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The great North American hope: Team SoloMid

Riot·9/10/2015, 7:03:13 PM·3 votes·28,396 views

TSM! TSM! TSM!

While other teams are satisfied making it to Playoffs, or even just avoiding relegation, Team SoloMid only has the highest of ambitions: hoist the Summoner's Cup. And their drive for success pushes them towards that goal.

They don't treat wins as something to celebrate, but rather lessons to learn from. Fiercely motivated, TSM has worked to expand its style of play over the course of the year to take advantage of their opponents on their way to the 2015 World Championship.

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TSM carry threats from every position, but their biggest terror lies in their mid laner, Bjergsen. The 2015 Spring Split MVP rarely loses his lane, even when other teams consistently try to shut him down. Famous for his stellar assassin play, with a penchant for champions like Ahri and Zed, Bjergsen's champion pool runs deep. And he's shown how well he can adapt, utilizing champions like Orianna and Azir, and even utility champions like Lulu, to devastating effect whenever the need arises.

The Play

Team SoloMid play it safe and steady early, before ramping up into a late-game team-fighting powerhouse. Support Lustboy often goes for timely roams mid to help push Bjergsen's advantages, while jungler Santorin farms hard to be ready for a fight.

After scaling up and laying down vision, TSM soldier straight into enemy lines with devastating flanks from top laner Dyrus' fast-fingered Teleports and aggressive engages from Lustboy and Santorin, who work to keep their backline safe to bomb away.

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Bjergsen balances his flashy mechanics with staying safe behind TSM's front line. This allows him to simultaneously call the fight and throw out insane amounts of damage alongside AD carry WildTurtle. No easy task. And following any onslaught, the macro oriented TSM know exactly how to take the next objective. Whether it's Dragon, Baron, or a base, they understand the capabilities of their composition, always thinking many steps ahead.

This play against Team Liquid in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split Semifinals is a perfect illustration of TSM at their best.

"Both teams throughout the game tried to flank each other, and because Dyrus got the best flank, we won." 

-Santorin, TSM Jungler

Eye on the Prize

In Team SoloMid's 2015 season they rode high, they fell hard, and as the season wound down, they found themselves back at the top.

TSM showed their dominant form at the beginning of this year, crushing their way through both international and domestic tournaments. It seemed like nothing could stop the tremendous might and synergy of TSM. That is, until they landed at the Mid-Season Invitational.

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Touted before the tournament as the strength of North America, MSI was an unmitigated disaster for TSM, shaking the team to its very core. Promising to never repeat such a lackluster performance again, the reinvigorated TSM blazed through the early part of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split before hitting yet another slump. Determined to make Worlds, they showed they weren't afraid to make changes where necessary ahead of the Playoffs, where they once again showed up strong.

Though they were challenged in the Finals by their rivals Counter Logic Gaming, TSM have proven that they're their own toughest critics, and will do whatever it takes to bounce back as they make their run for the 2015 World Championship.

Talk of the Rift

As TSM tells it, their success lies in taking charge.

"We want to be in the driving seat, where it's up to us to win or lose the game. We don't want to have it that if [the other team] plays really well then they might win, but if they don't play as well that we can scale on them. That's not how we want to play and that's not how we'll do well at Worlds," says Bjergsen. 

​But their problems revolve around confidence.

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"One of our biggest problems, as a team, is we don't believe we're the better team half the time. In the past, when we were dominant, or if we lost a game off a small mistake, we'd still be confident because we knew we were way better than the other teams. But now, this time around, other teams are getting a lot better than they used to, and we're not improving as fast as we can. We're just slowly falling behind. So if we can catch ourselves and we can bring back our confidence, I feel like we'll just win," says TSM's veteran top laner, Dyrus. 

If Team SoloMid can play to their strengths, grab hold of a lead, and work cohesively as a team, their dreams of finally taking home the Summoner's Cup could become a reality.  

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Interested in learning more about the other teams competing at Worlds? Check out the whole lineup, now.

34 Comments

No More Oreo9/10/2015, 8:55:27 PM17 votes

I know the author is trying to hype their respective team, but isn't this a little over the top?

p0psicles9/11/2015, 3:53:19 PM11 votes

I didn't know Riot started hiring all the TSM fanboys/girls to their staff. Calling TSM the “great American hope” when they got stomped 3-0 by CLG in the finals... TSM honestly doesn’t even look as impressive as C9 (who beat TSM in the final week of the season by the way). It wasn’t like TSM put up an Origen-type fight against an undefeated team in the finals. They were crushed in every sense of the word. Give us a break with the TSM hype train.

Bramble Berry9/10/2015, 8:57:21 PM8 votes

Ms. Jackson's fluff piece got too fluffy for me. Writing off a 3-0 stomp as "challenged" and saying TSM beating Liquid, who didnt even look like the 4th best team in NA at Regionals, looks great then is a joke. Preview pieces should have at least some honesty to them otherwise there's no point.

Vicktorius9/11/2015, 10:42:42 AM7 votes

TSM fans never change... They lost their chance when they did not get the top seed. How can you dare to say they are the north american hope when TSM problably will get in a group where there is no chance of getting out! If there is hope is of CLG gettting in a group with only one korean or chinese team. Then there is hope!

Jakar9/12/2015, 7:34:28 PM6 votes

I understand that all of you think CLG should be touted as North America's number 1 hope, but don't forget, CLG is in their first big international tournament in the last 2-3 years. TSM is in their 4-5 in a row. On top of that, CLG isn't even playing with all of their starters. Xmithie won't be able to make the tournament, so instead Huhi, the back up mid-laner for CLG will be starting as their jungler. While CLG did destroy TSM in the finals, you have to look at all of the other factors as well. The lack of Xmithie, as well as the lack of international experience, makes it tough to predict how they will do this year. Both teams have the talent to possibly make a run. Both teams have a great support staff as well. TSM is just a safer bet right now, seeing as CLG has a lot of unknowns as of right now. I wish both teams the best, and I hope worlds as a whole is exciting.

Eiros9/11/2015, 11:01:47 PM4 votes

TSM LOST TO CLG LOL

MazterPK9/11/2015, 12:57:40 PM3 votes

Seeing how much TSM improved in the two weeks leading up to playoffs gives me faith they can get at least to a point where they won't embarrass themselves at worlds. Who knows maybe the Dyrus Darius rampage is enough to pull off a few cheeky upsets.

Eleshakai9/12/2015, 6:12:17 PM3 votes

I'd put CLG as the great North American hope since they're the only NA team going to worlds that is 100% NA players.

TrollFan019/12/2015, 2:10:16 AM2 votes

TSM ALWAYS gets capped on and so do their fans so I don't see too much trouble here. TSM us used to coming in 1st-2nd so they know how to adapt.

With SK Gaming being relegated I wonder how useful it would be for TSM to pick up freddy122 and Sven? Dyrus may retire and Santorin has issues so this could help.

Raxistaicho9/12/2015, 7:33:21 PM2 votes

Whoever wrote this garbage should be forbidden from writing future articles. This is nothing but unfounded wanking off to TSM.

Undoingslayer9/15/2015, 1:06:05 AM2 votes

Why is TSM the North American Hope they got 3-0 ed by CLG and have the hardest group out of the 3 i think CLG will make it out of groups, C9 Needs another spirit bomb, Tsm has the least hope especially with the Korean solo que.

Xonra9/15/2015, 8:26:24 AM1 votes

Someone is a fanboi, seeing as TSM got rocked by CLG. I'm not a fan of CLG or TSM, but really? TSM is NAs hope? lol

Lord Yunii9/14/2015, 10:13:48 PM1 votes

ummmmmmm...just no. TSM doesn't have a chance even if hell freezes over and pigs sprout wings and morph into human eating birds.