What to watch in LCS Week 1
Riot·1/22/2015, 12:01:00 AM·0 votes·52,273 views
The first week of an LCS split is fraught with mystery. Coming into Week 1, we're surrounded with questions about new players, new organizations, and format changes to the LCS itself. With the exception of the Intel Extreme Masters participants, we haven't even seen any competitive play from LCS teams since the 2014 World Championship. While we wait for each team to show how strong they’ve become in the offseason, there are a few particular storylines that will be especially interesting in the this first week.
Despite a first place finish last summer, Alliance lept at the opportunity to acquire Martin “Rekkles” Larsson in the offseason, a young star often regarded as the best AD carry in the LCS. Since the acquisition, all we've seen from the team now known as Elements is a disappointing defeat at the hands of Cloud9 in San Jose. Despite their loss, Elements is still coming into the 2015 Spring Split with high expectations. Their players topped every ranking for Fantasy LCS, they are at the top of nearly every prediction ladder, and are considered to have perhaps the strongest roster in either LCS region. Was their loss to Hai and company the wake-up call that got this team in gear for Week 1, or will fans have to grit through a few inconsistent weeks before Elements figures things out?
Every offseason is full of roster moves, but for two particular LCS teams, there was a surprising amount of overhaul. Both Fnatic and LMQ made appearances at the 2014 World Championship, but during the offseason, they both almost completely revamped their rosters. Now, they're coming into the Spring Split as essentially brand new teams. While Fnatic has enjoyed a tradition as one of the most successful teams in League of Legends history, not a single name from their Season 1 Championship run remains. The new team is made up of relative unknowns both from Korea and the European Challenger scene. For the newly minted Team Impulse, formerly LMQ, their star mid laner Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian will still be a powerful presence. But will he be able to carry games until top laner Eonyeong “Impact” Jung and new jungler, Yoonjae “Rush” Lee, become accustomed to the NA LCS stage?
Do You Believe The Hype?
Despite a first place finish last summer, Alliance lept at the opportunity to acquire Martin “Rekkles” Larsson in the offseason, a young star often regarded as the best AD carry in the LCS. Since the acquisition, all we've seen from the team now known as Elements is a disappointing defeat at the hands of Cloud9 in San Jose. Despite their loss, Elements is still coming into the 2015 Spring Split with high expectations. Their players topped every ranking for Fantasy LCS, they are at the top of nearly every prediction ladder, and are considered to have perhaps the strongest roster in either LCS region. Was their loss to Hai and company the wake-up call that got this team in gear for Week 1, or will fans have to grit through a few inconsistent weeks before Elements figures things out?
Life After Febiven
H2K rolled through the Expansion Tournament with relative ease. Yet much of their success was due to the incredible play of their mid laner, Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten. His reliability and playmaking caught the eye of Fnatic, who were still trying to find a mid lane replacement for the recently departed Enrique “xPeke” Martinez. So while the members of H2K were still celebrating their LCS berth, Febiven packed his bags and left the team to fill xPeke’s vacancy. Now with former Korean star, Sangwook “Ryu” Ryu, H2K will have to find out exactly how much of their strength came from Febiven, and how they'll navigate the EU LCS without him.The Boys Are Back
After back-to-back near-relegation seasons, the Evil Geniuses needed a complete overhaul. The team parted ways with Tyson “Innox” Kapler and Mitch “Krepo” Voorspoels, and sent its remaining members off to Korea to bootcamp while the squad was rebuilt. During their trip, the team rebranded as Winterfox and acquired two young Korean talents -- Donghyeon “Avalon” Shin and Jang “Imagine” Hyeonsu. Imagine and Dongjin "Helios" Shin won't be playing in Week 1, so Johnny “Altec” Ru will be supported by former Team Solo Mid player Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad, while Ryan "ShorterACE" Nget will be in the jungle until they're ready to hit the Rift. Meanwhile, Altec has proven himself to be an elite carry, and Eugene “Pobelter” Park has shown moments of genius amid his inconsistency. If any team has the potential to go from worst to first, it will be Winterfox.Roster Overhaul
Every offseason is full of roster moves, but for two particular LCS teams, there was a surprising amount of overhaul. Both Fnatic and LMQ made appearances at the 2014 World Championship, but during the offseason, they both almost completely revamped their rosters. Now, they're coming into the Spring Split as essentially brand new teams. While Fnatic has enjoyed a tradition as one of the most successful teams in League of Legends history, not a single name from their Season 1 Championship run remains. The new team is made up of relative unknowns both from Korea and the European Challenger scene. For the newly minted Team Impulse, formerly LMQ, their star mid laner Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian will still be a powerful presence. But will he be able to carry games until top laner Eonyeong “Impact” Jung and new jungler, Yoonjae “Rush” Lee, become accustomed to the NA LCS stage?
Dino Gnar for Mayor!! He's just giving away homes! To everyone!
will be at his funeeral
yes
now
