LCS: Expectations for the Cloud9 vs TSM Retro Show Match

Two of the LCS’s most storied franchises, Cloud9 and TSM, will take part in exhibition match with some familiar faces.

Fans of TSM and Cloud9 will have plenty to watch this weekend. In addition to their regular LCS match up on Saturday, the two teams will play a show match with former players on Friday, July 10th at 8 P.M. Eastern time. In addition to bringing the nostalgia to the LCS broadcast, the matchup is already sparking plenty of trash talk and fire back into a heated rivalry.

The Cloud9

roster

will reunite the famed 2013-2014 lineup including An “BalIs” Van Le, William “Meteos” Hartman, Hai “Hai” Du Lam, Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and Daerek “LemonNation” Hart. This roster famously went 25-3 in their first split in the LCS, Summer 2013, before sweeping through the playoffs to win their first of two straight championships.

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TSM’s roster features Marcus “Dyrus” Hill, Brian “TheOddOne” Wyllie, Jason “WildTurtle” Tran, Alex “Xpecial” Chu and Joedat “Voyboy” Esfahani. This was, notably, the roster that Cloud9 dethroned in Summer 2013, as they were the Spring Split champions that year. The only exception is we have popular streamer and former Curse star Voyboy taking the place of former mid laner and TSM CEO Andy “Reginald” Dinh.

Honestly, I think this is pretty going to be exciting to watch and it should be a fairly evenly balanced matchup. Each team is represented by one current LCS player and most of the rest of the rosters are either streamers or still around working in Esports. Many of them have also played in Twitch Rivals events so I don’t feel like they will be out of practice and should be able to make this a competitive match.

As far as champion picks I think this is where we could see things get spicy. Like how about a Teemo mid for Hai in a callback to the 2014 Spring Split or maybe WildTurtle on Caitlyn? Of course, Voyboy should break out some of that frozen mallet technology in this match as he is well known for. I definitely think if they could play some throwback to 2013/2015 meta champ picks things would be a bit more enjoyable.

This event is also pretty similar to the in-house scrims, where we saw another TSM rewind team take part during a break in the Spring Split. That event was one I really enjoyed watching and had a solid amount of viewership for just a few pros hanging out and having fun. Plus I think there’s room to extend with more of these matches with different teams.

Maybe even have a throwback cup kind of tournament, where organizations make a sort of all-time team to try and prove they are the best organization throughout all of the LCS. I think if they added a draft to this as well for players that represented multiple teams there might be a bit of a rivalry brewing to add the top stars to your team. Plus the content you could make with speculating which players will be chosen by each team would be like fantasy League come to life.

I think that sense of rivalry would add a bit more energy to the LCS. In the past you heard stories about CLG and TSM, but that rivalry seems to have faded in the last few years.

There are some LCS teams I don’t think ever even formed rivalries. Showmatches would provide a way to explore those rivalries more and make for some good storylines to liven up the LCS today.

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I do hope the Cloud9 and TSM throwback game starts a positive trend of fun, yet competitive matches that fans can enjoy seeing their favorite teams and players once again. It’s also a good way to start establishing a history for fans, who may have just discovered the game to learn about the past great teams. If nothing else it’s going to be fun and sometimes that’s all the LCS needs is a bit more fun and fan-centered entertainment.

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