Team Solo Mid is probably the largest US team in the League of Legends. They have restructured for 2020. Alongside two secure new signings, TSM relies on jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett. He is considered a LoL prodigy with the potential to be incredibly good. However, he has messed up his career quite a bit so far.
What is the situation of TSM? Team Solo Mid has been the “dominant force” in the USA for years; they had the biggest name in US LoL, the most fans, and the most popular stars.
However, TSM never really advanced at the World Championships. In 2016 and 2017, TSM won the LCS three times, but then disbanded the team because it wasn’t enough for the higher honors at Worlds. TSM apparently thought: We dominate in the USA anyway, no one can take that from us, but for Worlds we need a new approach.
TSM signed top talents from Europe. But then came two weak years, 2018 and 2019. This year, the team was practically left without a jungler, only played with substitutes, and TSM missed the qualification for Worlds 2019.
This is even more bitter because one of the LoL players they cut in 2017 was DoubleLift. He won the last four championships with Team Liquid and is now considered a superstar.
This year, TSM has once again decided to swap out half of the LoL team, hoping for better results.
Team Solo Mid’s roster for 2020
This is how TSM starts the year 2020:
- The star of the team is midlaner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg (23) – he has even been made a co-owner. The Dane Bjergsen is the most popular player in the USA. He won the Allstar vote again this year but will not compete
- On the top lane, the German-Turk Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik (19) remains
- As support, TSM brings back Vincent “Biofrost” Wang (23) , one of the players who were cut after 2017
- As ADC, the Dane Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup (23) will play; TSM imported him from EU. He was part of the third strongest team Splyce. According to the coach of the strongest EU team, it’s not a big loss for Europe if Kobbe switches to the USA now
- As jungler for TSM, Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett (21) will play – he is a very special case.
Prodigy with Problems
This is why the jungler is so exciting: Dardoch (21) is considered a LoL prodigy who has never fully tapped into his potential. He has been a professional for 4 years, but everywhere he has played, there have been issues.
A documentary was released about Team Liquid, his first team, where the problems with Dardoch became clear. Since then, he has become something of a phenomenon:
- The player is practically always “available”
- He is seen as someone with incredibly high potential
- But somehow things don’t work out for the teams that pick him up
Fans of teams convince themselves: “When he plays for us, our leaders will get him in line and he will become a superstar.”
The player is accused of having a bad attitude, not fitting into a team, and generally bringing everyone down.
Analyst Thorin has extensively described what a problem child Dardoch is for the site Dexerto, who couldn’t even convince in the Challenger league because apparently, his teammates were too bad for him. From every team that Dardoch was on, Thorin heard the same stories: Great talent, terrible attitude, does not always try hard enough, just unprofessional.
At the same time, Dardoch is considered a mechanically brilliant player who has the potential to reach a similar superstar level as Bjergsen, Meteos, or DoubleLift in the LCS. He just needs to tap into that potential.
TSM wants to decode Dardoch
Why does TSM want him? According to new information, TSM has already considered signing Dardoch twice:
- Already in 2016, he had a “tryout” – but they then chose Svenskeren as the jungler
- In 2019, TSM wanted to pick him up again, but head coach Tony “Zikz” Gray had his concerns because Dardoch had that reputation.
But for 2020, TSM has set up their team and coaching staff to integrate Dardoch.
They have a coach in Peter Zhang who has already worked with Dardoch. Additionally, LoL star Bjergsen has met with Dardoch multiple times in the off-season.
This is told by TSM coach Parth “Parth” Naidu in an interview.
Here’s what’s behind it: TSM is known as a LoL organization that burns through its junglers. Dardoch is considered the “greatest talent in US LoL that has not yet achieved anything”.
This is quite an exciting combination. TSM’s success in 2020 will likely heavily depend on how well Dardoch ultimately integrates into TSM.
TSM fans on reddit hope their team can unleash the talented jungler. The responsibility for this is seen, among others, on Bjergsen.
And if it doesn’t work out, at least there will be a great show with a lot of drama. Then it would at least be an entertaining year for TSM, or so it is said from fan circles.
