100 Thieves' Closer Poised for Strong LCS Spring Finish
To put it bluntly, 100 Thieves have not lived up to the expectations that were placed on this lineup going into the LCS 2023 Spring Split. Preseason expectations were that this team’s mechanical talents alone would triumph over the majority of the LCS 2023 Spring Split. At first, 100 Thieves were towards the top as their rivalry with FlyQuest truly felt like a trailer for their rematch in Raleigh, North Carolina at the LCS 2023 Spring Split Finals.
However, a string of 0-2 weeks has instead placed 100 Thieves in a tricky position as they risk missing out on the LCS 2023 Spring Split playoffs. Yet, despite the team's struggles in 2023, longtime 100 Thieves jungler Can “Closer” Çelik believes that the team has finally found its stride and is ready to run forward.
Struggles even when winning
For Closer, the team struggled throughout the early stages of the LCS 2023 Spring Split. These struggles were something that was persistent even during moments early in the split when they won, according to Closer.
“Even when our score was really good those first three weeks, I didn’t think that we were a good team,” Closer truthfully answered. “We just got lucky that other teams were also struggling and new.”
However, in the past two weeks, have been evident that 100 Thieves has been working through those issues early on in the split. Though, to the disbelief of some, that team progression was something that didn’t just happen during their recent 2-0 week. That noticeable growth was seen even during their slumped periods in the middle of the split.
“Even though we went 0-2 the past two weeks, our practice was pretty good,” Closer shared. “We were working on the good stuff and I felt that we were becoming better, but last week, we couldn’t show it on stage.”
It was a tale of two different stories being told as the scrims painted a completely different picture than was seen on the stage. Heading into week 7, this is something that made Closer very nervous because of the team’s expectations the week prior.
“I was a bit nervous coming into this week,” Closer shared. “We played a lot of top teams in scrims and did well against them. I felt we have been in good form since last week, but I was still nervous because I was hoping it would translate into stage games as well.”
100 Thieves look to end LCS 2023 Spring strong
Still, there were a lot of takeaways from the two parallels. He noted the mistakes 100 Thieves made in preparation going into week six that wasn’t there the following week. As a result, Closer noted that preparation was much easier, resulting in things truly coming together.
“Last week didn't show how strong or weak we are. It was mostly bad preparation which kind of exposed our weaknesses,” Closer said. “It was easier to prepare for this week because our weaknesses were clear, the practice was already much better, and that snowballed into this week.”
That play in practice finally has begun to show. 100 Thieves look like a team that finally has a grasp of how to play the early game. There is no longer a reliance on champions that scale toward the late-game, which has resulted in their best performances of the LCS 2023 Spring Split, where they enjoyed their first 2-0 week since LCS week 2.
Still, 100 Thieves’ job in the LCS 2023 Spring Split is far from finished. Currently, they are in a battle for the final few spots in the LCS 2023 Spring Split playoffs, tied with CLG and TSM for fifth place. When asked if he felt pressure, the answer was a firm yes. Still, even with this amount of pressure, there was a sense of calm confidence in his voice as he continued to elaborate further on that answer.
“For sure, there is definitely pressure,” Closer admitted truthfully. “But I choose not to focus on that. There are only a few games left in the split. If we can go 5-0 when the pressure is on, I think it would be a really great story for us going into playoffs.”
100 Thieves will round out the LCS 2023 Spring Split regular season by taking on TSM, Evil Geniuses, and Immortals to close out their season. It will be interesting to see if 100 Thieves can end their LCS 2023 Spring Split strong or if they crumble under pressure.
Where you can watch League of Legends LCS
Viewers can tune in for the final week of the LCS 2023 Spring Split regular season through the LCS Twitch and YouTube channels.
Sage got his start in esports as a volunteer writer in 2016 for esports organization, Dignitas. Since then, he has continued to work on his craft as a journalist and reporter for a number of established esports publications, such as esports.gg, Unikrn, Akshon Esports, Howla, The Player’s Lobby, Nerd Street Gamers, and most recently Dot Esports. Now, as a member of Esports Illustrated’s content team, Sage’s primary duties are centered around creating groundbreaking written and video content about the esports industry that impacts the community in a meaningful way. Sage graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Informatics. There, he was a member of the Rutgers Esports Executive Board, both as the head of the fighting game community and a videographer/photographer for the Content team.