The LCS Spring Report Card
The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) spring was undoubtedly one for the North American League of Legends record books. It all started off with a historic offseason that had over nearly half of its players no longer be part of the league, coupled with retirements in region legends of Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. After that, Team Liquid were crowned the first-ever LCS Lock In champions after a victory over Cloud9. This very same Cloud9 enacted revenge on them later on in the Mid-Season Showdown (MSS) finals, making them the representatives for the region at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).
The 2021 season might be one to remember by just the first half of it alone. With that in mind, here is a synopsis of every LCS teams' performances during the spring.
Cloud9
Click to enlargeAn underwhelming start to the LCS Lock In tournament, one that saw Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami as the main focus of criticism, was remedied by a historic — mainly due to it being the first-ever Lock In tournament — performance come playoffs. They were the only team to go the distance on every one of their playoff series: a 2-1 victory over Team SoloMid in the quarterfinals, a reverse sweep versus 100 Thieves in the semifinals and finally, a 3-2 loss to Team Liquid in the finals — this one was nearly a reverse sweep as well; coupled with the fact that they went 3-1 in the group stage to get to the playoffs. This was a 17-game trek for them; they essentially played one whole split (minus playoffs) in a matter of two weeks. Something that served them well come the regular season.
Once in the spring, all bets were off for this team. Right out the gates, they took hold of first place and never let go. Although they did briefly share the limelight with 100 Thieves, this only lasted a week. Cloud9 dominated every single team in front of them, almost seemingly a righteous revenge performance on last year’s historic spring. It all culminated with a masterful game five over their now new rivals in Team Liquid at MSS.
This sent them off to the organisation’s first-ever MSI, one in which they would underperform but still looked somewhat promising.
Team Liquid
Click to enlargeAs a direct contrast, there’s Team Liquid. As previously mentioned before, they won the first-ever Lock In finals. But their way there wasn’t exactly crystal clear. Due to COVID-related visa issues, their newly signed starting jungler, Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, couldn’t make it to the first week of matches. Former Team SoloMid jungler, Jonathan “Armao” Armao stepped in to help. Already signed to the team’s Academy team, and having had plenty of experience on the LCS stage, this was a match made in heaven for the team. He surpassed expectations, performed well, and prove to be a valuable asset for the team in the future.
Then comes the second week of Lock In. They demolished the competition and looked like the team to beat early on going into the regular season. They smashed FlyQuest in the quarterfinals, later repeating that performance versus surprise performers Evil Geniuses. This set them up for a highly anticipated final versus Cloud9. Here, they went up 2-0 very quickly in the series but lost the next two games. But in credit to them, they stamped out Cloud9’s second potential reverse sweep and crowned themselves the first-ever Lock In champions.
All of that glory didn’t last, though, as once in the regular season, things got rocky. They seemingly peaked too early, or perhaps took this first win too much to heart. Either way, this was not the same team from Lock In. Mainly meandering in the middle of the pack, making sure they beat the teams below them while also oddly sweeping first-place Cloud9, the team struggled to find a place. Fortunately for them, some of the teams above them began to crumble, and this gave them leeway as the third seed going into MSS.
Once in the playoffs, all of those struggles slipped off their shoulders, at least for the first series. It all started with a clean 3-1 victory over a Team SoloMid in Round 1 team that looked put together come to the end of the regular season. Everyone figured the Team Liquid from Lock In was back, but this all came to a halt once they had to face Cloud9 in Round 2. Here, they severely underperformed, losing 3-1 and going to the losers’ bracket. That underperformance was quickly corrected with another 3-1 victory over Team SoloMid in Round 3 - losers’ finals.
Prior to the MSS finals, Santorin had to step down due to health-related issues, which meant Armao was brought back in. Here, Armao proved what good integration with substitutes can do for an LCS team. Although they ultimately fell 3-2 in the finals, they at one point were up 2-1; this poses the questions as to the what-ifs Santorin was starting.
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Team SoloMid
Click to enlargeOut of every team in the LCS, this team was perhaps the one with the most questions. They just had both of their superstars, Bjergsen and Doublelift, retire and only retained their jungler, Mingyi “Spica” Lu, from their 2020 roster. This meant that whatever players they decided to add to the roster, this team would be a team filled with players that had never played with each other. The ultimate product was a mish-mash of experienced players, some of them being World finalists, topped off with fresh blood in the jungle and AD Carry position.
To start the LCS Lock In, this team looked like a team filled with five players who had never played with each other. Discombobulated, disorganised, lost, pick your word; it was not a good look. This carried over into the regular season’s first week. Once in the second week, something clicked. The team got cohesive; it started making sense, the strengths in all of the team’s players began to bear fruit — finishing in second place going into MSS. But no matter how much cohesion they showed, the words came back: discombobulation, disorganisation, and complete lostness returned in their Round 1 playoff match versus Team Liquid. Team SoloMid later did redeem themselves with wins over a lacklustre Evil Geniuses in Round 1 of the losers’ bracket and a 100 Thieves that had lost its identity in Round 2. Only to face Team Liquid in the tournament a second time, getting dismantled 3-1 again.
100 Thieves
Click to enlarge100 Thieves was by far one of the most looked at outside of the big three of Cloud9, Team Liquid and Team SoloMid. A team that continued to make their top laner, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho their focal point, added an experienced and synergised roster of four once they absorbed 2020 Golden Guardians’ core. This meant that in all intents and purposes, it was plug and play for the team: an already strong top laner plus four.
At first, this roster of Ssumday plus four did look outstanding; it looked like one of the better rosters the Thieves had fielded to date. A borderline top two bottom lane, coupled with global mid-lane picks that were used to create advantages for them with early dives, seemed like the key. But keys do deteriorate after time. Two things happened: the team began to slow down, and they also got figured out.
They had a strong Lock In performance, finishing first in Group A. A group that had both big names of Team SoloMid and Team Liquid and went deep in the playoffs. 100 Thieves demolished Immortals in the quarterfinals and were one game away from finishing off Cloud9 multiple times in the semifinals but couldn’t finish it, getting reverse swept. This was all good momentum to keep going into the regular season.
Once in the regular season, this momentum did show up going undefeated in Week 1, having them tie for first place with Cloud9. But the momentum did fall off quickly, and this roster of Ssumday plus four began to exhibit the organisation’s past habits. Like Team SoloMid before them, they became lost. The dives weren’t working, the mid-lane global picks started to get banned, and a last-ditch effort to bring in Academy mid-laner Tommy “Ryoma” Le didn’t work. Culminated in a haphazard MSS performance in which they decimated Dignitas in Round 1 but fell to Team SoloMid in Round 2.
Dignitas
Click to enlargeSimilar to Team SoloMid, they had a poor start to Lock In and subsequently the first weeks of the regular season, but worse. They failed to make playoffs for the Lock In, which left them out of a lot of key experience and synergy building that eight other teams got to have over them. This didn’t phase them, though.
The spring’s regular season proved to be something magical for this team. To start the season, Dignitas were the only team that has an all North American roster — naturally counting them out in many power rankings. Power Rankings be damned, though, as they proved to be the unexpected gatekeepers between the two halves of the LCS. It all started with a Week 1 to Week 2 turnaround; although not as flashy as Team SoloMid’s, it was still a turnaround nonetheless.
Dignitas played well throughout all of the regular season, occasionally punching up in standings while keeping the teams under them below. Fun to watch, proactive, and throughout the first weeks (including Lock In), their jungler, Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett, showcased his seemingly endless champion pool. Led by veteran support, Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black, the team’s newcomers also performed well above expectations and overall was a very welcomed surprise. Unfortunately for them, though, this welcomed surprise did end early as a 3-0 loss in the MSS’ Round 1 versus 100 Thieves cut their run short.
Evil Geniuses
Click to enlargeA team with low expectations, even though they had solid players on its roster, ended up surpassing them early on but came back down to earth quickly. This sort of wrangling of other team’s rejects came out strong during the LCS Lock In’s start but ultimately normalised in the regular season.
They were by far the most surprising team of the tournament as they finished in first place for Week 1 and finished as Group B’s first seed. This hype continued through to the quarterfinals of the playoffs as they swept Golden Guardians but quickly stopped once they faced eventual winners Team Liquid in the semifinals. All in all, this was a preamble of what this team would show in the regular season. Alongside Dignitas, they held strong in the middle of the pack, but unlike them, they rarely punched up. This lack of punching up showed through as during they were knocked out early in Round 1 of the MSS tournament by Team SoloMid, thus ending their run quickly.
Immortals
Under this sort of “duo of the middle of the pack” of Dignitas and Evil Geniuses, was Immortals. Unlike them, though, this team failed to punch up, apart from their Week 1 win over Team Liquid in the regular season, and at times lost to the teams below them.
It all started with a mediocre Lock In performance where they finished 1-3, that sole win being over a Dignitas team that still hadn’t yet begun their ascent. They were quickly dispatched in the quarterfinals by 100 Thieves as well. A very poor performance, but in reality, this was a team that filled with Academy players as players of their main roster were still not present due to visa issues. It didn’t matter, though, as Academy players or not, their upcoming performances in the regular season somewhat mirrored their Lock In performance — ultimately failing to make playoffs.
FlyQuest
In a way, this team is Evil Geniuses without the experience; the only experienced player was former Cloud9 top laner, Eric “Licorice” Ritchie. This team had decently high hopes as they also brought in superstar jungler from Latinamerica Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas to be coupled with strong players from Cloud9’s 2020 Academy team. It wasn’t enough, though; poor performances in both the Lock In and the regular season showed that.
For the Lock In, they weren’t much better than Immortals as they only had one more win than them in Group B. Once in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, they met Team Liquid and got quickly disposed of, a worrying thought for a team with some expectations. It didn’t get much better in the regular season as they finished in eighth place, just below Immortals, also failing to make the playoffs.
Counter Logic Gaming
Click to enlargeCounter Logic Gaming joined Dignitas as the only two teams to not make it to the Lock In playoffs. Like them, they also surprised the league, but in a bad way. Missing crucial team-building time due to not making the playoffs in the tournament came back to haunt them, coupled with the fact that their starting jungler, Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen, wasn’t there due to visa-related issues.
In the regular season, this team had historic performances in the early game, building tremendous leads. These leads didn’t translate to victories, as no matter how big the lead they accrued was, the team could never seal the deal. Something that had everyone around the league very concerned as in contrast to many of the other teams, this team had experience in every single role. Counter Logic Gaming did begin to turn it around though later in the season, but it was just too late; like the two teams above them, they also failed to make the playoffs.
Golden Guardians
The all-rookie team, led by veteran AD Carry, Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes, looked like what they presented on the Rift: a team of rookies plus Stixxay. This team barely squeezed through to the Lock In playoffs. Their sole win over Counter Logic Gaming in Group A helped them get there, but that was it. Quickly disposed of by Evil Geniuses in the quarterfinals left them watching from the sidelines early.
In the regular season, they struggled, and struggled hard. Only racking up three wins, this team wasn’t able to do much. They were heavily punished in the top side and couldn’t get anything going on any of their other lanes. Like the three teams above them, this left them out of the playoffs.
Images via Riot Games