After the first half of the League Championship Series Summer Split ended with two weeks where every single team in North America posted 2-2 records, it seemed inevitable Super Week would break the deadlock at the top of the standings.
Well, sixteen matches later we now have a four-way tie for first place. Instead of a three-way tie. Oh, how wrong we could be.
Still, Super Week was certainly exciting, with surprises abound as underdogs ripped through top teams and superstars set LCS records. All in all, a great week of League of Legends.
1) Team SoloMid’s rise continues
Team SoloMid had the easiest schedule of the week, but they’ll take wins over Curse Gaming, Evil Geniuses, and Complexity, considering what Curse and Complexity did to their competitors for first place.
Now at 11-7, SoloMid is in a four-way tie for the top spot in the standings. They’ve slowly risen up the ranks after a so-so start to the season raised the question of whether their new roster could challenge for the LCS title. Well, question answered.
2) Curse Gaming’s first winning week all season
Curse Gaming entered Super Week with the toughest schedule of any team. Considering their 5-9 record, it seemed likely they’d struggle to win more than one game, and maybe even fall behind Complexity in the standings.
But the potential Curse has shown all season long finally came through, as Curse managed to avoid falling behind early, turning their mid game prowess into victories.
They put together wins against LMQ, Cloud9, and Counter Logic Gaming, only falling to Team SoloMid. The three victories moved Curse to 8-10 on the season, within striking distance of the teams at the top.
3) Top teams finish 2-2
The .500 dream nearly continued this week, as Counter Logic Gaming, LMQ, Dignitas, Cloud9, and Complexity all posted 2-2 records. The worst part about the results is that they are so unpredictable.
Cloud9 actually had the best showing, beating two other top five teams, but they’re the only top five team outside of first place. They looked great beating LMQ and Dignitas, but horrible against Counter Logic Gaming and Curse.
Dignitas, LMQ, and Counter Logic Gaming each suffered upsets that ruined their chances to seize sole possession of first place. Dignitas fell to Complexity on the final day of the week, while LMQ and Counter Logic Gaming couldn’t survive a surging Curse. Right now the NA LCS is anyone’s game.
4) Record setting week for DoubleLift, Xpecial, xPeke
This week marked the 100th overall game played by players who have competed in the LCS from the beginning, if they had not missed any time. For some of those players, it was also another milestone.
Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez and Peter “DoubleLift” Peng both reached 500 kills, becoming the first players at their respective positions, mid laner and marksman, to hit that career tally, and the first players in their regions to do so as well.
Alex “Xpecial” Chu became the first support to reach 1000 career assists, putting together an impressive week that helped his team to a 3-1 record, giving them a jump in the standings.
5) Complexity the “blue shell” pulls off upset
In a pre-game spot, Marcus “Dyrus” Hill called Complexity the “blue shell”, after the item from Mario Kart that seeks out the lead car. Complexity has a 2-0 record against Cloud9 on the season, and a 1-1 mark against Dignitas before the week.
Well, make that 2-1 Dignitas. Dignitas needed a win against the second to last place team in the league to take sole possession of first place. But they couldn’t get it, despite piling up a big lead.
In one of the most ridiculous games of League you’ll ever see, Complexity survived a Dignitas onslaught to turn the game around in the late game and somehow pull out the win despite being down by more than 10,000 gold.
At 6-12, Complexity won’t be considered a contender any time soon. But they are a dangerous team, something they’re proving every single week.
There now remains just four months left in the regular season, but we’re barely closer to figuring just who will represent America at the World Championships than we were at the start of this season.
Next week Team SoloMid will face Counter Logic Gaming and Cloud9, while Dignitas will battle Counter Logic Gaming and LMQ. Curse Gaming will gain a welcome respite and a chance at a .500 record with Complexity and Evil Geniuses on the schedule. Of course, “respite” is a relative term.
