Dyrus and Team SoloMid win 2015 NA LCS Spring Split
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"League has come so far," top laner Marcus "Dyrus" Hill told a crowd of fans after Team SoloMid beat Cloud9 in the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split Finals. But for everything that's changed as the pro scene has grown, some things remain the same.
While all of his former TSM teammates have moved on, Dyrus continues to prove -- even in his struggles -- why he can't be replaced. For him, it's about doing whatever it takes to ensure his team can defeat anyone that stands between TSM and victory.
That selfless mindset has been key to TSM's success this split, according to Dyrus. "This split was a very, very long learning experience as a team," he says, "Everything is so much harder to win now than it was back then."
Dyrus remembers how he dominated all other top laners years ago, but he's not ashamed to admit that he's struggled this split. He even said that he routinely gets "dumpstered" in scrims by Diego "Quas" Ruiz and Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong and that he "ended up feeding" in a lot of NA LCS matches this split.
But losing one lane isn't losing the game for the team-focused crew of TSM. If Dyrus gets focused as the team's weak link, TSM can actually turn it into a positive by abandoning him and getting other lanes fed.
"I wanted to make sure if that does happen to me, that we're going to win," he says of getting focused. The key for TSM's strategy is that, while Dyrus can brute-force carry, they don't need him to. He can make big Teleport plays for his team whether he won his lane or not.
We got to see some absolutely perfect plays from Dyrus in today's matches, like when he forced Daerek "LemonNation" Hart to panic with a brilliant Sion ultimate, handing his teammates several easy kills. And later on Maokai, when he Flashed over an enemy Sion ultimate to dive hard onto C9's carries and keep them in range for the rest of TSM to catch up.
"It's great to be able to do what I want to do in the game," Dyrus says cheerfully. "And do it for the team. As long as we're playing the game correctly, I'm happy. I owe a lot to my team for that."
Teamwork isn't just Dragon fights and jungle ganks, though. The players and coaches on TSM take teamwork seriously before the match even starts. For the Finals, they made team-wide plans for what to do if Cloud9 tried to ban out any single player on TSM.
TSM's solutions to these worst-case scenarios focused on what would be best for the team, not the individual. For Dyrus, that meant assuming he wouldn't have access to Maokai, Sion, or Lulu in the NA LCS Spring Split Finals -- and he played 30 Gnar games this week just to prepare for that possibility. So that, no matter what, he could do what his team needed him to do.
But Dyrus never needed his backup plan with the tiny yordle. And none of his teammates did either.
"I felt like C9 was playing it safe, just trying to do what they do best," Dyrus said after the match. And it's true, Cloud9 had one plan -- tanky teamfights -- and they brought out the same predictable champion picks over and over to try to make it work. Braum being picked in three out of the four games was the closest thing to a surprise pick in C9's lineup.
"We were able to predict them in that way," Dyrus continued, "because they didn't go for our worst-case scenarios. And since we're the better team, we just played it out and it worked out."
Today's victory nets TSM 90 Championship Points and the right to represent NA against the top teams from other regions at the Mid-Season Invitational tournament next month. And Dyrus can't wait to take them on.
"I want to play against China's best," Dyrus said after the match. "I want to see if they're really the best region in the world. I want to see why they're the best region in the world. I want to see how they play against other regions and how we stack up to them."
"Whether we win or lose against them," he explains, "we want to learn as much as we possibly can in preparation for Worlds."
If you missed any of this epic battle for the top seat in NA, see all the games (and fun stats) on the match recap page.
While the LCS teams spend some time recovering from the Split and preparing for Summer, you can catch up on all the excitement of the past few months on our spoiler-free VODs page and through photos.
Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Nunu, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest Next at Daybreak Games. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.
Learning From Losses
That selfless mindset has been key to TSM's success this split, according to Dyrus. "This split was a very, very long learning experience as a team," he says, "Everything is so much harder to win now than it was back then."
Dyrus remembers how he dominated all other top laners years ago, but he's not ashamed to admit that he's struggled this split. He even said that he routinely gets "dumpstered" in scrims by Diego "Quas" Ruiz and Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong and that he "ended up feeding" in a lot of NA LCS matches this split.
But losing one lane isn't losing the game for the team-focused crew of TSM. If Dyrus gets focused as the team's weak link, TSM can actually turn it into a positive by abandoning him and getting other lanes fed.
"I wanted to make sure if that does happen to me, that we're going to win," he says of getting focused. The key for TSM's strategy is that, while Dyrus can brute-force carry, they don't need him to. He can make big Teleport plays for his team whether he won his lane or not.
We got to see some absolutely perfect plays from Dyrus in today's matches, like when he forced Daerek "LemonNation" Hart to panic with a brilliant Sion ultimate, handing his teammates several easy kills. And later on Maokai, when he Flashed over an enemy Sion ultimate to dive hard onto C9's carries and keep them in range for the rest of TSM to catch up.
"It's great to be able to do what I want to do in the game," Dyrus says cheerfully. "And do it for the team. As long as we're playing the game correctly, I'm happy. I owe a lot to my team for that."
Cloud9 Crushed
Teamwork isn't just Dragon fights and jungle ganks, though. The players and coaches on TSM take teamwork seriously before the match even starts. For the Finals, they made team-wide plans for what to do if Cloud9 tried to ban out any single player on TSM.
TSM's solutions to these worst-case scenarios focused on what would be best for the team, not the individual. For Dyrus, that meant assuming he wouldn't have access to Maokai, Sion, or Lulu in the NA LCS Spring Split Finals -- and he played 30 Gnar games this week just to prepare for that possibility. So that, no matter what, he could do what his team needed him to do.
But Dyrus never needed his backup plan with the tiny yordle. And none of his teammates did either.
"I felt like C9 was playing it safe, just trying to do what they do best," Dyrus said after the match. And it's true, Cloud9 had one plan -- tanky teamfights -- and they brought out the same predictable champion picks over and over to try to make it work. Braum being picked in three out of the four games was the closest thing to a surprise pick in C9's lineup.
"We were able to predict them in that way," Dyrus continued, "because they didn't go for our worst-case scenarios. And since we're the better team, we just played it out and it worked out."
Stacking Up
Today's victory nets TSM 90 Championship Points and the right to represent NA against the top teams from other regions at the Mid-Season Invitational tournament next month. And Dyrus can't wait to take them on.
"I want to play against China's best," Dyrus said after the match. "I want to see if they're really the best region in the world. I want to see why they're the best region in the world. I want to see how they play against other regions and how we stack up to them."
"Whether we win or lose against them," he explains, "we want to learn as much as we possibly can in preparation for Worlds."
If you missed any of this epic battle for the top seat in NA, see all the games (and fun stats) on the match recap page.
While the LCS teams spend some time recovering from the Split and preparing for Summer, you can catch up on all the excitement of the past few months on our spoiler-free VODs page and through photos.
Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Nunu, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest Next at Daybreak Games. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.
