Showing posts with label esports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label esports. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2015

EU LCS Possible Relegation Scenarios

by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 

Remaining Games:

EL- GIA, FNC
CW- ROC, GIA
GIA- EL, CW
MYM- SK, ROC
ROC- CW, MYM

Approaching the final week of the EU LCS, not everything is set in stone. There is a variety of situations that can still entangle the Copenhagen Wolves, Elements, Roccat, Giants and Meet Your Makers. Before I break down what could happen, I can explain that it’s impossible for Copenhagen Wolves to be auto relegated and Giants Gaming or Meet your Makers to reach playoffs.

Here are three I picked out:

Scenario 1: What I think will happen: CW (2-0), EL (1-1), ROC (1-1), GIA (0-2), MYM (0-2)

This clinches at least sixth and playoffs for CW on 9-9 while Elements and Roccat fight out a tiebreaker for seventh which I believe will be won by Roccat judging by the standard of play of both teams currently. Although I wouldn't put it past Elements to surprise us, while Roccat have been consistently below average, Elements have been fluctuating between showing signs of hope and being completely broken. This also leaves the bottom two in a scrap for auto relegation, one I actually favour MYM for at the moment. The latter having shown improvements in synergy and survivability while Giants have failed to secure any kind hold on their split.

Scenario 2: Three-way tiebreaker for Sixth: EL (1-1), GIA (1-1), ROC (1-1), MYM (1-1 or 2-0), CW (0-2)

For this to happen, Elements would need to pick up Giants and lose to Fnatic, Roccat take down CW and lose to MYM and Giants also need to take out CW. This will leave all three on a score of 7-11 and force the most important three way tie for the last playoff spot, the LCS safe zone and the promotion tournament. Also in this scenario, the auto relegation spot is decided by if MYM beat SK to go 2-0. If not they also get a tiebreaker for tenth. EU love tie breakers and this is definitely one that could change a lot.

Scenario 3: Four-way tiebreaker for Seventh: GIA (2-0), MYM (2-0), CW (1-1), EL (0-2), ROC (0-2)

This scenario seems wild and really far-fetched but it’s still a possibility. Under this scenario the Wolves get the last playoff spot and the bottom four all finish on 6-12 opening up the biggest tie breaker possible for the safe zone, the promotion tournament spots and the auto relegation zone. While this opens up the biggest storyline comeback for the bottom two, it’s a scenario that can end ugly for Roccat and Elements who cannot afford to tilt at such a crucial time. It's also not too hard to see this happening considering that GIA are 1-0 up against both their opponents and MYM have been looking better as of recent.


Thursday, March 19, 2015

EU LCS Week 8 Preview : Battle of The Animals!


by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos

We’re back for Week 8 of the EU LCS, some teams in high spirits and some looking to shake off a rusty weekend. Here’s what to watch out for:

Day 1- Copenhagen Wolves (7-7) vs Unicorns of Love (7-7)

While both these teams look to be locked into the playoffs, there’s still room for error as the derailed hype train duo of Roccat and Elements are only two wins behind. The week break should have provided more than enough time for the Unicorns to work on their habit of going 1-1. The Wolves should also be feeling more refreshed after having a tough last two weeks. The main focus of this match is likely to be the mid game scuffles and the team fights will surely prove entertaining. With games against Fnatic, Gambit and H2k finishing off UOL’s split, a win here would be a blessing in what is one the hardest remaining runs.

Day 2- Giants Gaming (4-10) vs Roccat (5-9)

Rather unfortunately for Giants, Roccat, MYM, and Elements, there is a huge gap between them and the other six teams in the EU LCS right now. For these four teams, every win is an enormous step away from auto relegation and for at least one of them, the seventh place slot and a secure LCS spot will be more than appreciated after a terrible split. Owning the series over Giants, Roccat should come into this game looking to not only one up one of their bottom table competitors but close the gap on the loser of Wolves and Unicorns. With an MYM game and a Wolves game in for Roccat’s last week, a dream situation would be a Unicorn victory in this week’s battle of the animals and an upset next week against the Wolves which could very well book them a playoff spot.

Day 2- Gambit Gaming (8-6) vs Elements (5-9)

Both teams could be coming into this game feeling rather deflated; Gambit having their win streak broken and then putting up a lackluster performance at IEM, and Elements, who have struggled to find any kind of harmony within each other all split. Considering that Elements are 0-1 against all of their remaining four opponents, the outlook looks very bleak for what was EU’s perfect game super team just half a year ago. Despite the IEM disappointment, Gambit look the superior team and it’s probable that Elements could pull off a demise reminiscent of NA’s Vulcun/XDG after Season 3 Worlds. I can’t imagine Froggen and Rekkles in the challenger scene, can you?

Remaining schedule difficulty (Hard to Easy)
UOL- CW, FNC, GMB, H2K
MYM- GMB, H2K, SK, ROC
EL- H2K, GMB, GIA, FNC
CW- UOL, SK, ROC, GIA
GIA- SK, ROC, EL, CW
GMB- MYM, EL, UOL, SK
ROC- FNC, GIA, CW, MYM
SK- GIA, CW, MYM, GMB
FNC- ROC, UOL, H2K, EL
H2K- EL, MYM, FNC, UOL

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by Reece "Please Don't use that Picture of me in the Wolf Hat" Dos-Santos

Sunday, March 15, 2015

theScore eSports Now Available on iOS

Messing with your iPhone when you're bored is the norm nowadays, which is why there's so much value in having some great apps. Up until now, for eSports fans, we could only try and bring up lolesport's site and then abandon it because it NEVER loads. Been there, done that, way too many times...which is why I'm so excited about theScore's new eSports app


Since its debute on Andriod last month, theScore has made global headlines (Forbes, Gigaom, Mashable, The Next Web) by giving fans of competitive gaming an app for breaking news, live scores, stats, push alerts and links to video highlights and streams from across the world of eSports, and now it's finally arrived for the iOS!

John Levy, Founder and CEO of theScore, said that after the amazing response to the Android app he was excited about the iOS launch. “We were blown away by the reception to the launch of theScore eSports by professional gaming fans from all over the world and its great we can now bring that experience to those on iOS devices too,” he said. “The feedback from eSports fans over the first month has been fantastic, and the team is already hard at work on the next set of updates, which will deliver even deeper multi-game coverage.”

theScore eSports is the first dedicated eSports mobile app by a major sports media company, and offers breaking news and live scoring coverage of League of Legends (Korean, North American, European and Chinese leagues) as well as real-time news coverage of Dota 2, Counter-Strike: GO, Call of Duty, StarCraft II and Hearthstone. Deeper stats and coverage of more games will be coming soon.

theScore eSports is available to install for free now in the App Store and Google Play. theScore’s eSports coverage can also be found at http://www.thescoreesports.com, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

I downloaded it yesterday and I'm happy to say it ROCKS! :) 

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Gambit Gaming vs CJ Entus Frost : Coming Full Circle


by Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis 

It’s been two years since the original match-up and now everything is coming full circle. Two years ago on March 8th, 2013, Gambit Gaming took on CJ Entus Frost in the IEM World Championship. A lot has changed over the years between both teams, and while they may not sit in as high a throne as they did previously, they are starting make their way back to the top. IEM Katowice could take either of these teams back towards their former glory.

Two years ago the IEM World Championships during Season 3 were held. At the time Gambit and CJ Frost were some of the most highly touted teams. Gambit were dominating at the end of Season 2, having all of the original members of M5: Darien, Diamond, Alex Ich, Genja, and Edward. Frost had a legendary lineup including current CJ stars Madlife and Shy along with Woong, Rapidstar, and CloudTemplar.

While times have changed, I think there’s a few things that we can pull from the previous match-up that might still hold true. First off, Diamond is still Diamond. What I mean by that is, Diamond still wants to innovate in the jungle and bring in unexpected strategies and picks. Just this past week we saw Diamond pull out Evelynn probably the first time since her nerfs. It didn't work out too well, but it still shows that Diamond will pull out anything regardless of what is considered meta at the time.

Second, while Gambit’s lineup has changed quite a bit, they still have the same “See Hero, Kill Hero” mentality. Gambit has always and still does thrive when the game is put into pure chaos. As soon as a team loses control of a situation, Gambit will get rolling and it’s hard to stop them.

CJ knows how to counter this pretty well though as they showed. In 2013, CJ tried to beat Gambit at their own game and swapped their bottom lane into the mid lane in order to starve out Alex Ich on Kha’Zix. The combination of Lulu and Ezreal zoned Kha’Zix out from getting any kind of farm. Similarly to how lane swaps work in today’s meta. The difference here being, no one had really tried doing this, it was completely new and out of the blue and caught Gambit by surprise. CJ gave Rapidstar (on Gragas) blue buff to start and sent him bottom to just grab what farm he could with barrels while they zoned out Kha mid.

Looking towards this years match-up, Gambit lacks a lot of the star power they used to have. Alex Ich left and Gambit have yet to find anyone that can replace him consistently. P1noy has been doing well and so has Cabochard, but it’s pretty apparent that Gambit is still adjusting in some ways. Diamond is going to have to really pressure the map well in their game.

CJ, on the other hand has been a dark horse that came bursting out of the pre-season hot. Both CoCo and Shy have been having MVP like seasons and with Space finally getting his act together, and Madlife looking like he’s heading back to his old self, they've shown that they are no longer just a shell of their former selves.

I think the early game will play a huge part in what this game ultimately turns into. CJ has a much more in-depth strategic mind that shows in their games, but they have the tendency to fall apart if their early game goes south. Space can tilt and Ambition has his games where he doesn't do a whole lot. If Gambit can take advantage of these weaknesses they might pull an upset.

On the other side of the coin you have two of the strongest solo laners in the scene at the moment in Shy and CoCo. Both are having MVP seasons and while Cabochard has been doing well in his own right, I’m not sure if he can handle Shy on his own, and I can say pretty confidently that I think Betsy will be having his on issues in the mid lane. CJ needs to play up the fact that their top and mid are incredibly strong by comparison and have Space and Ambition just play supporting roles as CoCo and Shy carry.

Overall it should be a good match and I’m looking forward to how both teams try and handle each other since they’re not from the same region and don’t have the experience fighting each other. A lot of unique and clashing strategies could be pulled out.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Week 7 LPL Review


by Michael "Tribble" Godani

After a week of upsets, the LPL returned with twelve magnificent matches containing even more surprises. Let’s take a look at the most interesting matches of the weekend:

March 6th

As mentioned in the preview that we released earlier this week, the first match of the week would be Master3 against King. Both teams played against each other in the Damacia cup - where M3 took the win after a fifth and deciding match in the Bo5 series.

This match-up could best be put into one word as “botlane.” The series ended in a tie with two very one-sided matches, something we've been seeing more and more in the LPL lately.

Both teams in their wins started out strong, only the M3 botlane stuck to Corki/Annie while King switched over to Graves/Thresh after not having too much success with the Kalista/Morgana combo. A series like many others, yet still undecided as both teams had to do with a single point.

Next, we had upcoming IEM contenders Team WE facing off against Snake Esports. For those who have seen the two matches, incredible! You will surely find a few plays of there in our new weekly LPL Top 5.

As said, this match-up was one of the best ones of the weekend due to the highly unpredictable outcome of both matches. Along with the revived Team WE, Ninja came out guns blazing, ending game one carrying on his Kassadin with an amazing 11-0-3, participating in 14 of the teams 18 kills.

But what a game this was! Let’s take it towards the 20ish minute mark; dragon had respawned and both teams wanted a piece of it while not having great vision control in the river. Team WE beat Snake to it and took control over the dragon area only a few seconds before the spawn. Team WE did pick it up without any real fight, but this wouldn't be LPL if there wouldn't be a fight after all.

Team WE pick up their second dragon and right after Snake tries to engage onto Team WE but before the engage is a real engage, Ninja already used his Null Sphere on Baka to take away 50% of his HP after which Spirit uses his Flag and Drag to jump into the frontline of Snake. Team WE retreats as Snake chases them down towards the bottom lane where Flandre uses his Twisted Advance onto Styz and YuZhe his Dark Binding hits Beast, unable to follow up on his sonic wave. As Kryst4l takes out three members of Team WE, Ninja goes ahead and cashes in on the shut down gold from Kryst4l.

Team We might have gotten the dragon but lose the fight 4-2 and the worst thing there is that all the gold, or most of it, went to Kryst4l, which meant a even stronger Corki for the next teamfight. After an intense game, that, after 36 minutes was only in favor of Snake who had a 800 gold lead and 3v2 dragons, it could have been anybody’s game. It could have been, but it appeared that Snake pulled off a Scarra. What seemed to be a teamfight going in favor of Snake, got turned by Gnar’s Gnar! A triple stun onto the side of the baron pit sealed the faith for Snake.

Game 2 wasn't much of a difference from Game 1. That’s what made this series so good,both teams continued where they ended in game one. A four men gank on Ninja’s Ezreal gets turned into a first blood for spirit. That play set the whole game around after only 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Team WE was in the lead and decided that it was time for a early dragon, low enough to be smited, but Beast takes it away with his Prey Seeker on the so popular Rek’Sai. What a steal!

Ninja continued his carry performance with the Ezreal just the same way he did with the Kassadin only now he had more kills earlier in the game. Around the early midgame there was a fight for the tier two turret from Snake where Ninja in a skillful fashion picks up a couple of kills and survives with 30% of his life remaining as if it was nothing.

It was nothing, Team WE continued to take a bigger lead throughout the game and even had a 10k gold lead. The only problem was Flandre’s Mundo who at some point was unkillable, the total opposite of Aluka’s Maokai who seemed to try to equal his deaths to the amount of towers that his team had taken.

After some bad focus in teamfights and a few picks here and there, the gold lead from Team WE wasn't that big of an issue anymore. It came to a point where gold didn't really matter all that much anymore and the immortal Mundo and ghoul shooting Kogmaw were dictating the teamfights despite the fed Ezreal from Ninja.

Snake had a huge advantage throughout the game and that was that they managed to pick up four dragons and one minute before their fifth would spawn the game-deciding teamfight broke out. Ezreal being focused and the major tank Maokai, Snake had a free passage into the base of Team WE to secure the split.

These are the endgame results for Friday, March 6th:


March 7th

Energy Pacemaker took on Invictus Gaming on the second day and took yet another point of a well respected team in China. After getting humiliated by Vici Gaming, EP stepped up their game and have been taking points of LGD and even VG (in the game on the 8th of March).

After a somewhat close match, EP decided to finish the game off the back of a beautiful outplay in a teamfight in the midlane. They took Game 1 and forced IG to step up their game for the second game.

IG didn’t really impress this second game, but with some beautiful rotations and picks, IG managed to at least splitting with the last seat in the LPL.

OMG took on Gamtee in the last game of the day. As mentioned in the preview, Hu1 was one of players we should keep an eye out for. His Rek’Sai was taken away in the first game and he was not looking impressive with his Lee Sin. OMG came to the rift with their “Running Man” botlane (San&Xiyang) who played the Corki/Morgana combo. The most interesting aspect of this game was Cool playing Xerath to almost perfection. His first blood on Hu1 showed some nice skillshot mechanics and also his teamfighting presence was really out of this world. No wonder this man is being seen as one of the top midlaners in the world.

Gogoing went back to his Maokai and made sure that the Gamtee line-up was not able to reach the backline of OMG, great Twisted Advances and smartly dodged the Righteous Fury/RoA to just build straight into tank stats for the teamfights.

It wasn't even the gold lead that made OMG win, but the way they used their champions to the fullest of their abilities.

Game 2 was moderately different. OMG appeared onto the rift without a tank and havd nothing work out with Xiyang. His Veigar and Gogoing got pressured too hard by LetMe really sealing the game. The teamfights that OMG wanted didn’t appear and Gamtee forced them onto their playstyle by jumping onto the carries. Gamtee splits with OMG and this face-off ended in another draw.

These are the endgame results for Saturday, March 8th:


March 9th

The final day of the week was all about EDG vs Snake and OMG facing SHRC.

EDG vs Snake was the third match of the day and EDG was seeking revenge for the only defeat that they suffered this Spring Split against Snake.

EDG showed up big time although they did swap out Clearlove for Firel0li. The disrespect towards Snake showed really after Pawn locked in Riven as last pick in the draft. What seemed to be a difficult start for EDG and some might say that Snake did win the early game, really turned the moment that Deft’s Corki picked up a double kill in the toplane after making sure that Flandre’s Gnar was useless and 2+ levels behind most of the EDG members.

EDG continued from here on to step up their game and turn on the pressure by out-rotating and out-teamfighting Snake. “Get Corki fed” that seemed to be the mission here and that mission was accomplished after a 29 minute win. 

Game 2 was all about the “Juggermaw” for Snake, who had a Maokai, Jarvan, Lulu, Kogmaw, Janna comp. The whole idea was to stall the game until 35+ minutes so that this lategame scaling team can get to work and let the Kogmaw go where he pleases.

EDG responded to this comp in a very good way, picking them off, exploiting their weaknesses early and taking turrets as fast as possible including the dragons. They were on the right track but just didn't seem to be able to finish the game or to take an inhibitor even.

Snake took their advantage from this weakness and continued to get bigger to even an extent where Kryst4l sold his boots and picked up a 6th damage item. He had enough movement speed from the Lulu and Janna and with their shields, Kryst4l and his companions picked up Game 2 to split the series.
I highly recommend that you do watch this series on YouTube, it was a joy to watch!

The final game of the week was between OMG and Uzi’s former team, Star Horn Royal Club.

OMG showed up today with their Uzi/Cloud botlane and came out with a lot of force and energy! SHRC’s Wei showed up again with his Graves, God knows why because this fella is clearly not suited for this level of gameplay - again showing a bad performance and trailing by 45cs after 10 minutes.

A wonderful 1v3 outplay by Uzi on his Kalista really said everything about this match. OMG had no equal, they were not tested, the only aspect of their game that was tested was to not fall into the trolling behavior that they often do show in games. They did need a win to secure the second spot and so did they finish off SHRC in just 23 minutes.

Game 2 didn't differ that much, the game took a bit longer and forcing their way to playing 5v3 by camping Koro1 non-stop and zoning him leaving him with only 91 CS after 32 minutes and not taking the likes of Wei too serious.
For OMG, Cloud was the real MVP this game, beautiful Flash+Hook combo’s with a lantern to drag a teammate in and on point flails.

OMG take a very convincing 2-0 victory over SHRC who really need to hope that Namei, who is coming back next week, will jump into the Gogoing carry mode and carry them towards the play offs.

Later this week the LPL Top 5 will be released, a LCS FanZone special, keep an eye out on the timelines of Jodi and Tribble.

Standings after Week 7:


Schedule for Week 8:

Day 1:

Star Horn Royal Club vs Gamtee
Invictus Gaming vs Vici Gaming
Edward Gaming vs LGD Gaming
King vs Energy Pacemaker

Day 2:
LGD Gaming vs Snake
Energy Pacemaker vs Gamtee
Edward Gaming vs Invictus Gaming
Master3 vs OMG

Day 3:
Star Horn Royal Club vs King
Invictus Gaming vs Gamtee
OMG vs Snake
LGD Gaming vs Master3

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

EU LCS Week 6 Preview


By Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos

The Spring Split is past its halfway point and now, more than ever, each game matters. Here are my picks for what to watch in the EU LCS Week 6.

Day 1- Roccat (4-6) vs H2k Gaming (6-4)

Since the introduction of KaSing, H2k have become a much more competitive team. They've gained the ability to make better calls, gained stronger map presence on a whole and now look much more decisive in closing out games and holding onto leads. This momentum is also helped by the slide some of the bigger teams have been having in terms of living up to their hype. One of those teams being Roccat. It’s been hard to predict Roccat this season as they have all the tools available to be a top tier team; they’re just not falling into place. Roccat can be the team to halt H2k’s KaWin streak but, considering the latter is coming into this off a win over SK, momentum is certainly in H2k’s favour.

Day 1- Gambit Gaming (5-5) vs Copenhagen Wolves (6-4)

Gambit fans finally have something to smile about, the team has been on a good reverse tilt ever since H2k turned themselves around as well. P1noy and Cabochard look great in their positions, Diamond and Edward seem like they've been revitalized and NiQ, prior to his side-lining, looked to be meshing well with the team. Luckily for Gambit fans, the swap in of Betsy didn't affect the team dynamic much and they should feel confident going up against what looks like the strongest Copenhagen Wolves squad in a very long time. Youngbuck, Airwaks and Unlimited are starting to show really good moments while Freeze and Soren have been instrumental in holding the team together in later phases and team fights. The special matchup of this game will certainly be in the bot lane. P1noy vs Freeze won’t disappoint.

Day 2- SK Gaming (8-2) vs Elements (4-6)

The battle of the two "should-be-top" teams in the EU LCS. While one team has lived up to its hype, the other has fallen prey to the same kind of weaknesses they displayed this time last season. Froggen’s super team are no strangers to really slow starts, but with the addition of Krepo in place of Nyph, maybe they have the right Elements to produce a winning formula. Krepo provides a strong analytical game sense, leadership and solid mechanics in a form that nRated brings to SK. If Elements have actually built upon their hardship and learnt the power of teamwork and friendship, this will be the perfect time to show it against a recently shocked SK. While an 0-2 week isn't necessarily a panic siren for them, poor momentum could easily make it a third consecutive loss.

Fantasy Forecast:

H2k owners should feel very confident considering Giants and Roccat aren’t the toughest looking competition on paper right now. Unicorn owners should be wary of SK Gaming and Fnatic owners of the Wolves but generally those two remain solid picks. Be mindful that this is a week that could halt the Wolves' hype train but it could be a very profitable week for their carries. While it seems impossible for Elements to lose against MYM, it also seemed impossible that they’d be 4-6 this far into the season so never say never.


Reminder: Krepo is Elements’ starting support over Nyph and Betsy will continue to start over NiQ on Gambit.

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By Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos

Saturday, February 21, 2015

League of Legends, a Cultural Phenomenon?



by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

This a bit late, but I wanted to react to the recent release of Riot Games' official music album, which features eight tunes centered around the universe and lore of their unique game, League of Legends. Riot's music passion didn't start with this album, as they normally create unique tunes for each new champion or event, and even co-created an “eSports anthem” with the popular band, Imagine Dragons, for the Season 4 World Championship. Nevertheless, Smite & Ignite is truly a unique product and it's the first “album” made by Riot Games. If you consider this, in addition to their short animated movies, the growing in-depth writing of the lore of the game's universe, and the production of endless drawings for each champion, you can say that League of Legends contains several different art forms: cinema, literature, visual arts and so on.


Can a Videogame be Considered a Form of Art ?

Taking the words of one of the biggest figures in the videogames industry, Hideo Kojima, famous creator of the Metal Gear Solid series, videogames are a type of service and not a form of art. Game designers, since they seem inspired by countless artistic pieces, can be considered “museum curators,” arranging those pieces in a way that displays their artistry. But one can say that the line is really thin, and some other games designers and people in the videogame industry often consider videogames as a “greater” art - since they gather several forms of art in one piece. One art to gather them all, and in the darkness (of an attic), join them.

This debate, of course, comes along with the technological prowess of our current gaming devices which allow the display of stunning realistic graphics, long and intricate stories, and the face recognition which translate human emotions on a whole new level. Beyond Two Souls, of the famous Quantic Dream studios, was so presented in the Tribeca Movie Festival last year as a piece of art alongside several “real” movies. 

Personally, I believe Kojima is the one on point: the main goal of a videogame is definitely entertainment. With the economical landscape, you have to appeal to the masses if you want to make some revenue out of your work, potentially restricting the artistic desires of the game designers. We play videogames for various reasons, but the one that is always here is: we want to entertain ourselves. You could put all the artistic views you want in a game, but if the gameplay sucks, it will not live on as a masterpiece.

League of Legends cannot be considered a piece of “art,” but it has reached a level of deliverable entertainment possibly never reached before by any other cultural product. With the combination of several arts, the entertainment and the cultural “potential” of the sports world, League of Legends might become something which children will learn about in history books someday.

League of Legends, the Legacy

I might be getting ahead of myself with that previous statement, but it is also true that we've never experienced something similar before. Of course, eSports and videogames have existed for decades, but never have we seen a game reach the level where LoL stands right now. Even if you consider all of its franchises, Starcraft - maybe the most popular eSports game before LoL - has not reached Riot. Yes, Starcraft is truly a pure and very successful videogame with astounding storytelling, a strong universe and powerful cinematics (Blizzard's cinematics are on a whole other level and I don't think any other game developer reached it.) But as amazing as Starcraft is, they've never reached the popularity of League of Legends, at least in our Western regions. League of Legends' global viewership reached the level of traditional sports first, with spectators outnumbering the NBA finals and other extremely popular sporting events.

Moreover, eSports is the first and will probably stay the only sport which will be shared on approximately the same level of passion throughout the world. Of course, we're seeing disparities in the games watched depending on the countries, but League of Legends draws in viewers from almost every region of the world.

If you consider this from the “artistic” viewpoint, League of Legends has the potential to reach more people than anything or anyone before. Videogames are worldwide, eSports are worldwide, and League of Legends tops the scores in both those fields in terms of active players and viewership. It is also a game that is designed as a “durable” thing and not a “one-time” story like many “artistic” videogames. So, potentially, its music, drawings and short animated movies (one can dream of an extended movie of the Shurima past,) can reach hundreds of million of people and try to touch their inner sense of “art.” I've rarely seen a single product or person get on this level.

When I consider cultural phenomenon, which billions of people might know or have heard of, there's truly just a few things that stay on my mind: Michael Jackson, Star Wars, Mario, Banksy... and you can be sure that such pieces of culture will go down in history. Can League of Legends do so?


History is being made here, kid.

As we all know, history is written by the winners, and as successful as League of Legends might be today, you can't avoid the possibility of the product drowning in the mud with the course of the years. It's really hard nowadays for a cultural phenomenon to stay away from the potentially insane amounts of money that can be made. The Lord of the Rings franchise might have gone too far, for example, in the minds of many. If Peter Jackson stopped with the first trilogy, it would 100% have gone down in history as a “masterpiece.” The Hobbit trilogy, though, will never do that, and for a lot of people, it stands as a stain on the glory of the first movies.

Nevertheless, those things happen every time. You can see how people tried to make money after Michael Jackson's death, surfing on his popularity and drawing his legacy into the mud. But for such a phenomenon, it will not matter: Michael Jackson is one of the greatest musical artist of the modern times and will probably be remembered as such for ages.

Can League of Legends reach that point? I believe so. They might not produce real art, but they surely can produce massive entertainment and offer a cultural content close to the most popular traditional sports in the world. Moreover, they share a worldwide popularity that almost only videogames can reach. They were the pioneers of “mainstream” eSports and will be going down into history as much as the first eSports games and tournaments like the period described in the wonderful Smash Bros documentary when a bunch of high school geeks created the basis of what is today one of the most popular eSports scenes.

It's weird to think about kids learning about League of Legends in school and it will surely not happen anytime soon. By going down into history, you have to wither first and I don't think Riot is ready to let its franchise die this soon. But do you believe too that it has the potential? Or do you simply believe it will be overwritten by the global eSports phenomenon? I always will want to show my future kids what I played when I was little (Zelda, Smash, ChronoTrigger, Warcraft, etc.) I always thought it would be fun to see them come back to me and talk about videogames they learned about during their school days. 

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by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Week 6 LPL Preview

Two of the Best Teams in the World are about to take each other on! 

After a break because of the Lunar New Year, the LPL is back with twelve matches. Here's a preview of a few games that you might find interesting to watch. The games start at 06.00 AM CEST 00.00AM EST.

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

February 27

Vici Gaming (3-3-4) vs Energy Pacemaker(0-6-2)

This will be the first game of the week. There are a few interesting aspects about this matchup:

Vici Gaming has picked up two World Champions in Mata (support) and Dandy (jungle), but the team itself hasn't really been performing as was expected. They are starting to play better as a team and for the team itself we hope that this will result in a easy 2-0 win over EP.

Energy Pacemaker is still waiting for their first win of a series in this Spring Split but it will be very hard for them to realize this against this VG team who is growing by the week in strength and teamplay.

EP did manage to go into the break with a split against M3, let’s see if this has given them some more confidence to jump into this match against the inconsistent performance of VG.



LGD Gaming(5-3-2) vs Gamtee(1-4-5)

LGD, home of the team that might have the biggest toplane 'problem' of any team worldwide. With Acorn and Flame in the toplane, LGD can swap out players without getting weaker by doing so.  Although LGD might be higher placed at this point in the standings, Gamtee has split their session with OMG which means they are not to be taken lightly.

What we can hope for is for both teams to bring out their A game. In that case, I think that LGD will come out on top because of their strong ADC in IMP and incredibly talented toplane.

Team WE(0-6-3) vs King(2-6-2)

This will be a game where we can see if King has turned that 2-0 defeat by OMG into a positive vibe after giving them a real battle in the second game that series.

Assassin’s Azir looking incredibly strong that game together with Skye’s Rumble.

King can, if they win, climb a few spots and leave the bottom part of the standings.

Team We has been struggling. With only 3 ties and no wins they are on the bottom of the standings together with Energy Pacemaker. Spirit might be able to pull off something but it will be really hard for Team WE if King brings out the same amount of aggression and gameplay that they did in Game 2 versus OMG.



Edward Gaming(9-1-0) vs OMG(6-0-4)

EDG vs OMG. The first day of Week 6 will be concluded with two of the three current Chinese powerhouses of the Chinese League of Legends scene, or should we say two of the best teams in the world at this point? I’ll let you decide that.

EDG already dropped a set to newcomer Snake, who are currently sharing second place with OMG, and are really not going to want to drop another set to them. With Pawn and Deft, EDG has brought out the SSW gameplay that we all adored during Worlds 2014, strong rotations, incredible picks and tons of sub 30 minute stomps.

What can OMG do against such a team? First of all, OMG hasn't dropped a set although they did tie four of their series. The biggest problem that OMG will have against EDG is that, if they happen to win the first game, they shouldn't become sloppy or cocky in the second one. This kind of behavior has cost them several wins and also recently against King they almost threw the second game because of their arrogant way of playing.

Bottom line is that this game is the MUST SEE for any League of Legend fan, whether you are a LCS or LCK fan. Two of the best teams in the world will take each other on and I cannot wait to see this!
The games are watchable on the following links:

English broadcast - http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames
Chinese broadcast - http://star.longzhu.tv/lpl


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

OGN Recap Week 5 : Coco Breaks World CS Record!


by Pieter "antdriote" Cnudde

Week 5 of OGN had only four series and were all one-sided but still exciting to watch. Short version: Faker’s Ezreal dumpsters Samsung, giving Xerath to GBM should be illegal, the Najin brawl match went to GE and IM keeps climbing the ranks. Kalista finally gets good quality showing in Korea and RobertxLee lost his CS record to Coco. My name is antdrioite and I’ll go over the highs and lows of this weeks' OGN Champions.

The Xerath hype toned down a little bit this week but he was still picked or banned in 6 out of the 8 games. At least SKT stopped first picking it for Faker and he could show his skill on Ezreal, totally dominating Samsung. He survived many times on near to no health and his skillshot timing and accuracy was as expected, godlike. Samsung tried throwing another curveball by going Morgana mid and Rengar top. CuVee got an early kill but went full tank Rengar and could not pressure Marin enough to shut him down. Samsung got a dragon and gold lead, even picking up an early baron. Marin and Faker were too big, however, and cleaned up all the fights after the baron, resulting in a quick 32 minute game.


Game 2 was overall better for SKT. They had good dragon control and got an early lead with a turret and cs advantage. In spite of that, they still had issues closing out the game even, with the baron buff. Samsung was able to win some teamfights and even take an inhibitor. The next baron became the end of Samsung, Fury stole it but SKT won the fight 3 for 0 and ended the game after that. Cuvee didn't even die in that game and Samsung showed they can fight with a standard comp, although their strategy is still lacking to take a win off the other teams. SKT should be glad with the win but not really with their performance. They still need to improve on their midgame play. At least their P/B phase was better this week. (Please use Faker more.)

Friday had only one series but it was the most hyped one of the week. Four ex-Najin players against the current Najin lineup. Duke had already trash talked GE the week before so the expectations were high. GE Tigers responded with bunny ears and pinks costumes during the series. Najin wants to keep me happy by putting in Ohq and Cain in Game 1. But even if they do well, they're still put on the bench afterwards, because they think Zefa and Pure will magically make Najin win.

Game 1 started poorly for the Najin botlane with Cain giving up two easy kills to Gorilla. The game was quiet in the early game with GE being in control over the objectives and getting a small gold lead with turrets, some kills and CS. They were able to pick up a baron after getting a double kill on Ggoong and Watch. Sieging up with baron it seemed like the Tigers would close out the game but a good bubble on Kuro and Ohq getting reset after reset got Najin an ace and some room to breath. GE Tigers’ lead was too big however and with no additional catches, closed out the game with the next baron buff. One poor fight but overall a very clean game from the GE tigers. Ohq played very well that game not even dying once but it wasn't enough to win the game or avoid the bench.

Game 2 was a perfect stomp, Najin was able to get some kills early but they never got a lead. GE only lost one turret and dragon and snowballed great with Kassadin and using Kalista to get an early baron. The game ended at 32 mins after two aces and a second baron. GE showed great strategic play and that they have a big champion pool on all roles (except jungle cus jungle). Najin showed that Ohq and Cain still perform better than Zefa and Pure. GE won the grudge match in a dominating fashion.

Saturday was a long day even with only four games. I’m convinced CJ didn't care much about Jin Air or the coaches are completely oblivious how to do P/B. Jin Air is the one team you never want to give Xerath so if you don’t want to play it just ban it. Shy’s inability to play Gnar is also costing them a lot. 



Jin Air started the game a bit ahead with 2 early dragons and some turrets but the game swung rapidly after the third dragon. Ambition got the dragon and CJ was able to get a baron afterwards as well. Their gold lead grew rapidly with continuous tower destruction and kills. CJ tried to break down the inhibitor line with their 2nd baron but GBM’s poke and Captain Jack’s Kalista thought otherwise. Jin Air held CJ off and were able to take an inhibitor in response. After that CJ was never able to get back into the game. Even with a lead they were incapable to pressure Jin Air hard enough. GBM had flawless positioning and Coco could not trade with him in poke on Jayce. Jin Air eventually won after a 79 minute game with Coco breaking the world CS record.

The teamfight impact of Gnar and GBM’s Xerath play were too impactful for CJ and that should be blamed on their P/B phase. Coco is a great Jayce player but he got nerfed recently and he isn't a great matchup against Xerath. What surprised me the most in Game 2 was CJ’s unwillingness to adapt. They let the same picks through and only banned the Gnar. They picked up the Jayce again, let GBM have Xerath and Cpt Jack got Kalista again after his great Game 1.

That is pretty much all I want to say about the second game. Coco was useless in all the fights and Jin Air stomped CJ in a “quick” 47 min game. Shy was good on Mundo but not gamebreaking. TrAce's Rumble survived laning phase and did so much work in teamfights with the Equalizer, zoning out Coco and dealing massive damage on all of CJ.


KT vs IM had the same issues in P/B. IM nearly gets a perfect Game 1 against KT only losing a few turrets and one dragon because of a steal. They get an ace in return though and snowball the game to a great ending. Arrow never got a kill on Draven just like the rest of his team. Then we get to Game 2 and KT just picks the same things, except a Vayne, and they switched junglers with IM. I don’t get why they think it would change anything?

Two series in a row the losing team failed to see the weakness in their comps and just didn't adapt. And again the losing team loses even harder in Game 2. KT is really falling down and is the 2nd worst team in OGN at the moment after Samsung. Their lack of playmaking and understanding the meta is really hurting them as a team. IM had a funny BM with ZZ’rot portal Thresh but they aren’t at the top yet. They look better but I need to see good results against top teams before I’m sold on them.

Thanks for reading if you have questions or comments leave them below or on twitter.


 by Pieter "antdriote" Cnudde 

Dignitas Capitalizes on Liquid's Mistakes

Review : Dignitas vs Team Liquid W3D2

by Chris "Aaro" Mouton

     Team Liquid faced off against an almost entirely revamped Dignitas last Sunday in what was one of the most intense showdowns of the week. Liquid had started off the split with an incredibly strong 2-0 record despite having KEITHMCBRIEF filling in for former world champion, Piglet. Since Piglet’s return, however, Team Liquid has struggled, not showing much signs of synergy or high-level decision making. Dignitas started off this split with a disappointing 0-2 and they were 1-4 coming into this matchup. Longstanding jungler, Crumbz, had just stepped down and was being temporarily replaced by CloudNguyen.

     Before we jump into the actual gameplay, I’d like to take a moment to talk about these team comps because they played a large role in the outcome of this game. Team Liquid ran a double AD carry composition sporting Maokai in the top lane, Vi in the jungle, Ezreal in the midlane, Vayne in the traditional ADC role, and Annie for support. This composition had a massive mid-game power spike. Around the time that Vayne finished her Botrk and Ezreal finished his Manamune and Triforce, they were putting out an incredible amount of damage.

     Dignitas had one of the most mobile comps to play in the LCS this split. Rumble in the top lane, Jarvan in the jungle, Ahri in mid (this is 5.2, Ahri does have the movement speed bonus on her Q), Sivir ADC, and Morgana Support. The team comp was incredibly well made. They had excellent pick potential thanks to J4, Ahri, and Morgana, as well as Sivir’s ultimate which allowed them to chase down their enemies. They also had the ability to blow through the Maokai and Vi and focus the majority of their damage onto those squishy carries.

     The game started with Team Liquid searching for a lane swap because Sivir/Morgana is an annoying lane. Relentless harass eventually kept Piglet shoved under his tower, which resulted in quite the CS discrepancy. This was a tragedy for Piglet's Vayne, who really needed items to be a threat early on. In fact, Vayne fell so far behind that after the first recall, Team Liquid chose to send Piglet back into the top lane, essentially gifting a free dragon to Dignitas. Then, after seeing that Dignitas kept their duo botlane after dragon, Liquid decided to match it with their duo lane again, instead of just leaving Piglet top to take this free tower. It’s almost as though they didn't realize that Piglet and Xpecial were unable to trade and were, in fact, losing the lane.

     Liquid was able to secure the second dragon despite having blown the Tibbers ultimate moments before in a trade in the bottom lane. This second dragon was right in Team Liquid's power spike so they were looking for a fight, but the lack of Tibbers really prevented them from running away with the game. They were able to trade Quas for two kills and a dragon, but Dignitas was clumped perfectly for a 5-man Tibbers while they were trying to back away. That sort of lock down and ace would have allowed Liquid to secure some additional towers, really allowing them to snowball this game while their comp was hitting hard.

     The game remained relatively even until Liquid blew a teamfight in the enemy jungle allowing Dignitas to snowball the game. Team Liquid was aggressively invading the jungle, attempting to get vision control in what I assumed would be an early baron attempt with their double AD comp. However, they played out the teamfight horribly. Gamsu was completely split from the rest of Dignitas on his Rumble and Liquid committed so much time to him. They threw down Tibbers, which he flashed out of, and then they decided to continue chasing him through the jungle. This set up a beautiful equalizer for Gamsu and allowed the rest of Dignitas to strategically flank. They were able to quickly blow up Maokai and expose the squishy carries of Team Liquid. Dignitas chased down the rest of Team Liquid with only Piglet escaping, and was able to secure the baron buff.

     Consider for a moment just how truly terrifying that situation was for Team Liquid. They had absolutely no wave clear. They had Ezreal's ultimate for one wave and they had only auto attacks and Mystic Shot to try and clear the rest of those baroned up minions. Liquid decide not to even try and defend, instead sending four people to the top lane to pick off Gamsu, resulting in the loss of two of their towers and most of the health on their bottom inhib tower. Dignitas then made one of the best tactical moves I've seen from them. They recalled and gave Team Liquid a free dragon. Liquid spent the next thirty seconds at dragon while Dignitas was able to get complete vision control of baron. What really makes me question Team Liquid as a top team is what they did next. They already took the dragon, they knew baron was up, and they knew that Dig was missing from the map. Their decision was to steal Dig’s blue buff. They invest six green wards and a pink on the bottom side of Dignitas’ jungle. There’s no dragon for six minutes and a blue buff really isn't worth that much effort. Why they think that this is where they should be investing their vision, I just can’t comprehend.

     Meanwhile, Dignitas had multiple pinks circling the baron area and had swept every other bush, and so with this incredible pick composition, they waited. And they caught a Maokai, which you think would be the last person they'd want to catch, but Dignitas was able to blow up Quas in under two seconds. Then they ran back to set the same trap again in a different bush. And they waited. Team Liquid almost looked like they were going to just push down mid and trade towers instead of attempting to contest this baron 4v5, and with all my heart I was hoping that they would. But they don’t. They face check the river bush Dignitas has been waiting in, and Dig is able to pick up two more kills and a baron. Team Liquid decided to go and push while Dig took the baron, at least getting a bottom inner tower in return. In reality, that should have been the decision ever since Quas was picked off.

     So now we’re back in this terrifying situation for Team Liquid. Zero wave clear, baroned up Dignitas and minions, and a dangerously low-health inhibitor tower that they are forced to defend. Sounds like the start of a horror story. Luckily for Team Liquid, Dignitas makes the mistake of diving this tower. Why they would dive when they have no one who’s exceptionally tanky and Team Liquid has no way to stop them from sieging it other than engaging out of tower range and forcing a fight, I have no idea. They end up trading 1 for 1. Dig takes the tower but is forced to retreat, helping themselves to dragon on the way out.

     Dig continue their exceptional vision control on their way back to siege the inhibitor tower. It’s not even exaggerating to say that they pinked or swept every single bush that they walked through. And what they do next is also quite impressive. They continue sieging bottom until about 30 seconds - when baron is up. But they don’t even try to take the inhibitor. They don’t force the fight. All they’re doing is keeping Team Liquid bottled up in their base for the next two minutes until baron spawns so that there is absolutely no time for Team Liquid to get any vision on it. Have I mentioned how incredible Dignitas’ vision control has been this game yet? Because it really is beautiful.

     Team Liquid group up as five and attempt to get vision control of this baron before they give a third dragon over to Dignitas. Fenix spots Gamsu on Rumble, and because Liquid has no other vision, they think that Rumble is alone. Fenix makes the final mistake of the game and arcane shifts forward, attempting to burst down Rumble while the rest of Team Liquid follow up. Gamsu lays down the red carpet for a completely grouped up Team Liquid and Dignitas is able to immediately follow with their extremely mobile comp. Fenix flashes back into the team, but it doesn't even matter. Ezreal and Vi are both dead before Team Liquid even has a moment to react, essentially making this a 3v5. Dig is able to quickly clean up the rest of Team Liquid, excluding Piglet who escapes, and they close out the game.

     In my book, this was the best game of the split. Coming from a 1-4 team, this level of coordination, vision control, and even awareness to pick such a good team comp and then to play out their win conditions so perfectly is just inspiring. It also makes me worry for Team Liquid. They seemed to make a lot of very fundamental mistakes, such as using six green wards and a pink on the exact wrong side of the map while their team is setting up to make baron plays. If Team Liquid wants to be a contender this split, they’ll have to seriously step up in their shot calling.

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by Chris "Aaro" Mouton

Saturday, February 7, 2015

What to Watch For: NA LCS Week 3 Preview

             

By Matt “It’s Pure Luck” Lee

So who didn't predict that after two weeks the LCS would have these current story lines: Team Gravity is in a three way tie for first, upstart Team 8 would be in a four way tie for fourth at 2-2 and Cloud 9 would sit in last place.

I admit I can’t raise my hand and say I saw this coming, but I’d argue that outside of the players on those teams, nobody really saw a start like this happening in the spring split. While I like to preach patience and a “wait and see” approach with teams like Cloud 9 (who frankly have earned benefit of the doubt with past performances), keep in mind that after this week the season will already be one third of the way through.

While I fully believe Cloud 9 can turn this around and Team 8 could plummet in the standings (the difference between 4th and last is only one game after all), the clock is starting to tick on teams like C9 and Coast who are in desperate need of at least one win this week. These games are SO crucial with the new format.

With that said, let’s take a look at three key points to look after in this upcoming set of games!

Can Hai step up for Cloud 9? – To be blunt, it has been an utterly dismal start to the season for Hai. The oft maligned midlaner for C9 must pick it up for this team to rediscover the magic it had in the past three LCS splits. The surprising factor here is that C9 looked very solid just over one month ago back at IEM San Jose. All that is forgotten now as they look completely lost. Being the main shotcaller for this team, Hai’s mental state is crucial to Cloud 9. If he can avoid tilting and keep himself calm, this NA juggernaut should be able to right the ship. C9 has two winnable games this weekend (Coast, T8) and I’d argue only winning one would be a disappointment to them.


Will the real Team Liquid Please Stand Up? – It was a great start to the season for Liquid. They managed to go 2-0 even with the absence of Piglet as IWillDominate had a masterful Week 1. Week 2 was a bit of a different story. They lost to Cloud 9 and Team SoloMid and weren't competitive in either game (they failed to pick up a kill vs TSM). I think that IWillDominate himself said it best; Liquid perhaps isn't as amazing as they played in Week 1, nor are they as poor as they played in Week 2. Now that they have had a set of real matches to play on the LCS stage with the entire roster, it will be interesting to see how Liquid try and bounce back when they take on a desperate Team Coast and a reeling Dignitas. If C9 has trouble getting their act together, I believe this is the team to beat in North America.


Always Winning Until They Lose: Can Team Coast Recover? – Since EG rebranded and multiple members of the team departed, somebody in the NA LCS had to take up the crown of “losing games that are in our grasp in painstakingly heartbreaking ways.” Team Coast have more than obliged that as they have started off this season 1-3 but I don’t think they have really played that poorly at all. In fact this is a team that is just a couple of bad decisions away from being 3-1 (one being the atrocious Baron call in the game vs Dignitas.) Yes, decision making is a crucial part of this game, but it just felt like they had all of those losses in their favor while watching. Unfortunately for Coast, it won’t get any easier this week. They take on Team Liquid in their first game and have a very crucial match against Cloud 9 on day two. 1-1 would likely be a more than acceptable result for this team this week but it’s a tough task. Maybe it’s time for a few breaks to fall in favor of this team who has played better than their record would show.


Enjoy the games this weekend everybody!

Monday, February 2, 2015

OGN Recap Week 4


by Pieter "antdriote" Cnudde

Another week of OGN (or LCK, as Riot wants us to say) has passed. Short version: Wisdom smites IM to victory against Jin Air. Jin Air finds their strength again and walks all over SKT. GE Tigers continues to dominate and Samsung remains winless. Najin decides to put in Ohq first again and Duke carries Najin with a double MVP performance. If that doesn't sound exciting, I don’t know what does. My name is antdrioite and I’ll go over the highs and lows of this weeks' OGN champions.
The inconsistency of the Jin Air Greenwings keeps saddening me. They started the week against IM, who were considered the weaker opponent, but lost in a very close 2-1 series. The whole series seemed to revolve about which team picked Xerath. Korea is in a huge Xerath hype bubble at the moment. Teams will first pick or blind pick Xerath almost every time because they fear that late game poke and one-shot ability. Even less skilled Xerath players will lock him in to deny him from the enemy team. This keeps confusing me and many other analysts since counter-picking can be very effective against it. True his late game is dangerous, but you can still punish the pick hard.

The first game went complete snowball starting with Chei randomly getting caught in the river while warding and it escalated out of control from there. Constant invades and Lil4c building a botrk on Gnar to split push against Mundo totally shut down Jin Air. Wisdom and Tusin constantly roamed together and acquired kill after kill. The Xerath pick helped a lot; poking down Jin Air and controlling the objectives without any problems. IM won the first game in one of the biggest stomps of this split. Jin Air’s lack of vision really punished them hard, showing again why keeping your vision up every game is very important in high level play.

Game 2 went way better for Jin Air. They kept their vision up and realized that if Tusin was gone, he was somewhere ganking with Wisdom. GBM showed once again why his Xerath should be feared and is worth picking up early in the draft to secure it. Slight mistakes in their midgame cost them two kills and a baron but they were still able to close out the game without too many problems. This is a reoccurring trend from Jin Air, getting great control in vision early but lacking a bit of smart shot-calling or the right wards. Then they slip up and give their opponents a chance for the comeback.
The last game was a thriller where Wisdom made a great baron steal that kept IM in the game, eventually leading to their 2-1 victory. IM picked away Xerath from GBM, but he showed a strong response with Ahri this time. Both teams traded objectives primarily losing some kills to a gank here and there, but some big dragon teamfights really got Jin Air rolling. Everything seemed to go Jin Air’s way until that one baron steal. IM was able to take two inhibitors and eventually close out the game against a 5 dragon-buffed Jin Air. The great late game of Lulu and Xerath broke Jin Air; Lil4c tried on Gnar but was just not as effective as a Wildgrowth Corki who flies into your team and wreaks havoc.

Friday was the least interesting day of the week. Two quick 2-0 stomps made it a rather short day for Monte and Doa, but it was good to see consistency from the two top teams in the league. Samsung still wasn't able to pull out a victory against CJ who styled on them pretty easily with the “Cocodin.” They tried late game in Game 1 with Cassiopeia, Mundo and Ezreal, but CJ never gave them a chance. Cocodin got rolling and CJ grew a huge gold lead by destroying tower after tower and ended the game very cleanly.

They went back to an early game strat in Game 2 which suited them better. Cuvee on Irelia was able to get some kills and be a threat but, in the end, nobody could stop Coco. Space pulled out Kalista again but was once again a null factor in the game; it was the Cocodin who carried CJ to their first Kalista win. It seems Space might want to watch NA LCS to learn a thing or two. CJ looked on top of their game again while Samsung hung behind with a poor draft phase and poor strategic play.

GE Tigers showed off against KT Rolster with their tank’maw comp. Smeb on Lulu and Pray on Kog’Maw gave all the fans a great show, proving that you don’t need to be afraid of Gnarvan with a Lulu behind your back. Pray got MVP in Game 1 and then let Kuro have his moment in the spotlight during Game 2. A great Icebourn Ezreal performance kept KT at bay and gave GE another 2-0 victory, securing their first spot in OGN.
Saturday was the day Jin Air wanted to bounce back from their defeat earlier in the week while IM had a chance to keep Najin at the bottom of the table. Once again SKT refused to put in Faker during their first game, meaning Jin Air banned away everything from Marin and picked up their signature Morgana for Trace. Jin Air learned from their mistakes against IM and had much better vision control in this game, giving them a few early kills and a dragon advantage. Marin played really well on Renekton but the strength of Jin Air’s comp and Pilot’s play gave IM the baron and win after a teamfight win at dragon.

Faker got his chance in Game 2 but SKT decided to first pick Xerath away from GBM. He responded with Ahri as usual. Another failed draft for SKT because of the Xerath hype. Chaser had great early pressure with Jarvan, resulting in kills and dragons. Jin Air was never pressured by the Xerath and steamrolled over SKT with Corki. Bengi had no impact in this game and really has to step up his game if he wants to keep competing with junglers like Chaser or Lee.

The last series of the week was all about the toplane. Duke was able to solokill Lil4c multiple times in both games, showing Gnar should probably be banned away from him. Ohq also proved that he deserves more playtime in the booth with a great Tristana performance in Game 1. Putting in Ohq/Cain and Faker in Game 1 of every series should be an obvious choice for both Najin and SKT, which isn't the case so far. Najin displayed great form in this series and I hope we can see more of that in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading if you have questions or comments leave them below or on twitter.

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 by Pieter "antdriote" Cnudde 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Top 5 Performers During Week 1 of the LCS

by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

The first week of the LCS is over, and it has been a rough ride for every LCS team. Huge upsets and surprising consistency/inconsistency has shown up in both North America and Europe. In this article, I will list the top 5 most impressive players of the first week.


5. T8 Slooshi8
“Don’t call my boy Slooshi a noname,” a friend of his wrote on twitter when he landed the first double kill as Orianna in yesterday’s game against TSM. Dyrus and Wildturtle fell to a fantastic shockwave + distortion, and from there he became pretty much unstoppable. He landed every single ultimate, leaving TSM without options and he let his team gracefully stomp. It looked like T8 wasn't a newly qualified team for the LCS at all, but a top contender. Even if his first game of the split didn't go as well as Slooshi would have hoped when he played Lulu against CLG, he clearly showed that his Orianna is a force to be reckoned with. His pure skill and sleeper status earns him the 5th spot on our list for Week 1.


4. FNC Yellowstar
Earning the first week MVP in EU, Yellowstar has shown that he’s still one of the (if not the) best supports in the western regions. Coming into the spring split with almost no weight on his shoulders as a leader of a brand new Fnatic team, his Annie play during the first two games was truly outstanding. Every single flash stun he executed in the games against Elements and H2K was flawless and every single one resulted in more kills funneled over to the new carries of the what-was sleeper team. His amazing stuns, vision control and ability to turn around pretty much any teamfight earned his team a 2-0 the first week and a solid 4th place in this list.


3. FNC ReignOver 
ReignOver brings his Korean prowess to the LCS scene, showing the western world that Rengar isn't useless at all. Managing to pull off two successful ganks pre-level 6 against the reigning European champions is darn impressive. His synergy with his team is overwhelmingly mind-blowing, especially when you take a peek at the top lane. Together with Huni, (who was very close to make it onto this list), they piled up an impressive combined KDA at 6.18. This guy has potential to be a top jungler in the western world.


2. TL IWDominate
Who else to take the title of the 1st week MVP other than IWDominate? He went 3/0/0 as Nunu against their first game against Team Impulse, where he faced the top ranked Korean solo queue player Rush, whom he held down perfectly. His shot calling prowess could clearly be seen shining throughout the first week as he carried his team to a 2-0 even playing with a substitute AD Carry. This was a statement that when Piglet arrives to North America to play for Team Liquid, they are expected to be a contender for the top spot in the NA LCS.


1. FNC Febiven
Everyone bashed him and criticized him for leaving the solid ex-challenger team H2K to join a newly formed Fnatic team with no expectations at all. The result was jaw-dropping. Fnatic went 2-0 in their first week against Elements and H2K. Nobody expected them to, and everyone rejoiced in the fact that Febiven not only handled Froggen with ease, but racked up a KDA of 22 against the reigning European champions. He only missed 3 out of 23 total shots with his Xerath ultimate in the game too, really striking fear into the hearts of every Elements fan. He impressed us again in his game against H2K where he racked up a KDA of 14, even if he was being the focus target for H2K pretty much the entire game. Heed my advice, fantasy LCS-players. You want this guy on your squad.

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Honorable Mention: Keith
I decided not to include subs on this list, but if I had, boy would Team Liquids AD-carry sub make it on. Even though he’s just a challenger player, the team decided to play around him in their first game against Team Impulse. His Kog’Maw went HUGE, ending the game with 17 KDA. The praise came shortly thereafter, but no one could prepare anyone for what a monster Keith would be in the next game against CLG when he had an amazing 21 KDA as Caitlyn, neatly crowning his short LCS run. Let’s see if Piglet can live up to the example the young AD-carry has set on the ADC role.

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  by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen