OK, it's only a little past the midseason following Friday night's matches between the still-undefeated Team SoloMid over rival Cloud9 and Immortals keeping pace with a victory of its own against Team Envy. I can still hand out some superlatives, right?
We have only four weeks left to go in the season, and the fight for the playoffs is on. The 10 NA LCS teams are sprinting to the finish line to see which squads will make the trip to Toronto this coming August for the Finals. Before we get there, however, let's appreciate some of the best (and worst) of the NA LCS summer split thus far through five weeks (and a Friday).
The Obligatory TSM is the Best Team in NA LCS Award
Team SoloMid
I don't have to say much about this topic, right? After Friday's win over C9, TSM are 11-0, have dropped only three games all split and are thundering toward a first-round bye in the playoffs and an expected eighth straight trip to the NA LCS Finals. You can talk all you want about the stars on the Rift, but last split's team arguably had more talent on it with future Hall of Famer Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim as starting support. Instead, the key to TSM's success has been the cohesion the team has shown with rookie support Vincent "Biofrost" Wang in YellOwStaR's place and the chemistry between the veteran members on the squad.
Last split, TSM's talent lost out to Counter Logic Gaming's teamwork in Las Vegas at the NA LCS Finals. This split, though, the teamwork and trust has caught up to the talent capabilities on the team. Everything has come together for one of the best regular seasons in LCS history, whether in North America or Europe.
The Obligatory Phoenix1 is the Worst Team in NA LCS Award
Echo Fox
Wait, hold up -- we're not giving it to Phoenix1? Oops. After the past couple of weeks, the narrative of Phoenix1's dismal demise has turned into realistic optimism. While no one is ready to start printing world championship P1 gear, the team has been getting better every week it heads to the studio. The team has finally gotten its full roster together, and it announced a few days ago it had signed Korean import Jung "Fixer" Jae-woo to a deal that will have him compete alongside other support player Austin "Gate" Yu.
Echo Fox, on the other hand, is taking in water and starting to sink to the bottom of the standings. As a team overall, the Foxes are probably better than the Firebirds of Phoenix1, yet that doesn't really matter when one side is constantly improving amidst harsh criticism and the other is seemingly unable to figure out its issues. You can see the refinement -- well, at least the effort -- in P1's macro game and late-game strategies, and Echo Fox are still making the same needless mistakes that got it started on this long losing streak.
A solid team on paper, Echo Fox is a prime example of the state of League of Legends in 2016. One or even two above-average players won't affect results unless the team knows how to play together and make wise calls in the climax of a game.
The Pleasantly Surprising Team of the Split Award
Team Liquid
Spring Rookie of the Split winner Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett suspended. 0-3 start. Rumors of dysfunction within the team. It felt as if this could be the season in which Liquid fell off the rails and crash landed itself in the relegation tournament. However, it never came to that point; Dardoch was reinstated, the team started chugging along again and the addition of Jovani "Fabbbyyy" Guillen bolstered the starting five's overall cohesion.
As we've already talked about with the best (TSM) and worst (EFX), your roster on paper gets you as far as you can throw it. None of it truly matters unless the team's chemistry is in sync and the team can adapt to the current meta in front of it. With Fabbbyyy, the team picked up a probable downgrade in individual skill but upgraded in terms of communication and flexibility. Fabbbyyy possesses the ability to shape himself into the configuration his team needs him to be, and his utility-oriented style works currently in the mid-focused/topside meta we find ourselves in.
Like TSM, the teamwork and experience of playing together as a unit is catching up to the individual talent of the players, and that can only mean good things ahead for TL.
The Most Disappointing Team of the Split Award
Counter Logic Gaming
Could it be anyone else? After CLG got to the finals against SK Telecom T1 at the Mid-Season Invitational, I thought no one would ever disrespect the repeating NA LCS champions ever again. It was impossible. CLG were a legitimate top-five team in the world, were greater than the sum of its spare parts, and the team's machine-like work ethic and belief in one another were a sight to behold.
Less than two months later, and we're here. CLG is 4-6, barely hanging on to a playoff spot tied with Apex Gaming, and the team is showing great difficulties playing around the mid lane with Choi "Huhi" Jae-hyun. CLG's strength, besides playing together as one, was focusing on its side lanes, and that course of action has been ripped away with how important the mid lane has become in the current meta. Until the meta shifts or the team starts playing better in the mid lane, CLG's fight to get into the playoffs will continue. And, honestly, as a team that won two titles when the majority bet against it, being on the fringe of the postseason shouldn't faze it as the split rounds into the home stretch.
The All-Fionn NA LCS Team
Top Lane: Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell (TSM)
I'm going to try to do my best to not build this entire team out of TSM players. Hauntzer, the former Gravity starting top laner, has finally evolved into the reliable star that many thought he could become last year on his rookie club. Hauntzer leads top laners in almost all categories, and he has repeatedly been a part of the first kill in a game to get his team ahead. While not an ace on a team with two superstar carries, Hauntzer doesn't need to be; he's smart, crafty and, most importantly, consistent. He's the type of player that fuels the rest of the team and does the little things to win titles, à la Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong on Summoner's Cup champions SKT T1 in 2013.
Jungle: Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin (IMT)
This was definitely the most difficult position to judge. Reignover, Dardoch, TSM's Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen and C9's Will "Meteos" Hartman are all having stellar seasons, and by split's end, my decision for jungler could definitely sway. Yet, at the end of the deliberations, I ultimately sided with the reigning MVP from Immortals. Reignover is the maestro that brings everything together for the second-seeded team in the league. He's brilliant when his team needs him the most, and he simply makes the players around him better. Any team, North American or international, would be lucky to have Reignover on its roster.
Mid Lane: Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg (TSM)
He's the best damn player in the West today. He's on his way to a third MVP award in the NA LCS, and the team that TSM built around him following the end of a disappointing 2015 season is going to give the Danish superstar his best chance ever at making a top four at Worlds come October. There have been times when teams have gotten ahead or looked ready to end TSM's winning streak this season, and then Bjergsen has come up, said, 'No,' and ended any attempt at taking down his team in a best-of-three match. We're watching a player on the road to possibly becoming the greatest Western player of all time if he and TSM continue their progress in tandem.
AD Carry: Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng (TSM)
Another close one, TSM's Doublelift barely edges out C9's Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi for the superlative. Last season's ending couldn't have been worst for Doublelift. He moves away from his longtime team -- one he'd just won a title with -- at the start of the split to join its biggest rival. His new team struggles mightily in the regular season, and a lot of the blame is heaped on his shoulders. In the finals, after making it through all the turmoil, he loses to the team he left when the player that replaced him gets the final teamfight victory.
It was the worst script you could possibly write for him.
Doublelift's summer split has been a testament to his strong mentality. He didn't regress or go into a slump following the NA LCS Finals loss, and his partnership with Biofrost has been a main reason why TSM has gone from a team in sixth place to an undefeated top-place team. Like TSM's other ace, Bjergsen, Doublelift has grown over the past year; the bottom-lane duo with Biofrost is earning the outspoken AD carry a new position: veteran teacher. And, so far, he's performing even better than someone writing TSM fan fiction could imagine.
Support: Vincent "Biofrost" Wang (TSM)
The runaway rookie of the split doesn't even feel like a newcomer to the NA LCS. He has hardly had any hiccups alongside Doublelift in the bottom lane, and his play is reminiscent of a player far beyond his years. As I've stated before in a previous feature, the word that describes Bifrost best is businesslike. He's cool, calm and collected in the way he plays the game, and his engagements are second to none in the league already as a rookie. On a team with veterans and a fellow budding star in Hauntzer, there is no better place for Biofrost to come into his own. He has strong management behind him, a solid coaching staff and some of the best Western players in the world to help along his development.