As week 2 ends, what has me most in shock is how bad both CLG and TSM are playing. While this is probably going to be something everyone is talking about, it's important because these two teams are some of the oldest teams in NALCS yet both are tied for 7th with Optic Gaming, only being above Golden Guardians.
Everyone knew GG and Optic were going to be somewhat trash in comparison to the rest of the teams, but seeing TSM and CLG down there with them. I thought both teams were going to suffer early on, but the play I have seen has been beyond horrid. CLG seems to just be feeding every game and TSM just shits the bed every game. Against Echo-Fox they had the win, and they just didn't take it. The fact that EF won that game is inexcusable considering how far TSM was ahead. A lack of synergy shouldn't be an excuse to let that one slide through. While I do believe EF has been playing out of their minds, they played so bad early/mid game against TSM that it was a free win for TSM, rather it should have been.
But TSM did beat the amazing Optic Gaming on day 1, so a 1-1 week isn't horrid. Now Optic Gaming, that is an organization that while they have a decent amount of talent on the squad just seems so bad. But somehow they have played better than Golden Guardians. I knew GG was going to be bad as well, but god they seem to not know the game. They played Flyquest and CLG this week, and both games they just got smashed. I understand they are new team and such, but its just embarrassing for such a known and powerful organization. Once again, Hai needs to retire. And Contractz needs to learn how to use his brain when thinking about moving teams next time.
On the top of the standings is Echo-Fox (4-0) in first and then Cloud9, 100 Thieves, and Team Liquid all tied in 2nd at 3-1.
They really should all be tied in 1st, none the less though all four teams really showed up this week. EF beat both C9 and TSM. Cloud9 beat 100 Thieves. 100 Thieves beat Team Liquid. And then Team Liquid beat Clutch (Which I think is actually a really strong team, I rank them 5th right now). All the games between the top five were all really close which was really fun to see. But after a while, with some games lasting around fifty minutes, the nerves and mistakes started to come out from everyone. But they all looked really good in some moments while showing some mistakes along the way. I think the Team Liquid loss against 100 Thieves was really important in showing that while TL has a stacked roaster, 100 Thieves is a very talented team.
This week really showed who is striving to be playoff bound and the teams who are struggling to just stop the bleeding. Next week I am excited to see the C9 vs Clutch (C9 will get the win), and the 100 Thieves vs Clutch (I think 100 Thieves has the upper hand). Next weeks games all seem to be cut in dry in who will win other than the Clutch games. This is a very important week for Clutch to show they are part of the top 5, and not just going to barely make it in playoffs.
Lastly just want to touch on a couple things in patch 8.2
Ezreal Q damage nerf will help laning against him a lot and push him down the ADC power rankings a little.
Malzahar Q damage nerf and his ultimate cooldown going up is huge, I think Azir is now the strongest midlaner. While Malz is still good, his priority has gotten lower in draft phase and his threat during laning is lower.
Ornn losing his unstoppable mechanic means he is now a lot weaker.
And a lot of changes with runes, which I recommend you all read. But what really got me was the change where now using targeted damaging spell will draw minion aggro (this includes smite and ignite). For champions who spam abilities, this is really bad for them in lane phase in trying to poke and stay healthy. I somewhat understand the change, but with Cass already in a pretty mediocre state she seems to be even farther behind (I say this only because I miss seeing Cass in pro play.) Other than that, the patch was pretty standard, definitely go read it here.
