After falling at the hands of Immortals and Team Liquid in week 1, TSM was left scrambling for answers sitting with an early record of 0-2. When the dust finally settled on the first week of play, TSM sat at the bottom of the standings as just one of three teams to go winless over the course of its first two games.

Luckily, the team will have the chance to rebound this weekend by facing two teams that join them in the bottom half of the standings.

Waiting on the horizon are Evil Geniuses and CLG, who both experienced defeat in one form or another in week 1. With EG sitting at 1-1 and CLG at 0-2, TSM might just have the chance to get back on track here in the second week of play. And while one can make the case that none of these teams have the on-paper talent to justify their place in the standings right now, TSM sticks out immensely as a team that’s in the wrong spot on the leaderboard.

After making a plethora of offseason moves, including going after Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett and Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup in free agency, as well as acquiring Vincent “Biofrost” Wang in a trade with CLG, the fact that TSM is staring up at the rest of the league right now is definitely astounding. The team had one of its most active offseasons to date this past winter, but the results just weren’t there in week 1.

Dardoch ranked in the bottom half of all junglers in statistical categories such as KDA, GPM, CSD@15, and XPD@15, while Kobbe and Biofrost, although they played comparatively well to the rest of the league during the first 15 minutes of a given game – topping their respective positions in GD@15 – failed to provide enough presence to bring TSM past the finish line.

Keep in mind, however, that Kobbe and Biofrost both dominated the early phases of TSM’s first two contests, essentially meaning that getting off to a hot start wasn’t the issue for the TSM bot lane. If the duo is able to keep that momentum going throughout the course of this weekend’s games, there’s no reason why TSM can’t turn it into a win – maybe even two.

While the first week of play wasn’t necessarily kind to TSM in terms of results, there’s still a lot to be hopeful about. The bottom lane is playing well enough to tread water, Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik is putting the bulk of the team on his back, leading all top laners in DMG%, while ranking in the top 3 in KDA and DPM, while Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, despite a rough start to the year, has plenty of time to rebound.

Perhaps this weekend could be the start of an early redemption tour for TSM. An 0-2 start is never the way you want to kick things off, but having a schedule gracious enough as the one that sits before TSM is definitely an early-season blessing.

In fact, looking ahead to Monday night’s game against CLG, TSM outranked their rivals in week 1 when it came to KD, GDM, FBP, and nearly every objective statistic. It’s no secret that CLG had the worst week 1 in the entire league, and EG wasn’t too far behind, despite a bit of a cleaner record. Matchups against these two are exactly what TSM needs right now as the team stares down the barrel of a grisly 0-2 start.

The pieces are in place for a quick bounceback week as the scheduling gods smile upon TSM moving forward. After this weekend’s contests, TSM will face off against Dignitas and Golden Guardians in week 3 – games that could very easily showcase exactly how much progress the team is making, and how easily they can capitalize on opportunistic matchups. Perhaps this weekend could be the catalyst for success as the team moves forward.

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