League of Legends: Remembering Immortals – An insane era

The Achilles Heel

IMT continued as an organization after that, but some of the magic seemed to have fled their team. Four of their players left after 1-year contracts expired, and the reinvented roster barely missed Playoffs in Spring. They traded Dardoch for Xmithy, went on a tear through the Regular Season of Summer, eventually placing into their first Playoffs Finals before losing to TSM.

Yet fans couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong, that the other shoe was about to drop. A Regional Finals appearance? A ticket to Worlds?? After the rollercoaster of IMT’s past seasons, this upswing felt like it could only be balanced by something truly apocalyptic.

At Worlds for the first time, IMT performed about as well as an NA squad could be expected to, having a strong showing in Week 1 and failing to win a single game their second week. They scrubbed out with a reasonable 2-4 record and headed home to prepare for 2018.

Right about then, Franchising was announced.