Summer Predictions NA LCS

I was playing a few games of Warwick and for some reason i had flashbacks of that IMT vs DIG game where Dardoch was slamming on Warwick. It made me think about how the changes affected the meta, going more towards a feel from season 3-4 where individual skill was king. So say the game stays this way through summer, we see Pyke, Kaisa, Irellia, Xin Zhao, Warwick, Lucian, Vayne, Thresh, Talon, Zed, Ekko etc. The state of the power rankings would hugely change so i thought id give my predictions, and see what you guys have as your picks for which teams will finish where when summer ends. With that, here we go.

1. 100 Thieves - This was an EXTREMELY hard decision for me since given the changes, i thought them and Echo Fox would again be huge. Ssumday and Meteos have started to mesh more which is great, hopefully no more small mistakes when they bring in the ganks, Ryu looks to be back into his KT Rolster form and im glad for that, Meteos looks like his old self, i wouldnt be surprised to see him make Ivern his pocket pick this summer, im expecting him to be more supportive this split. Cody Sun and Aphromoo were the most dominating and consistent part of 100 Thieves and im kind of excited at the thought of some poor team letting them play Pyke and Kai'Sa. 100 Thieves can go far if they keep on track as it seems just being more fluid with their play was their problem.

2. Echo Fox - Huni and Dardoch in a meta where top lane bruisers and carries are in, and junglers will most likely 1 v 1 or start fights as early as level 2. This team is going to thrive in this split off of what these two can do. What makes them number 2 is that their bottom half of the map isnt too great compared solely to 100 Thieves. Fenix to me isnt as good as Ryu right now and Altec and Adrian have a weird ability to just randomly win against great bot lanes but most of the time theyre stabilizing when up against a top tier bot lane duo. This opinion is just compared to 100 Thieves for the Number one spot, as i feel like the aggression and how fast they were able click and make plays together makes Echo Fox so impossible to beat for teams on the rest of this list.

3. Cloud 9 - Licorice has shown he is god tier if he isnt on a tank, Svenskeren has struggled hard trying to adapt to a more supportive team focused style and is at his best when fighting, invading and early ganking for tempo. This meta provides that tenfold. Jensen has been getting scarier and scarier each split and right now he feels like the best mid laner in NA. Sneaky has also been stepping up along with Smoothie, more on this bot duo, Sneaky is usually the first in NA to really master a new ADC champion and im expecting his time on Kai'Sa to be the same. As long as Sven can help from Licorice in top side fights, i think C9 can really dominate this split.

4. Team Liquid - Impact and Pobelter looked incredibly disappointing at MSI and with a meta focusing more on bruisers and Carry top laners, i think Impact is going to look even weaker. Doublelift and Olleh will be the main target of Xmithie's gank time and i feel like TL's solo laners wont be able to handle it in games against teams that are better or as good as them. Doublelift getting to play the style he's known world wide for and Olleh getting to play those playmaking/pushing supports along with Xmithie getting to bring out the Kindred and Graves again i think still isnt enough to bring TL higher than 4th for the regular split.

5. Clutch Gaming - Last split Clutch proved they can take on anyone once they started to mesh well. Solo is a more well rounded top laner than say Licorice or Huni but mechanically he may struggle against them. LirA has already proven he can go toe to toe with any and every jungler in NA and Febiven is capable with a huge champion pool. Apollo and Hakuho were my main concerns going into spring but after seeing them my feeling is just how consistently well they can play will decide if Clutch can go even higher in the Summer.

6. Counter Logic Gaming - This meta shift is a godsend for a team that struggled so hard to come together for better teamplay. Darshan and Stixxay were huge points of power for CLG last split and them getting to be on picks that want to fight and win lane through aggression sounds like something that will boost CLG. Biofrost impressed me later on towards the end of spring as he started to look like his old self, but it was too late then. Now, however, if he can stay true to his word and try to become a bigger voice for CLG while keeping his gameplay as crisp as it looked towards the end of spring, then i fully expect Stixxay and Biofrost to be a pretty good bot lane. The problems for CLG lie in Reignover. Huhi is excellent on mid laners that want to roam and carry but thats the point, if he's not getting ganks or time like he wasnt in spring from Reinover, then a large part of your success is being in a state where other teams can hit it. When Xmithie was part of CLG he was very good at enabling Huhi and Aphromoo's roams, Reignover sems like he cant even enable himself and it can be a very large down side if he doesnt improve.

7. TSM - TSM looked ugly last split and there was so much to point out. Hauntzer when tasked to play carries, couldnt get the job done unless he had his Gangplank. It felt like watching Impact all over again. Mike Yeung is very good but was being abused for the lack of knowledge compared to the veterans he's up against. Zven and Mithy didnt look like themselves at all during the entirety of the spring split and unless something changes, Bjergsen and Mike Yeung are going to be the only thing good about TSM.

8. Optic Gaming - When i heard Stunt was dropped by Fly Quest, i thought he would be going to Optic but i was wrong, they get Gate and Big to rotate support. Other than the mess at support, i like the potential this team has to break into a higher finish but for now, 8th is where i see them. Akaadian is a monster when he's playing a more selfish in your face champion and PowerofEvil didnt look bad at all, neither did Arrow last split. I do however feel that this team can be easily banned out and taken advantage of given their top lane is still extremely sub par, their support role is not at all great and Akaadian can only really shine if he's playing like he's playing solo queue.

9. Golden Guardians - Lourlo and Matt looked like they were really improving to being decent again under Hai's watch, then Hai left. These two guys in Lourlo and Matt have moments of looking like the 2016 dominant duo they used to be but floundered more often than not since then. Theyre either Holy shit good or holy shit bad. Deftly looks like he can improve but i doubt it will be anything significant enough to change and Contractz is going to need a lot of help to control the jungle. Mid lane isnt much better, people talked on Hai's waning mechanics and the lane to me actually gets worse with Mickey. He's GBM on NRG bad. Golden Guardians needs to seriously look into better players or coaches if they want to win anything.

10. Fly Quest - Finishing 8th is bad, i understood that but letting go of Fly, AnDa and Stunt was a bad idea, especially more worse off now they have replaced them with Santorin, Keane and Konkwon. Dont get me wrong, i actually believe Konkwon can be a terrific support for WildTurtle and the dude can go, he's a playoff caliber support bringing both NRG and Apex Gaming to berths in the playoffs, but Santorin and Keane are not the answer for improvement. Keane is decent at best but can also look very very bad against a lot of mid laners in NA right now. Santorin just hasnt been good since leaving TSM and i dont think its going to change either. Fly Quest trying to operate off the backs of a regressing WildTurtle, a frustrated Flame and a support who they pulled from retirement doesnt feel like a team thatll make it.

I can already tell some of my picks are going to cause some noise so let me hear it, lets start talking and lets get hype for June 16th. [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]