Golden Guardians to Start With Solo and Chime in the 2021 LCS Summer Split
The Golden Guardians will enter the upcoming 2021 LCS Summer Split with a noticeably different roster — they’ll field LCS veteran Colin “Solo” Earnest (known for his pretty impressive Echo Fox and FlyQuest stints) and Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio instead of Aiden “Niles” Tidwell and former LLA champion Leandro “Newbie” Marcos (both of whom will be relegated to LCS Academy).
Stepping up to the plate, please join us in welcoming @SoloLCS to our Academy roster ????
— Golden Guardians (@GoldenGuardians) May 3, 2021
We look forward to growing together in the coming split and making even bigger strides than the last ???? pic.twitter.com/q9ZxZfSWWQ
These are highly welcome changes, although they are by no means impactful enough for GGS to reach the playoffs, let alone mount an offensive and challenge for a spot at the top. Simply put, they lack the tools and the talent which are necessary to compete at the highest of levels. This might be an overly harsh way of phrasing it, but it is by no means incorrect. After losing four of their most important players to 100 Thieves back in November, GGS went for a much more modest line-up, one that wasn’t assembled with the goal of winning LCS. Instead, the GGS coaching staff — with Nicholas “Inero” Smith at the helm — focused more on giving up-and-coming talent a shot and potentially finding a diamond in the rough.
Unfortunately, they’ve yet to strike gold. And, well, they might be digging in the wrong place altogether.
Their 3W-15L record from Spring tells the whole tale. There did have a couple of good moments, but they were too few and far between to warrant a spot higher up the standings. Moreover, most of these “flashes” came from Ethan “Iconic” Wilkinson, with Nick “Ablazeolive” Abbott also performing a bit better than anticipated. As a whole, though, GGS failed to impress — and we’re really putting it mildly here.
Still, they deserve praise and commendation for trying their hardest and for taking the path less traveled. It might not be much of a consolation prize, but at least it’s something.
Temper Your Expectations
With a veteran top laner like Solo aboard, the Golden Guardians should, in theory, do a bit better this time around. Niles was the very definition of a weak link, and was getting exploited and punished for his poor map awareness and underwhelming performance each and every single game. At first it was sort of funny; then, over time, it all morphed into a bona fide tragedy.
By the same token, Chime showed a ton of promise back in the NA Scouting Grounds and is definitely a promising young talent worthy of attention. Then again, the LCS is chock-full with spectacular supports (and a couple of seasoned “geezers” who can still trade blows from time to time) which doesn’t bode well for someone as green and inexperienced as Chime. If Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes doesn’t “show him the ropes” they’ll both be in for an even ruder awakening than expected. Either way, Golden Guardians is making some big changes this mid-season with the addition of Chime and Solo, and only time will tell if it’ll pay off better for them than the Spring line-up.
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