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TSM Reclaims Their Throne

Riot·9/2/2014, 3:23:03 PM·2 votes·19,586 views
The playoffs have been a thrill ride for Team SoloMid. From the opening best-of-five against Dignitas, a 3-1 victory, through a 3-2 comeback win over LMQ, Team SoloMid showed an elevated level of play that had been missing from the team for the past few months. Their enhanced abilities culminated in their 3-2 win over Cloud9. They finally took back their throne as kings of NA following a series that was series of the year for the LCS. On top of regaining their primacy, Team SoloMid gets a coveted No. 1 seed in the 2014 World Championship. How did they do it? It was not a single thing that TSM consistently did, but a plethora of things. Support Ham “Lustboy” Jang-sik was the bedrock of a vision control that came to dominate the later games of the series. Middle laner Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg was a force in every game on a variety of champions that TSM leaned on. The other three members on the team shined in many different roles. It was a complete team win. Relive some of the key moments from Team SoloMid’s victory below.

Game 2: Battle Cattle Victory

Team SoloMid gave Cloud9 their first playoff loss in this game, and a big reason was Dyrus’s Alistar. The minotaur was an initiating monster throughout the game, and was able to use his Unbreakable Will ultimate ability to soak up damage for his team on numerous occasions. In the highlight, Dyrus wades into the fight and helps set up multiple kills thanks to his Headbutt/Pulverize combo.

Game 4: Jump ‘em Early

In the first three minutes of this game, Team SoloMid manages to kill Cloud9’s middle laner Hai “Hai” Lam twice. The second time was particularly bold, and painful. TSM pulls off a five person invade, as well as secure the Blue buff for Amazing’s Lee Sin. The two kills were a foreshadowing as TSM snowballed this game out of control to tie the series up at 2-2.

Game 5: Final Fight For The Win

The final engagement between these two teams began when Team SoloMid had a gold deficit, but that didn’t stop them from winning it. AD Carry Jason “WildTurtle” Tran’s Tristana went huge in this engagement and scored a quadrakill including a three shot kill on C9’s Corki. The four members from TSM left alive were able to kill the Cloud9 Nexus before respawns, and celebrate that they had earned their spot atop North America. There can be no rest, and precious little celebration for Team SoloMid. The 2014 World Championship is just around the corner, and there will be more tests to come for this experienced squad. The confidence boost will certainly help them as they compete against the best the world has to offer, and if they continue to play like they did against Cloud9, they have an excellent shot at making it out of the group stage during the tournament.

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64 Comments

Dandic9/2/2014, 3:59:58 PM15 votes

Such an intense series. Was very entertaining to watch. I think that all three of NA teams going to worlds look very impressive.

TheSequelsRBad9/2/2014, 6:05:21 PM10 votes

Cloud9 may have lost, but they are still my favorite team, and i will always cheer for them. GGWP to Tsm though, they played really well, and (though it hurts me to say it) better than cloud9 did that series.

ButtersBBG9/2/2014, 5:56:49 PM9 votes

Cloud 9 will be back next year to take home the gold.

Zhugan9/2/2014, 6:39:36 PM7 votes

How can you call it "their throne" when C9 has sat on it for the past year and a half? Seems to me like they pushed C9 off of C9's throne and made it theirs again.

TheSleepyGod9/2/2014, 3:33:59 PM6 votes

TSM TSM TSM!!!!

Hit0lol9/2/2014, 8:15:58 PM4 votes

Regarding the LMQ question all I have to say is that I truly respect the fact that they had the gut to go to the US and compete. More, they won their spot and have shown solid performances. And as said in a previous comment that's one of the reasons why people did emigrate to the US and keep doing so.

The only detail I do not like about is their apparent lack of interest in communicating in English. I mean, everyone about their age had contact with English and English lessons at school, and even if they didn't the way I see it is: You go to a foreign country, you have to adapt, be it in lifestyle or language, they just seem to make no effort whatsoever. Come on, even a thank you, or small joke, I don't know, just something that would show that they are actually working and living and are part of the American culture.

It's a pain to watch a American league/tournament and have a dude translating everything.

Damadoxx9/4/2014, 8:23:21 PM3 votes

Most of these comments are giving me brain damage.

XyzBlade9/3/2014, 12:11:02 AM2 votes

LMQ! LMQ! LMQ! I wish ya the best at world. For LMQ haters out there. IDGAF, come back and trash talk when you reach LMQ player's level. LOL I think probably all LMQ haters out there are bronze playerz ;D

Irregulator9/3/2014, 5:12:54 PM2 votes

North America is a melting pot. I think it should be viewed as a statement of the success of our region that teams from other parts of the world specifically want to live and work in the United States. That is the foundation of our country.

Th3ch0senJUan9/4/2014, 7:11:28 PM2 votes

These three teams are representing the NORTH AMERICAN LCS. Meaning, this league is consisted of multiple teams from which their players are of multiple nationalities, just as it is in China with Korean players, as in the GPL with players from Taiwan, Philippines and etc AS WELL AS the EU LCS which has more diversity than any other league.

If you want more reasoning as to why LMQ is a great representation of the NA LCS, think of it this way; in soccer, there are stars from different countries on multiple teams, at the end of each season, they win the prospective leagues with these players and go on to represent these leagues on these teams in regional tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League. THEN if they win that they go to an INTERNATIONAL club tournament featuring teams from around the world, representing those leagues with multinational teams.

If you want to get anal-retentive about the fact that LMQ is all Chinese players, then ask Riot for a World Cup/Olympic style tournament where all these players represent their countries together.

TL:DR

Leagues from each and every sport have multiple teams with multiple players from multiple countries that continue to represent those leagues in regional to international club team tournaments. The fact that some teams have more members from a certain country should only be addressed if it was an Olympic/World Cup Style event where each country had to have a representing team.

SaDiablo959/2/2014, 6:47:15 PM2 votes

I'm not a huge fan of Corki as a high level adc pick right now. He's a good champion, and a mid game monster, but he has a very limited window of time where his power spike allows him to dominate the game. His power spikes when he gets Trinity Force, so at about 10-15 minutes, so after that, if you can win before 30 minutes or so, great, but after that time, the ad carries like Kog and Tristana right now outscale him so hard he becomes almost useless. I was rooting for TSM, so I was happy when I saw C9 pick Corki, but still. I don't think that was a great decision by C9 that last game. At the same time though... Varus Varus will forever have a place in my heart. I want him to be in the meta so bad. item 3070 item 3070

Rexican10/1/2014, 9:37:59 PM1 votes

no

Presul9/3/2014, 6:57:40 PM1 votes

I know some people have mixed feelings about LMQ in NA, but I will say one positive that came from LMQ is that they challenged TSM, C9, Dignitas, Curse and made our region stronger this year than previous years. I think the best 3 teams from NA made World's and I'm glad we have 3 solid teams from our region. Also LMQ's early season interviews showed us that LMQ didn't come to NA because they thought it was their only chance of qualifying, but that they love America and would love to win the World championship for us. They took a gamble coming here and went through adversity with ownership issues. Their story is a classic example of "The American Dream."

Junbao9/3/2014, 8:47:40 PM1 votes

I don't what the big deal is. TSM is going to worlds to play 3 games...then fly back home. lol

Cronyism9/3/2014, 8:56:33 PM1 votes

This series of 5 was one of the most exciting I have seen for the two years I have been watching and following EU and NA LCS. Almost as exciting as the series between TSM and LMQ! I must admit, I never expected TSM to finally dethrone C9 and reclaim the 1. spot in NA, but man they do REALLY deserve the spot after fighting first Dignitas, then LMQ and finally C9! Wauw! And a huge shout out to Bjergsen, who I personally think deserve the spot at worlds with TSM. He started in EU LCS with NIP where he did exceptionally, but not having the team to go top 3. Now finally after he met Reginald at worlds season 3, he moved over the Atlantic joining TSM and here it all culminates after 1 year! Congratulations to TSM!

Ssataniko9/4/2014, 12:37:57 AM1 votes

TSM "reclaims their throne" much to the delight of LolEsports. But no one but the most delusional TSM fan(okay maybe they all are) really believes they are the top team in NA. They are third or 4th at best. They lost the regular season then scraped by in the playoffs and won a 5-game final that was utterly meaningless because C9 had already accomplished its goal of getting to Worlds, and with no 1st Round bye this year the seeding means less than ever. And even on cruise control C9 almost beat a TSM team that was absolutely starved to win and pretend that they finished first. They were rapidly losing their fickle ADD fanbase and the simpleton "T-S-M" chants had died down to a few whimpers throughout the entire season. Regi could all but hear the money trickling out of his wallet as he desperately re-tooled again. So TSM wins a hollow meaningless victory and Dyrus, with his atrophied arms, raises it over his head and they pretend one last time that they are the best. As jokes go, it's barely worth a chuckle.

ˆayy9/30/2014, 10:57:20 PM1 votes

Everyone who says that LMQ is not a NA team, is basically saying that immigrants coming from other countries don't belong and won't count as citizens. All 5 LMQ members either have permanent visa's or citizenship, so legally speaking, they are a NA team, don't be so hurt by the fact than a NA team did so well.

BloodLeginizer10/1/2014, 2:14:16 AM1 votes

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