NA LCS Regional Qualifier for Worlds Preview
A look at the four teams competing for the third NA seed to the World Championship.
Team Liquid
- Top: Samson “Lourlo” Jackson
- Jungle: Lyonel “Arcsecond” Pfaender
- Mid: Kim “Fenix” Jae-hoon
- ADC: Phil “Jynthe” Vu
- Support: Matthew “Matt” Elento
Team Liquid looks like a mess in its current state. They don’t have Dardoch, the aggressive and invasive jungler that had been one of the shining lights for this team throughout the year, and they also don’t have their former hyper-carry ADC, Piglet, anymore. Fabbbyyy has also left the team after Jynthe took over his starting spot in the roster. For the most part, it looks as though they’ve sacrificed any chance they had for Worlds and are just planning for next year.
Player to Watch: Arcsecond
As his jungle debut, Arcsecond is my player to watch if this team has any hopes of getting past the first round. While Arcsecond is one of the top ranked players on the Challenger ladder, he is still an unknown quantity. Having only been on the team for a few weeks, I have doubts that he can mesh within the team as well as Dardoch did. However, if he can show up for his new team, then maybe Team Liquid can try to make a run for the gauntlet.
Team Envy
- Top: Woo-Yeong “Seraph” Shin
- Jungle: Se-young “Procxin” Kim
- Mid: Geon-woo “Ninja” Noh
- ADC: Benjamin “LOD” deMunck
- Support: Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent
Having been picked up by Team EnVyUs right before the Summer Split, this team looked to maintain their spot as a middling team in the LCS. However, at the start of the split, they were able to gain a lead in the standings against their competitors. Unfortunately, as the season led on, they were unable to maintain this top spot, and quickly fell back to their expected placement. After their loss to Cloud 9 in the playoffs, there was a real question about their communication (or the lack of). While not a favorite for winning the gauntlet, they should be able to beat Liquid in the first round. But if they are looking to actually make it to Worlds, then they are going to have cleaned up their play since we last saw them.
Player to Watch: Seraph
Seraph acts as the primary carry for NV. Even though most of their series against Cloud 9 was spent being pushed around, Seraph’s engages on Kennen were one of the few moments where NV actually was looking to be proactive rather than reactive. A lot of jungle pressure has been funneled into him, but he’s only proved worth of that a few times. If his carry potential and consistency are improved, this team might be able to swipe a few games off of C9 or even IMT.
Cloud9
- Top: Eon-young “Impact” Jeong
- Jungle: William “Meteos” Hartman
- Mid: Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen
- ADC: Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi
- Support: Andy “Smoothie” Ta
Cloud 9 is one of the most storied team in North American League of Legends, and with many split championships and having visited the World Championship every year since their arrival on the scene, it’s hard not to expect them to keep up the tradition. Their performance in the finals against TSM was befitting of a second place team, but there still seemed to be something lacking in their play that prevented them from snatching the title, and first place World’s seed, from TSM. Meteos was the player I found most lacking in this series. While he tried to bring back his classic Zac into Rek’Sai, his over-commitment often led to deaths for him and Jensen. Jensen on his own was strong on Cassiopeia, but his Taliyah reflected a lack of familiarity. Sneaky and Smoothie should be able to be a strong point for their team though. With the lane swap having been shut down, these two are a strong duo lane that was able to hold their own against TSM’s Doublelift and Biofrost. None of the other teams in the gauntlet have as strong of a bot lane as TSM, and so C9 should be able to find victories out of their strong lanes, especially if Meteos can work with the team for objectives and refrain from over-committing.
Player to Watch: Impact
Speaking of strong laners, Impact is one of the best. After the series versus TSM, I’d find most people hard pressed to not call Impact the MVP for C9. If he can get his hands on Gnar, this man just might be able to carry against a team not as coordinated and prepared as TSM. He is probably one of the biggest benefactors of the changes to towers, as his proficiency in a one on one match up against another top laner often leans in his favor. I am personally excited to see how he stacks up against Huni and world-class top laners, should C9 win the qualifying gauntlet.
Immortals
- Jungle: Yeu-jin “Reignover” Kim
- Mid: Eugene “Pobelter” Park
- ADC: Jason “WildTurtle” Tran
- Support: Adrian “Adrian” Ma
IMT’s play against CLG showed them looking crisper and more collected than they had since playoffs began. While Huni may be one of those star, carry-oriented top laners, he reflects a lot of inflexibility that could prove fatal against top tier competition. In the regular season, he died more times than any other top laner while trying to add more plays to the montage reel. The rest of the map, however, gives a bit of calm to the storm of Huni and Reignover. Adrian and Pobelter’s consistent supportive and controlled play has been an anchor for IMT’s dominance this year. While against TSM, they couldn’t have the impact they wished to, they should be able to control the bottom side of the map for IMT against whoever they face in the final round of the gauntlet.
Player to Watch: Reignover
Reignover is without a doubt in my mind, the best player on IMT. His ability to exert pressure on the map is one of the best in the LCS, and I don’t expect him to really falter in that department. Alongside Huni, he seems to be able to make advantages for his team that other junglers wouldn’t. Of the junglers in the play offs, he had the highest damage per minute at 411. Despite this, he does have to play an initator role for his team, and as such, he takes a fair share of his teams deaths. Should the enemy team be able to find a way to control Reignover, IMT might struggle, but I doubt any other jungler in the qualifier can completely stand toe-to-toe with him.
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