A tall mountain to climb: LCS representatives seek to change NA narrative at LoL Worlds 2023

While the LCS and the League of Legends World Championship have long had a complicated relationship, last year marked a new low in the history of North America’s performance on the biggest international stage of the year. Despite Worlds 2022 taking place on home turf throughout the U.S. and Mexico, all three of the NA representatives fell victim to the LCK and LPL during the group stage, securing only a total of three wins for the LCS as a whole.

Something had to change. Even with the constantly altering landscape headlined by the newest and greatest prospective international talent, this was the same result the LCS faced nearly every year at Worlds. Conversations were no longer centered around which talent could emerge as the new face of North America from the amateur and Academy scenes. Instead, it became how much the individual LCS teams were willing to spend to import extraordinary players for even a slight chance at success internationally.

Taking a major step back from developing talent domestically ultimately sparked one of the most eventful and controversial seasons of the LCS. Nearly all of the teams in the region, many of which underwent extensive roster changes at the start of the 2023 season, stepped away from the North American Challengers League (NACL) in its entirety, leading to months of uncertainty regarding the stability of all professional League across NA.

But when the competition within the LCS was underway during the 2023 Spring and Summer Splits, fans were treated to both expected results and surprises galore. Cloud9 remained the pinnacle of the region that many sought to overcome, while teams that had historically held spots in the middle of the standings, like Golden Guardians and CLG/NRG, began to hotly contest them for that top spot. Meanwhile, organizations that had been at the top of the LCS standings not too long ago—mainly FlyQuest and 100 Thieves—struggled to reach greatness once more despite massive roster overhauls.

Through a year of trials and tribulations, the three teams representing the LCS at this year’s World Championship have been determined, complete with a reigning world champion and a number of players who have never competed on the Worlds stage. While the LCS once more has numerous obstacles to overcome on that stage—both internally and externally—this batch of players will look to ensure what happened last year won’t happen again.

The new kings of the LCS

CLG as an organization has remained synonymous with the LCS since the league’s beginning. As one of the original orgs to participate in the LCS, CLG helped groom novice, interested talent into stars—including the likes of Doublelift, Aphromoo, and Voyboy. The org’s legacy as a cornerstone in the region continued to persist up until the 2023 Summer Split, where it was announced that CLG would be departing from the professional League scene after over a decade.

But its roster of exceptional players, many of whom had become popular faces even off the LCS stage, would remain together under a returning banner: NRG. 

The core of this team—Dhokla, Palafox, and Contractz—served as crucial pieces to CLG’s surge during the 2022 Summer Split and this year’s Spring Split, then being joined by fellow LCS veterans FBI and IgNar for the summer in what looked to be just what the team needed to succeed further. But combined with the condensed schedule of the 2023 Summer Split, it took some time before NRG returned to that CLG form.

The win condition was there in the form of their mid and bot lane carries, but NRG as a whole struggled to close out games from significant leads, hurting their record as the middle of the season rapidly approached with little time left to turn their luck around. Fortunately, a 9-9 record paved the way for NRG into the LCS Championship bracket, complete with the possibility of a title run and a visit to Worlds.

In a year full of “underdog” stories in leagues around the world, NRG’s run through the LCS Championship was nothing short of a well-deserved miracle. Entering as the fifth seed, the expectations were stacked against NRG with the likes of Team Liquid, Golden Guardians, and Cloud9 all blocking their path.

Yet something appeared to unlock within the roster as soon as their bracket run began. Instead of crumbling to the teams that bested them in the regular season, they were beating them handily. The trust that the veteran players had in one another prompted them to showcase an aggression they hadn’t shown during the six weeks of the Summer Split, complete with Contractz-led early-game dives, teamfights with few missteps, and a clear path to the finals—only to be stopped by Cloud9 in the upper bracket.

Heading into the rematch with C9 in the grand finals, the NRG members spoke passionately about not just their hunger for a trophy so close to their possession but also their dissatisfaction with how C9 had presented themselves as the antagonists. This fueled the roster, leading to an unprecedented victory in a four-game series where they had seemingly fixed their mistakes from their previous series loss to C9 in no time. The C9 chapter of the LCS story had officially closed and NRG’s had just begun to be written.

This iteration of the NRG roster feels like more than just a team. In fact, the way they’ve synergized to overcome even the toughest, most impossible odds presents them as a family. And with all they’ve accomplished thus far this year, they truly encompass the heart of the LCS and what it means to keep the faith.

This Worlds visit marks the first return to the biggest international stage of the year for Contractz in nearly six years, while Dhokla and Palafox step into the competition for the first time in their careers. Meanwhile, FBI and IgNar will once more be able to prove their skills on the Worlds stage—for the first time, together.

Though this varying level of international experience in the NRG roster may be a slight detriment to the reigning LCS champions and require a bit of wiggle room to traverse, the trust that these players have in one another has gotten them this far and may propel them to even greater heights.

An internal collapse?

For nearly an entire year, C9 was heralded as the top of the LCS, complete with a certain impassioned cockiness among its roster that led many fans to view the team as the “antagonists” in the story of the 2023 LCS season.

As the reigning champions, C9 entered the year with a heap of momentum, propelling them to not only retain their title in the Spring Split but once more act as one of North America’s representatives at MSI—falling to the LCK after eliminating fellow LCS compatriots, Golden Guardians. Though the team lost their mid laner, long-standing LCS veteran Jensen, to a newly-revamped Dignitas, they located a suitable replacement in Emenes, whose unexpectedly dominant debut on stage halfway through the Spring Split had many wondering if he had just taken the spot of best mid laner in the region.

C9’s path of destruction was once more led by their formidable ADC Berserker, whose debut last year began what would soon turn into a constant lead far and away for the team from others in the region in the standings each split. With ADC-turned-support Zven at his side, Berserker took advantage of a nearly year-long ADC-centric meta, once again piloting his patented Zeri to great individual success. This ultimately earned the young player his first MVP award for the Spring Split while remaining a frontrunner for further accolades throughout the year.

While the Summer Split appeared to be yet another repeat of success for C9, with the opportunity for a second-straight LCS Championship firmly in their grasp, the team began to actively tout how far and away they were from their opposition in the region, which fueled the motivation of teams that had only slightly been trailing the champs—particularly those now joining C9 at Worlds. This attitude eventually blew up in C9’s faces at the LCS Championship grand finals where, though they had just swept them in the winners finals, NRG’s drive for their first title allowed them to exploit massive, unforeseen weaknesses in C9’s carries.

This fall from the top appeared to stem from a struggle of the team to locate their win condition—which, up to this point, had been largely placed in the hands of Berserker. Instead, fights and ganks were played extensively around Emenes, tactics that had been scouted by NRG and easily overcome. Though C9 will once more be representing the LCS on the Worlds stage, the team soon encountered one more unexpected roadblock that had the potential to completely shift their momentum heading into the biggest competition of the year.

Just a few weeks ago, Emenes was reported for “using derogatory and offensive language against another player via in-game chat during a ranked matchmaking game,” according to Riot, which he then attempted to justify in various Twitter threads. C9 promptly responded by acknowledging the situation, saying that “the matter [would be handled] internally.” Emenes has since been fined by the LCS and will have to take a course on professionalism before the start of the 2024 season.

While Emenes has not been officially suspended from the main C9 roster this close to the start of the team’s run at the World Championship, it is unclear how this controversy has impacted the stability of the team now actively practicing on the Korean server—especially with this being Emenes’ first Worlds appearance.

Between the results of the LCS Championship and this recent controversy, C9 have had a lot to struggle with internally over the last month, on top of having to prepare for their return to the Worlds stage. Despite these factors, C9 remain one of the best chances that the LCS has at finally bringing the Summoner’s Cup back to North America. And if they can pinpoint their gameplay issues heading into the tournament, this could very well be the year they make their way to the top of the world.

A return to form

A reigning world champion, a former LCS MVP, an LCS veteran familiar with success internationally, and two promising candidates from the Academy scene. Together, this is the newly restructured roster for Team Liquid, an organization that has historically emptied its pockets to build LCS lineups featuring some of the most sought-after domestic and imported talents.

What seemed to be a path of dominance for Liquid leading up to the start of the 2023 season, however, quickly proved to be anything but. The team of storied talent from around the world appeared to struggle to mesh when put together on Summoner’s Rift, with each possessing a different outlook on the game that had proved successful for them individually in the past.

Liquid spent much of the Spring Split trading wins and losses with teams all over the standings. While the bot lane pairing of Yeon and CoreJJ often stood tall against their direct opposition, both Summit and Pyosik had yet to demonstrate the talents that had earned them their accolades in the not-so-distant past. Ultimately, Liquid were unable to qualify for the Spring Split playoffs with this roster, leaving players wondering whether or not changes would be made in the coming months—and where.

Fortunately, Liquid had a backup plan. Following the discrepancies regarding the state of the NACL, Liquid was one of the only organizations that opted to remain in the developmental scene, giving the org access to more up-and-coming players—as Yeon and Haeri once were—for times like this.

And thus the era of APA began. The mid laner, who had spent a significant amount of time paving a path for himself through the NACL, finally got a chance to step onto the main LCS stage at the start of the Summer Split, helping to quickly turn around the team’s luck. APA reached deep into his unique mid lane champion pocket with picks like Ziggs and Xerath, while also showcasing his aptitude on more meta picks including Ahri and Neeko, becoming yet another staple carry for Pyosik to play around.

The restabilized Liquid stormed through the Summer Split with a fourth-place finish, securing a spot in the LCS Championship bracket. Two losses to the eventual champions in NRG ultimately placed the team in third, though ensured that the organization would once more be gracing the international scene at this year’s Worlds—a place where so many of its players have performed in their careers.

While this is familiar territory for some of the roster, APA and Yeon will soon square off with even more fresh faces they may have only played against in solo queue or scrims. It’s an upward battle for Liquid but one their summer performance has shown they are willing to fight.

Three’s a crowd

The addition of the Worlds Qualifier series, which pit the LCS’s fourth seed against the LEC’s fourth seed for a spot in the play-ins bracket, gave Golden Guardians a chance to join their fellow LCS teams on the Worlds stage in the unofficial start of the tournament. Unfortunately, a quick sweep at the hands of Team BDS ruined the chances of the LCS sporting four teams on the Worlds stage in South Korea, ultimately placing the fate of the entire region in the hands of the organizations with international experience—Cloud9 and Team Liquid—as well as the curveball, fresh-faced champions in NRG.

Fortunately, each of these teams possesses veteran players who have graced the Worlds stage in the past, simply returning alongside new rosters that they’ve used the 2023 season to hone their skills alongside. But the start of each of these teams’ runs at the tournament already features an abundance of roadblocks as they’ll be forced to overcome teams of the same seeds from the LPL, LCK, and LEC.

While nearly the entirety of Liquid and Cloud9 have been in this situation before, this is entirely new territory for NRG, entering as the first seed from the LCS and having to immediately fight against teams many fans are expecting to make it all the way. Though as fans have already seen, NRG’s team synergy can surprise even the touted “greatest” teams, leaving a possibility that they can advance to the knockout stage as well.

All three of these teams will begin their run at Worlds in the Swiss stage, which is set to begin on Oct. 19. Each of the North American representatives will be forced to fight against teams from the other major regions, ultimately determining who gets to move on to the knockout stage where, potentially, the LCS can turn a year of unexpected feats into a home run.