As the winners of the most recent major international tournament, Team SoloMid make the trek from the west coast to the east with the intention of further validating their victory in Katowice. TSM's win during the NA LCS' Spring split was their best all-around season in the league's two-and-a-half year history, as they held on to the top spot in the standings for a large part of the season. They turned their regular season success into postseason wins, going 6-2 in the playoffs to knock out Team Impulse and finalist rivals Cloud9 en route to winning their first back-to-back LCS championship.

Now, down in Tallahasse for the Mid-Season Invitational, this tournament is a litmus test for TSM's chances at Worlds. While they did have their most solid season in LCS history, winning both the regular season and the championship, they were never forced outside of their comfort zone outside of a few rare times. C9, their biggest challenge over the past four seasons, had their worst campaign in team history which saw their captain and starting mid-laner Hai step down from professional play after their loss to TSM in the finals. In a split where a lot of NA LCS teams were having up-and-down seasons and fiddling with rosters, TSM were the constant — an unwavering unit with only one goal in mind: get to the World Championships and win the Summoner's Cup.

This will be the test to see if TSM has what it takes to match-up with the best the world has to offer come October. TSM have already won a big international event that Korean and Chinese teams attended, but not the best team from either country. With SK Telecom T1 and EDward Gaming both dispatching the teams TSM beat out in Katowice during their domestic league playoffs, the two Asian titans enter this tournament as the heavy favorites to take it all.

With everything building up to Europe this fall, can America's champions hold down the fort in Florida to make a statement that the era of continuous Korean and Chinese dominance at Worlds is at its end?

Dyrus: The Steel Heart

Dyrus' Spring Season Statistics Champion W L Maokai 6 0 Lulu 4 2 Sion 3 0

You know what you're getting with Dyrus: a smart veteran player who plays a selfless style to propel his team to victory. As you can see from his win totals during the regular season and playoffs, he was unstoppable when he was allowed to get Maokai, going 6-0 on the main champion he used in the postseason to help get TSM to their third NA LCS championship.

Team SoloMid are a fundamentally strong team and know how to work together in the late-game to coordinate team fights and take control over essential objectives. They aren't an extremely unpredictable team, each player usually falls into the trope they're known for, and Dyrus is no different. There were a few times this season he was able to let his hair down by playing more aggressive-focused champions like Irelia, but the brunt of his work came off the backs of tanks and utility, support type champions like Lulu.

At a tournament like MSI with top-laners such as Koro1, Marin and Huni, Dyrus will most likely not be in the running for most exciting player at his position or the one making the jaw dropping highlight reels, but that isn't what Dyrus' role on the team is. Time and time again, Team SoloMid have used their top-laner as their sacrificial lamb and it's worked, the opposing squad never being able to snowball off their early tower dive kills against Dyrus, and TSM capitalize by taking towers in response while Dyrus in stuck in perpetual grey screen.

Santorin: The Iron Shield

Santorin's Spring Season Statistics Champion W L Rek'sai 3 3 Gragas 3 1 Vi 4 0 Sejuani 3 0

Santorin was maligned following his weak rookie debut for TSM at the IEM San Jose tournament, but has turned it around only five months later to pick up the Rookie of the Season award in the NA LCS and aide TSM in winning their first major international championship in years. The native countryman to his mid-laner Bjergsen, the rookie jungler took what could have been a disastrous situation and turned it around into one of the best rookie seasons the LCS has ever seen.

If Dyrus is the heart of the team, then Santorin is definitely the shield — particularly when it comes to Bjergsen. The start of the season saw Santorin frequently playing defensive champions, usually making sure Bjergsen was safe in lane, and helping out his fellow Dane if needed. They crated a partnership in the first few weeks that helped TSM get out to a strong start, Santorin's Jarvan and Rek'sai engaging and setting up easy kills on a plate for tag-team partner.

He added new champions to his repertoire as the season went along, still being the shield to Bjergsen for a lot of games but also getting the chance to be more offensive on champions like Nidalee. Letting Santorin play a more free flowing style and not always situating him in the role of Bjergsen's protector and set-up man gave Team SoloMid more options when it came to their compositions. While having an extra edge to Santorin's game will help TSM in the future, the meta has switched heavily over to tanks and heavy AoE champions, meaning that the Rookie of the Spring will need to be the unbreakable shield he was all season long.

Bjergsen: The Golden Sword

Bjergsen's Spring Season Statistics Champion W L Ahri 5 1 Zed 3 1 Urgot 3 1 Xerath 2 0

The sword to Santorin's shield, TSM's Danish ace will be under the microscope this weekend. As the consensus best mid-laner in the West, this tournament's most scrutinized matches will be when Bjergsen faces off against, arguably, the top three players at his position from the East: Pawn (EDG) and Faker or Easyhoon, depending on who SKT want to play in their group stage match.

For TSM to have any chance at winning this tournament, Bjergsen can't simply be the West's best mid-laner — the 19-year-old from Denmark must solidify himself as one of, if not, the best mid-laner in the entire world. The team revolves around Bjergsen as their main carry and WildTurtle being the secondary benefactor, and there is seemingly no way TSM can leave Tallahassee $100,000 richer if Bjergsen doesn't make it clear he's at least at the level of the Asian kings.

TSM have tried at times to lift some of the pressure off of their young ace's shoulders, putting WildTurtle on more late-game scaling hyper carries or letting Santorin play a roaming, offensive-minded champion in Nidalee, but it usually ends up in the same familiar play: Bjergsen needs to carry to win.

He's their ace. He's their best player. When all the cards are on the table and the spotlight is directly pointed at TSM to perform, it's been Bjergsen who has come up in big moments to lead his squad to victory.

After missing out on playing Faker at last year's Worlds, the marquee match-up this weekend for the Western fans will be the potential duel between the West's best versus the East's elite. With that being said, expect SK Telecom T1 to play Easyhoon against Bjergsen in the group stages and infuriate thousands of fans in the process.

WildTurtle: The Wildcard

WildTurtle's Spring Season Statistics Champion W L Sivir 6 0 Jinx 4 1 Kalista 3 0

As the team's secondary carry, WildTurtle is a player that at times has picked up the slack and won games for TSM through his stellar play. Either that or he's lost games due to his poor positioning or over-aggression leading to needless deaths. Dying was a big part of WildTurtle's problems last season, and he tightened up that weakness this year on route to TSM's practically wire-to-wire victory in the Spring season of NA LCS.

As with Bjergsen, WildTurtle will have the duty of going up against China and Korea's respective strongest AD Carries: EDG's Deft and SKT's Bang. Instead of facing the likes of an Imp or an Uzi that would match WildTurtle's style more during the laning phase, Deft and Bang are players who have no qualms about starting a game off slowly if need be. When it comes to Turtle's best hyper carries, Jinx and Kalista, he will be facing off with the two players who've mastered those champions. Deft is the undisputed best Jinx player in the professional scene, never losing a major tournament game on the champion. Bang is the same with Kalista, undefeated on the champion and an instant ban against for any team who went up against SKT in the latter stages of the season.

While the main focus will be on Bjergsen trying to put his name alongside Asia's best at his position, this will be the ultimate test for Turtle as a player and an essential carry.

Lustboy: The Soul of SoloMid

Lustboy's Spring Season Statistics Champion W L Janna 6 2 Annie 3 1 Kennen 3 0 Thresh 4 0

The most experienced member of TSM alongside Dyrus, Lustboy's decision to join TSM during the middle of last season's Summer split turned out to be the best career choice he could have ever made. He's now won two straight titles with TSM, made it to the quarterfinals of the World Championship, and won his first major international title in almost a year when TSM swept Team WE to win the IEM World Championship.

Lustboy's greatest strength is that he's able to almost effortlessly adapt to the shifting metas and revolving champions that come through the support position. That was never more clear than when he pulled out the engage happy Kennen in the NA LCS Grand Finals, playing the electric ninja to his fullest potential in three straight victories to capture the championship. It doesn't matter if it's a disengage, utility-oriented or a playmaking engaging champion when it comes to Lustboy; he's shown he can excel with whatever is thrown his way to help his team succeed.

One For All

TSM enter this tournament as prospective favorites to at least make the semifinals, with most pundits pegging them to finish around the third-place spot behind EDward Gaming and SK Telecom T1. Although a victory would be the fastest way to showcasing their talent to the world and making everyone realize IEM Katowice was no fluke, TSM doesn't need to win this weekend. There goal, win or lose, has and always will be winning Worlds and this will be their best test to see how they stack up before the October tournament.

Can Bjergsen go toe-to-toe with Faker and Pawn?

Can WildTurtle keep up with Deft and Bang?

Will any team exploit TSM's predictable way of play and force them to change up their mid-focused style?

Will Dyrus be left to the slaughter against the best teams in the world?

How does Santorin compare to the other junglers across the world?

Is Lustboy's experience and versatility enough to give TSM's bottom lane a fighting chance against Asia's best?

Winning would be certify TSM as true world champion contenders, but the next four days are more about answering the questions above. It's about learning, adapting, and testing themselves for TSM. The road to the World Championships have begun, and this is the next roadblock for Team SoloMid to prepare themselves to raise the Summoner's Cup.