LCS News: C9 and TL Changes

Shadman Sabik Zaim
By Shadman Sabik Zaim
5 Min Read
Image Credit: LoL Esports

With the LCS Week 4 starting, two of the top teams, C9 and TL, in the LCS makes some changes in the middle of the split.

The LCS has been ongoing for the last 3 weeks and it has been good to watch. However things have not been going well for the Spring Split 2021 Finalists as both of them are struggling with performances and roster controversies. Hence yesterday, both teams made some crucial changes and are hoping that will invigorate them. Let’s get started with that.

C9 Change

This is relatively a very straightforward change with Zven coming back to the main lineup. This is not unexpected given most people’s sentiment was that he was never supposed to be out of the main lineup. However, it does not address C9’s real problems. Drafting has been a problem for the team and their performances are not as good. Although with Zven coming back and this being an Ezreal priority meta, it will be a good pick for C9. Only time will tell if C9 can fix up their issues and be more consistent as a team.

TL Changes

There are a bunch of changes from the team with a lot of it transpiring due to a player benching. Kold will be stepping up as Interim Head Coach while Jatt leaves the team. H4xDefender will step in as an assistant coach for the LCS team. On another front, Santorin will be taking a break due to health issues and Armao will step into the lineup for this week and potentially onwards.

Coaching Changes

TL is doing a major coaching change with Jatt resigning and Kold stepping up to the role on a temporary basis at least for this split. However, it does not just end there. Jatt leaving answer a lot of the questions being thrown at TL since Week 1. A lot of rumors and info was swirling that Jatt benched Alphari for behavioral reasons and many of the available information pointed at them.

Alphari made some indirect comments on Twitter regarding the issue. That pointed to the fact that there was turmoil in the team behind the scenes for TL. Logically Jatt was put on the hot seat with that and the rumors started coming out about Jatt’s issue with Alphari. It all came to a head when Jatt resigned and this was definitely due to the Alphari situation. Whether this changes the dynamic of TL will be one to watch.

Lineup Change

Alphari still remains on leave for this week but there is one more exclusion being added for the team. The team and Santorin have both talked about Santorin taking a break at least for this week due to health issues. Santorin missed out the Spring Split Finals last year due to a migraine issue and from what Santorin has said. Judging from a TwitLonger post Santorin made, he is still suffering from these issues.

Now he has been given a break until he gets his health issues diagnosed and fixed. Armao will come in once again and step in, while Jenkins will fill in until Alphari returns.

Last Thoughts

TL will go through a rough patch at the start of the new week or so. It will be a period of adjustment for them but they should still come out of it well. The team is talented enough and when the full roster is playing together again, they should be a top team in the LCS.

On the C9 front, in our opinion, Zven should never have been benched. It was not something that was necessary but what C9 wanted to try out. However, the changes did not pan out as well and C9 have reverted that choice. It is not something foreign to them as they have done it before. Let’s hope they improve as a team going forward.

C9 and TL will bounce back and we should see the best version of themselves when it’s all said and done. LCS continues on Friday with Week 4 of games starting with Evil Geniuses vs Team Liquid.

By Shadman Sabik Zaim Deputy Editor
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Shadman is a Deputy Editor of League of Legends and other Riot IPs (excluding VALORANT) at GameRiv. He is a computer science and engineering graduate who got into games pretty early. Also, he takes pride in trying multiple types of games and got into League of Legends pretty early. Games, Board Games, Writing, Music, and Sports are his passions and hobbies.