The LCS Had An Exciting Week 1, Now Onto Week 2

The first week of the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) was one of the most exciting first weeks of any LCS split yet. From the reigning champions, 100 Thieves, getting back on track, and Cloud9 taking names with unconventional champions to FlyQuest’s Janna with Smite in the top lane; there is much to talk about going into the season week of the LCS.

With that being said, here are some very short highlights on what was probably one of the most exciting weeks in the LCS.

100 Thieves bounce back

As the reigning LCS champions, the Thieves, in many people’s eyes, were destined to take home the LCS Lock-In trophy. Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t the case as they were bounced out early by a surprising Dignitas squad.

This cast major doubt over 100 Thieves, a team in the past known for their mediocracy above all else. But worry not as 100 Thieves took that loss on the chin and were able to bounce back to start the Spring Split.

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Not only did they defeat the reigning LCS Lock-In champions, Team Liquid, who looked amazing due to their sweep over a well-performing Evil Geniuses in the Lock-In tournament, but also dismantled Counter Logic Gaming in the following match. This is the Thieves that everyone was expecting, the team that didn’t make a single roster change and only added one player in the top lane to possibly swap in and out with Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho

Cloud9’s unique strategies for Week 1

Due to not having their full roster during the LCS Lock-In tournament, this was Cloud9’s first go at it with a complete squad including their coaching staff. The latter helped concoct one of the most surprising team compositions yet, mainly due to a few champions picks: Ivern mid and a support Sona for one game and a Soraka later mid in the next.

With only a handful of days of practice, Cloud9 not only showed up but showed out, bringing out the unique strategies that more than likely confused their opponents, Golden Guardians and Evil Geniuses due to unfamiliarity.

Their first match versus Golden Guardians didn’t start too hot for Cloud9 as Golden Guardians grabbed an early lead due to jungler, Milo “Pridestalkr” Wehnes, grabbing a couple of kills on the Qiyana. The lead was broken though as the combination of Ivern and Sona were finally online ending in a strong team fight win… and the rest, as they say, was history.

As for their match versus Evil Geniuses, even though the Geniuses fought hard and well, Cloud9’s Soraka keeping everybody alive was too much, also ADC Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol was unstoppable on the Aphelios.

Janna Smite top for the win, FlyQuest

After a very lacklustre Lock-In, FlyQuest surprised with a 2-0 start in Week 1 of the LCS, albeit versus teams that are considered in the lower half of the standings. Both of the wins were with Smite top; they were the only team to do it.

There’s no telling if this strat will continue to persist moving forward, but one thing’s for certain, for a team like FlyQuest who had a tough time getting off the ground in the Lock-In, this is a great start.

These were just a glimpse of what the first week of the LCS brought us and if it’s any indication of how the second week is going to pan out, LCS watchers are in for a treat.

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