As the season is winding down, give us your number 1 team for NA and tell us why they are going to win the NA championship? I am looking for someone who loves ESports (especially League), has a great knowledge of the game itself and the pro-scene who would like to write about it for a new and growing eSports/sports website! Answer this question on here or send me an email with your answer at [email protected]!
I think it will be TiP vs TL in the finals, with TL winning it in 5 games.
KLG
Who ever wins between tip and tsm will win it all in my opinion. I know tsm has been looking bad, but they've looked bad before and still managed to show a strong play off performance.
In my opinion I think the semi final between TL and Gravity/TSM will decide the winner. I think they are the 3 strongest contenders. TSM has fallen off and don't think they will win, But if they do perform then it is not bad to say they would be one of the top teams. Gravity has the skill to do well and has shown it I think the were robbed of first/second seed by their own bad play. TL they are top of the league right now.
as for the other side I don't think they are as strong, that doesn't mean they are not good teams TIP and CLG can compete with any top team on a good day. But both these teams have shown weaknesses in bo5. I would Say TIP get second because of the layout could give them a trip to worlds based on points. but CLG could beat TIP too.
I can honestly say TSM's chances of getting to world's are decent but entirely out of their control. This is due to a combination of things. The arguement for TSM getting to world's is that they are a great BO5 team yet we can assume they will lose the first game which puts them in a bad spot. More importantly than this their half of the bracket is much more difficult. Please note, TSM is a very meta team and their first opponent is gravity. I found this article which you might want to read that best summarizes why this puts them in a terrible position.
http://www.goldper10.com/article/2025-discussing-summoning-insights-analysis-of-team-gravity.html
the TL;DR is gravity is an antimeta team and when you put a team so heavily influenced by the meta against a hard counter I dont see how you could give them a fair shot. Maybe im analyzing this wrong but I just see them most likely losing to gravity just because of the sheer height of the challenge. Dyrus is playing solidly but he's no hard carry. Santorin isnt doing anything. Bjergsen is having a relatively bad split which is pretty good overall just not his normal overwelming level, lustboy....well he's doing amazing....in fact he's probably the biggest bright spot outside of bjergsen right now. Only that the rest of the team isnt following up on his engages. And finally turtle is playing incredibly erratically. One moment he is solid the next he's terrible. Realistically liquid will get nothing less than third so unless they win it all TSM will get knocked off for points. My own assumptions are that tip will make it to finals due to rush crushing xmithie and carrying the game. gravity beats TSM and loses to liquid wins and gets first by, TSM gets points and not sure who wins gauntlet yet
Teams im rooting for: TIP, CLG and TL
Im really glad we will be able to see a different finals from TSM vs C9 and I hope TSM doesn't make it to finals, I never liked this team.
I would love a CLG vs TL Finals :D because I like most members on both teams and I like their playstyle. For Team Impulse, i like the korean duo Impact and Rush but the many rosters changes they had recently I think it will affect their perfomance.
So yeah, a finals between CLG and TL would be my dream. I can't choose the winner tho !
Round 1: Gravity(4) vs TSM(5). Prediction: Gravity edges out TSM 3-1. Explanation: Gravity has looked shaky throughout the last few weeks of the split. They've made some questionable decisions and their macro-play has looked less sharp. However, TSM has been struggling almost the entire split. The meta certainly is not in their favor right now, as Santorin prefers tanky junglers; Sated Devourer is not his style. Personally, I think Gravity 100% win game 1 because they always manage to get a new strategy in champ select, throwing TSM off. TSM will probably adapt to this in game 2, banning out certain champions, but GV's overall strategy will remain the same; they'll just use different champions to accomplish this objective. In game 3, TSM pulls out a win due to sheer mechanical strength from Bjergsen and Lustboy, setting up nice engages and cleaning up GV. In game 4, however, TSM return to inconsistency and GV manage to pull out a win.
TIP(3) vs Dignitas(6): Prediction: TIP sweep Dig 3-0 Explanation: Dig is certainly not a bad team. They have improved massively from the spring split. However, they still do hold certain key weaknesses, especially in the jungle as Helios has a shallow champ pool. While Gamsu is a great top laner, TIP arguably has the best top laner in NA in Impact, neutralizing the threat from Gamsu. Rush outclasses Helios, and I expect Rush to get his team early leads with his aggressive play. Gate vs Shiphtur is the only problematic matchup for TIP, as Gate is fairly new (although to me he looks almost exactly like XWX pls don't call me racist). However, from what we've seen of Gate in week 9, he looks like he's able to hold his own (even though he makes some macro-positioning mistakes). Bot lane is fairly even between the two teams, but Rush and Impact have a bigger presence in bot lane than Helios/Gamsu do. Adrian and Apollo are also very solid and consistent and know their roles on the team, while CoreJJ and Kiwikid look awesome one minute and confused the next. TIP should win this series easily 3-0, with a scary game or two that keeps them on their toes.
Round 2: TL(1) vs GV(4) Prediction: TL wins 3-1. Explanation: TL is probably the best mechanical team in the NA LCS now that XWX is gone (though TIP with Gate gives them a run for their money). TL also have a bye week in which they're able to analyze GV's strategies and prepare for them. GV do not have such a luxury. TL will probably win game 1 through a good pick/ban phase and win handily. GV will probably be on red side on game 2 (their preferred side) and counter pick, pull out some surprising strategies, and use Move's presence in lanes to win game 2. In response to this, TL will probably flex their mechanical muscle in game 3, try to go for standard lanes, and win through leads built up in the early game. Game 4 will probably be a fun game to watch as i predict it will be back and forth but TL will probably win a fight near baron/dragon (one of their strengths) and snowball to a win after that.
CLG(2) vs TIP(3): Prediction: TIP wins 3-2. Explanation: CLG has always been a mystery to me. I have never really trusted them to win, as their playstyle is sort of one-dimensional (get Zion and/or DL hard carry champions, get them ahead in the early game, use that to advantage). In standard lanes, CLG won't be able to do that as Impact will neutralize Zion and Apollo/Adrian will at least not lose lane to DL/Aphro. CLG also makes some questionable decisions, so I expect TIP to take advantage of that to win. Rush also outclasses Xmithie (similar to the Rush Helios matchup) and Rush will probably be able to make plays on the map, getting his lanes ahead. In game 1, CLG will probably see what TIP did and prepare for that, winning game 1. TIP responds using their chaotic playstyle to win game 2. CLG wins game 3 by exploting Gate and getting ahead, snowballing to a 30 min win. TIP responds by putting Impact on a hard carry (Irelia/Gnar), getting great initiations and getting picks/crushing 5v5s. In game 5, CLG makes a stupid mistake somewhere and TIP capitalizes, leading to a TIP series win.
Final: TL(1) vs TIP(3) Prediction: TIP wins 3-2 Explanation: I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this. TIP winning NA LCS without XWX? Blasphemy! However, TIP have all the tools to win against TL. TL will probably take game 1 through Fenix's lane bullying (leading to him getting ahead and snowballing). TIP will probably win games 2 and 3 due to Rush starving IWD/counterganking mid, leading to Gate getting ahead. Due to the fact that Impact will probably never fall behind unless IWD constantly ganks his lane (and by that i mean like 7 times in first 15 min), Impact will probably be both tanky enough to engage while doing massive cc and dmg to TL. TL will probably win game 4 as piglet gets massively fed and wrecks TIP's base. Game 5 will hopefully be a 70 min game where neither TIP or TL get a massive lead until a game-deciding fight happens, which TIP win through a beautiful engage from Rush and Impact.
3rd place: CLG(2) vs GV(4) Prediction: GV wins 3-2 Explanation: CLG has always been a team that just tilts really hard when it starts losing. CLG win the first two games, causing them to go 2-0, but GV pulls out a surprise win in game 3 through another Keane off-meta pick. In game 4, GV will win due to macro outplays and better decision making. In game 5, CLG completely tilts and keels over, leading to an easy GV win.
Overall:
Gauntlet Dig vs CLG winner vs C9 winner vs GV winner vs TSM
I'm actually kind of sad that TSM has 2 Bo5 chances to go to Worlds. GV/CLG rn deserve it more than they do.
