The NA LCS regular season is over, but we still had the European LCS and the NA Promotion Tournament to provide us with interesting plays this week. When teams have their LCS dreams on the line, they tend to make some questionable plays - or some excellent ones.

The Good

ROC beat G2 to fully recover

Going into week 7, ROCCAT were 0-7 and tied with Origen for last place overall in the region. Relegation seemed all but certain.

Three weeks later, ROCCAT had gone 6-0 and taken down every team in their path, including G2 Esports - the undefeated titans of Europe. It was a feat worthy of David and Goliath, made all the sweeter by the fact that the win gave ROCCAT a chance to even make playoffs.


Karthus makes a triumphant return

The Deathsinger returned to professional play this last weekend in an explosive fashion. While TL Piglet couldn't fight GCU Fenix in a one-versus-one matchup, he could certainly help out the rest of his team. TL's midlaner piloted Karthus to a 10/4/12 KDA over two games, making effective use of Requiem to help secure kills even while being shoved under his own tower. GCU wisened up to Liquid's schemes and banned the champion in all three subsequent matches, but the damage was already done. Guess teams had better be on the lookout for Piglet's Karthus in the Summer Split...

The Bad


No new blood in the LCS

The sad truth of the Promotion Series is that we can't have our cake and eat it too. All of the established teams rejoining the LCS is certainly cause for celebration, but it's disappointing that none of the Challenger teams were able to make it this time around. Gold Coin United missing the cut was especially regrettable - if they'd have made it, we would've been able to see MadLife in the NA LCS. Guess that's how the cookie crumbles.

The Weird


TL vs GCU game 3 Nexus shenanigans

This whole play is like watching something out of a Bronze 5 match. Open Nexuses are powerful lures for teams, but you would assume that professional can resist its temptations and keep playing as a group. Not so in this match. TL and GCU take turns running back and forth down midlane, with players on both sides trying to make a solo play that ends the game. It's the exact kind of hectic, uncoordinated play that you wouldn't expect from professional teams, but it happened anyways. Definitely deserves to be in the weird category.