This past week, Yilian “Doublelift” Peng, AD Carry for Team Solomid, announced that he is taking a short break from the NA LCS for spring. Whilst not a surprise to many fans who follow him closely, it comes after a very successful split and a heartbreaking run at the World Championship.

Now that Doublelift is taking his hiatus, let’s look at what this will do to the NA LCS as a result, and in an even larger scope, the international stage. With all that has happened in the past 6 months, this can actually have a massive effect on the NA LCS and its competitive level in the AD Carry position.

Let’s go back all the way to the beginning of Spring Split, 2016: The average level for any AD Carry on a team in North America was higher than most other regions. You have stars such as Doublelift and Sneaky showing up very often. You have up and coming talent in players such as Stixxay or a veteran player in WildTurtle who is finally finding his groove (alongside the powerhouse at the time, Immortals). The imports were renowned for their ability, with Piglet, Freeze, and even Ohq coming in hot, and although not all were successful (read: none except for Piglet on Team Liquid), the competition was there. Lane swaps affected the laning strengths of many of these players, but this was true all around the world.

Come playoffs, it was almost completely up to these players to carry their team to the top... to carry their team to the Mid-Season Invitational.

Eventually, Counter Logic Gaming triumphed over Team SoloMid, and raced off to MSI where Trevor “Stixxay” Hayes shined brighter than nearly any other AD Carry in the entire tournament. With constant killing sprees, near-perfect teamfighting, and a second place finish to boot, North America’s bar was set at one of the highest possible elevations for the region -- right under Korea, and towering over the rest of the world.

Image - Lol Esports Flickr

Move into Spring and some of the names we had are gone or a little dusty. Players like Wildturtle, Stixxay and Sneaky are still very solid. Doublelift has a new support by his side that brings his level of play to an even higher level. Apollo on Apex was even doing a decent amount of damage as well  -- that is, whenever Apex actually decided to play off him instead of just having him fill up a chair.

The problem was that Piglet and Freeze  were gone by the time that it mattered. Lane swaps were killed off just like NRG’s hopes were to stay in the NA LCS. The strongest laning AD Carries were few in number now, and Worlds was right around the corner. The final test was coming up, but the challenges leading up to it were much easier than they used to be.

The best practice for these superstars was now gone for the most part. This may have had a tremendous impact of how NA performed at the World Championship, and it makes you wonder if players like Doublelift and Biofrost could have somehow gotten past the challenges that Uzi and Mata posed, or if it would cause Doublelift to be even safer with his positioning and risks than he was in games against Samsung or Splyce. These types of challenges are some that takes time, preparation, and most importantly, good competition/practice in order to overcome.

Now let’s look at this Spring: Take that pool of AD Carries, and pinch it as hard as you possibly can. The single best AD Carry (according to most players) is now gone for a full split (given something odd doesn’t occur). Who stands at the top? Sneaky? Stixxay? Wildturtle? Let’s say these players don’t work so well next split -- which player do you have left? Will Piglet return to NA? Will Forgiven make his way across the Atlantic? Will Fabby finally show up on a marksman?

With all the competition joining the scene in Europe (read: PSG) and salaries going up with revenue sharing, will North American organizations be able to secure the talent that they need in order to compete internationally? If not, will the NA LCS have a drought in the AD Carry position? Or will new blood come in and “Make NA Great Again?” Talent such as Cody “The Massacre” Sun, Rikara from the NA Challenger Scene or even some Solo Q players such as Xpecake, Zaganox, Flamboozle, Deftly, and others, may rise to the plate and possibly hit a home run...or at least carry a few games.

With all the changes to rosters and possibilities (Amazing to NA? Reignover anywhere? CLG being CLG?) anything can happen. Let’s just hope that in North America, things move forward, not backwards with talent, competition, and most important of all, victory.

Cover image courtesy of Lol Esports Flickr.

Albert "Ace" Pariente-Cohen is a freelance esports writer who primarily writes about League of Legends. You can follow him here!