10 thoughts going into Week 2 -- "If you take TSM’s record and hold it up to a mirror, it’s actually 2-0 (the first stage of grief is denial)."
The bad news for CLG fans? They went 0-2 this week. The good news? TSM went 0-2 this week. Watching TSM lose can be like watching Alabama or the New England Patriots lose… wait -- how does this one end again… Here’s 10 thoughts on the surprising start to the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split. The teams are listed in alphabetical order by standing -- this is not a power ranking!
100 Thieves (2-0)—100% win rateIn the story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Ali Baba enters the thieves’ den with the phrase, “Open sesame.” In Ssumday and the 100 Thieves, Ssumday enters his opponent’s base with the phrase, “Open mid.” Their games weren’t necessarily the cleanest -- the 65 minute staring contest was pr0lly a tad uneventful for longtime OpTic and Thieves fans who are more used to fast-paced nature of shooters, but I promise that’s an anomaly! A win’s a win, though, and Ssumday looked especially dominant against CLG. Look for the Thieves to continue to rally around him.
Cloud9 (2-0)—SameHot takes from the Cloud9 games: 1. Jensen is good 2. Svenskeren did stuff 3. Licorice is an awful candy but he had a strong debut
Echo Fox (2-0)—What’s in the Fox!?I think a lot of people slept on this team because they weren’t sure how the roster would mesh together. But winning solves everything, and this team is poised to win a lot. Huni has historically floundered when opposing junglers punish him -- this is done to much higher degrees of success on the international level. But when it comes to domestic play, I’m not sure the NA jungle pool is potent enough to deal with him. Between this and Plup, it was a great weekend for Fox.
Team Liquid (2-0)—Liquid SmoothMoney can’t buy happiness, but it can buy championships. There’s a long history of it being done in sports. And it turns out that the old Immortals’ recipe for success -- the combined playmaking synergy of Olleh and Xmithie -- is still as lethal as ever. To me, they’re the backbone of this Liquid $quad. This is also probably the first time in Doublelift’s post-Chauster-career that he may have to acknowledge that his support is better than him. If they can continue clicking, then this pairing might become the most lethal bot lane in western history. The Steve crypto-token is selling at an all-time high right now. No FUD in these parts.
Clutch Gaming (1-1)—New look, same team?One loss!? I guess they weren’t that… clutch. Alright, now that that’s out of the way, Clutch so far looks like Envy from last year. You could count on them to beat teams worse than them but they would also lose to better teams. Consistency has its ups and downs. They’ll have to rely on Febiven to change that script -- he’s a dynamic player who could push them to the next level. They’ll be put to the test this week against a desperate CLG and a dominant-looking TL. If they go 0-2 here, then Houston, we may have a problem.
FlyQuest (1-1)—Fly on the wallHow was FLY supposed to fly without Fly? He’s been relegated to the sideline because of Visa issues, but I am told Fly is the team’s wings and that they all rally around his ability to make plays. Any win they manage to pick up in his absence should not be taken for granted. That they managed a win against TSM, then, shouldn’t be understated. Maybe it’s more of an indictment against TSM, but Flame still had a spectacular performance. TSM being caught out by a WildTurtle Flash forward was also a fitting cap to all the offseason narratives we heard on which players are good or what rosters will be dominant. From this point forward, teams will be judged for their performance more than their reputation.
Counter Logic Gaming (0-2)—Is starting poorly just regular logic at this point?Would Counter Logic Gaming fans accept a 7th place finish on the season if it meant TSM went 0-18? If you answered yes, then maybe your main allegiance is simply anti-TSM. I’m not sure the rivalry between the two is as intense these days as it once was -- and if CLG’s identity as TSM’s rival is dwindling, then what is their identity? Especially with former captain Aphromoo gone, I think that’s the thing fans are hoping to identify this year. Being the butt of memes relating to counter logic happenings for so long must be tough. CLG has started off slowly before, though, and matches against CG and GGS should help them find their footing.
Golden Guardians (0-2)—Golden Guardians of the GalaxyMaybe this is just the part of the movie where Star-Lord is still trying to gather his team before they figure out what the heck their role in the galaxy is. The Guardians are going to need to ramp up some of that alien firepower to keep pace in the NA LCS -- they’re very reliant on Hai and Contractz to make plays right now and it might be more prudent to give more engage tools to their side laners. Many analysts pegged them as one of the bottom feeders and they didn’t do enough in Week 1 to supplant that idea. As a random golden solo queue player once told me, “You say GG but it’s not GG, it’s BG.”
OpTic Gaming (0-2)—GreenhornsThis 0-2 start is no optical illusion. OpTic did play better than a lot of people expected, though, and PowerOfEvil doesn’t seem to have skipped a beat from Worlds. But the bar needs to be higher than “we didn’t get smashed like people expected.” Right now, there seems to be some indecision when it comes to their macro play. They’re trying to raise the green wall, but nobody knows who’s going to pay for it yet.
TSM (0-2)—The five stages of griefIf you take TSM’s record and hold it up to a mirror, it’s actually 2-0 (the first stage of grief is denial). And if you take TSM and hold them up against a mirror, you’ll see that they look an awful lot like the TSM we last saw at Worlds (the second stage of grief is anger). I expected TSM to do a lot better in this meta -- it’s a slower paced one that lets teams scale into the late game. It also lets Bjergsen play a carry. So it’s definitely surprising to see TSM flounder out of the gate, but it’s still too early to come to a conclusive statement on the team (bargaining). I hope TSM fans don’t start worrying about the end of the world (depression). But any excuses for TSM won’t change the fact that this is the first time they’ve ever been 0-2 in the NA LCS (acceptance).
The anarchist in me wants to see this match feature a 3-0 Echo Fox against an 0-3 TSM. In any other scenario, that would not be a compelling match of the week. But TSM’s Week 1 struggles were easily the biggest storyline for me. Other teams had good weeks, and there were standout performances from plenty of players including Huni and Ssumday, but those weren’t necessarily surprising. I thought TSM put together an incredible roster in the offseason -- to the point where I’d have expected maybe two losses in the entire split. They’re there after one week! That’s crazy! On paper, these are two of the strongest lineups in the NA LCS, at least on a individual position-by-position basis. This will be an early statement game for both teams. TSM should beat OpTic Gaming to give themselves a shot at returning to .500 on the season, whereas FOX faces a strong foe in C9 on Saturday. I’m expecting them to enter this game undefeated, though. Hauntzer is a much better player now than when we last saw him square off against Huni in the NA LCS -- is he enough to stop the quick brown fox from jumping over the lazy dog? And how will MikeYeung hold up to a resurgent Dardoch? The pressure on TSM this weekend will be disproportionately high. Let’s see if they can rise to the challenge -- as they have time and time again.
Kien Lam is a content producer for Lolesports. You can find more awful great jokes and commentary on his Twitter @meanmisterkien.
