NA LCS Relegation/Promotion Preview - Group C

This is the third installment of a series covering the upcoming North American LCS Promotion/Relegation tournament, which is on May 10 - May 12. The first installment covered Group A, which is composed of Quantic Gaming, Team Astral Poke, and compLexity Gaming. The second installment covered Group B, which contains Velocity eSports, The Salad Bar, and Team MRN. Today's installment covers the third group, which contains Team Summon, Fidelis, and our very own Team Dignitas.

Team Dignitas finds itself in an uncomfortable position, falling into the relegation tournament after Good Game University surprised them with an incredible Spring Playoffs run. Luckily for them, however, they fell into what looks to be the softest of all four groups.

Team Summon made it into the field due both Quantic and Velocity already having spots and Curse Academy being ineligible for the promotion spot, and while Fidelis came in second in the Ranked 5s Qualifiers, their path to the top four was relatively soft and they were beaten soundly by a polished Azure Cats roster in the finals. However, Team Dignitas has been playing erraticly as of late, giving up a spot in the top two of the LCS after playing quite poorly in the last three weeks, and they cannot take this spot for granted.

Team Summon

Team Summon makes it to the Promotion tournament after getting the slot from the IPL Promotion tournament, coming in 3rd in that tournament. The team is primarily composed of rookies, with the exception of Patrick "L0cust" Miller, the former Team Dignitas Support player, and looks to make its first Premier tournament appearance turn into a lasting spot in the professional scene. L0cust is in the bottom lane with Sean "Slack0h" Paul (a player that I've been watching stream for quite a while now). Back on Dignitas, L0cust commonly played Taric; on Summon, he continues the trend of playing aggressive Supports, playing Taric, Zyra and an excellent Thresh. Slackoh is capable of playing any AD Carry, but his Graves and Ezrael are things to look out for. 

The Jungler for Summon is Scott "Sickoscott" Hongj, a rookie who is in the Challenger League of solo-queue. Known for playing incredibly aggressively, Sickoscott plays Junglers that gank early and often, like Volibear, Lee Sin, Hecarim and Vi. He will aggressively attempt to counterjungle and gank from unconventional angles, and warding the entrance of your side of the jungle heavily against Scott is a must. Coung "Flaresz" Ta is their top laner, and is also a rookie. Flaresz has a very deep champion pool and enjoys playing a strong AD Nidalee as well as Jayce. 

The final member of Team Summon is their Mid laner, Justin "Captain Korea" Bae. Captain Korea has long been a solo-queue hero, and Team Summon is his first true foray into competitive play. Known for an incredibly powerful Lux, Bae has one of the smaller hero ranges of players on Team Summon, but plays all his champions with great skill. Banning out Twisted Fate or Lux will not cripple him, as he'll use Syndra, Ryze or Diana to ruin you. As a team, Summon likes to play on the aggressive, with Bae and Hongi often double ganking lanes to force the advantage. Ta will often employ a split pushing strategy in the early game, in an attempt to force their opposing teams to split their team into easily killed parts.

 

Fidelis

Fidelis comes out of the 5v5 qualifiers as the second place team, formerly named "No Team Name Necessary". In the Qualifiers they beat Astral Poke, but were shut out by AzureCats. Their Mid laner is Taylor "Arthelon" Eder, who formerly played Mid for Meat Playground in the Spring Qualifiers. Arthelon has been on the competitive scene for a while, also playing as the Carry for Ordinance, but really hasn't had any success. He replaced Joseph "Vileroze" Bourassa, who left to play for Velocity. Arthelon has a deep champion pool, which is heralded by his play on Nidalee and Gragas. Expect him to also bring Cassiopeia out for a game. Fidelis' Top laner is Nikolay "Niko44" Forkin, a rookie. Nikolay has a very deep champion pool, with AD and AP champions throughout it, but tends to play AP top laners, playing Kennen, Rumble and Elise in the top lane. 

Brian "Tsunamiie" Her is the Jungler for Fidelis and he's been a journeyman for much of his competitive LoL career. Formerly playing on vVv, Clasik, and FXOpen, Tsunamiie is much like Arthelon in that he hasn't had much success at the top level of play. While he has a deep champion pool, Tsunamiie has a preference for champions that can carry from the Jungle like Nocturne and Hecarim. Fidelis' bottom lane is Robert "Virus" White and Daniel "Prophet" Fetterman. Prophet formerly played on DirtNap and UnderRated as a support, while Virus is a rookie. Virus is known to play an incredibly mechanical Draven, and it is by far his most dominant character. Prophet has a wide variety of champions, but mainly plays Zyra and Lulu, champions that can peel and set up kills for Virus.

 

Team Dignitas

Team Dignitas came into Week 8 of the LCS looking like the strongest team in North America, smashing rival teams without any care. However, they've had an incredible fall in the last four weeks, having them fall to third in the North American standings and then losing in the playoffs to the surging Good Game University. Worries abound with Teaù Dignitas, mainly about how "predictable" the team has been. There is good reason for such worries, as Team Dignitas has played one of the smallest combined champion pools of any team in North America and teams have begun to use such information against them.

In the Top Lane, Alan "TheRealKiWiKiD" Nguyen is a return to the aggressive top lane playstyle that Team Dignitas found success with in Season 2, before Joedat "Voyboy" Esfahani left the squad. In the past, Nguyen's stated he will pick Singed whenever he is open, but he's also taken a liking to Renekton in the top lane. His goal in lane is to make the jungler ignore the bottom two lanes by crushing his lane opponent and allow them to take control of the game.

Alberto "Crumbzz" Rengifo is the Jungler for Team Dignitas, and has played Volibear or Nasus for much of the second half of the season. Crumbzz does have more champions in his arsenal though, with him playing Vi and Jax in the early season. On Curse, Crumbzz tended to babysit Mid lane, but on Team Dignitas his focus has been more on the duo lane or preventing whatever 2v1 lane from falling.

In the mid lane, you'll often find Team Dignitas' AD Carry, Micheal "Imaqtpie" Santana, and Support, Jordan "Patoy" Blackburn, as it has been Team Dignitas' strategy for much of the Season to hate out the mid lane of the opposing squad. Qtpie plays aggressively with whatever AD Carry you place in his hands, and Patoy's job is to prevent Qtpie from killing himself. Patoy has played Supports such as Elise and Zyra for much of the Spring Split, making this one of the most aggressive duo-lanes in North America. Qtpie has shown a relatively wide variety of champions, including Ezrael (which he builds mono-blue), Varus, and Draven.

The actual mid laner, and captain, of Team Dignitas is William "scarra" Li. Scarra's champion pool has been the subject of quite a bit of criticism, as he played one of the smallest pools for a Mid laner, focusing on Diana, Gragas, and Karthus for much of the season. In recent weeks, he's picked up Zed in the mid lane, and he has played Kayle in the past.

Expectations

In the Fidelis vs. Summon matchup, there is going to be an interesting battle between two of the most aggressive squads in the tournament. However, I expect that Fidelis will pull out the win due to the bottom lane matchup, as Virus is absolutely terrifying and will out-rambo Slackoh in the bottom lane.

Fidelis 2 - 1 Summon

However aggressive Fidelis is won't stop Team Dignitas, as the match-up between Qtpie and Virus is one that I want to watch. The experience that Team Dignitas has will serve them well, and I expect them to sweep Fidelis.

Dignitas 3 - 0 Fidelis