We’re halfway through the NALCS spring split, and I’ll be handing out grades for each team so far.  My basis for grading: expectations coming into this split, if they’ve met/under performed those expectations, and their current standing.  Every team has played each other once now, so we have a good feel for how each team matches up against one another.  Things can definitely change in the second half of the split, so it’ll be interesting to see where these teams end. 

10.  Team Liquid(2-8)

Nobody expected us to be halfway through the split with Team Liquid sitting at the bottom, even below Envyus.  They acquired supposedly one of the best junglers in the region in Kim “Reignover” Ui-jin, but it hasn’t been enough.  One thing that has changed this split is the meta shift to utility style AD carries, in which star Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin has struggled on.  In the past, Team Liquid relied on Piglet to be a main carry for the team.  That has not been the case this split as Piglet currently sits dead last in KDA and leads all AD’s in deaths. 

Team Liquid has obviously hit the panic button with the announcement of possible roster changes during the IEM break.  The most notable rumor being Piglet switching to mid.  If that doesn’t spell desperation, I don’t know what does.  There aren’t many ADC’s in challenger willing to thrust themselves into a sinking ship and be apart of the downfall. 

Grade: F

9.  Team Envyus(2-8)

In all honesty, everyone expected Envyus to be a low tier team, possibly similar to Echo Fox last summer.  The fact that they have two wins, one coming off a talented Echo Fox team, tells me they’re not as bad as people think.  They’ve shown the ability to take teams to close matches even when they do lose. 

Their laners are able to gain significant CS differences in games.  Looking at top laner Shin “Seraph” Wu Yeong and ADC Apollo “Apollo” Price, they’re both near the top in their positions in CS diff@10.  They may lack the team fighting needed to really compete on the LCS level, but that’s to be expected when only your bot lane speaks English as their first language. 

Grade: B-

8.  Team Dignitas(4-6)

With the big name imports of Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho and Lee “Chaser” Sang-hyun, Dignitas was expected to be towards the top of the standings.  They were off to a slow start, but things have finally picked up for them, going 3-1 in the past two weeks.  I’ll admit two of those wins were against Team Envyus and Team Liquid, two teams at the bottom of the standings, but they needed those wins.  They also looked impressive in a 2-0 victory against Flyquest, who were tied for second heading into the week. 

Their schedule doesn’t get any easier heading into the second half, as they half Phoenix1 and TSM as their first opponents.  Maybe this IEM break will give them the needed time to finally come together as the top tier team many had hoped for. 

Grade: D

7.  Echo Fox

Echo Fox has to be the most inconsistent team in LCS.  At least with bottom tier teams you can expect how they’re going to play.  With Echo Fox, one week they’re 2-0 sweeping TSM, the next they’re getting 0-2’d by Envyus.  This team seems to have trouble playing to the level of their competition.  Against the good teams, they play their best, but against the worse ones, they’ll allow themselves to play down to their level.  This is just about where people were placing them in terms of standings heading into the split, if not lower. 

It is surprising to see a team this low still hold the highest Gold difference@15 among NALCS teams.  Their early game isn’t their weak point by any means.  Jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham has shown to be the best jungler so far, despite a poor showing last weekend.  His early game aggression has allowed Echo Fox to jump to their early leads.  It’s been in the mid-late game where Echo Fox has struggled in not knowing how to translate their leads into victories. 

If they can fix their macro-play, this team can definitely be a “Cinderella” team heading into playoffs. 

Grade: B

6.  Immortals (5-5)

For the most part, people pegged Immortals as being around this 5th-8th place team.  Immortals was expected to play mostly through star jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett and mid laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park.  For the most part, Dardoch has had to solo carry the team, with Pobelter playing uncharacteristically poor.  Pobelter has improved as the weeks have gone on, but he’s still currently last in KDA and CS diff@10 among mids. 

Top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-Jong looks to have fixed some of the communication issues that he was having.  In the beginning of the split, his teleports and team fighting seemed off from the team.  In a meta where tank play was very important, Immortals struggled to gain any wins to start out.  They have gone 3-1 in their past two weeks, but most of those victories came off teams below them in the standings. 

They’ll need to show some competitiveness against some of the better teams before we can list them as a definite playoff team. 

Grade: C

5.  Counter Logic Gaming(5-5)

Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) was somewhat expected to thrive to begin the split.  Most teams were brand new rosters with absolutely no synergy built up yet, as was evident in the first few weeks.  CLG would have the advantage of not having any roster changes and knowing how to play with one another.  They struggled to use this to their advantage, as they had a slow start due to not having a great grasp on the meta.  CLG have noted that they’ve always been a bit slow on picking up on the meta.  As a top tier organization, you’d expect this problem to be fixed by now. 

Star support Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black looked lost in the meta of carry style supports, often being caught out of position.  Jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero has looked as okay as he always has, but with the rise of jungle talent in a meta of carries, it hasn’t been enough. 

They’ve recently began to look like they’re returning to top form, going 3-1 in the past two weeks.  They took a much needed victory against Immortals last week that put them ahead of them in the standings. 

Grade: B-

4.  Phoenix1(6-4)

Phoenix1 were my darkhorse favorite heading into the split, and they haven’t disappointed.  Most people ranked P1 as a middle-lower half team heading in, but they’ve shown the ability to compete with the best, after sweeping C9 2-0 with a substitute jungler.  No “Arrow” Dong-hyeon has been the best ADC in NA “by far” and a candidate for MVP. 

Nobody really knows what exactly is happening with Rami “Inori” Charagh.  Before he departed the team, he was looking to be struggling on any champion that wasn’t Rengar or Kha’zix.  In recent interviews with substitute jungler Will “Meteos” Hartman, he made it sound like P1 may just be looking for a long term replacement.  Meteos is no slouch as a replacement, although he doesn’t sound like he’d be willing to commit long term.  If P1 continue with Meteos, I don’t see why this team can’t finish in the upper echelon of the standings. 

Grade: A

3.Flyquest (6-4)

Flyquest have developed into fan favorites as the “C9 White”.  No one can really count out any team with prolific shotcaller Hai “Hai” Lam on it.  Having three out of five members who have played together for so many years also has to help.  Everyone, including myself, wanted to cheer for this team, but honestly expected them to be in the bottom tier. 

This was reinforced with the announcement of Galen “Moon” Holgate as their new jungler just days before the LCS start.  The last time we saw Moon, he looked scared and out of his element on stage.  This split, he’s become one of the most improved players we’ve ever seen in LCS.  This may be due to playing with some LCS veterans this time, but Moon himself has been looking like an absolute steal from free agency. 

Hai’s effectiveness as a shotcaller will never be able to be measured statistically, but if Flyquest finish top two, I’d peg him as a favorite for MVP. 

Grade: A+

2.  Cloud 9(8-2)

Cloud 9 came into the split as heavy favorites, as their only roster change was bringing in rookie jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia.  They also have top tier players in just about every position.  They definitely started the split as the strongest looking team, with an 8-0 record.  Before this week, Cloud 9 was the lone wolf atop the NALCS.  After an abysmal 0-2 week, they’re now tied with TSM at 8-2. 

It’s questionable how Cloud 9 went undefeated through the first half of the split.  Other teams may have just needed more time to build synergy.  Cloud 9’s early game still isn’t what we’ve come to expect from a top team.  They’re currently ranked seventh in CS diff@15.  They’re not nearly as proactive as they could be in the early game and often take wins from team fighting in the mid game. 

Star top laner Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong has played the worst I’ve ever seen.  He seemed out matched against TSM’s Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell in their last series.  Cloud 9 seems to live and die by how well Impact does.  If Impact isn’t playing, they tend to look much more disorganized as well. 

For the most part, they’ve played up to expectations, but losing to Phoenix1 with a sub jungler is unacceptable.  They’ll need to bounce back strong to prove that they deserve the NALCS title. 

Grade: B

1.  Team SoloMid (8-2)

Team SoloMid had a rough beginning, as the absence of ADC Yiliang “Doubelelift” Peng hindered their play more than expected.  Doublelift held a very strong vocal leadership role in game that was missing after he left. 

Solo laners Hauntzer and Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg have adapted to take more vocal roles on the team.  It was slow at first, but the team has finally looked to be peaking at the right time.  They 2-0’ed the two teams ahead of them in the standings, in C9 and Flyquest.  Hauntzer and Bjergsen have also been playing extremely well individually.  In a meta where tank play is extremely important, Hauntzer has played near perfect in what his team has needed. 

TSM will need to continue this trend of improvement as they head into the second half of the split. 

Grade: A

There’s still much League of Legends to be played.  Playoffs will ultimately be decided by who comes out strong for the second half of the split.  Can Cloud 9 bounce back from a rough week?  Can TSM continue to improve and be the top team in North America?  Will Echo Fox break the curse of their odd week struggles?  These are only a few questions that will need to be answered before we crown a North American champion.