TSM win another old rivalry showdown over CLG—but it was a messy game

TSM and CLG both had extremely disappointing runs during the 2018 NA LCS Spring Split, and they had a lot to prove heading into their first Summer Split showdown against one another today.

Unfortunately for both teams, the game was a messy one—but at least TSM can say that there’s a little more hope for them than their counterparts on CLG, who ultimately fell short on Saturday.

TSM pulled a classic TSM by picking a very late-game scaling composition. As it turns out, even when Irelia is meta in the mid lane and there are Yasuo and Heimerdinger in the bot lanes, they can still find a team comp that lets them play to their late-game strengths.

Sure, they made a fair amount of mistakes during the early and mid games, but their comp’s late-game power eventually won out, and CLG probably wouldn’t have been able to win a fight even if they weren’t making constant missteps.

So where does TSM stand after today’s win? Well, they definitely displayed a lot of the same early confidence problems that they showed in the spring. Another big problem they have still is how to utilize their superstar bot lane of Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez and Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen to reliably find leads, even when they eventually come into power later in games and can often maneuver by themselves to carry.

Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, who appears to be in a sort of slump since the beginning of last split, didn’t have the best game on Irelia in the mid lane today, either, but there weren’t many large complaints to be had for him. The team’s saving grace was top laner Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell, who, aside from a misplay in a one-vs-one against Ornn during the mid game where he held onto his Flash a bit too long, he had a nearly-perfect game. Hauntzer has remained one of the league’s best laners despite his team struggling last split.

TSM’s next game is tomorrow at 2pm CT.