The Recap: North America Week 10

Week 10 marked a time of change as the NA LCS teams shook up their rosters coming into the final weeks of the 2014 spring split. William "Scarra" Li, one of the most prolific professional players in the history of competitive League of Legends, stepped down from Team Dignitas, relinquishing his spot for up-and-coming Challenger player Greyson "Goldenglue" Gilmer. Mitch "Krepo" Voorspoels, support player for Evil Geniuses, was noticeably absent on Day 1 as Kenneth "Ken" Tang substituted for him. However, Stephen "Snoopeh" Ellis and Peter "Yellowpete" Wuppen made their return to Summoner's Rift. Here's the breakdown of what went down this past weekend during Week 10 of the NA LCS:

Games of the Week

Team Dignitas vs. Evil Geniuses Both teams opened similarly with invasions into the enemy red jungle. Dignitas opted for a lane swap, putting Michael "Imaqtpie" Santana (Sivir) and Alan "KiWiKiD" Nguyen (Karma) in the top lane against Tyson "Innox" Kapler (Lee Sin) and Cruz "Cruzerthebruzer" Ogden (Shyvana) in a 1v2 situation. Though Eugene "Pobelter" Park and Innox farmed better than their opponents in the lane phase, Snoopeh fell behind in creep spread and experience as Nautilus, struggling to keep up with Alberto "Crumbz" Rengifo's faster jungling and higher damage as Kha'Zix's jungle. Gold was relatively even as both teams brought down turrets and cinched kills. However, team fights swung into Dignitas's favor as they had superior vision and map control. It appeared as if Evil Geniuses might make a comeback as they convincingly won a fight at the Baron pit. But Dignitas rebounded, coming out on top in the end with a final push to the Nexus with Sivir's On the Hunt leading the charge. The victory marked a successful debut for Goldenglue. Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team SoloMid The game was incredibly close. At the fifteen-minute mark, turrets and kills were dead even until Alex "Xpecial" Chu (Leona) engaged onto Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng (Lucian) and Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black (Thresh) with Zenith Blade and Solar Flare at TSM's inner turret. The team fight appeared to go into TSM's favor until Marcel "Dexter" Feldkamp (Lee Sin) landed an immaculate Dragon's Rage, completely denying Marcus "Dyrus" Hill's (Shyvana) Dragon Descent. As the game progressed, team fights went back and forth with both ADCs getting fed with kills and minions. The outcome of the match was finally decided by a team fight at TSM's top inhibitor turret. Aphromoo landed a Death Sentence onto a half-health Dyrus, initiating an explosive battle, which ended with CLG on top. As weakened members of CLG backed away from the enemy base, Jason "WildTurtle" Tran overcommitted to a chase, flashing onto Austin "LiNk" Shin's (Ziggs) Hexplosive Minefield. He died almost immediately to a re-engagement by CLG, who went on to take down the enemy Nexus, subsequently ending TSM's win streak. Team SoloMid vs. Team Curse Early on, things looked up for Curse as they took full advantage of their tower pushing power. As two members of TSM helped Brian "TheOddOne" Wylie (Kha'Zix) secure the enemy blue buff, Team Curse quickly tore down the bottom outer and inner turrets before rotating to take the dragon. At the five minute mark, Team Curse was already ahead by more than 1k gold. Despite Team Curse's early lead and strong map control, TSM made a slow and steady comeback with Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg (Nidalee) coming out big with an immense amount of kills and minions. Dyrus (Shyvana) also managed to farm himself to a seemingly invincible status while dealing a lot of damage in team fights. Team Curse could not turn the tides and were forced to relinquish the game after a team fight at their middle inhibitor turret.

Overachievers of the Week

Balls An "Balls" Van Le continues to prove that he is one of the most consistent top laners in the NA LCS. In his game vs Team Dignitas, Balls brought back Rumble, ending the game with a KDA of 4/3/15. Dexter Dexter was a complete game-changer this weekend with epic plays as Lee Sin. Time and again, he turned the course of skirmishes with perfectly executed Dragon's Rage onto the enemy team. He ended the game against TSM with a KDA of 9/3/10. Hai Hai "Hai" Lam surprised the masses with an unorthodox AP Soraka pick against Team Curse. He ended the game with a solid KDA of 4/3/8. On Day 2, Hai stepped up as Lulu, completely demolishing the enemy team with a KDA of 10/5/18, helping C9 catch up to their adversaries TSM. Sneaky Sneaky went above and beyond this weekend with incredible ADC plays on Lucian, carrying C9 to a pair of seamless victories. He ended the game against Curse with a KDA of 7/0/3 and against Dignitas with a KDA of 10/1/15. Aphromoo Aphromoo was a force to be reckoned with as one of the most fearsome supports in Week 10. Alongside his partner Doublelift, he controlled the course of lane phase and tore up team fights with aggression and confidence. Aphromoo ended his game against XDG with a KDA of 1/2/11.

Surprises of the Week

Team Coast Despite a disastrous past two weeks and a six-game losing streak, Team Coast bounced back this weekend with two victories over XDG Gaming and Evil Geniuses. As long as they continue to perform strongly in next week's Super Week, then they can avoid relegation and maybe even secure a spot in the playoffs. Team Coast is currently in sixth place with a record of 8-15.

Disappointments of the Week

Evil Geniuses vs. Team Coast Despite their early advantages, EG once again punished themselves with poor late game decision-making. They could not pull out any victories in Week 10 and are still tied with XDG at the bottom of the bracket with a record of 6-18. If they do not step it up during Super Week, Evil Geniuses will surely face relegation. For more information on the 2014 spring split, including VODs, schedules, team rosters, and brackets, check out lolesports.com. Be sure to tune into the stream on Friday, April 4th at 12:00PM PST for the final week of regular season play before the spring playoffs.

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• NA LCS Week 10 Preview
• The Recap: North America Week 9