Storylines To Follow In The LCS 2022 Summer Split
Being such a tenured league, the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is no scrub when it comes to its storylines. From the start of it all that had Team SoloMid become its first-ever champion only to be overshadowed by Cloud9 in the next couple of splits to a young squad in Evil Geniuses doing the unthinkable, there is never a shortage of stories to tell.
Thankfully, for the 2022 LCS Summer Split, we can expect that to keep going as not only is it following up a chaotic Spring Split but there’s also so much talk to about.
That’s why we’re gonna present what are some of our favourite storylines going into the 2022 LCS Summer Split.
Jensen returns to Cloud9 to help right its Spring Split wrongs
Before you look at the second half of the subhead and question us, just give us a moment. Yes, we understand that all things considered Cloud9 had a terrific Spring Split, they were just a late-split implosion away from putting the theoretical bow on top that could have been their second Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) trip in a row.
It turns out that focus top lane, feed it resources, and let it carry can’t work forever—especially when their top laner Park “Summit” Woo-tae is now gone. But it’s okay because they’ve found a really solid bandaid for this Spring Split wound in the form of mid-laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen returning to the team.
Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami’s back in the top lane, Robert “Blaber” Huang is coming off of yet another phenomenal Spring performance, and they’ve managed to keep Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol pairing him up with veteran bot laner Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen who undoubtedly will make his name known in his new Support position. Jensen alongside the rest of the Cloud9 squad are set to right their Spring Split wrongs.
Team Liquid and 100 Thieves seek revenge
In a theoretical world, both Team Liquid and 100 Thieves would have finished atop the LCS in the Spring Split, the Summer Power Rankings or Tier Lists, and more, however, they were just one team away from that being the case. The team, of course, Evil Geniuses.
If it wasn’t for the Geniuses, there most likely would have been yet another Team Liquid versus 100 Thieves finals, one that would have had a new look Team Liquid seeking to avenge last year’s Summer finals loss while the Thieves looked to duplicate it, looking for a second LCS title in a row.
Click to enlargeHowever, we’re not in that theoretical world, instead, we’re in a world where both Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, and frankly the rest of the league are in catch up mode. Thanks to Evil Geniuses’ dominance in the Spring playoffs, no team stood a chance. Add the fact that their young guns now possess some international-level experience, it’s only gonna get tougher from here.
Fortunately for both Team Liquid and 100 Thieves, they have plenty of firepower and experience of their own, especially Team Liquid and while Evil Geniuses were out there giving North America their best at Worlds, these two teams were undoubtedly grinding to catch up.
Evil Geniuses can go back-to-back
Speaking of Evil Geniuses, one clear cut storyline is their potential to become back-to-back LCS champions and due to what was stated above, it could very well happen.
The way that they completely dominated everyone in their path in the Losers’ Bracket after losing a close 3-2 bout to Team Liquid to start the Spring playoffs was otherworldly—no team really stood a chance.
Click to enlargeTo put their run into perspective, after falling to Team Liquid in Winner’s Bracket Round 1 they only lost one match and that was to FlyQuest to start off their lower bracket run. After they defeated the boys in green, they proceeded to sweep every team in their path. These were a still strong Cloud9, a Team Liquid that won the Lock In tournament over them and finished first in the Spring Split regular season, and finally the reigning champions 100 Thieves who were firing on all cylinders.
Add the fact their heavy hitters in mid-laner Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun and ADC Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki finally have gotten some international experience—what’s not to say they can’t take North America by storm once again?