Many of you may wonder: “who are 100 Thieves? And how did they get first place?” Well this is no surprise really, as they are a brand new team selected to compete in the NA LCS Spring 2018. The team’s owner is no other than Call of Duty professional player Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag who formed the team on April 2016 but entered the League of Legends esports scene in November 2017, preparing for the spring season ahead. This move made the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers to invest on the team, giving it an increased budget to form a competitive roster, which will prove to work on the long run.
Talking about its roster, 100 Thieves has nothing to envy from other teams: With 2 Korean players in the solo lanes they can be confident to have strong 1 v 1s in the Top and Mid lanes, as Ssumday coming from Team Dignitas demolishes his opposition in the Top, and Ryu from Phoenix1 in the Mid lane; some of you may say these legends are burned up but I can assure you they will give you a fight for your money if you bet against them.
Joining as 100 Thieves’ ADC is Cody Sun, a Chinese player famous for his performance in the Immortals lineup during their glory days, and to join him in the Bot lane the team acquired the services of Aphromoo, former support of CLG and one of the most iconic personalities in the NA LCS scene, functioning as a Leader, Shotcaller and the face of the team.
Finally but not less important by any means, the Jungler that will help all lanes to get ahead is no other than Meteos, another important player with years of experience who also comes from Phoenix1. Although the team members took some time to get used to each other, seen by their 4-5 record in the first half of the split, they definitely hit it off in the second half, dismantling all opposition with an 8-1 record.
In the final day of the regular season, 100 thieves managed to defeat 1st place Echo Fox, tying their 12-6 record and forcing a final tiebreaker game for 1st, which they also won and 100 Thieves secured the 1st place by defeating their main competitors twice on the same day.
This Sunday in the second game of the semifinals, 100 Thieves will face Clutch Gaming, who defeated TSM unexpectedly in the quarterfinal by winning 3 games after losing the first one, and eliminating the last of the Legacy teams still playing in the Playoffs. Spring 2018 will have a brand new champion, and if we look at the records and the last games played, 100 Thieves has a real chance to be crowned with the highest honor this season.
