by Jodi "PunkLit" McClure and the LCS FanZone Staff
If there's anything that can be taken away from EU's crazy start,
it's that you can be certain of absolutely nothing when it comes to the NA LCS.
Teams have a way of surprising even the most knowledgeable of fans, so take our
staff predictions with a grain of salt and probably don't bet your kid's
college funds on them. To further cover our asses, we have done this in a Top Three – Middle of the Pack – Bottom
Three format.
Cloud 9 – The Princes of the
NA LCS have no real reason to -not- be listed first. They've had no roster
swaps and looked stronger than ever in IEM. Meteos played great, and the rest
of the team looked solid. The only potential weak link on the team is Hai, but
with such a stable team around him he can take his time getting back to form. Expect
at least a top 3 finish from these guys
Team Liquid – Falling under new management and getting new players in the
big carry positions, including world champion Piglet, the team appears very
strong despite the loss of Voyboy. Fenix is a bit of an unknown, but the rest
of the team should be very solid. Quas and IWillDominate are two of the more
underrated players at their positions in the LCS and this roster more than any
other should be able to challenge Cloud 9 for the top spot. This may be the
year that the "always 4th" curse is broken for this team.
Team SoloMid – Santorin and Turtle still
don't look their best but unless the lesser teams up their game, TSM should
stay nice on top of their throne. While not showing up super strong at IEM San
Jose (dropping a series to a team that had never played in LCS), TSM still has
a strong lineup and the experienced coaching it needs. If they can become more
adaptable in-game, they can keep themselves afloat for another split at least.
Team Impulse – Known as LMQ last year, Impulse's roster
does look strong with farming machine XiaoWeiXiao. They brought former SKT 1K
top laner Impact over to replace the departed Ackerman and Apollo takes over
for Vasilii in the bottom lane, which is likely the biggest concern for this
new roster.
CLG – CLG has a
really solid lineup and good coaching backup, but from what we saw at IEM
Cologne, they didn’t look like the best team. Zion Spartan and Xmithie have
both gone a while since being consistently standout players, but they both seem
driven to get back on top. Doublelift and Aphromoo will need to be on point
this split for CLG to have a shot at finishing in the top 4.
Winterfox – Altec has shown he is as good an ADC as
there is in North America . Pobelter has been playing
very well in solo queue and he is entering his prime right now. Helios's
brother moved into the top lane, and it remains to be seen how he performs in
competitive play. May possibly be the surprise team of the split.
Team Coast – Very nearly did not make the LCS but showed some
resiliency in getting out of the expansion tournament. Have not been able to play much together
lately, expect Coast to struggle out of the gate this split and likely further
into it.
Gravity – Curse
Academy
Team Dignitas – Very shaky performance at IEM Cologne
that almost saw them fall in a massive upset to Aces High. At the same time,
Shiphtur showed how good of a player he is as he just about single handedly
carried Dignitas to victory in that series. With Crumbzz and KiWiKiD both
underperforming at the end of the last split, the magic 8 ball would say
"Outlook not bright." If they can pick it up, things will be
different, but they left little evidence of that before the off-season began.
Team 8 – Whilst
Team 8 is a very fun team to watch, they remain the weakest team in the NA LCS
at the time. Calitrolz might be a solid top laner, but every single team has a
better player in every other respective role. If they want to have a chance of
making worlds (or even the summer split) They will have to practice. A lot.
