Mastering LS’s revolutionary League of Legends strategies: from item optimization to advanced laning techniques
The LS Phenomenon: More Than Just a Coach
Nick ‘LS’ De Cesare’s abrupt exit from Cloud9 created seismic waves across the League of Legends competitive landscape, raising questions about his controversial yet influential legacy.
As a multifaceted League personality who transitioned from streaming to coaching, casting, and back to coaching, LS has established himself as one of the game’s most innovative strategic minds. His reputation stems primarily from groundbreaking draft philosophies and consistent advocacy for unconventional champion selections that challenge traditional meta assumptions.
The origin of his dedicated ‘Church of LS’ following traces back to his LCK casting days, where he frequently criticized what he termed ‘sinner’ champions—picks that relied excessively on enemy errors or substantial gold leads to achieve effectiveness. According to his analysis, these champions represented fundamentally flawed selections since their success conditions couldn’t be consistently guaranteed in high-level competition.
This philosophical stance against unreliable champion choices gradually evolved into the organized principles now known as the Church of LS, with De Cesare serving as its primary architect and evangelist. His recent coaching tenure with Cloud9 marked his return to professional coaching after his 2019 departure from BBQ Olivers, though his leadership lasted only four official matches before the organization’s surprising announcement.
LS has been released from Cloud9 and Max Waldo has been promoted to the LCS Head Coach position.
We would like to thank LS for his contributions to the team and wish him the best.
— Cloud9 (@Cloud9) February 20, 2022
The timing of this announcement—just five minutes before Cloud9’s week three opening match—generated widespread discussion throughout the League community. Both fans and professional players expressed disappointment at losing his distinctive strategic approach from the LCS ecosystem. Despite his brief involvement, Cloud9’s drafts under his guidance received praise for their creativity and innovation.
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Understanding the core strategic principles behind LS’s approach reveals why concepts like Soraka top lane generate such intense discussion and why his methodologies continue influencing competitive play long after his direct involvement ends.
Liandry’s vs Morellonomicon: The Efficiency Revolution
Among LS’s most enduring strategic contributions is his detailed analysis of item efficiency, particularly his advocacy for Liandry’s Torment over Morellonomicon—a position that earned him the memorable nickname ‘Liandry’s Salesman.’
Morellonomicon maintained popularity as a core mage item throughout League’s history, originally providing both mana and Grievous Wounds before transitioning to a pure anti-healing item in Season 8. This evolution created strategic inefficiencies that LS identified and criticized extensively.
The fundamental problem LS highlighted was gold value wastage—players routinely built Morellonomicon against team compositions with minimal healing, rendering the Grievous Wounds component effectively useless while sacrificing potential damage or utility from alternative items. This represented what he termed ‘suboptimal resource allocation’ that could determine match outcomes at competitive levels.
Words fail me, I can’t explain what this means to me, thank you so much @riotgames @LeagueOfLegends pic.twitter.com/IZnEqzFkdz
— H. Baker (@LSXYZ9) March 10, 2021
LS proposed Liandry’s Torment as the superior alternative in most scenarios, emphasizing its consistent damage amplification through percentage health damage and combat duration bonuses. His mathematical breakdowns demonstrated how Liandry’s provided more reliable value across diverse game situations compared to Morellonomicon’s conditional effectiveness.
The impact of this analysis became permanently memorialized within League itself—searching ‘Last Shadow’ in the game’s shop displays both Morellonomicon and Liandry’s Anguish, acknowledging his influential role in shaping player understanding of item optimization.
Practical Application Tip: When deciding between these items, assess enemy team composition carefully. Only build Morellonomicon against two or more healing-reliant champions (like Soraka, Mundo, or Aatrox). Against minimal healing, Liandry’s provides superior damage output and scaling potential.
Common Mistake to Avoid: Don’t automatically default to Morellonomicon just because the enemy has one healing champion. The 800 gold Oblivion Orb component often provides sufficient anti-healing, allowing completion of more impactful items like Zhonya’s or Void Staff while maintaining necessary utility.
Moonstaff Combo: Scaling Innovation That Dominated Pro Play
LS’s strategic philosophy heavily emphasizes scaling optimization—how champions and item combinations perform during later game stages while minimizing early-game risks. The Moonstaff combination exemplified this approach through its cost-effective power spike that temporarily dominated competitive play.
Moonstone Renewer debuted as a Mythic item in Season 11’s comprehensive item overhaul, offering Ability Power, Health, Ability Haste, and the Starlit Grace passive that healed the lowest-health ally when abilities affected champions during combat.
Champions who can go MoonStaff and be giga oppressive at 15~16minutes in game and then scale insane: pic.twitter.com/UqBofjl4Up
— H. Baker (@LSXYZ9) January 17, 2021
Pairing Moonstone Renewer with Staff of Flowing Water created what players termed the Moonstaff combo—one of the most potent and economical two-item power spikes available. This synergy provided exceptional value through combined healing, movement speed bonuses, and additional ability power distribution.
The combination proved particularly effective on champions with solid AP scaling, with Moonstaff Lillia emerging as a consistent professional jungle selection throughout spring 2021. Its strength stemmed from providing both sustain and damage amplification at a relatively low gold investment compared to traditional damage item paths.
Riot addressed the combo’s dominance in Patch 11.8 by significantly reducing Starlit Grace’s healing output, bringing the items closer in power level to other support options. While enchanters occasionally still utilize the combination, its cross-role prevalence among junglers, mid laners, and top laners has substantially diminished.
Strategic Insight: The Moonstaff era demonstrated how item synergies could create unexpected champion roles. Modern players should similarly analyze new item combinations for unconventional applications that might provide advantages before widespread adoption and subsequent balancing.
Advanced Optimization: While the original combo received nerfs, the underlying principle remains valuable. Look for item combinations that provide disproportionate power spikes relative to their cost, especially during mid-game transitions where small advantages can secure objectives and snowball leads.
Enchanter Solo Laners: Redefining Role Boundaries
The emergence of Janna top lane with Smite during Season 12’s early stages created competitive turmoil, but this represented just the latest manifestation of LS’s long-standing advocacy for enchanter supports in solo lanes.
LS consistently promoted solo lane enchanters throughout his career, emphasizing their utility beyond traditional support roles. His personal ranked streams frequently featured Ivern and Soraka gameplay, demonstrating their viability outside conventional positions.
During his Cloud9 tenure, this philosophy translated into competitive drafts with Ivern and Soraka selections for mid laner Ibrahim ‘Fudge’ Allami. These picks aimed primarily to enable high-damage carries in other positions while facilitating aggressive plays through sustained healing and crowd control.
This strategic approach complemented C9 jungler Robert ‘Blaber’ Huang’s characteristically aggressive style on champions like Olaf, Gragas, and Lee Sin. The enchanter mid lane provided the sustain and utility necessary to enable relentless jungle pressure without sacrificing late-game team fight presence.
The credibility of these unconventional picks received significant reinforcement when Lee ‘Faker’ Sanghyeok—widely considered League’s greatest player—experimented with Soraka mid on stream following its LCS debut. LS later disclosed discussing the pick with Faker during VOD review sessions from his time with T1.
Ivern and Soraka exemplify what LS categorizes as ‘saint’ champions—selections that don’t require substantial advantages or opponent errors to remain effective. These picks offer low-risk, high-reward alternatives to traditional solo laners, providing consistent value regardless of game state.
Practical Implementation: When considering enchanter solo lanes, focus on team composition synergy. These picks work best with hyper-carries in other roles who benefit from additional protection and enabling. Communicate with your team during draft to ensure proper damage distribution across roles.
Common Pitfall: Avoid enchanter solo lanes when your team lacks consistent damage sources or against champions with strong all-in potential early game. Proper positioning and wave management become crucial since these champions typically have limited escape mechanisms.
Cheater Recalls: Mastering Early Game Advantages
Competitive League operates on razor-thin margins where seemingly minor advantages can determine match outcomes. The cheater recall technique perfectly illustrates this principle, representing another strategic concept that LS helped popularize beyond professional circles.
While LS didn’t invent cheater recalls, his live-viewing streams and public coaching sessions significantly expanded community awareness and understanding of this advanced laning technique.
Last-hitting minions and accumulating experience form the foundation of laning phase success, enabling level and item advantages that translate into late-game team fight dominance. However, the necessity of returning to base for item purchases creates inherent opportunities for missed minions and experience loss.
Cheater recalls address this fundamental tension by optimizing recall timing through precise wave manipulation. The technique involves establishing lane priority to prevent opponents from freely farming your minions while building a substantial wave that crashes into the enemy tower as your cannon minion arrives.
Executing this maneuver allows you to recall, purchase early items, and return to lane before enemy minions reach your tower, minimizing experience and gold loss while preserving your Teleport summoner spell for later strategic use.
Although the early advantage gained might appear minor, proper utilization can single-handedly determine laning phase outcomes. The item differential created often enables favorable trades, jungle skirmish dominance, or objective control that snowballs into substantial mid-game leads.
Execution Technique: Begin by slow pushing the wave starting from level 1. Last-hit minions at the last possible moment to build a large wave. Time your push so the wave crashes during the cannon wave (typically waves 3 or 4). Immediately recall after the crash and purchase your first component item.
Advanced Tip: Against experienced opponents who recognize cheater recall setups, consider fake recalls. Begin walking toward river or fog of war as if recalling, then return to lane to catch the opponent attempting to push the wave back, creating favorable trade opportunities.
LS’s Legacy and Future Impact
LS’s future direction remains uncertain following his Cloud9 departure. His extensive history within League esports created expectations that this coaching opportunity might finally establish his methodologies within a stable professional environment after previous unsuccessful attempts.
A return to full-time streaming and content creation represents one potential path forward. His existing Patreon platform offers subscribers access to champion tier lists, patch note analyses, and premium coaching opportunities, providing established revenue streams independent of organizational affiliations.
Regardless of his chosen direction, his dedicated following will undoubtedly continue supporting his endeavors. The strategic principles comprising the Church of LS maintain relevance through ongoing Soraka top lane implementations and cheater recall executions across global competitive League landscapes.
Lasting Impact Assessment: Beyond specific strategies, LS’s greatest contribution may be shifting how players analyze the game fundamentally. His emphasis on mathematical efficiency, conditional probability assessment, and resource optimization has permanently elevated strategic discourse within the community.
Future Evolution: As League continues evolving, the principles LS championed—item efficiency analysis, champion optimization, and early-game advantage creation—will likely inform future meta developments. His methodologies provide frameworks for evaluating new champions, items, and strategies as the game progresses through subsequent seasons.
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