The fourth installment of North American LCS was one of the most exciting weeks of the summer split. It was jam-packed with upsets and very close games. Teams finally proving themselves to be a top contender.

 

Perhaps one of the most surprising events was Team Dignitas’ victory over Team Liquid on Sunday. With this victory, Team Dignitas showed they are a team to be feared this split. Coming from relegation and one loss away from being kicked out of LCS to being one of the teams tied for second place after week four. This is a massive improvement that I’m sure many observers didn’t see coming. With the addition of their jungler, Helios, formerly of team Winterfox, Dignitas is making a huge play for the top spot in North America. With crazy comeback victories against Team Liquid and TSM, Dignitas looks like a team to be feared even when they are playing from behind. Even though they gave a little edge back to Team Liquid on Sunday, they still pulled through with massive outplays in team fights and Gamsu’s glass-cannon Jarvan stole the spotlight.

 

In fact Gamsu stole the spotlight in both of their games this weekend. With a world record performance on Hecarim against Team Impulse on Saturday, he carried his team to victory and his Jarvan IV flagged and dragged his team to be tied for second place with the likes of Team Solo Mid.

 

Although Gamsu may be the mechanical reason Team Dignitas is able to pull out these victories, there is another man on their team that is also helping Dignitas. Their junglers ability to shot call and keep his team in position allows them to play from behind. Though you could also attribute this to Dignitas’ ability to manage their morale quite well, that would be nothing with outstanding shotcalling from the new Dignitas team member.

 

Another team to keep watching after this weekend is Gravity. With Bunny Fufu stepping into the shotcalling position after the grizzled veteran, SaintVicious, stepped down following the spring split, Bunny has been picking up the role quite quickly. Their loss to TSM this weekend was a close one and definitely showed Gravity is not a team to quickly dismiss. Though near the end of the game the team kind of fell apart, this was a feat that not many considered possible for the novice LCS team. They have massively improved since last split with the addition of Korean jungler, Move and AD Carry, Altec.

 

Move brings a unique idea to the team in the way he jungles. Most junglers provide security in the way of map presence but Move does this through his vision control. Through out the game, Move is constantly going into the enemy jungle to place deep wards to spot the enemy jungler as he navigates the map. This helps his team be able to make educated decisions on what to do next to take their team to victory.

 

This can be seen as a massive asset but can also be seen as a detriment to the team because though the vision helps keep his team safe and make effective decisions, his lack of map presence makes it a breeze for the enemy jungler to gank lanes without opposition. This puts a lot of responsibility on Move’s teammates to play safely while he navigates the map. You could see this issue in the TSM game as Santorin continued to gank mid, Keane had no assistance from his jungler and continued to feed Bjergsen and Santorin because he was alone. You could see the team notice this though as the game evolved, Bunny Fufu took it upon himself to make sure his mid-laner was safe, making roams to his lane. Bunny used his shotcalling role to make plays around the map not only in midlane. He roamed top lane in an attempt to get Hauntzer’s Rumble ahead. In the mid-game, the Rumble became their main asset in fights with excellent placing of Rumble’s equalizers, they continued to clean up fights against the veteran squad. Though Gravity was able to take advantage in the mid-game, one catch later in the game would lose the match for them. Gravity has improved their team play greatly but still have much improvement to gain. I believe Gravity has what it takes to be a top contender one day and we will see what they have to offer later in the split.

 

The least expected event to occur this weekend was Team Liquid losing both of their matches to Team Dignitas and Team Solo Mid. The loss to Team Solo Mid was due to a few misplaced ultimates and a catch made in Team Liquid’s own red buff jungle. The fight would ultimately be cleaned up by TSM’s veteran mid-laner, Bjergsen, to help bring the fall of one of the top teams in North America. Team Liquid’s loss to TSM and Gravity’s victory over Team 8 would create a four way tie for second place.

 

Sunday’s game against Team Dignitas was sure to be a different story though. Both teams came into the match with something to prove. Team Dignitas had to prove they were in fact a team to be feared and Team Liquid had to prove that the loss to TSM was a fluke and they deserved their spot on top. Unfortunately for Team Liquid, Dignitas was the one to prove themselves. Though Dignitas threw a large lead over the former top team, Dignitas corrected their mistakes to regain the lead and earn a victory through a double teleport by Helios’ Rek’sai and Gamsu’s Jarvan. Team Liquid fans slumped their head once again as their boys in white fell again to a team they thought they could easily beat. Dignitas had proven they are in fact a team to compete with again and teams should start preparing to fight a Dignitas that does not let their opponents make mistakes.

 

Overall, week four was an action packed weekend and was a blast to watch. As the split goes on, the teams in North America continue to improve and the fight for first seems to be an ongoing battle. At the end of this week, CLG ended as the only team in first but there are teams that are looking to topple the “Second Coming” of CLG.

Luke Jehle