The summer split for the #North America League Championship Series has begun and Team Solo Mid are looking to continue their reign in North America after their LCS championship victory. One significant change to their roster is the return of AD Carry Peng "Doublelift" Yilang.
After taking a short break from competitive play, he now returns to Tsm hoping to grab more championships in the incoming future for League of Legends eSports.
Doublelift vs Wildturtle
Before Doublelift came to TSM from Counter Logic Gaming, TSM's starting AD Carry was Jason "Wildturtle" Tran.
Wildturtle is a very formidable and promising players. This is one of the major reasons why TSM took the first seed in the NA LCS.
Although his mechanics are shown, his play-style does not blend as well with the rest of the roster on TSM. Many times you will see Wildturtle be mispositioned where enemy teams will take advantage of that thus leading to lost team fights. Take last year's TSM vs Team Liquid game.
This was a long-awaited matchup between Doublelift and Wildturtle where Team Liquid appeared as the underdogs of the match. With everyone expecting a 3-0 sweep from TSM, Doublelift came into the arena showing that he is arguably the best AD Carry in North America. Doublelift's Ezreal dominated every team fight in the game and was able to completely turn around each team fight.
Wildturtle did play well in that matchup, but with the experience and play-making abilities Doublelift had, Wildturtle did not stand a chance along with the rest of the TSM roster.
During the Spring split of 2017, Doublelift had a Kill Death Ratio of 3.9 whereas Wildturtle would have one of 2.6. It is unfair to compare these two based on pure stats since Doublelift played on Team Liquid where he had more carry potential, but a clear difference between these two players is leadership.
TSM's lack of leadership an issue?
One striking problem for TSM is the lack of leadership and shot calling. They have trouble throughout communication since most of the players on the roster don't step up to make a call. TSM's Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg is pretty much the only leader on that team which leaves him with quite a lot of pressure and responsibility.
With the loss of Doublelift during that split, that made TSM lose their only other leader and shot caller. Because of this, players such as Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell had to step up when it came to leadership. This is why TSM lost games when they should have won, because they need the leadership from Doublelift that they do not have from Wildturtle.
Doublelift comes back as AD Carry for TSM
Now that Doublelift is back on the starting roster, and Wildturtle is now on FlyQuest, TSM can hopefully transition well and win games in a more consistent manner. Throughout the 2016 season for TSM, they are known to lose Game 1 in most seasons. Whether its coming in thinking their the hottest team, or a lack of communication and rotation throughout their games.
If TSM can find a way to crush their opponents early in the series, that can transition well into each series. So far TSM is 2-2 in the summer split sitting at at 5th place in the standings. Of course, this is still early in the split. They want to find new team compositions that work, but they have to figure it out soon or else winning internationally will only be a dream.
