FlyQuest’s League of Legends roster might have seemed like a fighter jet before the start of the 2023 LCS Summer Split, but after two consecutive losses, this juggernaut is looking more like a kite barely keeping things together in a storm. FlyQuest dropped their second match of the Summer Split today to TSM, falling to 0-2 early in the season.

The two teams FlyQuest have faced so far—100 Thieves and TSM—are also playing with substitute mid laners since their own starters haven’t been able to join the team yet due to visa issues. As a result, expectations for FlyQuest were relatively high heading into their initial games, especially after signing superstar support Vulcan to pair with one of the best AD carries in the league, Prince.

In today’s game, FlyQuest managed to get a small early lead through a good top lane gank, along with some decent objective control in the bottom lane. But after the 10-minute mark, the star-studded lineup started to make some uncharacteristic mistakes across the map, like Prince getting caught out of position before a fight began or Spica diving too far for a kill.

FlyQuest were also outmacro’d throughout the game and it seemed like they weren’t on the same page for multiple teamfights, which allowed TSM to claw back into the lead and hold on for good. On the other hand, TSM’s substitute mid laner Insanity went nuclear on LeBlanc, outdueling VicLa in the early game and finding multiple picks in the late game to help guide TSM to victory.

Insanity finished with six of his team’s 12 kills and didn’t die a single time over 33 minutes. Overall, TSM showed some great poise and confidence in the face of a top contender and picked up their first win of the summer because of it.

Some fans are already commenting that TSM should just stick with Insanity over the recently signed former Team Heretics mid laner Ruby while they are finding success, especially after FlyQuest won eight games in a row last spring with a substitute support, only for them to start losing once their true starter returned to the lineup.

Speaking of FlyQuest, this supposed juggernaut has yet to get off of the ground and they’re now searching for any sort of tailwind as they prepare to face off against Golden Guardians tomorrow. A winless opening week would be unacceptable for a team loaded with this much talent, so finding a victory to kickstart their confidence should be key to finally building some momentum for the rest of this shortened season.