At the halfway point in the summer split, only one thing is for sure: Immortals and Counter Logic Gaming’s jungler swap continues to be a win-win for both teams. Although the game of the week turned out to be a 2-0 that saw Immortals emerge over as the team to beat, the impact that Jake “Xmithie” Puchero and Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett have had on their new teams continues to deliver impressive results.

CLG finally have a young, aggressive playmaker to build around for the future with rising stars Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes and Jae-hyun “Huhi” Choi. But the most impressive aspect of CLG’s success hasn’t been Dardoch. Thanks to the veteran leadership from Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black and the re-emergence of Darshan Upadhyaya, CLG could potentially return to the form that saw them surpass expectations at the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. Unlike Immortals in spring, CLG has not won or lost based on Dardoch’s playmaking ability.

However, the adjustments from Xmithie to Dardoch are still being made as CLG’s questionable decision-making at times has turned steady 2-0 performances into unnecessary three game nail-biters. Dardoch isn’t the team-oriented jungler that Xmithie was but this move was made with here and now and the future in mind. Dardoch finally has a team with veteran leadership and no language barrier and an organization focused on the World Championship. His time on Team Liquid should prove that nothing should ever be a guarantee, yet there is no reason to suggest that this shouldn’t work out for Dardoch.

Immortals, on the other hand, have kept their momentum from the second half of the spring split and have built on it. Xmithie’s team-oriented playstyle has been the perfect compliment to all three lanes who should now confidently consider themselves among the best in North America. Ho-Jong “Flame” Lee has returned to form as a dominant force in the top lane. Eugene “Pobelter” Park has shaken off his spring slump and looks to make noise through the rest of the split. Cody Sun and Joo-sung “Olleh” Kim continue to build on their growing synergy. Xmithie is content with letting the strength of his lanes speak for themselves and the veteran leadership Xmithie gives this team has been a boon for Immortals. Perhaps Dardoch’s comments about the organization have sparked a fire with his former team.

But if there’s one thing that both CLG and Immortals share, it’s the fact that their only guaranteed trip to the World Championship is to win the summer split. That’s easier said than done.

Here are seven other takeaways from the past week in the competitive NA LCS:

1. Although summer split continues to the the most pivotal split in the current LCS system, let’s not forget about the importance of winning in spring. With Peter “Doublelift” Yillang back in the bot lane, TSM has steadily picked up where they left off last summer. With convincing victories over FlyQuest and Echo Fox, TSM looked to be in cruise control this week. The team has still yet to match this kind of success on the Worlds stage, but there’s no question that this is one of the most consistent organizations in North America. Immortals may be the team to beat here and now, but in order for any team in the LCS to win the summer split, they must go through TSM. TSM should be a lock to make it to the World Championships so long as they secure another playoff berth. But we know that Doublelift and star player Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg won’t stand for TSM going to worlds as anything other than NA’s top seed. Their play this past week reflects how dangerous TSM can be when they’re motivated to prove a point.

2. Cloud9 plays better with Eon-yeong “Impact” Jung in the top lane. We should still see Ji-won “Ray” Jeon take a few games away for stage experience, which should be expected with arguably the best roster in NA, but at this point Impact has proven to be the more reliable play. For all the flack Nicolaj Jensen has given himself and received for his inability to deliver in the clutch, it still amazes me that Cloud9 trusted Ray in a pivotal game 5 for all the marbles in the spring final. Just as TSM is motivated to be the top seed in NA, Jensen is motivated to do everything in his power to not be the reason his team falls short of the finish line again. With a 33/3/17 statline that comes out to a staggering 16.7 KDA, Jensen undoubtedly had the best week of all NA LCS players. If Jensen can replicate these numbers against two heavyweight contenders in Team Solo Mid and Counter Logic Gaming next week, there will be no question about the frontrunner for summer split MVP.

3. A few days ago, I wrote this article suggesting that Phoenix1 was correct to cut bait with Rami “Inori” Charagh, who saw some stage time this week with Team Liquid. Mike Yeung continues to prove his worth with the organization and should continue to start. He was a key component in Phoenix1’s first victory of the season against Echo Fox. The bigger question now is whether or not he can continue performing at this level a month from now. Inori’s Liquid debut, on the other hand was uneventful. He replaced Yeu-jin “Reignover” Kim for one game against the dominant Cloud9 in a losing effort and was promptly kept on the bench for Liquid’s close 2-1 win against his former team.

I also wrote that Team Liquid should be looking to improve at every position. Unsurprisingly, we saw two major changes to Liquid’s starting roster. Andrew “Slooshi” Pham and Kevin “KonKwon” Koo Hyuk started all five games in the mid lane and support respectively to some promising results. Liquid put up more of a fight than expected in a 2-0 loss to Cloud9, and then promptly turned around to deliver two convincing victories in a three-game series with Phoenix1. Both of these teams look like long shots to make playoffs, but there’s still some time to go before we can scratch anyone out of the playoff picture.

4. Just when you think Echo Fox is finally starting to put all of the pieces together, the team has a bad week at the worst time. Echo Fox has gone 1-5 after a hot start to the season. Perhaps part of this can be put on Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham as outlined by owner Rick Fox, one of the past great NBA players, in this incredible feature by Riot. Akaadian appears to be slamming into the famed “rookie wall” as expected, but Akaadian is also learning to adjust his style and become a more team-oriented jungler. Even a superstar like William “Meteos” Hartmann went through growing pains after a dominant start to his career. The process affects many players differently, but it’s clear that Akaadian has the support of the organization. They trust him to be able to figure it out. Even through the struggles over the past three weeks, Echo Fox fans should have no reason to give up on their team. Yuri “Keith” Jew is finally starting to show signs of life while Henrik “Froggen” Hansen has been showing off the power that earned him a reputation as one of the best mid laners in the world. Next week should be a prime opportunity to Echo Fox to gain their confidence back with two winnable matchups against Team Liquid and FlyQuest.

5. Even after a disappointing 0-2 finish this week, Team Dignitas should still be a trendy pick for fans looking for teams other than NA’s big three - TSM, C9, and CLG - to support for summer. A lot of things have gone right for Dignitas since the second half of spring split. David “Cop” Roberson and Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco have done a tremendous job making this roster a competitor. Credit Cop and Saintvicious for making necessary changes to their starting support and jungle as the driving force behind the growth. Alex “Xpecial” Chu will always be remembered as one of the most consistent supports in NA LCS history, but it was time for Dignitas to bring in some young blood. Terry “Big” Chuong has shown improvement from his time in Echo Fox while Byeong-Hoon “Shrimp” Lee has a chance to lock down the starting job after some promising performances, but there is a major concern moving forward. Lee Sin is Shrimp’s best champion - he’s currently undefeated in six games with the blind monk - but if you take Lee Sin off the board against Shrimp, he carries an abysmal 3-8 record. Shrimp must improve the consistency in his champion pool moving forward in order to keep starting over Sang-hyun “Chaser” Lee.

Also: The jury is out whether or not Johnny “Altec” Ru is an upgrade over Benjamin “LOD” deMunck at AD carry, but his first impression with the team was not a good one. He posted a 4/7/10 statline in his Dignitas debut - a paltry 2.0 KDA. In his defense, he has only been with the team for a week and was facing Cloud9, one of the best bottom lanes in NA. Next week’s starting lineups will show us how much confidence Dignitas has in Altec as they look to regain their momentum against the floundering veteran FlyQuest and an improved Team Envy. Speaking of which…

6. Give credit to Team Envy where it’s due. Something had to change after finishing dead last in spring and barely avoiding relegation thanks to the stellar play of All-Pro Tae-yoo “Lira” Nam. The jury’s still out on whether or not Wu-Yeong “Seraph” Shin will be the answer in top lane moving forward, but the correct start was made by replacing Geon-woo “Ninja” Noh in the mid lane. Picking up ex-Fnatic Academy mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dincer to pair with Jun-Sik “Pirean” Choi may turn out to be a great move given the promising starts from Nisqy and Pirean this summer. While Nisqy remains the better start due to his versatility, Pirean has shown he is a reliable option with this version of Team Envy. The changes to mid lane have brought Envy to a 4-4 record. If the season ended today, Team Envy would be in the playoffs. But now with return matches on the horizon and their starting mid laner finally back in NA, it’s time for Envy to step their game up if they plan on making it back to the playoffs. Team Envy faces off against a frisky Phoenix1 squad that is better than their record indicates on Friday and will close their week in a must-win matchup against Dignitas on Sunday.

7. Team Liquid’s fall from grace draws the attention of many LCS spectators while FlyQuest’s steep decline has flown under the radar. You could argue that three of FlyQuest’s veterans were once considered the best players in the region and are now past their prime, but the better argument to make here is the complete disappearance of what made FlyQuest successful in spring. Hai Lam will be remembered as the greatest shotcaller in NA history and his savvy leadership fueled this team’s rise to the top. But the league has adjusted to FlyQuest’s strategies and FlyQuest, in turn, has failed to adapt. It’s not time to completely throw these players out and start from scratch - An “Balls” Le has made a case to extend his playing career by another year with his consistently solid performances, Jason “WildTurtle” Tran could still help a competitive team make a push for playoffs, and Hai’s aggressive shotcalling can still work with the right blend of talent (i.e. Cloud9 in 2015) - but FlyQuest needs young talent with promising mechanics to go with Galen “Moon” Holgate. Take Longzhu Gaming in Korea, a team that has gone from barely avoiding relegation to playoff contender thanks to the infusion of incredibly talented players at top, jungle, and mid to go with their experienced bot lane.

Could FlyQuest still be trusted to turn it around with this same roster? Anything is possible with Hai, but it’s going to take a superhuman effort to save this squad at 1-7. A change in pace at support and quality substitutes at top and AD carry could help, but until something changes, FlyQuest currently sits as the worst team in the NA LCS.