The League Championship Series roles into week two with Team SoloMid looking for a better showing after a less than impressive first week. TSM face up against FlyQuest on Saturday, June 8 and giant killers Echo Fox on June 9. For TSM’s opponents this is a must-win game but for completely different reasons. FlyQuest needs to find their footing fast or risk potentially missing out on a Playoff spot. Echo Fox are looking to keep their momentum going after taking down Team Liquid.
Image Source: LoL Esports
TSM comes into this matchup as heavy favourites, FlyQuest played a fairly contested game against Cloud9 but were simply run over by Golden Guardians. As for TSM, the six-time North American Champions are fresh off their first win of the season against Rivals Counter Logic Gaming. TSM fans will be hoping to see major changes to their drafts heading into week 2. TSM reverted back to their old style of playing, drafting late scaling team comps.
Jonathan “Grig” Armao made a solid return to the TSM starting roster boasting a KDA of 4/2/9. For the majority of the early game, there were back and forward trades ending in the favour of CLG. Grig was the one constant that was keeping TSM afloat – making consistent counter ganks and clean up kills to keep his team in the game. Grig, specifically, is going to be the player to watch for this matchup with fans hoping Grig can maintain his early game aggression we saw last week.
Image Source: LoL Esports
Taking games off of giants are starting to become an Echo Fox special. Colin “Solo” Earnest led the charge as Echo Fox perfectly played the team fights. TSM will not complacent in the mid to late game as they would have done their homework. From the rumours that Echo Fox has been playing incredibly well in scrims, TSM will be wary of Echo Fox as they are a potential dark horse for the regular split.
Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik is the player to watch for this matchup. Solo was the outstanding player in their victory against Team Liquid – absorbing pressure in 1v3 matchups and hard carrying the team fights. This will be an important matchup for Broken Blade as he will have to stop the focal point for Echo Fox and make sure he is not in a position to carry his team.
Team SoloMid should come out on top in both games against FlyQuest and Echo Fox and finish the second week of the LCS 3-1. Whilst there were flaws in TSM’s games in the first week, they will have had a full week to prepare and make sure these mistakes do not happen again. The main concern for TSM is if they continue to draft late scaling team comps in which the game turns into a 50/50 coin flip as seen in their second match against Counter Logic Gaming. If TSM continues to do this then they will found out the hard way and possibly lose out on a spot in the top two.
Featured Image Courtesy of LoL Esports.
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