Currently, 100 Thieves are tied for last in the LCS and their coach Neil “pr0lly” Hammad said in an interview with Travis Gafford that he is open to bringing up some academy talent to the LCS stage. Let’s go through each role for the 100 Thieves Academy squad and decide who is most likely to get called up.
Top
Aaron “FakeGod” Lee, a collegiate and 2018 NA Scouting Grounds product, doesn’t have the best chances of seeing the stage. He has been doing well in the academy league, boasting a 3.2 Kill/Death/Assist ratio and a damage per minute of 452.4. But the UC Santa Barbara product would have to beat out Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho, a South Korean player who takes up a valuable import spot on the team.
While Ssumday has had some communication problems with the team, most noticeably with the team’s jungler Andy “AnDa” Hoang, he brings a level of experience and mechanical skill that is invaluable to a team still trying to make playoffs.
Jungler
Kristopher “Fragas” Myhal, another 2018 NA Scouting Grounds product, has a decent chance of being called up. He has a KDA of 2.9, a damage per minute of 297.3 and is currently undefeated on KhaZix in the academy league. He also has the most kills in a single game as a jungler with 12 on KhaZix.
Fragas has a chance at playing on the LCS stage not only because of his good performance in the academy league, but also because of his parent team counterpart’s poor performance. AnDa has shown some great individual mechanics consistently on stage but also consistent communication issues with his laners. These issues have translated in to many enemy double kills in the top lane.
Mid
Max “Soligo” Soong, another collegiate and 2018 NA Scouting Grounds product, has an outside shot of seeing the stage. The former CU Boulder player has a 4 KDA and a 550.1 damage per minute rate in the academy league. Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun, the starting mid laner for 100 Thieves has been servicable on stage. He hasn’t won them games, but he hasn’t thrown games either.
If the 100 Thieves organization wants to change something that wouldn’t impact much in terms of champion pool and play style, this would be the position to swap players.
Bot and Support
Lumping the two bottom lane positions together because they have about the same chance of getting stage time.
Jacob “Prismal” Feinstein, a 2017 and 2018 NA Scouting Grounds product, has a 3.8 KDA and a 599.7 in the academy league. He also has the only Pentakill in the academy league. He has almost no chance of replacing Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, former SK Telecom Bot Laner. Bang was 100 Thieves big free agent signing this off-season and has played well mechanically so far this split.
William “Stunt” Chen, the most experienced player on the 100 Thieves academy squad, has played multiple splits in LCS for multiple teams. He has a 3.0 K/D/A and a vision score rate of 2.36 in the academy league. Stunt also doesn’t have a good chance of getting back on stage because he would be replacing Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black, the primary shot caller for 100 Thieves. While aphromoo’s play has come under fire recently, the 100 Thieves organization wouldn’t sub out their primary in-game leader without some other serious shifts in their lineup.
Conclusion
Fragas and Soligo probably have the best chance of getting called up to the main stage. They have both performed consistently well in the academy league while their main team counterparts have faltered or just not had an impact in their games. It wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Cloud 9 situation with a double switch at jungle and mid to breath some life into this struggling team.
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