Korean League of Legends caster Lee “CloudTemplar” Hyun-woo offered some strong criticism for Team SoloMid and the North American region while recapping the Mid-Season Invitational group stage. CloudTemplar talked about MSI during a recent stream and discussed the teams that reached the semifinals and the those that didn’t. CloudTemplar had some harsh criticism for TSM, and to an extent, North America as a whole. “I think NA has the wrong mentality, mindset, and central team direction,” he said. “Unless they fix that from a systematic level from the beginning, I think fans shouldn’t be hopeful for NA in worlds either.” His criticism of TSM was mainly for international performance — he called TSM “NA’s SKT,” and pointed out to his viewers that there isn’t another NA team that can rival TSM in terms of consistent performances in the NA LCS. Statistics like nine consecutive LCS finals appearances and worlds qualifications weren’t lost on the OGN caster, but he did say TSM’s domestic performances raised his hopes. CloudTemplar admit in the stream that he had a “personal” bias against NA as a region but clarified that as a analyst and commentator, he wants TSM and the team’s region to succeed. “As a commentator looking at TSM and NA, I wish they would do better as a region and a team,” he said. “NA is getting ridiculous investments as a region, and TSM is at the top so they need to be better than this, but they were very bad. They’re fine individually, but the shot-calling is off, team play is off. It feels like all the players are over confident. I can’t easily identify a strength TSM has. The one strength I can find is that they have a strong laning phase, that they are skilled individually. Other than that, they don’t have a strength.” TSM’s group stage failure in the face of European representative G2’s success was also a puzzling, yet consistent pattern for CloudTemplar in the context of international performances. This was also seen in last year’s League of Legends World Championship, he said, as no NA teams advanced beyond the quarterfinals while Europe’s H2K managed to make the semifinals. “When you watch the LCS, [TSM is] good,” he said. “They are great when they can be, so you think they can make something happen at international events. It felt for certain that NA looks stronger than EU as a region, but come international tournaments EU does better and NA doesn’t do well.”