100 Thieves end Shaco’s 7-year LCS exile with hilarious River performance

100 Thieves have locked in a top-two spot in the LCS 2024 Spring regular season but saved their best for last with jungler River pulling out Shaco exactly seven years to the day since we last saw the champ in NA’s top-flight League of Legends competition.

The Mad Jester made a shock appearance in 100T’s final match today against NRG, and one may be forgiven for thinking the match was a dead rubber. Instead, 100T was playing for the top seed while NRG needed a win to guarantee a spot in the LCS Spring playoffs—so there were certainly stakes to play for. In the end, it was a 33-minute wipeout with 100T walking away victors; a win some claimed the surprise Shaco did very little in.

River managed a single kill and eight assists on the Shaco with many fans and pundits believing the champ had little to no impact on the result, but a 22-minute team fight in NRG’s bot-side jungle said otherwise. River led 100 Thieves in an invade charge and set up his squad for a triple kill, securing Baron Nashor in the process—and from there 100T never looked back. “I played Shaco in solo queue and scrims, I think it’s very strong,” River said, struggling to hold a straight face in the post-game League interview with Zven.

We haven’t seen jungle Shaco—or the champion at all—in the LCS since FlyQuest’s Moon tried the Mad Jester all the way back in LCS Spring 2017. Despite two attempts, Moon failed to register a win with the Jester jungler, but River finally broke the drought today. It was only the 45th time Shaco had been picked in pro League ever, according to Games of Legends, and just the second time this year after Partizan’s Cl0x.

Ultimately, 100T just missed out on the top spot on countback as FlyQuest’s win over Dignitas secured their first regular season win ever in the LCS. While 100T reveled in their top-two finish for this LCS split, NRG had a nervous wait as Shopify Rebellion threatened to knock them out of playoff contention. Fortunately for the reigning LCS champs, Shopify fell to Cloud9, meaning NRG is locked in for post-season play and takes on Dignitas for fifth in a tiebreaker later today.

Despite the win, it’s highly unlikely we’ll be seeing Shaco again this split, but if anyone’s got what it takes to pull out the Mad Jester in LCS playoffs, look to River.