2022 LCS Summer Preseason Preview

Author: Matt Anikiej

We want to preview the 2022 LCS Summer Split, and what to watch from each team heading into the season. The 2022 LCS Summer Split starts on June 18, 2022.

The 2022 LCS Spring Split ended in the most exciting fashion it could. Right in the last weeks of the season, Team Liquid and 100 Thieves were both peaking, and TL even managed to secure first place from Cloud9 in Week 8. C9 on the other hand, had a red-hot start with superstar top laner Park "Summit" Woo-tae dominating matches, but the team began to fall apart after the others figured out Summit’s champion puddle amidst other coaching issues. Evil Geniuses finished firmly seated at fourth place despite a lock-in final appearance, and a disappointing 0-6 record against the top three teams of TL, C9, and 100T. The playoffs were a whole different story. C9 imploded and failed to even make finals weekend. EG lost a close battle 2-3 to TL, and then managed to sweep a gauntlet of C9, TL, and finally 100T in the fastest finals in LCS history.

This split poses some new questions with huge implications. The World Championships are coming up and everyone will be trying their hardest to contend. Will Evil Geniuses fail to make the World Championships because of a post-MSI slump? Will Team Liquid’s players be able to figure out the chemistry and teamwork they were lacking in the spring? Which team is the dark horse of the Summer Split? Here’s what to watch for in every team for the 2022 LCS Summer Split:

(Ordered by power ranking)
Team Liquid
Top: Bwipo
Jungle: Santorin
Mid: Bjergsen
Bot: Hans Sama
Sup: CoreJJ

Team Liquid is coming into the season with no changes to their roster. This is the right move with the caliber of players they have. Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau and Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen were fantastic in both the regular season and the playoffs (although Bwipo did struggle heavily against EG Impact), and the duo of Steven "Hans sama" Liv and Jo "CoreJJ" Yong-in was the best Botlane in the league. Really, the biggest question mark ont his roster is Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg. Bjergsen was the best Midlaner in probably the weakest Mid pool the LCS has ever seen, so it’s not saying much. The breakout of EG Jojopyun in the playoffs exploited Bjergsen’s inactivity, and EG was largely able to shut Bjergsen down and have him be a nonfactor in the games. I have full faith Bjergsen will return to form this split after getting some experience and an offseason bootcamp, but I’m more worried about the team’s macro and communication issues. These issues are much easier to fix than just getting better, but we’ve seen these issues tear teams apart as well.

What to watch for: Will Team Liquid be able to overcome their issues and work together as a team?

Cloud9
Top: Fudge
Jungle: Blaber
Mid: Jensen
Bot: Berserker
Sup: Zven

Cloud9 have completely retooled their roster by dropping the 2022 LCS Spring Split MVP, Park "Summit" Woo-tae, and returning Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami back to Toplane. Fudge last played Top in the 2021 season, and was easily the best Top in the LCS after returning from a very impressive MSI performance. The more interesting roster moves here are Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen roleswapping into Support from Bot, and Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen returning to Mid after failing to find a team to play on in the spring. There have been lots of successful role swaps into Support in the LCS (CoreJJ and Huhi both have won recent LCS championships), and with Zven’s work ethic there’s no doubt he will succeed. However, Zven is a player with a reputation of being stubborn in his idea of how the game should be played. It’ll be interesting to see how he opens his mind up during a role swap. I’m expecting a slow start and a fiery finish from the Botlane duo of Zven and Kim "Berserker" Min-cheo, but I’m expecting exciting things right away from the Mid-Jungle duo. The best Jungler in the LCS, Robert "Blaber" Huang, is being reunited with his original Mid partner who’s coming into this split with a chip on his shoulder. Both players want to carry and dominate their opponents, I expect a lot of action happening with the two and lots of carry performances by both of them.

What to watch for: Can Zven impress as a Support like other players who’ve swapped into the role?

Evil Geniuses
Top: Impact
Jungle: Inspired
Mid: Jojopyun
Bot: Danny
Sup: Vulcan

Evil Geniuses are a very young team that have a lot going for them heading into the Summer Split. Kacper "Inspired" Słoma played like the former LEC MVP he is in the playoffs and MSI, Philippe "Vulcan" Laflamme has broke the curse that seems to plague former C9 players, and Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki has turned into a bonafide superstar in the league. Despite having a rather disappointing debut, Joseph "Jojopyun" Pyun has shown consistent improvement each week of the season, throughout the playoffs, and during MSI. If Jojopyun continues to improve at this rate, it’s hard to see any other Midlaner who will be able to match him by playoffs except for maybe C9 Jensen and in-form TL Bjergsen/ 100T Abbedagge. That includes his trash talk. He’s using the same copy/paste “I’m sending X back to Y” but I’m loving it. He’ll improve there just like Doublelift did after he only kept saying “Everybody else is trash” at the start. The biggest worry with this team is the post-MSI slump that haunts every team in every region. Failing to take a win off of the LEC’s representative G2 definitely hurts and it’ll be hard not to think of that when losing games, but at least they were able to take a game off of LCK’s T1 and make the quarterfinals. The last time an LCS team made quarterfinals at MSI was in 2019 when Team Liquid faced off against the LPL’s Invictus Gaming. EG can’t let the slump take over the season, and they need to finish as strong as they did last split in the playoffs if they want to make Worlds.

What to watch for: Can Jojopyun become the best Midlaner in the LCS?

100 Thieves
Top: Ssumday
Jungle: Closer
Mid: Abbedagge
Bot: FBI
Sup: Huhi

100 Thieves decided to keep their roster together for the 2022 season, which is not something that’s common anymore in the League of Legends esports scene. Ultimately, they still made the LCS finals off the back of extremely impressive performances by Can "Closer" Çelik in the playoffs. Veteran Toplaner, Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho, also had one of the best splits of his entire amazing career and will look to carry that level of play into the summer. Unfortunately, I don’t see this team making the World Championships. Felix "Abbedagge" Braun, was not impressive in the spring, and was consistently getting outplayed by the other Midlaners. The Botlane duo of Victor "FBI" Huang and Hoi "huhi" Jae-hyun have not been the feared Botlane they were in the 2021 season. We’ve seen great players rise to the occasion after a slump, and 100T is one of the most exciting teams to watch when everyone is playing well. Their head coach, Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu, also has a tendency to get his team ready for Worlds during his time on C9.

What to watch for: Can the Bot and Mid of 100T get out of their slump in time for playoffs?

Golden Guardians
Top: Licorice
Jungle: Pridestalker
Mid: Ablazeolive
Bot: Stixxay
Sup: Olleh

Eric "Licorice" Ritchie last made Worlds in 2019 when he played on C9 and failed to make it out of his group. After C9, Licorice had an extremely disappointing tenure on Flyquest, but has since had a renaissance after joining Golden Guardians. The team had IMT Lost in the Bot position in the spring, and they brought in Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes to be his replacement. The Botlane was the weakest point of the GG roster with Support Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung being far too aggressive and constantly getting caught out of position. However, I think the veteran Bot Stixxay will be able to capitalize on the opportunities that Olleh finds better than Lost, and I see this as a huge upgrade. GG is a very fun team to watch with many interesting picks and lots of action in their games. Unfortunately, some of their wins can be considered “cheese” and that playstyle doesn’t translate well into the Bo5 series in the playoffs. This team needs to develop good macro if they want to win a Bo5. The pieces are all here to upset some teams and secure the third seed at Worlds like Clutch Gaming did in 2019.

What to watch for: Can Golden Guardians win with good play rather than cheese strats?

Immortals
Top: Revenge
Jungle: Kenvi
Mid: PowerOfEvil
Bot: Lost
Sup: IgNar

Immortals made a couple changes by bringing in Botlaner Lawrence "Lost" Sze Yuy Hui and Jungler Shane Kenneth "Kenvi" Espinoza. Lost is a known commodity and a serviceable Botlane. However, I think he’ll fit very well for IMT by allowing them to play weak side Bot and allowing Support Lee "IgNar" Dong-geun to roam and play through Mid-Jungle. Kenvi previously played for 100T Academy and was absolutely stellar there. He was easily the best Jungler in academy the past couple of splits, and is coming in with extremely high expectations. Overall, this team should move away from trying to play through their star Midlaner Tristan "PowerOfEvil" Schrage, and try to put him on more supportive mages to try to play through Kenvi. However, that also depends on if Kenvi is ready for the LCS. He’s the most exciting NA Jungler since Blaber and I hope he can find success on this Immortals roster.

What to watch for: Will Kenvi be the difference maker on a team that’s been stuck in mediocrity?

FlyQuest
Top: Kumo
Jungle: Joseodeodo
Mid: Toucouille
Bot: Johnsun
Sup: Aphromoo

This FlyQuest roster is so close to being competitive for an upset into the third seed at Worlds. Midlaner Loïc "toucouille" Dubois looked like the best Midlaner in the LCS last split after TL Bjergsen. Toucouille should be able to continue his play, but can he carry the rest of the team with him? Their Jungler, Joel "Josedeodo" Villegas, needs to work together with veteran Support Zaqueri "aphromoo" Black to help toucouille push his leads and takeover the map through the Midlane. Josedeodo has failed to make a big splash since his debut in the LCS, so it’s time for the team to move on and play through other lanes. He’s still a great Jungler, I just think he needs to change his role on the team.

What to watch for: Can Josedeodo become the superstar Jungler he was promised to be?

Counter Logic Gaming
Top: Dhokla
Jungle: Contractz
Mid: Palafox
Bot: Luger
Sup: Poome

This iteration of CLG is much improved over the roster in the 2021 season, but it just hasn’t come together like everyone hoped. Last split CLG decided to go fully on with the booming young talents in the NA scene, and rounding it out with the resurging Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia in the Jungle. They finished in eighth place after a very disappointing split. The issue was that they’re all pretty good, but there’s no one to be that leader in-game so they would get lost after the early game if they got a lead. They’re new Toplaner Niship "Dhokla" Doshi has seen some highs and lows in his career, but he’s on a similar career path as Contractz in that they both had to struggle in academy for a while after previously having a starter spot. Hopefully Contractz learns to be a leader by being able to help out Dhokla to have a comeback like he did. However, Dhokla has previously only looked good on a couple champions like Aatrox, whereas Contractz made it out of groups at Worlds and was one match away from a semifinal appearance.

What to watch for: With the more experienced Toplane, will it be easier for Contractz to be the leader of the team?

Dignitas
Top: Gamsu
Jungle: River
Mid: Blue
Bot: Neo
Sup: Biofrost

This roster was one win away from a tiebreaker into playoffs. Bot Toàn "Neo" Trần is still pretty good, but not playing with FQ Aphromoo has been a struggle for him. Mid Ersin "Blue" Gören was fine, he didn't deserve all the hate he got on Reddit and other social media. Jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo was actually putting up some great performances and a large part of their wins. I’m not sure if their new Toplaner Noh "Gamsu" Yeong-jin is the answer this roster needs to be competitive, but he’s had some solid showings in Proving Grounds so it’ll be exciting to see him in the LCS again.

What to watch for: How will Gamsu look in the LCS after switching from Overwatch?

Team Solo Mid
Top: Huni
Jungle: Spica
Mid: Maple
Bot: Tactical
Sup: Shenyi

TSM is clearly desperate to not miss the playoffs with their signing of Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang. Maple is a former great that was part of one of the most iconic teams in League esports history during his Flash Wolves days. However, the organization is riddled with controversy from the coaching staff to the owner, and it all surrounds their League team since they are central to it. These are hard conditions to play in for any player regardless of how good they are. World Finalist Top Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon and former MVP Mingyi "Spica" Lu are both much better than their showing last split. It’s “cool” to hate TSM and the issues with the leadership of the organization are deplorable, but these players have nothing to do with that and it seems we all tend not to separate the two. The people on this roster get two videos, I’m excited to see Maple in the LCS and Spica had a super exciting MVP split. Let’s just hope these players can use the game as an escape from all the murkiness around them right now.

What to watch for: Will Maple enable Spica to have another MVP season?