The Most Valuable Wards of the 2015 LCS Summer Split

Wards have a hard life on the Rift. They're thrown around, abandoned in lonely bushes and dangerous animal's pits to stand silent vigil. They're never thanked, and then the LCS crowd cheers every time they die.

But these tiny doo-hickies that grant vision play a crucial role in the LCS, where even top-tier teams can be outsmarted if they aren't staying constantly aware of where the enemy players -- and their wards -- are.

Wards win games, and we picked out the most impressive, important wards that helped decide the outcome of games in the 2015 LCS Summer Split.

The Surprise Juggle Ward

Let's start with a fun one. Fnatic's ADC Martin "Rekkles" Larsson thought he was being sneaky when he hid in brush against Gambit Gaming in Week 2. You can just imagine him snickering as the enemy Alistar pretends to run by without noticing him.

But, because he hadn't checked, Rekkles didn't know that Gambit had a ward right under his feet and could see him the whole time!k A sudden flying Gragas sent Rekles' Ezreal soaring into the sky -- kickstarting a hilarious juggling combo worthy of any circus tent.

Bump after bump kept Ezreal bouncing in the air helplessly like a blonde-haired juggling ball, until Gambit's ADC Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou showed some mercy and finished the kill.

The OP Upset Ward

Team8 got off to a great start in their match against the higher-ranked Team SoloMid in Week 7, thanks to terrific wards from Team 8's support, Jun "Dodo" Kang, deep in the enemy jungle. In fact, Wards in the exact same location accounted for two of the team's first three kills, which were key to getting them fueled up early on.

In this second kill off the ward, Team 8's ADC Zach "Nien" Malhas is able to see the weakened TSM AD carry, Jason "WildTurtle" Tran, killing Gromp. Because of that, he cancels his Recall and waits for WildTurtle to get close before ambushing him. It was a smooth, calculated strike that put TSM's ADC 3 kills behind and helped lead to a big upset win for Team 8.

The I-See-You Ward

Team 8 continued their ward mastery in their next match, against Team Impulse. TIP's hyper-aggressive jungler Yoonjae "Rush" Lee is known for ganking at every opportunity, so they kept their jungle lit up like a Christmas tree with wards to make sure they knew where he was at all times.

This award technically goes to three wards: the one in river that might have seen Rush sneaking in for the behind-you gank, the pink ward near red camp that definitely saw Rush stalking nearby, and of course that ultimatum I-see-you-get-out-of-my-jungle-you-jerk ward that Team 8's mid laner Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer dropped right on Rush's head.

Bonus Award: David "Phreak" Turley's ward commentary in this clip is top-notch. For his tireless and pun-filled defense of the little sight sticks, he receives the fabled "The Ward Warder" Award!

The Charge Ward

Team SoloMid needed a team fight in their second match against Team Liquid in the Semifinals, but their composition didn't have a great way to force one. So TSM's support Ham "Lustboy" Jang-sik dropped one ward super deep in TL's jungle for Marcus "Dyrus" Hill to Teleport to with his Homeguards-fueled Gnar.

Dyrus was able to cut off TL's retreat, force them into a small corridor and buy the rest of his team time to position themselves between TL and their base, forcing them to fight. That one ward let TSM score four kills, Baron, Dragon, and a 3K gold lead.

The This-Is-Our-Trophy Ward

The Wards were not so kind to TSM in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split Finals. In Game 1, Counter Logic Gaming's top laner Darshan "ZionSpartan" Upadhyaha used a ward that was in the dead-center of the map to Teleport into an impromptu team fight. He quickly annihilated TSM's typical bedrock Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and sent Lustboy and WildTurtle running scared when he charged at them for more blood!

It was a fast, surprising, and authoritative way for CLG to say right from the beginning of the series that they were playing for keeps and TSM had better pick up the pace or get out of the way.

The Most Valuable Ward

The wards above were great, but this last one is the superstar of wards, the king of wards, the Worlds of wards, if you will. And it wasn't very flashy at all.

The situation was so tense when Origen pushed Fnatic to a final Game 5 in the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split Finals. Both teams were playing incredibly well and all it would take is one small advantage early to secure Fnatic's chance to hold the trophy once more.

24 minutes into the match, Fnatic was falling behind on gold and objectives. They needed something special to come back. And it was, of course, a ward.

When Fnatic's jungler Yeu-Jin "Reignover" Kim started a fight with his counterpart in the enemy jungle, the first thing he did was place a ward in the brush behind him.

That vision allowed Fnatic's top laner Seung-Hoon "Huni" Heo to place a perfect Rumle ultimate that kept Origen's mid laner Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez out of the fight while they killed his jungler buddy Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneider. Once Amazing was dead, Fnatic was free to rush Baron and get the gold and lane pushing power they needed to get back in the game, and eventually win the Finals.

Somebody's watching me

There were so many great wards in the LCS this Split, it's impossible to list them all here. But I hope this list helped you remember some awesome LCS plays and learn a few new tricks for using wards to win some of your own matches too!

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Josh Augustine's favorite ward is Gingerbread Ward, 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.