Proving Grounds: Team Overviews

The first section will go over all 10 academy teams. Then finally covering 4/6 of the amateur teams. I am sorry I cannot write anything about Wildcard or DIG.AM. I will give them some extra attention during PG to make up for it.

Academy Section

This is a rough sketch of how I would view the academy teams ranking and how it has changed since the end of the regular split. The 6 through 9 for pre proving grounds is hard for me to place since EGA, CLGA, and GGA have all improved. If I watched more of CLGA and felt more confident, I could see moving them up a little more. DIGA had some tight game 1 contests vs TLA and 100A (which they should have won), but have difficulty giving them the benefit of the doubt until they can secure the win. TSMA is the only team I believe has barely looked alive since the regular split.

TLA — Kings of Conditions

What makes TLA a better team than most of the other academy teams is their ability to play for each other and towards their fight conditions. What I mean by this is having laners be responsible for their lanes, give scouting info for Armao, and bail each other out if need be by conserving teleports/using moves.

Jenkins has improved massively from last year with understanding his style and his role around the team. With such low resources dedicated his way he still finds a way to be one of the most effective damage dealers on the team.

Armao is probably the best efficient PVE jungler in academy and towards the top in LCS. It sounds stupid, but being able to clear out fast matters for your move timers (some LPL and LCK junglers also suck at this too). He can get a little too bold for certain invade timers.

Haeri has felt more conservative for the team which can be bad at times, but he does bring a level of consistency that doesn’t impede and can uplift the team when needed.

Bot lane is probably the most talked about since their duo is having a great split. Their laning phase is not as potent honestly. It’s their team fighting that surpasses others more which pays dividends with how TLA play together.

C9A — This is ZionSpartan

During the regular split C9A placed a large importance on using Darshan’s pressure and counter picks as their core early game plan. Shern paths up, looks around, bases, and repeats. He wouldn’t visit around mid-often which left Copy to his own device too at times. Not really good to do when Copy is playing things like Yone, Galio, and Twisted Fate. Copy would get exposed to ganks, drop creeps, and miss chances to roam due to the lack of movement through mid.

K1ng and Isles would be left on an island usually while providing vision for themselves and mid. Isles is more attuned to playing ranged supports for scaling purposes which has its benefits when left alone (as long as the ad doesn’t want plates). Their lane never felt too volatile which showed they were rather responsible players. Always felt effective in the team fights.

So how did this team get to the #1 spot though? They were simply better at fighting in mid lane during mid-game. No joke, this is how most of the leads and transitions into core neutrals occurred for C9A.

It has been a long time since C9A has played so many things could have been improved on to make the team more complete.

FLYA — Imposters No More

I joke about the imposters part since that was what we literally were in the first two weeks of the split. 3–1, but some of the worst stats you ever seen for a #1 seed, scraping by each game. Where we are now though is having a better identity to how we want to make plays, comps being played, and team atmosphere. I would love to talk about the team more, but don’t really want to give free information on us. I am sorry hah.

Just know that this team is by no means perfect. Have plenty to work on. However, certain things are clicking now.

100A — Kenvi’s Knights

When Ryoma was on the team there was a clear identity with they played with Kenvi. Every game you would see a raptors ward placed by Ryoma and Kenvi walking through mid for 2nd raptors. Ryoma was always playing priority mids to enable the style Kenvi is best at, “animal”. I say animal because some of the looks Kenvi makes are pretty ridiculous. Hard reads that can over assume what his opponents are doing.

However, he is so confident in these looks and his opponents weren’t in the mindset of “what will Kenvi do”.

Poome also helps enable this playstyle with his roams from base, lane, or cheating out of lane. The difference is though before with Ryoma, Kenvi would use that pressure constantly. With Damonte, it’s not the same style or picks so Poome can over shift to help Kenvi and mid. It reduces the laning prowess with Luger who plays more self-sustaining style in lane while winning out in fights later.

Tenacity has been a bigger surprise with his laning in terms of finding kills. The series it happens really helps 100A play out their games with bot lane not being so dominant laning wise.

One upside of Damonte here though is his solo roam looks and realizing when it’s worth dropping a wave to do it. If they can dial into that more then Tenacity plus Luger could be real consistent threats.

IMTA — Solo Lanes are the Way

IMTA has changed around their style throughout the split and even going into the tournament. What seems to have sticked out the best is their ability to play side lane and leveraging their strong solo laners.

Potluck is adjusting his style from last year where he was more known for being a permanent farmer to now making interesting hard reads to steal camps away and play into side lanes in mid-late. He doesn’t forget about his bot lane, but may purposely sack them to extend Topoon’s lead.

In return, Topoon can gain teleport advantage to help out bot lane if it gets too rough.

Joey will consistently shift into mid to boost stability for Pretty to play out his matchup. This helps setup those dive options for top lane if it looks good.

Keith continues down the style he has played before on other teams.

A lot of academy teams aren’t used to playing through side lane so it can be pretty annoying to deal with if successfully done.

Just as a note, one consistent aspect of IMTA’s play throughout the regular split and even going into the tournament was their priority of 1st herald. It’s a great objective for further accelerating side lane play and bailing out bot lane with a gold injection if need be.

GGA — Prismal’s Kingdom

This is the first team to have shown massive improvements from the regular to pre-proving grounds. GGA was basically viewed as a very raw team in terms of play. Not to say the players are bad, just inexperienced. I am not 100% sure what changes were made after the regular split, but whatever they were it made a world of difference.

The first thing to note is how they realized who their primary carry is, Prismal. Picks like Tristana and Kai’sa allow for consistent pressure throughout the game on top of having their play making abilities. Chime, who I thought was coming off as one of the stronger supports from last split, starting coming into form with Prismal as well. These two became the anchor the team needed.

Yunbee’s success has mostly come off his control mages and Twisted Fate vs his AD options they have experimented on. He doesn’t need to be a core pressure point and seems to operate better that way anyways.

Tally’s play is wildly different from game to game it seems which adds a bit of volatility there. If he can gain some consistency then it would help balance the map out.

Rosethorn knows how to play standard games out, but once they become non-standard… he can struggle since there seems to be a disconnect with playing around jungle camps. This is where experience comes in. Ignoring that though, from when he started to where he is now is good improvement so far.

So, in the end, the players have a clearer idea how to push the map state forward with their leading players and is helping them gain edges vs the bottom half academy teams.

EGA — All Out

This is the 2nd most improved team in academy from the regular split. Before it felt like a disconnect on what they wanted to be, how to play. Now? Pushing hard in the early game by skirmishing around mid and top lane. Yes, sometimes in bot lane too (not their core focus).

What makes them so exciting is how bloody their games are. Whether it be them or their opponents, EGA doesn’t stop trying to make plays. It can catch their opponents off guard in their own jungle and side lanes, accelerating the pace massively. There is a reason they have one of the fastest game times.

The player everyone will look at is Jojo. Jojo is a great micro player. His movement, skill shots, and rawness can be seen and admired at times. The experience and control though are something he greatly lacks. He is young so he isn’t expected to have these things yet.

EGA promotes his play with Mystiques movements and early looks by Contractz. The jungle mid synced plays are pretty good (timings, setup).

Tony has shown more control going into tournaments compared to the regular split and seems like he is picking things up at a good rate as a rookie.

I could go more into each player, but seeing as we play vs them today… I will stop here.

CLGA — Return of Keel

What can I say, but welcome back Mr. Keel. CLGA looked like a better team when they have their full sub roster since everyone seemed to understand their roles and how to play with Keel’s style. I actually admired how fast they picked up a style and played around the jungle meta to be honest.

When they flipped these players around it really messed with their identity. Griffin’s style is less efficient while Thien’s style is more chaotic with not realizing when he shouldn’t be pressuring.

However, Keel has a good grasp on how to play standard games out, clear efficiently (he actually is probably right behind Armao here), and brings a very direct style to play around. With this stability in jungle, Thien’s play shines out more. Even if he makes some mistakes, CLGA has shown to problem solve to get him back in.

The bot lane also greatly struggled when first playing together. It has become better finally so additional stability is gained here too. I didn’t watch enough of CLGA’s last qualifier tournament to give the best picture, but I know they put greater focus on taking fights under the right conditions (camps cleared, wave timings actually aligning). The confidence shows with how they quickly move into enemy controlled areas for control and boasted a fat consistent early lead in the last qualifiers tournament.

This team stands a chance now.

DIGA — Team Dependent

For the most part the DIGA roster cannot depend on solo heroics by players. Yes, Yusui is probably the closest to making heroic plays and being their kill leader. However, they aren’t finding themselves to be consistently gaining free leads off laning phase.

The team is dependent on pushing forward together with smart decision making and a bit of creativity. It’s one of the reasons why they are able to come close to beating TLA and 100A in games 1. They were a step ahead of them, but faltered in the end.

Spawn is their only fresh player who had a rough start to the split. He has shown improvements with JayJ where their laning phase is becoming more stable and adjusting their timings for herald swaps (key play for them). This is very important since losing constantly can lead towards enemy support controlling mid. With Yusui out of the picture, DIGA doesn’t have much left.

Yusui’s best picks still mostly seem to be his Azir and melee picks. Creating agency in his lane for his team to play around. Lourlo holds down the fort top, knowing how to play on weak side when need be.

Honestly, there have barely been additional games shown for DIGA (only one streamed from AOL). They have potential if they can find a way to close out. One of the more interesting comp creators.

TSMA — Stuck in One Place

This one confuses me greatly. TSM have plenty of resources along with experienced players and yet they are struggling to stick to their identity they found success on. It was similar to how C9A play, through top lane. Hauntzer is capable of carrying out their games.

Yursan is a premier engager and moving piece to strengthen the map. They didn’t really care to do this. Instead, it was brute forcing the bot lane (rarely worked). Sword was on priority mid picks that were never correctly utilized. Yes, Zoe can be a very annoying pick to deal with because she creates space for her jungle to play the game. The issue is when you leave Zoe in mid lane, alone, and think of it as a mid-game artillery piece.

Next is how TSMA somehow had no idea what tempo was in mid-late game. I think this may be one of the few teams I ever seen sit at 3 dragons and get reversed dragon souled multiple times not because they are weaker… but because they ruined their time on the map. Such an issue should be pretty quick to point out, adjusted by experienced players, and at least not make it an obvious tendency.

My expectations for TSMA are low only because their transition from regular split to tournament to AOL all looked the same. If they somehow collect themselves finally for PG that would be awesome. For now, they shall be known as the least improved academy team.

Amateur Section

Zoo’s Gaming: What AM is About

This is a fun team to watch in a sense that it’s really only Allorim as the experienced player. He has really stuck towards what works for him like the Malphite, Ornn, Urgot, and Swain. His clear idea on what his role is helps give stability to the team.

DarkWings is one player people will take notice to not just because of his play, but he has flexibility in the types of picks he plays. Not many mids would throw down the Aatrox and be successful with it. I would view him as one of the top prospects in his position with his laning.

Their bot lane likes to press for advantages which is their core pressure point. The downside is sometimes their errors snowball out of control, leading towards a rather struggling map.

RBM, the man… the legend… who hopefully improved his efficiency in clearing. He has a good eye on looking to press his opponents and be that map wide pressure piece, but his downside is what happens when the enemy’s teams laners are smarter. These looks become harder. He drops camps where his opponent, who is not even looking at the mini-map, gains a self-lead. You can’t catch up farming camps once behind in jungle. That kind of pressure affects decision making.

I am not sure what kind of condition they will be in for PG. I can’t see them winning it with what I have seen. However, could create some upsets.

No Org: Anything for V1per

The best amateur team entering the PG tournament. These guys have a defined style that can work vs academy teams. I would say they have some of the better level 1 planning to gain edges other teams simply never look for. Even top end academy teams rarely go for things.

With that being said, No Org is a top-heavy team with V1per as their primary carry. V1per is more than capable playing in academy. He pushes his lead hard. He appears to know how to call for resources to give the team an early game to play around.

Big will find shift timers to assist or defend top plays so even if V1per messes up… they know how to recover. If he gets locked in lane the team starts struggling a little more since their duo isn’t a dominating lane and those Big roams can be a difference maker.

5fire’s preference is on priority picks to enable dive looks top and typically keep his lane under lock down. He has an eye for this style. When he branches away from it is where mid can start becoming problematic.

Anda has two styles of farming out or playing at an accelerated pace. What he is good at is knowing exact camp timers. I know that sounds like something jungler’s should normally be doing anyways, but they aren’t.

The core downside of the team is getting sucked into trying to play too fast and take every fight they see. This means when they have good side lane comps, that have leads in top, become wasted. They have some lucky games where their opponents don’t realize this. Additionally, it means Anda’s pathing becomes worse to reflect in the pacing of the team.

Overall, the team kind of crushes their opponents with the early planning and when that doesn’t happen is where their fighting style can hurt them. If they find a way to slow down at times with their initial leads… they could be a real problem.

EG Prodigies: EGA Light

This is a pretty interesting team in a sense that they have some pretty good talent. Srtty’s champ pool hopefully improved since last time they were playing and not placed in random situations where he goes down 30 creeps.

Srtty has shown capabilities to play out carries and win out vs academy tops which is an edge other amateur tops can really depend on besides probably No Org.

Tomio has a very in your face playstyle that can result in him invading with little HP or extending after plays to take camps. Usually, you don’t want to be hurting the team’s tempo for your own needs. Tomio as well will fish for solo picks when on things like Graves. Strong confidence is good to see from a jungler so he has a bit more flexibility than others.

Their bot lane will mostly have Shiro talked about. He has shown some impressive games where he snowballs heavily on things like Jinx and Samira. Keep in mind though, bot lane isn’t only on the AD. Mist is there to be the brain of the lane.

I hope EGP also put greater focus on assisting Aspect with vision since he is capable of playing into stronger opponents. Without that support, he becomes an easier target to ganks and roams. Mid falling apart limits Tomio’s options and can even make Tomio’s plays riskier.

BRG: Fan of Fanatiik

What can I say, I am a fan. The team is kind of interesting in that while the premier player is Fanatiik… they aren’t a jungle centric team. Fan will give his time and timings to all lanes who need it. This can sometimes create awkward pathing situations for himself. At the same time, these plays can pan out for him and get his team even further ahead. It’s a little similar to what Griffin does I would say.

Again, mid lane is more focused on locking his lane up like 5fire or CptShrimps. Seems to be a common theme for AM mids. He has very unique picks that can be annoying to deal with like Neeko and Asol (though I doubt he ever whips this out at this point). He has expanded his mid pool into more normalized picks which have been getting better.

Gorica and Winter are wildcards for their lane. Sometimes they find all in plays that work out… other times well… not so much. It’s a nice pressure point for the team to have though. Similar to Zoo’s Gaming. Gorica seems to be getting bolder in play, which is great to see.

PCL is mostly left on his own devices while playing the normal top picks academy teams are playing. He can die to some rather obvious ganks. However, he has his pop off moments when playing things like Aatrox. A true weak side top laner.

In general, these guys give that true AM team feel. They have been consistently good in most tournaments they have entered and definitely worth watching.