EU LCS SEMIFINALS : PREDICTIONS

BY Jeremy “Ne0 Jets” Heimann

1. COPENHAGEN WOLVES VS ALLIANCE

    Season series 3-1 in favor of ALLIANCE

COPENHAGEN WOLVES last beat Alliance January 14th, all the way back at the start of the spring split. During the split, the Wolves were led by Amazing in the jungle with a 4.1 KDA and their ADC, Forg1ven, with a 3.7 KDA ratio. While the two of them led the team by stats, they really need to get their Mid, Cowtard, and Top Lane, Youngbuck, off to better starts. Each of them averaged only around 2.5 KDA. Youngbuck has shown that his Heimerdinger Top is scary and I expect it to be banned out. I also expect him to fall back to Renekton whenever possible.

ALLIANCE, the “Superteam,” failed to live up to the media hype that surrounded their name early on. Lack of synergy, poor positioning, weak champion pools and individual egos all contributed to their inconsistency, but eventually they learned to work as a unit and managed to finish the spring split just short of First Place. Froggen has a 72.9% kill participation, probably because of his Karthus play. Even when he isn’t on Karthus, he is always around when the team fights break out, and he's not someone you can ban out easily. ADC Tabzz is third in average KDA, sitting at a solid 5.5 (higher then anyone on the Wolves.) Tabzz and Nyph have really grown as a Bot Lane team and should be feared. Shook and Wickd both averaged around 3.0 KDA and are the key reasons why Alliance finished 3rd this split. Shook likes early game Junglers while Wickd tries to counter the meta with Trundle or Irelia.

Prediction ALLIANCE 2-1 win. 

2. GAMBIT GAMING VS ROCCAT 

      Season series 3-1 in favor of ROCCAT

GAMBIT may have lost three games to ROCCAT but they won the most recent and they still have a chance to get the last laugh in this playoff series. Gambit is a playoff machine and they play better when they've had some boot camp time. They finished fourth at IEM Katowice when just before that they were looking shaky. You can’t base what Gambit will do on the regular season. This team comes ready to play and goes up a notch when it’s elimination time. Gambit’s Mid Laner, Alex Ich, is fourth in total kills with 116, and he loves to play high mobility champs with strong kill potential. Genja has an impressive 6.0 KDA, but he'll really need to have a good showing in the playoffs for Gambit to win. His lane mate, Edward, has a team low 2.1 KDA. Diamond in the jungle hasn’t had a great year, but he is still a very dangerous Jungler. I expect to see some bans thrown at him: Eve, Kha'Zix and Xin (yes, Xin) are all strong in patch 4.5. If one gets through, it will be banned the next game. Darien plays a solid Top. He just needs to just go tanky and stay away from the Ryze pick.

ROCCAT had some serious ups and downs (including moments of freefall) and they needed to stop the bleeding. They went an average 2-2 in Super Week right before playoffs and haven’t been so dominant since early in season when they were challenging the meta. Teams have caught grown accustomed to their play style, and they are facing a team that has toyed with the meta a few times themselves. Individually, their stats don’t really stand out but, as a team, they are solid across the board. Their Support, Vander, actually leads the team in KDA at 4.1, followed closely behind by Celavar with a 4.0 KDA. Overpower has a huge champion pool and can seemingly play whatever. Xaxus in the Top Lane is a solid, all-around player. Jankos has good synergy with Bot and works hard on getting them going.

Prediction GAMBIT 2-1 win. 

Esports : NACS PlayOffs : Today's Matches

Today's Matches : 

1. Curse Academy vs compLexity Black for Third Place

2. LMQ vs Cloud 9 HyperX Tempest - Finals 

C9 Roster: Yazuki - Top , kez - Jungler, Bischu - Mid, Altec - ADC, Gleebglarbu - Support

LMQ Roster: ackerman - Top, NoName - Jungler, XiaoWeiXiao - Mid, Vasilii - ADC, Mor - Support

Want to know more about these teams? Check out @RedShirtKing's site, lessthanlegends. He's got everything you need to know there to help you enjoy the games. :)  (Then..erm..come back here!)

LCS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS : PLAYOFFS EDITION

LCS Central Rankings : Playoffs : by Joshua Kon

1. Cloud 9 - Their undefeated Super Week ended with an intense backdoor of Coast's base by Meteos. Wins against top 2 NA Teams gives them #1 seed.

2. SK Gaming - Having the best EU Super Week, SK Gaming takes the #1 seed in Europe and looks to surprise a region.

3. Fnatic - They have found their stride once again and now are the #2 seed in EU. Favorites for the playoffs? I'd say so, as Fnatic has not lost a series in the EU LCS playoffs yet.

4. Team SoloMid - Fans for this team are now worried with their less than stellar adjustment to the 4.4 patch. With only two weeks to adjust to 4.5, can Team SoloMid change their losing ways?

5. Alliance - Having a chance to be #1 in Europe led to them going 2-2 and taking the #3 seed. A match-up with Fnatic in the semis is in their future.

6. Roccat - Going 2-2 in Super Week is not what Roccat wanted but they looked impressive in some of the games. They'll have the opportunity to stun the pro scene again against Gambit next week!

7. Counter Logic Gaming - Two bad loses against Curse and C9 puts them lower on the list than they should be. Though their dominating performance against Dig reminds us all just how good this roster can be!

8. Gambit Gaming - 14-14 is unimpressive for this organization. Maybe they tried different builds and champions but they are not looking great and could lose their opening series vs Roccat.

9. Copenhagen Wolves - They won and lost to some of the top teams in Europe this past week. I don't see an upset for these guys but they're miles ahead of any team in NA that's not Top 3.

10. Dignitas - Beating Curse and having some EG help has kept them at the #4 seed. They should have a great series vs Curse but I would not be surprised if they are in 6th place after the playoffs.

11. Curse Gaming - A huge win vs CLG lead to dud loses to Dig and EG. Curse should be a Top 4 team, but their team comps have been subpar.

12. Coast - This team has the potential to upset anyone at anytime! Zion and Shiphtur may actually be the best solo laners together on any team, but the weight of Nintendudex really holds them down!

Joshua's Predictions for playoffs:

EU - 1. Fnatic 2. SK gaming 3. Alliance 4. Gambit 5. Roccat 6. Wolves
NA - 1. CLG 2. C9 3. TSM 4. Curse 5. Coast 6. Dignitas

EU Challenger Spring Playoffs

Tomorrow's Matches: (These matches are Best of Five)

1. THIRD PLACE: Denial Esports vs Reason Gaming    

2. FINALS: Cloud9 Eclipse vs Ninjas in Pyjamas 

LCS eSports Question of the Day

What do you think could be done to get more girls/women into LoL? Here were some of your responses:

‏‏@TiaraKind wrote: More word of mouth and support from current lady players? Band together, vixens!

@ThatGuyBranch wrote: Fix the community. Have a good example of a professional team for it and not be like the Sirens.

@AnnPragg wrote: Make it not a competitive video game.

@eSportsLawyer wrote: Boys play to win, girls play to have fun. More fun game modes (#URF4eva). Better focus on player experience, and maybe mentor mode.

@Donaldson_Andy wrote: Hmm, I think it just comes down to general taste tbh :O I dont think its about gender much :/ if you like LoL as a game....

@strawbrarie wrote: More yordles

@mentazero wrote: Less sexism in the community could help

@CoC_Pepitas wrote: I think the LCS and eSports is the key. While playerbase is 5% female, LCS viewerbase is 33%. Noticeable difference.

@SushiDucky wrote: Better funding and scouting into female oriented brands/Diamond(chall) Players/Diamond(Challenger) teams.

@SabrewoIf wrote: I think more girls just need to want it. I don't think there's anything stopping them, they just need to push for it

@Prof_Random wrote: Lots of girls/women already play, you can blame Teemo for that. But I'm guessing you're question is leaning more on the esports side.

@elisanuckle wrote: Would love to see some pro League female players. Or just more in esports in general.

@AbePringle wrote: Dudes playing could stop being douchebags elitist wanna be thugs.

Got an opinion? Send your answer to @punklit and we'll add it to the forum.