Well, that’s week 2 in the books. We saw a whole lot of action – a couple of games so slow you could literally feel the crowd growing restless and, to cap it all off, we saw a surrender before the game had even started. Week 3 is on the horizon but, for now, let’s look back at the highs and lows of the past week.
Roster troubles plague Echo Fox
I’ll start with the most bizarre item from this week, NA LCS team, Echo Fox, were forced to forfeit their Saturday game against NRG due to roster eligibility issues. The previous week, other teams had raised a query around the eligibility of certain members of the Fox team and after Riot investigated 3 members of Echo Fox were declared ineligible for the game. Despite their best efforts, Fox were unable to submit a viable roster by the deadline, despite several extensions, thus rendering their Saturday game an automatic forfeit. Echo Fox were however able to submit a roster for Sundays game and fielded 3 substitute players, including Golden glue who played with Team8 last year.
Immortals Remain Immortal
Sticking with the NA LCS, Immortals remain undefeated after handily dispatching both TSM and NRG. Before the season the moniker of “Best team NA” was attached to Immortals based entirely on the strength of their roster, it’s hard to knock anyone who had that preconception before the split had even begun because IMT look poised to run the table. When you look at the team and the strength on the roster; it’s hard to pick even one player who couldn’t carry a game, it’s also plain to see that the team is built to brawl and does so with devastating effect. There’s still a long way to go in the season however don’t be shocked if come playoff time we’re still talking about this team.
Liquid Get on the Board.
After 3 games, 3 losses Team Liquid started their match against the 3 substitute player Echo Fox looking like that record would soon be jumping to 0-4. However despite constant pressure from Fox, TL held on for dear life and clawed their way back in to the game, eventually getting on the board with their first win after a game winning team fight. Despite coming out with a win this week Liquid appear to be in turmoil, long time jungler IWDominate announced his retirement leading to Xxxx replacing him in mid. The team also opted to sub in Matt at support for both games. With talented players like Fenix and Piglet on the team, it’s more likely than not that TL will iron out the issues, but until they get their roster locked in, expect more games where they look totally out of sync.
EU Remains in a Dead Heat
5 teams. That’s right, 5 teams are closing the week out sharing the spot atop the EU LCS standings: Elements, G2, Vitality, UOL and H2K are all sitting at 3-1 with no team really looking like they’re ready to pull away. This deadlock is set to be broken in week 3 as several of the teams will be facing each other, first on Thursday Elements will take on Unicorns of Love, followed immediately by H2K and Vitality. Then on Friday UOL are in action again, this time against newcomers G2 Esports. Maybe an early front runner emerges following week 3, but the way the EU LCS is shaking out it’s probably going to be neck and neck right down to the last game of the split, and personally I can think of nothing better.
G2 May Have Found a Monster
EU LCS team G2 may well have found themselves a monster player in jungler Trick. He’s quietly having a superb season and leads all junglers in assists on the season, amassing a whopping 34 assists, combine that with his 9 kills which puts him 6th amongst junglers. What’s even more impressive is he’s been involved in all these kills and yet has only died 5 times, a stat which has him tied for 4th fewest deaths amongst junglers who’ve played more than 1 game. If Trick keeps up this level of play, it’s not hard to make a case of G2 still being on screen when playoffs come around.