2022 LCS summer split Week 2 lessons learned

Week 2 of the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series summer split provided many awesome games and really interesting storylines. Here are the best ones to track after the second-week action of the 2022 LCS summer split.

CLG look legit

Counter Logic Gaming came into Week 2 sitting at the top of the standings as one of the three undefeated teams who managed to win all three of their Week 1 games. It was also CLG’s best start to a season since 2017.

However, despite CLG’s success in Week 1, many wrote them off in Week 2 because they didn’t play many good teams in their 3-0 first week. Everyone had eyes on CLG’s second match of the week with the story team of the split so far going up against the reigning LCS champions, Evil Geniuses.

CLG’s mid laner Cristian “Palafox” Palafox stated that even though they lost their first match of Week 2 to FlyQuest, he was confident in his teammates’ abilities to bounce back immediately and close out the week still in first place. And that’s exactly what they did. In the biggest upset of the split so far, CLG took down EG after a crazy back and forth game which seemed like both teams were evenly matched. The fact that CLG is 4-1 with quality wins on their schedule already shows that this team, for right now, are one of the best teams in the entire league.

Cloud9 are a better team with their starting bot lane

It might be a hot take to say this, but Cloud9 are a completely different team with their actual starting bot lane. In Week 1, C9 played with their Academy bot lane due to visa issues hindering the arrival of their starters, Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen and Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol. The team could not put a single win on the board in their first three tries in a historically bad Week 1 that ended at the bottom of the LCS standings. But when people were starting to doubt the team, Zven and Berseker came to the rescue as C9 in Week 2.

The team’s first game against Dignitas was a little rocky, as C9 had DIG tearing down their base. But after a close call, C9 clawed back and won the game in 33 minutes. Giving C9 the benefit of the doubt since the team have only played on stage together once, C9 looked to silence all critics in their second match of the week when they took on 100 Thieves. And in a much cleaner game, C9 looked unstoppable and won in just over 30 minutes.

C9 pulled off the 2-0 week and are back in the conversation of playoff teams. Although C9 looked good at the end of Week 2, it will take another clean week to put C9 back in the conversation of the LCS best.

TL are not playing like they should

Team Liquid Honda made the biggest splash of any LCS organization heading into the 2022 LCS season. With a super team made up of five best-in-region caliber players, TL were not only expected to run through North America, but they were also expected to give the region their first real hope internationally in years. After a disappointing, third place exit in the 2022 LCS spring playoffs, TL entered the summer split poised to make the leap into a tier of their own. Instead, it appears that other teams have caught up to them instead.

TL were one of the three undefeated teams entering Week 2, alongside the likes of EG and CLG. And at the end of Week 2, they are still tied at the top of the standings with those two teams. However, TL looked bad in their win and loss this week.

Against TSM, a team that is expected to be at the bottom of the 2022 LCS summer split standings, TL were outclassed. In a meta where games are naturally drawn out, TL lost in under 30 minutes. Then, in their second match of the week, TL went up against FlyQuest in another game that saw TL heavily favored.

TL managed to pull out a win, but it took a massive lapse of judgment by FLY to throw at Baron, which allowed TL to come back. TL were very close to going 0-2 against two teams that this super team should almost never lose to. It’s early to start sounding the alarms already, but this is still a point of concern for the so-called hope of NA.