We’re halfway through the 2020 LCS Spring Split as Week 5 wrapped up over the weekend. The pack of teams between second and ninth is incredibly close, with only three wins separating the teams in that position.

With four weeks of play to go, it’s anyone’s guess who will cross the finish line to the playoffs and who will be limping back to the team house licking their wounds and preparing for Summer Split.

Who looks good heading into Week 6? Who needs to start plugging some holes if they want to make the playoffs? Let’s find out as we look at how things went down during LCS Spring Split Week 5 and offer some predictions for Week 6.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Evil Geniuses

Five weeks in and Evil Geniuses has yet to put up a 2-0 record in a week. This time they took a win over Team Liquid before falling heavily to TSM. The game against Liquid went great for EG. They had a fantastic draft that forced Doublelift onto Ashe, Jensen onto Viktor, and Broxah onto Elise. Although very strong in the meta, Elise is not great into a beefy front liner like Sejuani.

While Liquid had an early advantage, they couldn’t force anything against the Ornn-Sejuani front line EG was running. The team snowballed forward for a strong win to close out the first half of the Spring Split.

The TL game had a good showing for the Geniuses in terms of draft. The TSM game showed how inconsistent they are. They allowed TSM to pick up Ornn, Syndra, and Tristana for a fantastic scaling and teamfighting comp.

At the same time, EG themselves seemed puzzled as they picked up little wave clear for their side. The team only grabbed a single kill the entire game. Kumo failed to get much going on the top side of the map. TSM focused him to keep his Sett under control. However, Broken Blade didn’t seem like he needed that much help with that since he was soloing Kumo with his Ornn.

It’s still a confused look for EG, made only worse by the confirmation from Kumo that the team seems to operate with three different plans. The team struggles to communicate. Old C9 members played with one strategy in mind. Jiizuke with his own and Bang with another.

We talked about how communication would be a significant problem that could hinder this team from achieving success. It appears that prediction has come true as the team has looked lost even when they’re winning.

With matches against 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians this weekend, two teams currently tied in the standings with EG. This weekend is a must-win for the squad if they want to make it to the playoffs, especially as Golden Guardians already has a win up on EG. I think it’ll be another 1-1 week despite the importance given EG’s inconsistency. We’ll have to see where the coin lands those days before we truly know.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Counter Logic Gaming

Adding Pobelter to the lineup brought improvement to the CLG roster from where they were with Crown on the squad. On the other hand, that improvement doesn’t mean much.

The team picked up a few more objectives this weekend and turned around a C9 play in their base. It still looks like the team is unsure of what to do, where to apply pressure, and how to fight unless their opponents majorly screw up.

C9 came back from that fight to win the game minutes later and tried to push their limits. It felt like they weren’t taking the matchup seriously. It speaks volumes as to how top teams perceive their games against CLG. It’s not a good look for sure.

The team has matchups against two top-five teams in TSM and Immortals this weekend. I don’t see them coming out with anything other than a 0-2 again, given the level of their competition. The org said they haven’t given up on Spring Split yet. But, if they do suffer an 0-2 week, they might need to start prepping for Summer Split instead.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: 100 Thieves

100 Thieves entered the week on a three-game losing streak. It only got worse as the team took a close to TSM to open the day on Saturday. The team looked like they might turn the game around after a clutch 3k following a TSM attempt at Baron.

Still, poor positioning by Stunt and Meteos in TSM’s red-side jungle would prove fatal and cost them the match. TSM converted the kills into a Baron and pushed through the bottom lane for the win. It looked like 100 Thieves might be going into freefall after that game. Ssumday and Ryoma performance’s against Golden Guardians snapped them out of their losing streak to put them tied for sixth at 4-6 to end the week.

The squad shows a lot of potential to be something great. Meteos and Stunt struggle hard to remain consistent and not find themselves in bad positions or making mistakes. Meteos has just looked like a shell of his former self.

We initially believed he’d be the keys to the team’s success. He turned more into a hindrance for them and could cost them a spot in the playoffs. On the bright side, though, Ryoma is starting to come into his own as the team’s mid laner. If they can correct the issues in jungle and support, he could help carry them into the playoffs with Ssumday at his back.

The team’s got some big matchups against Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid, both of whom share sixth place with them. A 2-0 is needed if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive. A win over TL would lock the head to head in case of an end of a tiebreaker. But, the EG one will be incredibly important given the team lost the last time the two played. I think 100 Thieves could take a 2-0 this weekend, but it’s all going to depend on Meteos to show up for both games.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Golden Guardians

Golden Guardians looked to be on the up and up. They head into this week after a three-game win streak over Team Liquid, Dignitas, and CLG. Keith and FBI finally appeared to be coming into their own in the bottom lane. Unfortunately, the improvements seemed only to be temporary. Both players and the rest of their squad collapsed over both games this weekend, going 0-2. It left them tied in sixth place at the end of LCS Spring Split Week 5.

Keith, who had seemed to find his own on champs like Thresh and Nautilus, looked utterly lost on the former against FlyQuest. He looked even worse on the Yuumi against 100 Thieves the following day. Goldenglue and Closer also had surprisingly rough performances this week. GG’s Zoe just failing to do anything in the first game. Closer just looked against Meteos in the match against 100 Thieves. Hauntzer got demolished heading into that game as Sssumday’s Lucian ran circles around his Gangplank. The team lost the game with four total objectives and a 10,000-gold deficit to end the week.

There are sure signs of potential for this roster. However, it’s entirely dependent on all the players showing up at the same time and not getting blasted by their opponents. I still think the Keith experiment isn’t panning out for this team. They should look into another support in the mid-season break to be serious contenders for Summer Split. Still, consistency is the team’s real enemy right now. I just don’t know if they’re going to find it soon enough between all their players.

The team has matchups against Immortals and EG this week. Both are surely going to be must wins for the team if they want to make it to the playoffs, especially since IMT already holds a one-win lead on them from their last matchup. A 2-0 would give them some breathing room and the tiebreaker over EG. I think they can beat them. However, IMT is going to be too much for the Guardians, so a 1-1 week looks to be on the books.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Dignitas

It’s crazy to think that at one point in the Spring Split there was serious discussion as to whether or not Dignitas could be one of if not the top team in the league. The team now finds itself sitting in the middle of the pack with a rather meh 5-5 record going into Week 6 of Spring Split.

The team opened up the weekend with a rather resounding win over fellow top-five team IMT as they rushed a sub-30-minute, 13,000 gold lead win over them off of surprisingly strong play from Grig and strong performances from their carries in Froggen and Johnsun.

Grig’s strong J4 performance from Saturday, while a bit around in the first couple minutes of the game, seemingly disappeared after DIG took their only two turrets of the game. Broxah and the rest of Team Liquid shut down any chance he had for playmaking or objective control after that point.

The rest of the roster also struggled to get anything going. They failed to turn their early victories into anything substantial and began gifting overkills to Liquid left and right for a bit before slowing things down. It was too late by that point, though. Liquid slowly began squeezing the life out of DIG as they methodically took objective after objective on their way to a win.

Like most teams in the league this Spring Split, DIG’s main enemy appears to be consistent amongst its players. The team is still in the playoff picture at this time. They’re only one win up from the rest of the pack and could lose their spot if they don’t put together some solid wins in the weeks ahead.

This weekend is not looking to be helping the team’s case either. They play the top two teams in the league in FlyQuest and Cloud9 this week. DIG has a losing record against both of these teams so far and given their recent form in comparison to the two-look set to continue that with another 0-2 scoreline to end week six. The sixth-place teams are playing each other this weekend. DIG could be looking outside the playoff picture for the first time this Spring Split, a disastrous moment after such a strong start. It’s not looking good for DIG this week. Hopefully, they can find at least one win to keep them afloat over the rest of the pack.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: TSM

TSM seems to be recovering from their disappointing 0-2, grabbing a nice 2-0 to secure sole possession of third place. While their first game was back and forth between them and 100 Thieves, the team pulled it together and executed a fantastic dive onto the bottom inner tower with Baron buff to pick up three kills and the win. Their game against EG was better. TSM seemed to have the squads number, constantly finding picks and converting them into big leads for themselves.

That’s not to say the team is without flaws still. They still seem to lack priority when it comes to securing dragons. The team gave up six across their two games this weekend and only managed to pick up three themselves. The drakes have become vastly more important this season after the pre-season changes. TSM has some of the lowest control of them in the league at only 41% of drakes in their games going to them, with 0% of Elder Drakes.

Still, if they’re winning without them, it’s a win. This weekend could be an excellent time for the team to practice that control. They take on two of the bottom teams this week against Team Liquid and Counter Logic Gaming. What would have once been an incredibly hyped weekend of games is now more of a practice match. Both of TSM’s opponents struggled to find themselves this year. With TSM only getting better as time passes, it could easily be a 2-0 stomp. If Liquid can finally capture the form with Broxah’s appearance on the team; it could be a 1-1 weekend for TSM. I think the team has other problems that still hinder them, so the 2-0 is more likely.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Cloud9

Now off to a 10-0 start to their Spring Split campaign, Cloud9 is by far and away the best team in the LCS. Every game is incredible to watch as a fan. C9 takes anything thrown at them and comes out ahead in stunning fashion. They’ve dominated to the point that they haven’t even lost a mid outer turret this season yet.

That isn’t to say the team is without flaws. Their bundled fight inside the CLG base got them Aced this weekend in what could have been a sick play. I’d chalk that up more to the team pushing their limits on their own when no other team is doing so. The team tried the following day against IMT again when they ran their take on last year’s Sona-Kench bot lane with Senna-Kench.

With matches against the second and fourth place teams this weekend in FlyQuest and Dignitas, respectively, and a match the following week against third-place TSM, C9 has the toughest schedule of any team for the next two weeks. If they win all three, they’ll guarantee a lock on the top spot. They could firmly plant themselves ahead in the race for the Spring Split trophy and an MVP nod for Zven.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Team Liquid

This weekend saw a tale of two Liquids. The team got smashed by Evil Geniuses then proceeded to run over Dignitas the next day. The team seems to be finding the form with Broxah, at least if Monday’s game is anything to go by, but still seem to have problems with their draft they need to work out, and quickly too.

Elise into Sejuani was already a terrible pick. Getting forced onto Ashe when Miss Fortune is open seems suspect. With Doublelift’s struggles on Senna earlier in the Spring Split, there is a legitimate concern that he may be a bit burned out in the meta right now. Perhaps the team should focus more on carrying through other roles than bottom lane if they want to win.

Liquid has games against TSM and 100 Thieves this weekend. While the former is important for gauging if they’re going to have a chance at becoming a top team this Spring Split, the latter is going to be crucial for them just to make playoffs. They currently have a 0-1 record against 100 Thieves and currently tied in the standings with them vying for that last playoff spot.

If they drop the game Sunday, their paths to the playoffs will have shrunk considerably. There’s a good chance they miss out on the playoffs altogether if they can’t leap over 100T in wins. I think TL could honestly go 0-2 this weekend, especially as I see the DIG win as more a failing by Dignitas than major improvement by Liquid and am not sure they’re really in strong form yet.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: FlyQuest

FlyQuest looks like the team to beat to make it to the top two right now. The team enters Week 6 on a four-game winning streak to put them at 7-3. FlyQuest seems to be firing on all cylinders with their new additions to the lineup. PowerOfEvil is playing like a man possessed as he makes his case as a potential MVP candidate for the whole Spring Split.

The team ran over Golden Guardians in their first game of LCS Spring Split Week 5. While they struggled a bit earlier on against CLG, they never fell more than a few hundred gold behind and quickly took control of the game following the taking of their first two turrets just shy of 20-minutes. The team still needs to work on its early game a bit so as not to keep falling a bit behind there. However, that could be an issue with drafting more scaling comps as opposed to overall team early game issues. We’d need to see them run an early or mid-game comp first to judge that truly.

They’ve got a tough week ahead of them with matches against undefeated Cloud9 and fourth place Dignitas and wins here could silence the doubters and cement them as contenders for the title should they go 2-0. I think they’ll end up 1-1 on the week given just how strong C9 looks and how much Dignitas has struggled. If PoE can keep up his MVP caliber form, they may just give Cloud9 a run for their money.

LCS Spring Split Week 5: Immortals

So, I’ve embarrassingly missed this team for the last few weeks. There’s a lot to talk about this team and how it’s performed since Week 2. The squad got off to a strong 5-2 start to set themselves up a contender at the top of the table, but have fallen on hard times since then with a three-game loss streak dropping them to the middle of the pack at 5-5.

They’re still a tough team to deal with for most of the league. However, they’ve slowly metamorphosed into a gatekeeper between the upper half of the league and the cellar. The team revolves around the late game and star jungler Xmithie popping off for the team to win, otherwise struggling in their games to get anything going. Eika looked serviceable in the mid lane. However, a lot of assistance from Xmithie seems to be needed to get the ball rolling.

The bottom lane seems to be much self-sustaining with Altex and Hakuho, though they’re more role players than carries for their team. SOAZ on the top side is looking more and more like he’s in his twilight years, with some of the lowest stats among top laners in the league.

The team’s now on a three-game losing streak. While two of those losses came to top four teams in Cloud9 and Dignitas, a loss to the coin flip Evil Geniuses is not something you want to see out of a team vying for the top. It seems to indicate a lot of their early success just came from their veteran experience rather than any strong team synergy, with the team’s performance declining as others have begun figuring themselves out. The team’s going to have to dig deep to find a stronger identity than just “Xmithie and Friends.”

With games against the 4-6 Golden Guardians this weekend, and the 1-9 Counter Logic Gaming, this is a must-win weekend for Immortals if they want to keep themselves in the upper half of the standings, and especially if they want to stop the loss streak from turning into a freefall.

The CLG game should be an easy win given how bad that squad is looking. But, Golden Guardians game may make things a bit tough. Closer is one of the best junglers in the league. If he can keep track of and stop Xmithie, Immortals is going to find themselves in a deep hole to dig themselves out of. I’m predicting a 1-1 weekend for the team. It could be a 2-0 if they can shut down Closer.

That’s all we have for the LCS Spring Split Week 5 recap, thanks for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with a recap of Week 6 and some more predictions ahead of Week 7!