This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　Last split LCS NA looked rather weak. At the close of the season, there was basically the three teams battling to potentially win the split (C9, TSM and CLG) and then the others were all just entangled in their own battle to be the best of the worst. It would have been hard to imagine any of the bottom five teams winning a series internationally. With the changes the off season and Promotion has brought, and still promise to bring, things are more than looking up for the region.

　　Here are 10 reasons why LCS NA will be much stronger in the Summer split

　　

The addition of Shiphtur and ZionSpartan to Team Dignitas puts them into the category of potential contenders

Back when Shiphtur was emerging as a potential star in LCS and ZionSpartan would have his occasional carry games from Top, it was clear to many that one if not both of them needed a new team. A team in which their carry potential would mean actually being able to secure wins, not sometimes carry and still lose regardless. Coast had their ups, but their playoff bracket meant they were never going any further than fifth at best. Getting relegated actually ended up doing both players a favour, as they now get to move into a team with the pieces to be a potential contender.

　　Crumbzz has quietly put himself in potential to be considered arguably the third best Jungler in the NA region, after Meteos and dexter. Imaqtpie has been solidly chugging away in the botlane and is right outside that Doublelift vs. WildTurtle discussion, along with C9's Sneaky. The fat on Dignitas that needed to be trimmed was quite obviously Cruzer and scarra. Each were underwhelming and only scarra's strategical insights into the game, which are clearly worth their weight in gold, gave reason to consider keeping him around beyond the split.

　　With the addition of these two players, Shiphtur in particular seeming like a stud with the potential to become one of NA's absolute best players, Dignitas can take the step up from a team battling for third place into one which could potentially even finish top two at the end of a split, certainly contending for a World Championship slot.

　　

CLG are looking to strengthen themselves at the Top lane position

Counter Logic Gaming had a positive split, all in all, by finishing in third place. That was better than any previous split they'd had and they could always say the bracket might have been different if they'd had dexter for the entirety of the split. Nevertheless, they crumbled under pressure in the playoffs. If they can add in another talented player at Top lane, whether that be Korean prospect Seraph or someone else, then an already skilled CLG can definitely challenge for top two and perhaps the title in the next split.

　　What CLG has over TSM and everyone else in the league but C9 is a solid understanding of how to win. What they don't always have is players who can hold it together to execute the plan they know they have to follow. If they get another player, in the vein of dexter, who listens to MonteCristo and can do what he tells them, they move that much closer to entirely closing the gap with TSM and potentially getting a crack at C9 for the title.

　　

LMQ are now a part of the league

LMQ have been justifiably hyped ever since arriving on American soil. That they were nowhere near being an elite team in China is irrelevant, as this is an entirely different region. Coming from the land of the AD Carries, Vasilli has been as good as one might have hoped for, being as now he no longer has to face the likes of NaMei, WeiXiao and San in his high profile games. Against some of the AD Carries of the LCS, one can imagine the Chinese carry to be salivating at a tasty meal served up.

　　LMQ were not bulletproof in the Challenger series, they did give up games, but they were impressive enough on the whole to make many expect they would be better than teams like XDG upon entering the league. That coL handled Coast in the manner they did, even suggests that LMQ's Challenger performance doesn't get the credit it deserved, as coL were one of the few teams to threaten them in any sense.

　　Moving into LCS for the first time, it wouldn't be ridiculous to suggest this LMQ team could quickly be contending for a top four spot week in and week out. How much further they can go is anyone's guess, but their addition certainly seems to strengthen the field of the league as a whole.

　　

In XDG, the fat was trimmed

XDG might have come into the split with hopes of once more contending for the title, the team who had given C9 the most losses and trouble in the Summer split, but instead they found themselves battling to even look like they deserved to be in LCS. Had they won out in the Promotion series, as bottom placed Millenium did in Europe, then it would have been a case of a bad team getting a stay of execution from the governor at the last hour, only to return to their cells and live a little longer as a bad team.

　　XDG getting relegated potentially frees up some talented players, once more potentially strengthening the remaining LCS teams, and ensures a better overall team takes their spot for next season. So long XDG and thanks for the throws. We'll always remember the Summer split games where you gave NA hope that they had a second team, after C9, which understood rotations and map control, but we'll also remember all the times you led a game, including a famous one against C9, only to throw it like a Dignitas tribute act.

　　

EG are looking into roster moves

EG are easily the LCS team stuck in stasis, too good to be eliminated from the league and yet not good enough to even vaguely contend for a top four spot. In the experience EG can boast, they have players who know how to win and how to perform under pressure. Their problem is that their carry positions are inexperienced, often inconsistent and don't seem capable of making up the skill deficit their team can face due to their older players. All hope is not lost though, as word reaches us that EG may be making roster moves.

　　Krepo directly stated that the solo laners are not the ones being considered for replacements, rather the three ex-CLG.EU players are the ones under threat of losing their starting spots. After such an underwhelming season, any change would likely be a positive one at this point in time. If EG can add one or two good pieces, they can move up a threat level and in position to battle for fourth or fifth in the next split. That would make LCS NA even more competitive.

　　

TSM now know what they're up against in C9 and CLG

TSM spent most of the split in a Bjergsen wonderland where they seemingly won every lane, every team-fight and every game. At least until the end of the split, where things started to unravel a bit and Bjergsen after returning from Europe didn't seem the same monster he had been before leaving for his home shores. CLG almost had them in the semi-final and then C9 took them to school with a clinic on macro strategy. This time around, TSM know they can't just power their way to the top of the league and a first place finish, the premium now is on how good they can get tactically.

　　TSM is an organisation which has consistently returned to the upper echelon over and over for the past two years, so there's no reason to imagine they'll just fade away now. Now they know the battle they face, it's time to see how they respond. With CLG potentially even improving, TSM will be forced to get better tactically or they'll fall out of the top two next time around. That will be good enough for a Worlds spot, but if history tells us anything it's that heads roll when TSM aren't at the top.

　　

CLG can potentially finish top two in the regular portion of the split this time around

If CLG had been able to use dexter for the entire split, then their form with him suggests they probably would have been able to edge TSM for second in the split standings. With that said, that would have still gotten them TSM in the semi-final and we have no reason to believe the result would have been any different. This time around, with a new talent at Top, I think taking second is a very real possibility and so is finishing second in the playoffs as well. MonteCristo's additions to the team have all been good ones so far, players who do what he needs of them and play within the style he envisions. I find it unlikely to imagine him picking a player who is incapable of playing the way he needs CLG to play to succeed.

　　A full strength CLG team should not be happy with just cracking top three this time around, they need to actually go for the title itself. That's a tough task with C9 on the throne, but becoming second best is less daunting and hard to imagine.

　　

C9 will have more international experience

Cloud 9 are untouchable right now in North America, as their seven losses over two splits, including playoffs, can attest to. Even if someone can beat them in a regular split game, difficult enough in itself, then there is nobody who is going to win a Bo5 off them in the finals. That makes it difficult for C9 themselves to know where their weak points are, being as they win all the time. They have only played four international teams over four different instances, so again they still seek a challenge.

　　At All-Stars they will be without Hai, but they will get to play SKT K, TPA with new players and OMG. Those teams will give C9 a very difficult look to anything they've seen before and a chance to test where their weaknesses really lie, which will be just in time to allow them to go into the Summer split and improve themselves, ready for Worlds after that split. The prospect of an even better C9 is a scary yet very real one.

　　

The legacy players are all gone

Remember the days when certain cliched rules seemed to be impossible to overcome? HotshotGG would always be the Top laner of CLG, scarra would always be playing Mid lane for Dignitas, Saintvicious would be the Curse Jungler until the end of time and Reginald would play Mid lane for TSM, since there were no reasonable replacements. None of those players are in the starting line-ups of any LCS teams now, and all of their teams are stronger as a result of that fact. The legacy players have gone, still members of the community and still with some exposure, but no longer holding back any of the top teams from being more competitive.

　　This is a new era for NA and the region will finally get a chance to see just how far its newer talents can go.

　　

There are Worlds spots on the line

Say what you will about the motivation of players to win every game for the fans and all that jazz they've been trained to tell you in interviews, when it comes down to it there were realistically two groups of teams in the Spring split: those with a real chance of finishing first and those battling not to finish last and be relegated. Now that the Summer split has arrived, every game really does carry more meaning. Losses early on may mean the difference between a near impossible playoff bracket, in terms of qualifying for the World Championship, and one where there is a chance even for the sixth placed team in the regular portion of the split.

　　For the top teams, especially, they have been focused all year on being at that Season 3 World Championship, so this split means everything to them. Can you imagine a World Championship with no C9 or TSM this year? How about if the new Dignitas didn't get one of those three spots, making their new acquisitions seem moot. With only three spots on the line, a team like CLG knows they can't just comfortably finish in third overall, as a single Bo3 loss in the playoffs eliminates their Worlds dreams.

　　This, ladies and gentlemen, is the real start of LCS for the year.

　　Photo credit: Riot Games