There are much things happening in the EU/NA LCS and I wanna know how people think about it. First of all I think the new team (Immortals) is going to be a good team, but the new TSM is beast also. The new Fnatic is a bit weaker because they have a complete new team.
My predictions are: NA LCS: #1/#2 : TSM and C9. Both can win. I do not think these guys needs much explaining. #3: NRG - imo Impact can be as good as Huni and therefore the best top laner in NA. GBM looked very good on the greenwings. He was basically the peppinero of LCK and I think he can easily be top 3 mid laners in NA. Altec is also a lot better than Wildturtle imo. Konkwon and Moon still have to be tested, but the fantastic support staff of NRG should make them not be trash. #4: Immortals - On paper they look good right..? Well... I have a lot of doubts. At worlds Reign0ver showed a lot of flaws against the better junglers. Even in LCS he often got counterganked very easily. Other competitive junglers in EU also showed up to him on multiple occasions (Jankos, Svenskeren... Other EU junglers were shit this year). I would rank him as top 3 still, though. Huni is by far the best top laner in the west right now, but I firmly believe Impact can be as good if not better if he is given the right team and jungler. It will be very very hard to beat the top/jungle synergy of Reign0ver and Huni. That is where these two really shine and are the best. The rest of the team looks pretty shit though. I mean, Pobelter has his moments, but I would still rate Bjergsen, Jensen, GBM, Alex Ich, maybe Froggen and even Fenix above him. It is the same story with Wildturtle. No, he is not complete dogshit, but I mean in a league with DBL, Sneaky, Altec and now also Freeze I think he will have a very hard time. Apollo is well... Apollo. He is a stabile stupport without any very distinct weaknesses. But he is also not a support god like Yellowstar. I think the C9, TSM, NRG and RG bot lanes will do a lot better. #5: Renegades. Man, these guys have so much potential I think. Let us start with the bot lane, I think Freeze and Remilia looks really really solid on paper and with the low econ ways of Freeze and willingness to do everything for the team while also being able to become a huge carry I think they can do anything. RF legendary is a wildcard, though, and honestly I do not have too big hopes for him. I think he will be crushed, honestly. Moving on to Alex Ich. This guy has showed on multiple occasions through his career that he can be a mid lane god. He has been accused many times of being washed up, but I believe he can be top of NA. Maybe as the third or fourth best mid laner. Also he is very flexible with his picks. He has shown in the challenger seen that he can play everything from Zed, Ahri, Kassadin and LB to Ryze, Lulu and Cassiopeia. All of this flexibility and potential talent I think will unlock Crumbzz ability to shotcall to the level of people like Hai. Let us be honest, the guy is not a mechanical mastermind, but then again he doesn't need to be from the jungle. If he can be a fantastic shotcaller, he will still be able to do very well. #6: Team Liquid. Talent for dayz. IWD is somewhat good, Piglet has very high highs and Fenix is really good too (albeit a small champ pool). I think if they land themselves a decent top laner like Chris maybe, they will do decently. #7: CLG ... Why the fuck do they still have Xmithie?? And why did they stick with Huhi instead of trying to develop Pobelter? Furthermore, does this team know that they have downgraded their ADC a ton? Sure DBL is a dick and I am by no means a fan, but you should never downgrade if you are not a worldclass team already... And they are not - they lost to PNG... Does Zikz and Mylixia know they have import spots? I think they could have done so much better in the preasons if they had leached out for players like Dexter, Froggen, Forg1ven, EVER players, possibly Fenix (pure spectulations). Moving down the list and you will even find names like Move and Helios who both have plenty of potential. There is also decent/good players like Tabzz and when the decission was made I am sure they could even have gotten their hands on Spirit or Meteos.... Overall, I think CLG completely fucked up their off-season... But with shitty teams like the new Dignitas and the rumors of the new Impulse I think they will JUST avoid relegations. Regarding the new team 'Echo Fox' I think they have the potential to do very well if the rumors are true. Apparently, they are creating what looks like to be a really solid team consisting of players like Keane/Dexter(or meteos)/Froggen/Keith/Xpecial. I do not think these guys will be top dogs, but I think they can be better than the likes of Liquid and maybe even Renegades...
Next to EU LCS: #1/#2: Origen or Fnatic. Both of these guys have really solid line-ups. If Fnatic solves the shotcalling issues they have after losing Yellowstar, I think they can beat Origen. As it is right now, though, Origen has the edge. Gamsu < Soaz, Spirit > Amazing, Febiven > POE, Niels > Rekkles, Mithy > Noxiak (maybe... Who knows) This will be really really interesting. #3: H2K. Honestly, these guys also have the potential of beating both Origen and Fnatic. Oddoamne has shown that he is a consistent low econ top laner who doesn't die constantly (see. Dyrus) Which is a fantastic fit for both Ryu and Faker. Ryu is one of the most solid mid laners in EU. He is basically the Pawn of EU. You almost never see this guy get solo killed and he very rarely loses lane. However, he also rarely wins with a lot. I think Ryu has, with THIS exact team, the potential of being better than Febiven is right now. Jankos. The king of First Blood. This guy is what unlocks the whole team with his early agression and capabilities of getting his team ahead in the first 10 minutes of the game. Vander and Forg1ven will probably be the 2nd strongest bot lane in EU LCS after Niels/Mithy. Forg1ven is probably the best ADC in the west right now and Vander is fantastic at keeping his ADC safe so he can do his thing. This guy is the reason why Celavar, Woolite and MrRallez looked somewhat decent in the LCS. The realy question with this line-up is who the hell will shotcall? Because Jankos, while a great early/midgame jungler struggles a lot in the late game, and Forg1ven loves to only play the 1-3-1 strategy. I think the shotcalling of this team is what decides whether they are top 3 or top 6... One thing is for sure, though, this is Forg1ven's last chance to show he is THE best. No more excuses. #4 Vitality. These guys all look really solid on paper, but they also have a lot to prove. There is so many question marks like: Is Cabo really better than Soaz, Gamsu and (his rival imo) Oddoamne? Will Shook be able to predict Spirit, Amazing and Jankos and do better than them? Can he find his old form in Alliance? Is Nukeduck still that huge soloq mid lane carry style mid laner as he was hyped to be back in S2 and S3? Will he be able to destroy (because that is what he will have to do) Febiven, POE and Ryu? Kasing/Hjarnan is a really good bot lane, but will they be better than the other 3? I do not know... I have a lot of doubts about Nukeduck, Shook and Cabochard. It seems like Nukeduck never really got to unlock his potential, reach level 99 and beat the final boss xPeke and Froggen during his career, and I do not see him do it now either. Shook... Man, what happened to this guy. Back in S4 with Alliance his playstyle was one of my favourite out of all the junglers, but he always managed to throw his HUGE lead a little bit by getting caught at stupid times and positioning wrong. I have no idea what happened to him in S5... He just hit a brick wall, fell off and we didn't see him for like a split... Until he returned to CW and once again showed to everyone he still has talent. And there is Cabochard. He showed time and time again he has a huge amount of mechanical skill against even the best top laners in EU like Soaz, Huni and Oddoamne. Imho he is the opposite of Oddoamne. Oddo is a low econ tank player who doesn't need to much attention but is solid as hell. Cabo is a mechanical god who wants to put the team on his bag and carry them. He will demand attention, he will demand gold and he will either destroy the other team or sort of fall off. If the meta is with him, I think he will be a monster. The rest doesn't matter. From here on it is a huge clown fiesta with everyone being able to beat everyone.
