NA LCS week 9 thoughts and predictions ( join in if you want )

III BAKURYU III · 2017-03-20T20:45:40.147Z

FLYQUEST VS TEAM LIQUID In the mediocre match of the week we have a team that has been falling back down to earth from the clouds FQ who started 13-3 in the first half and is 5-17 in the second half versus a team that has been shifting it's players around the whole split and killing any career hopes faster than Game of Thrones kills off characters Team Liquid. Team Liquid still losing is not Piglet's fault because he can't play utility.... adc.......... oh he doesn't play ADC anymore... oh and the team is still losing..... 43-52 with Piglet wow, TL must be 0-900 without him huh..... 27-18 without him....oh ah... WORLD CHAMPION and is KOREAN!!!! There I just told everyone why they shouldn't doubt him again. IDK nor care FQ wins 2-0 CLOUD 9 VS PHOENIX ONE P1 are on a 9 game winning streak and it's all thanks to Inori, so thank you Inori (timeout - Inori's mother broke her leg so I do want to say Get well soon Inori's mom and hope you recover fast ;]) time in - but honestly without Inori being subbed out we wouldn't get Meteos back and his presence is scary - in a 17 game span at the start of each split here are Meteo's kills 52 in 17 games back in 2013 Summer 57 in 17 games back in 2014 Spring 37 in 17 games back in 2014 Summer 32 in 17 games back in 2015 Spring 11 in 10 games back in 2015 Summer 47 in 17 games back in 2016 Summer 64 in 17 games now in the 2017 Spring P1 are 14-3 with Meteos this split and are looking like they could win the split honestly. Teams still aren't banning Ezreal or picking it against Arrow who's 8-0 on it and is putting up these types of numbers $$$$$$ 41-8-75, not to mention he's picking champions that people thought are garbage like Kalista once but still 1-0 with a 7-2-7-216 also a 4-3-6-312 Draven - eat your heart out D-Lift. Should be a tough series but going with P1 2-1 ECHO FOX VS TEAM ENVYUS You would think in a 44 min average series with C9 Seraph could put up atleast 1 kill but suppose that's asking too much. NV are 2-0 in games against EF and are 7-1 against EF since Echo Fox came into the league so I'm going to go with Team Envyus winning it 2-0. IMMORTALS VS COUNTER LOGIC GAMING 5.4 kills per game Stixxay has been putting up in the last 5 games, 4.0 deaths per game Pobelter in the last 5 games. Should be a fun series with lots of kills, however if CLG looks clean in this series I will actually pick them to win the 2017 Spring Split in playoffs because they're on fire at the moment. CLG are good as far as objectives goes 3rd in dragons and 4th in barons but they have no defense they're # 1 in deaths, and #5th in towers lost so they need to work on that if not yes they might win NA but on international stages they will get rekt with that type of playstyle. Going with CLG to win the series 2-1 CLOUD 9 VS DIGNITAS 3.44 2.42 5.71 317.7 Keane's stats before 2017 Spring Split 3.70 2.25 4.42 325.4 Keane's stats 2017 Spring Split 5.40 2.50 7.30 339.1 Keane's stats during his super saiyan Keane streak Should be a fun match between Jensen and Keane that's for sure. Picking C9 to win tho 2-1 TEAM LIQUID VS TEAM SOLOMID This match up would have been cool if TL didn't s$it the bed and could have had a fun D-Lift vs Wildturtle but meh don't care much for this series now that TL are most likely going to be relegated. After this split - Reignover will run off to Huni like off the Notebook or something. Doublelift will get paid $ for producing nothing and most likely won't take Turtle's spot on TSM and retire. Lourlo will most likely get benched for Quas or something. Piglet will most likely still on TL because WORLD CHAMPION - KOREAN so there's that. Yeah, TL in a nutshell TSM win series 2-0 COUNTER LOGIC GAMING VS TEAM ENVYUS Both teams have been actually looking impressive as of late while NV has been getting the Wins compared to CLG they've looked 10X better then when they first started this split. Huhi has been a monster as of late as well as he doesn't seem scared anymore and in the back waiting for Darshan to peel 24/7 but instead he's been getting in the front lines and peeling for Stixxay. If there's an overrated and underrated players/teams award CLG would have Huhi and Stixxay as the underrated players. I mention this because people tend to forget that there isn't a better NA team when they get going than CLG they have better performances on the international stage then the team that ALWAYS gets everyone's love TSM and yet CLG doesn't get any. CLG earns NA a #1 Pool and well it went to waste for the team that everyone loves. Picking CLG to win 2-0 FLYQUEST VS ECHO FOX Took a coin and flipped to see who will win this series it landed on tails so Echo Fox will win 2-1 DIGNITAS VS IMMORTALS How many deaths will Pobelter have total in this series? - Mine will be 12 total in 3 games. However the last time IMT faced D…

III BAKURYU III ·Mar 20, 2017·1 votes·2,103 views

FLYQUEST VS TEAM LIQUID In the mediocre match of the week we have a team that has been falling back down to earth from the clouds FQ who started 13-3 in the first half and is 5-17 in the second half versus a team that has been shifting it's players around the whole split and killing any career hopes faster than Game of Thrones kills off characters Team Liquid.
Team Liquid still losing is not Piglet's fault because he can't play utility.... adc.......... oh he doesn't play ADC anymore... oh and the team is still losing..... 43-52 with Piglet wow, TL must be 0-900 without him huh..... 27-18 without him....oh ah... WORLD CHAMPION and is KOREAN!!!! There I just told everyone why they shouldn't doubt him again. IDK nor care FQ wins 2-0
CLOUD 9 VS PHOENIX ONE P1 are on a 9 game winning streak and it's all thanks to Inori, so thank you Inori (timeout - Inori's mother broke her leg so I do want to say Get well soon Inori's mom and hope you recover fast ;]) time in - but honestly without Inori being subbed out we wouldn't get Meteos back and his presence is scary - in a 17 game span at the start of each split here are Meteo's kills 52 in 17 games back in 2013 Summer 57 in 17 games back in 2014 Spring 37 in 17 games back in 2014 Summer 32 in 17 games back in 2015 Spring 11 in 10 games back in 2015 Summer 47 in 17 games back in 2016 Summer 64 in 17 games now in the 2017 Spring P1 are 14-3 with Meteos this split and are looking like they could win the split honestly. Teams still aren't banning Ezreal or picking it against Arrow who's 8-0 on it and is putting up these types of numbers $$$$$$ 41-8-75, not to mention he's picking champions that people thought are garbage like Kalista once but still 1-0 with a 7-2-7-216 also a 4-3-6-312 Draven - eat your heart out D-Lift. Should be a tough series but going with P1 2-1
ECHO FOX VS TEAM ENVYUS You would think in a 44 min average series with C9 Seraph could put up atleast 1 kill but suppose that's asking too much.
NV are 2-0 in games against EF and are 7-1 against EF since Echo Fox came into the league so I'm going to go with Team Envyus winning it 2-0.
IMMORTALS VS COUNTER LOGIC GAMING 5.4 kills per game Stixxay has been putting up in the last 5 games, 4.0 deaths per game Pobelter in the last 5 games.
Should be a fun series with lots of kills, however if CLG looks clean in this series I will actually pick them to win the 2017 Spring Split in playoffs because they're on fire at the moment. CLG are good as far as objectives goes 3rd in dragons and 4th in barons but they have no defense they're # 1 in deaths, and #5th in towers lost so they need to work on that if not yes they might win NA but on international stages they will get rekt with that type of playstyle. Going with CLG to win the series 2-1
CLOUD 9 VS DIGNITAS 3.44 2.42 5.71 317.7 Keane's stats before 2017 Spring Split 3.70 2.25 4.42 325.4 Keane's stats 2017 Spring Split 5.40 2.50 7.30 339.1 Keane's stats during his super saiyan Keane streak Should be a fun match between Jensen and Keane that's for sure.
Picking C9 to win tho 2-1
TEAM LIQUID VS TEAM SOLOMID This match up would have been cool if TL didn't s$it the bed and could have had a fun D-Lift vs Wildturtle but meh don't care much for this series now that TL are most likely going to be relegated. After this split - Reignover will run off to Huni like off the Notebook or something. Doublelift will get paid $ for producing nothing and most likely won't take Turtle's spot on TSM and retire. Lourlo will most likely get benched for Quas or something. Piglet will most likely still on TL because WORLD CHAMPION - KOREAN so there's that. Yeah, TL in a nutshell TSM win series 2-0
COUNTER LOGIC GAMING VS TEAM ENVYUS Both teams have been actually looking impressive as of late while NV has been getting the Wins compared to CLG they've looked 10X better then when they first started this split. Huhi has been a monster as of late as well as he doesn't seem scared anymore and in the back waiting for Darshan to peel 24/7 but instead he's been getting in the front lines and peeling for Stixxay. If there's an overrated and underrated players/teams award CLG would have Huhi and Stixxay as the underrated players. I mention this because people tend to forget that there isn't a better NA team when they get going than CLG they have better performances on the international stage then the team that ALWAYS gets everyone's love TSM and yet CLG doesn't get any. CLG earns NA a #1 Pool and well it went to waste for the team that everyone loves. Picking CLG to win 2-0
FLYQUEST VS ECHO FOX Took a coin and flipped to see who will win this series it landed on tails so Echo Fox will win 2-1
DIGNITAS VS IMMORTALS How many deaths will Pobelter have total in this series? - Mine will be 12 total in 3 games. However the last time IMT faced DIG Immortals won 2-0 with Pobelter only having 2 total deaths so maybe 12 is pushing it but I'll keep it considering Keane has been destroying his competition as of late.
12-17 total deaths in 1 game gets in the top 50 death chart Going with DIG in a close series tho 2-1
TEAM SOLOMID VS PHOENIX ONE In the match of the week TSM faces P1. In game 1 between these two teams it would be Meteos' 20th regular season game against TSM ( 19 games vs TSM in the regular season and 19 games against TSM in the playoffs) as well as he's 22-16 against TSM in the past.
Svenskeren has been dying nonstop and while Hauntzer has carried TSM lately he too just doesn't look as impressive as he once was well to be honest TSM just doesn't look good overall. The team wins sure with as much talent as they have but it's been sloppy and last week every NA team looked bad and sloppy overall but have to go with P1 winning 2-1.

Thank you and Laters!

14 Comments

G2AVMar 20, 20172 votes

Hi. I've seen a lot of things you've posted and I generally think you're pretty accurate about it. What I will say for P1 however is that I think Inori is good. I think he could learn to play a more laid back style like Meteos can, because Zig can play more carry toplaners (Kled) but is more relegated to tanks when Inori is on Rengar/Khazix. I do think that Meteos is playing great but his still limited champ pool can come back to bite them. Against CLG a few weeks ago, he was forced onto Rengar I think and did not look good. Idk why teams are just letting him have, Zac, Elise, Olaf. Use three bans on him. You got 5 now anyways. Arrow has other options, Zig and Ryu as well. Ban out Meteos. Maybe they can win out a best of 3 series but once 5 games come in playoffs, I would be shocked if Meteos is still getting his comfort picks. Also, Ryu can have the occasional bad/subpar game and stunt is still really new. However, when P1 is on, they are great! I think they are easily better than C9 and them and TSM are close but they play both this week so we'll see.

III BAKURYU III Mar 20, 20171 votes

Inori is a great talent no doubt about that but somethings have annoyed me not word for word so don't quote " " me on it but it went something like this when one of the casters interviewed Inori

So do you think P1 will win Spring Split(Finals) Caster asking Inori
Inori " pause.... well I mean..... pause...... I don't know..... pause..... I need to get better......." he might as well have said F$$$ no we aint winning well not unless I'm on the bench and Meteos subs in an wins for me.
No confidence, yeah I get he needs to get better and the age ol' " I will work hard and I will be better than ever" it's an old stick for old dogs people are wiser these days and won't play ball with that type of mentality anymore.

Playground mentality Inori and Adrian didn't like each other and in most cases there will always be pairs or people who don't like each other in almost every situation, schools, workplace, etc etc. Adrian is gone and Inori stays but like I said no team doesn't have it's fair share of problems within the team once Inori gets in arguments with Ryu, Arrow, Meteos, Zig etc they will find out that Inroi was the problem at the start and not Adrian because it's now 2 times Inroi has gotten in arguments with players but Adrian is gone so it has to had been Inori's fault in the eyes of the players if another situation erupts again, you know?

Ryu and Arrow are laning type of players they don't want to fight, fight, fight, go, go, go they want to farm for a bit and take the game somewhat slow with Inori it wasn't like that mainly because he was too aggressive and it would cause Ryu and Arrow who are meh when it comes to roaming as players, delay their builds and help a player that always gets caught out in the enemies' jungle.
With Meteos he's always been a hard CS jungle player he farms in his jungle and gives vision to the players, when it comes to ganking he's more of a show you're there so the enemy laner backs up and that's all Ryu and Arrow need and it works. Look at Cloud 9 when they had Rush it was nothing but fight fight fight and got them a fast first round exit in the playoffs, yes they were decent in the regular season but with the early snowballing it didn't help C9 as they didn't really get to have those longer, decision late game type of feels that betters them.
( only in 40+ min games does it better you as a player)

I'm surprised teams haven't banned away these picks from Meteos yet, I'm now waiting for Meteos to pull out the Nasus as that's all he played back in 2013 Summer with a nice 10-0 record on the dog. Zac Elise Even if teams ban out his champions I still don't see it mattering as much as Meteos plays all kinds of things to great success. He's never really had a champion that he's never performed on and doesn't die so the potential snowball factor is eliminated as well as the Ryu and Arrow feeding is eliminated as they very rarely die. Point is teams can take Meteos' champions away but all that is doing is giving Arrow more and more options which is the real carry on P1. Kinda a pick your poison isn't it ban away the best career western KDA player or the Korean carry champions.

GeminiRuneMar 21, 20171 votes

This is definitely going to be the week to really pay attention for me in regards to the personal performance scoring chart I've done week by week throughout the split. And it's not just because there's a close finish for 1st place and calculated "best consistent performing team on the entire split." My attention is mostly locked to the top and bottom of the standings with the following questions:

How much further can C9 fall in the power ranking?
How strong can TSM close out the split compared to P1?
Can Envy sneak out of Relegations?

Currently in that performance scoring chart, I have C9 still leading by a mere 1 point ahead of TSM (it was a 15 point gap mid split) and P1 5 points behind TSM. Realistically I can see a result where C9 can tank the entire week and result low, falling into 3rd place at the finish line. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, but I do not believe that C9 will take their series as walks in the park like they did early on.

As for TSM, I've honestly been trying to find a reason to give them that two thumbs up performance on a week...but I just can't. They've only been the top performing team on a week once on my chart. They are consistent and are definitely strong when on a hot start series. But the way their 3 game matches to their 2-0 sweeps have played out is baffling yet concerning in the long run (similar to G2's practice late from behind games). It's like they aren't showing victorious improvements where necessary for a reason, which may not matter as much until playoffs though. I just personally don't want to see a week where TSM goes 2-0 vs TL and the same 2-1 fashion vs P1.

Lately, P1 is often the better performing team week after week. This week is the big test on whether they can really contest for best in NA. As long as they aren't blowout losses caused by a single player (including Inori), I'll still give respect where it's due that their playoff run will be a thriving one.

The middle of the table is where my standings are within 5 points of one another which is basically a real showdown. Recent performance aside, I just want to see who pulls out the best out of them because other than Echo Fox, they all have displayed some real promise for playoff potential.

And then there's Liquid and Envy, whom I'm not even thinking of them on the player by player stats. More I'm thinking to what synergy convinces me of their chances against the upcoming Gold Coin United and eUnited CS teams. But there is a chance that Fox can fall into that mix as well. As a result, one of my personal teams to watch for the week will be Team Envy, who currently holds the Head to Head vs Liquid and could potentially lock it in against Fox as well.

For the sake of predictions and that I'm terrible with player statistics, I'm gonna give mine outright:

FLY 2-1 TL | C9 2-1 P1

NV 2-0 FOX | CLG 2-0 IMT | C9 2-1 DIG | TSM 2-0 TL

CLG 2-0 NV | FLY 2-1 FOX | DIG 2-1 IMT | P1 2-1 TSM

III BAKURYU III Mar 21, 20171 votes

Yeah, I can't give TSM a slide and neither can I C9. Cloud 9- compared to the start of the split I can't tell this is the same team honestly.

TSM - They win but it's ugly wins, Svenskeren needs to pick it up because he's starting to show his s6 Worlds performances of just dying 24/7 and the Hauntzer/Sven combo is ok but it will soon get exploited if they're not careful.

" who currently holds the Head to Head vs Liquid"

I thought it was tied up ? or is it not between NV and TL ?

If I personally had the ability to choose which team to relegate and which team to stay in the LCS I would choose NV to stay sure they're not winning but this team is actually starting to grow on me and can be good at times, need a late game shotcaller/leader as they're good early but late game sucks which with a leader that can be fixed. TL - I'm tired of this team for 2 years now I'v watched them play, rage, baby quit, pointed fingers, bad management, etc it's getting old with this team and I personally would like to watch Fenix and Madlife over Piglet and company from TL personally.

Sagan ForeverMar 21, 20171 votes

I feel like if FQ or EF beat tinier bottom tier opponent we will see how far the team has fallen after thier great starts, and will show who is the favorite in thier head the head. I agree that the P1 and the TSM match will be hyped, but I think it can go either way. Both teams have problems and I think the winner of TSM vs P1 will be based on weather they can grind out P1 like they do with the other teams or not. I also feel like C9 like FQ and EF have looked a lot weaker in the second half( but obviously stronger than them), while Dig have looked a lot stronger in the second half; I feel if Dig win it shows that C9 have a lot of work to do, but if C9 wreck Dig then Dig needs work to beat other top 4 teams( playoff hopes for either team) making it a fun one.

III BAKURYU III Mar 21, 20171 votes

I remember I was watching a TSM game this past weekend and I paused the game during champion select, made a sandwich, came back and I hit " live " when I did no more than 5 mins into the game the score was like 9-5 like jesus and I think it was TSM that was down 9-5 in kills within the first 5 mins that kinda shows this isn't the same micro and macro TSM from 2016 Summer ( Duh) I know but man this team is just like Jerky taste good, looks good but is it really "good" for you ? Teams don't win by having a kill, aggressive mentality in the pro scene it's slow by smart and TSM just dont' seem to have that and week 8 was horrible not just for TSM tho it felt like every team in week 8 looked bad.
I'v never said " bronzies play for NA" or in the LCS etc but dang it really felt like I was watching a Trick2g subwars cause the plays, the execution everything was horrible.

Looks like my 7-11 record for FlyQuest could come true after all. I said focus Hai and you will win and everyone started to pull out the nails and flame when I said it back before the split started and it's showing. Hai can't carry these fools anymore-( Jensen PUN).

The problem is FQ/IMT/EF will be our 6th seed heading into playoffs and all 3 teams have severe downsides and problems for a quick 0-3 exit in the first round if they don't fix them.

Dignitas might just be a false top tier team. They beaten CLG, EF, NV and TL in Keane's ( saiyan form) and while the calls and plays are better than what they were it's not hard to get a kill lead in mid and use that to snowball the game; as league is so snowbally now than ever before.

Cloud 9 will be facing P1 and DIG; two teams that currently are on fire but the problem is they need to study equally for both teams but realistically teams will put more focus on 1 team over the other and DIG/P1 could sneak out a series win over C9 if not both.

Sagan ForeverMar 21, 20171 votes

I do not the think TSM looks really good, but in all honesty the LCS in general does not look that good to me. NA this split does not have a "top" team this split. The main difference in the bottom and top teams is mid and late game shot calling.

With FQ I actually feel that teams have started to focus Moon more, making it so that he give his subpar laners the lead they need to win the game. FQ also has calls that are far to risky to pay off when even/behind and often give the enemy ways back into the game when ahead. When winning games it felt like the knifes edge to me, and now they are cutting themselves.

While I agree that Dig may be a false top tier, becuase they have cleaned up the bottom tier teams while losing to the top teams. To look good (for playoffs) need to beat Immortals, and have a close set at least agaist C9; otherwise they are a clear 4th place team where they can mop up bottom feeders, but are simply food themselfs for top teams.

Also just realized this is a tough week for C9. But as a top 2 team in the stand they need to beat P1 for the 1st round skip. On the plus side P1 is also having a difficult week( harder in my opinion) facing both C9 and TSM. After playoffs we will get to see which teams gets the honor to lose to skt/kt.

III BAKURYU III Mar 21, 20171 votes

" After playoffs we will get to see which teams gets the honor to lose to skt/kt".

Pretty much dude, it's time for a reality check for all teams not named SKT or from the LCK.

HeeroTXMar 21, 20171 votes

If you believe the "conspiracy theories" about the trinity and DLift going to Liquid, then it seems like the week for TL to beat TSM. If C9 loses to DIG then TSM literally has nothing to play for with their game against TL (lock for #1 seed), so why not just play Teemo or whatever. Even without that, if they think they can beat P1 or that C9 might stumble against P1 themselves, then they can afford to lose to TL with no real negative impact. May be interesting to watch how seriously TSM takes the final weekend.

III BAKURYU III Mar 21, 20171 votes

" Conspiracy theories about trinity and D-Lift going to Liquid"

What conspiracy ?

I would be amazed if TL beats TSM honestly

HeeroTXMar 22, 20171 votes

The theory is that TSM is letting Liquid "borrow" DLift SPECIFICALLY to help them not get relegated (speculation is if other teams had tried a similar arrangement (short term deal) TSM might have blocked it). Leading to the obvious concept that if TSM specifically wants to help Liquid NOT be relegated, they COULD throw the TSM-Liquid match, since it has minimal to zero impact on TSM here at the end depending on how other matches play out.

(Obviously, they wouldn't throw a match EARLY, but now that their seeding is all but definite, they COULD do it)

III BAKURYU III Mar 22, 20171 votes

Yeah, I mean the whole Tl/TSM situation about D-Lift has been well documented but the possibly throwing the game could happen for the sake for Steve/Reg.
It could happen but TSM and C9 are neck and neck in the standings, TSM would need C9 to lose to DIG in the first day of week 9 mainly because TSM will face TL in day 2 but they will face P1 in day 3 so the whole losing on purpose for TL's sake needs C9 to keep losing and need to beat P1 for the standings to not interfere with the standings between TSM and C9. I don't think TSM will lose to TL; TL had their chances but poor decisions cost that team. TL had so many opportunities to win but their poor side lane focus when they did get leads was a huge reason why they lost games before/during D-Lift.

But yeah, I didn't think about that about TSM vs TL good reporting and reconnaissance!

HeeroTXMar 22, 20171 votes

For the record, I don't think TSM will "throw", but right now they have 2 games on C9 with 2 to play. So basically if TSM loses both remaining games and C9 wins both, (in theory) C9 gets the top seed due to (2nd) tie-breaker (win %, since head-to-head is even at 1 match apiece, I haven't checked, but I'd bet C9 has more 2-0 victories than TSM, since TSM has a LOT of 2-1 matches). But ANY other variation has TSM keeping the top seed, so TSM only needs to beat P1 OR have C9 lose either of it's 2 remaining matches. I'm not saying I'd want to "count" on that, but if C9 loses to DIG, then yeah, its definite that TSM goes into Saturday knowing they're #1 in the split no matter what, but even if C9 wins, if they lose to P1 then TSM is #1, or if they beat P1, then TSM "just" needs to also beat P1.

Point being, TSM only needs 1 win in their last two OR 1 C9 loss to get the #1 spot. In another random quirk, if C9 loses both matches in week 9, TSM is assured the #1 spot, and if they were to throw the match with P1, P1 would get #2 and knock C9 down to #3. That wouldn't really "benefit" TSM in any material way, but is interesting.

III BAKURYU III Mar 22, 20171 votes

Pretty interesting, I get confused sometimes with the overall record in total game series instead of just the plain 14-2 it's like 33-4 or something and that's when I have a hard time understanding the whole standings.
I personally can't wait for the Playoffs that's for sure C9-TSM-P1-DIG-CLG are all looking decent but any team can take a win off the other that has been seen this split.