Taking a well deserved winter break after the end of season 7, North America League of Legends Championship Series teams are returning for season 8 to bring us some exciting and epic battles. What a great start for the Season 8 after the drama that happened during the break and roster building process by NA teams. I would like to talk about the game between Team Liquid (TL) and Team Solomid (TSM) that started off the Spring split.
What happened during the break?
TSM performed really well last year and became NA Champions. They did good during Worlds as well, however none of the North America LCS team were able to take first, second or third places. Apparently after Worlds, even though TSM performed better than the rest of the NA teams, they were so disappointed they decided to rebuild the team.
Twitter was on fire after the news of Doublelift being let go from TSM. Many fans were heart-broken and confused. After all Doublelift has proven to be the best AD Carry player in North America and considered to be one of the best AD Carries in the world. Well, it is my opinion at least that Doublelift is the best AD Carry, but I am sure many would share my point of view on this.
Regardless, whose side you are on how events unfolded attracted a lot of attention and people were vocal about it. Doublelif himself expressed loudly his disappointment during one the interviews, and declared that he will do his best to destroy TSM in Season 8. Shortly after, Doublelift being let go from TSM, there was news that TL picked him up. Not only TL pick up Double lift, they also picked up great players like Pobelter, Impact, Xmithie. They have build a really strong roster that has a great potential to dominate NA and possibly be a solid candidate for World Championship.
After Doublelift's interview, TSM owner and TSM veteran players Hauntzer and Bjergsen did their own interview and spoke up loudly against Doublelift accepting his challenge. Trash talking back and forth among these parties continued for a bit, and some fans had to choose which side to take. I am rooting for Doublelift and Team Liquid. In my opinion, this team is really strong now and TL finally might reemerge as a dominant team in NA.
Everybody was anxiously awaiting for the match between these teams, all that draam and trash talking create a lot of hype around these teams and all of the focus has been on them.
Doublelift is one of the NA LCS's oldest veterans, but he's still hungry for success. After two straight years of disappointment at Worlds, the star ADC and TSM parted ways. Now he joins Team Liquid's star-studded roster for 2018. Widely considered one of the godfathers of modern ADCs, he will now try to play the part of wily veteran.
From Doublelift's biography page.
TL vs TMS
Who knew Riot would go ahead and start off the games whit satisfy the anticipations of fans and scheduling TL and TSM as a opening match of NA LCS Spring Split.
Have you seen the match? If not, I highly recommend watching it, as it was amazing (well, maybe not for all).
I had a feeling that game was over after champion select, when they put Doublelift on Tristana. I mean, Doublelift shines best with this champion. There were so many epic games and plays he has performed with this champion, they are all over the youtube. I started getting a little worried when at forth minute Shyvanna of TSM kills the dragon. That early dragon on Shyvanna? How could TL make such a sacrifice. TSM had a small lead and they continued playing by the book and focusing objectives.
Things started changing when Pobelter roams and ganks top. Pobelter on Malzahar and Impact top on Gankplank get the first kill on Hauntzer. TL got the first kill, but gold lead was equal. Thing start getting interesting at bot, successful gank on ultless Kalista. They kill Kalista, Imact teleports Doublelift start killing them all one by one. That was the turning point of the game. After that TL starts getting towers, dragon, rift herald, etc. Doublelift was on fire, and TSM had no chance to stop them. Game ended in 27 minutes.
TL team all happy and jumping up and down, and Double lift got his revenge. This is not the end, it is just the beginning of the season. But what an exciting start for the games. Will TL continue performing like that and dominate NA. It is early to say, but they sure look very strong. Of course, if there is one thing TSM is good at, that would be at coming back strong after a bad game. We will be looking forward for a rematch, and see if TSM will continue underestimating TL. Don't forget to watch Doublelift's after game interview. Looks like we are going to have a very interesting and entertaining season.