The second half begins: 2023 LCS Summer Week 4, Day 1 recap

TSM, 100 Thieves, Evil Geniuses, Golden Guardians, and NRG won on July 5, the first match day of Week 4 and the second half of the 2023 League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) Summer Split at Riot Games Arena in Santa Monica, Calif., United States.

Immortals vs. TSM

TSM (4-6, tied for seventh place) won 15-9 against Immortals (2-8, tenth) in 40:04 to kick off the day. In his return to the starting roster, TSM mid laner David “Insanity” Challe finished 6/2/7 as Yone; bot laner Jason “WildTurtle” Tran went 6/1/8 as Jinx; and support Jonathan "Chime" Pomponio added a 0/0/14 Lulu score. In the loss, IMT only secured two towers and two drakes, while bot laner Edward "Tactical" Ra found a 5/2/4 KDA as Kog'Maw. LCS Player of the Game: TSM WildTurtle, 2nd

100 Thieves vs. FlyQuest

100 Thieves (5-5, tied fourth) ended FlyQuest's (3-7, ninth) three-game winning streak in 29:49 and led 11-6 in kills. 100 top laner Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho went 2/1/8 as Malphite; mid laner Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung found a 1/0/9 Azir performance; and bot laner Yiliang "Doublelift” Peng led in kills on his 7/2/2 Varus. FLY managed to take three towers, two drakes and a Rift Herald in the loss, and bot laner Lee "Prince" Chae-hwan was 3/2/0 as Aphelios. LCS Player of the Game: 100 Doublelift, 3rd

Dignitas vs. Evil Geniuses

Evil Geniuses (8-2, first) won a 22-14 game against Dignitas (5-5, tied fourth) in 32:57. While the game was a back-and-forth one, EG eventually found the fight wins they needed to close it out. EG jungler Jonathan “Armao” Armao was 2/0/16 as Ivern; mid laner Joseph Joon "jojopyun" Pyun finished 5/2/8 as Jayce; and bot laner William “UNF0RGIVEN” Nieminen went 14/1/4 and led all players on the day in kills. DIG's only major objectives were four towers and a drake; jungler Lucas "Santorin" Tao Kilmer Larsen found a 5/3/7 KDA as Poppy in the losing effort. LCS Player of the Game: EG UNF0RGIVEN, 2nd

Golden Guardians vs. Cloud9

Golden Guardians (7-3, tied second) won in 27:50 against Cloud9 (7-2, tied second) and led 15-7 in kills. GG jungler Kim "River" Dong-woo was the POTG for his 6/0/9 Jarvan IV performance; mid laner Kim "Gori" Tae-woo finished 3/0/5 as LeBlanc; and bot laner Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes added a 5/1/3 Aphelios score. C9's team composition was overly reliant on early game success, which they were unable to find, and the team never found their way back into the game, only securing two towers and three drakes. GG LCS Player of the Game: GG River, 2nd

NRG vs. Team Liquid

NRG (4-6, tied seventh) came back to beat Team Liquid (5-5, tied fourth) 14-12 in 31:01. After TL top laner Park "Summit" Woo-tae botched a backdoor attempt, NRG won consecutive teamfights to defeat TL. NRG jungler Juan Arturo "Contractz" Garcia went 1/4/8 as Poppy; mid laner Cristian "Palafox" Palafox was 3/0/7 as Azir; and bot laner Ian Victor "FBI" Huang led in kills on his 9/3/5 Jinx. TL managed to take nine towers, an inhib, Baron Nashor, three drakes, and two Heralds in the loss. LCS Player of the Game: NRG Contractz, 3rd

Jame's Player of the Day: EG UNF0RGIVEN (14/1/4), 1st

Featured photos courtesy of Shannon Cottrell/Riot Games.