Due to sleep deprivation and a few too many “daddy sodas” Sunday night while watching the Super Bowl my recap is a bit later than I would have liked, so I apologise if you’ve been waiting with bated breath for a roundup of the week just gone.
Liquid Get Rolling
Team Liquid got going this week, they utterly crushed Dignitas and despite the loss to Immortals, they showed that if anyone is going to hand IMT a loss then it’s probably going to be TL. New jungler Dardoch has certainly provided a spark that TL were in sore need of, it also seems Matt is the new starting support after Liquid kept him in for another full week. Liquid right now appear to be gelling, Fenix is back on form and Piglet looks ready to put the team on his back again.
Echo Fox Getting There
I think you’d be hard pressed to watch the 2 games from Echo Fox this week and not feel like the team is improving. Yes, they lost both games, though not without putting up a fight. This includes going toe to toe with TSM for longer than anyone expected and taking Dignitas right to the wire. They may only have 1 win so far, but I don’t believe they’ll end the season without getting another one in the W column. Staying in the LCS is a long road, and visa issues for 3 of the starting 5 have all but signed the papers to send Fox to the drop zone. Yet if they keep improving the way they have, it’s not entirely crazy to think we’ll still be watching Echo Fox in the summer.
C9 Heating Up
It could be said that after this week, Cloud 9 are on…wait for it…Cloud 9. The team are finding their form and dispatched both of their week 4 opponents, granted I don’t think anyone predicted Renegades beating C9 but I can say with absolute certainty the win over NRG was less expected. NRG are one of the top teams in the NA LCS and entered the game as the favourites, but thanks to Rush’s signature aggressive style and Hai’s top tier shot calling C9 held NRG to only 3 kills. Midlaner Jensen is becoming one of the most dominant players on the circuit and made some breath taking shockwave plays on Orianna.
G2 and H2K Remain Deadlocked
It’s still a tie in the EU LCS, both H2K and G2 won their respective matches keeping them tied for first place. Both teams took care of business, including a complete drubbing of Fnatic by G2. It seemed like Emperor and Hybrid were just too much for Rekkles and Noxiac in the bot lane, meanwhile Trick continued to be a terror from the jungle. Perkz also handled Febiven really well in mid and looked comfortable facing off against one of the best mid laners ever to play in Europe. On the H2K side they didn’t have a win which was as convincing as G2’s, however they showed exceptional staying power and poise under pressure when taken to 37 minutes against Roccat. It’s often said in any sport, the true strength of a team is shown when they can get wins despite not playing well, and that’s what H2K showed this week. This tie at the top gets settled this week as G2 and H2K go head to head.
Immortals Still Unbeaten
This section is becoming almost a weekly feature, NA LCS super team Immortals remain unbeaten. Being brutally honest, none of the teams look anywhere near good enough to take down this star studded roster. I will absolutely not be shocked if IMT are undefeated all the way to the finals.