TSM are the most decorated organization within the NA LCS, having won multiple NA LCS championships and proving that this team is all about winning. TSM have been so victorious that when they missed out on their first ever final in Spring Split 2018, shock befell fans and experts alike. They would get knocked out of quarterfinals by Clutch Gaming 3-1 which put an end to their Spring Split earlier than predicted, especially given that many experts’ preseason power rankings put them top 3. TSM would then go into Summer Split with their heads held high and plenty of off-season time to develop their systems into something more concrete. The entire wrench thrown into every team’s gears was the meta. This Summer Split will go down in history as one of the most profound meta the LCS has ever seen as mages were piloted in the bot lane and became a pivotal moment for multiple ADC's by testing their champion pools. The likes of Swain, Heimerdinger, and Vladimir were making appearances in the bot lane. This was due to the funnel strat, which was to send the ADC into the jungle with a support and farm jungle camps along with mid lane minions. The meta tested every player’s ability to adapt and hindered TSM’s ability to shoot out of the gate. This would be my last assumption when looking at this lineup, aside from the jungle position, TSM are packed with veterans that have perfected the game, but meta has never entirely killed any of these player’s ability to perform well in the past. The biggest question would be as to whether TSM could function with all the star power. The main problem with teams that have multiple superstars is not that they need time to get good or further their mastery of the game, it’s about creating a structure and hierarchy of delegation. Without this, the players would be at odds trying to put emphasis on the style of play that has been successful for them and their different teams in the past. If we take a look at the current KT Rolster's roster, which is filled with veterans and superstars, it’s of note that they took a significant amount of time to get to the capable level they are now. KT look to be a strong team for LCK, as they have won the LCK Summer Split and are trying to take the World Championship home (I might have jinxed it now). TSM clearly have leadership problems, with Mithy giving criticism about the lack of criticism within their team structure. This has been a symptom for TSM and their inability to decide who the leading voice is, as almost all of them have some accolade which has proven they are one of the best players in the league. Along with this comes the problems with coaching staff, as even their head coach Ssong has been incapable of solving the team’s directional dilemma. This may sound familiar as TSM previously had problems when they imported YellOwStaR into the lineup in Season 6 to help with shot-calling, but to no avail. TSM could not properly acclimate YellOwStaR to the lineup and his talent seemingly went to complete improvidence, as he was never known as a mechanical genius. Individual Mistakes When looking at the TSM lineup, it’s very easy to gloss over their individual players and say that none of them are individually inept, but that has been far from the case under the microscope of deep criticism. Mithy had an awful start to the Summer Split, often being caught out of position and sinking the bot lane beyond repair. Even just within the laning phase Mithy certainly did not look like the stalwart three-time EU LCS champion. Couple this with his inability to adapt to an aggressive jungler in Mike Yeung and the complacency of Grig, their ward coverage was never enough to help their jungler succeed, despite the jungler’s own individual pitfalls. Mike Yeung and Grig are both weak links of this team, but that is to be expected as both are rookie junglers and unsurprisingly, TSM has historically had problems with their junglers, as Svenskeren and Santorin both lacked agency to dictate the pace of the game. It’s no wonder that Mike Yeung was never given the reigns to properly lead his team to victory. Bjergsen, while I won’t point to any individual misplays of him, I think he might have tainted TSM’s philosophy. When you’re so focused on winning, there is often an unwillingness to compromise. That has seemingly penetrated the TSM ethos and the singular thread which has always remained is Bjergsen. Whether this is Bjergsen himself wanting to dictate how the game is played or if players just want to consistently play through him, especially the junglers of TSM, then it may be time to change how TSM function around their star mid laner. Grig’s champion pool started to be of some concern during the latter parts of the split, limited to Trundle, Sejuani and Gragas, whether that was a choice of TSM or Grig, this playstyle made TSM predictable in draft and did them no favors in covering up other weaknesses within draft, such as Mithy. Mithy struggled to pick up the champion Rakan, having a 72.7% pick/ban rate in 2017 EU LCS Summer Split, G2 often banned it along with Thresh being their priority ban, even on Blue side when Thresh was often considered a first pick. This split he’s looked sub-par on Rakan, which is currently a priority pick. The one bastion which has helped Mithy is his ability to use Tahm Kench (aside from the memes of him inting on it once). Tahm Kench is a great champion which enables your side lane pressure, which historically TSM have always been crippled by. TSM does not play well with a 4-1 setup and this brings me to the last individual left to criticize: Hauntzer. Hauntzer is one of the top laners which I continuously find out of position, sometimes either costing his team an immense amount of momentum when they’re ahead, or outright losing TSM the entire game. While Tahm Kench does shore up this weakness, TSM have always kept their top laner on Prisoner Island. Back in the days of Dyrus, TSM would sacrifice him and make a play bot side to counter-balance whatever pressure Dyrus was able to absorb. This would also mean that TSM don’t ever ward for their top laner to safely push, which often leads to several deaths from Hauntzer and slowing TSM’s pressure within the game-state. Either Hauntzer needs to change his patterns of aggression, or TSM needs to enable that aggression with proper ward coverage. TSM are the best organization within the NA LCS, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s very disappointing to see them not make Worlds for the first time, to not get an NA LCS championship and most of all, fail to make a legendary lineup work as a cohesive unit. TSM have plenty of time to retrospect and I for one hope to see the rise of TSM in Season 9. ___ Izento has been a writer for the LoL scene since Season 7, and has been playing the game since Season 1. Follow him on Twitter at @ggIzento for more League content. Stats provided by Gamepedia.com and OraclesElixir.com Images courtesy of Lolesports Flickr.