| Quick Hits - LCS North America Summer Split Preview | |
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Quick Hits - LCS North America Summer Split PreviewThe Summer Split of the NA LCS starts today, with spots to the 2014 World Championships on the line. With such high stakes on this split, nearly every team made moves looking to improve. Additionally, two new teams will be joining the LCS for this split after knocking out long time LCS residents Team Coast and XDG Gaming. The returning teams to this split of LCS (in order of Spring Split Playoff finish) Roster Changes: None While the rest of the NA teams have decided to do roster changes, C9 opted to stand with their winning formula. Cloud 9 looks to repeat once again as LCS Champions, but North American teams have gotten better and this split might be the tightest competition yet.
Roster Changes: Gleebglarbu, former support for Cloud 9 Tempest replaces Xpecial Amazing, jungler of Copenhagen Wolves leaves the EU LCS for TSM and replaces TheOddOne With their struggle in the task of achieving first place in the Spring Split, TSM decided to bring new blood to the team, replacing the last remaining members from the Season 1 roster with the additions of Gleebglarbu and Amazing. These two acquisitions mean a lot for TSM as Amazing should be able to help TSM’s powerful solo laners shine through the early stages of the game.
Roster Changes: Seraph replaces the resigning top laner Nien after coming over from Korea While TSM decided to change their jungler and support, CLG moved to fill Nien’s shoes with some Korean presence. Seraph, known for his Nidalee play, will likely grant a stronger chance for CLG to remain in the top 3.
Roster Changes: Xpecial moves from TSM to Curse, replacing Bunny FuFuu Curse didn’t want to be left out of the roster swap frenzy and saw an opportunity with Xpecial. Cop will be joined by his 7th support in the LCS (Elementz, Rhux, Edward, Zekent, Saintvicious, Bunny FuFuu prior) as Xpecial will – according to his vlogs – be taking more of a shot-calling role for Curse, something he didn’t do in Team SoloMid. Will Xpecial be what Curse needs to able to compete for Top 3? That may prove tough, as their solo laners aren’t at par with many of the top 3 teams.
Roster Changes: ZionSpartan and Shiphtur join Dignitas replacing Cruzerthebruzer and Scarra respectively The team with the second most publicized roster changes is Dignitas. They acquired Team Coast’s solo laners, ZionSpartan and Shiphtur. While this move raises their overall skill level by far, they still may face shot-calling problems and it might even make them worse overall due to the merge of two different play styles. The expectations for Dignitas seem higher this split, but it is hard to tell where they should fall.
Roster Changes: Altec will be replacing yellowpete as starting ADC starting with Week 2. After their lackluster showing in Spring Split, EG decided that they also needed some of that fresh blood. Tryouts were announced publicly, but no further news was released until days before Week 1 started. Cloud 9 Tempest’s former ADC, Altec, known for his incredible mechanics will be stepping up to take over yellowpete’s role as the main AD Carry starting with Week 2. Altec is finally old enough to play in the LCS, but could struggle with the new stage. While the move means a lot for EG’s bot lane, they still must solve their consistency issues in order to push for a better result in this split. New teams to this split of LCSOn top of countless roster changes, two new teams have clawed their way into the NA LCS for this coming split – compLexity Gaming and LMQ. Game one was a brilliant comeback for compLexity, with Coast being in control for the majority of the game. They ended with a mere 1k gold lead. Complexity rode their momentum for game two, closing easily, but game 3 was a different story. Coast absolutely trounced compLexity, racking up a 17-1 kill lead and ending in just 30 minutes. Coast gave it their best, but eventually succumbed in game 4, giving their NA LCS spot over to compLexity. As far as potential for this split, compLexity looks ready for a struggle. Widely considered the weakest team in the LCS, compLexity once again must show their determination to fight for proving they belong and avoiding relegation. The other set of fresh faces is LMQ was the strongest Challenger team during the Spring LCS split, winning both Challenger Series splits. LMQ placed first in the NA Challenger Series Playoffs, coming out on top of an unexpectedly even series against Cloud 9 Tempest. This brought them to the series they risked quite a bit for. If they lost, their entire goal for uprooting their lives and moving to North America would be shot down. Luckily, LMQ doesn’t seem to be the type of team to choke under pressure. They faced an XDG who simply seemed out of their element, and anticlimactically swept them 3-0. Unlike compLexity, LMQ's outlook on the Summer Split is very interesting. If they keep making good decisions in game and perform consistently, they may very well push the middle of the pack or potentially even holding a top three spot. The Summer Split for North American LCS looks to be the fiercest and widely contested split yet, with many teams seeing a World Championships bid in their future.
Published on 23. May 2014
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