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After a nice break for IEM Katowice, we’re ready to jump back into our regular LCS schedule. IEM was a really fun tournament to watch, with lots of best-of-threes actually going to three games. It wasn’t a long tournament, so if you’ve not caught it, I definitely recommend watching the second stage.
Before I go into anything, we have a pretty important roster change! Team Liquid will be putting Piglet in the midlane, and bringing in Youngbin as an AD Carry. Youngbin doesn’t have any prior LCS experience, but he has been floating around the organisation for a while, and played with Matt on Team Liquid Academy back in 2015.
It’s risky, but at this point, it’s worth a shot for them; they are tied last in the league with Team Envy and haven’t had a strong Midlaner for some time. Their first game will be against Immortals at 10am AEDT on Saturday, and while I don’t think it’s fair to expect any significant improvement so soon against a considerably higher-placed team, I will be watching with interest.
Here are the standings as we head into week six:
1. Team SoloMid: 8-2 in matches; 16-10 in games
1. Cloud9: 8-2; 17-8
3. FlyQuest: 6-4; 15-7
3. Phoenix1: 6-4; 15-9
5. CounterLogic Gaming: 5-5; 12-13
5. Immortals: 5-5; 13-12
7. Echo Fox: 4-6; 10-13
7. Team Dignitas: 4-6; 11-14
9. Team Envy: 2-8; 5-16
9. Team Liquid: 2-8; 9-17
Lots of match-level ties! None of the games this week will contribute to the head-to-head records, and there will be a few mismatches, but there will definitely still be some evenly-matched games that should be fun. Here’s a preview of two of them (including the one with Liquid).
Phoenix1 versus CounterLogic Gaming
CounterLogic Gaming took the series 2-1 last time these two teams met in week four. This week, they will be on at 1pm Saturday. Both of these teams had a pretty good showing last week, each winning both their matches.
CounterLogic Gaming are probably going to find this a challenging match. They dropped a game in each of their series against lower-ranked teams, and there was often a significant gold struggle; either it was very close all game, or one team stole a significant lead away from their opponent.
Being able to play and eventually win from behind is important for LCS teams. CounterLogic Gaming have shown they can do this, at least against lower teams, but allowing their opponents to do the same is a key weakness that they will need to overcome. Preventing other teams from getting a lead in the first place is probably even more important.
The 34-minute loss handed to them by last-placed Team Liquid last week in game one should not have been able to happen. A big reason it was so convincing was Reignover’s excellent Graves play, which CounterLogic Gaming weren’t able to meet..
They were, of course, able to win the series, and in each of the next games they were more-or-less able to keep the lead once they held it. Against a higher-ranked team though, they will need tighter play so that they don’t give their opponents so many opportunities.
I’ve focused on the parts of CounterLogic Gaming’s play that are lacklustre, but the fact remains that they had a really good week. Whatever mistakes they may have made, they still won their matches, which is the most important part of remaining in playoff contention.
Although Phoenix1 are only one rank higher, they’ve won three more individual games, and lost four fewer. In week five they didn’t drop a single game, even against the number one team Cloud9. If CounterLogic Gaming are coming into this week looking impressive, Phoenix1 are on fire.
The win over Cloud9 was not without its issues. In the first game, I have to wonder what would have happened had Cloud9 not made a bad call to base race with half as many members as Phoenix1. I don’t know if it would have changed the outcome, but it’s definitely the sole reason the game ended then and there.
Phoenix1 had the advantage. They were nearly 9k gold up at 35 minutes. But Cloud9 have an average gold deficit of around 1300 at 15 minutes, which they’re more than able to recover from being down. They did just that; they used a lategame teamfight in their base to turn the whole game around, and nearly got away with it.
It’s hard to say if the game would have gone differently had Cloud9 defended, but when your opponent just rolls over with a bad bluff, it’s genuinely hard not to win. If Phoenix1 had been less greedy in their first shot at Cloud9’s base though, they wouldn’t have had to rely on a later mistake to win the game.
In game two, Cloud9 substituted Ray into the top lane, which really helped Zig. This game, instead of nearly throwing away a lead, they were able to consistently take kills and objectives. Once they had the 25-minute baron buff, they were able to roll into Cloud9’s base to 2-0 the league’s top team.
Zig had some great games over the weekend, and Meteos’ play was really impressive considering his couple of days notice. In fact, lolesports indicates Meteos will be starting for Phoenix1 again this week. Considering his games on the weekend, I would really love to see how Meteos looks after a week of scrims.
The game between CounterLogic Gaming and Phoenix1 could go either way, but I have to think it’ll go to Phoenix1. Both teams are looking good, but CounterLogic gaming have just let their opponents steal advantages too many times. Phoenix1 has given up opportunities too, but they’ve been a little more consistent in taking them back.
Echo Fox vs. Team Liquid
Although they are currently the lower-placed team, Team Liquid first won this matchup back in week three 2-1. Last week both teams lost both their matches, so this round at 7am on Monday will be a much-needed pick up for one of them.
Team Liquid have had a really rough few weeks. Although they pick up single games here and there, they’ve not won a single match since these teams last met which cannot be good for them mentally. The swap of Piglet into midlane and new AD Carry Youngbin however makes it very difficult to know how they will perform.
This isn’t an unprecedented move, but role-changes in recent years have been very hit-and-miss. Within North America, Hai and Gate have both changed roles successfully, although Hai is now back in is original midlane position. Internationally, Uzi made the same move in 2014 Spring on Star Horn Royal Club, but it didn’t work out; he only stayed there for one split before moving back to his original role.
Team Liquid have said they spent a week trialling this move before making it official. It’s not a very long time, but it should have been long enough to see if he was notably better than Goldenglue or Link. The management team must feel this change is in the organisation’s interests,.
In theory, Piglet’s aggressive play style should suit him playing Midlane in the current meta. I think (I hope) that this is going to be a good move for the time being, but I do wonder if it will stick as the meta changes.
I can’t speak much to Youngbin’s ability, but he’s been on the challenger scene for long enough that he has to be a decent and dedicated performer. His previous experience playing with Matt should really help, too – even if it was a while ago now, they will have experience with one another’s playstyles. His position will also work in his favour; although AD Carry is more important than it was at the start of the season, he still has some wiggle room behind Piglet as the primary carry.
Team Liquid are very difficult to assess right now. I have high hopes for this team this weekend but I’m trying to temper that with low expectations. It’s their first time playing with this composition, so it will serve as an indicator for whether this roster change will help or hurt them.
Echo Fox have had strangely hot and cold results. They lost both their matches in week one, won in week two, lost in week three, won week four, and lost both matches and all their games in week five. By the numbers, this should be their week!
It’s so hard to be sure though. When they are good, they are fantastic. Akaadian is a top-tier jungler, and Froggen has shown that he can still play with the best of them, but when the team plays badly, they lose to the teams below them in the standings, which is part of what’s keeping them so low in the table.
In all four of their losses this week, two things happened.
The first is that their opponents took leads, and Echo Fox just didn’t take them back. In the games against Team Envy, once Envy got about a 2k gold lead, Echo Fox didn’t get a single objective and only two kills. They challenged Immortals a little more, but still not enough to ever regain the gold lead.
The other thing is Looper’s performance. In three of the four losses, he had a KDA of one or lower on Maokai. Contrast that to their last winning week, where he played Poppy, Singed, and Nautilus, with a total KDA of 13/16/47, it is like night and day. We know that Looper is able to play tanks, but on this team he just doesn’t show up.
It’s an even week; this should be in the bag for Echo Fox. With the new-look roster though, Team Liquid will be coming into this with one goal: to win, and to move themselves out of last place. Froggen is a really strong Midlaner when he is on form, but we just don’t know how well Piglet will play, or even what type of champions he will be comfortable on.
I’m calling this for Team Liquid, but without seeing how Piglet goes in the mid lane I’m doing it mostly on faith. I can’t see the players going along with this if they didn’t think they were a better team for doing so, especially not Piglet. It’s a close, tough call though, so I’m very prepared to be wrong on this.
IEM was a good time, but I’m excited to get back into watching the teams I follow most. We’re properly in the second half of the split now! Which team do you have your eye on, and why is it Team Liquid?
I’m kidding. I know exactly why it’s Team Liquid.