North America’s League of Legends competition LCS (League Championship Series) will start with a kick-off tournament, LCS 2022 Lock-In. In the second edition of the tournament, there is still a winner-takes-all prize pool of $150,000 + $50,000 to be donated to a charity of their choice. All ten teams will join the action, and the winner will prove how ready they are for 2022.
2021 was no different for North America in terms of international success, Cloud9 was the only team to make it to quarterfinals while Team Liquid lost their chance with a tiebreaker. This year, many teams from LPL, LCK and LEC have changed their rosters, differently from previous years. To have a good international record at the end of the year, you have to have a great start, and Lock-In is an opportunity to do that.
Current situation of LCS teams
LCS Lock-In also gives us an impression of the teams before the Spring Season, where MSI representative is determined.
As of now, last split’s champion 100 Thieves still look like they are the favourites for 2022. They didn’t change their successful roster, and added in a Canadian talent, Tenacity, who made it to the top of SoloQ ladder in EUW during Worlds.
Their number one opponent will be Team Liquid, bringing together a super team with Bwipo, Santorin, Bjergsen, Hans sama and CoreJJ, none of whom is of North American origin. TL’s super team will try to create the synergy to win LCS for Team Liquid after two years of drought.
Cloud9 and TSM went through similar changes during the offseason. Cloud9 brought two Korean youngsters and a star, Summit, with LS as a coach and Fudge roles swapped to mid lane. TSM on the other hand brought in two Chinese youngsters, Keaiduo and Shenyi, and a Singaporean coach, Chawy. TSM won’t be able to field their Chinese players due to visa issues, thus players from academy roster will fill their place.
Although not as much, Evil Geniuses create a little bit of hype together with Immortals. EG has Impact, Inspired, IgNar and Vulcan, while Immortals has Xerxe who has been underperforming for a long time now and PowerOfEvil. They might be the underdogs of the league.
FlyQuest, Golden Guardians, CLG and Dignitas aren’t as good as the teams listed earlier on paper. They have some players with potential like Blue, Luger, Josedeodo, Pridestalker and Lost, but I doubt if they will surprise anyone this year.
First matches at LCS 2022 Lock-In
The tournament will start this weekend on Friday at 23.30 with TSM vs 100. There isn't really a strong matchup among the matches in the first weekend. However, Evil Geniuses vs Team Liquid should be a good one, and TSM vs Cloud9 is always a treat because of the rivalry between the teams.
Although I counted EG just below Cloud9 and TSM, I still doubt if they could stand a chance against Team Liquid this Sunday at 00:30. Team Liquid’s roster is just better from any point of view, and I think Evil Geniuses will have to prepare hard to take something away from TL.
I expect the same from TSM vs Cloud9, as one of these teams will be able to field their full roster while the other can’t. TSM would put everything on their hand to the table against Cloud9 in any circumstance but without their Chinese players, they will probably have a hard time this weekend. C9 didn’t have too much time to prepare either, so there is room for surprise.
If you are an LCS fan like us, watch your favourite teams games and place your bets on Luckbox.
