TSM was one of two teams alongside Immortals to get off to a 3-0 start in the 2021 League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split, but the second week has begun with back-to-back losses to 100 Thieves and FlyQuest. After losing to 100 Thieves, TSM jungler Mingyi "Spica" Lu answered pre-selected press questions in a post-game scrum, which included his thoughts on what is currently the best jungle champion in League of Legends. 

"I think Rumble is the best jungler in the game right now," said Spica. "He clears decently fast, and his biggest strengths are teamfighting and how much damage he puts out. Right now, the meta is about fighting for dragons, so whoever gets Dragon Soul pretty much wins the game."

In an interview during the first week of the LCS Summer Split, Spica told Inven Global that he thought Udyr slightly edged out Rumble in the current jungle meta.

"I think that right now, Udyr and Rumble are definitely the two strongest junglers in the game," said Spica. "In my opinion, Udyr is still the strongest jungler. He clears really quickly, has great early skirmishing, and has heavy CC." Clearly, something in TSM's practice, scrims, or even solo queue has changed Spica's perspective on the placings of Udyr/Rumble in his personal meta rankings. 

Spica played Rumble in TSM's loss to 100 Thieves, which brought Rumble's record to 7-9 in the LCS Summer Split. Despite a 50% win rate, Rumble continues to be a priority pick in the jungle due to the objective control and immense teamfight presence of his Equalizer ultimate.

The pick first rose to power at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitiational, which is where the discourse on Rumble's validity as a jungler began. On opening day of the 2021 LCS Summer Split, Spica parodied a tweet by Riot Games caster David "Phreak" Turley regarding Rumble's jungle validity at MSI 2021.