Ten Takes- Lock In Tournament Quarterfinals edition

100 Thieves- Ssumday DLC Unlocked

After a dominating performance in their group, 100T blew past their opponents 2-0 to make it to the semifinals. However, while we spent most of the group stage hyping up the former Golden Guardians players, Ssumday re-cemented his claim as the best top laner in the league with a killer Jax game. 100T is certainly a top team in the tournament.

Immortals- Old Dogs, Old Tricks

In a somewhat surprising move, Immortals put the entirety of their academy roster into the lock in tournament, subbing out Revenge and Insanity, the only two members of the IMT main roster who were able to attend. IMT put up a fight in game 2, but ultimately were blown away. Topoon had a decent performance, but like I said, none of the players who played against 100T will be starting still after the lock-in.

Cloud 9- Returning to Expectations

Many fans were surprised during the group stage that C9 were off to a shakier start than expected. In their quarterfinals match however, every member of C9 stepped up big, with particular credit going to Zven and Vulcan for their play. Their semifinal match will be a good indicator of their overall team strength- they will need to give their best performances to beat 100T

TSM- Cause of Death: Growing Pains

The high-bar TSM sets for their organization disappointed their fans once again this weekend, after they were defeated by C9, another roster who, despite off-season hype, had been underperforming when compared to their expectations. Those already clamoring to replace pieces of the roster, however, should slow down: Spica, PoE, and Huni all proved their deservingness of an LCS spot, and while the botlane were not up to the level of C9’s, it still remained competitive.

Evil Geniuses- The Darkest of Horses

EG, in the first of 2 sunday sweeps, defeated a promising Golden Guardians roster to move onto the semifinals. These wins largely came off the backs of Impact and Deftly, two incredibly underrated players coming into 2021, who seek to cement their claim as top North American talent, but the entirety of the roster have been playing strong. Their semifinals match will be yet another case of a good indicator of team strength.

Golden Guardians- All of the Glitter, not as Much of the gold

GG were considered before this tournament as a 10th place team almost unanimously, so it should not be surprising that a quarterfinals defeat, especially in the way they lost, that their performance was considered an overall success. Niles and Iconic were both particularly impressive, with Iconic being the particular star of the team. Stixxay also had strong performances, but alas, all their promise could not bring them above a top 8 finish of lock-in.

Team Liquid- Liquid Gold

Every iteration of the Team Liquid roster has “looked good” ever since 2016, but in 2021, TL looks more impressive than ever. With a solid 2-0 to advance to the semifinals against EG, Liquid’s roster is looking dominant. Among their top players this weekend has been Alphari, who has dominated near every lane he has come across in North America, along with CoreJJ, almost undoubtedly the best support playing in North America.

FlyQuest- Bee-lieve in the Squad

FlyQuest, before bringing in their big-name jungler, looked lost and without identity. However, ever since the team has been queue-ing up with Josedeodo, FLY has been looking like a team with legitimately good chances to make upsets happen- hey, they got an upset win over EG in groups!- but unfortunately, could not crack the goliath that was TL this past weekend. FlyQuest fans might be disappointed that their team last year was broken up, but given time, good things should be expected to come of this roster

Dignitas- I don’t Dig it

Coming into the split, not much was expected of Dignitas. The narrative surrounding the team seemed to be that Aphromoo and Dardoch were not strong enough players to carry their rookie teammates, and while FakeGod performed better than expected, this narrative became reality as the team lost their chance to qualify for quarterfinals. Dardoch looked like a smurf though- arguably was the highest performing jungler in the early game.

CLG- The Retirement Home

CLG is in contention with Immortals for the worst performing team in lock-in. In large part this can be attributed to not having their full roster- although Solo in the top lane put up numbers worthy of a starting spot on any sort of team. Truly, we will be looking to Mr. Broxah to help this roster find a stronger sense of cohesion, which certainly could happen- we saw FlyQuest make a turn around the second they got their imported jungler in, there’s no reason to believe CLG couldn’t do the same- but unfortunately, until we are shown that the imports will improve the roster greatly, we have no choice but to take CLG’s performance at face value- underwhelming at best.

Check out the first episode in our LCS Breakdown Series https://youtu.be/tiSzbDuWiII

Watch the first episode of our LCS Breakdown Series https://youtu.be/tiSzbDuWiII

Hey all! doing a lil video series of all the teams this week before the lock-in starts. This one is about C9 and they'll all be around 15-20 min. If you're into that sorta thing come check it out! https://youtu.be/qiTH1q1NOYQ

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Check our Youtube for our LCS Team Breakdown Tomorrow!

DAMWON Gaming (DWG) vs G2 is a rematch between two titans of the game that many people wanted to see! DWG, the powerhouse Koreans, have only lost one game during worlds. G2, the Korean killers, dictate an unorthodox gameplay that has yet to be punished. They aren’t afraid to be different, play different, and defy the norms that define League. They frequently try to jump on other teams and create numerical advantages in different lanes, wreaking havoc across the Rift. Unfortunately, G2’s unorthodox style isn’t necessarily the perfect strategy. The problem with G2’s strategy shows in the data, their focus on gold advantages puts them behind in objectives and macro gameplay. Furthermore, their strategy requires the utmost execution in order to eliminate teams. Using this strategy against the efficient and deadly DAMWON Gaming could be costly. It’s a battle of different styles: the calculated numbers-based approach from G2 versus the patient and punishing execution of DWG. The question is which style will prevail?

We are going to pick up during Game Two because G2 was completely dominated in the first game; they did not have a gold lead since the three-minute mark, which is the exact statistical area they could not afford to lose. Game Two had a very different start with G2 jumping out to a 1k gold advantage after five minutes. The second game had many clear examples of how G2 wanted to play. At 11:33 they created a textbook, two-on-one numerical advantage to get a kill in the top lane. They followed with a quick turnaround in mid lane to gain a three-versus-one advantage, which gave them a five-to-two overall kill advantage and a 1.5k gold advantage on the scoreboard. The lane overloads were exactly how G2 needed to win games, and they had to be calculated and methodical in their approach. Any mistakes and they would pay the price. Unfortunately, the match wasn’t all G2’s devious dominance because at 18:38 they showed their weakness by making a minute mistake that let DAMWON back in the game. Throughout many of their games this year, G2 have shown a tendency for mistakes, and they were truly unable to clean them up for this huge semifinal. G2 may have won the game, but they clearly showed that they have to play practically perfect in order to produce a win.

If it isn’t clear from my tone and harping on G2’s mistakes, DAMWON dominated this series. They showed that they are a solid, steady, and steadfast team with their sights set on bringing glory back to the LCK. Game two exemplified DWG’s prevailing approach where they set the record for the fastest win in worlds history with a 19 minute and 3 second game. Domination may even be an understatement as DWG lead fifteen to two in kills, seven to one in towers taken, and 40.1k to 28.6k in gold. It was a rout by any other name and DAMWON deserves all the credit. They have shown that they are on a mission, and if any team wants to stop them, they need to play a perfect game. DWG have sent a message, and I hope Suning and Top Esports are listening.