TSM! TSM! TSM!
While other teams are satisfied making it to Playoffs, or even just avoiding relegation, Team SoloMid only has the highest of ambitions: hoist the Summoner’s Cup. And their drive for success pushes them towards that goal.
They don’t treat wins as something to celebrate, but rather lessons to learn from. Fiercely motivated, TSM has worked to expand its style of play over the course of the year to take advantage of their opponents on their way to the 2015 World Championship.
TSM carry threats from every position, but their biggest terror lies in their mid laner, Bjergsen. The 2015 Spring Split MVP rarely loses his lane, even when other teams consistently try to shut him down. Famous for his stellar assassin play, with a penchant for champions like Ahri and Zed, Bjergsen’s champion pool runs deep. And he’s shown how well he can adapt, utilizing champions like Orianna and Azir, and even utility champions like Lulu, to devastating effect whenever the need arises.
The Play
Team SoloMid play it safe and steady early, before ramping up into a late-game team-fighting powerhouse. Support Lustboy often goes for timely roams mid to help push Bjergsen’s advantages, while jungler Santorin farms hard to be ready for a fight.
After scaling up and laying down vision, TSM soldier straight into enemy lines with devastating flanks from top laner Dyrus‘ fast-fingered Teleports and aggressive engages from Lustboy and Santorin, who work to keep their backline safe to bomb away.
Bjergsen balances his flashy mechanics with staying safe behind TSM’s front line. This allows him to simultaneously call the fight and throw out insane amounts of damage alongside AD carry WildTurtle. No easy task. And following any onslaught, the macro oriented TSM know exactly how to take the next objective. Whether it’s Dragon, Baron, or a base, they understand the capabilities of their composition, always thinking many steps ahead.
This play against Team Liquid in the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split Semifinals is a perfect illustration of TSM at their best.
“Both teams throughout the game tried to flank each other, and because Dyrus got the best flank, we won.”
Eye on the Prize
In Team SoloMid’s 2015 season they rode high, they fell hard, and as the season wound down, they found themselves back at the top.
TSM showed their dominant form at the beginning of this year, crushing their way through both international and domestic tournaments. It seemed like nothing could stop the tremendous might and synergy of TSM. That is, until they landed at the Mid-Season Invitational.
Touted before the tournament as the strength of North America, MSI was an unmitigated disaster for TSM, shaking the team to its very core. Promising to never repeat such a lackluster performance again, the reinvigorated TSM blazed through the early part of the 2015 NA LCS Summer Split before hitting yet another slump. Determined to make Worlds, they showed they weren’t afraid to make changes where necessary ahead of the Playoffs, where they once again showed up strong.
Though they were challenged in the Finals by their rivals Counter Logic Gaming, TSM have proven that they’re their own toughest critics, and will do whatever it takes to bounce back as they make their run for the 2015 World Championship.
Talk of the Rift
As TSM tells it, their success lies in taking charge.
“We want to be in the driving seat, where it’s up to us to win or lose the game. We don’t want to have it that if [the other team] plays really well then they might win, but if they don’t play as well that we can scale on them. That’s not how we want to play and that’s not how we’ll do well at Worlds,” says Bjergsen.
But their problems revolve around confidence.
“One of our biggest problems, as a team, is we don’t believe we’re the better team half the time. In the past, when we were dominant, or if we lost a game off a small mistake, we’d still be confident because we knew we were way better than the other teams. But now, this time around, other teams are getting a lot better than they used to, and we’re not improving as fast as we can. We’re just slowly falling behind. So if we can catch ourselves and we can bring back our confidence, I feel like we’ll just win,” says TSM’s veteran top laner, Dyrus.
If Team SoloMid can play to their strengths, grab hold of a lead, and work cohesively as a team, their dreams of finally taking home the Summoner’s Cup could become a reality.
