For the past decade, North America has been the laughingstock of the global Esports League of Legends scene. Underwhelming performances on the international stage, a lack of development in the local scene in favor of a proliferation of often serendipitous imports - the LCS has frequently been the subject of mockery rather than admiration or envy.
Nevertheless, the LCS hasn't always been the receiving end of jokes and seems to be moving away from its less glorious years. Since 2018, no one has managed to replicate Cloud9's feat, when they reached North America's first-ever semi-final by crushing Afreeca Freecs (3-0). The LCS is gradually distancing itself from the dark days when even Europeans couldn't resist poking fun at them.
In 2021, for instance, Cloud9 once again managed to advance from the group stage, despite a challenging group, outpacing the Chinese runners-up FunPlus Phoenix and the European team Rogue. The same year, 100 Thieves finished their group with a 3-3 record, trailing behind T1 and the future world champions EDG, from whom they even stole a game. The same story unfolded for Team Liquid, who, in the same year, was only eliminated after a tie-breaker against Gen.G, in a group where all teams finished level.
Last year, in a decisive Play-In match, Evil Geniuses even humiliated MAD Lions with a resounding 3-0 victory. Granted, unlike their European counterparts, North America didn't send any of its representatives to the quarter-finals. However, the European team that did, Rogue, didn't have to face any American teams in their group.
This year, the LCS has experienced a very eventful season, with only a few teams remaining consistent throughout the season.
So, why does everyone enjoy belittling the LCS, and why does no one fear them? Historically, the LCS has remained the fourth power on the stage. Although the gap between Europe and North America is probably not as vast today as it once was, it still exists, and the Americans have always lived in the shadow of their European neighbors, primarily because of their lack of success in international competition playoffs.
Since 2020, with the introduction of 4 Worlds slots for the best regions, China and Korea, the two behemoths, now send 8 teams to Worlds, resulting in a total of... 8 playoff spots. Therefore, it becomes increasingly challenging for the LCS to place their teams deep in the competitions.
This year, North America witnessed an eventful season, with numerous arrivals of talent, unexpected season outcomes, and even an upheaval of the entire American esports ecosystem, leading LCS teams to go on strike, halting LCS for 3 weeks - a first in esports!
In this unique season, three teams have stood out, making it to Worlds 2023 with the sole objective of finally restoring their region's reputation and commanding respect worldwide.
Team Liquid: Ambitious But Struggles Persist
The official announcement of Team Liquid's 2023 roster sent shockwaves through the League of Legends ecosystem, not only in North America. After a disappointing 2022 season, despite a star-studded roster and the addition of Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau and Steven "Hans Sama" Liv to the LCS, Liquid made a complete U-turn to introduce an unprecedented project in the Western scene.
Built around their legend Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in, TL, for the first time in the West, recruited a reigning world champion: Hong "Pyosik" Chang-hyeon, the former DRX jungler. Alongside him, Park "Summit" Woo-tae, who was exceptional the previous year during his brief stint with Cloud9, joined what initially formed a formidable trio. Liquid aimed to build something unexpected: a team capable of speaking Korean 100%. In North America!
To achieve this, Liquid promoted two talented players from their academy, Harry "Haeri" Kang for the midlane and Sean "Yeon" Sung as ADC. Both are of dual Korean nationality and capable of speaking Korean, and these rookies with great potential were expected to benefit from the exceptional guidance of their new teammates and a coaching staff with impressive names: former world champion Jang "MaRin" Gyeong-hwan and Worlds semifinalist Kim "Reignover" Yeu-jin.
Thus, the 100% Korean Team Liquid was born, quickly touted as favorites in the LCS due to the immense potential of such a roster, but their entry into the competition was more of a shocker than a warm welcome.
Team Liquid was highly anticipated after their 100% Korean roster changes, and their performance fluctuated significantly throughout the season.
Unable to leverage their individual talents, mainly due to Pyosik and Summit performing well below their usual standards, Liquid never reached the level expected of them, barely lingering in the middle of the table and ending the season with a lackluster record of 8 wins and 10 losses, a far cry from TL's displayed potential.
In the offseason, Liquid saw their rivals fly off to MSI without them and made the necessary changes to live up to expectations. MaRin left the team as he couldn't instill the necessary dynamics in the team to perform. In his place, Reignover assumed the role of head coach, and Kang "Dodo" Jun-hyeok, formerly the team's assistant coach turned general manager, took on a dual role for the rest of the season.
Upon their return to competition, Liquid appeared much improved and even finished the first half of the season in the positive. However, one issue persisted within the team: Haeri, who had struggled to elevate his performance when he first entered the elite league earlier in the year, continued to flounder.
TL then made an unexpected decision to replace their midlaner with Eain "APA" Stearns, a young American talent with no prior experience in the elite league, and more importantly, who didn't speak a word of Korean. Midway through the season, Liquid changed all their plans to integrate a rookie while they were still in contention for Worlds.
The gamble paid off completely. Upon his arrival, APA impressed with his composure and versatility, especially with his Ziggs, quickly becoming feared and frequently banned in 10 regular season matches. With Liquid, the rookie earned 4 MVP awards, a testament to his immense impact on the team's progress.
APA's arrival also seemed to relieve his teammates, particularly Summit and Pyosik, who finally met the expectations placed on them. Here is Team Liquid in the playoffs, where they should have been from the start of the season. Facing NRG in the first round of the playoffs, Liquid still faced a tough challenge, struggling against their opponent's excellent coordination.
As a result, they headed to the Lower Bracket, where Liquid began their remarkable comeback against the underwhelming 100 Thieves, who Summit and TL easily swept aside. Against EG, the matchup appeared more evenly balanced, but Summit once again took control, demolishing his counterpart.
Not always the most consistent, Pyosik managed to step up when his team needed him.
Team Liquid has already secured their spot in the top 4 of the LCS and now plays a decisive match to qualify directly for Worlds. Pyosik takes the stage, delivering an extraordinary performance worthy of a world champion, which eliminates the tenacious Golden Guardians.
In the semi-finals, facing NRG once again, Liquid put up a better fight, thanks to the excellent performances of their topside. However, the tables turned during the fifth game when Summit, on his Gnar, almost single-handedly caused his team's loss with a series of individual mistakes, ending with a catastrophic performance.
Nonetheless, the most important thing is accomplished: Team Liquid will be at Worlds 2023. Even though the team had much greater ambitions at the start of the season, it's almost an achievement considering their ups and downs throughout the year.
The team isn't lacking in resources, as evidenced by their two stars, Summit and Pyosik, who were instrumental in the playoffs. They will need to at least replicate these performances to hope to be more than just an also-ran in the world's biggest competition, especially since Yeon and CoreJJ form a highly uncertain bot lane, likely to face difficulties against many of their opponents.
For APA, this qualification is almost a miracle. He was still playing in the academy just three months ago and will now face Faker, the greatest player in history, in his very first Worlds match this Thursday. A remarkable story that, hopefully, won't end too soon.
Summit's statistics compared to LCS toplane in 2023
Cloud9: Ultra Dominant... Until the End
For several years now, it's impossible to talk about the top tier of the LCS without thinking of Cloud9. In fact, you have to go back to 2018, five years ago, to find a season in which the blue team didn't finish in the top 4 of the American elite.
This dominance was accentuated in 2022, thanks to a transformative roster change: Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol, the former prodigy of T1 Academy. The Korean ADC has since become the uncontested best player in the region, and he has turned Cloud9 into a formidable titan that's hard to topple.
The team entered 2023 with their status and the title they won in Summer 2022, retaining most of their existing roster. The only change was Nicolaj "Jensen" Jensen making way for two ERL rookies: Dimitri "Diplex" Ponomarev and Jang "EMENES" Min-soo. The latter, coming off an impressive season but accompanied by some behavioral issues, joined as an academy midlaner.
However, everyone gradually expected to see him take Diplex's place. This happened in the midst of a Spring split largely dominated by two teams: Cloud9, of course, but also FlyQuest, highly anticipated from the start of the year and considered C9's main rival.
In the playoffs, everything went smoothly for the cloud: a very dominant victory over CLG (3-1) propelled C9 to the Upper Bracket Final, where they faced FLY, their primary competitor. This was followed by a total annihilation of C9, who crushed FlyQuest 3-0, thanks to their indispensable Berserker.
Cloud9 dominated the entire season until the last final, where the team collapsed.
In the final, C9 expected to meet FLY, determined to seek revenge. However, it was ultimately Golden Guardians, who made an unexpectedly impressive comeback, that challenged them for the title. But even they couldn't stop C9, the heavy favorites, from securing their second consecutive title without showing any signs of difficulty. Does this bode well for international competitions?
In any case, Cloud9 heads to MSI as the sole hope of their region. A few days earlier in the Play-In, GG managed to take a game from Bilibili Gaming, offering a glimmer of hope to all of North America, especially since BLG was C9's first opponent!
However, the return to reality was harsh. C9 was crushed by the Chinese team, failing to secure a single game. And while the team reaffirmed its status as the #1 team in North America by beating GG 3-1 in the Lower Bracket entry, GEN.G reminded those who still hoped that the gap between Asia and North America is massive, inflicting another brutal yet almost expected 3-0 defeat.
Coming back shaken from a disappointing MSI with its brutal reality, the LCS champions quickly reasserted their dominance. C9 finished first in the regular season, winning a tiebreaker against GG, and entered the Championship (equivalent to the LCS summer playoffs) once again as the conquering force.
And once again, Cloud9 showed they're not the best team in North America for nothing. A 3-0 victory against EG, followed by a 3-0 against NRG, put them in the grand final. Facing them was, once again, a surprise: NRG, whom they had already beaten in the Upper Bracket Final, but whom no one expected to go this far in the competition.
Being the best player in the region since his arrival, Berserker will be a significant asset to help C9 advance on the international stage.
Considered heavy favorites to the point that some fans lost interest in the final as it seemed predetermined, Cloud9 was nonetheless in for a shock. NRG's impressive momentum, which no longer resembled the frail team beaten 3-0 just a week earlier, left Cloud9 dazed. After an initial victory in style, Cloud9 couldn't find their footing, and even the untouchable Berserker struggled against the exceptional performance of Ian Victor "FBI" Huang. Against all expectations, C9 lost the grand final 3-1.
So, what can be taken from this final failure? First, Cloud9 is not, or at least no longer, invincible. Despite impressive dominance throughout the year, the team couldn't seal the deal at the most critical time of the season, and NRG capitalized on the gaping weaknesses left by a Cloud9 team that hadn't really addressed them throughout the season because it didn't need to.
The problem posed by this overall dominance is that Cloud9 was rarely tested throughout the season. And the only times it happened, the team faltered against BLG and GEN.G. As the primary representative of North America, and after two consecutive international failures, Cloud9 isn't entering the World Championship with confidence.
However, this ultimate defeat in the final could serve Cloud9 much more than it seems. Taking one last hit before heading to Korea could allow the team to reassess and address certain weaknesses in their gameplay, particularly in the solo lanes, which often struggled throughout the season. Who knows, maybe C9 will present a completely revitalized face at Worlds 2023? In any case, they'll have to do much better than at MSI if they want to rectify their recent failures.
Berserker's statistics compared to LCS ADCs in 2023
NRG: Continuing to Write a Beautiful Story
Technically, the American first seed at Worlds 2023, the LCS champions, didn't exist at the beginning of 2023. NRG appeared mid-season, taking over the spot left vacant by Counter Logic Gaming. The historical American organization decided to cease its League of Legends activities during the year, selling its entire LoL structure to NRG.
But despite the change in name, the team itself has remained almost the same since 2022. The story begins in the Summer of 2022 when CLG formed a team made up of a mix of players accustomed to the middle or even the bottom of the LCS standings, and promising players who hadn't had the chance to prove themselves in the American elite.
In the toplane, Niship "Dhokla" Doshi joined the LCS in 2018 and had been in the academy league since 2020. In the midlane, Cristian "Palafox" Palafox had been in various academies since 2018 before FlyQuest gave him a chance in 2021. In the jungle, Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia arrived with great fanfare at C9 in 2017, ending the year as an LCS Rookie of the Split before going back and forth between the bottom of the standings and the academy league.
This trio of players that some considered failures, or whose careers were thought to be going nowhere, was trusted by CLG. They were joined by Fatih "Luger" Güven, a Turkish ADC who honed his skills in his home country before joining the American academy, and Philippe "Poome" Lavoie-Giguere, who played alongside Luger in the 100 Thieves academy.
This team that no one expected to immediately exceed expectations did just that, finishing the Summer 2022 regular season in fourth place and ending the playoffs in fifth place after a fierce battle against Team Liquid.
No one expected NRG to sit on the LCS throne. Yet, through sheer perseverance, the team has written one of the most remarkable stories of the year.
Despite a decent season, CLG could have reconsidered all its plans in 2023 to field a team better equipped to aim for the top of the standings. However, they decided to trust this seemingly ordinary group of players once again. And once more, the team surprised with its regular-season performance, finishing third, behind the two giants, Cloud9 and FlyQuest.
Unfortunately, the playoffs acted as a cold shower for the team, which exited through the back door after two defeats, 1-3 against C9 and 0-3 against EG. That's when CLG withdrew from competition, making way for NRG through a takeover purchase. After taking over all the teams owned by CLG, NRG realized that change was needed to take this team further.
Out with Luger and Poome, and in came two American league stars in their respective roles: FBI as ADC, already a LCS champion with 100 Thieves in 2021, and Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun, a standout support who, despite all his stints with various teams, has never managed to lead a team to a collective title. With these two additions to the team, NRG seemed ready to enter a new dimension.
But results were slow to come because NRG displayed true inconsistency in this new form. Capable of exceptional matches against the best teams in the league, the team lost its way against more approachable opponents. For example, in the regular season, NRG defeated C9 and GG, the top two teams, twice, while Immortals, the last-place team in the LCS, didn't lose a match against Contractz and his team.
Still, NRG managed to qualify for the playoffs, but with their worst regular season in the last three splits, they weren't particularly expected to be dangerous in the Championship. Facing Liquid in the opening match, the team dominated them right away and doubled down a week later against Golden Guardians, who were heavy favorites.
Dhokla and Contractz have faced many hardships since their entry into the professional world, but their perseverance is finally paying off this year.
Almost out of nowhere, when no one expected it, NRG qualified for Worlds 2023 and secured at least a third-place finish in the LCS. But the team doesn't want to stop there. Despite their valiant efforts, C9 stood in their way with a sound thrashing in the Upper Bracket final (3-0).
Back against Team Liquid for a place in the final, NRG faced much more resistance, and they needed Summit, who didn't want to win that day, to secure the victory. The next day, for the grand final, no one believed in them, everyone knew that C9 would win, and probably in style.
But everyone had forgotten the unwavering determination of these players: Palafox held the record for the most LCS matches played before reaching his first final. Contractz and Dhokla entered the LCS very early, only to disappear into the system, rejected by the league's teams. IgNar had made the day for all the teams he played for, but never won a collective title.
This almost improbable assembly of players who no one expected to reach the top of the league managed the unthinkable that day: they beat the untouchable C9, who had not lost a single game in the playoffs until then. It was 3-1, thanks to a ruthless FBI, who declared in an interview before the match that he hated C9 because he always saw them winning, as if it didn't mean anything to them anymore.
This title is one of the most beautiful stories of Esport League of Legends in this year 2023, and this story will continue at Worlds. There, NRG will need to build a similar momentum to what they experienced during the playoffs because the competition will be much tougher, and there's almost no room for error at this stage.
It's hard to believe in an impressive performance from this team, as its individuals seem inferior to many of its competitors. But that's exactly what made NRG a dark horse throughout the summer, and the team could once again surprise everyone...
Palafox's statistics compared to LCS midlane in 2023
In short, North America is heading to these Worlds with three very different profiles that are difficult to assess before the competition, and this could allow American teams to surprise. Will they be able to restore the reputation of the LCS and follow in the footsteps of the illustrious Cloud9 of 2018?
