Going into Week 1 there were several roster changes that would surely shuffle the standings and make for an interesting split. So that’s what we thought anyway…
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely too early to be conclusive, but it honestly looks like a predictable split, for the most part. Here I’ll break down the most notable things to take away after the first week of LCS.
Cloud9 is still on Cloud Nine
Admittedly, there was a couple of minutes at the start of the Flyquest game that made me think Flyquest were absolute gods. I almost got to the point where I considered them taking a game off of Cloud9 in the very first game of the LCS. The early game fiesta was exactly the type of calculated aggression that a team needs to have in order to take them down and it seemed like Flyquest were on that track... Until Blaber showed up with the Olaf and denied that thought from blossoming into reality. From that point on, Cloud9 did Cloud9 things and showed the LCS that they were the big boys on the playground and still lining the teams up to take their lunch money. With the 2-0 week over Flyquest and 100 Thieves, Cloud9 are still clearly the favourites to top the standings and win the split again.
Team Liquid is Team Liquid again
This is exactly the start I was expecting last split for the team. Who knew there was such a jungle diff. With Broxah starting the split with the team and Tactical taking over for Doublelift as the bot laner, the main question in everyone's mind was if tactical could fill spot well. We did see him fill-in last split and do a decent job, but he sure as hell made a statement in his first week as a starting bot laner. Tactical finished the weekend with a 12-1-10 scoreline against TSM and GGS (two teams looking to do well for themselves this split). Overall this team is finally looking the way it should be with such an all-star roster and we could see a very exciting battle between TL and C9 for first place. I can't wait to see their first matchup on Friday, June 26th @7:00pm PT.
CLG is the LCS Wildcard
I'm so tempted to say that CLG will do well... and I really want them to because it's CLG, one of the OG teams and it's about time they make a comeback, but I just can't figure them out. They have the potential to make playoffs and I think they have a good shot, but that's what I have said every split since franchising and they have continued to disappoint. Even with the rumors and memes "don't sleep on CLG" I'm still trying to reserve my judgment. They clearly have potential and we even saw a bit of it in their game against Immortals, but they were also slammed by Evil Geniuses. For those that follow me on twitter, you saw me place them 7th in my pre-split power rankings. I think it's clear to say they will do better than last split, but I don't want to get overly hyped from the scrim rumours. Nonetheless, they are still a wildcard and I think can realistically place anywhere between 5th and 8th place, and anything outside of that boundary I would be shocked.
Golden Guardians is the LCS Dark Horse
With the addition of Damonte in the midlane, GGS is starting to look like a pretty great roster. Being 1 Command: Shockwave away from a 2-0 start is enough to catch my eye and it should be enough to catch yours as well. I know their win was against Dignitas who many have as a bottom-three team (myself included), but it was a clean win and they really put up a fight against a good looking all-star Team Liquid which is saying something. I really have high hopes for this roster, and already regret having them in 8th on my power ranking, but who knows, they still have a lot to prove and need to make sure that they play well around their weaker-than-average bot lane. Overall, it's very exciting to see a team that has no imports from any major region that has the potential to make a deeper push for a playoff position than last split.
A Race for 6th is Already Underway
With CLG looking (and being rumoured to be) better, and no playoff team from Spring looking much worse, we are surely going to have another race for the 6th place spot in the LCS. As of right now, the top 5 already look to be forming with Cloud9, Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, TSM, and Flyquest. Leaving last split's playoff teams Golden Guardians and 100 Thieves to fight for the 6th spot in playoffs if all goes according to plan this split. Additionally, we have the CLG wildcard who may also have a good chance at playoffs as well. These three teams could easily be in a toss-up situation at the end of the split and I can't wait to see their match ups to see how it ends up. The first is this Friday, June 19th @6:00pm PT with CLG and Golden Guardians playing and I can't wait to see how this match up plays out. A huge emphasis will be on the mid lane for both of these teams and I can't wait to see the only NA resident mid laners in the league to face off again. Many have the Cloud9-Evil Geniuses game this Saturday, June 20th @3:00pm PT as the Match of the Week, but to me the CLG-Golden Guardians game will be more interesting and tell us more about how the league will turn out.
The Fall from Grace
With the rest of the league finding some, if not all of their identities, three teams are winless after the first weekend. I am giving 100 Thieves a pass however as they had the hardest match ups and were not expected to win either game. Leaving Immortals and Dignitas as the current bottom-of-the-barrel teams that literally started Spring Split at the top of the standings with Cloud9, and have since slowly fallen until just missing out on spring playoffs and now hold the bottom two places in the league. I still cannot believe Xmithie was subbed out for Potluck and don't see any world where this team can contend for playoffs without Xmithie or some other major roster change. I don't think there's much this roster can do as it's just not designed to win, and it will need to make a change to try to pickup some wins. I am a little disappointed with Dignitas as well, even though I did place them at the bottom of the standings with Immortals in my power ranking, they still have great players historically speaking. I don't think there needs to be any roster changes for this team to do well, but they seriously need to find a rhythm that works for all of the players on this team in order for them to pick up wins and potentially get to playoffs. In addition, it looks as though we will have to wait for the last game of the first round-robin to see these two teams play each other to see who will be the 10th place team. That game will take place on Friday, July 10th @6:00pm PT.