With Team SoloMid’s early exit from the 2017 Midseason Invitational, the entirety of NA LCS now focuses in on the upcoming Summer Split. Only a limited number of roster changes have occurred so far resulting in most of the powerhouse teams looking as strong as they were with Spring’s conclusion. But a new meta arises with major buffs coming to initiating tanks such as Zac and Sejuani, while ADCs continue shine from the itemization buffs that dominated both the MSI and 7.10 meta. Where will this leave the statute of power as the Summer heat rolls in? Time to find out!

#1: Team SoloMid – Another NA LCS title, another International disappointment. For those who watched MSI, we again saw the tale of the two TSM’s. A talented roster being held up by solid performances from Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell, yet crippled by a lack of decisive shot calling, head-scratching invades/positioning, and questionable drafting choices. With the departure of Jason “Wildturtle” Tran and the return of star marksmen Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, TSM hopes at least a few of these issues to be resolved.

Both Doublelift’s mechanical prowess and strong laning phase will help balanced what was a primarily top focused team last split. But his ability to make decisive shot calling will be the key to welcome return following the passivity shown in both the Spring and Midseason Invitational. Where questions lie coming into the Summer is primarily in the jungle. Following a sub-standard performance from Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen over the spring, TSM’s main focus should be reorienting Sven’s aggressive playstyle and limiting his invades in what looks to be a tank meta from the jungle. If not he may continue to be the glaring weakness in this star-studded line up. (2-0)

#2: Phoenix1 – With the summer sun high in the sky, so does Phoenix1 continue to rise. A roster with little to no changes and a meta that lines up perfectly for their squad, there is much to be hopeful for Phoenix1. Starting with the reigning MVP in Noh “Arrow” Dong-hyeon, P1 has a significant carry threat out of the bot lane in what looks to be a strong ADC meta. Followed up by consistent solo lanes from both the top and mid lanes, there is little to worry about lane wise for this squad.

Where I truly expect Phoenix1 to flourish though, is through the jungle. The tandem of William “Meteos” Hartman and Rami “Inori” Charagh can play to wherever the meta divulges to, whether that’s a combination of tanks for Meteos, or larger carry threats like Lee Sin/Graves for Inori. With a favored meta coming into play and continued growth from the youth of this squad, P1 is poised to make a run so long as their shot calling continues to improve. (2-0)

#3: Cloud 9 – A bit of a slip for Cloud 9 on the Power Rankings to start off the split could be a trend this team may need to get used to. Throughout the Spring split, what is a highly talented team continually battled back from gold deficits in the early game due to lack of aggressive play making. Unfortunately, I don’t see much changing this split in that regard. Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen is clearly a lane focused mid laner and while I expect he will hard carry Cloud9 with some outstanding performances, many teams shouldn’t let the rest of the map get away with their passive play. Should Reapered work with the team to introduce a more proactive style of play, C9 could become a legitimate worlds contender, but as of now their early game shot-calling leaves much to be desired no matter how strong a roster they employ. (1-1)

#4: Counter Logic Gaming – Unlike the teams above them, CLG’s weakness has rarely been in regard to their decision-making. With one of the best shot-callers in North America, Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black and CLG learned to dominate the lane swap meta by out rotating their counterparts, even with what was a generally less talented roster. But much like last season, lane swaps will likely remain gone and instead CLG will have to look for carry performances from their stars.

With the bot lane being the anchor of this team, it will be little surprise to see plenty of team comps built around Trevor “Stixxay” Hays. But the main question mark in CLG fan’s minds is how Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett’s insertion into the line-up changes the game. In an ideal world, his aggressive play style emboldens the solo lanes to play more confidently and gain map control through the side lanes. While the other side of the coin leads to mechanical mis-plays and mounting frustration from the often ill-tempered jungler. Personally, I’m expecting the former more often than the latter. (1-1)

#5: Dignitas – While Dignitas’ play has rarely been consistent, there is far too much talent on this team to imagine them being as shaky as they were in the Spring. Korean imports Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho and Lee “Chaser” Sang-hyun are easily two of the strongest players in the region, even following what was a turbulent split getting accustomed to North America. With what one would assume will be improved communication and coordination with their teammates over the break, I’m banking on Dignitas to take early game advantages through the top lane and carry that through to their more inconsistent bot and mid lane. Hopefully that’ll be enough to allow for some competitive games with those above them and another playoff berth for Dig. (1-1)

#6: FlyQuest – When you have Hai, you have a chance. This has been the narrative around this FlyQuest team since it burst back into the scene with a dominating first half of the 2017 Spring Split where they controlled the pace of games with strong roams, decisive shot-calling and unorthodox picks. But like most fairytale stories, eventually the magic runs out and the world reveals an ugly truth. In the case of FlyQuest, it’s that their lanes just don’t match up. Highlighted by weak laning phases from Hai “Hai” Lam and An “Balls” Lee, it will be almost entirely on Galen “Moon” Holgate and the bot lane to keep this team afloat in the early game. If that can work, maybe good macro play and aggressive shot-calling can propel FlyQuest back to a post-season appearance but I wouldn’t count on it. (1-1)

#7 Team Liquid (1-1) – With a roster that has a plethora of talent and one of the most expansive coaching staffs in the NA scene, Team Liquid’s abysmal performance in the Spring was quite the head scratcher. Realistically I’d expect them to rebound back to the mean and return to the playoffs carried on the backs of Kim “Reignover” Yeu-Jin and Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin. That being said, if the team is unable to find a consistent shot-caller and Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer’s stage issues continue it could be Spring all over again, which should signal the need for a new direction for Liquid.

#8: Team EnVy – Though I don’t expect NV to be as bad as they were in the Spring, there is little to be excited about when it comes this team’s chances at the playoffs. They continue to be the proverbial circus show with an entertaining opening act (their early game was deceptively good in Spring) but divulging into a bore once their star, Nam “LirA” Taeyou. can no longer carry the show. It’s likely NV will win a few games off LirA’s pure talent but much like Immortals this Spring, a one man show rarely leads to sustained success. (1-1)

#9 Immortals – So you take a consistently average team and then remove their clear star player, and you’ve got Summer 2017 Immortals. There isn’t much to say about this team compared to their spring iteration other than their lack of talent is even worse than before. If they can pull out some wins from better communication and improved macro play brought along by the former CLG teammates of Jake “Xmithie” Puchero and Eugene “Pobelter” Park, they may have a chance to dodge the relegation tournament. Realistically though, this team lacks a win condition, as none of their lanes look to be able to build sizeable leads without the assistance of significant help. (0-2)

#10 EchoFox – A veteran mid laner, a former world champion in the top lane and an up and coming jungler. In a different world, maybe this EchoFox team would be able to pull off their C9 cosplay, but unfortunately it won’t be happening this split. Their bot lane is a glaring weakness in what looks to be the strongest carry position in the up-coming meta. Add on to that disappointing performances by Jang “Looper” Hyeongseok and Matthew “Akaadian” Hingenbottom’s meteoric crash at the end of Spring, and it looks like another (and maybe final?) split of EloHell for Henrik “Froggen” Hansen. (0-2)

All opinions and insight are provided by Tyler “TheSaintt” Ladzinski, sole proprietor of TheLolEsportsBlog

Lol Esports related tweets can be found at https://twitter.com/TylerLadski