SK Gaming Threading the Needle against Fnatic

The first week of the LEC was a success. Aside from a few hiccups, game delays, lag issues, and misclicks during champion select, the games themselves did not disappoint. The meta was sculptured in a way that teams thought about unique team comps. The first game in the LEC Spring Split did not disappoint. Even though most teams picked champions to flex into different roles, the first game featured champions in their standard roles.

Fnatic and SK Gaming faced to kick off the year. Their rivalry halted when SK Gaming was relegated back in 2016. When Fnatic and SK Gaming faced off, it was termed “El Clasico” — a term used when Ocelote (from SK Gaming) and Xpeke (from Fnatic) represented their respective teams, kicking off a rivalry between the two players. Their rivalry culminated in 2013 IEM Katowice when Xpeke made the famous backdoor play to defeat SK Gaming. Now with a new lineup, SK Gaming is ready to get back into form.

Near the end of the game, Fnatic pushed SK against the wall and was ready to push mid to win the game. SK had one last chance to defen. Will this play define Fnatic’s new dynasty without Caps? Or will SK Gaming fight back showing the rest of the LEC that they are a new team to be feared?

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Team Liquid’s Pobelter Talks Music, Who Would Be in His KPop Band, and LCS Franchising

Team Liquid is currently the best team in the NA LCS. With a first-place finish in the Spring Split and first-place going into the Summer Split playoffs, Team Liquid is making their mark to take their talents into the Worlds stage.  Team Liquid’s mid laner, Eugene “Pobelter” Park stopped by after their victory against Echo Fox to talk about music and more.

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100 Thieves’ Ssumday on Thoughts About Being Summer Split MVP: “I believe it.”

100 Thieves had a turbulence of emotions throughout the Summer Split. Getting swept in 3 games in the Spring Split grand finals and a controversial trade occurred with William “Meteos” Hartman are examples of the adversities they went through. Despite the hardships, 100 Thieves continue to play at a high level in the Summer Split. They are a game behind Team Liquid in the standings with one more week remaining. Top laner for 100 Thieves and Summer Split MVP candidate, Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho chatted with me in this exclusive interview to talk about getting Andy “AnDa” Hoang acclimated into the team and what he thinks of the competition in the LCK.

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FlyQuest’s WildTurtle on His Thoughts About LCS’ Viewership, His Team’s Confidence in This Split, and the Best Support He’s Played With

FlyQuest continues to be a dark horse in this Summer Split. Previously in the Spring Split, they were in the bottom rung of the ladder and as a result, garnered doubters thinking they would generate similar results going into the summer. They quietly came up the standings and currently sitting tied for 3rd place with Echo Fox. With one last week in the split, FlyQuest’s AD Carry Jason “WildTurtle” Tran talked about the split thus far, his pro gaming career, and what he thinks is the best Support he’s played with.

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NA LCS 2018 Summer Split Week 8 Recap

Originally posted at https://www.echofox.gg/news/na-lcs-2018-summer-split-week-8-recap

The end of the season is almost to a close. Two more weeks left to make a statement for the rest of the LCS season. Two more weeks to prove Echo Fox has the best roster in the LCS. Two more weeks to show the other teams why Echo Fox is a team to be feared. The time is now.

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100 Thieves’ AnDa Speaks Out on Transitioning to a New Team, Replacing Meteos, and Improving as a Player

The 100 Thieves continued their stay at the top throughout this Summer. After last week, they are tied for first place along with Team Liquid, the team who beat them for the Spring Split championship. After a 2-0 week against Clutch Gaming and Counter Logic Gaming, 100 Thieves’ jungler Andy “AnDa” Hoang stopped backstage to talk about the split and more.

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NA LCS 2018 Summer Split Week 4 Recap

Originally posted at https://www.echofox.gg/news/na-lcs-2018-summer-split-week-4-recap

Teams are ready to get back into the grind of the Summer Split following Rift Rivals. It was a great learning experience for all participating teams to figure out the meta. Echo Fox, who surprised many teams, was the lone NA team to pick up a win in the final day of Rift Rivals against G2 Esports, masters of the funnel strategy. This week in the NA LCS, Echo Fox implemented knowledge from Rift Rivals to the LCS stage.

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Echo Fox Takes On Europe’s Best at Rift Rivals

Originally posted at https://www.echofox.gg/news/echo-fox-takes-on-europes-best-at-rift-rivals

The annual battle of North America vs Europe lives on as Rift Rivals has come and gone. One region wants to prove they are better than the other. Three teams from each region came into battle. Echo Fox, Team Liquid, and 100 Thieves represented NA LCS. G2 Esports, Fnatic, and Splyce represented the EU LCS.

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Golden Guardians’ Lourlo on Staying Motivated in LCS: “I really want to show that I’m a capable player in the LCS, not just someone that’s going to be in a bottom-tier team.”

In Week 2 of the NA LCS, things are still unpredictable with the meta — surprising strategies that teams have run like the popular funnel strategy and role swapping, and swapping players from the main roster to Academy and vice versa. Teams such as OpTic Gaming came out to everyone’s surprise as they took down top-tier teams such as Echo Fox. Another team that took a lot of people by surprise are the Golden Guardians. In their games, they are utilizing the popular funnel strategy that teams across various regions are using. With wins against Team Liquid and a revamped Cloud9 under their belt, they looked to succeed moving further in the NA LCS.

Samson “Lourlo” Jackson stopped backstage after their win against Cloud9 in Week 2 to talk about why the funnel strategy is working for Golden Guardians and how they mentally prepare during the offseason.

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Apollo on a Winning Record Against TSM: “I guess we’re better than TSM and it feels really good.”

The third week of the Summer Split is upon us. Some teams are still figuring out the meta, while others are utilizing obscure strategies such as using mages/bruisers in the bot lane and the funnel strategy. For Clutch Gaming, they are currently 2-2 at the time of this writing, coming off wins against Cloud9 in Week 1 and TSM in Week 2. In those wins, Apollo played a significant part. Against TSM, he played Vladimir and against C9, he carried with Xayah. After their win against TSM, Apollo stopped backstage to discuss the match among other topics.

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