2020 Spring Split LCS Preseason Ranking

After not a single team making out of Groups in Worlds 2019, LCS has a big preseason change from the roster changes between the team and the format of playoffs. In this article, I’m thrilled to have a collaboration with the RIT League of Legends captain and also 2018 Preseason ranking writer, Tyler “Infiltrator” Prince, to have a conversation and give his opinions on the ranking. As a result, here’s our list from bottom to the top of LCS teams in Spring 2020.

10. Golden Guardians

Top: Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell

Jungle: Can “Closer” Çelik

Mid: Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer

ADC: Victor “FBI” Huang

Support: Yuri “Keith” Jew

In 2019, the Golden Guardians had a pretty decent run in the LCS with 5th in Spring and 7th in Summer. However, the 2020 preseason of Golden Guardians has made me a question and started to doubt them. First of all, the “Keith” role swapped from ADC to Support. Although he is a talented ADC, the Golden Guardians roster video proves that he was chosen because he has the “hands” to play support. This is his only chance to be in starting lineups. They could have taken him to be the starting ADC instead of “FBI” where we feel like “Keith” can do a better job. We want “Goldenglue” want to start an LCS lineup, but replacing “Froggen” is somewhat a downgrade, in my opinion. Moreover, since he’s the only NA midlaner in the LCS, there will be high expectations for this young player. People are looking for him to be proof that there’s still homegrown talent on the competitive stage. The positive sparks that we find on this team were their new superstar jungler from TCL “Closer.” He was well known for his crazy EU solo queue after only a few weeks in Worlds 2019. Unfortunately, they lost 0–3 against got 0–3 by Clutch Gaming and was eliminated on the play-in stage. In our opinion, he and “Hauntzer” are the only shining part in this roster and probably carried the whole team. However, we think the Golden Guardians is going to end like their owner Golden State Warrior in the NBA, end up in the last place.

9. Immortals

Top: Paul “Soaz” Boyer

Jungle: Jake “Xmithie” Puchero

Mid: Jérémy “Eika” Valdenaire

ADC: Johnny “Atlec” Ru

Support: Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent

After Optic Gaming sold their spot on the LCS, the Immortals are back and ready to return and go for glory as they did in NA LCS 2017. Unlike their 2017 roster, where they were mostly young talent, this year, they are like a retired NA team, where most players of veterans in League. One of the most significant signs from Immortals is the jungler “Xmithie” from Team Liquid. Although he is 4 times LCS champion as of age 28, there’s no doubt in anyone mind that he should be retired. This definitely showed in his recent performance. They also got two French imports solo lanes, “Soaz” from Misfits (LEC) and “Eika” from Team-LDLC (EU Master). “Zaboutine,” their head coach, has a good relationship with French players, which helps with scrims and building teams. However, compared to many imports that other teams are receiving, Immortals’ solo lanes don’t stand out As what we consider to be decent players. The same goes for their bot lane, where both “Atlec” and “Hakuho” are overshadowed by many good duos in the region. Overall, “Xmithie” is the only strong player in Immortals. We don’t think “Xmithie” is good enough to carry these teams solely based on his ability to win against the lowest-ranked team and cause a few uproars.

8. FlyQuest

Top: Omran “V1per” Shoura

Jungle: Lucas “Santorin” Larsen

Mid: Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage

ADC: Jason “WildTurtle” Tran

Support: Lee “Ignar” Dong-geun

Making it the semifinals in 2019 Spring does create good momentum for FlyQuest on the LCS stage. However, they dropped significantly to 9th place due to poor performance from the whole team, especially “WildTurtle” and “Pobeltor.” In response to their weakness, they got “PowerOfEvill” from CLG, which is an upgrade compared to their past midlaner “Pobeltor.” Additionally, they also got “Ignar” from FC Schalke 04, who is being an underrated Support in the LEC and overshadowed by many supports in the regions. Nonetheless, based on not just his recent split, “WildTurtle”’ is underperforming compared to many ADCs in the LCS. This also including “Santorin” compared to many Junglers that he needed to prove himself as a “better jungler win” type of player. As for Rookie of the Spring Split “V1per”, he was the only one who stayed consistently, in Summer Split 2019 and I am very excited to see what this young talent can do. In our opinion, FlyQuest no longer has the momentum to win LCS or Worlds. Currently, they’re being just an LCS team just want to make in playoffs, where we hope they changed that attitude and improve more in the future.

7. CLG

Top: Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min

Jungle: Raymond “Wiggly” Griffin

Mid: Lee “Crown” Min-ho

ADC: Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes

Support: Andy “Smoothie” Ta

CLG finally showed up in Summer 2019 after being a mid-tier team in 2018 (7th at Spring and 8th in Summer). The reason for their success was due to “Wiggly” and “Stixxay,” stepping up their game alongside the new famous imports from TCL “Ruin.” All three-player mentioned staying with CLG; however, considering that there are all mid-tier players, this can cause some troubles when most teams are upgrading themselves. Fortunately, CLG is blessed to have “Crown,” a 2018 Worlds champion and one of the hottest free agent this year, join their them as a midlaner. Additionally, they also traded their support “Biofrost” with TSM “Smoothie,” who is an excellent communicator, but lacks high mechanics. With this roster, we believe CLG could find themselves in last year’s situation, struggling to perform in well in Spring and making a comeback in Summer. However, if they have indeed improved themselves from previous years, CLG might have a chance to be in the top 5.

6. Evil Geniuses

Top: Colin “Kumo” Zhao

Jungle: Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen

Mid: Daniele “Jizuke” di Mauro

ADC: Bae “Bang” Jun-sik

Support: Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam

A bit summary of Evil Geniuses, they are known for the first, and only the NA team won The International 2015 (Dota) and recently acquired NRG Esport in CSGO. In League of Legends, they played in LCS season 4 and are now looking forward as Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of Evil Geniuses, said: “Remember! We are evils, and we are geniuses. And Evil Geniuses do not stop until Worlds’ domination is achieved.” In this new roster, the player we’re interested in is “Kumo,” former C9 Academy top laner. In the few games he played when “Licorice” got injured in Summer 2019, he got many highlight moments from solo kills every Team Liquid member to dominating performance on TSM. After a not successful year in Team Vitaly, “Jizuke,” the Italian Stallion, coming from LEC, is also a great addition to Evil Geniuses after so many success stories as an EU midlaner in LCS. The others are very clear from their resume: the MVP Summer 2019 “Svenskeren,” three times World Champions “Bang,” and young talented support “Zeyzal.” We like this roster and maybe have a good chance of stopping Team Liquid domination and win the split.

5. Dignitas

Top: Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon

Jungle: Jonathan “Grig” Armao

Mid: Henrik “Froggen” Hansen

ADC: Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen

Support: Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black

One of the oldest and most meme-able organizations in the LCS franchise has finally come back and claimed the slot from Clutch Gaming. Right at the start, the “Huni” with 2.5 million contracts is somewhat questionable and risky. This doesn’t mean “Huni” is a bad player. However, he is a double-edged sword who likes to play carry champions and tends to counter pick other players. This is where “Froggen” shines over Huni’s weaknesses. Known for his Anivia one trick, “Froggen” is the master of controlled mages and off-meta picks, which made drafting against this team difficult. Additionally, they also have “Aphromoo,” a respectable leader from 100 Thieves, who has come to prove that he is ready to raise another young Rookie, ADC “Johnsun.” Starting in the jungle, “Grig,” a jungler but not entirely from TSM, is a very supportive player but doesn’t have much experience with leadership. In the end, they have some pieces that make sense and help them made through the play-off. However, if the pieces doesn’t work with each other, they can fall offs the ranking. That’s why Dignitas is at number 5.

4. 100 Thieves

Top: Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho

Jungle: William “Meteos” Hartman

Mid: Tommy “Ry0ma” Le

ADC: Cody “Cody Sun” Sun

Support: William “Stunt” Chen

100 Thieves doesn’t have a good run in 2019 (last place in Spring and 8th in Summer), although spending the most on roster changing in LCS. In 2020, after getting PapaSmithy, a respectable LCK by many people as the General Manager, 100 Thieves is looking for a massive change in roster decision. First, they had a new head coach, “Zikz,” a former TSM coach and 2 LCS champion while on CLG, which already heading the right direction for them since there’s a lot of criticism on the previous coach. Second came the reunion of “Ssumday,” “Meteos” and “Cody Sun,” who are all very valuable in the pre-season and very excited that 100T can upgrade the roster from some of the old pieces that worked previously. They’re also getting new blood from OCE “Ry0ma”, a former midlaner of Boomer and young talent from their Academy team “Stunt.” Some people said the addition of “Ry0ma” is a bit questionable, but we trust PapaSmithy on his decisions, considering how well the player performed against many talented midlaners on the LCS. We think it’s a good improvement for the roster which suitable for the state of the organization right now and probably in the top 5 contenders of the split.

3. Team SoloMid

Top: Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik

Jungle: Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett

Mid: Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg

ADC: Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup

Support: Vincent “Biofrost” Wang

After missing Worlds two times in a row on the final regional gauntlet and getting reverse swept by Team Liquid in Spring 2019, TSM can’t seem to fix their problem since “Doublelift” left. This year, TSM made many significant changes to their rosters, with the exceptions of “Broken Blade” and, of course, “Bjergsen.” Their new bot lane, “Kobbe” and “Biofrost” will go head to head against “Doublelift” and “CoreJJ” as the best bot lane due on LCS, based on last year’s performance. Since LEC has a lot of strong ADC (Perkz, Rekkles, Hans Sama,…), getting “Kobbe” was a huge upgrade from “Zven.” Returning to TSM is an excellent decision for “Biofrost” as a Support, considering how much he matured as a part of CLG. After dealing with the shenanigans involving three junglers last year, it seems they finally settled on the most infamous young talent “Dardoch” as their jungler. Known for being a toxic teammate and a true NA Lee Sin one trick, he has been all over the place in the LCS. Unfortunately, those teams lack players strong enough for him to go up against. However, with a full stack of talents and veterans, this is the perfect time for him to prove that he is the best native jungler in NA. Personally, every year, we have high expectations for TSM and believe they have been the best team in NA for the past 2 years. However, they have unfortunately not claimed the LCS titles or qualified for Worlds. Nonetheless, this is a fully stacked team that has a very high chance of dethroning Team Liquid.

2. Cloud 9

Top: Eric “Licorice” Ritchie

Jungle: Robert “Blabber” Huang

Mid: Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer

ADC: Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen

Support: Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme

We would say Cloud 9 had a decent run in 2019, making to Worlds and being finalists in Summer seasons. However, Cloud 9 is once more selling their best players; this time, “Svenskeren” and “Zeyzal” with two Academy players “Kumo” and “Deftly” to Evil Geniuses. It’s not surprising they keep doing this since after selling “Impact” and “Jensen” to Team Liquid in the past few years. In the end, they always find a way to make it to Playoffs and nurturing young talents. In 2020, they got “Zven” from TSM, which could be a questionable decision after his so-so performance in a high-pressure moment. However, he’s a good ADC and needed a new team that had more of a “brotherhood”, similarly to his previous team, G2 Esports. They also got “Vulcan” from Clutch Gaming, which we think is a suitable replacement based on his performance in Worlds. A perfect substitute for Cloud 9, “Blabber” finally has a chance to start for C9 after “Svenkeren” left. Compared to the last jungler, “Blaber” is way more aggressive, which can be very risky in some situations. However, he’s a young player on a team that has a reputation for growing fresh NA talent. A great example is all 3 of 5 players on C9 Academy all have a starting position on LCS. In general, Cloud 9 has a great roster in 2020. The outcome will likely depend on how “Blaber” and “Zven” perform in the Spring Finals.

1. Team Liquid

Top: Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong

Jungle: Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen

Mid: Mads “Jensen” Brock-Pedersen

ADC: Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng

Support: Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in

There’s not much to say about Team Liquid, 5 times LCS champions, MSI finalists, and one of the best teams that the NA has produced. It seems like this team is almost unstoppable in the LCS, but not in Worlds. As per usual, they’re trying to find the weakest point in their teams and improve it by getting a better talent to replace it. With that, the only roster they announced for 2020 is “Broxah” from Fnatic. Known as one of the best jungler in EU history, his smart pathing, and very formative play styles. He was a great addition to Fnatic and will be the key player on that team. Compared to their previous jungler “Xmithie,” “Broxah” is definitely an upgrade; however, it will change the playstyle of him or the team since “Xmithie” has more flexibility on the draft than “Broxah.” Once again, Team Liquid already had another super team, and there’s no doubt in mind they want to get that 5th title and international dominance. However, we doubt a team can dominate and get a 5th consecutive title. G2 Esports snagged 4 in a row and then lost to Fnatic in the EU LCS. In Spring, Team Liquid would have eliminated by TSM if brother “Zven” didn’t throw on that last game. In Summer, they were very close on both Finals against Cloud 9 as well as against Clutch Gaming in the Semifinals. In conclusion, we would have to agree with Colin Cowherd - a sports media personality defines championship fatigue: “Maintaining greats to me is hard or harder than attending great.”