It was quite the week of LCS action this past weekend as the third week of the split got off to a surprise start with CLG finally earning their first win of the season and Golden Guardians providing the upset of the year so far as they took down Team Liquid in rather convincing fashion. With every team now getting one win at least under their belts, it’s time to take another look at the week in recap, though now with a twist. This week, instead of going through each match individually, we’ll be going team by team breaking down their performance this week.

So, without further ado, here is our Spring Split Week 3 recap.

Evil Geniuses | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

Evil Geniuses opened up the week in a match against CLG that by all accounts should’ve been theirs. While the team did make several crucial mistakes in positioning as several of its members found themselves standing too close to the CLG front line, where Syndra was able to land some clutch orb stuns, the team honestly looked good in the match-up and seemed poised to take the win.

Unfortunately, EG fell into the trap that is Soraka top, and no matter how strong a fight they got going or how low anybody in CLG got, they just got healed to full health with absolutely no repercussions. I’m not holding it against EG, Soraka is literally just so strong right now she’s impossible to deal with, and is getting nerfed out of the lane by Riot next patch, so we won’t see something like that again hopefully before then (at least if EG remembers to ban it).

Game two provided a much better grasp of how EG as a team is doing, and we got quite the showing from there as Bang and Jiizuke popped off to push EG to a quick win over FlyQuest. Jiizuke in particular was an absolute monster on the Malzahar pick into PowerofEvil’s Zoe, constantly finding targets to lockdown for his team to finish off with his ultimate Nether Grasp and getting pick after pick while skirting the edge of fights.

While a 1-1 weekend isn’t something to be terribly upset about, even with the cheese loss to CLG being rather disheartening to see, and the team seems to live or die off of whether or not Jiizuke and one of Sven or Bang can pop off and carry a game. The team needs to find a sense of consistency in its play if it wants to solidify itself as a top team in the region, especially with matches against two of the top teams in the league this weekend with Immortals on Sunday and Cloud9 on Monday.

I’m predicting a win over IMT but a loss to C9 this week given EG’s strength in the early game and the rumored struggles they’ve had with C9 in scrims, so a 1-1 week overall.

Counter Logic Gaming | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

Counter Logic Gaming finally got a win for both itself and its Academy team this weekend, bringing both teams up to a win a piece in their respective leagues. While fans were celebrating not having to go 0-18 this split, many doubts were had even amongst them as to whether or not CLG truly deserved the win it got in the LCS.

I’m not saying CLG wasn’t good enough to beat a struggling EG on day one, but even with the most broken champion in the top lane right now in Soraka the team felt like they barely squeaked by in the match-up, winning fights by the skin of their teeth as mispositionings and moments where someone was caught out by EG were all nullified by the Soraka’s absurd healing factor. With how close some of these fights were to turning even with the Soraka, there’s a good chance CLG would’ve lost here had it not been for the pick, and worries still abound about their long term prospects as the team fell to a beautiful macro play by IMT on Monday. The team looked like they had the game in the bag until a dance around Baron pit ended up dragging out too long and allowing IMT to send Eika and Aletc to shove straight through the mid lane and take the match.

Those are the sort of coordination mistakes that we keep seeing with this roster, and while we did see some improvements in their individual gameplay, they really need to work on their macro game if they want to climb out of the hole they’ve found themselves in. With matches against the similarly struggling Golden Guardians and the newly Broxah-empowered Team Liquid this weekend, who has also been struggling this split, it’s a fantastic weekend for CLG to prove they have what it takes and can correct the ship before it goes plunging off a cliff and missing playoffs. I think they can squeak out a win against Golden Guardians, but I’m not seeing a win against Team Liquid despite the reigning LCS champ’s struggles, so another 1-1 week, possibly even an 0-2 if GGS pops off.

100 Thieves | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

Another week and another 1-1 scoreline for the rebuilt 100 Thieves line-up, this time taking an upset win over Team Liquid at the expense of their game against Immortals. This week, however, the team actually showed major growth as not only did Meteos and Ssumday find some of their old form in the first match, but Stunt also proved himself worthy of his spot in the LCS with some absolutely fantastic play, including a blind hook onto Shernfire. This is the best this squad has looked in a while, which to be fair isn’t saying much, and if Ssumday and Meteos can keep pushing back to their old form this team will surely make some noise and a run at the playoffs if they play their cards right. Ryoma is still looking a bit iffy as the team’s starting mid, but he’s getting better by the week, with the man’s Orianna setting up the game-winning fight in their win.

The loss against Immortals was rather brutal, but it felt more like a draft issue than a major gameplay one (what is an Ori-Senna-GP comp going to do against a Chogath, Reksai, and Braum?) and a clean-up in that part of their game plan could see the team pick up a couple extra wins where they shouldn’t.

The team’s got some good benchmarks this weekend against the struggling FlyQuest and Dignitas, both of who are on losing streaks at two and three games straight respectively, and could be the difference heading into the second half of the split as to whether or not the team has what it takes to make a run into the playoffs in the upper bracket or if they’ll be dragging themselves into it’s lower bracket. I give them a chance to go 2-0 this weekend, but more than likely we’re going to see a 1-1 or even an 0-2 depending on just what form Ssumday and Meteos show up in.

Golden Guardians | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

Golden Guardians continued their trend of playing an fantastic early game before falling apart past the 20-minute mark as the team lost 5-20 against a surging TSM to open up their third weekend on Sunday, but shocked the world with an incredible upset win over Team Liquid off the back of an even more surprising Keith, who looked great on his Thresh that game.

The team is still mostly a top-side focused team as Haunter, Closer, and Goldenglue have proven themselves great carries and a core around which the team should play, but even FBI and Keith showed good performances this weekend, at least enough to put them in a tie for seventh with EG and TL. They’ve still got a long way to go, however, before they’re going to even have a chance at making it to the playoffs, but anything’s better than watching Keith take seven or more deaths in a game, especially when he proves key to beating the reigning LCS champs.

The team’s got games against CLG and DIG this weekend, and if they can get some early leads and take advantage of their opponent’s struggles as of late, Golden Guardians could walk away this weekend with their first 2-0 and a position in the playoff picture ahead of the halfway point in the split.

Dignitas | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

It wouldn’t be Dignitas if the team didn’t get everyone’s hopes up in the first few weeks of the split before beginning to collapse later on into it. This time, however, the false hope didn’t even make it past week two, as the team is now on a three game losing streak and looking more and more lost with each passing one.

The team had a rough early game against TSM that they started to come back from in the mid game, but their draft was absolutely horrendous with the Kennen top and Vel’Koz mid. While individually strong champs, neither proved effective against the Irelia-Sett front line of TSM, and no matter how well a fight started out, the team just got dived onto and annihilated in every fight. Johnsun still impressed with his Aphelios play and looked like a lone bright spot in the squad, but they just couldn’t hold out against the aggressive nature of TSM.

The Cloud9 game was even worse for the team, as every lane basically got blown out of the water by the current number one team in the league. While Froggen’s flank finally managed to give Zven his first death of the split five games in, everyone on the squad was individually and as a team outclassed by their C9 counterparts, and for every inch (or in this case kill) DIG took their opponents took a mile.

With their wins coming off of three of the bottom four teams, and their losses coming from three of the top four, Dignitas is really looking more and more like a middle of the pack of the squad, and this weekend will really help solidify or destroy that reality. With a game against the similarly 3-3 100 Thieves to open the weekend out, and a match against 2-4 Golden Guardians to end the weekend, two solid wins here could push them into a solid hold of a winners bracket playoff spot for the next couple of weeks, though if they lose out they’ll be fighting with the bottom half of the league for those sixth through eighth place spots. Believe it or not, the latter is feeling more likely than the former, as DIG’s biggest problems in Huni’s inconsistency and Grig’s lacking of pressure are areas that both their opponents play strongly around and will be looking to exploit them early on with.

An 0-2 weekend would be disastrous after the 3-0 start for DIG, and could see the team tumble down the rankings off a heavily tilted roster, so they’re going to have to give it their all this weekend.

TSM | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

TSM looks to finally be getting into the form they promised us in the preseason as Bjergson, recovered from the flu, led the squad to their third and fourth straight wins since the disastrous 0-2 start to the split. All the parts of TSM seem to be working as one now, and the duo bot of Kobbe and Biofrost has proven to be synergizing rapidly as the weeks have gone on. Biofrost in particular is looking to be getting back into his old TSM form, setting up big plays for his team to capitalize on with his immaculate Rakan and Leona.

The team’s even to show off some pocket picks this week with their Sett jungle against DIG and the swap of Qiyana to top and Ornn to mid against Golden Guardians, a play that proved insanely successful as the pari went for a combined 9-3-18 that game. Even Dardoch seems to be popping off after fears he’d tilt from the 0-2 start, absolutely destroying Closer and Grig across both matches.

While these wins have been great for the morale of the team, they don’t feel as though they’ve really proven TSM as one of the top squads in the league. Three of their four wins have come against bottom four teams, with their one win being over a now middle of the pack Dignitas, while their two losses have come at the hands of the other second place team, Immortals, and another bottom four squad in Team Liquid.

With their first match this Saturday being against the consistent and undefeated Cloud9, and a second match Sunday against the struggling but still prominent FlyQuest, this will be the week for TSM to prove whether or not they have what it takes to be a possible top contender this split or if they still need time to fully find their balance. I’m predicting a 1-1 record for the team, with a loss to C9 followed by a win over FlyQuest, but given the strength of this roster a close fought 2-0 could be on the table too.

Cloud9 | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

The only remaining undefeated team in the LCS, Cloud9 were absolute monsters this weekend again. While Zven finally found his first death in their game against Dignitas, C9 managed to hold the slowing fading squad to a mere two kills and zero objectives for the game, thrashing them to the tune of an almost 15,000 gold lead by the end of the 32 minute match. The same happened in their opening game of the weekend against FlyQuest, though their opponents there also managed to get two turrets in addition to the two kills. Losing only two towers and four kills across two games is an incredible feat, even more so against two teams that at the time were looking like top contenders for the split, and it’s all thanks to the strength and determination C9 has been playing with.

The Zven-Vulcan bot lane duo is working out better than anyone could have hoped for, and while Vulcan did miss a few Nautilus hooks, he more than made up for it with the catches he did make. Blaber is also evolving into one of the league’s top junglers with each passing day, while Licorice and Nisqy have both found new reserves of potential to take advantage of in their tanks. Nisqy in particular has started taking on a lot of the shotcalling for C9, though the team still utilizes a bit of a free for all structure, and it’s definitely been a marked improvement over recent iterations.

With a big game against TSM to open the weekend and a late Monday night match against EG to close out week four, Cloud9’s going to look to enter the mid season point of the split undefeated, and a 2-0 here is going to be key to that. If they do manage that 2-0, especially with how TSM has been surging, I think all doubt as to whether or not C9 is the strongest team in the region will be silenced, though even a 1-1 into TSM still keeps them as a title contender. With how much C9 has invested into this roster, though, I think anything less than the title isn’t going to be acceptable for the team, and with how strong they’re looking I’d have to agree.

Team Liquid | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

What an awful week for Team Liquid, despite the announcement that Broxah will finally be able to play with the team in week four. While Shernfire clearly isn’t the jungler the team has been practicing with, the mistakes we’re seeing from this roster are not ones swapping the jungler alone is going to fix. Doublelift has looked rather poor on one of this meta’s big ADC’s in Senna, and despite their inability to win with it they frustratingly keep giving him her.

His lane partner in CoreJJ isn’t doing much better either, and the duo has looked so out of sort I have to wonder if they’ve even touched the game in the last couple of months since Worlds. The team said they were practicing, with Doublelift in particular going to play in Chinese solo queue, but if this is the level they’re playing at they clearly didn’t take it seriously. It’s one thing to lose to Cody Sun and Stunt from 100T, but to lose a 2v2 against Keith and FBI? Even Jensen and Impact have looked lost and playing uncharacteristically out of sort, most evident in Impact’s constant 1v1 losses to Ssumday in the side lanes when they played 100T, and unless Broxah can perform some sort of miracle for the squad, I don’t see them getting a whole lot better.

The team plays IMT and CLG this week, and with how they’re looking right now, I think considerable thought needs to be given to the possibility this squad goes 0-2. Is that the most likely option? No, CLG is still a pretty awful team. But they have been looking better in the past week, and IMT is now sitting in second place in the league, both things Liquid wishes they could say about themselves. I predict a 1-1 scoreline, but the 0-2 is still a good possibility.

FlyQuest | LCS Spring Split Week 3 Recap

A rough week for FlyQuest as the team edges closer to a slump with an 0-2 week, both honestly coming as pretty big blowouts against them. While FlyQuest was looking like a top team heading into the week, and a loss to C9 wasn’t unexpected, getting blown out by an honestly coinflip EG is not a good look for a team fighting for the top.

The team is still at 3-3 going into week four, but with matches against a surging TSM and a gradually improving 100 Thieves it’s going to be a rough one for sure. I think the TSM match is looking 20-80 in TSM’s favour, but the 100T one could be a solid and much needed win for FlyQuest as they look to close out the first half of the split. While V1per is still a weaker top on average than Ssumday, a bad day for the 100T top laner could bring them to a level playing field, and the rest of FLY has looked stronger than their opposing counter parts, and could stop any attempt by 100T to get or push a lead on the map, though it depends how Stunt’s looking on the day. I’d give it another 1-1 weekend for FLY: not great, but better than sliding all the way to 0-4 in the last two weeks.

That’s all we have for this week’s recap, thanks for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with a recap of week four and some more predictions ahead of week five, so stay tuned!