Josh Leesman · @RiotJatt
1st Sep 2015 from TwitLonger
Best NA LCS year yet
I just wanted to spend a few words to reflect how lucky we were to get the split, playoffs, and regional qualifier that we just had in North America.
We have been so, so lucky from a storyline perspective this year.
We got to see CLG finally triumph after being the most punished fan base in North America.
We got to see an amazing comeback run and redemption story for Cloud 9, who after a 6-12 regular season managed to pull it all together and make worlds.
We got to see TSM lose their reign as the dominant team in NA, because let's be honest, even if you're a TSM fan the LCS gets boring if the same team wins every time.
But even for the teams that didn't get a spot in worlds, they still had great stories.
Gravity saw Cop transition to coach and pull out some of the coolest drafts during the regular split. Yes, Gravity came up short when it mattered most, but considering the relative inexperience on that team, holding first place so late in the regular season is something to be proud of.
Rush won the MVP and made some of the hype-filled jungle plays we've ever seen. We also saw Adrian blossom into a top support in NA as he did his best to support not only Apollo, but the dynamic duo of Rush and Impact.
Unfortunately for Team Liquid, they now gain the title of most punished fan-base NA, but they still had a good split despite the heartbreak. Back to back 3rd place finishes, and a 1st place regular season finish are all highs for the franchise. It won't do them any good to pat themselves on the back now, as they are understandably crushed, but it's an interesting note looking back on the year that this was clearly their best one yet.
Hell, even the team that was auto-relegated (TDK) brought out some hype games and nearly played spoiler to C9's whole miracle run by defeating them in week 9.
I could make a post about all the things that NA teams did wrong, or I could detail the individual and team flaws of each NA team, but that's not the mood i'm in after watching Cloud 9's amazing run to worlds.
It's important every once in a while to sit back and reflect on how lucky I've been to cast NA this year. There are some truly awesome stories here, and a boatload of passion on every single team.
This season really was special, and I can't wait to continue the stories next year.
Thanks for watching.