In the opening salvo of LCS games, these old guard teams will meet once again in a pivotal match, though it will be at the very beginning of a tournament rather than the end. CLG's new lineup has shown lots of promise, yet I can't shake the feeling that this will come down to synergy and experience, fields in which TSM have the advantage. We haven't seen much of either team in the post-IPL5 weeks, and while CLG looked far better than TSM then, I think that if both teams have been seriously practicing, TSM will come out on top.


One would usually be inclined to side with the higher seeded team, especially when this team was the regional runner up for NA in Season 2. But I beg to differ. Curse has never looked stronger than during this Preseason, with Voyboy's completely dominant play on Katarina and Elise, the return of Elementz and his unorthodox (and surprisingly successful) support Champions, and the rest of their incredibly solid lineup. By contrast, with the notable exception of Crumbzz's powerful Jungling, Dignitas isn't looking as stupendous. This NESL "rematch" should be a doozy either way, but I expect Curse to win out.


Unfortunately, it would be very surprising if the first match between seeded teams and qualified teams came out in favor of the new kids on the block. While GGU accomplished much in the NA Qualifiers with victories over Epik Gamer and Dirt Nap Gaming, CLG is far more experienced, both skill-wise and stage-wise. GGU should put up a good fight, but this should be the first kill for CLG's new lineup.


Part of me wants to call this one for Vulcun (despite their silly name). I think this could be the first time where a Season 2 Champion falls to a Season 3 rookie. It's tempting... but disingenuous. TSM is very good, no matter what you may think of their recent performances. Vulcun will need a few more LCS games under their belt before they can take TSM down. Probably.

February 8, 2013


CLG and exCLG Curse - a match-up fraught with history, both on and off the Rift. Spectators considered both to be in the top tier throughout Season 2, though CLG often sat higher on the podium. Yet, to me, no one in NA looks as good as Curse has recently. Without Season 2 laurels on which to rest, Curse will be looking to prove themselves in the LCS. There's no more suitable match-up than this one for Curse to show their aptitude and ambition. Strong as the new CLG may be, I can't see them prevailing against Curse.


Once again we have an older match-up, in which TSM has a history of victory, notably in the NA Regional Championship Finals. And once again I'm going to side with the status quo. Amongst the Troika, I feel little has changed; it's from outside that the true effects on the landscape will occur. Despite TSM's relative mediocrity in the Season 2 Finals and beyond, it's not as if Dignitas is free of lackluster performances either. For better or worse, I have faith in TSM's time in the woodshed and think they'll take down Dignitas once again in this first encounter.


It's an unlucky week for GGU. If they can't fend off the might of CLG, there's no way they're going to escape being crushed by Curse. Hopefully there are brighter weeks ahead for the newcomers because they are certainly talented in their own right. They just have to go up against two of the best teams in the LCS in the first two days. Good luck to them, they're going to need it.


Maybe I'm a secret Vulcun fanboi because I keep looking at their match-ups and thinking "I bet they can win that," despite the quality of the teams they are up against. While Vulcun has a better chance against Dignitas than they did against TSM, results don't lie. Dignitas 2-0'd the former-FeaR lineup at the recent NESL semi-finals. Perhaps Vulcun will be able to extrapolate Dignitas' weaknesses by revisiting their play in those games, but it seems far more likely that history will repeat itself.

This is the biggest rivalry North America has to offer in terms of competitive League of Legends. Team SoloMid is certainly the fan favorite as their dominance of Season 2 earned them a legion of fans. Unfortunately for them, this TSM isn't the same team that won so many NA tournaments. It's hard to say what caused this fall from grace, but they have looked shaky as of late, whereas Counter Logic Gaming has looked much improved. This is TSM's chance to prove the critics wrong, but I fully expect CLG to come out on top fairly easily.


While the first match of the day will be between the 1st and 2nd best NA teams in Season 2, this one is between the 3rd and 4th. This one is a bit of a toss up. The teams were scheduled to play against each other in the Grand Finals of the NESL Pro Series but dig had to forfeit due to internet connections. Since their most recent roster changes these teams haven't played each other very much. The slight edge goes to Curse as Voyboy has a good chance of making KiWiKid's life a living nightmare up in the Top Lane.


The CLG pain train will continue to role through GGU. Until proven wrong, CLG is looking to be one of, if not the best team in the LCS right now. GGU is still in an interesting spot. Their new roster was able to get them a spot in the LCS with relative easy, but many of their new players remain untested against veteran players. This will serve as a bit of litmus test for the current state of GGU.


TSM has been in a slump, but they are still far from being a bad team. They no loner have the luxury of being able to waltz into any NA tournament and take gold without much effort, but they are still formidable. Vulcun has a lot of potential as the season progresses but experience will be triumphant in this match-up.

February 8, 2013


This should be the closest match of the Week 1. CLG and Curse are poised to duke it out all season long in a battle for 1st place supremacy. At least that's what all signs are pointing to coming into this first week. They haven't met in a LAN in a long time, but in their last online meeting Curse was able to edge out CLG so the advantage goes to them.


Yet another battle between teams of the Season 2 NA Troika. Again this victory has to be attributed to TSM's slump. They have not looked impressive in quite some time and that's worrisome. Dig on the other hand looks to be on the upswing, with Crumbzz settling back in the jungle quite nicely and KiWiKid looking to be a solid addition Top Lane. This week will be very crucial in judging TSM compared to other potentially strong teams.


GGU got really unlucky in terms of matches this week. Both of their games are against teams that are easily in the top three best LCS teams at the moment, possibly even one and two. Even if they go 0-2, at least this will give us a look at how GGU is settling in and see if their lanes can go toe-to-toe with some of the best the NA LCS has to offer.


The final NA match is one of the easier ones to predict. Vulcun (then FeaR) looked very good in their performances at the NA LCS Live Qualifiers. Their new line-up is actually looking stronger than when Aphromoo was their ADC. But this is just another case of experience trumping youth. I don't doubt Vulcun has the potential to improve other the season, but this first week is going to be an eye opening experience for a lot of teams and in that case the veterans have the advantage.