No gentle introduction for LYON's first international campaign: the draw handed them LOUD, CBLOL's first seed, in a matchup that — with the rivalry between the two regions heating up — promised to be among the most entertaining of the group stage. It took five games, and it delivered, NA claiming revenge for what happened during Americas Cup. Below, Trix's editorial ratings for the series.
A series of extremes. He mixed strong games with solid laning phases and others that proved difficult — or frustratingly even despite the counterpick he pulled out. His Gnar and Rumble topped the damage charts of their games, and his Garen was excellent, a well-drafted pick that genuinely swung things. The blemish: he got caught far too many times across the series. Not quite Bin's Jax, though.
Series MVP. His objective play was a clear step above his usual level, and he secured most of them. Beyond that, Inspired had an Inspired match: very clean overall, always in a healthy spot in the game even while teammates were committing costly errors. Composed, consistent, reliable — from the first game to the last.
Not without rough patches — the Cassiopeia game chief among them — but overall he carried his team by dominating Envy in the 1v1, counters or not. The final Viktor game is proof enough: hand this man an early advantage and he will snowball the game. The Jayce loss owed more to draft than to his play; he won the lane convincingly but couldn't convert under the difficult mid-game conditions he was left with, though he did overextend a bit too much there.
Steady over all five games. Unfavorable matchups saw him bullied in lane during games 4 and 5, but he won every other laning phase and consistently found ways to stay relevant and put out his damage. The Jhin game read as a pick problem rather than a performance one.
Rarely the deciding factor here. In fairness, the champions he was given — especially across the first three games — offered little agency to carry with. He still produced some quality highlights, notably the ward play on Poppy and the bush flank on Rakan. The Seraphine performance, however, was rough.
Beyond a few mishaps in his opening Renekton game, he looked genuinely interesting everywhere else. Reputed as a strong carry top laner, he instead strung together three convincing games on tank champions into a Dhokla eager to throw out cheesy counterpicks. The Ambessa early game stood out in the 1v1 — and despite being counterpicked yet again, he was arguably his team's only real winning condition in that game.
Utterly at sea on Qiyana and Zaahen — the latter a stark reminder that a still-new champion should never be picked without proper practice beforehand. What salvaged his day was a truly outstanding Aatrox performance, along with a good Nocturne game. On Jarvan IV there was little more he could do, with his laners outclassed everywhere on the map.
Spent most of the series being bullied in the 1v1 — even holding counterpick, with the Mel and the Vex the worst offenders. His redemption came via two very strong games on Ryze and Akali, each of which translated directly into a win for his team.
Aside from the Miss Fortune game — largely a free ride from the draft — his impact on the series was minimal. His support compounded the problem, conceding too many early-game advantages throughout. The duo never looked in sync: one kept pushing far harder than the other, and it showed.
Far too many deaths from Redbert, and too many of them avoidable — recalling inside a warded bush at low HP being a prime example. To his credit, he was the more proactive half of the duo, trying to actually play the game rather than hide in safety. A handful of mechanical misplays shaved a little more off his rating.
In game 5, LOUD overcooked their draft a little too hard, and the Vex pick was punished accordingly, while the bot lane never truly found its footing across the series. Still, LOUD's top side impressed throughout — facing NA's first seed on their home turf, they were far from embarrassing. Given what the top laner showed relative to his bot lane — that Ambessa performance above all — handing him more agency and letting him carry may be the way forward. On the other side, LYON need to clean up the sloppy mistakes — Dhokla's death count being the most glaring — and diversify an approach that remains a bit one-dimensional. Leaning this heavily on the mid push and river skirmishes dynamic will not cut it against the very best.
Great Review