I went with a friend to the March 2nd NA LCS this past sunday. I went in not hoping for a lot and was absolutely blown away. The drive wasn’t bad since I live less than half an hour away and we left early to dodge the traffic. When we arrived, there was a decent line to wait in in order to be escorted to the studio itself, but we got lucky and ended up with front row seats! The production value was outstanding, and although the seats were mildly uncomfortable and I was next to a larger gentleman that took up about half of my seat as well as his own, I felt comfortable spending four hours and a bit watching the four games that went on. I intend on going again, at some point in the future. With that said, the games themselves were largely one sided, which surprised me given the appearance of balanced matchups.


TSM vs Cloud Nine
This game was the reason I bought tickets in the first place, three weeks ago. TSM and Cloud Nine are, without a doubt, the two best teams in North America right now, and this game was a tiebreaker for their 1-1 record this season. Unfortunately, on Friday, TSM announced that instead of Bjergsen, Reginald would be playing mid this weekend, due to Bjerg having Visa issues. This saddened me a bit but after Reginald’s performance on Zed the day before, I had renewed faith in TSM. But going into the game, TSM clearly seemed concerned. The crowd wasn’t particularly supportive either. There weren’t any angry screams at Regi, but a few TF jokes were made at his expense. Nonetheless, as the game started, Regi wasn’t the one to disappoint me. Dyrus hugely underperformed in lane, dropping far behind in CS compared to Balls despite very little jungle assistance (although the level one fight did screw him up). TSM’s botlane also fell behind due to a very well played gank. By the time team fights rolled around, Regi’s Leblanc was possibly the saving grace of TSM, and allowed them to hold on for longer than they should have. Cloud Nine didn’t play flawless (Balls’ missed Dragon’s Descent comes to mind) but their lanes simply were stronger, and the teams are roughly equal at team fighting. Cloud Nine won easily, or at least more easily than expected, and they really deserved the win.

Dignitas vs EG
This game was a series of heart attacks, one after the other. Although EG had a great early lead, Snoopeh failed to make plays across the map (other than his first pantheon ult which was excellent). Even if Innox and Pobelter both stayed ahead in their lanes, EG’s bot lane went even, and a few failed plays eventually started to push the game against them. EG’s team fights left a lot to be desired, especially given their team fight heavy composition. Yellowpete really impressed me, however, and definitely earned the title “Yolopete” with some stellar aggressive flashes. I was unimpressed with Scarra’s Karthus, since he seemed to try to pull a Froggen style Karthus (Farm a ton, become a terrifying monster with ults that chunk entire teams), but failed. I think he would have been better off going full Reginald (yolo flashes into five mans in order to initiate and disrupt. Luckily, Dignitas played the map well, and secured 2(!) barons with relatively little disaster. EG’s attempts at bush ganking a farmed Shyvanna, piloted by Cruzer, probably cost them the game. This was probably the second most disappointing game of the day, slightly above CRS vs Coast.


XDG vs CLG
This was a game which I was expecting to be full of throws back in forth. I was wrong, however, and CLG played out of their minds. Link’s early roam to bot really solidified their lead, even if DoubleLift seemed unable to pick up kills through the majority of the game. I think this game makes it easy to believe that Link is probably one of the 3 best midlaners in NA. Once ahead, CLG didn’t throw a lead, which was nice to see. Mancloud’s performance disappointed me, as I hoped that Xmithe’s move back to jungle would help get him out of his slump. Zuna wasn’t terrible, but I think that is largely due to Aphrolift playing so passively due to the fear of Evelynn. Overall a good game.


CRS vs Coast
Curse was playing very impressive. Quas was slightly ahead in farm, going mostly even with a Shyvanna, and drawing pressure. For once, Voyboy was winning his lane convincingly, especially with the early bank from Dom, even against a mid as strong as Shipthur. Even Curse’s bot lane was going alright (although not great). Then, dragon happened. Anyone who watched the game probably had the same reaction as I did: a slow, lifeless crumple, with my head falling into my hands. Saint tweeted later that his ultimate was bugging out, which would explain the random flash and then the subsequent airball. I’m inclined to believe him, but for whatever reasons the referee did not. After a brutal pause, Curse came back to an almost certainly lost game. They continued to put up a valiant fight, and Voyboy played absolutely fantastically (hell, he probably single-handedly kept Curse in that game an extra 10 minutes), but I fully believe Curse lost at that Dragon fight. Zionspartan didn’t play as well as I was hoping, but his participation in team fights was solid. And Wiz didn’t cost his team the game! So that was good. Overall the worst game of the day.