run they will need to show even greater improvement throughout the season. If they stay about the same then they could be in trouble.
This will be a playoff team for the Spring and they should be good enough to take games against just about anyone. If they hit their ceiling and the other top teams struggle to come together then 100 Thieves are absolutely good enough to win their first LCS Championship and make their way to MSI. At worst they finish the Spring regular season somewhere around fifth and get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. If one were to place a bet on which outcome was more likely, betting on them to hit their ceiling and finish first would be the safer bet.
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