Since the inception of the North American League Championship Series in 2013, two teams have dominated above all others. Cloud9 and Team SoloMid, two of the oldest esports organizations in the country, have been League of Legends powerhouses for years, winning five of the six titles in NA LCS history.
Cloud9 vs. TSM preview: 2016 NA LCS playoffs kick off with one of esports’ oldest rivalries
What better way to start off the postseason?
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From Summer 2013 to Spring 2015, these two teams placed first and second in every single split. In fact, until Counter Logic Gaming's win over TSM in the 2015 Summer Split Finals, either TSM or C9 had won all five splits in NA LCS history.
Now, TSM and C9 square off in the first round of the 2016 Spring Split Playoffs. TSM has still made the finals in all six NA LCS splits, but this year will be a tougher road. TSM enters the playoffs as the sixth seed, after finishing 9-9 in the regular season. Cloud 9 is the third seed, boasting a 12-6 record. Even if TSM pulls off the upset, it would have to face No. 1 seed Immortals in the semifinals (C9 would face CLG with a win, thanks to the new playoff format). C9 also sports the runner-up for the MVP award (mid laner Jensen), and all five starters were named to an all-pro team (compared to just one for TSM).
The two teams split the regular season series, with TSM winning in Week 3 and C9 winning in Week 6. Both games were pretty close and had the lead swing back and forth, and the two teams rank second (C9) and third (TSM) in combined kills per minute. So even with disparate regular season results, this should be a fun series.
The best-of-5 series will begin April 2 at 3 p.m. ET, and will be streamed on LolEsports.com. Let’s break down the matchups.
Top lane
Both Balls and Hauntzer are undefeated on Fiora this split, but as the top lane meta has shifted towards tanks, we might not see her in this series. Poppy and Trundle have appeared to be the two priority picks in the top lane right now: Balls is 2-0 on Poppy this split, while Hauntzer is 2-3 on the champion (including one loss against Balls’ Gangplank). Balls is 2-1 on Trundle, while Hauntzer is 1-1.
Balls has the largest champion pool of any North American top laner this split, and has had a very solid farming performance. He hasn’t been doing all that much damage (especially considering how much Cloud9 fights), but that’s largely because C9 likes to keep him managing waves. Hauntzer’s been slightly behind Balls in farming this split, but slightly ahead of him in damage dealt.
Jungle
Known as the top jungler in North America for some time now, Rush joined Cloud9 this split after being named the Summer Split MVP with TIP last year. He was 3-4 on his signature Lee Sin, but saw more success with Gragas (3-0), arguably the most contested jungle pick in Patch 6.6. Rush has only played six champions this split, but he’s also done well with top meta picks Elise (1-0), Graves (1-0) and Nidalee (1-1). He even pulled out Nunu twice for two wins -- the only other professional to play Nunu this split was Hong Kong Esports’ Dinter in LMS.
On the other side, it’s been a difficult split for Svenskeren, who came over to TSM after being relegated with SK Gaming in the European LCS. He’s undefeated with Graves (three games), Kindred (three games) and Rek’Sai (two games), but he’s struggled on the two champions he’s been asked to play the most. Svenskeren is 1-4 on Elise and 0-4 on Gragas. In both head-to-head matchups this split, Rush had significant advantages in gold earned and creep score.
Mid lane
Image by James Dator
Probably the highest profile matchup of the series will pit 2016 Spring Split MVP runner-up Jensen against 2015 Spring Split MVP Bjergsen. After a pretty even first matchup between the two this split, Jensen dominated the second meeting with Twisted Fate against Bjergsen’s LeBlanc. Jensen led all North American mid laners in kills and damage per minute this split. Meanwhile, Bjergsen led all NA mid laners in CS differential at 10 minutes, but saw relatively low damage output this split.
Both players have shown comfortability with a wide range of champions, but there is one specific champion to keep an eye on, however: Syndra. Bjergsen’s one of only four professional players globally to play it multiple times this split, and he’s undefeated on the champion this season after three games played.
But if you compare the two by earned goal per minute, split by champion (thanks, Oracle’s Elixir!), the top five earners are all Jensen: his Orianna, Twisted Fate, Corki, LeBlanc and Varus. Bjergsen’s Syndra comes in at sixth.
Bot lane
TSM’s win against C9 in Week 3 came mostly on the back of Doublelift’s Lucian. He participated in 12 of his team’s 13 kills and was the only player in the game with a significant gold advantage over his lane opponent. A triple kill 25 minutes in helped sway the game in TSM’s favor, and a double kill a few minutes later helped end it.
Even in TSM’s loss to C9, Doublelift finished the game with more gold than Sneaky. Granted, he was playing Kog’Maw at the height of the champion’s power this split, but it was a strong performance even in defeat.
Both have played very well on Kalista and Lucian this split, but Sneaky’s shown a preference for Jhin as well lately (and Sivir’s becoming a higher priority pick). Doublelift had the widest champion pool of any North American marksman this split.
At support, Hai has only played four different champions this split, but he’s 9-0 on Morgana. Lucian/Morgana has been C9’s most successful bottom lane pairing, with four wins in four games.
For TSM, Yellowstar has played two champions way more than any others: Alistar and Braum. But TSM has done much better with him on Alistar (6-2) than on Braum (1-6). Kalista/Alistar is TSM’s most successful bottom lane pairing, with three wins in three games.
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