TSM: Looking at all the Possible Landing Spots for Dardoch

Evil Geniuses

Their jungler Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen may not have had the best split of his career during his first year with Evil Geniuses, but he’s still just one split removed from being named LCS MVP. Svenskeren is a proven jungler with a track record of success wherever he goes, both domestically and internationally. I don’t see this team giving that up for Dardoch.

FlyQuest

I think that Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen was the most underrated player in the LCS last split and proved himself to be a top-three LCS jungler. There’s no reason FlyQuest would think that they’re getting an upgrade by going from Santorin to Dardoch.

Golden Guardians

The team may not be that great overall, but the Golden Guardians certainly found themselves a gem in Can “Closer” Çelik. He put himself squarely in the conversation to be in the top three LCS junglers and at worst I would say he’s definitely top-five. Golden Guardians would be silly to give away one of the most promising new junglers in the LCS.

Immortals

This decision really just comes down to whether you value mechanical play over leadership and knowledge. In terms of the former, Dardoch is miles ahead of Immortals jungler Jake “Xmithie” Puchero, even despite Dardoch’s poor play last split. In terms of the latter, however, Xmithie might be one of the best to ever play in the LCS.

Personally, I would go with Xmithie because of how solid and stable a player he has been over his career. However, stylistically Dardoch could be the better fit for Immortals just because their steam truly lacks a player the team can put all their resources onto and let them win the game. It’s not a terrible thought and one of the reasons I think this is an outside possibility.

Team Liquid

Last but not least, there’s the team that produced the infamous Breaking Point, of which Dardoch was a primary star. Although in the following years it seemed that TL and Dardoch had mended the fence (they brought Dardoch back in the summer of 2017 for one split), I don’t think another reunion is in the cards.

For one, TL has already invested a lot in their current jungler Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen, who has the history of international success and consistency that Dardoch doesn’t. While he and TL struggled in the spring, it’s very evident that those struggles weren’t solely (or even mostly) Broxah’s fault. I can’t imagine Liquid will give up on their big offseason acquisition after only one split, especially when it’s not for a clear upgrade.