2022 LCS Summer Week 1 Preview

Author: Matt Anikiej

The 2022 Summer Split kicks off with a super week and some marquee matchups featuring Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9, finals rematch Evil Geniuses vs 100 Thieves, and rivalry matchup Team Liquid vs Cloud9.

Match-by-match predictions are at the bottom

The 2022 Summer split is starting off with a super week and a huge matchup featuring the Spring Split champions Evil Geniuses and the retooled Cloud9 roster. The next brings us a finals rematch and Sunday rounds out the weekend with a matchup between rivals Team Liquid and Cloud9. The new format for the Summer has reverted back to not having the Spring Split records carry over into the next split. Ultimately, this will help a couple of the bottom teams who made some changes, like TSM and Immortals, into making a far easier playoff push. With that, let’s take a look at each team's matchups for this week!

Team Liquid (0-0)
Team Liquid finished the regular season in first place last split, and looked poised to head to Korea after a thrilling 5 game series win over Evil Geniuses in the playoffs. However, they would lose the next round to 100 Thieves, and then get swept by EG who just came off of a dominant sweep over Cloud9. They have a fairly easy schedule this week other than their matchup vs C9. C9, DIG, and IMT all made changes to their rosters during the offseason and might not have their chemistry together yet. C9 might also be without Berserker due to some visa complications, and as such I see TL making short work of all of their opponents.
Predictions: WIN vs IMT, WIN vs DIG, WIN vs C9.

Cloud9 (0-0)
Cloud9 barely finished in second place after an incredible start that was headlined by the 2022 Spring Split MVP Toplaner Park “Summit” Woo-tae. However, his small champion puddle was exploited towards the end of the season and the playoffs which led to a very disappointing finish in the playoffs. They dropped the superstar Top and replaced him with Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami who played Top previous to last split. He looked incredible in the position before switching to Midlane, so I’m excited to see him back there. Other changes the team made were bringing back Midlaner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen roleswapping into Support. This team is filled with great names, but it remains to be seen if they’ll be a great team. There’s two players making roleswaps, and Jensen didn’t play in the pro scene for an entire split. Yes, Fudge already played Top, but playing a whole split in a different role will definitely have a detrimental impact on his Toplane skills. Overall, I believe these players will end up in a good position by the end of the split, but there will definitely be a ramp up period as all the players get situated in their new roles. That and Botlaner Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol having visa issues is a recipe for disaster against powerhouses Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses this weekend.
Predictions: LOSS vs EG, WIN vs GG, LOSS vs TL

100 Thieves (0-0)
100 Thieves are coming off of the fastest finals loss in LCS history. For a team with higher ambitions, it doesn’t seem like this is something they’ll take lightly. The top side of the map is super strong for this team. Toplaner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho and Jungler Can "Closer" Çelik can take over and win games on their own during Bo1’s. However, if they want to succeed further then the slumping Mid and Botlane duo need to step up and help out. Although they were outplayed across the board in the finals, it was far too easy for Evil Geniuses to keep funneling the Thieves into EG Danny. 100T rematches EG on Saturday, and they need to play to their strengths and shut down former LEC MVP EG Inspired if they want to win. That’s only possible if they outplay them with Mid-Jungle pressure, so Midlaner Felix "Abbedagge" Braun needs to step up. The rest of their schedule shouldn’t be a struggle for the experienced roster, so they should have enough time to prepare for EG.
Predictions: WIN vs TSM, WIN vs EG, WIN vs DIG

Evil Geniuses (0-0)
Evil Geniuses are coming off an MSI appearance where they finished in the Quarterfinals after getting swept 3-0 by eventual champions RNG from the LPL. There’s a curse that haunts every team from every region that goes to MSI though. Year after year we see the MSI representatives start very slowly, whether due to burn out or other reasons, and makes it very difficult for the teams to find their footing before Worlds. This team has a lot going for it. Young stars Joseph "Jojopyun" Pyun and Kyle "Danny" Sakamaki are leading the next wave of NA talent in the LCS. Jojopyun even had a very solid showing at MSI as compared to other LCS Midlaners. He was clearly below T1 Faker, RNG Xiaohu, and G2 caPs, but he held his own and usually wasn’t the reason for their losses in the Rumble Stage. I expect this team to start slow and it will be up to the leadership of their veterans to bring them together and finish the split strong again. Fortunately, other than the finals rematch on Saturday, they play a revamped Cloud9 with multiple roleswaps and a FlyQuest team they handily beat in the playoffs. I expect 100 Thieves to catch them off guard, but nothing else shocking to happen in Week 1.
Predictions: WIN vs C9, LOSS vs 100T, WIN vs FQ

FlyQuest (0-0)
FlyQuest finished strong compared to their expectations heading into the split, but still well short of their back to back finals appearances. The team hasn’t made any changes in the offseason, but I think all they need is for Botlaner Johnson "Johnsun" Nguyen to step up and play like he did in his rookie split, and for Jungler Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas to play more through Mid. Their Midlaner Loïc "toucouille" Dubois is one of the better Midlaners in the LCS which features a very weak Mid pool. I think GG Ablazeolive might be able to shut him down with some cheese pick and EG Jojopyun has a much better team surrounding him, but he should be able to easily handle IMT PowerOfEvil.
Predictions: LOSS vs GG, WIN vs IMT, LOSS vs EG

Golden Guardians (0-0)
Golden Guardians showed a lot of promise last split and have swapped out Lost for Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes in the Botlane. Stixxay has had one of the most decorated careers in the LCS. He was an LCS champion in the 2016 Spring Split, and was an MSI finalist that same year. However, he’s never quite reached those same heights again. In fact, he’s never made an LCS finals again after that split. Despite that, he’s a clear upgrade of IMT Lost and should change the dynamic of the team. GG has a very tough relative schedule to see how much of a difference Stixxay can make. Their first match is a tiebreaker rematch against a FlyQuest that didn’t see any changes during the offseason. Stixxay is a much better player than FQ Johnsun so it should be a good reintroduction to the league. Their next match, Stixxay will be matched up against the best Botlaner in the LCS, C9 Berserker. They’ll need to lean on Support Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung’s experience to beat out C9 Zven who has just been role swapped into the position. They finish the weekend off against CLG which I don’t see being an issue for them in any position.
Predictions: WIN vs FQ, LOSS vs C9, WIN vs CLG

Dignitas (0-0)
Dignitas has the hardest schedule in Week 1 of any team relative to where they finished last split. They go up against CLG on Friday, but then have to go through powerhouses Team Liquid and 100 Thieves. The only upgrade this team made is replacing Toplaner Aaron "FakeGod" Lee with Noh "Gamsu" Yeong-jin who previously played in the LCS in 2014. However, he was on 100T Academy and looked great in Proving Grounds. As long as he’s not the reason they lose every game, Gamsu will be a much needed upgrade over FakeGod. He gets to reintroduce himself against CLG Dhokla who’s also making a return to the LCS. However, CLG Dhokla never left to play a different game and the familiarity should give him a slight edge during their matchup in Week 1. After that, Team Liquid and 100 Thieves are both extremely good teams hoping to qualify for Worlds. Unfortunately, Dignitas is not going to win those games.
Predictions: LOSS vs CLG, LOSS vs TL, LOSS vs 100T

Counter Logic Gaming (0-0)
Counter Logic Gaming also decided to replace their Toplane position. They switched out Thomas "Jenkins" Tran after he failed to live up to the expectations given to him after his impressive showings for Team Liquid. They brought in Niship "Dhokla" Doshi who was previously in the LCS in 2019 on Immortals. Since then he’s been playing very well in Academy and finished in 1st place during the Split 2 in the Spring Champions Queue ladder. This is about as good a resume as you can have to prove you deserve a comeback, and all eyes will be on Dhokla to see if he holds up. He’ll have a lot to prove in CLG’s first game against Dignitas, and will have an easier matchup against another returning player, DIG Gamsu. However, after that he gets thrown to the wolves against TSM Huni who continues to perform and GG Licorice whose play has seen a renaissance since joining the Golden Guardians. Fortunately, the rest of TSM’s roster has been struggling to get anything going (for a multitude of outside reasons in the organization) and CLG should be able to handle them.
Predictions: WIN vs DIG, WIN vs TSM, LOSS vs GG

Team Solo Mid (0-0)
With everything going on in the organization it’s hard not to feel sorry for the players who are always caught in the middle of it. Fortunately, the team has a fairly easy schedule to get their footing. They are up against juggernauts 100 Thieves who should mop the floor with them, but then they are up against a struggling CLG team that failed to make playoffs, and Immortals who were the only team that finished below TSM in the standings. These will be good games for former MVP Jungler Mingyi "Spica" Lu and Toplaner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon to move on from the last split and start strong. It’ll also be a good measuring stick for their new Midlaner Huang "Maple" Yi-Tang, who will be going up against some of the middle of the pack Midlaners in the LCS.
Predictions: LOSS vs 100T, LOSS vs CLG, WIN vs IMT

Immortals (0-0)
Immortals have made a few changes to their roster by bringing in Botlaner Lawrence "Lost" Sze Yuy Hui and Jungler Shane Kenneth "Kenvi" Espinoza. Lost is more of a sidegrade to Wildturtle, but maybe he can improve beyond Wildturtle who has shown everything he can at this point in his career. However, the addition of Kenvi is very exciting! Kenvi has been dominating Academy for the past couple of splits on 100TA and is just as exciting a prospect as EG jojopyun is. Kenvi isn’t surrounded by the same level of veteran talent as jojopyun is to cover for his mistakes, but we’ve seen great players shine on weaker rosters (CG Vulcan for example). They have a weak schedule in Week 1, but they will be up against strong Junglers on all the rosters (TL Santorin, FQ Josedeodo, TSM Spica). Kenvi may have been dominating Academy, but we’ve seen there is a clear gap between Academy and LCS level players. Their experience will take over and Kenvi will be getting crushed by them in his debut week. However, there's no need to write him off yet and he will definitely improve by the end of the split. For anyone who forgot, C9 Fudge looked like the clear worst Toplaner in the LCS during the Lock-In Tournament in 2021 and was dunking on Alphari by the end of that same split and Khan at MSI.
Predictions: LOSS vs TL, LOSS vs FQ, LOSS vs TSM

Predictions:

Matt Anikiej (predictions record 0-0):

Topher Fryzel (predictions record 0-0):