The Best Quotes of the 2014 LCS Spring Split

A lot has happened in the past four months of LCS. We saw great teams rise, inspired players pour everything they have into their matches, and champions fall in and out of favor as the pros discovered new strategies for taking down their opponents. There was occasional drama when tension ran high, but every week of intense LCS matches brought us varied reasons to cheer, laugh, and, yes, even pout. But some of the things the pros and analysts said stand out among the rest. Here are the top five most memorable quotes from the 2014 LCS Spring Split.

Fnatic Flirting

"The best for me was… obviously to see her [Sjokz's] pretty face every morning. That makes it a lot better." — Xpeke It's impossible to predict when love will strike. Sometimes it happens at the coffee shop. Sometimes at the office. And sometimes it happens when you're asked by Joe Miller to pick a favorite match from Super Week. Instead of picking a specific match or in-game moment, a nervous xPeke mumbled something about not watching all the games and enjoying meeting fans while building up his courage to say his real answer: swooning at the sight of EU LCS host Sjokz every morning. We may never know if true love bloomed that day. Sjokz replied with a surprised "wow," some slight blushing, and a quick jump back into the topic at hand. But xPeke hedged his bets by also caressing Joe Miller's suit lapel as Sjokz closed out the interview.

Pressured Pros

"Everyone sees me as the worst mid laner, so I don't have anything to lose. I might as well just go in and either feed, or get fed." — Jesiz, SK's maligned mid laner about his struggles early in the split. Jesiz painted a pretty bleak picture of his lowest point in the LCS split in a recent interview. He felt overwhelmed by the pressure of the community and his team. His biggest concern was not making mistakes because he didn't want to look bad and get harassed for it. Jesiz is not alone in his struggle. A lot of pro players struggled to cope with the added pressure to perform in the more competitive LCS of 2014. Zuna, Froggen, Scarra, and Nien—just to name a few others—talked about how much community backlash and pressure to perform stressed them out.

Diamond and Darien, Dramatic Warriors

"It's my sheer pleasure to come to his [Darien's] lane and fight like men in 2v2 scenarios with our enemies." — Diamond I'm still not certain that Diamond wasn't quoting a scene with two battle-bonded warlords from a film or novel when he answered our question about being teammates with Gambit's top laner, Darien. His response is so epic that it's hard not to picture the two of them dressed in the garb of their favorite champions, leaping in to brawl with a Renektoned sOAZ. Diamond's play backed up his epic words all split long, though. It may hard to objectively declare whether or not Darien and Diamond "fought like men" while they battled side-by-side across the entire map, but they definitely fought well. And even when Gambit struggled in the playoffs, they struggled together, falling side-by-side on the battlefield.

Playing For The Team

"I don't try to win my lane that much. I don't think it's a big deal. I play to win the game. And if that means me dying, whatever. If that means we roaming top to dive at level four, whatever. I don't really care." — Hai Hai showed some great analysis skills when he was asked to compare Cloud 9's strategy to those of TSM and CLG, their two top competitors in NA, during super week. He explained that TSM tries to win the laning phase and snowball that individual power advantage into successful team fights, while CLG doesn't even try to win lanes and just focuses on winning the game. Hai painted himself and his team somewhere in the middle, highlighting his lack of concern with personal record or dominance. He just wants to win games, and will do whatever it takes to make it happen. This same sentiment was echoed by several other players during the split, and is a sign of a maturing LCS scene with less egos, deeper strategies, and stronger team coordination.

Gangster Training

"Alright, so here's a Do-You-Know, for any wanna-be gangsters out there..." — Kobe, giving gun technique tips at the analyst desk The brilliant minds at the LCS analyst desk are masters of many topics, including team-fight strategy, excessive puns, and, apparently, shooting techniques. When Kobe noticed Phreak setting a poor example by holding his hand "gun" sideways while describing Cloud 9 Eclipse's win in the semifinals of the Challenger Series, he saw an opportunity to teach "wanna-be gangsters" a few helpful tips. "Alright, so here's a Do-You-Know, for any wanna-be gangsters out there. Never actually hold your gun like this when you're gonna shoot it," Kobe continued while giving a visual demonstration. "Because when it discharges, it's going to hit you in the face. And it's a very, very hot cap that's going to hit you in the face." Although Kobe conceded that holding your gun sideways does look cool, when Phreak proposed titling his gun to the other side instead, he warned that Phreak "better protect himself" because the cap was going to hit him below the belt. Phreak responded with a simple, "We'll see." Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Thresh, 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 Sony Online Entertainment. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.

Related Articles

• EU LCS 2014 Spring Split Retrospective
• NA LCS 2014 Spring Split Retrospective