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What TSM can do to rebuild in 2016 WARNING: IN-DEPTH

OttoVBismarck·10/17/2015, 3:51:48 AM·2 votes·1,721 views

TSM has done pretty terribly both at MSI and Worlds this year, and a lot of people seem to be wondering, "Well, what do you change?"

First: The Roster. It's been confirmed that TSM will retain Bjergsen and Turtle, which is good news. Turtle's not DoubleLift, but he's a solid ADC, and he's most certainly clutch when it counts. Bjergsen is still a strong contender for Best Midlane NA, but the shotcalling mantle needs to be lifted from his shoulders. Even in Riot Promotional videos, notably the "Legends" series, they show him discussing his issues with it. As far as the new members go,

Jungle: I want to see a more aggressive jungle along the lines of Rush or Maybe even Nightblue (Who knows?) Someone who applies lane pressure even when it isn't a sure gank. Yes, sometimes they'll be punished for it, but Santorin's style of "Do Nothing" dragged TSM down pretty consistently. Hell, Pants are Dragon might not be out of the question, it'd stir up some support for the fan-hemorrhaging TSM brand. I think this is TSM's best slot for imports.

Support: BunnyFuFu has come up as someone who could shotcall as the support, and he very well might be. He'd be the best choice for the role in almost every way that I've seen, and I think he could probably be snagged from Gravity.

Top: Some people are throwing out the 'boy, but I think Voyboy's probably liking streaming more than he ever liked curse. I'd say that the best choice here would be a rookie. The toplane talent pool in NA is pretty shallow, and TSM bringing someone into the pro scene is probably their best option unless they want to use another import. I'm personally wary of another Santorin. Whoever they import (Let's hope they don't) I think it needs to be a proven player. Bjerg had NiP, and Santorin DID play pro, but it was for coast, who've been struggling both now and then. Not especially familiar with Challenger Tops, so that's for someone else to figure out. Oh, and fire Loco.

Second: They need to innovate! There's been a saying: EU Invents, KR perfects, NA copies. North American teams, but TSM specifically, need to stop playing like Europeans, or Chinese teams, or (Dare I say it) Koreans. They need to play like TSM, not a worse SKT, or Fnatic. Whether that means they start putting ungodly amounts of emphasis on early dragons, or laneswap top and mid, or whatever it is, they need to make new strats, and those new strats need to play everyone where they are strong. Dyrus just wasn't that good (in general, for sure. No disrespect, I love you dyrus!) at playing the island. (not that it's a particulary strong strat anyway)

Third: Don't let this be old (Middle?) TSM with new players. The team needs to look different and play different. It sounds trivial, but I feel a new logo might be in order. It'd hurt brand recognition for TSM's other teams, but a "reborn" youtube series might do more for TSM than I think most people would expect.

I'm a Black-Blooded TSM Fan, and I'm excited for the team's future.

2 Comments

Sendner10/17/2015, 6:20:11 PM2 votes

I can, in my opinion agree with about 80% of that. However Dyrus isn't the weak link on that team, he is just the position they don't utilize. It was the downfall to them for out most of the season. It weakened them overall as a team as well as gave opponents a pretty easy strategy to beat them. Put him on an island and play for late game. Well you're giving the other team feed and putting him behind forcing you to basically make plays mid game. He had some pretty substantial teleports in team fights. When the team has put him on threats he has down pretty well and the team has done better as a result, when they have tried putting effort into turtle it hasn't panned out the same for them constantly gets caught out and is out of position frequently. Dyrus does have a pretty weak champion pool, and the team doesn't utilize him at all but he shouldn't be forced out or let go from that team. They have a lot more pressing issues on that team to fix. Coaching is one if not the biggest next to shot calling. If you cant utilize what you have to their abilities and capitalize on it then you're doing something wrong from that leadership position. You should be coming up with stronger strategies and like you for mentioned, coming up with original ones rather mocking ones you cant perform with or even have the caliber players to perform some of them. Feel a coaching change should be first to happen. Bjerg did alright with shot calling and team fighting decisions. Santorin isn't a viable jungle for them as a team agree with nearly everything you said about that area. he just doesn't make the plays you see a lot of jungles making. He doesn't assist his team as much as you would like to see. In some games the other teams were just playing as if he wasn't even there. Feel as if they have more then enough opportunities to fill out that position and by adding Santorin made them weaker could almost see his lack of impact on his first few games. Wildturtle however I just don't like him at all. always out of positioning, has no real impact on team or game unless he's on jinx and with the exception of him objective stealing with her rocket he's just an avg adc still at best. Even when they attempt to build around him and funnel resources to him he is still getting caught out of position at least 2 to 3 times a game. in worlds their bot lane is just mush. Lustboy is just a support I don't feel you would lose anything to that team by letting him go and replacing him with a rookie even. You would more then likely either still get the same impact or a better affect. If they improve on it with the likes of a bunnyfufu who could shot call and apply play making ability from that roll it would improve the team all around. Making a coaching change, replacing jungle should happen almost immediately then I feel it would make it more appealing for a support change. Possibly make turtle even improve his game. I don't necessarily feel adc needs to go but if these changes take place and improvement isn't made from that roll specifically afterwards then it needs to go. An aggressive jungle like a rush would probably have one of the biggest impacts on this team. Dyrus on a threat, bjerg on a threat or support champ from mid, aggressive support, Aggressive jungle who can apply lane pressure early. would just be a new team, strategy, outlook, and look.