Team Liquid jungler Broxah weighed in on TSM’s announcement to split time between support players Treatz and Biofrost, saying that “the timing could not be any worse.”
“None of us knows whether it was justified or not,” Broxah said. “Maybe [Biofrost] would improve the team, maybe not. No one knows.”
TSM started the 2020 LCS Summer Split with Biofrost as its main support before switching to Treatz in week six. While Treatz had the better kill participation percentage, Biofrost won out in warding numbers. The League of Legends team’s star AD carry Doublelift also said in a recent interview that he has yet to gel with Treatz in-game due to differences in aggression.
TSM’s decision to potentially switch up its support player in the middle of a playoff run comes off the back of a first-round loss against lower-seeded Golden Guardians on Aug. 13 before avoiding elimination with a rebound against Dignitas.
The Liquid jungler was not only concerned with the timing of the announcement but also the callous manner in which TSM was publicly treating its players on social media.
Broxah took particular offense to the last sentence of the announcement, saying that TSM “will play the better player on Sunday.” He argued that the organization failed to regard fitness or suitability to its roster, as well as inevitably disrespecting the overlooked player.
“They just straight up say we are gonna play the better player,” Broxah said. “The player we choose is best. The other one sucks, we don’t care about him.”
Treatz made his LCS debut in week six and has looked decent since then as well. In eight games, he racked up 65 assists and only six deaths. He also had a sky-high kill participation percentage of 79.5 percent but had slightly worse warding numbers than Biofrost.
In a recent interview, Doublelift explained he and Treatz were having some synergy issues due to their differences in playstyle. The veteran marksman is usually a lot more aggressive in lane, while the rookie support plays a bit more reserved.
Doublelift also said he and Treatz don’t seem to be on the same page yet in terms of playstyle. The 27-year-old is used to playing a lot more aggressively, while his support hasn’t really played with someone as aggro as him. As a result, Treatz plays farther back and the duo plays more scared than they probably should.
Doublelift thinks the team has played well in scrims. But he said the added pressure of the playoffs is hurting them at the moment and that they aren’t doing the same things they would in scrims because of this “nervous energy.”
Doublelift hasn’t had a postseason to remember thus far. He has some of the worst early-game stats of any player in the playoffs, which isn’t something League fans are used to seeing from the usually lane-dominant marksman.