NA Quarterfinals - Day 1: TSM vs DIG - In - Depth discussion; what do the teams need to do to secure a victory?

Two of the oldest gaming organisations and teams in the competitive scene of LoL facing off against eachother. A loss here means elimination from being able to qualify to Worlds, and having to face the loser of CLG vs Curse to determine who needs to face relegations as the 6th place. A lot is at stake!

TSM is without doubt the team under the most pressure coming into this best-of-five. They have the largest fanbase, a new, hyped korean support import, and, seeing as they have been to every single worlds tournament before, they are almost expected to qualify for this one as well. But how and were should TSM focus in order to grant themselves the victory over the Donger Squad? Here's a few detrimental points.

• Get Wildturtle going - Wildturtle has shown that if he gets ahead early, he can outmaneuver his opposing laner with ease, and with the aid of his Korean support Lustboy they should be able to easily control the game. At the same time, we can see that if the botlane of TSM loses, it most likely will also cause them to lose the game. Dyrus can lose toplane, or Amazing may not perform his best, but as long as Wildturtle and/or Bjergsen gets going, they can carry the rest of the team on their backs. 

• Don't let Amazing fall behind - Amazing can be considered to be an emotional player, and the expectations were high regarding his performance coming into the Summer Split. He has lived up to those expectations, but only during the later part of the split. When he does fall behind, he rarely has any presence at all, and it basically becomes a 4v5 for TSM, as shown in his Volibear game, or a few others were he plays Xin Zhao.

Dignitas on the other hand, can probably rival TSM regarding which team has the biggest fanbase, especially thanks to Qtpie. The team has a lot of potential (I know, overused word), and can be a monstrous team wrecking all resistance at their best. However, they tend to be very inconsistent, hence the reason why they dropped so many games during the end of the split. Here's what DIG needs to make sure works for them during the games in order to secure a win:

• Get the solo-laners going - When Shipthur gets a lead, especially with a few kills, he turns his godmode on. At his best, he's amongst the top 2 midlaners in NA. At his worst, he falls behind in farm and doesn't have any presence at all. If Crumbzz can get him rolling, their chances of victory should definitely increase. Same with Zionspartan - he has great mechanics in 1v1s, and can destroy his opponent laner if he gets a lead. It's up to Crumbzz to ensure this, so he has a lot of pressure.

• Don't throw! Dignitas is famous for throwing, especially at baron. They have adjusted it to some extent, but it still occurs. Imagine their place among the rankings if they would've won all of the games they threw... In order to avoid this, I'd say that Dignitas should aim at acquiring full map awareness with wards before engaging Nashor, sa well as trying to pick off one or two from TSM. This way, they can turn an encounter with their opponents should they engage even though one or two of them have fallen.

TSM went 1 - 3 during superweek, and it may have affected them mentally directly after the week. However, NA playoffs is scheduled almost a month after the last LCS week. Therefore, this should not be a problem. Dignitas should be considered the underdog, but since they have improved so signifcantly with their new sololaners, they too have a lot of pressure, since the management as well as the fans most likely want to see some kind of improvement in comparison to last splits placement.

Assumed winner: TSM 3-1, with one of TSM's victory being really close.