Calling their shot: Dyrus and TSM

"We've always been dealing with the complacency," says Marcus "Dyrus" Hill after today's Team SoloMid victory over Team Impulse. "We felt like we were complacent yesterday [against Dignitas]." Dyrus and the rest of TSM are more than aware of their shortcomings as a team. Sure, they're at the top of the North American LCS standings, but they know that their standing could slide at any moment. So, they're trying to make sure that doesn't happen. "What we have to do is mentally prepare ourselves, keep telling ourselves, 'We can still lose this game even though we're the favorites.' We just have to give it all that we've got." But how do they do that? As Dyrus says, "We're looking for ways to convincingly win the game. Effective strategies to win the game. Whether it's to teamfight really well, or to split push, to pick. We recognize those wins conditions as fast and as well as we can, and we execute. When we get the win, that's good. When we don't, we have to look back and figure out what stopped us from getting that win." Communication of which strategies to use is absolutely vital. "Someone has to start the dialogue. We usually ask ourselves, 'How do we win?' Let's say we're losing really bad, we have to ask ourselves 'What do we need to do to win?' So anyone on the team will be like, 'We need to go get a pick because we're going to lose a teamfight 100%.'" From there, they set up strategies and look to execute. And as Dyrus explains, they don't necessarily look to one person for the setup. "The main shot caller is Bjergsen, but we've been learning over the years that one person can't micromanage everything," he says. "That was the problem we had with Regi. He couldn't micromanage everyone, that's honestly impossible. So, instead of making Bjergsen's shot calling skills better, we all have to contribute." Whereas Bjergsen typically makes the most shot calls -- because, as Dyrus puts it, "That's usually because he's the most fed" -- any player who feels he has the most presence on the map can dictate what TSM is going to be doing next. "If you're the strongest person on the map, and you know what you want to do, and you think it's the best thing, you should call for it. That makes you the temporary shot caller." That sort of fluid shot calling can cause issues, however. "There can be indecisiveness, and that's when you start seeing us play really bad. For example, yesterday, when we were playing Dignitas, we had a lot of indecisive calls. That wasn't as clean of a win as it was today." When TSM begins to lose, their communication falls off. That's a problem, says Dyrus. But they can fix it. "You feel very awkward because no one's talking, and you feel like you're alone. When someone talks, you feel like you're making this effort together, doing this together. Just saying 'I have [Teleport] in one minute' or 'I'm TPing here, we're going to go for this.'" It may not be a perfectly honed system, but judging by TSM's 5-1 record, it seems to be working so far. With a laugh, Dyrus says, "Whatever we're doing now is better than what we've been doing in the past, that's for sure." Week 3 may be over, but make sure your TSM chants are ready by checking out Lolesports for more on everything LCS. And if you want to catch up on the first three weeks' games, head over to the spoiler-free VODs page.