LCS 2024 Spring Split Week 1 Preview: NRG vs C9 Headlines W1

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LCS 2024 Spring Split Week 1 Preview: NRG vs C9 Headlines W1

Which teams do you have winning their opening games of the Spring Split?


The LCS 2024 Spring Split is almost upon us! Eight of North America's finest will do battle on Summoners Rift for one of the two slots at the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational. There are plenty of games to look forward to for week one, eight to be exact, with the standout being the rematch of the 2023 Summer Split finals between NRG and the newly formed Cloud9 superteam. ESTNN will take a quick look at the action in week one, highlighting the match of the week and predicting how the games will go.

LCS Summer Finals Headlines Spring Week 1

The most anticipated match of the week is undoubtedly the defending champions NRG taking on Cloud9. This is the first time we will see both rosters since the 2023 League of Legends World Championship. NRG may be on cloud nine (pun intended) still following their impressive run at the back end of 2023. Starting with the LCS playoffs, many did not have NRG to take down C9 convincingly, considering the latter 3-0'd NRG just a week prior. However, things can change quickly in a week, as the LCS's newest organization saw immediate success by hoisting the Summer championship. This was topped by a decimation of the “best in the west” in G2 Esports, where the multi-time LEC champions could not lay a finger on the kings of North America.

NRG made one change during the offseason: Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun is in as the new support in place of Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun, who returned to Europe. Huhi was the intelligent choice for NRG, who retained the rest of its championship-winning roster. Huhi will slot right in, given his lengthy career being paired with Ian Victor “FBI” Huang.

For Cloud9, it was a different story compared to their North American counterparts. C9 bombed out of the World Championship following a painful 2-1 defeat to the LEC's Fnatic, a series ultimately in Cloud9's hands, considering how their early games were going. Sadly for the NA faithful, their roster could not get on the same page, concluding what was a disastrous period for an organization that just a month prior was looking to be only the third team in LCS history to win three championships in a row.

Cloud9 was not going to take their poor end to 2023 lying down, however, as they acquired some of the best talent in North America and are primed to match TSMs' seven domestic title record. Joseph Joon “Jojopyun” Pyun is the crown jewel of the newly formed “superteam.” Cloud9 acquired the signature of one of the West's hottest commodities. On top of that, they signed Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme. And while Vulcan is not coming off of his strongest year, reuniting him with his old organization will surely give me the boost he desperately needs.

With the changes to the game, it will be interesting to see how both sides match up against each other. Blaber and Jojo have been putting in the work both in solo queue and Champions Queue, with the pair meshing well with Blaber on supportive champions, allowing Jojopyun to take over the Rift on assassins like Akali and LeBlanc. With Cristian “Palafox” Palafox progressing to be one of the best mids in the region, Cloud9 needed to make this acquisition to start to compete again.

LCS Spring Split Week 1 Predictions

  • Team Liquid vs 100 Thieves: Winner – TL
  • NRG vs Cloud9: Winner – NRG
  • FlyQuest vs Shopify Rebellion: Winner – FLY
  • Immortals vs Dignitas: Winner – IMT
  • Team Liquid vs Shopify Rebellion: Winner – TL
  • Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves: Winner – C9
  • Immortals vs FlyQuest: Winner – FLY
  • NRG vs Dignitas: Winner – NRG

Stay tuned to ESTNN for the latest League of Legends news and updates.

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Marn
Jordan 'Marn' is an esports journalist from across the pond. Jordan has a passion for telling stories about the esports titles he loves such as League of Legends and Call of Duty. He has written for Esportz Network, Unikrn and United Stand. Twitter: @official_marn