The Mid Season Invitational opens with a Dream Match

EU's Fnatic vs NA's Team SoloMid

(aka The battle of Koreans (and also some Europeans and North Americans)

Photo courtesy of Riot Esports

by Jodi "PunkLit" McClure

Opening the 2015 Mid-Season invitational with Fnatic vs TSM is an eSports promoter's wet dream, except instead of Kate Upton you've got Bjergsen and instead of Jennifer Lawrence you've got Huni. But the NA vs EU match up has always ignited viewer passions, and this one delivers in particularly grand fashion since both teams have enormous fan bases and some deep-rooted old school cred. 

Reddit's European fans tend to concede TSM is the stronger team this split, but they argue that in a Best of 1 round robin set up, it's entirely possible to beat a team who has a habit of dropping their first game in a series. And no one needs to be reminded of the last time TSM faced a European team (although if you squint your eyes, you can still see the bits of Unicorn sparkles sticking to their skin.) Hell, even if they lose, the EUs can still claim a win, since two of TSM's star players actually hail from a landmass vaguely attached to them. 

Bjergsen has been god-like in mid, but Febiven is mechanically sound and some would say he's not far from the Great Dane's skill-level. However, Bjergsen has a great deal of Santorin's support, whereas Reignover tends to hang with his top laner. Not that that's a bad thing, since a tilting Dyrus and snow-balling Huni could definitely be a key to a Fnatic win.  

Fnatic's carry, Steeelback, was the King of Fantasy League this season with most average points per game, but Turtle was only a single point behind him. Both also topped the charts in kills, although Turtle took nearly twice as many deaths, which is REALLY important when you consider how smart Yellowstar is at taking advantage of players out of position. It seems like this could be an epic match-up. One can't discount the Rekkles factor, though. Despite Steeelback's stellar performance this split, rumors are he's about to replaced, and that has to be an unpleasant weight on his shoulders. Whether or not this bitter pill will affect his work still remains to be seen.  

The new Fnatic has shown a lot of synergy though in their short time playing together, and I imagine they'll only get stronger with Yellowstar's outstanding guidance, but TSM are in their prime right now, performing as a single entity possessing of a hive mind. I'm sure that Locodoco has prepped his team thoroughly for this game, and he didn't win Coach of the Year for nothing! He's been a driving force in his team's success, whereas solid coaching is an area where Fnatic has been sorely lacking.

Not surprisingly, I believe, at least for this time around, NA will have the edge on bragging rights.  

(Shout out to Chase Wassenar for voicing all the intelligent sounding parts of this article.)

Just added some cool new Summer Split Wallpapers by WideEye12 to our LCS Wallpaper Section! Be sure to grab yours so you can start the Summer Split off right!

Edward Gaming vs LGD Gaming 

LPL Finals Recap

The undisputed No. #1 team in China vs a team that had risen up from the depths of the league. LGD has been playing amazingly, dispatching OMG and Snake without dropping a game. Is this enough for them to take on Edward Gaming? Enough to take on a team that is able to punish opponents for every single mistake that they make? Read More...

NA LCS Summer Promotion Preview

Photo courtesy of Riot Esports

by Patrick Garren

First up in the NA LCS promotion matches are Dignitas and Team Fusion. Dignitas had a less-than-optimal split, losing their Top Laner and AD Carry before the season began and benching their long-time Jungler and team captain, Alberto “Crumbz” Rengifo, three weeks in. Things began to come together for them as newcomers Jo “Core JJ” Yong-in and Yeong-Jin “Gamsu” Noh started to get more comfortable in their roles, but Dignitas failed to ignite anything exceptional and they limp into the promotion tournament as the 9th seed. They look to retain their previously-firm grip on their spot in the LCS against Team Fusion Gaming, a scary looking Challenger Series team full of former LCS ringers. While Fusion failed to make it into the LCS last split, losing their promotional matches to Team Coast, I personally believe they’re the favorites in this match-up.

Pick/Ban Breakdown

The strategy is pretty simple for Fusion. Keeping Danny “Shiphtur” Le out of his comfort zone and giving Jae-hyun “Huhi” Choi a good matchup can only increase your chances of victory. Meanwhile, Dignitas has to focus on Fusion’s bottom lane. Zach “Nien” Malhas was a monster throughout the entire Challenger Series, and keeping him down is critical to Dignitas’s chances of remaining an LCS team. Expect to see both junglers make several appearances early in whichever lane Nien finds himself in almost every game.

Players to Watch 

Most importantly, I believe Nien controls the outcome of this game. If Dignitas can keep him from popping off, they definitely have a better than average shot at keeping their LCS position. However, Fusion’s best chance of beating a struggling Dignitas team is for Huhi or Top Laner Joshua “Chunkyfresh” Kesrawani to make their presences felt.

Prediction

I see Fusion winning the grind, 3-2. Both teams are evenly matched and have the obvious baskets they put their carry eggs in. Seeing which team can execute under the pressure of relegation/promotion will likely be the deciding factor.

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The second and final match-up of the day is Winterfox versus TDK. Winterfox had an incredibly interesting split, seeing Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad replaced as their support by Korean import Jang “Imagine” Hyeon-su. When Imagine failed to produce, Winterfox pulled out one of the most unprecedented moves in LCS history by having their brightest star, Johnny “Altec” Ru, move to support while head coach Choi “Paragon” Hyun-il moved to AD Carry. This move produced similarly lackluster results, and now we have a Winterfox team entering the promotion tournament with the same roster they came into the split with. On the other side of the coin is Team Dragon Knights, or as I like to call them, That Team That Seraph Went To, hoping to enter the LCS as the last bastion of the true Top Lane Carry strategy.

Pick/Ban Breakdown

I think the most important thing going in for Winterfox is banning out Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong, as he presents the biggest threat and highest mechanical skill level on all of TDK’s roster. Seraph has become a much stronger LAN presence since his days with CLG, so Winterfox jungler Shin “Helios” Dong-jin can’t expect to camp his lane and make him a non-threat as so many teams did to Seraph last split. TDK, however, have a much harder road in champion select. They match-up poorly across most of the lanes, and Winterfox will likely attempt to initiate lane-swaps, as they certainly don’t want Shin “Avalon” Dong-hyeon in a 1v1 scenario with Seraph. Getting Altec and Pobelter onto comfort champs, and getting them ahead early, are Winterfox’s keys to success.

Players to Watch

Winterfox’s young talented duo of Pobelter and Altec are basically the core of their team, and the successes and failures of the team often coincide with how well the two perform. TDK put most of their eggs in the Seraph basket, but as I said about Team Fusion, TDK will likely need performances from mid-laner Seo “Kyle” Ji-sun and AD Carry Lee “LouisXGeeGee” Sung-jin if they have any hope of advancing to the LCS.

Prediction

This one seems handily in favor of Winterfox. If any semblance of their peak performance shows up on Sunday, TDK almost certainly face another split in the Challenger Series. Winterfox wins 3-1.

LPL Review: Invictus Gaming vs Snake 

Was Invictus Gaming able to secure their third spot and take away the money and points for the Worlds 2015 qualification tournament? Perhaps Snake has recovered from their average performances the last couple of weeks and are ready to show China and the world one more time this split why they are one of the most feared teams in China. Read more...

EU LCS Summer Promotion: ROCCAT vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy

By Anel “Musin” Musinovic

EU LCS Summer promotion begins early at 14.00 CEST with Giants vs Reason Gaming, which will be followed by the game we are going to look at - Roccat vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy. Read more...

Invictus Gaming vs Snake Preview 

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

This match is for third / fourth place in the LPL Spring Split, but what is that really worth? Honor, respect and money. The winner of this match will obtain 250,000 CYB (approx. €37.4k ) and the loser will get 200,000 CYB (approx. €30k). That’s a lot of money but what can we expect from these two teams who have been wanting to reach the finals? Will Snake be able to recuperate after the demolishing sweep brought to them by LGD? Was Invictus Gaming's loss justified or was it just as much of a beating as Snake took? There are a lot of questions that will be answered next Saturday. Read More...

The Trouble with Hai

Is it Time for Cloud9's Mid to Move On?

Photo courtesy of Riot Esports

by Patrick Garren

Since the acquisition of Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi from Quantic Gaming on May 23rd 2013, Cloud9 have had the exact same roster. They didn't actually "acquire" Sneaky from Quantic either - they WERE Quantic. Sponsorship issues led to their reformation as Cloud9. Founder and Team Captain, mid-lander Hai “Hai” Lam, chose the name Cloud9 because he believed that professional gaming should be about being happy. But Cloud 9 is the last place they were at the beginning of the 2015 Spring Split, when they saw themselves in a spot they hadn't seen since they made it into the LCS: last place. Read more...

Kings of the Rift : TSM Take the NA LCS Spring Split Championship 

Photo courtesy of Riot Esports 

 TSM and Cloud 9 get Ready to Rumble in the NA LCS Spring Split Finals!

by Jodi McClure

Last year when Cloud 9 met TSM in the LCS Finals, Meteos and his highly-skilled band 3-0'd them. Granted, it was a Lustboyless TSM with Odd One and Xpecial still in the mix, and the meta was completely different, but credit where credit is due. Cloud 9 are not a push over team by any stroke of the imagination, and even though TSM have had a superlative split, there's zero guarantees they'll be holding that big check at the end. Both teams have performed amazingly well. Cloud 9 had a slower start then TSM but slammed home a stronger finish. Turtle has been all flashy kills while Sneaky is the focused, mechanical giant. TSM excels at rotations and taking down turrets while Cloud 9 likes their objectives. It's all too beautifully even. If I were to stick my neck out and pick a winner of this Best of Five series, I wouldn't name a team, I'd name a color. A color shared by both Cloud 9's shirts and TSM's long sleeve button-downs. It's Blue - the color of convenience, and whoever starts this series on the Blue side of the map will ultimately win the trophy. I'll be cheering for my long-time favs, TSM, but I suspect we're going to see the series go five games, and whoever wins will definitely deserve it!