LCS Lock In Week 1: CLG obliterated, Evil Geniuses rise and the debuts of new signings.

After a preseason packed with great signings, legendary retirements, and an All-Star where emerging regions dominated and with a new format announced, competitive activity was back in action this weekend during the LCS Lock In.

There were hyped clashes, new imported talent making their debuts and somewhat surprising results, here we bring you the highlights of Week 1.

Evil Geniuses start out undefeated

As soon as this preseason tournament began, the team that has managed to stand out from the rest was Evil Geniuses, after winning their matches against Cloud9, Immortals, and Dignitas, they closed the first week undefeated and have already qualified for the Playoffs.

The team had managed to demonstrate their preparation prior to the tournament, showing great precision in their decision making and in team fights, which is why their performance this weekend hasn't come as a great surprise.

With an Impact and Jiizuke managing to show their dominance in the top and mid lane, a highly synergistic bot lane made up of Deftly and IgNar, and a Svenskeren fighting from the jungle with a KDA of 13/5/25 during the weekend, EG has placed themselves as the favourite to win the LCS Lock In.

TSM and Cloud9 manage to show signs of life

After falling in front of the leaders of each group on the first day, both TSM and Cloud9 have managed to stabilise, with both teams emerging victorious in their Saturday and Sunday matches.

Let's start with TSM, which after being defeated by 100 Thieves, managed to rescue a second game against Golden Guardians that ended almost like a miracle, thanks to a successful Baron steal by Spica, and with which they ended up pairing up and overcoming an advantage of more than 6000 gold.

Their last game of the day would be easier, facing off against the already eliminated, CLG, against whom they managed to achieve the victory that places them in a momentary second place, and tying their classification to the Playoffs with a 2-1 record, in the absence of a match against Team Liquid next week.

With Cloud9, their first game was a fiercely fought game against Evil Geniuses, whom after 45 minutes managed to defeat Perkz's squad.

This would be nothing like their second and third games, where they defeated a FlyQuest affected by Josedeodo's absence due to visa issues in just 23 minutes, and completely dominated Immortals after closing their match with a lead of more than 15,000 gold, closing like TSM with a 2-1 record with one more game to play against Dignitas.

It’s noteworthy that although both teams have shown good results, at times they tend to show certain plays where there is a lack of communication or synergy, mainly on the side of TSM, so we must be attentive to the evolution of these before the start of Spring Season.

CLG, first team to be eliminated from Playoffs

The worst team of the week ended up being CLG, who after not having their two signings available due to visa problems, Finn and Broxah, the squad has not shown to have the best results or preparation prior to the Lock In.

• Read more: Flyquest poised to sign Latin America’s sensation Josedeodo as their new main jungler for 2021

With only one win more than contested against 100 Thieves, and three accumulated losses against Golden Guardians, TSM and Team Liquid, CLG closes their way through the Lock In group stage with a 1-3 record, which makes making the Playoffs all but impossible.

An unflattering result before the regular season, but more than understandable due to the visa problems they have faced. A case similar to FlyQuest without their main jungler and which have collected two losses, against Cloud9 and Dignitas.

Newbie makes his debut with a victory

To close the summary, it’s necessary to highlight the debut of Newbie, a support player for the Golden Guardians and coming from the LLA, who began his career in the LCS with a victory against CLG.

In addition to this, we must highlight the good comments that both casters and analysts have made towards the Argentine player, noting his presence in team fights and his great control with champions like Thresh, closing with a participation in kills of 66%.

LCS Lock In: Group Standings

Group A:

• 100 Thieves: 2-1 (Q)
• Team Liquid: 2-1 (Q)
• TSM: 2-1 (Q)
• Golden Guardians: 1-2 (Q)
• CLG: 1-3 (E)

Group B:

• Evil Geniuses: 3-0 (Q)
• Cloud9: 2-1 (Q)
• Dignitas: 1-2
• Immortals: 1-2
• FlyQuest: 0-2

(Q): Qualified to Playoffs, (E): Eliminated.