Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Making Picks and Bans Interesting



by Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis

The first four weeks of the LCS are under wraps and this season has shown a huge improvement in the pick/ban phase from both the perspective of teams and from the overall balance of the game. Where we used to see the same bans and consequently the same picks throughout the season, we’re now seeing some mind games being played, leaving strong picks open in order to counter them. We’re also seeing a few stylistic choices being made depending on the team.

First off, if we want to look at how things have changed we have to make sure we understand where we came from. If we look at the statistics Kassadin was a permabanned champion in both NA and EU during the 2014 season. He was picked or banned in 92.2% and 98.2% of games respectively. Far and away he was the most feared champion all of Season 4. People just didn't know how to beat him. He could be shut down in lane and still scale incredibly well into the late game. In fact the closest champs to him in bans had 53 in NA (compared to 90) and 41 in EU (compared to 101).

Another group of consistent picks or bans was the trio of Evelynn, Elise and Lee Sin in jungle. Lee Sin was easily the number one jungle pick/ban, but while NA was more adamant about Elise, EU focused more on Evelynn. Regardless, no other jungler was even above 21% in either region. Meaning you saw one, or most likely two, of these three in almost every single game in Season 4. Other notable champions with high pick/ban ratios were Ziggs, Lucian, Thresh and Morgana.

When you look at the ADC position, Lucian was the clear dominant champion throughout the season. He was picked or banned in over 60% of games in both leagues. No other ADC stood the test of time like he did. Outside of Lucian we saw the other ADCs all get some time in the spotlight with Twitch and Kog’Maw getting the most of it.

Overall, if we look at the top 16 champions from both regions, enough to cover an entire pick/ban phase, we can see that these 16 champs were all selected in over 40% of the games over the entire season.

NA Pick/Ban

Champion
Bans
Picks
Wins
Losses
Win %
Picked/Banned in % of Games
Primary Role
Secondary Role
Elise
28
78
45
33
57.7
94.6
Jung

Kassadin
90
14
7
7
50
92.9
Mid
Top
Lulu
53
51
28
23
54.9
92.9
Mid
Top
Lee Sin
46
52
30
22
57.7
87.5
Jung

Thresh
15
60
30
30
50
67
Support

Braum
28
46
29
17
63
66.1
Support

Morgana
16
57
25
32
43.9
65.2
Support

Lucian
15
54
30
24
55.6
61.6
ADC

Yasuo
42
26
16
10
61.5
60.7
Mid

Evelynn
28
31
15
16
48.4
52.7
Jung

Kog'Maw
19
36
17
19
47.2
49.1
ADC

Ziggs
32
22
9
13
40.9
48.2
Mid

Jax
29
25
9
16
36
48.2
Top

Tristana
17
33
20
13
60.6
44.6
ADC
Mid
Twitch
20
27
13
14
48.1
42
ADC

Orianna
6
40
16
24
40
41.1
Mid



EU Pick/Ban



Champion
Bans
Picks
Wins
Losses
Win %
Picked/Banned in % of Games
Primary Role
Secondary Role
Kassadin
101
9
7
2
77.8
98.2
Mid
Top
Lee Sin
28
69
34
35
49.3
86.6
Jung

Evelynn
38
47
24
23
51.1
75.9
Jung

Lucian
5
74
38
36
51.4
70.5
ADC

Elise
16
59
32
27
54.2
67
Jung

Ziggs
39
34
16
18
47.1
65.2
Mid

Thresh
11
61
33
28
54.1
64.3
Support

Morgana
16
49
32
17
65.3
58
Support

Jax
41
24
9
15
37.5
58
Top

Twisted Fate
40
23
11
12
47.8
56.3
Mid

Lulu
19
38
20
18
52.6
50.9
Mid
Top
Kayle
38
19
13
6
68.4
50.9
Top
Mid
Twitch
32
24
14
10
58.3
50
ADC

Yasuo
37
17
7
10
41.2
48.2
Mid

Orianna
25
23
10
13
43.5
42.9
Mid

Braum
14
31
14
17
45.2
40.2
Support


Combine this with the fact that both regions only had 2 of these 16 spots taken by champions unique to that region (Kog’Maw and Tristana in NA replaced by Twisted Fate and Kayle in EU). Throughout all of the meta changes that we saw covering the entire season, these 16 champs dominated the scene.

Now looking at this season, NA drops below 40% pick/ban at the 17th champion mark, Azir. This is already an improvement. Keep in mind this is before we see any large meta shifts to bring in other champions. It gets even better when you look at EU. To break below our 40% threshold we would have to go down to the 21st champion in the list which is Lulu.

Another stat to look at is the total number of champs played in both years. In the 2014 Summer Split we had 67 champions selected in the pick/ban phase. In the 2015 Spring Split we've already hit 49 in NA and 51 in EU. Diversity is most definitely up this year.

What I’d really love to go into more depth with, though, is the process of picks and bans and how that’s changed this year.

Last year we saw Kassadin permabanned through the entire season. This almost felt like one team was almost always down a ban, because you just could not let him through. He would be first picked by the blue side team immediately. Following that we would usually see bans go out towards the flavor of the month champions with no regard to personal preference. These champions were just strong in anyone’s hands.

Bans, in Riot’s mind for the professional scene, should be more used to handle champions that are strong in an individual player’s hands. We’ve actually seen this more often this split with champs like Rumble and Leblanc being banned out. These are champs that, while strong, are only ban worthy threats in the right hands. We’ve also, in relation to this, seen different opinions on what should be first picked when it is left open.

Extremely strong champions like Ahri, Maokai and Lissandra have ways to play around them through lane swaps or early ganks. Outside of maybe Gnar, almost every champ has some kind of a strategy or counterpick against them. Lissandra can get rocked by Kassadin or Irelia. Kassadin and Jax have a hard time dealing with lane swaps because they get starved out of gold and experience. The amount of, god forbid I use the buzzword, strategic diversity is really great this season compared to last and while things aren’t perfect Riot should be commended for what they have done.

It will be very interesting to see where things go from here once we get a strong meta shift. Now that there isn't a champion that is so strong they have to take a long overdue look at them (Kassadin), bans are much more wide open. Teams play around leaving things open like Gnar in order to try and counter them. They also focus bans more on champions that each team has shown strength with rather than overly powerful champs. Once J4 is brought back into line, or other junglers are brought up to his level, and Gnar is toned down as well, bans will function a lot more in Riot’s idea. Things are never going to be perfect, but we have seen a lot of more unique champions this season than we did four weeks into Season 4.

-----

 by Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis

Thursday, February 12, 2015

EU LCS Week 4 Preview- Games to Watch


by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 


Week 4 of the EU LCS is about to begin, these are my picks on what will be the games to watch:

Day 1- Giants Gaming (2-4) vs Gambit Gaming (1-5)
Coming out of their first win of the split against H2k, the seemingly tilting Gambit squad should be going into this game with renewed confidence and their heads held high. If they can sustain the momentum and avoid being put behind early they should be able to give a good game to Giants. The lane to watch will more than likely be top lane since both Cabochard and Werlyb are key components in their team’s victories. Jungler interaction with the top lane will definitely be a swinging point in this matchup

Day 1- Unicorns of Love (3-3) vs Roccat (3-3)
This match has a lot of weight in being the match that decides who is biggest challenge to the top three in Fnatic, SK and Elements. As it stands UOL are 1-2 against the top three taking a game off Fnatic while Roccat stand at 0-3 against the top competition. On the flip side however Roccat have yet to lose against any non-top three team while UOL slipped up to the Wolves last week. In terms of skill and potential I’d have these two at the same. Being arguably the two most hyped teams going into the split, this will surely be a hotly contested match.

Day 2- Copenhagen Wolves (3-3) vs Fnatic (5-1)
Of all the matches in day two I picked this one because the Wolves have recently shown a sturdy resilience and a refusal to be defeated early. Soren in particular has had a really good time in some of the Wolves’ games. The matchups of Freeze vs Steeelback will be interesting to watch as well as seeing who can leave a bigger map-wide impact between Reignover and Airwaks. This game can go the way of the Wolves if the right conditions come into play, a victory here could also really help turn some heads to them being a dark horse for the playoffs. But Fnatic will be looking to shut out any more surprises after their loss to the Unicorns last week.

Fantasy Forecast:
If you have any SK or Fnatic members it’s in your best interest to slot them into your team with high scoring games on the outlook for both. Elements owners should also be rather happy with what should be fairly easier games on the cards for them too. While a shock result for the Wolves against Fnatic could happen, their week also starts against SK so be mindful. Unicorn and Roccat owners will be hesitant as both heavily impact the other’s weeks. Giants owners should also be mindful as while SK seems like a sure loss, Gambit might go either way. Any H2K and MYM owners should avoid fielding those players/teams as it looks to be fantasy drought for them this week, hard games as well as lineup changes and internal conflict come to mind.

Reminder- KaSing is now H2k’s starting support over Voidle.


 -----

by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

How Much Should Riot be Involved in Team Conduct?


by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 

The recent controversy regarding MYM and their mid laner, Marcin “Kori" Wolski, has brought the dark side of LoL esports into the light. One of the main questions raised by the situation is just how involved should Riot be in the goings-on of each team?

We've hit a stage where we can no longer use the excuse of  “growth.” Yes, the scene is still growing, but far too many teams are allowed to fly under the banner of Riot and the LCS while going unchecked in terms of conduct. The LMQ saga, the business with Lemondogs and NiP, it seems like not enough organisations are taking the scene seriously and respecting it and its rules, not to mention simply taking advantage of their own players and staff. As the organizers of the LCS, Riot should be well in-the-know of what goes on within each team.

While I’m not suggesting a full-on big brother like grip, it's concerning that on a few occasions it seems like Riot hasn't been fully in the loop with what goes on with their teams. This is worrying because the players and even some of the staff are still quite young and for many, this is their first experience in a job like environment. It's Riots responsibility to ensure that in some way or another, teams are regularly checked up on and to first and foremost protect their players.

Be it a union or a set group of Riot employees, someone should be involved in making sure players and staff are paid on time rather than waiting on empty promises. Players and staff should know where to go if they’re threatened in any way and they should be assured that something will be done as soon as the problem is reported. Players shouldn't be used as placeholders, than swept off their job after two or three weeks of play, nor should they be blackmailed or manipulated by contractual affairs they’re likely not used to. While Nick Allen and his team do a great job, these things are still happening, so something needs to change. It's events like these that provide crucial building blocks for an organisation to improve itself.

The last thing anyone wants is the LoL professional scene to gain the reputation of a backstreet mafia where shady characters rule. The uproar and backlash of young people being blackmailed and exploited is unforgivable. This isn't something that can slide.

I personally think it would be shameful to allow Meet Your Makers to continue to exist within the LCS. Riot have shown effective disciplinary action against shady actions from organisations in the past, a memorable one for EU being the banning of Lemondogs. I believe MYM should be given the Lemondogs' treatment and also be banned from the scene, especially considering the difference in magnitude of the two offences. If they can force Alliance and Evil Geniuses to rebrand, they can surely do the same for the MYM players, but it would be a dark shadow over the LCS to allow the players to continue under a brand that has pretty much tainted its reputation. In some situations, sorry just isn't enough. The removal of Falli from the MYM squad is a good step by them but it doesn't make everything okay.

Seeing as there hasn't been a situation that is quite like this one before, the decision here will live on as precedent and can either act effectively as a deterrent for it ever happening again or not set the right example and become problematic in the future. With power comes responsibility. MYM have grossly neglected theirs, so Riot needs to appropriately administer theirs and ensure something like this never happens again.

-----

by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 

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.

----

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!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Welcome to the Jungle - An Interview with Santorin

Welcome to the Jungle
Getting to know Lucas “Santorin” Larsen


by Sandie "moondove" Gade

This season, TSM acquired another Danish guy to come and play for them. After Amazing left to go back to EU there was a lot of chatter about who the new jungler would be, and when the announcement came that it would be Santorin, a lot of people were saying “who is this guy anyway?” Well, we've gotten to see him play and heard from him on the analyst desk after a TSM win, but I thought it would be nice to dig a little deeper and get to know him better.

First, let me say that apart from being a damn good jungler, he is also a really nice guy and he was more than happy to share his thoughts with me no matter how trivial the questions. Stuff like his favorite color (black; he must be happy rocking that TSM jacket), his favorite dish (his parent’s homemade lasagna) and his favorite type of music (rock). He answered it all without hesitation and was very kind about it.

I also found out that while he doesn't have a whole lot of time for hobbies (no big surprise), one of his favorite shows at the moment is The Blacklist, and he is REALLY into fitness and has a special diet and work-out routine that he follows.

So what else is there to know about this young blond jungle god? Well, a lot really, and since we are all fans of this wonderful game we call League of Legends, I thought it might be nice to also ask him about that. If you want to get to know Lucas “Santorin” Larsen better and find out what goes on in that pretty little head of his, here is your chance.

Your full name is Lucas Tao Kilmer Larsen. That doesn’t sound fully Danish. Can you tell me about the background there?

My name is not 100% Danish, you are quite right! In Latin, Lucas means "The luminous one" and Tao means "the path," and put together it means “the luminous path,” and therefore my parents chose to give me the middle name Tao.

Tell me a little about your path to pro.

The road to where I am today started with me just playing League of Legends for fun, 3v3 normals mostly. When I hit level 30 I began playing the 5v5 map, because I had to play ranked now.

During the first two months I went from unranked to #1 on EUNE and that was when I slowly started to realize that I had a talent for this game. The season after, I moved to EUW seeing as this was where all the famous players and great talents played.

I
quickly found a fully Danish team to play with and played LAN tournaments like DreamHack and the 2013 IESF World Championships. From thereon, I got a lot of offers and when I turned 17, I decided to take the offer from Coast and move to America. I chose to move to America because I wanted to experience something new, and if I didn't manage to go pro in this game, then at least I would have had a good experience. I took a year's leave from my high school, that way I knew I could just go back to school if it all failed. It was hard to say goodbye to my family and friends, so it was probably the biggest decision I've made in my life.

What teams did you play for before TSM?

Before TSM, I played for Intellectual Playground (fully Danish team), The Fox Sound (European team who tried to get into Coke Zero, but failed), and a lot of other teams including full Russian and Polish teams where I was the only one from another country.

What was your initial reaction when TSM first contacted you about replacing Amazing?

I was incredibly surprised. I had obviously heard rumors that he was planning to return to Europe, but I had not thought of the possibility that they would ask me. Of course I was surprised but also very happy. It felt a little surreal, but after I talked with them, I slowly realized that this was in fact "real life."

Describe a typical day in the TSM house for you?

My day usually starts with me getting up at 8am, I take a shower and then I start playing soloQ. We scrim from noon until 3pm. Then we have a two-hour break where we can do what we want; usually we eat and play soloQ. Then we have scrims from 5-8 pm and after that it’s back to soloQ again. Sometimes we also have sponsor things to do and we do those at the times where we would have normally played soloQ.

Were you a natural at the game from the beginning or did it take a while before you starting thinking of yourself as good?

I felt, as I said before, that I had a "natural talent" for League of Legends. Like I mentioned earlier, I was #1 on EUNE within two months. But it’s not just League of Legends I was good at from the start, I've always felt like I was good at computer games in general, World Of Warcraft and Counter Strike to name a few.

Of course, even if you have "natural talent," you should still put a lot of hours into the game to get really good at it. So I played at least 2-4 hours a day when I started out.


What is your favorite role after jungle and what do you like about it?

When I'm not playing jungle I usually play support. I think it's fun to play support because in a lot of ways it’s like jungle. You ward, roam/gank, but the obvious difference is that you are in the botlane and play 2v2 at the start of the game. But I just really like to roam around the map and make "plays" here and there.

What is your least favorite role and why?

The role I probably like least is ADC. I like to start the fight and be frontline/tank, so when I play ADC I usually go to the frontline, die immediately and lose the game for my team. I’m not very good at playing the lanes, since I don’t normally "outplay" someone when I play jungle; I just kill monsters and gank here and there.

What is your favorite jungle champ?

My favorite champion is without a doubt Lee Sin. I've played him since he was released and he has always been a meta pick. If I have to choose a champion that I can carry best with, then it would be him. People say that a dog is man's best friend, but in my case it’s Lee Sin.

What is your favorite non-jungle champ and what do you like about it?

My favorite non-jungle champion is actually Annie Support. I love to roam around with her and gank the other lanes. She has incredible damage and a really nice stun. And the further into the game you get, the more damage she gets and eventually you reach the point where you can solo kill your opponent even though you’re a support, just because she deals so much damage.

W
hat do you think about the new jungle changes?

I think the jungle changes are a little annoying to be honest. I don’t like having to recall so early because I have no hp left. But I'm happy about the new patch where you get more gold from each camp, because previously you only had as much gold as a support. I think I adapted fairly quickly since the top jungle champions at the moment are Jarvan, Rek'sai and Lee Sin. Seeing as I already played a lot of Lee Sin and Jarvan since I started playing a couple of years ago, it was not hard to play these champions again. And while Rek'sai is wildly strong right now, her kit is not too difficult to learn, so I feel that it’s no problem to play in this jungle patch.

But I was a little disappointed by the new jungle because in the beginning I thought that I would be able to play all jungle champs and that my champion pool could be larger. I don’t like playing only a few champions, but unfortunately it did not last long. There were a few weeks where you could play anything from Jarvan, Warwick and Xin Zhao, but then they quickly nerfed some items and made some changes and now we are back to a few champions in the jungle again unfortunately.

What is your reaction when people on your stream chat say that you are hot or want you to stream shirtless or something like that?

When people write on my stream that I’m hot, or that they want me to do shirtless stream I am both flattered but I also think it's funny. Firstly, I think that it's funny, because we all know that it’s not allowed to do shirtless streams on Twitch, you get banned if you do. But I am also flattered because I obviously think it's nice that there are people who like me.

How does flaming affect you? Does it make it different or more personal when you are in the public eye?

Everyone gets flamed in League of Legends once in a while, but if you get flamed on twitter or stream it obviously becomes more personal because they know who you are and do it on purpose to get you to feel bad. But I don’t take hate seriously, so it just kind of bounces off me. With fans come haters and you just need to be sure that you can separate haters from the sweet fans. Haters just try to make your life worse, so just shut them out. Sometimes it seems impossible to shut them out and ignore them, as we have seen in cases where people start to believe the haters and therefore begin to feel insecure about themselves and think that they play bad. This kind of thing should never be allowed to happen, because in the worst case scenario they may stop playing because they simply can’t cope with being hated on anymore.

Let’s move on to the competitive scene. So far you’ve played IEM and you’ve started the LCS. How have these experiences been for you and are you satisfied with your own performance?

IEM was the first tournament I played in America and it was a great experience for me as it was also the first tournament with TSM. Unfortunately, we lost our first two matches and were out of the tournament very fast due to the fact that we hadn’t had enough time to practice together. But it was a great experience and I was surprised at how many fans cheered on TSM.

LCS is going very well for us, so far. I feel like I’ve performed very well, but at IEM we didn’t really have the synergy down yet, so I don’t feel like I contributed much there. However, I feel that we're going to be #1 in NA at the end of this split, since our performance is really good at the moment and we are doing well as a team, both in the game and outside of the game.

What team has surprised you the most in the LCS so far and who do you feel your biggest competitor will be?

At the moment I’m very surprised by Gravity. They were one of the last teams who entered the LCS through the challenger series, and they were labeled as big underdogs along with Coast and Team8, but after Week 2 they shared first place with us (TSM) and CLG, which is nicely done by them.

As things are now I feel that our main competitor is CLG. We scrimmed them and they played very well and they also have a good performance in the LCS, so I am looking forward to playing against them there.

What AD-carries do you see dominating the LCS in the spring split? Both EU and NA.

In the spring split, I feel that the most dominant adc's from NA will be Wildturtle, Sneaky and DoubleLift, and in EU, I think it will be Forg1ven and Rekkles.

What are your views on support staff? Do you feel coaches and analysts move the scene forward?


I feel that coaches/analysts are a BIG part of the pro-scene. They help us to be better; they help us find the strong picks and teach us how to play the different comps. Not only does our coach help us with the game, he also helps us with individual problems if we come to him. Coaches are also a much larger part of the pro-scene now due to the fact that they are allowed on the stage to help in the pick/ban phase, which means that it’s much easier for us players to get a good start to the game. 


Thank you so much for your time Lucas and good luck to you in the LCS. In closing, do you have something you want to say to all the fans out there supporting you and cheering you on? Both you personally and TSM as a team.

I would like to say thank you to all the fans out there that support me. It means a lot to me to know that there is always someone out there who expects something from me. It motivates me to train more and play better. TSM has one of the largest and best fan bases and I'm very happy to be a part of that!

For more updates and thoughts, follow Santorin on social media:

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.

-----
 by Pieter "antdriote" Cnudde