The North American LCS is going to be weird in the 2017 Spring Split.

While the top teams in other regions are pulling away from their competitors, the North American teams have only moved toward the middle. Whether it’s former top rosters receiving downgrades or bottom teams gaining ground, the skill average is, er, averaging out.

This will likely be one of the most competitive domestic seasons the NA LCS has ever had. That’s not to say that it’ll be the highest skill level year, but teams will be taking games off each other left and right. In fact, unless one of these teams really plays to impress in Spring, it’s hard to imagine any of them doing particularly well come the Mid-Season Invitational.

10. Team Envy

Most teams in North America have at least one player with a proven track record domestically. Team Envy, put simply, doesn’t.

In classic NA fashion (funny considering three of them are from Korea), Team Envy is full of players that have at one point shown potential, but haven’t managed to ascend to the top of their respective regions.

What’s more, there are concerns about their ability to communicate effectively. Two languages will be spoken on Envy, making it difficult to effectively communicate between the top and bottom sides of the map. Granted, the top/jungle/mid trio of Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong, Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo, and Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo all speak Korean while the bot lane duo of Apollo “Apollo” Price and Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent speak English, but map-wide communication will likely be a thorn in their side.

9. Echo Fox

The addition of top laner Jang “Looper” Hyeong-seok and his World Championship pedigree may tempt some to move Echo Fox higher up, especially when combined with team leader Henrik “Froggen” Hansen.

But the problem with Echo Fox has never really been their talent pool. Sure, they’ve never had top-tier talent to really prove what they can do, but their problems have always come from their inability to properly close out a match. Too often, the rookie experience of the players not named Froggen reared its ugly head, losing them games from poor decisions alone.

The team is undoubtedly improved with the inclusion of strong Challenger jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham and solid bot lane duo of ADC Yuri “KEITH” Jew and support Austin “Gate” Yu, but “solid” isn’t going to be enough to carry them to the top of the NA LCS rankings.

8. Phoenix1

I don’t want to put Phoenix1 this low. I think jungler Rami “Inori” Charagh is crazy talented and could be an up-and-coming star. Noh “Arrow” Dong-hyeon has long been one of my favorite AD carries to watch thanks to his appealing style and swagger. Adrian “Adrian” Ma is one of the most creative, out-of-meta thinkers NA supports have to offer. And, of course, there’s Yoo “Ryu” Sang-ook, who has finally escaped from the shadow of Faker’s decimation of his career.

But I just don’t see how this team comes together. Adrian and Arrow are going to have a rough time finding a common play style, with the former preferring to play passively and the latter consistently looking for big plays once the mid game starts. Inori and top laner Derek “zig” Shao established solid coordination in the latter half of 2016, but zig is going to have a lot more trouble with the amount of top lane talent coming to NA, straining his ability to be as effective.

That leaves Ryu. He’s a veteran and one of the most adaptable players in the West, but can he become the leader Phoenix1 needs? If he doesn’t, who is going to be shotcalling for this roster? There are just too many questions for this team.

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7. FlyQuest

If you were a fan of Cloud9 in the early days, FlyQuest will look awfully familiar. Sporting three players from that classic roster in top laner An “BalIs” Le, mid laner Hai “Hai” Du Lam, and support Daerek “LemonNation” Hart, the Milwaukee Bucks-owned team was previously known as Cloud9 Challenger.

Don’t expect the trio to repeat their debut from back in 2013, however.

All three have struggled with mechanical performance issues during the latter parts of their careers. While Hai and LemonNation in particular have both been praised for their strategic minds and strong leadership skills, they simply weren’t able to keep up with some of the more skilled players on the Rift. Their veteran status and shotcalling is certainly a boon for their team, but they’ll be competing against some of the best solo talent NA has ever had.

The two members on the team that have never worn the LCS Cloud9 colors are AD carry Johnny “Altec” Ru and jungler Galen “Moon” Holgate. Both players will have a lot to prove if they hope to carry their roster to the playoffs.

6. Immortals

Following a pair of dominant regular splits, Immortals being in the bottom half of this list certainly feels off. But after their roster collapse at the end of 2016, they’ve only retained a single player from their debut lineup: mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park. Immortals had to rebuild.

And rebuild they did, adding legendary top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-jong, gifted but troubled jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett, rookie AD carry Cody “Cody Sun” Sun, and journeyman support Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung. At first glance, this looks like a strong playoff roster, as the top half of the map has the potential to be one of the best around.

But we’ve seen this team play before, at IEM Gyeonggi, where they didn’t do much to really impress.. They looked lost during many midgame situations and struggled to close out games. They’ll have to find solutions to their issues before the LCS starts, especially if they hope to avoid diva-esque issues with their notoriously emotional top and jungle players.

Their spot on this list is almost entirely based on their showing in Korea. Hopefully, they’ll get their act together and climb through the rankings, because the level of talent here deserves it.

View photos Piglet is back from the Challenger Series to play for Team Liquid (Jeremy Wacker) More

5. Team Liquid

The other team that played at IEM Gyeonggi, Liquid also failed to show off anything that would put them at the head of the North American pack. They did, however, look solid, and much like Immortals, may just need time to come together as a team.

What puts Liquid above their Immortal counterparts (honestly, the two teams could easily be swapped) is the bot lane. AD carry Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin has time and again proven himself to be one of the best ADCs in the world, especially with his World Championship ring. His support is Matthew “Matt” Elento, a quietly confident talent that knows exactly how good he is. Assuming the pair manage to overcome some of the jitters that plagued them during 2016, they should be one of the (if not the) best bot lanes in North America.

The pickup of Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin as a stabilizing element on the team will be key for Liquid’s success. As one of the smartest junglers in North America, he’ll be able to help out the middling top laner Samson “Lourlo” Jackson in some of his more difficult matchups. He’ll likely be in the right spot to counter dives in the bot lane, and will generally use his immense game knowledge to help out anyone that needs it.

The biggest question for Liquid is their mid lane. Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer and Austin “Link” Shin will be sharing the role, subbing in when it’s advantageous. But neither player has a terribly great track record. Goldenglue has struggled on the LCS stage (though he played well in Challenger), and Link hasn’t stepped foot in the pro scene since his departure from CLG in 2015. Neither player inspires confidence in their lane at the moment, but that could certainly change and immediately move Liquid to the top of the list.

4. Team Dignitas

If I’m being honest, the top four slots in this power ranking could be in any order. All four teams have similar theoretical power, making it incredibly tough to predict how it will shake out.

For me, Team Dignitas has the biggest uphill battle on the way to the top spot in North America. Yes, they had easily the biggest roster upgrade of any team in NA and yes, they’ve got maybe the best top/jungle duo in the league with Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho and Lee “Chaser” Sang-hyun coming over from Korea. Of course, mid laner Jang “Keane” Lae-young always has the possibility to pull out some bizarre pick (mid Hecarim, anyone?) and take over a game. And yes, they have Alex “Xpecial” Chu as a veteran presence.

But, much like Team Envy, they’re going to have communication issues. Keane has been in North America for quite some time, so he’ll be able to translate for the top and bottom of the map, but that’s slow, and as such almost never happens. Assuming they fix the problems, though, Dignitas is probably the strongest on-paper roster.

What’s more, they have Benjamin “LOD” deMunck, an AD carry that has never shown himself to be a top-tier talent in North America. Ideally, he’ll be playing the role of utility AD carry while Ssumday, Chaser, and Keane do the heavy lifting.

View photos CLG will be looking to continue their growth as a unified roster (Jeremy Wacker) More

3. Counter Logic Gaming

The only unchanged roster in North America is Counter Logic Gaming.

After their hugely successful run through the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational — where they became the first North American team to reach a Riot-sponsored final and earned a Worlds berth later in the season — the organization opted to hold onto all five players.

That means that CLG is a known entity. Top laner Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya will pick carries and split push like crazy. Jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero will be a consistently strong, if not spectacular force. Choi “Huhi” Jae-hyun will be strong on a handful of champions, but over-focuses on roams at the cost of his own farm. Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes will look weak in the regular season, but show up to make huge plays in teamfights when it counts. Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black will be the team’s guiding light, finding plays and making the calls necessary to earn CLG a high finish at the end of the split.

If communication is the theme of the 2017 Spring Split, you can be sure CLG will be bucking that trend. Already together for a full year, they’re the team most likely to read each others’ minds on the Rift, making it dangerous to ever count them out of a big game scenario.

2. Team SoloMid

The effects of losing AD carry Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng cannot be overstated for TSM. While his replacement (and returning TSM player) Jason “WildTurtle” Tran is certainly solid, he can’t hope to have the same effect on the Rift as Doublelift.

Turtle’s – and, by default, TSM’s – biggest challenge will be gelling with support Vincent “Biofrost” Wang. Biofrost has only ever played on the professional stage with Doublelift, an influence that is going to be extremely difficult for a player in his first year of pro play to shake. Doublelift has aunique style that Biofrost was forced to reckon with in his first split, one completely different than the way WildTurtle plays. Rather than backing up a mechanical god that (more than) occasionally gets caught when farming, he’ll be playing with someone who makes significant mistakes in teamfights. At least for the early part of the split, it’s going to be a struggle for them to adapt.

The rest of TSM is remaining the same, meaning that four-fifths of the roster that took them to a Summer Split championship will still be in place.

Much like he was even with Doublelift on the team, Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg is still the star of this team. The best mid laner in NA for the past three years, he’s shown no signs of slowing down. Any team with Bjergsen on it is going to be a threat for the top spot, and 2017 will be no different.

Meanwhile, top laner Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell and jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen continue to improve as a duo. Hauntzer is getting better with every split he plays (though he’ll likely have troubles with some of the imported top laners in 2017), and Svenskeren is learning to combine his high mechanical ceiling with smart, calculated play. They may not be absolutely vital to TSM’s success, but they’re more than capable of scrapping with the top side talent invading the 2017 NA LCS.

View photos Cloud9 has only swapped their jungler, but still look incredibly strong (Jeremy Wacker) More

1. Cloud9

I value roster consistency, overall talent, and complementary play style in my rankings, and no team in North America has all three like Cloud9.

In the middle of the 2016 season, it looked like Cloud9 had finally fallen out of the upper echelon of North American teams. But then, they brought in Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu, who revitalized a roster reeling from the loss of shotcaller Hai. The result was a team that was able to make a spectacular run through the North American playoffs to a second place finish, a dominant Regional Qualifiers to qualify for Worlds 2016, and a quarterfinal finish once there.

Now, with more time under Reapered’s tutelage, they’re only going to improve. The death of the lane swap meta will allow top laner Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong to continue punishing anyone that dares lane against him. Mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen, despite a rough start when he first came to NA, has finally begun to live up to expectations.

The bottom duo of Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and Andy “Smoothie” Ta isn’t known for its lane presence, but they’re happy to go even while Impact creates pressure in the top lane, only to win games by superior teamfighting later on.

The only roster change on Cloud9 is in the jungle role, with Juan “Contractz” Arturo Garcia in to replace William “Meteos” Hartman. The young rookie is coming off a breakout season in the Challenger Series If his performance against the LCS pros is as strong as against the Challenger players, Cloud9 will be the team to beat in the 2017 Spring Split.





Taylor Cocke is hype for the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split. Follow him on Twitter @taylorcocke.