Excitement is building as the first week of 2019 quickly approaches and NA LCS fans get a chance to see some of the new and redesigned teams for the first time on stage. It's exciting to see some of the changes made by the teams and other changes that leave you scratching your head. Without delay here are the rosters and power rankings by me for Spring Split week 1 2019.
Power Rankings / Rosters
#1 Team Liquid
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Once again I expect Team Liquid to be the dominant NA team for 2019 as they were in 2018. Once again a team crumbled around Doublelift on the world's stage who just couldn't carry hard enough. I'm still undecided as to if he just couldn't carry hard enough as was the teams plan or his team just crumbles around him under the pressure when he can't carry.
I'm hoping some of the changes made in the offseason can help with that. Adding former Cloud 9 member Jensen and former Gen.G Support and 2017 World Champion with LCK's Samsung Galaxy Core JJ. 2 Solid players that will hopefully be able to at least help win their lanes when Doublelift isn't hard carrying.
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I'm glad to see Impact and Xmithie back on the team as well. These are solid players that rarely carry but rarely lose their lanes. They can win lanes against weaker opponents and allow for opportunities for the team to gain leads as well as keep stronger players on the opposite team from snowballing and winning the game through their "lane"
#2 100 Thieves
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I've seen most people put C9 and even TSM in this spot, but I think they are insane. This team had such a terrible Summer 2018 with trading Meteos halfway through the split and benching Cody Sun just before worlds that I think most people are forgetting how strong this team was in Spring 2018.
You have one if not THE best NA top laner in Ssumday and THE best NA support in Aphromoo. I don't remember AnDA being a standout jungler after Meteos left, but I also don't remember him costing the team any games. They've signed Huhi in the middle who played with Aphroo Moo on the Counter Logic Gaming team that placed second in the 2016 MSI, losing only to SK Telecom 1, and they signed the ADC of the team that defeated CLG at 2016 MSI and multiple world champion "Bang" who was formerly of SK Telecom 1 the most winningest team in Leauge of Legends History.
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#3 Cloud 9
Cloud 9 finished the best of any NA team at worlds making it all the way to the semi-finals before being eliminated as a 3rd/4th place finish (they don't play a runner-up match to see who made 3rd or 4th place). The team remained relatively unchanged with the exception of Jensen moving to Team Liquid and C9 Signing Nisqy.
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C9 had a crazy start to Summer 2018 with almost the entire pro team being benched and the academy team starting. They were able to recover from a terrible start and make it to worlds (obviously). It appears they plan to keep the same bench players on the team with Blaber and Svenskeren swapping out in the jungle position and Goldenglue and Nisqy swapping out in mid.
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Keeping their dominant top and bottom players for Licorice for top and Sneaky and Zeyzal on bottom this is another powerhouse team. My only concern is how will the mid perform in the absence of Jensen and is this team strong enough to place any higher. C9 seems to always have a dominant performance (at least for NA) at worlds but hasn't had a dominant split in a while.
#4 Team Solo Mid
I just don't understand TSM anymore. Before they would look like a weak team and Reginald (former player and owner of the team) would step in kick some ass, take some names, make some changes, and push the team on to championships. I don't know if he's either more actively involved in other Esports areas, working to get them pushed off the ground, or satisfied as is with franchising and doesn't need to worry anymore.
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I'm assuming Hauntzer left for more money, but then to sign a top laner from Turkey seems like a questionable move. I have to admit I don't watch much League outside of NA and some of EU and Korea, but don't see Broken Blade being an upgrade from Hauntzer.
I was never a fan of TSM getting rid of Double Lift Biofrost for Zven Mithy. I have a hatred for European League of Legends and to bring 2 players over there was questionable. I still don't understand why you would replace Mithy for Smoothie. Granted Smoothie looked much better on Echo Fox then he did on Cloud 9, but now the only dominant player you have left on the team is Burger "Bjergsen" King.
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It's also been announced that Akkadian will be the starting in place of Grig due to wrist problems. It doesn't sound like they understand what's going on with Grig's wrist, but are taking precautions for his long term health. While this is bad news in the short term for TSM it's nice to see an Esports team putting player health first and TSM has always been a class act in the League of Legends scene.
#5 Golden Guardians - Most Confusing Pick
I actually had Golden Guardians a lot lower when I initially started to write this article, but after talking with my friends moved them up significantly. Hauntzer is a top tier player in the top lane. He is definitely a candidate for best top laner in NA and was a star even on a team like TSM. This season will be a defining season for Hauntzer showing he's really is as good as he seems, or show that he's just a good player that was on a team that made him look all-star. I'm guessing he's really as good as he seems.
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Froggen is an interesting pickup. If I remember correctly Team Liquid, before franchising, paid a lot of money to pick up Froggen and tried for a few splits to build a team around him even moving him to ADC at one point if my memory serves me correctly.
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Finally, you have Olleh. I feel bad for the ex-team liquid support. I don't know if playing with Doublelift is intimidating or he just can't live up to the pressure of a world's stage. Would be interesting to see him on the world's stage again on a different team to see how he performs. Would be nice to see one of the two teams that have professional sports team backings (Golden Guardians -> Golden State Warriors and Clutch Gaming -> Houston Rockets) to make it on the world's stage.
#6 Clutch Gaming - Season Wildcard
Clutch Gaming seemed to have a relatively middle of the road performance in 2018 with some huge upsets like knocking out TSM, but seem to be shooting for a repeat performance in 2019. They've had some good pick-ups during the offseason that have some potential but don't see them breaking out to an early lead.
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They picked up Echo Fox's top and mid lanes (Huni and Damonte respectively) to replace Solo (who went to Echo Fox) and Febiven (who went back to Europe to play for Misfits). I think losing Febiven was a pretty big blow to Clutch as they seemed to be trying to build their franchise around him. Wonder if he was offered more money than what Clutch wanted to pay him or he was just unhappy here in the NALCS.
I think this team is the team with the greatest potential to either finish the season in the top 3 or the bottom 3 it's just a flip of a coin either direction. I don't remember how good Damonte was for Echo Fox as I mostly focused on Huni and Dardoch, so it will be interesting to see how this team pans out with the "volatile" Huni and lackluster Piglet (who is also a former SK Telecom T1 player) leading this team.
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#7 Echo Fox - Clutch Gaming 2.0?
I wish we would have had one more season with Dardoch and Huni on the same team. I really enjoyed watching Echo Fox play even if it was a circus most games. It made for some fun and interesting games to watch with some huge highlight plays.
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It seems like the new direction of Echo Fox has gone from volatile circus games to get attention to a more consistent team that can grow into the future. They grabbed the bottom lane of Clutch Gaming of Apollo and Hakuho who I'm assuming will be the starters for Fox with Lost either being on Academy or a bench player.
Fenix, from what I remember, being a strong mid laner toward the end of the season is still on the team. Rush who played for KT Rolster last season as Jungle. I'm interested to see how this works out because I don't think NA has imported very many Jungle players before as most imports either fill the Top and Mid positions.
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Finally, they picked up Solo from Clutch gaming and Lourlo from Golden Guardians for top laners. With so much talent in the top lane for NA like Impact, Ssumday, Huni, and Hauntzer, it's hard to remember if either of these two laners were a standout. I think this could be a great team for Echo Fox to build upon and grow from going into Summer 2019, but only time will tell who is starting and how this time will mesh.
#8 Counter Logic Gaming - Wish Pick
I'm calling my this my wish pick because after they came so close to winning MSI 2016 and putting NA on the recent worlds tournament map I really want to see this team do better. I don't know much about Wiggily the new jungle, but losing Reignover wasn't much of a loss. Good jungle for different teams, but never seemed to have the it factor.
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I do think they came out ahead by picking up Power of Evil for the loss of Huhi. The question is how are Biofrost and Stixxay going to perform. I became a Stixxay fan when he popped off with Aphromoo back in 2016 and would love to see him and Biofrost perform up to those standards.
Counter Logic Gaming seems to be another one of the "old guard" teams that are happy with the franchising and to cost along with the fans and make some money. If they have a lackluster split in the Spring and Summer I hope 2020 brings up a shakeup and new life into the organization. 2019 may be my last season as a Counter Logic Gaming fan.
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#9 Optic Gaming
The greenwall. I wish the greenwall would bring more fans over to League of Legends because their rivals of 100 Thieves are just demolishing them. Unfortunately, I don't see much changing this season with OpTic and underwhelming performance.
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I am interested to see how the double jungle works with Meteos and Dardoch. From what I've read Dardoch is going to start on the Academy team and Meteos is going to start on the pro team. I can't see that pair getting along very well because Meteos has been traded/let go for being lazy and Dardoch, from what we here, is let go for being "too intense". I don't see a "lazy" person meshing with an "overachiever" very well.
I'm assuming Dardoch is being trialed on the Academy team. If he meshes well with the team and continues to perform I can't see Meteos lasting very long in his starting position. I think Meteos is a great jungler, but when Dardoch isn't being a douche he is a T1 jungler easy.
Another big pick up for Optic was middle lane Crown who used to play for Gen.G. Everyone always hyped Power of Evil before he came over here and don't get me wrong he's a good mid laner, but it will be interesting to see if and Crown settles in with his new team.
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#10 Flyquest - Wishing it was Immortals
I still don't understand how Flyquest made it in and Immortals was shut out of the franchising process. This team now has 2 (Wild Turtle and Pobelter) of the 5 Immortals players. I'm hoping I'm wrong and I really like watching Pobelter and Wild Turtle play, but I think this is a team doomed for the last place.
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Pobelters has never been an outstanding player. Wildturtle is a good ADC, but gets caught out for being over aggressive too often, and the other players are less than memorable. Santorin is the only player from last season that stands out for some reason.
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2019 Week 1 NA LCS Schedule
There is an error in the graphic below as Origen should be Optic Gaming. If you're just getting interested in Esports the first 2 games on Saturday, January 26th will be the games to watch. Not only do you have last seasons #1 Team Liquid going up against the #2 Cloud 9, but Cloud 9's former midlaner is now playing on Team Liquid, which should make for a great game.
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Team Solo Mid vs. 100 Thieves is going to be another great match-up. I will be most interested to see how well the 2 new players on 100 Thieves are able to play together. If they are able to start the season off on the same page, 100 Thieves will be a fun team to watch with threats from multiple lanes.
I think after those 2 games and the second game on Sunday of Cloud 9 vs. 100 Thieves will give you a great idea of how standings for the top 4 teams for Spring 2019 will shake out. Cloud 9 and 100 Thieves haves a rough start of the season playing what I feel could be the top 2 teams of the season. TSM and Team Liquid at least get a break on Sunday playing against what should be average to lower level teams.
My perdictions are as follows:
Saturday January 26th.
- Cloud 9 vs. Team Liquid -> Team Liquid
- Team Solo Mid vs. 100 Thieves -> 100 Thieves
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. OpTic Gaming -> Counter Logic Gaming
- FlyQuest vs. Golden Guardians -> Golden Guardians
- Echo Fox vs. Clutch Gaming -> Clutch Gaming
Sunday January 27th.
- FlyQuest vs. OpTic Gaming -> OpTic Gaming
- Cloud 9 vs. 100 Thieves -> 100 Thieves
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. Team Liquid -> Team Liquid
- Team Solo Mid vs. Clutch Gaming -> Team Solo Mid
- Echo Fox vs. Golden Guardians -> Golden Guardians
Let me know your predictions in the comments below. The winner for week 1 will win a Steem Monster Reward card!