During the draft of last night’s LCS week four game between TSM and FlyQuest, LCS broadcaster and former Team Liquid head coach Joshua “Jatt” Leesman had a harrowing experience in real-time when he was forced to relive a particularly crushing loss from his days as a coach.
In last night’s game, TSM picked Cho’Gath as a counter to Sion in the top lane. And as the counter pick was locked in, Jatt immediately gave his two cents about why he likes the pick so much. “If I had to pick a tank counter to Sion, it would actually be Cho’Gath,” Jatt said. “I think it’s one of the picks that has the ability to match him in beefiness in side lanes.”
Solo’s Cho’Gath pick marked the first time that the champion made an appearance in the LCS since 2021. More specifically, the champion was picked by former Team Liquid top laner Alphari in the 2021 Spring Split finals—a pick that was drafted by then-coach Jatt. As soon as the LCS production team confirmed to the broadcasters that Solo’s pick was the first in two years, the gears started turning for Jatt, who immediately remembered picking the champion for his former squad two years ago.
When Jatt and Liquid drafted the champion in that particular game—a deciding fifth game in the 2021 LCS Spring Split finals—they did so as a counter pick to Sion. Unfortunately for them, the Sion (who was piloted by C9 top laner Fudge) lane-swapped into the bottom lane that game, leaving Alphari’s Cho’Gath to fend for himself in a two-vs-one against C9’s bot lane pairing of Zven and Vulcan. Alphari went 2/7/2 in that contest and C9 won the game, plus the LCS title.
“We definitely picked Cho’Gath into Sion, and if it was a lane versus Sion, it might have worked, but it was a lane swap, so, unlucky,” Jatt said on cast.
Last night’s contest started to look like it would turn out in a similar fashion for Solo when he started out with an 0/5/0 scoreline. But after accumulating gold in side lanes by clearing minion waves and taking down towers on his own, he turned into an unkillable monster for TSM, digging himself out of a massive hole and finishing the game with a score of 5/5/9. TSM went on to win the game and deal FlyQuest their first loss of the 2023 Spring Split in a massive upset.
