After TSM’s upper management fiasco at the start of the 2022 League of Legends Championship Series summer split, the team was in freefall destined to finish at the bottom the standings. But after a few roster moves seemingly made out of desperation, TSM not only turned their season around — they turned the organization’s trajectory.
After coming just one game away from eliminating the LCS favorites and one seed Evil Geniuses, TSM put everyone on notice that the team is respectable. For their starting support, Jonathan “Chime” Pomponio, he hopes that he has done enough to earn that respect.
“I think I ramped up during the series I got progressively better and better,” Chime said. “I’m happy with how I played this split I’m really hard on myself because I know I can be better and I felt like I have done a lot better this split.”
Chime added that even though TSM took Game 1 in the series, he didn’t feel like he played up to his standard on Janna. Game 2 was rough all around as audio issues plagued the flow of the series. Through multiple pauses, Chime said that it was difficult to phase out the literal silence.
Well that is the end of this split for me. I'm really proud of my teammates and staff but its devastating to lose when we were so close, especially after an 8-hour series. Thank you to everyone who supported us. I'll use today's loss as fuel for next year. GGs to @EvilGeniuses
— Chime (@LoLChime) September 3, 2022
“You’re playing and the white noise goes out and then everything goes out — you just hear nothing,” Chime said. “It was really offsetting and it usually lasted like two to five seconds at least for our side and I think it just really threw us off.”
And then there was the massive delay between Game 2 and 3. With both teams laying in limbo as the LCS tried to fix the issues, Chime said that TSM were relaxed despite the high-pressure situation.
“We were joking around, we were confident that the pressure was more on EG and it wasn’t on us,” Chime said. “They were more scared of losing and we’re hungry for the win. The pauses were not the end of the world, I just got to hang out with some cool people.”
Obviously, TSM couldn’t get the job done in the end as they fell in Game 5 after battling against the best team in the region all day. But when reflecting on the season, Chime was proud of what the team accomplished although it was bittersweet.
A valiant effort falls short in the end as @TSM's season ends in the lower bracket. GG WP! #LCS pic.twitter.com/YysCRQUyWt
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) September 3, 2022
“I think it was a good finish for us. It sucks that a good season was cut short before we can really show,” Chime said. “I think twice now I’ve joined teams partway through the year so it would be sick if I was there from the start and really got to ramp up with the team.”
With the season now over for Chime, he said that he would like to go boot camp in Korea as it has shown to be beneficial for other teams and players. As for his future of him on TSM, he hopes TSM has the faith in him.
We simply do not acknowledge the Pyke game. #LCS #TSMWIN pic.twitter.com/DAh0DWyBJj
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) August 26, 2022
“I envision playing on TSM as the starting LCS support and I know that there’s a lot of roster decisions out of my hands so I just trust the organization,” Chime said. “I liked all of my teammates this split and I hope they also all have promising futures. I would love to stay on TSM personally.”
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