A Very "NA" Opening Weekend
After another uninspiring performance on the international stage at MSI, North America once again appears to be in the doldrums of worldwide League of Legends competition. The region did nothing to curtail that perception in its opening weekend of the split, which was defined much more by mistakes and sloppiness than clean, cohesive play. No team seems to have separated itself from the pack. In fact, much of what was thought heading into the season appears erroneous after one week, albeit a minuscule sample size. So what did we learn from Week One? In short, not a great deal.
1. Counter Logic Gaming (2-0, 3-1) T-1st
With the acquisition of Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett, CLG was expected to vie for at least top-three spot by the end of this split. Their position atop my power rankings after a single week, however, is due more to other team's shortcomings than their triumphs. That being said, they were the most impressive team from Week One, though not necessarily for the reasons one may think. Dardoch played poorly, to put it kindly, in his debut with CLG, overstepping at times and appearing timid in others. As he integrates himself into an already-established team, growing pains are to be expected. So although Dardoch did not play up to his potential, I wouldn't worry about him just yet. What did propel CLG to a fast start was their reliable and stable bottom lane. The team's AD carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes expressed confidence a day before the split started, posting on his Twitter account, "If you aren't starting me in your fantasy league, you're trolling." A day later, he backed up his bravado against the second-place spring finishing team Cloud 9. After a game one loss, Stixxay debuted Xayah, the game's newest marksman, and went a perfect 6/0/12 including a quick first blood. He followed that up with a 5/1/8 performance on Caitlyn, and an opening night victory. Through two matches, Stixxay's KDA of 8.8 ranks first among AD carries, and third in the entire league. His lane partner, Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black has demonstrated stellar play as well, seemingly having adapted very well to the recent changes, and effecting the entire map. Here is his most notable highlight play from the weekend.In addition to his play-making and shot-calling, Aphromoo's leadership and guidance could prove beneficial to Dardoch, who has well-documented composure issues. As far as Huhi in the mid-lane and Darshan in top, comfort is the name of the game. Three times Darshan has played Gragas this season. Despite a less than sterling 4.5 KDA on the rabble rouser, his impact has been significant at times, delivering key plays when his team needs them most. Huhi, meanwhile, after looking nothing short of ugly on Taliyah, opted for comfort in his next games, going for Syndra, Ahri, and his infamous Aurelion Sol. Huhi, as he always seems to do with Sol, took over the deciding game against C9, finishing 7/0/10 and accounting for 40% of his team's total damage. The performance has already incited the return of Aurelion Sol bans against CLG, so expect those to continue for the rest of the split. I would also expect this team to have one of the highest ceilings of any team this summer, so look for them to improve drastically as the split goes on.
Week 2 Opponents: Echo Fox, TSM.
2. Immortals (2-0, 3-1) T-1st
Wasn't the departure of Dardoch supposed to bruise the chances of Immortals this split? Apparently they didn't get the memo, storming out of the gate with impressive victories over two of the top three teams from last split (Phoenix1 and TSM). In fact, the only thing keeping Immortals out of the top spot is the need to temper expectations a bit, considering this team missed playoffs in the spring. In the summer, however, it may be possible that the league's two best players thus far reside on the same team, Flame and Pobelter. Veteran top-laner Lee "Flame" Ho-Jong appears to have returned to prime form, a development that is sure to make his biggest fanboy, E-sports historian Duncan "Thorin" Shields, just giddy. Shields has always raved about Flame's abilities, and for the first time on the North American stage, he is dominating. His perplexing first game of the split on Jarvan IV, where he appeared completely disjointed with his team, seems a distant memory. Since then, he has gone 2-0 on both Shen and Renekton, posting a 23.0 and 21.0 KDA on these champions respectively, and leading his team to four straight wins. In fact, Flame's KDA of 11.8 is easily first in the league, just ahead of his teammate, Eugene "Pobelter" Park. Pobelter has always been perceived as a being one to sit mid and farm for team fights, but seems to have taken his game to another level this season. He leads the league in kills (26), finding all of his success on mages, including a dazzling 9/1/4 performance on Orianna in the deciding game against P1. In two convincing victories over Team SoloMid, he thoroughly outplayed his counterpart Bjergsen, who is widely regarded as the best mid-laner in the league. And while Cody Sun and Olleh (0/0/12 as Karma in closeout of TSM) continue to improve as a bot-lane tandem, it cannot be understated the impact Jake "Xmithie" Puchero has already had in the Immortals jungle. |
| Xmithie is already making his presence felt on Immortals |
Week 2 Opponents: Team Envy, FlyQuest
3. Team SoloMid (1-1, 2-2) T-5th
If judged solely on their opening performance against Cloud 9, TSM might just hold the number one spot on this list. They handily and confidently took down C9 in the first game, while capitalizing on their mistakes in the second to capture a a somewhat easy sweep. All systems go, right? With Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng returning to the lineup after a hiatus, the team would surely return to it's dominant 2016 summer form and go 17-1, right? Well, Immortals had other ideas. They were quicker to the punch in almost every instance, punishing TSM at every turn and looking like the more polished, cohesive team. Perhaps hubris was involved, as TSM continued to take fights and skirmishes in the wrong spots and in disadvantageous situations. This appeared most true for blooming star top-laner Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell. Despite being regarded as one of the premier top-laners headed in, Hauntzer has had an utterly abysmal start to the summer split. He has made numerous questionable plays, including being taunted under tower by a a Shen with level advantage, which ultimately resulted in a routine kill. Hauntzer's KDA (1.6) is second-worst among top laners, and his kill participation is under 50%. After such a rapid improvement over the past two splits, Hauntzer appears to be regressing as a player, and needs to re-focus himself. Don't tell me you're going to be the best top-laner in the world, show me.  |
| TSM will look to it's leader to bounce back |
With all of that being said, TSM still has Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, who remains the best mid-laner in the league, period. Despite his mediocre KDA (4.0), Bjergsen holds the second highest kill participation among mid-laners, which at least shows that he is working well with his team. As TSM's leader and primary shot-caller, Bjergsen will have to be better in Week Two, and he undoubtedly will be. Perhaps the key is to discard the Galio pick and revert back to high damage mages and playmakers. On Galio, Bjergsen is 0-2 with a measly 1.6 KDA. On all other champions? 2-0 with a KDA of 8.0.
Week 2 Opponents: Team Dignitas, CLG
4. Team Dignitas (2-0, 4-1) T-1st
It was very difficult to separate Team Dignitas from Echo Fox, considering both teams are off to 2-0 starts against the bottom-feeders of the league. In the end, I gave Dignitas the edge because of the more timely, less chaotic way they were able to close out their games, along with the superior potential of their roster. Because of their unceremonious 0-3 exit to P1 in last split's playoffs, some people might forget the amount of hype around this team coming into the spring. The additions of LCK stars Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho and Lee "Chaser" Sang-hyun seemed certain to catapult this team to a top three or four finish. While this was not the case in the spring, one must consider that this was a newly constructed team with two Korean speakers and a thick language barrier. These things often take a significant amount of time to pan out. This split, Ssumday is playing like the superstar he has been in the past, leading the entire league in both CS/Min (9.6) and kill participation (73.8%). This included a Lucian top game in which he went 7/1/8 and led his team in damage dealt to champions. After beating the bottom two teams in the league, Team Dignitas will have a much more difficult test when they take on TSM this weekend.Week 2 Opponents: TSM, Team Liquid
5. Echo Fox (2-0, 4-0) T-1st
Who would have guessed that, after one week of play, Echo Fox would be the only NA LCS team yet to drop a single game. The catalyst for the team's early success? Their unquestioned leader, Henrik "Froggen" Hansen. One can't help but respect Froggen for what he has endured in his time on Echo Fox, surrounded by bad teams and finishing near the bottom of the standings despite top-level play. He has been every bit as good as mid-laners like Bjergsen or Jensen, but hasn't gotten the notoriety due to his team's struggles. This split, however, Echo Fox is off to a fast start and Froggen is the obvious reason why. How's this for a stat? Froggen has led his team (by a wide margin) in damage dealt to champions in all four victories on the young season. He stayed humble yet confident in a post-game interview, yet the question remains whether Fox will have enough around him to compete when competition stiffens up in the coming weeks.
Week 2 Opponents: CLG, Cloud 9
Week 2 Opponents: CLG, Cloud 9
6. Cloud 9 (0-2, 1-3) T-7th
Cloud 9 clings to the number six spot almost purely on merit. In Week One, they looked like an entitled team, expecting to win based on their success the previous split, rather than earning it on the rift. Somehow, after being spotted a several thousand gold lead and a free infernal drake after the flukiest steal most of us have ever seen (See here), Cloud 9 managed to make nothing happen and choke up a pivotal game three against CLG. C9 was drastically outmaneuvered around the map, seemingly always on the back foot to CLG's proactive play. While I despise the split-pushing attack speed Kennen as it is, Ray made it look worse than I ever could have imagined, making no impact whatsoever on the game. Contractz made his share of mistakes as well, with ill-advised dives on Kha-Zix, and less than stellar coordination with his team. This game three loss on opening night seemed to snowball into Saturday, where a potentially tilted C9 threw game two against TSM with a highly ambitious Baron Nashor attempt. C9 looks like a discombobulated team thus far, a team without an identity. |
| Is it time already to bring in Impact? |
Fortunately for Cloud 9, they have an ace-in-the-hole in the form of world-champion Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong on their bench. I would be absolutely shocked not to see him in the starting lineup this coming weekend, as C9 looks for a quick fix to their struggles. While it is easy to point at one player as the reason for a team's issues, top-laner Ray is likely to be the scapegoat, and for good reason. His highly-aggressive, individual, "solo-queue" style of play is a detriment to the team, and simply does not fit in with how they would actually like to succeed. On top of that, his stats are horrendous, posting just four kills in as many games and sporting a putrid 1.7 KDA. That is not a superstar player. Cloud 9 does still have Sneaky, Jensen, and Smoothie, all of whom lead their respective positions in kill participation, and are all within the top four in that category. If Impact returns to the lineup, everything else will likely fall into place, and Cloud 9 will be just fine.
Week 2 Opponents: Phoenix1, Echo Fox
Week 2 Opponents: Phoenix1, Echo Fox
7. Phoenix1 (0-2, 2-4) T-7th
Similarly to Cloud 9, Phoenix1 is ranked this high based on past performance, rather than what we have witnessed so far this split. After a third-place finish in both the spring regular season and playoffs, much was expected of P1 this summer. They even had the spring MVP No "Arrow" Dong-Hyeon, although I thought it should have been TSM's Bjergsen. Arrow has not played like an MVP thus far, posting a KDA of just 3.2, which is 32nd in the league. Performing even worse is the team's other star, mid-laner Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook. After a tremendous debut split in the NA LCS, Ryu is off to a disastrous start this season. If we don't include Team Liquid mid-laners, he ranks last at his position in KDA (1.7), and second-to-last in kill participation (62.3%). He also needs to play more careful, as Ryu's 23 deaths are the most in the entire league thus far. With P1's stars playing so poorly, it is no wonder that they sit at the bottom of the standings. What is even more concerning, however, is the fact that they have opened the season with back-to-back game three losses in chaotic, heartbreaking fashion to what are perceived as inferior opponents.
Week 2 Opponents: Cloud 9, FlyQuest
Week 2 Opponents: Cloud 9, FlyQuest
8. Team Envy (1-1, 2-4) T-7th
Coming straight out of the promotion tournament last split, Team Envy is a great story so far at 1-1
this season. Both of their series have gone to game three, and both ended in dramatic fashion. After a 50-plus minute loss in the deciding game against Dignitas, Envy bounced back to upset Phoenix1 the very next day. They led P1 for nearly the entirety of game three, capturing nine towers at game's end to only one for the opponent. Even then, it took backdoor heroics from Seraph's Jayce to finally finish the game off. Despite Seraph's heroics, it is clearly Nam "Lira" Tae-yoo who makes this team go, just as he did all of last split. In the two victories over P1, Lira went a combined 7/1/10 on Nidalee and his trademark Lee Sin. In fact, Lira is the only jungler who still seems to be using Nidalee to great effectiveness. Similarly to Dignitas and Echo Fox, we are in wait and see mode concerning Team Envy, but the decent start is certainly encouraging.
Week 2 Opponents: Immortals, Team Liquid
After what was probably an over-performance in their first split in the NA LCS, FlyQuest have come back down to earth and then some. The only change to what was a top-four team in the spring was replacing veteran AD carry Altec with another veteran AD carry WildTurtle, two players that seemed somewhat comparable in skill. Surely the team would not be heavily impacted by one roster change. Well, thus far, FlyQuest has not been the group of savvy veterans that took the league by storm last split, but instead has been the most disappointing team in the first week. While the entire team has played poorly, the performance of the former Cloud 9 solo laners and NA LCS champions has been the most troubling. Balls has been the worst top-laner in the league through one week, posting a KDA of just 1.5, and participating in just 45% of his team's kills. Hai is not far above him at 2.0, with the second-lowest CS/Min (7.5) among all mid-laners. While the entire team has looked suspect, it is primarily up to these two to step up their games, especially considering the vital roles they played in FlyQuest's early success last split.
Week 2 Opponents: Immortals, Phoenix1
Week 2 Opponents: Immortals, Team Liquid
9. FlyQuest (0-2, 0-4) T-7th
Week 2 Opponents: Immortals, Phoenix1
10. Team Liquid (0-2, 0-4) T-7th
No team has looked worst than Team Liquid one week into the season. A once successful and
competitive franchise, they looked absolutely lost in Week One. While the glaring weakness resides in the mid-lane, it is astonishing how far Kim "Reignover" Yeu-Jin has fallen. Only a year removed from leading Immortals to a nearly undefeated split and being named NA LCS MVP, Reignover is struggling mightily on a bad Liquid team. In fact, his KDA of 0.7 ranks dead last in the entire league, along with his kill participation of 43.5%. Liquid's games have not even been competitive, as they have lost the turret count by a whopping 40 to 8 in four games. What's more is that they have yet to capture a single inhibitor in these four ugly losses. If Team Liquid's trajectory continues in this downward spiral, the question becomes what happens to AD carry Chae "Piglet" Gwang-Jin. A proud player and a former world champion, Piglet cannot be pleased with what has transpired on Team Liquid, and could be looking to go elsewhere sooner rather than later.
Week 2 Opponents: Team Envy, Team Dignitas
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