Since Rift Rivals, North America's Team SoloMid has led non-Korean teams in the ESPN global power rankings. This week, with the move to Patch 7.14 and continued improved performances by Team WE, that changed. Top NA team TSM fell four rungs, and both League of Legends Masters Series leaders Flash Wolves and Team WE leapt over the team that now leads North America, Immortals.
Instead of suggesting that cross-regional comparisons can't be done correctly like many before me, I advocate improving technique and changing aspects of how analysts evaluate teams. Team WE's climb over TSM and Immortals doesn't come from a knee-jerk look at history where Chinese have frequently trumped NA teams in World Championship placing, but rather an examination of what Team WE does well next to the strengths of NA's TSM and Immortals.
TSM's four-spot drop might seem severe in the wake of a patch change, but problems that cost them didn't simplify only to Xerath picks and slowly adapting drafts. Similarly, Immortals' rise came from a win over Counter Logic Gaming that included disorganized fights presumably while CLG finalized the trade of Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett to Team Liquid.
Across the Pacific Ocean, Team WE swept Chinese Group B leaders Oh My God. While OMG deserves its spot below both TSM and Immortals on the list, the way Team WE bested OMG demonstrated versatility and an understanding of map flow that shows why it's ahead of TSM and Immortals now.
Team SoloMid's tumble
The first sign of struggle for Team SoloMid came in its opening game against Team Dignitas on July 22, when Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg took to the Rift with Xerath. Xerath's long range might make him seem like an interesting pick to evade cross-screen engage picks like Maokai or Jarvan IV, but his kit lacks mobility, making him easy to catch.
In Game 2, TSM made a yet more telling error. Its 1-4 setup with Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell on Jax opened its mid lane group of four up to engage. TSM didn't respect the speed and collapse potential of Sivir and Maokai or the ability of Taliyah to cut the team's escape route off. The players pushed too far forward and found themselves caught, not an uncommon occurrence for 1-4 teams on Patch 7.15.
TSM's compositions adapted for its next series against Echo Fox to more suit fashionable meta trends. Its mistakes against Echo Fox, however, hearkened back to more classic TSM faux pas. Game 1 against Echo Fox didn't look unlike Team WE's Game 1 win over OMG. Both teams saw their lanes pushed in severely early on, limiting their jungler so that he lost both lives and jungle camps. OMG and Echo Fox had many openings early to win these matches.
The way in which TSM turned Game 1 separated it from WE. It relied upon Bjergsen's Taliyah heroics blocking off Baron while TSM went to take Infernal Drake. While Echo Fox made the mistake of not accounting for Taliyah's ult when it went for its early Baron, TSM's lost vision challenges around Baron leading up to this fight necessitated Bjergsen's dazzling play.
Spectators often see Bjergsen and TSM use globals almost as a crutch when they sit on the opposite side of the map from a play. While one might give TSM the benefit of the doubt in saying that this expert use of globals extends its control of the map, the fact that the team seems to rely upon it rather than setting up side waves well to control objectives calls into question its mid-game control.
Along with those errors, TSM's games came strewn with awkward Teleports from Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell. Hauntzer pressured one side of the map while the rest of the team backed, leaving openings for Echo Fox to collapse on a side lane without repercussions from TSM pushing mid. While strong early game play around mid lane is a hallmark of TSM, fans have seen these kinds of errors from this team before, and the mistakes warrant a drop while other teams perform well.
Deceptively Mortal
Unlike TSM, Immortals' play demonstrated a strong grasp of the patch. Its first game against CLG on July 23 also highlighted a strength of jungler Jake "Xmithie" Puchero in adapting to the early warding of enemy teams. His long gank path from red buff might have set him slightly behind, but it put some of Immortals' flexibility on display.
Immortals, however, let itself down in the same game. Slow commitment to open mid fights and an awkward fan formation exposed them up to assassination from Dardoch and Darshan "Darshan" Upadhyaya's Cho'Gath.
Fear of Rengar flanks may have motivated the decision, but Immortals sometimes doesn't understand the best time to fight. In the past, it has had games gifted to it by the enemy team taking questionable dragon fights when Lee "Flame" Hojong has a lead. Sometimes, Immortals still feels split down the middle of the map. It can transfer bottom or top lane leads to mid well, but when it comes to cross-map, the team would rather completely group and trade evenly than balance map pressure or reinforce mid.
Team WE's Rise
Team WE only played one series, but it showed off both its ability to find openings even when the team seems painfully out-drafted in the early game and to command and close with a composition that should lose mid and late game all-ins. This helped answer concerns that Team WE could only play one-dimensional Galio and hyper-carry AD carry compositions against capable opponents.
In the first game, Team WE's mistakes and weak lanes resulted in major tempo advantages for OMG. When the team made trades, Team WE had difficulty answering because of limited safe waveclear outside Galio. If it wanted to force a lane in a swap, OMG's Rumble could ult and prevent Team WE from getting a favorable trade. Though Team WE couldn't take structures, its better read on jungle location let it react, keep Tier 2 turrets and keep vision control around Baron. Any time Team WE succeeded in picking an OMG member, it transitioned to set up wards for the inevitable Baron play.
Game 2, however, demonstrated adaptation from the more common Team WE formula when Nam "Ben" Donghyun's Rakan used leads from bottom side to move to both mid and top. Team WE then used its pressure in mid game to keep Baron controlled and isolate Han "S1mLz" Jin in fights. Ke "957" Changyu's Teleports and WE's teamfight targeting asuaged some concerns raised by Team WE's loss to Newbee with a snowballing composition earlier in the split.
Worries over Team WE's lane-losing drafts and entrenched comfort with scaling hyper carry ADC compositions remain, but Patch 7.14 should aid the team rather than hinder it. The same may be said for Immortals' side lane to mid focus, but Team SoloMid's deeper fondness for early mid skirmishes and moving control to side lanes from a control point may make its climb back to Top 6 more difficult.
One shouldn't dismiss TSM. AD carry Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng will give the team openings to shore up its weaknesses. Vincent "Biofrost" Wang has had strong coordination with Dennis "Svenskeren" Johnsen in the past. TSM just needs to demonstrate it has the tools to continue to jockey with Team WE.