From a 2026 perspective, the second-to-last week of that LCS split still stands out as a deliciously unstable moment. Roster moves had turned the bottom of the table into a pressure cooker, while the top teams tried to protect their playoff positioning. Mickey had made his way to North America, Selfie had been called up from the NA Challenger Series, and Team Liquid had decided that rebuilding on the fly was not just a slogan but a full organizational philosophy. Before the day’s matches, the standings read like a clash of ambitions: one team alone at the top, a pair of former giants tied behind them, a crowded middle, and a struggling team stuck at the bottom.
📊 The Table Before the Storm
| Position | Team(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Immortals |
| 2 | Counter Logic Gaming, Team SoloMid |
| 4 | Team Dignitas, Team EnVy, Cloud9 |
| 7 | Team Liquid, Echo Fox, FlyQuest |
| 10 | Phoenix1 |
Team Liquid had not been joking when they said they wanted to field the best roster. The effort was visible, even if the results had not yet matched the investment. That week, Liquid signed Youngmin "Mickey" Son from Afreeca Freecs and ROX Tigers. They also brought back Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett, the prodigal son who had once won Rookie of the Split with them. But Dardoch was not returning as a simple fan favorite. He had bounced through teams, collected issues along the way, and made inflammatory comments about Team Liquid only a month earlier. Could a player with that much baggage simply walk back into the lineup and save the split? Was this desperation or inspiration? The fanbase could not decide.
⚔️ Phoenix1 vs Echo Fox
Phoenix1 had earned faith after a pseudo-resurgence, but that faith had not been repaid. Since their week five win against Immortals, they had dropped every single match, two straight weeks of losses. A win here would not fix everything, but it would give them company at the bottom and push Echo Fox into the tenth-place hole. Did Phoenix1 have a real chance? Yes, if they returned to what had made them dangerous earlier.
Where should they begin? The meta had shifted toward tanky junglers, and that change seemed to hurt MikeYeung. His recent Gragas and Lee Sin games had been rough. What if the answer was simpler than it looked? Put him back on Elise or another setup jungler and let him rediscover his rhythm. Phoenix1 did not need him to be the sole reason for winning, but as the newest piece, he was the spark. If MikeYeung could get Zig and the mid lane moving, Phoenix1 would be in good shape. Arrow did not demand much attention in lane, but he made his worth felt in team fights if the bottom side could survive. The pieces were there; the question was whether they could fit them together under pressure. The prediction leaned toward Phoenix1 taking it 2-1.
🏆 Team Liquid vs Immortals
Then came Team Liquid versus Immortals, a matchup that felt less like a regular-season game and more like a stress test. Liquid were gearing up for the post-season and searching for anything that worked. They had added big pieces, and the changes likely would not stop until the next split. There was plenty of time to find synergy, but the schedule did not care about long-term plans. Immortals sat at the top of the table, looking steady while others scrambled. Could Mickey and Dardoch come in and take the last two weeks by storm? Maybe, but it felt unlikely. Immortals had the structure and momentum to win in straight matches. The prediction was a clean 0-2 for Team Liquid.
Looking back from 2026, that late-season scramble remains a reminder: roster gambles once felt like temporary patches, yet sometimes they became the foundation for future eras. The names changed, the leagues evolved, but the drama of a desperate roster move never really disappeared.