Purchasing Team 8’s LCS spot in the off season through venture capital investment, Noah Whinston became the CEO and rebranded the team as Immortals. Acquiring what many called “a roster of outcasts”, IMT are currently at the top of the NALCS and one of three professional teams in the world to not drop a game.

Eugene “Pobelter” Park was signed as the starting midlaner following his benching from Counter Logic Gaming. Jason “Wildturtle” Tran was the recipient of criticism for much of his time on Team SoloMid and met with groans when IMT signed him as their starting ADC. Adrian Mu was often touted as a bright spot on the 2015 Team Impulse lineup, but found himself receiving criticism from their coaching staff and temporarily benched for Austin “Gate” Yu.

Rounding out the roster, IMT signed top and jungle duo, Heo “Huni’ Seoung-hoon and Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin, both who've seen enormous success in the EU LCS. In the whirlwind of emotions that is the LoL off season, this IMT roster received little attention early on with many fans choosing to focus on the new TSM, NRG Esports and Cloud 9 rosters. Many, including myself, predicted this lineup to be a middle of the pack team capable of challenging for top 4 with only NA LCS caster Joshua “Jatt” Leesman definitively putting them at the top of NALCS.

What’s significant about IMT is how they’ve had the most difficult week 1 and 2 schedule possible, yet come out smelling of roses. Defeating C9, TSM and NRG in 2 weeks is a sign of a highly consistent team, especially when you learn that their game against TiP was a perfect victory and currently holds the record for shortest ever LCS game. With their victories over TSM and TiP especially, there’s also a great retribution narrative that follows this team.

Their week 3 schedule is their easiest yet by a large margin, with both Echo Fox and Renegades being forced to use NACS substitutes due to the tourist visa scandal. Yet historically, it is a team’s ability to not relax and trip up in the face of lesser teams that defines their consistency. So far we’ve seen elite teams like SK Telecom T1 and H2k-Gaming slip up and drop games to lesser opponents. This week is a test of IMT’s consistency and drive to be the best.

Similar to Fnatic, Huni operates as the team’s main carry with Wildturtle and Pobelter alternating the secondary threat responsibility. With Reignover and Adrian looking to control teamfights and vision control, IMT have been the most well rounded and complete team NA has to offer. With their ability to snowball lanes, teamfight with poise or patiently wait for the enemy team to make a mistake, IMT have sold strategic diversity and a respectable array of win conditions.

Immortals vs. Renegades: The Ohq Factor

Currently 1W - 3L, all of REN’s games can be summarised by lackluster map movements, confusing drafts and split decisions. Their inability to work as a unit and decisively pick a strong engagement, combined with their unusual draft phases, cost them their games against Dignitas and TiP. Contrary to IMT, REN have had possibly the easiest schedule and could’ve gone 3 - 1 with only slight improvements across the board. In an interesting development, REN have loaned Oh “Ohq” Gyu-min from NACS team Team Dragon Knights as their star ADC, Aleš “Freeze” Kn?žínek, struggles with visa issues for the second week in a row. Ohq isn’t just a strong upgrade over their week 2 substitute ADC, Benjamin “LOD” deMunck, he’s also an upgrade over their actual ADC Freeze. Here's a brief overview of how REN can pull out a win:

Start the match with standard lanes

Give Ohq a champion he can hard carry a game with right out of the laning phase (Tristana, Kalista, Corki, Lucian)

Put Oleksii “RF Legendary” Kuziuta on a tank with a favourable matchup while securing Rek’Sai for Alberto “Crumbzz” Rengifo, Morgana or Thresh for Maria “Remi” Creveling and Lulu, Orianna or Lissandra for Alexey “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin

Deny Adrian Janna

Oh, and then REN just need to improve their teamwork and initiation drastically whilst IMT need to drop the ball. IMT are a good team and have a better player in every position but one, so by channeling all their resources into the one advantage they have then perhaps REN can steal the win. Through calculated counter grouping, REN can look to turn IMT’s aggression against them and surprise an overconfident IMT. The big issue for me with this matchup is Reignover, objectively the best jungler in NA right now. If Crumbzz and RF Legendary can win the 2v2 in toplane that Reignover nearly always forces then REN can win, but it’s such a monumental if.

IMT are a good team -- their teamwork and strategy has been a cut above all other NA teams so far and their players seem to have a weird, inherent synergy with each other. I suspect this is due to the structure of their team being seemingly modeled on Fnatic’s 2015 lineup. That’s not an insult against IMT; FNC are the greatest team the LCS has ever seen. Also, IMT have a chance to surpass Fnatic if they can improve on their champion pools and depth of strategy.

As I said before, IMT are the overwhelming favourites for this match, but if there was one match that IMT would drop the ball and lose, then it would be this one. REN have win conditions, they’re just incredibly precise and strict.

Immortals vs. Echo Fox: Without a Paddle

In the off season, former professional basketball player, Rick Fox, purchased Gravity’s LCS spot and rebranded the team as Echo Fox. I believe that the foundation for a successful NA LCS team comes from its imports, which makes EFX’s choice imports confusing for me. Not only do I not agree with mixing European and Korean imports (I think you should nearly always give a Korean player a buddy), I also don’t agree with signing players with no competitive or team experience as an import. I think you should look to develop resident talent and rely on your imports for veteran presence.

However, this is irrelevant to EFX’s current situation, as the team find themselves up a creek without a paddle. By far the worst affected by the visa scandal, EFX are forced to use substitutes in toplane, jungle and midlane. EFX are a team that could be good in Summer but right now should just be worried about relegation, especially considering how dangerous a few of the NACS teams look. EFX did provide an amount of resistance to TL, but the difference between TL and IMT is massive. Seriously outmatched in every role, IMT would have to get incredibly overconfident in order for them not to win. Given how IMT defeated TiP, I actually think EFX can be proud if they make it past 25 minutes.

If you enjoyed this content, feel free to connect with the author on Twitter at @Gosickboy_.

Photo Credit: /u/iPreemo on Reddit