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TSM

msk51·10/9/2016, 9:52:15 PM·4 votes·596 views

TSM has no excuses. They lost, plain and simple. That being said, I am not a hopeless optimist when I say TSM can come back so much stronger and if they do, I definitely see worlds semi-finals in their path. Keep in mind that TSM has only played with Biofrost for 1 season. Yes, they "clicked" with him and the transition was smooth, but there are still things that the other team members can learn from his playstyle and there is still so much he can learn from the others. There are two possible scenarios.

  1. TSM gets crushed. Honestly, after riding into worlds with this much hope and expectations, and then to drop in the last game of group stages, its brutal. And this could kill the team. It's one thing to suck in worlds. It's another thing when NA and EU put their faith in them, Korean teams say they are the best team in NA ever, and TSM themselves say everything except for the top 4 is a failure, and then failing. This could put the players in a perma-tilt situation and possible even the organization.

  2. They rally. They learn, they grow, and they practice so hard that they are living and breathing league of legends. Just like after the spring finals, they bounce back and use this loss to gain determination and to propel themselves forward. If they do this, I believe that they will become an unstoppable force. There are many reasons for this but I believe the two biggest ones are Biofrost and their gameplay. Biofrost is still fairly new and the players will learn more about his playstyle over the season break and he will learn more strategies and possibly become a shot caller himself. Secondly, TSM continues to get better at understanding League. I believe that with the way they have been practicing, TSM will start picking up some playstyles from Korean teams and become that much stronger.

I think both scenarios are very possible and I won't be surprised if either one of these scenarios come true. I also believe that this can be an individual issue where some players will go with scenario 1, and the others go with scenario 2. Again, no excuses for TSM this year and stop trying to make some. I am excited to see their response to this however, and see whether next year will be their best one yet or if they will fall for a long time.

tl;dr TSM has no excuses for losing this year. But they will either come back and be huge, or will never recover from this loss. It's up to them.

5 Comments

KazaLyn Shao10/9/2016, 10:22:13 PM4 votes

I'd be surprised if TSM even comes back with the same lineup, which means they go back to square 1. Relearning how to play with one another. That is the NA cycle. Do good in regionals, fail at worlds, change lineup, repeat.

Dust Marlowe10/10/2016, 9:07:42 AM1 votes

To me, the biggest question mark is Doublelift. He's been around a while and I've heard rumors about this being his last year as a pro. He actually had one of his best seasons so I don't think he'll retire, but you never know. I don't really see any one else leaving, but that's just me.

Ricketts10/11/2016, 12:04:40 AM1 votes

While Biofrost may have been a weak link, there is more problems than him. Egolift talks big but never came up big. Hauntzer couldn't exploit a lane matchup to boost his team. Some picks were downright bad. No CC for team fights against RNG for example.

Last observation, and going to be an unpopular one...Bergson is vastly overrated. Statistically, he was one of the best mids through group phase, consistently near the top in CS and KDA. But he is utterly incapable of stepping up and leading that team with all the resources he soaks up. He's like a lone wolf player, tearing through a weak team, but if his team faces some competition, he doesn't want or know how to translate his skills into team wins. As is, he MUST evolve. He's hyped as one of the best mid laners in the game, but easily a half dozen others can work with their team better and may not have greater stats then Bjerg, but they're moving on to Quarterfinals.