In just three weeks of the regular LCS season, fans have been thrusted around with drama and upsets. Between coaching drama, teams not performing and new contenders rising, there has been no time to breathe. Never worry though, the LCS has no intention of stoping the drama and game train. The upcoming LCS Super Week has three days filled with five games each. Here are three storylines to look out for over this LCS Super Week.
With the recent announcement by Cloud9, fans finally have some details about why LS was let go from tnhe org. Rather than speculate about “hidden reasons” or the “real scoop”, it is more interesting to talk about what changes this may cause to the play style of the team. LS obviously had his own unique style with wild drafts and pocket-picks. Fans will probably never see another LCS team try Ivern Mid. With LS gone last weekend, the team’s performance seemed to be shaken.
Versus CLG, an 0-4 team at the time, Cloud9 got thrashed. And sure, it was right after the LS info went public, but a loss is a loss. Heck, the bad play even continued into the TSM game where Cloud9 made a miracle comeback thanks to TSM doing TSM stuff. The games were interesting, but the drafting was a lot more so. Versus CLG, Cloud9 drafted like any other team would. Xin Xhao first pick into traditional stuff. Nothing fancy, nothing special. This isn’t wrong per x, but it’s clearly a stark contrast from the the rest of the year.
Versus TSM, it felt like new Head Coach Max Waldo had something to prove. He went with the Karthus Bot Lane, Senna Support and Nocturne Jungle. Obviously, these are all rather untraditional picks. And while Cloud9 won, versus a better team, they wouldn’t have. They were behind and got bailed out with clutch plays like the baron steal. But hey, a win is a win.
So for the Super Week does Cloud9 continue drafting like they did versus TSM or like they did versus CLG? Do they run back a more traditional comp just to prove they can or do they embrace the jank and keep going with it? The future of C9 is going to be revealed this weekend.
There are so many interesting stories to tell about individual teams this split. FlyQuest and Dignitas are far exceeding expectations, but that comes at a cost. Someone needs to be taking the Ls and it’s EG. Despite making Lock In Finals, the squad is currently 2-4. Keep in mind, this has:
To be fair to EG, they had a rather tough strength of schedule so far. In this Super Week, they play FlyQuest, Golden Guardians and CLG. This should be easily a 2-1 week at worst, but expectations were so high for this roster. The most frustrating part is that EG hasn’t had an awful performance this year. Every game they feel like they are putting up a solid fight even if they lose. They have had close games and even Chronobreak controversies. They just need to put it together and get a W.
It’s been a sad last two weeks to be a EG fan, but can they put it together this weekend? Can fans see the version of EG that looked so solid in Lock In again? These low points happened with EG last year as well and Peter Dun turned it around every time. Fans should give him a bit of a leash and see what he does.
It’s common knowledge that CLG, IMT and TSM are all struggling right now. This weekend though, all three teams showed signs of life. CLG beat C9, TSM beat IMT and IMT beat EG. The question is which team of these starts to rise above the others?
There is a strong case to make for any team here. Starting with Immortals, they have two wins over “better” teams in 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses. In terms of resume, it’s not even close. Immortals should be the best, but it doesn’t work that way. Immortals just lost to TSM. How could they be better? Furthermore, TSM has finally started to look like a team. With Shenyi in Academy and Yursan looking rather solid, the team is having a second life. Plus, don’t underestimate Huni, Spica or Keaiduo. They can all take over games. The awkward child out here is CLG. At 1-5, the team has failed to live up to the Lock In hype. Contractz in particular has looked REALLY bad, but had a respective Week 3 performance. If they can continue to play like this, CLG can be the best of this group.
At the end of the day, each of these three teams has their own strengths and weakness right now. One of these three will prove that they deserve to still be in contention during the LCS Super Week. The others? Well, they become the memes of the LCS.
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