The closer the Spring Split gets, the more excited we grow to see each team go head to head. Every split, there are certain players that the fans pay more attention to. Each team has that one player that has more pressure on their shoulders. The performance of these 10 players will either give their fan base hope or more doubt.
Being the champion in both Spring and Summer Split, Pobelter already faces a lot of pressure. During his time with Team Liquid, he seemed to struggle in the lane against other Mid Laners. He also mentioned that TL had a very passive playstyle, and that it was hard for him to play the game the way he actually wanted.
Usually, he was on a utility champion to help extend the lead of other lanes. Most of the time, the focus was around Bot lane and he fell out of the light. He also played with WildTurtle on Immortals and was able to make it to the Semi-Finals in the 2016 Spring Split. He was also able to finish second in the Finals of Summer Split 2017.
With him on FlyQuest, he has a lot to prove and show that he can still play to the level when he was on Immortals.
Courtesy of: Invenglobal
Rush was one of the biggest surprise returns to the LCS for this upcoming split. He won MVP during his time playing for Cloud 9, and later went on to play for KT Rolster in the LCK.
Along with Echo Fox almost completely switching rosters with Clutch Gaming, Rush is the main threat. He said that he has the potential to carry his team and extend the leads around the map. His confidence is why he is going to be held to a higher standard than his teammates.
He’s back and he’s better; now we have to wait to see if his performance proves that as well.
Crown has not been able to find his same level of play since he won the World’s Champion in 2017. It was something that no one else was able to do, and he helped his team win without losing a single game to SK Telecom.
Credits: LoL Esports Photos
During the regular split, he was not the starter for his team, but he was allowed to play during World’s 2018. His performance was terrible and cause his team to not make it out of Group Stages. It was the first time in history that a Korean team Failed to make it out of Groups with a 1-5 record.
Coming to the LCS everyone will be watching to see if the old Crown began to re-emerge and carry Optic Gaming to the top.
During the Summer Split of 2018, Huni seemed to feed more often. He often attracted a lot of attention, which sometimes helped his team but other times put his team behind.
Source: Riot Games Flickr
A lot of the times he would try to go for a play which backfired or extended his team’s lead. Huni became a double-edged sword to the Echo Fox roster. It was unpredictable which of the two Hunis would show up during games.
He is still the biggest threat on this roster. Even with all of his terrible performances, he still remained one of the biggest contributors to his team’s success.
Courtesy of: CLG
The entire 2018 year most of Optic Gaming success came from PowerOfEvil’s proactive play-making and his ability to apply so much pressure on the map. The CLG fan base will be watching to see if he will be able to bring the same pressure to this roster.
Even with CLG’s struggle in 2018, Stixxay and Biofrost have remained one of the best Bot lanes in the LCS. This alleviates the pressure from POE and allows him to play more for his lane and not have to focus on being the only one trying to make calls.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
Being the replacement for Jensen seems like a hard role to fill. The team primarily played around the Mid lane because of the impact Jensen had on the rest of the map. Whenever he won lane it allowed every other lane to play for objectives.
Nisqy is debatably a good fit to fill this position. Most of the Cloud 9 fan base will be watching his level of play and comparing it to the previous Mid Laners on the team. It will be like when Licorice was announced a starting Top Laner: they had doubts, but then everyone accepted him.
Nisqy has the biggest role to fill on this team and only the team’s synergy will be able to show how well he does it.
After having an upsetting performance at Worlds, CoreJJ was announced to be joining Team Liquid. he was one of the biggest shot-callers on Gen.G and responsible for a lot of their success.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
As a TL fan, they are looking to see the impact he has on the entire map. They are expecting him to do what Olleh could not. He is the best Support in the region but it is hard to say if it will show this split.
His main focus is relieving Doublelift of the pressure and helping him win lane a lot easier. Him being on the team has the potential to make TL the most dominant in the LCS. In 2018, they were still struggling against teams who were considered bottom tier, but he brings better playmaking and effective shot-calling.
Photo Via Lolesports Flickr
Froggen is the wildcard of Golden Guardians, he has been away from the competitive scene for a year and returns to the bottom team in the LCS. GGS had one of the best offseasons. Many people doubt that Froggen can still compete, but others believe he is one of the top 3 Mid Laners.
During 2017, he was the only one on the Echo Fox roster who was playing at an exceptional level. He suffered due to his team performance.
With this current GGS line-up, he has the ability to become the best Mid Laner in the LCS.
Courtesy of TSM
Everyone knows that when TeamSoloMid announce their roster, usually the newest member is criticized based on the team’s performance as a whole. Broken Blade is the first professional Turkish player to sign in a major.
He replaced Hauntzer as the new Top Laner. He mentioned a few times he wants to see how well he plays against other Top Laners.
Playing for TSM brings a lot of pressure, similar to the MikeYeueng situation. He is new to the scene excited to show the fans that he won’t disappoint. Hopefully his carry potential synergizes with the team.
Credits: LoL Esports Photos
Being one of the biggest names coming to the LCS, Bang is known as the world’s best AD Carry for the time he played on SK Telecom. He remained one of the most consistent AD Carries in the Korean League.
He is a major improvement to the 100 Thieves roster and should make their Bot lane the strongest in the LCS. If the language barrier is minor, Bang has the ability to take this team to the number one team in North America.
The expectations are high because everyone is looking forward to seeing the SKT Bang at Worlds and nothing less. If his performance is anything less, he will face a lot of criticism.
Featured Image by Riot Games
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