Season seven was exciting for the North American League of Legends Championship Series. Not only was it the last season of the league to have relegation, even though it was only there for the Spring Split, but it was also the year that competition seemed the tightest.
Sure, TSM may have won the finals and claimed the split title for the third time in a row in the summer, but there were more teams vying for the top position in the regular season until the very end. Cloud9, CLG, Immortals, Dignitas, and TSM all took turns as the top team at one point or another. For once, it seemed like everyone had leveled up, not just TSM.
Thanks to the NA LCS stepping its collective game up, we witnessed some of the coolest plays in the region’s history. These are the seven greatest NA LCS plays of 2017.
7) Smoothie deletes TSM’s bot lane
Andy “Smoothie” Ta’s earth-shattering Miss Fortune ultimate sealed TSM’s fate, enabling C9 to clutch the Baron and take the win in the first game of the Summer Split.
6) CLG can’t hold off Doublelift’s Jinx
TSM looked like they were about to lose the deciding fight against CLG, when Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng’s Jinx found some critical rockets to burst down the enemy all at once, locking in a triple kill and a victory in the last week of the Summer Split.
5) Xmithie steals Baron from C9
Jake “Xmithie” Puchero barely, but skillfully, outmaneuvered Cloud9 to steal the Baron at the last possible second on Elise in week three of the Summer Split. Talk about a close call.
4) Don’t look into Cassiopeia’s eyes
During the Spring Split, when Phoenix1 and Ryu Sang-wook were a force to be reckoned with, he pulled off a masterful Flash-Ult combo on Cassiopeia after waiting patiently in the brush near Baron. This week three match was extremely close, but P1 pulled ahead thanks to Ryu’s bold play.
3) “LirA makes the game-breaking play”
Team Envy’s Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo was once one of the best junglers in the world, and had been struggling to return to form on a weak NA squad. Envy was facing relegation, and in the Spring promotion tournament, LirA showed us a glimpse of his talent with a mind-blowing Lee Sin combo.
2) Sneaky’s insane Baron steal against Team Liquid
Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi’s Jhin W Baron steal will go down in history as the most famous play of 2017 in the NA LCS. Sure, it may have been more than a bit of luck, but the surprise we felt when watching this week four game during the Spring Split carries this play close to the top of our list. When you have to take a moment to process what just happened after a play, it’s bound to be a good one.
1) Keane channels his inner Faker
You typically only see Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok pull off stunts like this, but in week two of the Summer Split, Dignitas’ Jang “Keane” Lae-young produced the mother of all wombo combos with his Orianna Shockwave. Dig would go on to ultimately lose the game, but the fact that they found a winning teamfight despite being almost 10,000 gold behind was nothing short of a miracle.
