NA LCS Summer Promotion: New Strategies on Stage

This weekend at the North American LCS Season 3 Summer Promotion teams were fighting for their livelihoods and pulled out all the stops to keep their place or to fight their way into the LCS. Throwing standard play out the window, teams looked for different strategies and champion picks to get an edge on their opponents.

Three teams stood out among the rest, in my eyes, when it came to trying something new. Quantic Gaming, Velocity eSports, and Counter Logic Gaming all brought some fresh strategies this weekend which helped them not only dominate their respective opponents, but also secured their spot in the LCS Summer Split.

Quantic Gaming
The Jump Composition

Match: Quantic Gaming v. Team Astral Poke, Game 1

Quantic’s Lineup:

Top: An 'Balls' Le – Kennen
Jungle: Will 'Meteos' Hartman – Zac
Mid: Hai 'Hai' Lam – Khazix
ADC: Zachary 'SnEaKyCaStRoO' Scuderi – Ezreal
Support: Daerek 'LemonNation' Hart – Sona

Quantic Gaming started off the LCS Summer Promotion with a lot of energy and excitement with this jumping team composition. Since Zac’s introduction in to the LCS people have been diving from the fog of war on to poor unprepared laners all match with his Elastic Slingshot. This champion becomes even more exciting when you throw in Khazix with Leap, Ezreal with Arcane Shift, and Kennen’s Lightning Rush.

This team became absolutely terrifying later in the game with Quantic being able to start team fights from seemingly out of nowhere. One moment Team Astral Poke may seem safe under their tower, and the next Zac and Khazix are in the middle of them with Ezreal, Kennen, and Sona right behind them. As soon as Kennen hits his Slicing Maelstrom, LemonNation would hit the team with a Crescendo, and before TAP had a moment to react they were counting down their respawn timers.

Velocity eSports
The Shove Composition

Match: Velocity eSports v. Team Marn, Game 2

Velocity’s Lineup:

Top: Cristian 'Cris' Rosales – Elise
Jungle: Andrew 'Nk Inc' Erickson – Ezreal
Mid: Joseph 'Vileroze' Bourassa – Janna
ADC: Ainslie 'Frommaplestreet' Wyllie – Varus
Support: Evan 'Evaniskus' Stevens – Sona

Velocity eSports overwhelmed the relegated Team Marn with their jungle Ezreal and ability power Janna by relentlessly sieging all lanes from the beginning of the game. With Nk Inc paying an early visit to the bottom duo lane they took their outer turret pre-5 minutes and began pressuring the bottom inner before MRN could take VES top outer. With MRN focused on saving their bottom lane this opened up the door for the inevitable attack around the map.

With play calling and coordination from Velocity’s shot caller, Vileroze, the team was able to mow down turrets with ease with their double AD and double support composition. With great disengage abilities like Crescendo from Sona and Monsoon from Janna the team was able to poke down MRN and avoid team fights altogether, as they ran around the map and took objectives. This became easier with the help of Tailwind, Janna’s global 3% movement speed passive. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing easy about running this composition, with no designated tank or initiator things can go wrong quickly. Velocity pulled this off with amazing coordination and perfect execution.

Counter Logic Gaming
The Turgot Composition

Match: Counter Logic Gaming v. Azure Cats, Game 3

CLG’s Lineup:

Top: George 'HotshotGG' Georgallidis – Shen
Jungle: Steve 'Chauster' Chau – Elise
Mid: Austin 'LiNk' Shin – Xerath
ADC: Peter 'Doublelift' Peng – Urgot
Support: Zac 'Aphromoo' Black – Taric

CLG decided that for the final game of the Summer Promotion series they would not only remind the LCS that they are a team to fear but also that champions like Urgot and Xerath are still relevant! CLG changed their style in their series against AC, bringing multiple threats to the table and not relying completely on the play of Doublelift. Azure Cats couldn’t even get close to CLG with the poke coming out from both Urgot and Xerath. If they dared to venture too close Taric, Elise, and Shen would stop them in their tracks with heavy crowd control from Dazzle, Cocoon, and Shadow Dash respectively.

They went from dominating lanes to commanding team fights which left Azure Cats running for the hills. This team composition wasn’t necessarily “meta breaking” but it showed the veteran members of CLG’s flexibility in both their strategy and their champion pools which makes them an even bigger threat going into the Summer Split.