Is anyone here excited about this? I haven't seen much of the teams outside EU and NA, but I heard a lot of good things especially about the Chinese and Korean teams. On the other hand some players said that the Korean teams are a tad overrated, having beaten the NA/EU teams just because they had a lot of time to prepare for a specific team, so they might do worse in a large tournament that will see so many different play styles.
If I had to make a prediction, the safest I guess would be for M5 to win it all. CLG.EU also has a great chance, and so do the Chinese teams. From NA I wouldn't bet on anyone other than TSM, although I think CLG.NA has a good chance of getting out of the groups by using some of their cheese. Krepo (from CLG.EU) said that CLG.NA are known as the "cheese factory".
[ November 20, 2012, 05:36 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I think M5 if they don't end up with a European opponent in the final ( ) has the best chance of taking it all.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
M5 pulled such incredible stuff that they sort of are responsible for much of the current tournament meta. You either had to catch up with what M5 was pulling, or you got eaten alive.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wasn't it supposed to start already? Or did I get my time difference wrong?!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Guess I was off by one hour.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Way better than the debates
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Evelynn and Lux bans. Wow, it's like a totally different game! Yorick, Anivia, Jayce and Skarner are more usual bans I guess.
Shen jungle for Azubu, Nocturne jungle for IG.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Bummed I have to work all day through these games. Realistically I'll only be able to catch stuff on the weekend. But I love reading your write-ups all the same Corwin. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I've refused a (board) game of Lord of the Rings just to be at home for these matches. I will likely miss the last games, but I'll try to post some stuff on the ones I watch.
This one started with an excellent invasion from IG, getting first kill. They switched lanes, putting Jarvan bottom and giving him blue buff.
Jax does get an early kill top, and Azubu Frost's bottom lane gets a kill in mid, but later on IG pull a great fight at IG's top turret and take out two people and two top turrets. Free dragon for AZF though. IG also took mid tower, and the score is now 6-5 in kills, 3-0 in towers and 0-1 in dragons for IG. 2k gold difference.
Edit1: Jarvan with Doran's Blade, Brutalizer and Hexdrinker, interesting. Shen has Wriggle's. Both Corki and Ez go for Trinity Force, Corki is a bit closer but Ez has a Vamp Scepter. 2 more kills for IG vs 1 for AZF, 1 dragon and 1 more turret for IG, who are now roaming all 5 and manage to stop a mid-lane push from AZF. Still just 3k difference for IG.
Edit2: Finally 1st tower taken by AZF, but they lose the Shen ulti in a failed initiation. IG take down Jax in the follow-up, then fake a Baron and kill Ez who came to stop them. 5 v 3 at baron. AZF STEALS BARON! Somehow IG still manages to get out just losing Leona in the chase while getting some kills in return. 13-7 kills, 2-1 dragons, 4-2 turrets, +2k difference for IG. Ez and Jax the only ones with Baron buff.
Edit3: Huuuge initiation by AZF at IG's second mid turret, getting 3 kills for 0, 2 more turrets AND mid inhibitor. First top and bottom turrets also taken out by AZF.
Edit4: Big, big fight at top, Jarvan initiating on Ezreal and 4-1 kills for IG! They do have to get back and clear their base though. IG have THREE Aegis of the Legion. Jarvan and Jax with Trinity Force, so are Ez and Corki. Ez with Last Whisper, Corki with a Pickax and Guardian Angel. Only Alistar has a Shurelya's.
Edit5: Somehow, somehow AZF sneak a baron. Not sure how IG missed it. AZF move on IG's open inhib, but Leona, Jarvan and Nocturne all focus Ezreal, taking him out in seconds! They lose both Noct and Leona, but take out all but Shen despite AZF having baron! Corki with the triple kill, even with less AD than Ez. Well, not than *dead* Ez. IG takes second mid turret. Still only one open inhibitor, IG's mid one.
Edit6: IG-AZF: 21-13 kills, 5-5 turrets, just 4 hundred gold difference. Corki got LW, Ez with GA, so they are a bit more equal now. Leona caught near dragon, but turns it around! Not enough though, 5 kills for 2 for AZF, Ez still alive and now they take mid inhib and take a nexus turret (bottom one). AZF take the dragon, and now they have 4k more gold.
Edit7: Split push by Shen, he takes one turret and pushes for another, forcing IG to try for baron. Bad, bad fight and AZF take the ace for 2, and take the win! So much for the Korean teams being overrated.
[ October 04, 2012, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Replay of the last fight with player commentary in the background: my guess is the happy voices were from AZF.
I expect a Shen ban from whoever plays vs AZF next.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ok, I'll try to eat now until the next game starts, but will post when I can. I did plan to iron some clothes later today, so we'll see how I can fit that into my shoutcasting schedule. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Strange team comp from CLG. Mundo jungle for CLG, Skarner jungle for IG. I would have liked Morgana + Skarner better for IG, but what do I know? A bit worried about Skarner going in vs Lulu and Cass. On the other hand not much initiation other than Casss for CLG.
A level 1 fight , but no kills. Two flashes down for CLG (Cass and Mundo). Yorick takes IG's own blue buff (but almost dies), while the rest of IG invade and take their blue buff for Skarner. Both bot laners dodge Ali by using flashes.
Diana has TP by the way, spent to get top.
Edit1: Graves pushes like a boss and gets killed by Corki with the help of Ali and Skarner. First blood for IG.
Edit2: Ali tries to cut from the back of the turret, but gets caught by Cass and Mundo. Vlad and Skarner go for Cass (no ulti, no flash), but let her live with less than 100hp! IG warded CLG's blue, and Skarner steals it with a smite.
Edit3: Bot turret taken by IG. Mundo with 2 Doran's Shields, Cass had to take Chalice. Both junglers with Oracles. Peaceful game otherwise, but IG are 3k ahead in gold.
Edit4: Free dragon for IG. Big fight around IG's blue, CLG lose Diana, but Mundo escape with a great flash! CLG take mid turret. CLG are trying to roam as a team, but they only end up losing XP and cs. IG take top turret. Corki already has TF, Graves only BF sword and 2 Blades. CLG take out an isolated Ali.
Edit5: Graves gets picked by Skarner and is taken out in seconds. Diana take top turret. A big fight in mid but no deaths, only 1 turret taken out by IG. IG stayed too long, and after Diana TPs CLG take 2 kills and bottom turret for dragon.
Edit6: IG is 4k ahead. Graves still has to complete Infinity Edge (just needs to pay for recipe). Mundo gets caught by Skarner and despite using ulti gets quickly dropped. Baron attempt for IG, IG take it and Lulu, CLG take Ali, IG take Cass and then Diana after a long chase by Corki. 7-5 kills, 5-3 turrets, 8k ahead in gold for IG. CLG really on the back foot now. Mundo gets caught again and dies before doing anything to IG. IG take the last outer turret now, 10k ahead.
Edit7: Somehow CLG take dragon, but they lose Lulu. Diana caught by Skarner and they almost lose all! CLG actually decide to surrender, and IG is now 1-1. Frankly this was disappointing from CLG.
[ October 04, 2012, 02:53 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Boy i sure love listening to the players swear racial epithets at each other live huh
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I was really not convinced by that Diana pick. At first it looked like CLG were going for Cho + Mundo but at the last second they switched to Diana, and she didn't do much even with that teleport. The fact that CLG had no real initiator, with Mundo being melted down in seconds, was also a very bad point for them. With a more CC oriented initiator like Malphite they could have followed him up with Lulu & Cass ulties, and that would have locked up IG for a good while.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SK vs AZF
SK bans: Vlad, Skarner, Jax AZF bans: TF, Ez, Orianna (targeted at Ocelote )
Guess Shen wasn't banned after all. I wonder what they'll do to stop him. Looks like Lux support. Interesting that SK picked Cait instead of Graves.
Irelia with TP, no TP for AZF. Lots of CC on both teams, but I like SK's initiation better.
Game is delayed because the sun is shining on SK's screens.
Edit1: AZF try to invade, but get spotted by Cait trap. AZF manages to steal red though. Cait & Sona push bot a lot. Ali gank top makes Singed use his Ghost, but nothing else. Ali is really falling behind here. Cait facing 2 people bot, gets caught by Lux but doesn't even Flash. Sona is back in lane, and Cait pushes yet again; she's quite ahead in minions.
Edit2: Gank top by Alistar, but Singed almost takes him out! Shen steals red again. The only bright point is bottom lane for SK: Cait hasn't even used Flash or Heal! She's around 30 more minions up on Corki. AZF take a free dragon. Singed simply bullies top lane, and the tower drops. With Ali ganking and Karthus ulti they still can't finish off Singed. Sona does get killed but for the price of both Corki and Lux. Anivia takes out mid turret and AZF almost 4k ahead.
Edit3: Singed almost kills Irelia past the second top tower, and when Karthus tries to help Anivia joins in and drops him. Shen takes another red buff. Irelia goes for a chase on a half-health Singed, Karthus ulti, but Shen ulties too, and with Anivia coming they take out Irelia. Cait take out Corki. All 3 outer turrets taken out by IG, meanwhile SK take dragon. Irelia chases Singed again! (Seriously, don't chase Singed.) Anivia walls several people off, Irelia jumps over, almost kills Singed but gets dropped instead.
Edit4: Ali and Karthus taken out in the jungle, but SK take out Shen with Oracle. Cait with 3/0/1, and a completed Bloodthirster, Corki still a while away from Trinity Force. 6k advantage for AZF. Not sure a fed Cait is enough to help SK win in end-game.
Edit5: 4-0 kills for AZF, Anivia getting Banshee's in time to block Karthus ulti! She even had egg but didn't need it. AZF take mid inhib. Can't see SK coming back here. And Corki finally completed his TF.
Edit6: Shen split-pushes and takes bottom tower, nothing SK can do about it. Karthus gets taken out in seconds, Ali drops next, and AZF take a free baron with Shen not even needing to ulti. 12-4 in kills, 7-0 in turrets, 15k ahead in gold.
AZF easily finish things off, with Singed literally walking in the middle of the SK team without a care in the world.
[ October 04, 2012, 04:08 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Boy i sure love listening to the players swear racial epithets at each other live huh
Hah, really?
-------
Thanks Corwin!
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
ya. but its in korean so who cares la la la
it's gonna be m5 v azubu frost, end of story. just call me when that match comes on.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SK vs CLG
SK bans: Sivir, Olaf, Sona CLG bans: Ali, Gangplank, Irelia
Not sure why SK didn't pick Ori earlier... CLG with Diana again. Ugh...
Anyway, I won't comment on this, I've started ironing.
Edit: CLG had triple TP (Graves, Orianna, Diana) and promote on Lulu. CLG managed to take a few more kills early on, 6-4 for a while, with 3-3 in turrets. SK somehow manages to sneak in a baron and get a few kills, but in the meantime Graves is pushing bot lane like crazy, takes 2 turrets and inhibitor with only Shen going back to try to counter him. Graves manages to dodge a few Shen dashes and takes a nexus turret while baron-buffed SK are trying to finish CLG's base. They can't as creeps spawn and CLG's team is alive again. Right away Diana and Orianna TP to SK's base and by the time SK get back CLG manage to take down the second base turret and win the game! From the after-game footage SK are soooo mad at themselves... They really should have sent back someone else to deal with Graves though.
[ October 04, 2012, 05:14 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
AZF vs CLG
AZF bans: Ori, Eve, Ali CLG bans: Shen, Skarner, Ez
Also, I'm not really sure what the purpose of double soaks is (Mundo & Olaf). We'll see if it brings something. Only one TP, on Olaf. Mundo jungle for CLG, Mao for AZF.
CLG with some early wards in AZF's red jungle, but no kills. Graves, Mundo and Lulu take golems and take out the first minion wave BETWEEN TURRETS. Ok, that's a new one. CLG take red too since AZF's bot lane needs to go take the minions. Olaf takes blue in the meantime. Mao tries to invade but Mundo and Cass are there and Cass takes out Mao and blue buff! Mundo ganks top and they take out Jax. Great start there for CLG, with the help of some interesting early tactics. Cass way too in front, gnaked by Mao and Karthus gets the kill and blue buff off Cass. A bit of a misstep from CLG there.
Back to ironing.
Edit: That's as good as it got for CLG. Giving Karthus kill & blue buff meant he got level 6 earlier, and with a 3 man gank bot they took out Graves I think, while Jax came down and took Cass who was again too far pushed. Mundo ended up as dead meat again, and with no real initiator there was no way for Cass to use her ulti efficiently. CLG's hope right now is for SK to beat IG, which would mean a 3-way tie for second place. In that case the 3 teams will play another mini-round, and whoever wins 2 games qualifies. Frankly, I doubt SK can do it.
[ October 04, 2012, 06:00 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
these battles are conservative low-kill rampups which ultimately all come down to early game gold from lane creep stats. yawn?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I love the Malph + Leona initiation potential, with Shen + Cass as a second wave. SK's picks are not that impressive... I'm afraid this is it for SK and CLG.
Edit1: Despite some ganks from IG, Nunu gets first blood killing Shen. Shen comes around again and Nunu is waaay too far ahead and gets dropped with no Flash. Shen AGAIN at bottom lane, from behind the turret, and they take out Corki.
Edit2: Shen hangs around bottom again, but with Udyr there he has to back off. Udyr with Oracle. Udyr now hangs around, tries to gank through tri-brush, but Shen ulties in and despite Karthus's ulti IG take out 2 people. SK come back alive and manage to sneak in a dragon. IG did take bot tower earlier though.
Edit3: And we have a paused game. Short pause though. Karhtus gets dropped by IG, and his ulti doesn't to much. He still hasn't picked RoA yet. IG take mid tower. 5-1 kills, 2-0 towers, +3k gold for IG.
Edit4: An engage at IG's top tower but no kills. SK later take top turret. Both Udyr and Shen with Oracles. IG take dragon in the meantime. A 3 v 1 at top from IG and Jayce dies. IG take top turret.
Edit5: Shen for a long while in bottom lane, and Corki + Nunu wait for him to fully decide to farm, and take him out. IG do take 2 champs top though. IG take baron afterwards, and SK take mid turret and dragon in the meantime.
Edit6: IG take second mid turret with little opposition, then move to second bottom turret and take it out too. Malph misses an ulti, so no initiation. Shen is split pushing top in the meantime.
Edit7: A battle at SK's bot inhib and IG obliterates SK. A bit of dragging on but SK surrender.
Azubu Frost: 3-0 IG: 2-1 CLG.NA: 1-2 SK: 0-3
[ October 04, 2012, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
IG draw M5 in the quarters, while AZF get TSM. Glad it's not M5 vs AZF, but bad news for TSM.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Not gonna watch group B though. I'm going to sleep, since it's already 2AM here and I've got to go to work tomorrow. I hope CLG.EU qualifies, don't really care about the second team.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh man, CLG Europe were like a deer in the headlights of unstoppable Korean might.
Oh man, Scarra picking up Katarina. And SAJ picks up Leona.
Any game with Leona is a good one in my book.
[ October 04, 2012, 11:01 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I guess the Asian teams didn't get the memo that they are bad at LoL.
SAJ just schooled Dignitas.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, so much for Korean teams being overrated.
The quarter that's tomorrow is WE vs CLG.EU. Anyway, today and tomorrow I'll catch all games. Can't wait.
How was CLG.EU's victory over SAJ? Was there any chance that we'd get only Asian teams out of the two groups or did CLG dominate it?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ok, from what I've read on various sites SAJ seemed too afraid of CLG and let them play their own slow game, and then got crushed in the end.
WE, CLG ,TSM and AZF are on one side, M5, IG, TPA and NJSW on the other.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Ok, from what I've read on various sites SAJ seemed too afraid of CLG and let them play their own slow game, and then got crushed in the end. and NJSW on the other.
That sounds about right, CLG was only up about 2,000gold from early ganks and gold farm, but then I forget who it was was on Karthus and farmed 300+ minions in 24 minutes I believe. Some sort of record. With that kind of farm his requiem and lay waste was taking people out in a *big* way. Once he turned it on, they just won the next few team fights, destroyed a bunch of turrets, backed off and took baron, farmed the lanes up, won the next team fight, and the win.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Froggen was the one, getting 300 cs in 23 minutes which is apparently a new competitive record. And damn hard to beat considering that if you take all the minions in your lane (but no jungle camps) you apparently get 279 cs. He probably took his wraiths/wolves and even the enemy's wraiths quite a few times.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
At least SAJ (and both other teams in the group) had the good sense to ban Anivia versus Froggen, but future opponents might want to look into picking Karthus away from him too. Or shut him down, however Najin Sword did, although even in that game he slightly out-cs-ed the enemy Orianna.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
By the way, here are the stats for the group stage matches, including bans: group stage
Eve was banned in 2 games vs AZF, and in all 5 games involving at least an Asian team in group B. It's funny to see that since the EUNE forums are full of people calling Eve useless. I should probably watch some Asian streams to understand what's so good about her.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Since Eve's rebuild she's been an amazing clutch and people who haven't recognized that are idiots (or better yet, food) — people probably remember her too strongly from her being the game's utterly useless trollpick for years.
Twitch's rebuild was a different matter; it actually made him more useless in competitive play.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
PPS the matches have been picking up and they're actually pretty fun now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Won't be able to watch for the next 8 hours.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Samp, what matches are you talking about? M5 vs IG starts in around 10 minutes.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
M5 vs IG
M5 bans: Mao, Ali, Jayce IG bans: Gragas, Nunu, Sona
Wow, no idea what M5 are doing there! Eve mid and Zyra support? Also I thought Xin was supposed to be weak?! First time Eve, Zyra and Xin picks in this tournament. Trust M5 to go crazy in the very first game.
Lee jungling for M5, Shen for IG. No TPs, Kog with Heal, both Leona and Yorick with exhaust.
Edit1: No level 1 fight. Yorick gets IG's blue, Shen takes red. A first gank 3 v 1 top, Xin uses his Flash. Later on Shen ganks again while Lee just got there, and Shen manages to taunt both people and they drop Xin! Another 3 v 1 vs Xin, but he manages to survive and Leona almost dies to tower. Cass straight out kills Eve. Yet another gank top by Shen, but Lee is already there and there are no kills.
Edit2: Both Cass and Eve with blue buff now. Eve a bit on the back foot. M5 do get dragon with Lee smiting it and getting out just in time. Lee gank mid, but Cass manages to fool Lee with a Flash and easily escapes. Zyra moving mid, Lee and Eve moving top, and despite Shen coming to help Eve takes out both him and Leona!
Edit3: Ez going for Phage+Sheen, no Doran's, while Kog has double Blades + Zeal. M5 takes a dragon, but IG cathes them and they have no chance! 4 kills for none in favor of IG, and they also take bottom turret.
Edit4: A 2 v 2 top, and IG take out Zyra but lose Ez, and a bit later Leona. Another 2 v 2 at M5's red, and M5 take out Yorick. Just 4 hundred gold advantage for IG, who are 7-5 in kills, 1-0 in turrets and 0-2 in dragons. A big fight near M5's middle tower ends up with 4 deaths on each side, and Eve ends up with double buff and a triple kill. Scary stuff. Shen does take middle turret though.
Another huge fight near dragon with Lee stealing it, and getting the ace for 3 people. Eve and Kog survive. Eve takes the mid turret and now M5 have a small gold lead.
And now yet another fight near IG's second mid turret, and this time IG with the ace for 3 deaths. Gold within 1 hundred.
Edit5: Ez now with double buff. IG take top turret, but lose bottom turret (to minions I think). A bit of Baron posturing. And M5 takes out Ez and Cass in seconds! 4 kills for 0, and they're healthy enough to get baron easily. Only Shen got out. M5 take a free dragon, and then back off to buy.
Edit6: Eve with DFG, Abyssal and Guardian Angel. Kog with ID+PD, Ez with TF+LW. Cass with Deathcap, Abyssal and Chalice. Big items on both teams' carries. M5 take top turret and are now all 5 near IG's second mid turret. A dive by Eve, and 3 v 1 for IG! Xin actually dived the fountain trying to get the ace, and that's how he died. M5 take second mid turret and move towards inhib one, but IG just surrender. Close game for a while, but the fight at baron where M5 dropped both carries right away just finished it.
[ October 05, 2012, 04:15 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Another first in this tournament, and again from M5: Zilean.
Edit1: Olaf gets caught by Ryze then Ali, and Ryze gets the kill with all 4 teammates getting assists. IG take M5's blue. Both teams switch lanes. M5 also invade and steal blue, and follow up with a kill on Ali! Ryze almost gets dropped in mid, but thanks to the first blood he now manages to buy Tear.
Edit2: Ryze does get caught by Lee and Zilean later on, and Lee gets the kill. A gank by Shen top, but there's no kill and Sona actually pokes Ez enough that they have to fall back.
Edit3: Lee tries to steal blue again, but IG are there! A huge fight, and M5 lose Lee and Olaf for Shen. Ryze does take out Zilean later in mid and transfers blue buff to himself! M5 sneak a dragon before IG can react. On the other hand IG take bottom turret. Vlad almost dies to an Olaf and Lee team-up, but with Shen's double-buffed help they take out both M5 champs.
Edit4: A gank by IG in mid, but Zilean has ultimate. Vlad again alone at bottom, but he survives and TAKES OUT OLAF! Lee can't finish him up, and Shen and Ryze team up to take out Lee. Lee had a red elixir he forgot about... Vlad with 4/0/1, Shen with Aegis already. Ez and Kog equal on minions, Ez with 0/0/2 KDA to Kog's 0/0/1.
Edit5: A 4 men gank at top and Kog dies near the turret. IG also take turret. Olaf takes out Vlad! Lee almost dies, but somehow escapes! The following fight is crazy from M5, taking out 3 more people and then a free dragon. M5 right back into this.
Edit6: M5 take out Vlad again at top, but the counter-initiation gets Sona. Zilean too fast for IG to catch him. Ryze with Tear/RoA/Sorcerer's boots and blue buff now, Vlad with WotA and Large Rod, Ez with BT and Phage and Shen with Aegis for IG. Zilean with Athene's, Olaf with Frozen Mallet, Kog with PD and Lee with Aegis for M5.
M5 try to get mid turret but are pushed away, then IG try the same thing. But M5 takes 4 people out for nothing! Low HP M5 still manage to take baron, with Zilean also taking out Shen who was hanging around trying to steal it. IG alive again and take dragon while M5 are back to buy. Just 2k difference in gold, but M5 should get more ahead by taking some of the outer turrets.
Edit7: M5 take mid turret, then engage on Vlad then take out Ali! They move on to take second mid turret and... stream dies. Back on, lost a fight in which Lee died for Shen and Ryze I think. Baron buff expires and IG manage to take mid turret too. Around 5k gold advantage for M5.
Aaand another fight near IG's bottom turret, and a clean ace by M5! Surrender vote comes out from IG. Brutal teamfights from M5 despite being a bit behind in the early game.
[ October 05, 2012, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
TPA vs NJSW
TPA bans: Eve, Mao, Sona NJSW bans: Vlad, Morgana, Karthus
Edit1: Invade at red by NJSW, but later Mundo steals their red too. Mundo ganks mid to burn Ryze's Flash, and ganks again to get the kill! Irelia almost drops Jayce all by herself. Pretty amazing play.
Edit2: A big pile of nothing happens. Irelia and Jayce have a few more fights, and Irelia almost finishes top tower. A fight in bottom and Nunu takes Taric but Kog Ez takes out Kog. Skarner ulties Orianna but the combined damage from him and Ryze not enough to kill her. Later on there's a 3 man gank top and NJSW take out Jayce who stayed there a bit too long.
Edit3: Jayce with 3 Blades, Irelia with 2 and Phage. Both junglers with HoG. Orianna already has Athene's completed, vs Ryze with Tear & Catalyst. Big fight at NSJW's blue, and TPA take out Ryze & Taric for Mundo! Kog and Ori with blue now, not good for NJSW. TPA take a free dragon, but Irelia takes top turret in the meantime.
Ryze gets dropped in mid, and Orianna is now 4/0/0. Skarner has an Oracle, and I think Mundo lost one earlier. Big fight in bottom lane, but somehow no one dies. Minions take out NJSW's mid tower.
Edit4: Mundo picks an Oracle now. Kog with PD, Ez with BT. Ori is just recipe-cost away from completing Rabadon's. TPA steal blue again, with Orianna having theirs. Not looking good for NJSW. TPA pick up dragon despite some counter from NJSW. Ryze finally finished RoA.
Edit5: TPA take bot turret and are now around 4.5k gold ahead. Irelia with TF, Jayce with Phage and BF Sword. Big fight at NJSW's second mid turret, and TPA take out 3 people! Heading straight for baron, and they take a free one. +7k gold for TPa now. With an amazing Orianna ult TPA take out Ez, then get a clean ace, and NJSW surrender! Wow... TPA started strong and only got stronger from there.
[ October 05, 2012, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Game 2, NJSW vs TPA
NJSW ban: Vlad, Kog, Karthus TPA ban: Jayce, Eve, Ori
Mao vs Skarner in the jungle, so Shen is top for I think the first time in this tournament.
Edit1: No successful invade at first, but a delayed one by TPA, and while the hooked Blue resets, they to take it afterwards. Mao takes his own red but is low on HP and mana and has to go back already. TPA switched lanes by the way, tough match-ups for both soloers. NJSW bait a gank bot, but Skarner takes out Sona for first blood. Skarner and Shen get dropped with the help of Morgana, but the double-buffed Corki dies to the tower! NJSW take bottom tower easily.
Edit2: TPA try to invade at blue again, but NJSW makes them back away. Skarner comes back to try to smite it, and Ez shoots his ultimate across, but Morgana manages to take blue. Gold is even after 2-1 kills and 1-0 turrets for NJSW vs first blood for TPA.
Morgana hits a great binding on Shen, and with the help of Jax they take him out. Shen does have both Lucky Pick and HoG though, so he's pretty ok in gold. Hook on Corki top, and with the help of a Shen Flash+taunt TPA take him out! Shen with the kill is now 1/2/1, while Jax is 0/0/1, with minions even.
2 v 2 fight in top, and Corki takes out Ez with barely any health! And with the help of Jax they also take out Blitz. NJSW try to steal blue but Skarner takes it before they can do anything.. NJSW take dragon instead. On the other hand Ez is back and takes out top tower. TPA just 600 gold down.
Edit3: Zhonya's for Morg vs Athene's for Anivia. Corki going for TF, Ez with a Phage and BF sword. Jax takes out Shen in a 1 v 1 fight. TPA steal blue. Afterwards there's a big fight in mid, and TPA take out 2 people for 1. Mao also lost the Oracle. Both Ez and Anivia now with blue.
Edit4: Hook then Skarner ulti on Jax, but he escapes! And NJSW take out three people for none! Afterwards Jax takes top tower but gets dropped by Shen. A fight near mid and this time TPA take 2 for 1, and continue on to take mid turret. TPA actually ahead in gold despite being 4 kills down.
Edit5: Blitz and Sona with Oracles now after the tanks were taken out earlier. Both teams back off. Ez manages to steal blue with an ulti! TPA take the 2nd mid turret and Shen also takes bot turret. TPA push bot while NJSW push mid! Base race?! Nope, both teams back off.
Edit6: Shen with both Ionic Spark and Sunfire Cape. Crazy push ability from him. TPA take a free dragon and NJSW try to get baron but TPA are already there. A hook on Jax, but he gets out! Skarner does pull Morgana who gets taken out, together with Corki, and TPA continues the push and takes out mid inhibitor. TPA then fake a baron and take out Jax when he tries to interrupt them. Blue minions take out a turret.
Big 5 v 5 battle in mid, and somehow TPA take an ace for the loss of just 1! And NJSW surrender! TPA qualify 2-0 for a semifinal with M5.
[ October 05, 2012, 06:45 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
TSM picks: Karthus, Ez, Sona, Shyv, Darius AZF picks: Jayce, Lux, Mao, Blitz, Miss Fortune
Shyv and Mao in the jungle.
Edit1: Game is delayed while the organizers deal with some sunlight reflections on monitors.
[ October 05, 2012, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Is it just me or is Ezreal suddenly the carry of all carries?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
He's been like that since about the time they released the Pulsfire skin. Kog nerfs and a shift in supports from sustain/defense to offensive meant that ADs with an escape are not prioritize much more than before. Even support and AD carry summoner spells have shifted towards offense, with Exhaust on supports and Ignite on ADs the most common picks.
So right now the "holy trinity" is Ez, Corki and Graves, although for this tournament Graves has seen fewer picks and Kog has come back a little. MF got a few improvements which is why I'm not surprised to see her now. On the other hand Ashe has completely disappeared.
Anyway, Ez will be nerfed after the tournament (Riot announced it), and probably so will Corki, and I expect some buffs on other ADs.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Finally back to the game, both teams steal red buff. No early kills.
Edit1: Mao ganks top, and with the help of a Lux ulti they get the first blood!
A hook by AZF and they take out Sona but with the help of Karthus ulti and Shyv TSM tkae out AZF's bottom lane.
Mao steals red again. You'd think he's the fast/duelist jungler.
Edit2: Shyv ganks top, but can't kill. Jayce turns it around later and takes out Darius. Blitz hooks Sona bot and she's take out. Ez almost killed too by a Lux ulti. AZF take a free dragon.
Edit3: Jayce almost done with top turret, but before it's even down he takes out Darius with an ignite, and the minions later take the turret. Jayce tries to steal the blue, but gets caught. Survives with 60 HP even against Karthus ulti! AZF do steal blue next. +4k gold for AZF.
Edit4: 5 men roam from AZF and they take bottom turret and dragon. TSM do take top turret in the meantime.
Edit5: Karthus gets hooked but somehow survives. AZF do take mid turret though, for a 6k gold advantage after only 18 minutes.
Edit6: TSM with a fight around their blue and they focus Jayce! Karthus takes him out. Big chase for MF. Darius gets hooked just when he reached her, but Ez takes her down with some quick sidesteps and the help of Sona's ulti. Lux in turn kills him with a crazy laser!
Edit7: AZF don't seem to care about these loses; they just come back and take out second mid turret! Crazy back and forth fight and with some dodges and Sona ulti they take out Jayce and MF again! MF ulti seemed to hit Ez but despite being in the cone Ez takes no damage. Weird.
AZF take a free dragon though.
Edit8: Lux tries to steal blue with laser but Karthus takes it instead. AZF take second bot turret with no chance for TSM do defend it. It seems like no matter what TSM do AZF come back and push as if nothing happened.
TSM decides they really need to initiate with a Flash+Wall of Pain and a Flash+Grab by Darius.
TSM go for baron while AZF go for base! AZF take out mid turret + inhib and bottom inhib turret, while losing one and suiciding one!
A big fight near AZF's mid turret, and somehow AZF take 4 people for 2 despite baron! They go on to take bottom inhibitor. Things are going from bad to worse for TSM. On the retreat AZF also take second top turret and blue.
Edit9: AZF take a free dragon. By the way, Jayce takes a Mana Manipulator just because he knows they're gonna be grouped in prolonged team fights. Jayce with a GA too... AZF take the top inhib turret, and now head for mid inhibitor which has just respawned and take it in seconds.
Edit10: Fight near top inhib ends up with a 2 v 2. But while the bottom inhib respawns AZF take top one instead. Phreak trying to say there's still a chance for TSM, but that's wishful thinking. And now with AZF taking a free baron it's just a matter of time.
Edit11: Fight in TSM's base, and an ace for 2 for AZF, and game over! Despite the kills being equal until that last fight this was simply a stomp by AZF. TSM took just one turret and had to play in their own side of the map for the most part of the game. TSM have to come up with something really special in the next game...
[ October 05, 2012, 08:24 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
AZF vs TSM game 2
AZF bans: Ori, Yorick, Kat TSM bans: Ali, Anivia, Shen
Edit1: TSM fake an invade at red, but move instead to steal the blue. Karthus takes big wraiths too in a good start for TSM. Skarner tries to steal blue back, but TSM all come there to stop them. Graves vs Irelia top by the way. Big fight there and Mao takes out the blue and first blood on Taric!
Blitz is finally top, but he's just level 1 from all that roam. 2 v 1 for TSM top, the reverse for AZF bot. Scary stuff for the solo laners vs Blitz and Taric respectively.
With the help of Mao TSM take out the first turret 6 minutes in the game! Great start for them.
Edit2: Despite a missed hook TSM get Skarner at his wraiths! Follow up with a free dragon. 3k gold advantage after only 8 minutes.
Edit3: A gank by Jayce mid and a counter by Skarner, but Vlad gets taken down by TSM. 3-0 kills, 1-0 turrets, 1-0 dragons, +3k gold for TSM.
Edit4: Hook and Karthus ulti on Taric and he's down! Mao also comes at bottom but Ez gets out ok.
Edit5: Mao into Blitz hook but they can't get the kill on Taric. The counter by AZF takes out Graves and Mao though, followed up with bottom turret and dragon. TSM takes mid turret while AZF backs off.
Karthus with RoA while Vlad had to buy a Negatron Cloak.
Edit6: Jayce way too pushed with no ward and gets taken out. A big fight in mid and TSM take out 2 for 2. Graves now pushing alone and gets punished by a Skarner gank. TSM need to stop giving simple kills like that, as AZF got back all the gold difference.
Pause button hit by someone. Un-paused quickly.
Edit7: Top turret taken by AZF. 6-6 in kills, 2-2 in turrets, and AZF with a slight gold difference. Both Irelia and Jayce have TF. Vlad had to pick Abyssal to not waste that Negatron. TSM take a free dragon in the meantime. 5 v 5 in middle, with 4 kills for 1 for AZF! And with very, very low HP they still manage to take baron! This is looking gloomy for TSM all of a sudden.
Edit8: Irelia with a GA... Ouch. Ez with a TF and BF Sword, while Graves has a BT but is 0/3/3. Not a great choice. AZF take mid and second bot turret, following it with second top turret by Irelia. TSM finally manages to take out Skarner with an Oracle. A big fight and TSM take 2 but lose 3. They also lose both remaining mid turrets and AZF gets a free dragon. Nearly 10k advantage for AZF...
Edit9: Ez also with GA. Ez and Vlad with Blue. Fight near mid inhib, and an ace by AZF for just 2 death, and it's game over! TSM are out, AZF 2-0.
[ October 05, 2012, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Great performances by M5, TPA and AZF today. IG was probably the best out of the losing teams.
I'm going to sleep now, since it's 4AM here. Good night.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Day three is starting! BB, are you watching the games today?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Some. I have church conference today (It's a twice yearly thing) so I will miss certain games, but be able to view others.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Nice counter to the Blitz hook by CLG! How the heck are they still in the jungle after 3 minutes though? Wow...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Game 1 looking baaad for CLG.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Too many bad engages by Krepo and Wickd on Leona and Malph. Frankly this looked easy for WE.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Crap. Stream is down.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Someone on reddit said the net connection is down at the venue.
And they're BACK! No idea what happened in the second game yet, or if they decided to restart it. Would be pretty unfair to WE though. The commentators are talking about how "these things happen at lan events", but they're not saying what the heck happened with the second game. Pisses me off.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
It looks like there will be a rematch. Twitch and own3d went down in seconds after the LoL stream was cut off, most probably from people hitting refresh over and over again...
Anyway, this was very poorly handled for the online audience by Riot.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, 1-1 after a one hour game despite CLG getting 9-1 down in kills. That's just amazing.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
5% of all of our bandwidth being used IN ITS ENTIRETY is the streaming of this event. It's just a matter of this being too popular for any streamer to really handle short of stuff like what professional sports set up for things like NFL games.
Next world championships are probably going to have to have a TV option.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm losing my mind with this game here... It's 3AM and the semis haven't even started.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Seriously, the stream went out after 60 minutes of a game with 6 to 7 kills when CLG and WE were finally getting in a team-fight?! What, will there be another rematch?! This is dumb beyond anything I've ever seen.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
They're back, and the commentators are talking about the last team fight and what "could have happened". Yeap, looks like another rematch. Riot needs to come up with a BIIIIIG apology here. And the commentators need to shut up with "and there are still the semifinals coming up" as if there's something to look forward to... Just pitiful.
[ October 06, 2012, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
This isn't worth it. I'm going to sleep.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
That game was the absolute dumbest of the entire season and people were already starting to cheer ward kills. Injoke of injokes.
And then it goes down in the middle of the first real like actual teamfight. what.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
boy i love watching these clowns spend a trillion hours mewling around each other for the opportunity to earn the privilege to get crushed by azubu
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
ARRRRRG
*throws laptop out window*
*quits watching forever*
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I don't get what happened. The stream went down, but what happened with CLG and WE?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, so apparently I took the right decision when going to sleep. CLG v WE and semifinals are postponed. Looking back to what I posted last night I'm amazed at how "clean" my posts were while wanting to punch someone in the face...
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
CLG was going on three trillion minutes of an extremely frustratingly cagey game where they refused to commit to any fight at all. It was literally such a cagey match that people took up the hilarious policy of cheering and airhorning every time clg killed one of WE's hundreds of wards
again
and again
and again
and again
and CLG had turned into an inexorable slime mold that was going to slowly push into base and pick towers to death one mincing hit at a time that was going to take foreeeeverrrrrrrrrr and OH MY GOD A TEAMFIGHT ACTUALLY STARTED AND
oh the entire system went down, killing the stream and killing the game. And since LoL has no game recovery function for its client, even in tournaments, so riot looked at this game that CLG was going to totally win and said oh well since they weren't literally charging the nexus over the smoking corpse of the third inhibitor and an aced team, its not assuredly concluded and they have to restart
second game was CLG winning even more and faster but still being pokey cagey as all get-out and then the entire thing went down again.
then they brought the feed up so we could listen to the announcers talk forever as the teams and the crowd slowly froze to death then it goes down again and a message comes up that they will be moving the two teams to a different private location and finish the sixth game or whatever because the venue was completely insecure.
Oh and I guess there's full view minimap information for the game in sight of both teams so they have been looking over at it from time to time or something! Great tournament guys.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh gosh, that sounds like eSports hell. I'm kinda glad I decided to go help ol' gramps go to church.I can just see myself blowing it all off, dealing with this, and thinking, "Awesome, God cursed LoL for my golden calf blasphemy."
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I'm not sure if WE was smiling because they got another chance, or because they, like everybody else, realized just how ridiculous the situation was. Riot Games *really* dropped the ball this time. This is World Championships, not the Red Bull Dallas event.
Their game is possibly on the path to become a staple of e-sports for the next 10 years, and e-sports is slowly emerging as one of the huge new media offerings. In the next 30 years it may very well overtake some sports leagues. They were completely caught with their pants down.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Still not enough in my opinion, but I'm more interested in how they're going to fix all this in time for Saturday's final.
The one day IP boost provided as compensation is a bit weak too; not everyone will be able to play on Sunday, especially since we'll be up all night to see the final. A 10-win IP boost would have been better.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
This tournament was one of the worst handled I have ever seen. I've actually been to quite a few League tournaments as I usually get press passes.
Having the mini-map, having a non-secure internet connection, and having the tournament outside are just a few of the idiotic decisions made by Riot.
Many now believe that it was a DDOS attack that brought down the servers. I don't know exactly what happened, but you would think that having the largest e-sports tournament North America has ever seen would make Riot pay extra attention to things like having a stable, secure connection.
To be honest however this doesn't really surprise me. I've met quite a few members of Riot, and while they love their game and love what they do, most of their team is under 30 and started there right after college. There is an experience factor that needs to be considered and most of Riot's team just doesn't have that yet.
As far as the thread regarding gender, I think it is stupid. LoL is a game for crying out loud. Pick up any game with a storyline, and you will find some instance of gender roles or sexualization of characters.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I just downloaded LoL after reading this thread a few days ago. It seems.....decent. Hard to learn on your own, but pretty cool...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The community can drive you up the wall sometimes though. It's best played with friends.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
I played it very briefly. To me it seemed like a game that I'd enjoy if I were single and had lots of free time to play and obsess over, but that as a casual player it wasn't going to be good for me.
I think one of my first games lasted 40+ minutes, and that's just too long a time chunk for this employed married father to commit to (without a pause button).
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
True, commitment to a match is a big thing in LoL. Although usually games last closer to 20-25-30 minutes than to 40+ minutes.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Geraine, I don't agree with you with regards to the thread about gender. I think that one is absolutely a move in the right direction. I'm not sure how much you've followed the forums, but I've started on the NA server, moved to EU when it was formed, then EUW and EUNE after the split. On all of them there have been threads about wanting female champions with different body types, different roles and less sexualized skins since forever. Riot came closer but still missed the target with Leona and Sejuani.
Anyway, people aren't arguing against "sexy" champs/skins. They're arguing against having *only* this type of female champs/skins.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: True, commitment to a match is a big thing in LoL. Although usually games last closer to 20-25-30 minutes than to 40+ minutes.
Definitely true. I probably played up to the level where I would have started looking for a serious guild, it's just fantastic. But I can't commit to 20-60 minutes enough to be competative, I enjoy watching it played, and will probably come back one day to play casually.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: True, commitment to a match is a big thing in LoL. Although usually games last closer to 20-25-30 minutes than to 40+ minutes.
Yep, even 30 mins is a terribly long time for me it seems. I recently fired back up World of Tanks, and while it has its problems, the games are typically around 10 minutes on average (max of 15). For me that's about perfect. That's probably going to be the sweet spot for online gaming for me for a while.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:As far as the thread regarding gender, I think it is stupid. LoL is a game for crying out loud. Pick up any game with a storyline, and you will find some instance of gender roles or sexualization of characters. [/QB]
We've been down this nearly exact same road before. Damagingly sexist stereotypes being ubiquitous in gaming does not make a specific example of it okay, or any more okay than it was before. It just makes it more typical. You don't get to use "well everyone else is doing it too" as a credit to any individual perpetrator, it just acts as a credit against gaming culture on the whole that said sexist stereotypes are so overwhelmingly commonplace.
"It's just a game!" is an anti-excuse. It is only excusing and committing to the continuation of sexist culture.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
100% agree.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Looks like the quarterfinal and the semis will be played tomorrow evening. There's just a red post in the forums about it but a first-page announcement should come soon. Unfortunately this means I won't see them, since they're going to start at 2AM here... I'm just glad that they managed to find a venue and not delay the final.
I do hope that they get better at providing VODs for games; right now there are some videos from day one, but nothing from day two on the tournament website. I'm not sure if I can find those on twitch or own3d, I'll have to look later today.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Evening you say?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
5PM PST.
By the way, WE vs CLG.EU is a completely new best of 3, not just the third game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The bonus IP compensation has been switched to the 20-21 weekend. When I'm away in France. Oh well. It's still better for most people than the Sunday after the finals when especially the Europeans will be tired from staying up to watch the games. Would have been even better to make it a 10-win boost, but I guess you can't have everything...
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Geraine, I don't agree with you with regards to the thread about gender. I think that one is absolutely a move in the right direction. I'm not sure how much you've followed the forums, but I've started on the NA server, moved to EU when it was formed, then EUW and EUNE after the split. On all of them there have been threads about wanting female champions with different body types, different roles and less sexualized skins since forever. Riot came closer but still missed the target with Leona and Sejuani.
Anyway, people aren't arguing against "sexy" champs/skins. They're arguing against having *only* this type of female champs/skins.
That's just it. There are female champions that ALREADY don't fall under that. Look at Annie. She was one of the first released, and she is a kid. Anivia is female. Karma is another example of a champion that looks normal and is fully clothed. Soraka recently had her remake and they covered her side boob. There could be more diversity, but saying that Riot :only: does these types of female champions simply isn't true.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Annie is a little girl, it would be disturbing to sexualize that, Riot isn't an anime writers studio. Karma is a good example, except she isn't used much. I suspect if she was, we'd eventually see a sexy skin. Good for Soraka, she's supposed to be cursed, not sexified.
Nobody is arguing that Riot *only* does those kinds of characters. Leona is my favorite character and she hasn't been done that way.
But there is a definite propensity for Riot to sexualize their female characters, most likely because they sell more skins doing so, and there's a demand for it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Actually, as even reds said, Leona does have a similar body type to other female champions. She is more covered than others, but she still has an armor that accentuates her breasts. Not to mention the Valkyrie Leona skin.
And as BB said, Anie is a little girl. And Anivia is a "monster", and Yordles are, well, Yordles. I'm not sure anyone looks at a Yordle and even considers their genders. For all I care they could be hermaphrodites all of them.
But then you get: Ahri, Akali, Ashe, Cait, Cass (even if she's half snake), Eve, Fiora, Irelia, Janna, Kata, LeBlanc, Lux, MF, Morgana, Nidalee, Orianna, Riven, Sejuani, Sivir, Sona, Syndra, Vayne, Zyra. They all have "sexy" models and/or "sexy" skins. Even Diana, who's original model is not sexualized, has a "sexier" skin. Where is the real female ninja? The graying hair female Darius? The female Olaf? The female Gragas? The old wise female Zilean? Compare Graves and Cait if you want. Also, I don't think many people cared about Soraka's side boob, since she wasn't really a sexualized champion (I might be wrong; anyway, *I* didn't care); the new skin on the other hand falls back towards that same ol' body type, hooves notwithstanding.
Anyway, this is just a quickly put together answer. If you want to understand more about the subject go read the thread in its entirety, including red posts. There are people there who have put much more thought into this, or for which it's their job to think about this.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Fair enough, I get it.
I am all for more champion diversity, and I would be lying if I didn't think a fat, ugly, old female champion wouldn't be fun to play.
Except.....If there was a female Gragas, please please please make her with a shirt on Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
By the way, you mentioned getting press passes to LoL tournaments. Are you working for a gaming website or something like that?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
M5 defeated by TA! Go team Taipei!
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Corwin,
Yes, for about a year I was on a weekly LoL show in which we always had a pro player as a guest. It was called Beyond the Rift.
I am still a LoL player, but most of our group moved to Smite now, mostly because Hi-Rez really supports us. We still have a show, but I am not on it anymore and it is on Smite, which isn't my cup of tea.
Our Website is www.blgaming.com if you want to check it out. If anyone is coming to IPL 5 I might see you there. RedBaron and HatPerson were actually guests on our show before they worked for IGN, so they usually make sure I can get tickets if I want them. Since I live in Vegas, it is pretty awesome!
I am a little let down that M5 is out, but TA really played well. Stanley was INSANE with Nidalee, and I felt they earned that last win. Alex Ich really wasn't on his game with the Gragas, and most of his ulties were badly placed.
I would like to see an EU / Asia final, so I have to root for CLG.EU.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
UP IS DOWN DOWN IS UP
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I woke up just in time to see the second AZF vs CLG.EU game. What a stomp! I think this is the first time Ahri was played in this tournament.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
AZF are really looking to throw this one...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Never mind. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So TPA vs AZF in the finals. I honestly have no idea who'll win this. Both top lane players are insanely good, but the question is if the enemy team will allow them to pick Nidalee and Singed respectively.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Singed has really been the star of this tourney. Above and beyond Autowin Ezreal.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, "Autowin" Ezreal had a 37.5% win rate prior to Wednesday's matches. Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
yeah, 'autowin ez' was a theme they had coming into the matches, asserting that ez was gonna be an autoban and or fixture of winning teams
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Since the finals are at 3:30AM here I'm going to have to alter my sleep schedule a bit. I'll probably go to sleep around 10PM, put the alarm at 3AM and hope for a 3-game final! Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Kinda pleased we have an Asian final. I'll be missing it since it's 6:00pm my time, and I'll be visiting with friends.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Dude! Priorities!
I would have wanted to see M5 vs Frost, just to see how they match up, but can't say I'm disappointed with the final we're having. And there will be plenty of opportunities to see M5 vs Frost in season 3 I guess.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I also wanted to see M5 vs. Frost since I assumed there was no way they were not going to be the finalists, but man did taipei throw them for a freaking loop. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, crap. If I knew that the games wouldn't start by 5AM I would have slept longer. I understand the need to make this "epic" and all, but with such a schedule Europe got trolled again.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
NERDS ON DISPLAY
seriously look at all these nerds
nerds
(im a nerd)
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
bans
blitzcrank and jayce, ironically the duo bottom combo i only ever play anymore (as jayce)
skarner and orianna (lul toyz)
jax and kogmaw
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, that aggression by TPA!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The Amumu + Karthus + Sona comp is really working for AZF. Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
dat karthas
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Somebody should ban Karthus in the next game...
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
they did
and blitz and jayce AGAIN.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, what total domination from TPA! Didn't expect that.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
neither did i. I mean if it had been Moscow 5 vs. Azubu Frost it would have legitimately been a close match (and that's legit what I expected) but
.. man taipei came out of the blue and said "hi sam, haven't been paying attention to us have ya?"
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The feed stopped working for me in the final game. I was royally pissed, but TPA looked to be taking the game at that point anyway.
LoL has been a huge hit in Taiwan, but man TPA came out of nowhere as far as my radar was concerned. The NA teams need to get it together again.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The feed shortly stopped working for me too. It came back on own3d though, and later on twitch too.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I am starting to understand some basic theories on the game, and can play one or two characters fairly well now.
It's fun. I just pulled a solo Dragon for the first time last night. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Congrats man. Rule #1, even pro-players playing incognito get called noobs. Now go steal a Baron!
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
Level 28. Ashe 4ever.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ugh. My worst role by far is AD carry. I do play it rarely though, so maybe it's a self-fulfilling profecy...
On the other hand I love jungling. The number of times I've sneaked solo dragons! Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Jungling honestly is hard for me. It's so free form, and I never feel like I'm leveling as fast as those laning.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Hey guys remember how we were talking about female stripper archetypes in LoL?
I remember when I thought it was ridiculous that Square had a character (Fran) in Final Fantasy with organic heels and ears. Welp...
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Yeah, but at least those heels make sense, as the spider itself looks like it is standing on pointe...
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
We here at Riot Games, in a bid to prove we aren't overtly sexualizing women heroes, have incorporated our new heroes' pubic arch and majora lines into a just-fits-borderline-decency-standard costume. And, so as not to stir the pot any, we made sure she has large mostly exposed breasts.
Riot: The Male Gaze, Working Hard For You™
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just reinstalled League of Legends. What have I done?!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
So I picked up Elise just to have somebody new to try out, played a handful of CoOp V AI games, until I felt more in the grove of things. Finally gathered up the courage to do a ranked game with Leona.
I did OK, but I kept getting killed, at about the 20 minute mark somebody threw up a surrender vote and it was 3 : 2, with me and one other guy against. I was warding prolifically, which at least gave us map awareness which came into place later. They took our middle inhibitor then baroned. We just hung back and started killing the streams of minions. They got overconfident and we caught one of them out alone. So Garon lost baron, we then chased down a team mate and killed them too so they only had 3 with baron buff. We then just hung back and farmed minions until they engaged at our base, and fortunately for us they picked a poor initiation and split the team. It also helped that I noticed they were building very heavy physical damage, so I armored up. We managed to pick off the DPS in that engagement, and run down the tanks, then take baron as well.
People had started noticing that warding was helping turn the tide, so we finally got them all in the center right bush, Amumu went over the wall, I ultimated their whole team, Amumu ulted which proc'd the dmg from my passive on all 5, and then we flew in there and scattered them. We chased everybody down except Ezreal. We pushed the first base turret, then inhibitor, then with my truckloads of armor I tanked both nexus turrets, and they didn't start respawning until we had started on the Nexus, so GG.
Figures it'd be a comeback game. Those always take so much out of me.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hehe, I'm surprised that no one banned Amumu. I love jungling versus him since I usually end up stealing camps and out-leveling him by quite a lot, but people still ban him quite often especially at low elo.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
That bans were by an large what I was not expecting. Akali? Skarner? Cassiopeia? Either the people banning were just banning stuff, or I am really not current with the meta game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Skarner is considered one of the best junglers right now, so I understand why he's been banned. Cass is also good, but not considered game-breaking as far as I know. Akali though... no idea.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I must say there aren't many League related feelings better than doing a Leona ultimate right where Ezreal ends up teleporting to.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hehe... Are you back to playing regularly? I haven't played in a while, and now that the preseason is here I'm going to start learning some new champs in normal games for a while. Especially with all the incoming mastery and item changes.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah. I'm trying to get at least one game in a day. I ended season two in silver league.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Is anyone planning on attending IPL 5 here in Las Vegas? I should be getting a press pass so if anyone is going I'd love to meet you. Maybe get some Korean BBQ afterwards Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I'd like to play with people who know what they are doing, but I'd hate to bring anyone else down....lol...it's a fairly complex game,, even though it seems simple.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
We can easily do co-op vs AI if you are worried. My summoner name is "Lurin".
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I would like that. Mine is . . .
... wait for it ....
.... KweaSr
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The incoming interface changes look really sweet. We'll have a search bar for items, easier ways to get to them, we'll see all possible upgrades for an item, etc. There are still some categories they could add (aura items or items with active), hopefully we'll see those soon too. I also like the skill level indicators, although I'm not sure how visible they'll be at my screen resolution.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Ohhh I do dig those changes.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I added your summoner, we will have to give it a try sometime soon. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
There's a Karma mid, AD Urgot (both for Singapore Sentinels) and Trundle jungle (for TPA) in the Garena Finals. Interesting. TPA have 2-0 in games so far and I think it's a best of five.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Diving a Jarvan under his turret? Not smart. (I was the Jarvan. ) My first game in a while, top lane Jarvan, ended up with 7/3/21 (even started something like 4/0/1 I think). I've played Jarvan before, but only a few times, and I want to get better with him since he's one of the most fun champions. Even when you trap your teammates in your ultimate. Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
For those of you that would like to, add me as well:
Summoner name is Vaniel
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
By the way, in case anyone's wondering why I don't add them, it's because I play on the EUNE server.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I ranked into Silver Leagues and 1300ish elo after my placement games. I want to hit 1800 this season. Soft goal.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Aiming high, eh? Good luck!
I don't really have a season goal right now, I just want to diversify my champion pool, with an emphasis on junglers. Interestingly enough, Lee and Rengar seem to have problems in the new jungle, while Darius seems to be a beast. There are still some bugs (monsters attacking Syndra's balls, Jarvan's flag) so I'm not sure how soon we'll see the patch.
By the way, I know you play Leona a lot. Do you think the mastery and item changes will affect her a lot? It looks like there are a lot of interesting support masteries in the utility tree, and if I'm not mistaken Leona usually likes to go pretty deep in the defense tree.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Have they revealed specifically what changes to the mastery tree are taking place?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The changes have been revealed on PBE, and here's a site where you can see the new mastery trees and play around with them: http://www.finalesfunkeln.com/s3/#
The noticeable additions for supports in the utility tree are: a free sort of health + mana potion at the beginning of the game, a free ward with only 60s duration and a mastery point that will give gold when you use a basic attack on an enemy champion (3 gold if you're ranged, 5 if you're melee).
The defense tree has some changes about the type of damaged reduced: the masteries that gave reduced damage from minions & monsters now only work on (jungle) monsters, and the masteries who gave flat reduced damage (from all sources) now works only against enemy champions.
There's also been a lot of shuffling around, with armor and magic resist no longer first tier in the defense tree, CDR and AS now first tier in the offensive tree and no longer required for %ArPen and %MPen, lifesteal moved to the utility tree (same masteries as spell vamp), etc.
Anyway, lots of changes, and some are probably not final.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Hmmmm, the changes as far as Leona is concerned make me want to only invest in the defensive tree, and leave the other two completely alone.
I don't see any of my champions investing heavily in the Utility tree.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, there are some really good masteries in the defense tree too (reduced slows, reduced time spent dead - 10% in one mastery, wow..., reduced CC, etc.), but I'm worried that not going into the utility tree will net you a lot less gold over time and you'll have to be even more aggressive than before to get that gold from kills/assists. Which of course doesn't mean it's a bad thing, it's just not my style as support.
I really wonder how Ryze is affected by the offensive CDR masteries being at level 1 and health regen from max mana being lower in the utility tree. I used to play him with 8/0/22 masteries, getting the 2 out of 3 health regen from max mana masteries. Now frankly the last utility mastery doesn't look that great so 5/0/19 seems enough, with 6 points still undecided. I could use 2 points for the item CDR masteries since he'll probably want to upgrade Tear faster now, but I'm not sure it's worth it for only one item.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Problem is the additional gold talents aren't available until tier 3, so I'm taking useless mana regen just to get to there instead of defensive talents.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
I played Nami on the PBE with all of the Gold Talents, and by the end I got more gold than their mid carry, and I had only 10 CS. I did have quite a few assists though.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I lost 43 elo after losing a match this morning. What the what?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Maybe there are more than 10 placement matches this time?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I don't think so. There must be more to how they track elo. Maybe after being placed it's initially easy to move.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm still playing normal games, but oh man, the people playing there are so bad even compared to 1200 ELO solo queue players! I had a Xin in a game who had 4 different item parts and no big item (not even level 2 boots), and of course kept dying in his lane. In another one had a Shen and a Twisted Fate that had no idea how to play those champions: Shen would never use his ulti and never split push, while TF would use his ulti to attack when our team was retreating and always ended up getting killed. I got the same TF in my next game, and of course him and another player couldn't decide who should go mid and who support, so they both went mid (TF + Zyra). They were pretty much useless, giving away first blood and ending up as the only ones on our team with fewer kills than deaths. Luckily their bottom lane was incredibly bad and I managed to hold it with Cait in a 1 v 2, ending the game with 10 kills and 2 assists. That should never have happened...
Last game we had a 4 player premade who never said anything (maybe they were using some voice chat?) and had no idea how to play together. I was Shen top by the way. I pretty much had to coordinate the team, telling them who to focus, where to go, when to get baron, etc. We did get baron after a won team-fight when their AP foolishly showed himself in bot lane, but instead of pushing, my teammates went around farming... I just couldn't believe it, it's like they never got baron in a game before... We got a few kills but no turrets until the buff ran out. The enemies got a free baron next (our "support" Cho'Gath had no wards, and I was the only one buying them and Oracles but was getting behind in my build), and then came to our open mid inhibitor. I managed to taunt their Kog'Maw and for once they focused him. We won the fight (5-3) despite their having baron and went on to win from there. But really, the fact that we had a 4-man premade was not at all apparent, it was worse than solo queue...
Anyway, I'll still play normals to test some champions and builds, especially after the mastery and item changes, but I can't wait to get back to ranked games. The atmosphere might be more tensed, but people communicate more and have at least a dim idea about what they have to do.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
In case anyone's interested here's a website that shows the new in-game shop and all the new items: http://s3.microtony.com Posted by Rawrain (Member # 12414) on :
I'm quite new to this game I've only been playing for about 4 days XD, any of you can add my shitty skills to your list of friends even if you dislike me AgniToast. -Thanks for the link Corwin
[ November 26, 2012, 11:20 PM: Message edited by: Rawrain ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh gosh. Apparently the first 15 games are all 40 elo games, and I lost games 11-15. Who needs 200 elo anyway? :\
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
IPL 5 is going on right now in Las Vegas. M5 and TPA just finished playing out their group. That was an awesome game to watch. Rengar was just so tanky and mobile late game. I think TPA's Rengar is definitely going to be suppressed.
Sad to see Katarina and Ashe come out of M5 but not able to make a noticeable difference.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I caught some of the games yesterday, but today I spent my free day playing boardgames with some friends of mine. I'll take a look now to see what's happening. It's a bit annoying that the tournament brackets aren't updated in anything close to real time though.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
It looks like they're getting better at updating them. I still don't understand why group B is listed with 1, 1, 1, 0 wins. o_O
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, Fnatic just won game 1 versus TPA! That was unexpected. It's still just 1-0 in a winners' bracket game, so even if TPA lose the second they're not out, but still, quite a surprise.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Is anyone watching WE vs CLG.EU? This is the most crazy match I've ever seen, including some previous CLG.EU turtling game. Wow... CLG down to 1 base turret but 2 inhibs up now and a 3rd one up soon, while WE still have a good few turrets, just their mid inhib is exposed. Rengar tried to backdoor once and almost finished that single turret, but it was not enough. I have no idea how long this will take still...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ez and Rengar (WE) try to backdoor, then CLG try to go back, Ez and Rengar run away, CLG stop their backing, WE's 2 people go at it again and finally 2 from CLG HAVE to get back to stop it! They take WE's players out and now CLG look to finally win this!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Still not over, Oriana came back and stopped CLG! Lee takes Ori out, but Ez is now up again! 3 dead for CLG (one just reviving) vs 2 for WE. WE push CLG's base now, take mid inhib (bot is down too). Only WE's mid is down. WE take baron now! Frankly this looks like the final push for WE.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
WE are splitting CLG, hoping it will be enough to get all inhibitors! They miss finishing the bottom one! WE's Cho suicides in order to get the inhibitor (actually he doesn't even die!) and all 3 inhibs are down for CLG; wait, no, their middle inhib is up before bot goes down. In the meantime CLG do take WE's middle inhib again. By the way, CLG's "support" Zyra has Rabadon's, Zhonya's, Abyssal, boots, HoG and wards. Quite the support. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
WE has FOUR Guardian Angels! CLG has THREE by the way. This is crazy... WE have baron but all 3 CLG inhibs are up. WE finally take them all down, and WE win this in 69 minutes! I'm tired just from watching and listening to this...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Heh, that was definitely a highlight of the day. The next three games match-ups are going to be fantastic.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I had to go to sleep after the second AB vs M5 game, and I must say I'm slightly surprised M5 won the series.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Interesting, Fnatic are really dominating WE in game 1: 9-4 in kills, 3-0 in turrets, 2-0 in dragons (I think).
Edit: WE did get two kills on Eve and Shen after baiting them in a 2 v 5, but with some lucky Wriggle's procs the rest of Fnatic take a 17 min baron. Impressive.
Edit2: WE actually surrendered after a while. Great game by Fnatic. TPA is 3-0 up against M5, but M5 have 2-0 in turrets and 4k gold lead.
[ December 02, 2012, 01:43 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just tuning in. I had to do some job search work this morning, and totally spaced on going to church. So I can actually catch it today.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
edit: It was Fnatic and TPA in the loser bracket final.
So it's going to be a Fnatic and WE again in the finals. WE beat up Fnatic just a few hours ago, but Fnatic has got to be feeling pumped about that dominating performance.
Picks and bans are going to be huge in this next game, but I still favor WE significantly to win this.
[ December 02, 2012, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I only watched until the end of the losers' bracket final, since it was getting pretty late. Great tournament by WE, looking forward to watching the final games.
I was impressed by how much Amumu was picked in this tournament (19 times), more than Mundo (15) and Maokai (14). He's certainly a great champion, but was usually being outclassed by faster junglers.
Cait and Vayne were picked quite often too, and Graves was barely used (3 games), so now it's a holy "quadrinity" (Ezreal, Vayne, Corki, Cait).
Other than Graves, other champions that saw very little play were Shyvanna (1), Alistar (1), Yorick (1), Cassiopeia (1), Janna (2), Jayce (3), Ahri (4). Kennen was never picked... Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
Lee (42), Rengar (42) and Diana (40) were the most banned, and Ezreal (46), Lulu (38), Olaf (38), Nunu (32), Cho'Gath (30) most picked. It's interesting that Ez was never banned... I remember a commentator saying that Ez was considered a "luxury" (if you can get him, sure, go ahead) but not a necessity, which I guess explains why he's never banned.
And the most picked and banned overall were by far Diana (94% of games), Lee (90%), Rengar (84%) and Olaf (80%).
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Amumu is definitely slower in the jungle, but he sets up so many ganks, and down the road his ultimate changes entire team fights.
I noticed a few Leonas, but honestly I was disappointed with how she was handled. Ultimates missing left and right, getting ganked frequently. Obviously it's not the worst thing when your support is the one who dies, but there were quite a few scenarios where she could have gotten out. Or when she can't she should start pummeling somebody so the AD carry can lay some damage on. Didn't happen.
Yeah Lee, Rengar, and Diana were huge this tournament, as was Ezreal. I feel bad for Soraka, between Sona and Lulu, nobody wants her anymore. I remember when they called Vayne a "hyper carry" she was almost obliterated by Caitlyn this tournament.
I honestly don't get the allure of Nunu, and Olaf to a lesser extent. The champs must see something I don't.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
According to leaguepedia Leona was picked 10 times, 5 wins, 5 losses.
As for Soraka, I'm not even sure what Riot can do to make her viable again, without reverting to the healer meta...
Nunu is frankly just a walking buffer/debuffer. His ultimate will rarely see a good use though, and his Q just helps with camps a bit, but doesn't scale, so that sucks. But having a constant AS/MS buff on your AD carry and an AS/MS on an enemy is pretty cool. You just need a champion that scales very well with AS and this is not really the case with Ez, Corki and Graves. But when Kog was one of the top AD carries Kog + Nunu was a crazy comp. He's now just back with a different partner who got better because others got nerfed.
Olaf, from what I saw, has one purpose: beeline for the enemy squishes with Ragnarok popped. He has a skill that deals true damage, and an ultimate that give armor penetration, which means the squishes will be in big trouble if he reaches them. I think he's simply a better version of Mundo. Though both seem a tad boring to play.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Anyway, I can't wait to see how Season 3 changes things. With so many new items and the mastery changes I frankly can't wait to play a Season 3 support! Especially someone with long range auto-attacks who can benefit a lot from the mastery that gives gold for AAs. Heck, Zilean has 600 range, he might become a support + second AP carry like most of the Zyra supports do now.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
I thought it was a pretty good tournament. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get press passes this time as it seems my email was having some problems.
Oh well, hopefully they will have IPL 6 here in Vegas as well
Corwin, are you on the Public Beta Environment? I've played around with many of the new items, and I honestly believe that the entire way the game is played is going to change. A couple of new items (I forget the names) are:
Upgraded Tiamat: Tiamat still exists, but only works for melee characters. The radius of the effect is larger. Tiamat now builds into another weapon that also has lifesteal. The lifesteal works on the AoE damage, and has an active effect that deals 100% damage to everything around you. It is basically a free auto attack every 45 seconds.
New Ranged Weapon: Gives a ton of attack speed. Builds off of one Recurve Bow and two daggers. Makes your ranged auto attacks split into 3 projectiles, the main attack doing 100% weapon damage and the other two projectiles deal 80% weapon damage. The extra 2 projectiles can proc on hit effects. Only downfall is that the extra two projectiles only apply if there are enough targets to hit.
There are a few new caster items, a new AD item with Magic resist that has a built in Cleanse, a few new tenacity items, some new support items, etc.
I believe rather than nerf / buff certain champions to be more viable in tournament play, these new items will allow some champions not usually played to become extremely viable.
Brand for example is extremely powerful right now on the PBE. There is a new caster item that deals 5% of a champions health in damage over 5 seconds. Combine that with Brand's passive which does the same, and you are dealing 10% HP on each ability you land, 15% if the enemy is slowed.
I'm REALLY looking forward to this patch Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Nope, I'm not on PBE.
I'm a bit weary of the AS item, since it seems more useful with on-hit builds which I've never seen put to great use.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin:
I'm a bit weary of the AS item, since it seems more useful with on-hit builds which I've never seen put to great use.
Until now... Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Patch is going live tonight. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Clawing my way back up to the 1300s. I really think the new utility tree is for Lulu/Sona type supports, not Alister, Leona, Nunu ones.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Indeed.
Also, I tried to build a tank masteries page, and ended up with something like 27 in defense. I really like the new options in defense and utility.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The conclusion is that Spellsword might be useful on certain champions, but that on-hit is still not a thing.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Sure, but like he said on champs like Diana and Akali it can be good for more CS, and I think I agree.
There is of course going to be a lot of major shifting in the meta as the items and mastery trees lurch about, and numbers are crunched. If you find a great setup, go for it, but expect things to get nerfed quickly, with buffs later.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, I'm sure there will be frequent changes for the next few patches.
I'm rather disappointed by the attitude in the patch announcement thread on EUNE though, but I'm not sure I should have expected any better. There were lots of cries of "Riot has ruined the game", "we can't jungle anymore", etc. Instead of saying let's try and see what new things work now.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Turret rush Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
So, I just played my first game in a while (a few months.) It encapsulated everything I love and hate about this game.
As always, I'm as Ashe, and our team starts off with two champ take downs as soon as the minions spawn. Great! We have excellent momentum for 30 minutes and the score is ridiculous, something like 50 vs 22 in our favor.
And then, our momentum stops. We couldn't manage to turn our overwhelming advantage in money into anything meaningful. For whatever reason, the team wouldn't work together and kept going off in different directions only to keep getting ganked. Nonetheless, our advantage was still pretty strong and we still kept increasing our score. Seriously, the final score was 71 vs 52, in our favor, and we still lost.
So, what I hated was how I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier at the poor decision making of my teammates, and it was made worse by the fact that we all thought we had the game in the bag. What I enjoyed was that I actually managed to complete my Ashe build for once and was quite beastly.
[ January 01, 2013, 01:43 AM: Message edited by: Sa'eed ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Looks like Riot is moving League of Legends into a regular season / playoffs / finals format to some extent.
I actually like that idea a lot. Gets some unsponsored teams a chance to play professional teams, and demonstrate ability, which will get them into tournaments at the end of the season.
Cool stuff.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
So does anyone play with a group of people? I'm getting really tired of playing pickup games with the festering cesspool that is LoL's general community. Plus, I figure if I play with the same people more often I won't have as much of a roller coaster record ("I won 10 games in a row!" *next day* *throws monitor out window because I just lost my 15th game in a row*)
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
You can add me. Summoner name is Vaniel. Feel free to add me.
I have a large group of people I play with on a regular basis, and usually in the evenings we have 4 or 5 people, sometimes more.
I am liking season 3 so far. My 3's team is 7-1 so far, with an ELO of a little over 1400. We hope to get to at least gold though!
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
I went 7-0 when I first started doing solo ranked for Season 3. Then I had one of those monitor throwing streaks where I got stuck with the troll team for the next 6 games straight. I hate LoL sometimes. Also, I'm BorisMKV on there. Don't ask what MKV stands for. It's a secret.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I've been shamelessly playing ARAM almost exclusively. It's like League of Legends on coffee.
I really need to wean myself off it and get back to Summoner's Rift.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Finally played another ranked Summoner's Rift. I was bottom lane as Leona with Ezreal, against Alistar and Vayne.
Their Lee Sin I think was bottom bush the entire time, and at level 2 they sprung their trap, but we still managed to pick up first blood, and get back to our turret without dying.
It was all EZ sauce from there. It's hard to describe, but sometimes, after a really good early game, you get into situations where say it's 2 v 4, and somehow all their players are dead, and your two players are left with slivers of health, and you know you should be dead, but that early game made the difference, and now you are going to go back home and buy, and it's that moment, the game slipped away for the other team.
I've never played a game other than LOL where I get that feeling, both when I'm winning and losing.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
IEM has been going on all weekend, and Fnatic's game against SK Gaming was absolutely crazy, with an ending I'm still trying to process.
Kudos to xPeke for seeing that opening, but man, I would feel so slighted if I was beaten that way.
[ January 19, 2013, 06:45 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh man, Gambit Gaming reminding the Koreans they don't actually own this game yet.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
An Azubu Blaze surrendering game one at 22 minutes is not something I would have ever expected.
No idea what game 2 is going to be like.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Anyone have any good links to some sort of playing guides or strategy guides for me? I can usually pick up most games meta game after messing around a bit, but this game is so big with so many possible builds and nuances I feel a bit lost...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
If you are interested in support roles (and I am predominantly) Xpecials general guide is a great place to go. I suspect if you look up Saint Vicious, he's got a good junglers guide, SK Ocelot probably has a solo-mid guide, HotShotGG probably has a solo top guide, and here is a solid general AD carry guide for bottom lane.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Kwea, if you're interested in champion guides, take a look at lolpro.com (mostly pro guides, updated quite often, site associated with Curse Gaming) and solomid.net (already mentioned by BB, site associated with TSM; lots of guides, some pro, some not, but a lot of them are outdated so be wary).
If you're interested in jungling, you can find out more at reignofgaming.net, in Stonewall's articles. He's also posting a lot of jungle videos, from basic clearing times to full games with commentary (calls them team battles) or videos talking in lots of detail about one particular champion. He's not a pro player, but he's quite a good one and has in the past taken up some junglers that pros weren't yet playing at that moment (Maokai, Shyvanna, Nautilus, etc.).
reignofgaming.net also has interesting articles on various topics, so take a look around.
On youtube other than stonewall you can find videos from colbycheeze, who provides commentary on his own games or sometimes on pro games. I find that sometimes he doesn't really pay attention to the right things when doing pro games commentary though, but then again, I've never done that so I don't know how hard it is.
You can also follow some streams, although pro player streams aren't always the most informative. You can find streams from all the sites mentioned before, or from lolking.net (some of them are the same, just linked from different sites). I'd recommend Guardsman Bob's stream for a bit more friendly commentary.
-----
In other news, I've been playing a bit of blind pick normal games with a couple of guys from work. God, I hated it. Nobody talks about team comp, they just lock in whatever they want. It's a marvel if someone picks a support or a jungler. Some of them have no idea how to zone out in a favorable bot lane match-up, team fights are a complete hazard, last hitting seems an optional skill, nobody buys wards, etc. Not sure how to tell my friends I'm not at all interested in playing with them again if they still do blind pick...
Now, draft pick normal games still see worse play than ranked, but frankly, not by much. It's just that I think that a lot of players play normals to test new champions, hence the level of play is slightly lower. Or it might be from all the changes in pre-season 3. But blind pick is just horrible.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Xerath for CLG in the first game, and now Tryndamere for Curse in game two. This is turning out to be a fun day. Too bad I won't be able to see too many games.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
That was AP Tryndamere by the way. And Curse are 7-0 now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Curse are really dialed in right now when they play other NA teams. I would have really enjoyed watching both Xerath and Trynd. I haven't seen the latter especially in tournament play for a long time.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Xerath was back in action for TSM, who also won. All three games so far looked eerily similar: very slow early game, with the higher rated team pulling ahead, a few team fights won by them, and then just marching to victory. I'd really love it if one of the bottom 4 teams came up with something different, be it a champ or a strat, and made things a bit more interesting...
GGU vs CLG is next, probably the last I'll be able to watch today.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Much closer game for a good while, but it also ended up with a CLG win. GGU didn't really have the teamfight presence this time... No good initiator, little AoE and not enough poke (if that's what they were going for). Still, they put up a much better fight than any of the previous 3 losing teams.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I watched Dignitas finally stop Curse's streak. I also saw a Tryndamere ban, and now I am sad I didn't get to see an AP Trynd.
[ February 28, 2013, 12:08 AM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by umberhulk (Member # 11788) on :
I want to get into this, but whenever I mention it, everyone tells me I should get a partner to learn the game with, and that I'll just be miserable if I try to do it solo. Anyone want to get humbled with me?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I've pretty much played it all by myself, but yeah, if you can get someone to play with you, it's even better. I assume you're playing on the NA server though, so I'm out of the question. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
BB, you can see the VoDs from the games. Not sure if they're somewhere on the official league website (lolesports.com), but you can definitely find them from leaguepedia.com. Can't wait to see the Dignitas vs Curse replay. I kind of expected Dignitas to be the one to catch up with them, even though I'm a Curse fan.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote:Originally posted by umberhulk: I want to get into this, but whenever I mention it, everyone tells me I should get a partner to learn the game with, and that I'll just be miserable if I try to do it solo. Anyone want to get humbled with me?
I have a low level account called BorisMarkov and a level 30 account called BorisMKV (notice a theme?). If you feel like signing up and trying out, add the BorisMKV account and send me a message if I'm online. I have a personal Teamspeak server we can do voice over and I can walk you through some of the game theory. I'm not a fantastic player, and there's actually a lot to learn, but I can help you get started if you like.
If you haven't done DOTA or similar games before, it can probably be a little imposing to get started. High level players slumming with low level accounts will chew you out endlessly until you get a grasp of the game. Low level play is also very different from high level play. You'll see a lot less jungling at low levels than you do at higher levels. But the first few levels kinda fly by and before you know it, you'll be hooked.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Boris, I'm curios, why do people use things like Teamspeak instead of Skype or Google Talk? I haven't used either for games, but I've used Skype at work a lot and Google Talk with friends.
---
Wow, just saw that MRN beat both CLG and TSM! Two more games to watch.
---
BB, I just saw that Tryndamere was also picked by GGU in their match vs TSM. They did lose though. He was banned twice vs Curse (by dig and coL). Anyway, his AP ratios will be nerfed in the next patch I think, so he might go back into obscurity afterwards.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Dunno. I just have a server at home that I use for learning IT stuff and I figured, what the heck. Might as well throw a Teamspeak server on it, since I have some friends that I like to play games with. There are some additional features like room channeling that allow you to handle dozens of different groups of people on the same server, and people can pop back and forth between channels pretty easy.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ok, thanks, that explains it. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, first game of the day, 62 minutes win for TSM. This is crazy! I didn't catch the start, just saw TSM's comeback.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And to make up for that, dignitas take out compLexity in a pretty much perfect game: 14-0 in kills, 11-0 in turrets, all inhibitors taken out by dig, 19:55 end time. Poor coL, didn't even get to surrender...
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Yeah, that Dignitas game was pretty crushing.
I used to hate Diginitas when Jatt was on the team (I think he is the biggest douche in the history of esports next to Hotshotgg and Elementz) but I can tolerate him as a caster since it seems he has grown up a bit. I like Dignitas a lot now.
And I'm only saying those things from personal experience. Through some past endeavors I've had the opportunity to get to know quite a few of the pro players.
Shushei, on Dragonborns (formerly of Fanatic) is probably the nicest guy I have ever met. I root for his team simply because he is such a good guy. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Aaand CLG beat Curse, so now Dignitas are number one. I guess I called it, but I'm not happy about it. There's still time for a reverse in rankings if Dig lose and Curse win today, but I can't really predict the results in Curse vs TSM *or* in Dig vs MRN.
---
Geraine, Shushei does indeed come off as a nice guy during the interviews I've seen. I'm curious why you include Elementz in the big douches category. And what's your opinion on Saintvicious?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Now a Garen picked by Giants vs Fnatic. Quite a few champs have been played in the LCS so far.
Edit: Although Fnatic make Garen look kind of useless.
[ March 01, 2013, 08:47 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The new ping system is cool. But I really wish there was a way to mark where enemy wards have been placed.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hehe, the same thing was said by someone in the EUNE forum. I haven't had the time to try it, maybe I'll play a bit with it tonight.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Fnatic vs DB right now. Love what DB are doing: Draven vs Nidalee in the middle, Draven actually flashes in for the first blood! Fnatic's jungle Vi took out Draven but Amumu followed up too and took out Vi. Crazy, crazy start. "Brothers" Draven and Darius on the same team. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Fnatic still won. But really poor build decisions by DB vs a double AP composition, and some really, really bad positioning. I'm frankly disappointed; with how close in kills (but not in turrets) the game was, if DB played better strategically they could have had a real chance.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Boris, I'm curios, why do people use things like Teamspeak instead of Skype or Google Talk? I haven't used either for games, but I've used Skype at work a lot and Google Talk with friends.
We use Teamspeak for Mechwarrior Online, and before we used Ventrillo. We have at least 20-30 people on at a time, in 5-10 different drops, and sometimes have literally 120 people on for meetings and for general play.
Plus you can monitor the traffic better. Sometimes we have troll show up, and we can mute or ban them.
Some of the guys have even set up whisper routes to specific players in game, and can give the scouts one order and the snipers another without cluttering their comms. It's a sweet system, although not one I use.
Only down side is it requires a server, but now days people don't find that an issue as much as in the past. You can log in and wait for others to join too, so you don't require a partner to start. Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Realistically it just requires a spare computer...I have 2 of those just laying around my house at this point. I am a geek.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wolves picked up their first win of the league, ending with a pentakill for their Syndra. An extremely well played game from them. Hopefully they'll build up a bit from this. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I managed to catch Curse V TSM, and CLG V Complexity. The first game was a bit of a nail-biter. The second was a good game, but CLG won handily.
Seeing Xerath banned so much is perplexing. I'd love to see how he's being played these days.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
As I said, just watch the VODs. He's got a huge range and very good magic penetration, and in a good team his mobility problems aren't that important. We will probably see him picked in solo queue more too.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow... First games of day 2 in Europe and Wolves beat Fnatic (didn't see the game), while aAa beat EG. Crazy stuff.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SK vs Wolves now. Wolves' Nidalee incredibly spears away their blue buff from an SK 4 men invade, but their Shen gets caught trying to get the enemy blue buff, and SK's Diana takes first blood and blue (2 assists for SK). Very interesting start.
Fnatic lost to GG, and suddenly GG are first in EU with 7-2, Fnatic second with 7-3.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wolves did end up being dominated by SK. Oh well, win streak ended.
Right now it's GG (well, GMB on the screen) vs aAa, and GG's support Lulu is 5/0/2 right now. Yeah... Bought Philo and Kage's very early on, has Ruby Sightstone, boots and Kindlegem at 15 minutes, and more kills than the whole of aAa! Every support player's dream. And he just bought CDR boots.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just watched the replay of Fnatic vs Wolves. Whoever hasn't seen it, watch it, it's one of the most exciting LoL games I've ever seen, and the finish just tops it off.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I can't find where all the vods are.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Found 'em.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Maybe we didn't watch the same game, but I felt like it was super lopsided.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, I definitely watched the wrong game. It was last weeks series.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hehe, yeah, this week's game was anything but lopsided.
There's a strange game right now, with DragonBorns playing with a duo lane Nidalee. I'm not sure it's AD Nidalee actually... They do have Kha'Zix and Jarvan for the physical damage, so it might be an AP Nidalee played by their usual AD carry, with a Soraka support. I have no idea what's gonna happen here.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeap, it's AP Nidalee. They did manage to force EG's Draven out of lane once already.
So no ranged AD carry for DB. I wonder how this will work in the late game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
DB are totally controlling the game. 8-4 in turrets, two inhibitors exposed. And even with TF and Shen on EG it seems like they can't afford to split push. Amazing.
Edit: And just as I say this, DB take an ace for 0 kills, and take out EG's nexus! Wow... Who needs ranged AD carries anyway when you have Nidalee and Kha'Zix to lay out the damage, and Soraka to keep you in the fight forever?!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
OK, NOW I know what you are talking about. There were so many breathless moments!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I knew the score and still wondered how the Wolves were going to win right until the very end. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I think leaguepedia.com has the updated EU rankings, and DB are now 4-4 while EG are at 6-5. From the two leagues (EU and NA) DB are the closest bottom four team to get into the top four. Both DB and EG have one more game today, so this might actually happen, although EG have an easier game than DB.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, CW's AP mid was insane vs Giants: 15/0/4, and he participated in all of CW's kills. Too bad he was too young to play in the first two weeks, I wonder where they would have been right now in the rankings...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
DB got almost the same comp vs SK as they did in the previous game, just Xin instead of Jarvan, and he's going top, letting Elise in the jungle. Yet another AP Nidalee probably in the duo lane, and no ranged AD carry. SK don't seem to be afraid of this though, let's see how it goes.
Edit: Horrible start for DB. They do initiate a lane change, but Nid dies top from a Nasus gank, and then both Xin and Elise die in bot lane and SK take out the turret too. Why did DB switch lanes anyway?! o_O
Edit2: SK completely destroyed DB, 12-0 in kills. Frankly, I think DB badly misplayed this... Oh well.
[ March 03, 2013, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Last game of week 4, Giants vs EG. Giants did let Froggen get Anivia, and Samux "dares" to play Irelia vs Wickd. I feel that the Giants are going to regret these choices...
Edit: EG started well, then got stupidly cocky. No wards both top and bottom, and they lose two people top and three bottom. Giants also take dragon to take a 2.5k gold lead.
Edit2: Kinda feels like EG are completely throwing this. After being 2-0 up in kills they are now 9-2 down, and the gold lead for Giants is now 4k.
Edit3: Ended up with 15-2 in kills for Giants. Horrible play by EG though. Probably set up by their being 1-3 in wins this week, who knows?!
[ March 03, 2013, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I have lost 9 ranked games in a row. I went from halfway to gold qualifiers to almost out of Silver Division II. I am so frustrated.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
10 games. I swear every game I go into it with the same mindset that got me near gold league. Nothing seems to work.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Any reason you're playing only Leona? Do you play with a friend in bottom lane?
Edit: Apparently not, as far as I can tell from lolking.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I just really like Leona. At this point I could start practicing with other supports, but I'd have to do non-ranked until I was comfortable with another one.
My initial goal was to take Leona to gold, then start transitioning to other characters.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
You're very courageous. I main junglers and supports and still I wouldn't dare play supports-only if I wanted to advance in ranked.
Did any of the match-ups seem particularly uneven? Or did any junglers have a high impact on your lane?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: You're very courageous. I main junglers and supports and still I wouldn't dare play supports-only if I wanted to advance in ranked.
Did any of the match-ups seem particularly uneven? Or did any junglers have a high impact on your lane?
A couple of things. Overall I think there was an undercurrent of just luck. Either my team fought hard, but just couldn't crest the hill, or we suffered early losses and people starting bitching at each other.
I had games where I had scores I was proud of, and some where I was not. None of the ten games were situations where I was able to successfully beat the snot out of bottom lane. This is pretty atypical of me, but we'd get ganks, but the AD carry would then shove up the lane and not leave, trying to get tower hits, and get ganked by the jungler. Or I'd initiate on the support so the two AD carries would suddenly start dueling, mine would lose, and then it's a 2v1 situation.
Lots of different things in each game. I can't really say my level of play has been all that different, I'm just running up against stiffer competition (as expected), but now still losing against players I should be able to defeat at least 50% of the time.
I mean, am I going to win 10 games in a row now at some point?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, probably. In season 2 I did have long streaks of lost games (around 8-9) but also some winning streaks.
By the way, I just played my first Season 3 ranked game yesterday, with Ryze. Faced a Cassiopeia (against which I usually lose badly), but this time I managed to stay equal in minions (partly because he was bad at farming, partly because I warded enough not to be afraid to go for last hits), and even got a few early kills. I did get caught a few times in the middle game when the whole team entered a bad phase, but we stopped the downturn quickly enough. So now I'm 1-0 in ranked. Yay!
I'm still practicing some junglers in normal games, but I'm definitely ready to play more ranked ones now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I feel like the only way out of this streak is to just keep playing, and expect to win. So far it has not worked. :\
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Why don't you play a few normals for a while, and change champs a bit just to have fun? By the way, since you like Leona, have you tried Jarvan (jungle or top, or even mid if your team comp allows it)? He's got a somewhat similar kit.
I've seen some jungle Leona too (in LCS or IEM, don't remember exactly), but she's very team dependent in the jungle so I don't really recommend it.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I feel like support is the least likely of all the positions to be taken by somebody who is good at it. There's a bajillion mids, tops, and adcs out there, but not so many jungles and supports.
So, I feel like were I to try doing another position in ranked, my odds of having a team with a shoehorned support go up, so my chances of winning go down.
Interestingly enough, when I have been forced out of support by a duo team, I usually do Riven top, and have done quite well with her.
I *really* don't enjoy J4th. I know he is fantastic in the jungle, but I just dislike his kit, and never feel like I am playing him correctly.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
I had one of those days, BB...Went from 2 points away from the Silver IV series to get *back* to Silver III (Where I started) to Silver V. That was after getting 6 straight victories at mid with Viktor (Seriously, no one knows how to counter him. It's hilarious to play him in ranked and S3 items really make him evil in teamfights). Every single one of those losses was due to someone trolling the team and either ignoring position calls or getting pissy in game and feeding like crazy.
Still, ranked play has kind of supercharged my desire to play LoL...I used to be 1-2 rounds a day or less. Now I've been running as many as 5-6 rounds in a single day, depending on my work schedule. The game is a lot different when winning actually means something (also, getting stuck with a troll is *much* more maddening in ranked play).
And as for Jungle Leona, the first round I saw that in I thought it was a troll. We ended up going about 30-5 and I got about 12 of those kills myself. It was awesome.
I can't do support. I just can't. I can usually do well enough for the laning phase, but about the time I'm supposed to be warding the whole map, I just suck it up hardcore and my team starts bitching at me relentlessly. I'm really bad about warding.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I might try Leona in the jungle in non-ranked tonight. If it works, great, I open up my utility as a player.
I do need to hit the bricks again and try to get some wins in. I will be seriously put out if I managed to get myself in Division III again.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Slump is over. I'm still nervous about playing ranked again.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
you can do it! (in a fake cajun accent)
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Leona got banned out, so I played Nami. Of course we won handily. I don't know anything about predicting these outcomes anymore.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
It's not yet over but no matter who wins it, you guys have to watch Copenhagen Wolves vs Evil Geniuses in LCS Europe Week 6. It's just crazy.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The game is over and now the teams are both in the middle of the scene, both smiling and talking about it. Just awesome.
This is the second really crazy game from CW, after their game vs Fnatic in week 4.
[ March 25, 2013, 03:38 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: The game is over and now the teams are both in the middle of the scene, both smiling and talking about it. Just awesome.
Thanks! Watching right now.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Way to not spoil the result in one post only to do it in the next one. Go me. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Way to not spoil the result in one post only to do it in the next one. Go me.
It was suitably ambiguous that I couldn't be sure. I certainly wasn't when I watched the game. That dual split push strategy (especially without teleport on Zed or Shen, only Stand United for Shen) could have easily cost them the game if EG had wisened up to it a bit earlier. Seeing Renekton get pummeled in duels was kinda satisfying. I don't think I've ever seen him walloped like that.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm sensing some incoming nerfs for Zed, and maybe Kha'Zix... Not sure about Kayle. She is very strong but it's her ultimate that makes her extremely valuable in competitive games, and changing it would be changing Kayle completely.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I think I'd balance it by having Kayle's ultimate last the full duration on herself, but only about 1 second on allies. Sorta like Taric's heal. It's more effective on himself than on allies.
That way in team fights, which often involve focusing one person down immediately, you don't get automatically shutdown by Kayle's ultimate, unless you go for her. She can still mess teams up with her E and the splash dmg, if she ults herself, she can also give an ally the ability to survive an engagement at least for a moment. Which can give them the time to use their own kit.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
1 win, 2 losses. This evening feels like such a waste.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I am still completely clueless about this game. On the surface it seems fairly simple, but so does a game of GO...
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
this is a game that has its own vehicle language by now
woe betide the non-MOBA player who gets stuck around friends discussing lol
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: I am still completely clueless about this game. On the surface it seems fairly simple, but so does a game of GO...
I think watching a couple of tournament level games helps you realize the intricacies of the strategy.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
I get a little tired of the meta-solidarity that exists in solo play. I mean, there are some really *really* evil ability combos that you just can't pull off without good coordination. For instance, I was in one round with a Skarner that seemed to work really well with my Vik. He pulled people right into my gravity well and by the time they could move again they were pretty much dead. We pulled that off about 10 times in a single game and were giving each other high fives (in a virtual sense). Too bad I'm a hermit or I would have friended him.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh, I am definitely close to smacking into the wall of what is possible in that game by yourself. If I wanted to keep improving, I think it's purely a matter of joining a team and making it a serious hobby.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Curse just destroyed Dignitas. Very, very impressive. They did benefit from a level one fight that went heavily in their favor, but they slowed down a bit afterwards, only to come back even stronger and dominate the rest of the game.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm missing everything today. :\
But I should catch tomorrow's games.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
It was kinda clash of the titans day: TSM vs CLG, Dig vs Curse, TSM vs Dig and CLG vs Curse. Haven't seen the last two, but I'm going to watch them today as well.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
If you are trying to become a serious player, Riot is running a "buy one get one free" rune page deal either for IP points our Riot point.
You should have somewhere between 5-6 pages for when you ladder climb.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Nice to see people trying new champions lately in the LCS. Prolly from complexity played Ziggs and Annie, and Snoopeh from EG played jungle (AP) Malzahar.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Now Alex Ich playing Fizz vs Fnatic. This should be interesting. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
LCS Europe was more interesting than NA this weekend. SK and Gambit Gaming was a surprising matchup.
So I won a ranked game, then turned around and lost a ranked game. We obliterated bottom so hard. Honestly, I think it's kinda garbage that the solution to supports getting GP5 items is to increase *everybody's* gold rates. Every single game that goes long, the Top, Mids, Jungle, and ADCs are sitting on 4-5 completed items, while I have something like an aegis, and maybe something else.
I had about 4K gold less than everybody else in the game. Even their ADC who we massacred 4 times before taking the tower had several thousand on me.
The talents for increasing gold are crap, they need to increase the supports gold income significantly, while flat out ignoring every other role since they get their gold through minions. There's nothing *fun* about supports just completely having less item choices than every single other role.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm not sure how they could only increase gold for supports exactly... There's no telling who's gonna be a support. And if it works by some tag Riots puts on supports, it would only mean that some champions that are now played as supports would not be viable anymore, like Elise, Zyra or Lux. And on the other hand, some champions that are now played almost exclusively as supports could become viable/very powerful mid laners; maybe Lulu, Janna or Sona.
They could do something "artificial" like giving gold only if that person doesn't get any from minions/monsters for a period of time. Might make some junglers gank more at the expense of farming the jungle though, and leave the lanes to pick the small buffs. But junglers don't get the most gold anyway, so who knows...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Getting out of Silver I is freaking hard! I get like 5-6 league points for a victory and lose as many for a loss. I remember the good old days where I got 20ish points for a win.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Fnatic and Gambit have already qualified for the semifinals in LCS EU. The other teams are all too far away to catch up with them. SK and EG (I think) are also safely in the quarters.
I'm really curios to see how Wolves are going to do and, if they do qualify, who's gonna be the unlucky team to play against them in the quarterfinals.
In NA, Curse, TSM, Dig and CLG are already qualified for the quarters, and except for CLG the others three can still end up in the top two. Curse have the easiest match ups, and TSM face Dignitas in one of their games, so Curse is pretty safe unless all results go against them. I wonder if Complexity will manage to qualify; they did go 2-1, even beating Dignitas, but the do have a match against Curse that can put them out directly.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm definitely excited about today's games. I think GGU V CLG is *the* game to watch today.
I think GGU needs to go back to their off the wall style. The structured, farm farm farm, wait for that one mistake style just doesn't seem to suit them.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I didn't see their game against Curse yesterday, I'll probably watch the VOD this weekend.
In EU today the only (mild) surprise was aAa beating EG, the rest of the games kinda went to the favorites, although there were some close ones. Giants dominated Gambit for a while, with an extremely powerful Kassadin, but in the end Gambit managed to win. They did split their series, 2-2, which is quite a feat against Gambit.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow... CLG managed to somehow lose their game against MRN. Or rather against Nientonsoh. That comeback was impressive!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Can't believe CLG threw that game. I'm watching Curse and Complexity. I expect complexity to not just lie down, but Curse should be able to win this won handily.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ok, what's happening here?! Complexity winning vs Curse?! So many place swaps can still happen because of this...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Curse made me want to believe they could surge back and take everything. I really wonder how the fact Curse could afford to lose this game while Complexity could not affected effort on both teams.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well... If Curse also lose their second game, Dig wins both games, and TSM wins vs GGU and loses vs Dig then TSM will be first, and Curse and Dig would end up with the same number of wins. Not sure what the tie-breaks are though, or what the direct match-up results are. But yeah, there are still a lot of things that should go wrong for Curse to lose a guaranteed semifinal spot.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
TSM wins....what the what?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
First expected victory here. Too bad I can't watch the rest of the games, going to sleep now.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: TSM wins....what the what?
Yeah... As things were going today I guess it's actually a surprise win. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Some crazy results... I'm glad Curse qualified for the semis directly, but man, this wasn't the preparation they needed for the playoffs! After dominating the whole season it would be weird if they fell apart right at the end.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So, in LCS EU Fnatic and Gambit are in the top two (they were since yesterday already; only the order can change), and SK, EG, Wolves and aAa are now all qualified for the quarters (again, only order can change). Also, SK is in clear 3rd. So other than placement there's nothing to play for.
EG did take out Gambit, who ran a very unusual (at least for them) comp, but yeah, that matters very little.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, Curse really needs to get it together. I get that this season has been completely different from other seasons. Meta changes constantly, surprise champ picks last for one maybe two games now, almost every week you are playing games that matter, and that's on top of the training schedule, but every team is dealing with that.
They need to dig deep and find the will to play at peak level every time. They were *the* team to beat, and now there just one of the teams. I hate to say it but I feel like SaintVicious hasn't really found a way to make plays happen these last two weeks. Jungle's are just a bit richer than supports, and they rely on picks and ganks to keep up with the ADC, Mid, and top laners. If you aren't getting ganks, you're doing your team a disservice in the jungle. Just like a support that doesn't protect the ADC or buy wards is setting their team up for failure.
--------- In other news I had a 2/11 game yesterday and won. I officially can't predict how a game is going to turn out. We were getting trounced, and my bottom lane was completely defeated. I got ganked with a brand new oracles, and I still bought a second one. But our top Sion was a monster. They baroned, we had a team fight, I just went full on Twitch with oracles, blew every single cooldown on him, including exhaust and suddenly he went down, and as I looked for the next available target (I was at like 100 health at this point) everyone was just dead, and my entire team had survived, we blew through the first center inner turret, the second turret, the inhibitor, the nexus turrets, and just finished off the nexus as 2-3 of them starting beating on us.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Curse was very off their game this week. I think their team morale is very low due to the friction between Elementz and St. Vicious.
I've had the opportunity to interview St. Vicious, and I've never like him. It seems like before every game, during the videos Riot shows, Saint does nothing but demean the players on the opposite team, talking about how easy the game is going to be for them to win.
Apparently what happened is Doublelift (From CLG, also, Saint's old team) was talking trash about Elementz. He said Elementz was a horrible support and overall not a very good player. Rather than defend his team mate, Saint decided to side with Doublelift.
Elementz released a 30 minute vlog (Don't watch it, I did and I felt like I was wasting my time) saying how he felt betrayed by his own team mate, and felt Saint was too critical of everything.
I think this drop in morale is what caused Curse to lose most of their games.
TSM have improved greatly this season. I don't think they were doing too well, but replacing Chaox with WildTurtle as their ADC was probably the best decision they made this season. WildTurtle is an absolute beast in bottom lane, and I have high hopes for them. I've als met Dyrus and Regi (Along with his brother Dan!) here in Las Vegas during IPL 4 and they are really nice, cool guys.
I have really enjoyed watching both the NA and EU LCS, but I am kind of let down that Riot has not been promoting the Asian championship series. It may be because LoL is maintained by Garena or TenCent games in that area of the world.
If you go to the esports page, at the bottom there are a list of sponsors. You can click on those to watch the VOD's as well as the actual matches live. They even have English casters for every match! I was able to watch a Singapore Sentinels vs. Fantastic Five game and was amazed at the different set of champions and tactics that are used. To me the NA and EU meta games are stale, and watching the Asian championship series has been extremely interesting.
Elementz actually quit Curse two days ago, and I think Rhux is his replacement. We'll see how he fills the shoes.
That's unfortunate about SaintVicious, he seems like a very level headed guy.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm a bit sad that Elementz quit Curse, but he *really* needs to stop airing his complaints online! He could have been the better man here, talking to Saint and the rest of the team in private and deciding what to do based on that.
When he was kicked from CLG he did kind of the same thing and then ended up regretting it; I would have thought he'd learn by now.
All that said, I became a fan of Curse because I liked Elementz, Nyjacky and Voyboy, so one change isn't enough to make me switch teams. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Made it up to 90 league points, then lost the next three games, and am back down to 70. Will this toil never end?!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I haven't played a game in... no idea how long. I really enjoyed watching the LCS more than I wanted to play. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I just want to get into gold league. It's a goal I set, I want to meet it.
[ April 24, 2013, 12:15 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm going to be away for the whole three days of the LCS playoffs, playing boardgames at a (semi-)national meeting. We will have Internet there, but I'll probably be too busy to do anything but take a peek now and then at the matches. Oh well, had to sacrifice *something*.
I'm really curios how far the Wolves will go in Europe. Regardless, the simple fact that they came from a 0-9 start to 5th place is pretty amazing! In NA, I wonder how Curse will do with Rhux. Changing a player just before the playoffs seems such a bad move... I'd like to see Elementz picked by a team that is looking to qualify for the summer LCS, just to find out how big of an impact he'd have in a less powerful team.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
TSM dropped ChaoX mid series and Wild Turtle has been tearing it up.
I think when you are somebody like Rhux and you get a chance to be on the A team, and in LCS all at once, you give it everything you've got to secure your spot permanently.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
True about WildTurtle. I *do* hope things go well for Rhux and Curse, the problem is simply that unlike those changed during the regular season, Rhux will only have the semi-final to make an impact; if things work out, great, they're in the final, but if not the 3rd/4th place final will be small consolation for a team that dominated 9 weeks out of 10.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
It's true, but that's all part of playing the game. You aren't just playing League of Legends you are playing on a team that plays League of Legends. If you've got a chemistry problem you need to work on that, just as surely as you would a bad connection or not being good with landing skill shots.
Most people just don't realize that, they think being technically good at the activity supersedes all else. When a player is leaving in the *middle* of LCS and right before the semi-finals you have to question just how things got that bad, and whether you as a team-mate failed.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: I just want to get into gold league. It's a goal I set, I want to meet it.
I am gold, but only got there by playing support in almost every game. People fight for the other positions so much that me volunteering as support usually helps the team get along.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Pretty much why I always play support, but it's still hard going.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
AAA have to forfeit this week's game because a player had a family emergency, and none of their back-ups were available.
What a bummer. :\
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
EG V Wolves the servers all went to crap throughout the game, and both teams decided to do a rematch. So fresh game, picks, and bans.
Very frustrating.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Thanks for the updates. I just saw the results and was wondering what happened to aAa. As for EG vs Wolves, what was the score when the servers crashed, and who was ahead or winning in that game?
I see that in NA both quarters ended in upsets. Can't wait to watch the VoDs. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Before the game restarted it was pretty early, and very even. I think it was 2-1, but don't quote me on that.
Either way in the rematch EG made the necessary adjustments and stomped. I will say I was impressed both teams had (I think) an unspoken agreement to ban and pick the same characters in the re-match.
I think it's bogus when you do a ranked game, somebody dodges in the final seconds before map load, and then when a new player is subbed in, people ban based on the previous games bans.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh man, Fnatic | Evil Geniuses Game 2 and 3 were both fantastic games!
So much back and forth, tempo changes. It was just so tense.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Spoilers***
SK can beat Gambit Gaming, they can. But they need to shut down Gambit's Diamond Procs. SK did fantastic in lanes, but Diamond's Udyr had free reign, was never in danger, no lost jungle. In any case Gambit takes game 1, and I really hope SK find the missing piece in their approach that pushes them from contesting games, to winning them consistently.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
**Spoilers for GGU vs Curse**
I just saw about half of the last game of Curse vs GGU. Very, very, very disappointed by Curse. They were about equal at one point (Curse had one more turret and two kills), but Curse lost vision around Baron. Voyboy (Kennen) face-checks, manages to Zhonya's and escape but can't ulti anymore, Saint (Zac) goes in AFTER the escape, does nothing and almost gets melted, he escapes, Nyjacky (Malph) GOES IN ALONE, dies, Saints GOES IN ALONE, dies, Rhux (Thresh) gets caught by a Blitz hook, dies. They did get a few people on GGU low, but killed no one, GGU took a free Baron, got 1 kill on Kennen (who was farming top with no vision of GGU...), then another on Thresh who was trying to defend an inhibitor against a Baroned-up GGU... That was the most uncoordinated sequence I've seen from a top team, and GGU took perfect advantage of it. Oh well... Back to the drawing board for Curse.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, they need a swift kick in the pants, or a long vacation. That seemed to do wonders for Gambit Gaming.
-----------
BTW European LCS Finals between Fnatic and Gambit Gaming is going on right now.
It's 1 and 1 right now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Well Game 4 was something I've never seen before. Both teams just throwing everything including the kitchen sink at each other for 20 straight minutes so far.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
That was an absolutely incredible game. Going to a game 5!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just got home and saw the ending of game 4, superb! Glad I'll get to watch the 5th. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh you need to rewatch 4. Even game 5 couldn't hold up to that.
Still apparently Gambit did not get the memo that they were 15K gold behind. I've never seen such stiff resistance.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, game 5 was more one-sided than what I saw from game 4. Good control from Fnatic in the last one; once they got in front it looked like there was no way they'd lose.
I'm wondering something though: if players think Zed and Kha'Zix are that great, and they were not banned before the last ban, why not leave them both available? Let Fnatic pick one, then Gambit could pick the other and sort of even the odds.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Curse and Vulcan are playing a best of 3, and than immediately after that it's TSM:Snapdragon and Good Game University playing a best of five for the NA LCS Finals.
Not my two favorite teams, I think I am partial to TSM because they are one of the original professional LoL teams, but I'll still tune in.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
What the what Curse? Could not close out that game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Did you see any of the games from the big final? (I haven't, by the way, kinda had to sleep. ) I must say, just from the score (3-2) I'm impressed by GGU. It's nice to see a team out of the big four manage to get this far; well, two teams, considering Vulcun ended up 3rd.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah I watched games 1, 4, and 5 of that series. GGU, even with lineup changes did spectacular from beginning of LCS until the end.
Did you see HotShotGGs speech about the future of CLG? It was very sad to see him so low, I really hope they can climb their way out again, and find the joy in playing again.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I did. I stayed up right until the start of the first GGU vs TSM match, but it was getting way too late by then... I still think Dignitas and CLG will qualify for the summer season. But I don't really know any of the challengers in the NA playoffs, only MYM in the EU playoffs, so who knows... In EU I really hope the Wolves make it back to the league, I think they have a big potential to upset the top four given a full season with Bjergsen in the team.
I really like what Riot did with the competitive scene this year. Before we had all kinds of tournaments, some which nobody seemed to care about, some that seemed merely hyped up by the organizers, and only a few that really drew in all the big names. By creating a league you start to know the teams better, the matches are all important (ok, maybe not some from the last week), and you get a tournament feeling and a champion from the playoffs. The fact that the season is just 10 weeks is also nice, because it doesn't let routine settle in, and because it then gives other teams a shot at this. Sure, the top four previous to the LCS finished in the top four after the regular season in both NA and EU, but the gap was much closer in the end. Add to that GGU's and Vulcun's run in the playoffs, and it's clear that playing in the league helps the lower teams a lot. The summer season should be even closer than this one, which is perfect as far as I'm concerned. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
There was a bug that postponed all EU summer promotion matches, but I see that they are now playing again. Giants are already out (lost to Team ALTERNATE), and the other three matches are tomorrow. I wouldn't be surprised to see DB lose to MYM... But I do hope the Wolves manage to qualify.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SNS (Sinners Never Sleep) look set to take out aAa. It's 2-0 so far for SNS, and they have 19-8 in kills, 4-2 in turrets, 9k gold difference and just took baron in game 3.
Edit: aAa managed to delay the end for a while, but SNS still finished the series 3-0. Another new team in the Summer Season, impressive stuff from the challengers.
[ May 06, 2013, 05:49 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wolves vs SiJ (Samurai in Jeans): 1-0
The start was pretty even, but then Wolves took an advantage which just grew and grew. They did get too cocky at one point and lost two champions and a baron, but they were still 7k gold up, and they made no mistakes after that.
Edit: Game 2 - After Bjergsen did a great job with TF in the first game, it's still not banned against him. And now Wolves also have Shen. SiJ with no globals, one TP on Malphite top, and probably Fizz mid vs TF. Interesting team comps, but the split push might be too much from Wolves. I do wonder whether Bjergsen will change lanes, as Fizz with 30-0-0 masteries and a red pot is very scary.
Edit2: Actually, Fizz took TP too (and Ignite); no Flash. Wolves put two in top lane, but TF stayed in mid. TF managed to push Fizz in the early levels and go back to buy a Doran's Ring. And despite a gank from SiJ's jungle Jarvan, TF turns it around and puts a lot of damage on Fizz! Later on TF took out Fizz for first blood, but died to ignite and minions after that. Impressive stuff from Bjergsen in a normally bad match-up.
Edit3: Looks like a slow game 2. 5-5 in kills, 2-1 in turrets for CW, 2-0 in dragons for SiJ, and bang even on gold after 21 minutes.
Edit4: Fizz is looking stronger and stronger. And after a few more kills for SiJ they also manage to take a baron. Looks good for them. 14-8 in kills, 4-3 in turrets, several dragons for SiJ, 1-0 in barons and 7k gold advantage for SiJ. And just as I write this, Fizz gets a double kill after using Zhonya's at the perfect time to block a TF gold card.
So 16-8 in kills, 6-3 in turrets, and almost 10k gold advantage for SiZ.
Edit5: SiJ end the game after a few more kills. The split push didn't do anything vs the two teleports, and despite the bad early game Fizz dominated later on. He'll probably get banned in the next game.
CW - SiJ 1-1
[ May 06, 2013, 07:57 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Eve jungle! The commentators were expecting a Cho'Gath as in game 2, or maybe Nasus, but it looks like CW want a bit more damage.
Edit: First blood for SiJ, but now 4-1 for CW, and 2-0 in turrets for them. 5k gold lead for CW, looking good.
Edit2: Make that 6-1 in kills, 3-0 in turrets, 8k ahead in gold.
[ May 06, 2013, 09:29 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Watching MYM V DB and I must say a Xerath with good map awareness and willingness to throw out that ultimate can stop baron attempts, and base sieges. It really is enjoyable to watch.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
And Xerath banned out next game. Big surprise. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I had a nearly 4.5 hours train trip and this isn't finished yet?! Was there a problem with the servers or something?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm not sure. There was a HUGE delay between games 2 and 3.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I've seen talk of some server problems in the chat. I must admit I'm pretty surprised to see DB 2-0 up.
I'm really glad that the Wolves qualified; I'm not as invested in the others. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The hook!...............The hook!.............The hook!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, he pretty much made the game. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So now it's DB with the Nautilus hooks. And lane Nasus! I got so used to seeing him in the jungle it's weird to see a lane one.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Great game from MYM to bring it to 2-2. I wonder if we'll see yet another Spring Season team eliminated here...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, well, well; 3-2 for MYM, and 3 new teams in Europe. Should be interesting. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I feel bad for DB, it was their series to lose.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Giants also went 2-0 up before losing. Tough world out there...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Tomorrow is the first day of the NA Summer Promotion series. Do you know any of the challenger teams?
Too bad that CLG play last on Sunday; I won't get to see them, their games start too late here.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Is there a link to the NA teams? I do know CLG is playing Azure Cats (I think it was?) and that if they lose, then they are relegated, and HotShotGG said that would mean the end of the team.
No pressure.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Azure Cats play DoubleBuff first in a best of 3, the winner plays CLG in a best of 5.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
First match has started, just caught the end of their first game. Quantic completely dominated TAP.
Edit: Same thing in game 2, easy match for Quantic.
[ May 10, 2013, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
VES vs TSB game 1 is completely insane! VES are 2 turrets ahead (well, only 1 ahead now), but TSB wins most team fights and one or two of their champions get away with less than 100hp... And there are a LOT of team fights. Finally after VES lead in gold by 1-2k, the last few team fights turned the gold in favor of TSB (still just 1k).
The great thing for TSB is that their Varus has 12 out of their 23 kills (12/4/7).
Edit: Yeah, forget about VES's chances. Varus got a quadrakill and another assist in the last team fight. And TSB got away with almost no health again! Wow... They're now ahead in turrets and 5k in gold, plus middle inhibitor.
Edit2: I barely finished writing that, and there's another team fight. And of course TSB gets away with little health. Now they also take baron... I don't think there's anything that VES can do to come back. As the commentators said, they would have loved to have a Karthus on their team; he would have cleaned up all those team fights...
Edit3: Somehow with 2 inhibitors down VES win a team fight 3-0... o_O How is this not over yet?!
Edit4: Yeah, TSB take a second baron and manage to finish a game. Finally.
[ May 10, 2013, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, actually TSB took Karthus in game 2. They're now leading 4-0 in kills and 1-0 in turrets. Granted, the game's not over, but VES is in big trouble...
Edit: Bad move by TSB though, trying to sneak in a dragon. VES's Renekton gets a triple kill, and they take dragon and top and middle turret. Cocky play from TSB, and they got severely punished for it. Game on.
Edit2: VES is still 1 behind in kills, but 4-2 in turrets, and I think 2-0 in dragons. TSB's Karthus is about 40 minion kills ahead of the first on VES, has 2/2/5 KDA, and has RoA and Seraph's completed...
Edit3: Another fight, another 3 for 3, Karthus dies but gets 1 kill and 2 assists. Might become really problematic for VES, although they still have a 3k gold lead.
Edit4: You know it... Another fight. 5-3 for TSB, with a crazy dive from Kennen and Karthus. VES's Lux gets a triple kill, but TSB's Varus also gets a triple. TSB take second middle turret, while VES take dragon after spawning. The ~2k gold difference doesn't mean that much anymore.
Edit5: And 5-2 for TSB after yet another Kennen-Karthus dive! They both flashed in. Pretty crazy. They manage to take mid inhib turret. Gold is even, but the momentum is definitely with TSB.
Edit6: VES try a sneaky baron, and force TSB to risk their lives to stop it! 3 kills for 1 for VES, and they take baron. They do trade 1 for 1 around baron. Of course in the meantime VES's top outer turret finally falls, and TSB take dragon, so VES is just 1k gold ahead, with baron on 3 people.
Edit7: TSB engage despite VES's baron buff, and lose that fight 5-3. VES also take top inner turret and now a 4k gold lead. VES's Renekton is starting to get scary too...
Edit8: Oooh, that Kayle (VES support) ulti is sooo annoying! Well, depending where you look from. VES manage to take mid inhib.
TSB clear baron wards and wow... they burn through baron before VES can react! VES does manage to take out Karthus and Xin though, not losing anyone. Impressive, especially from Renekton. VES also take dragon and lead by 6k gold.
Edit9: The gold difference was too much. VES finish the game even against TSB with baron on 3 people.
[ May 10, 2013, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Game 3 is pretty equal so far, but TSB's Jayce has 4 out of 5 kills for TSB, so if he falls...
Edit: TSB's Sona is missing the ultimates and it costs them a lot. VES pulled ahead now with 1 more turret and a free dragon. They also finally killed Jayce which certainly helps.
Edit2: Another missed Crescendo leads to a 5 for 2 fight for VES... Sona needs to get it together. Kennen doesn't have a dive buddy in this one, so the Crescendo needs to be perfect. Also, the TSB comp is kinda strange: Jayce has the most gold and is a poke champ, while Kennen goes in each time...
Edit3: VES take a sneaky 2-men baron. Looks bad for TSB.
Edit4: Yeah, VES take 2 inhibs and one inhib turret, even have time to take red buff, and now pretty much only have to finish the game.
Edit5: Pretty convincing win in game 3 by VES. Still need to beat MRN to qualify though... I think TSB had a bit of a disjointed team comp; of course missing several Sona ultimates didn't help either.
[ May 10, 2013, 06:39 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Quantic qualified with a 3-0 vs coL. Haven't seen the games, but the score looks pretty impressive.
Now MRN have 1-0 vs VES. And in game 2, I have no idea what VES are doing. Their line-up: Sona, Elise, Varus, Ezreal, Janna. And it's jungle Ezreal! o_O Janna mid (with TP), Elise top. I'm speechless...
Edit: And with Ez helping the bot lane, they took a turret before 4 minutes, and are now going for the inner bottom one. Wow... So *that's* how you play jungle Ezreal.
Edit2: And now Ez shifts in the dragon pit in full view of MRN, smites the dragon and flashes out. This is so much fun!
Edit3: Despite being down 4-5 in kills, VES are 6-1 up in turrets, took even top inhib one. Wow...
Edit4: I don't know how the commentators manage to breath... This is insane. 5-5 in kills, but 7-2 in turrets for VES and there's some damage on the top inhib and on the bot inhib turret too.
Edit5: And because all lanes are so pushed, VES take a 2-men baron before MRN can even react, AND they get the top inhib turret at the same time, while losing nothing. Tanks? Bruisers? Who needs them?!
Edit6: All 3 inhibs down in one VES play, while the kills are still at 5-5. If there's a LoL dictionary, this game should be all the explanation needed for "poke".
Aaand game! VES get 3 more kills right at the end, but it doesn't even matter anymore. Amazing game from VES.
[ May 11, 2013, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I really want to watch that game. Busting the meta is awesome.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Unfortunately so far I can only find low quality VoD's. By the way, VES qualified 3-2 after being down 2-1. I watched the 3rd game (pretty cool one too), but then went to sleep. I hope there will be some better quality vids, I'd love to watch game 4 and 5.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Riot just uploaded Day 2. So it should be in there somewhere.
[ May 12, 2013, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Thanks!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So, first game went to Dignitas.
Second game started well for TS (1st kill, 1st turret) but Dignitas equalized.
Edit: 5/0/0 Karthus for TS. Uh-oh. Has both RoA and AA Staff at 14 minutes.
Edit2: TS took it slow but won the game pretty convincingly. 1-1
[ May 12, 2013, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
3rd game was pretty strange. It started with 6 mid lane bans, and TS's mid picked Syndra vs Ryze but didn't manage to do anything with it in the early game. Ryze on the other hand went crazy with kills, many enabled by a Rammus (!!) jungle. TS looked a bit lost throughout the game. Good win for Dignitas.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just finished watching MRN and VES's series. Man those games are hard to watch. You can feel the passion so strongly in the level of play, but the stakes are just devastating to watch. VES must be incredibly excited to be in next season's LCS. MRN goes back to the challenger league and has to work in obscurity next year. The looks on their faces were so depressing.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Turn to live, it might be the last game of Dignitas vs TS.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Dignitas kinda showed their experience in games 3 and 4. They're back in the LCS. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah I caught game 4. Scara called a good game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So CLG qualified too. Haven't seen the games, but the score (3-0) kinda speaks for itself.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I was wondering about that. I didn't get a chance to watch the series yesterday. I'm actually very glad. I like CLG being around, and I'd like to see them work very hard towards next year's LCS.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Do you know anything about what happens after the summer LCS in terms of competitive play?
Edit: Never mind, I found on the lolesports website that the playoffs determine who goes to the world championship. I can see how that would make teams who went out of the LCS very dejected.
[ May 13, 2013, 11:37 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The NA All-Star Team and the China All-Star Team are going to be facing off in game one in just a few minutes.
If you are nuts and still awake here in the states.
NA just gave China *literally* all 5 players each person specializes in.
I hope they have the perfect counter-strategy.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
How are the games being played? I've heard something about 1v1s and 2v2s; are these on top of the normal 5v5s? I haven't followed the all-star tournament that much and anyway I'll be away for the weekend and probably won't see any games.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The 1v1s and 2v2s are mostly pride matches between the players who were selected for the All-Star Team I believe.
In addition to these matches there are the proper 5v5 matches between the All-Star Teams.
I'll try to avoid posting spoilers so you can catch the vods.
These games have *extremely* high level play.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Thanks. I'll probably see the score while I'll be looking for the games though. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I am going to hate myself tomorrow.
Err, later today.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I know the feeling... At what time did you go to sleep?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
3:30am
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh, man I'm nervous. NA is playing Korea in the All-Star weekend right now.
'Murica!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh snap! Double Lift just said, "Xspecial and I thought it'd be nice to come home after all this hype we've build up, but it'd feel better if we beat these smug Asians."
Gloves just came off. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Without hopefully spoiling too much, the best team won the tournament.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I don't even...my team captain just banned me out and then told me to stop being a noob when I asked for an explanation.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Damn, that sucks...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, I went to Google+ and the first thing I see is "OGN Champions (Korea) Wins...".
So far I saw the round 1 NA vs China games and the first EU vs Korea one.
NA really threw their second game vs China, they were way ahead but hugely misplayed that baron attempt. I wonder if they weren't really aware of how a big lead they had... I haven't looked at the item differences at the time of the baron attempt to see if they had any champions with a big item advantage over their counterparts. I guess the big problem was that they were all short ranged, so sieging towers wasn't a good option for them.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Back down to 78lp. Clawing my way back up again. :\
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Curse just announced that Edward from Gambit Gaming will take over as support for them. Wow...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Woa! I wonder how his personality will fit in with Curse. Also, I feel bad for Rhux, he did quite well on Curse, but Edward has outstanding instincts and creates a lot more plays due to pro-activity.
His English obviously isn't fantastic, but I think being immersed in English, will quickly solve that problem. I think this will definitely restore in part some of the fear Curse invokes in NA LCS games. Let's hope they can come out swinging when it starts up again.
Can I just say, I *love* that we have LCS now in NA? Honestly if they hadn't, and had stuck to tournaments, I think Korea would have skooshed NA even harder than they did.
The changes to CLG are interesting as well with HotshotGG becoming a coach. I'm thinking it's going to be TSM and Curse in the top two slots for Summer LCS, but every team has a *long* road to travel to World's if they want to hope to compete.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Can I just say, I *love* that we have LCS now in NA? Honestly if they hadn't, and had stuck to tournaments, I think Korea would have skooshed NA even harder than they did.
Oh, definitely! All the big players have leagues, South Korea, China, Southeast Asia. NA and EU really needed this. Plus, it's so fun to watch! Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I had 96 LP and thought that with one more win I'd be in my promotion to gold series. We *massacred* the other team.
+2 LP.
Here's hoping this next game goes just as well.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Another massacre. 1LP.....
I'm convinced the wall to get from Silver I to Gold V is way too thick.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Another win, 0 LP.
I really hate this clamping. There's never a time where when you lose you lose 0 LP. So why 0 when you win? And why if you lose your promotion do you drop 30 LP or so?
This is very discouraging.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Two losses, and -3 LP each.
So much for reaching the summit this evening. :\
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Two more losses.
It sure is frustrating to do fantastic in your lane and lose both times.
The first game we could have actually won, but somebody felt it would be much better to engage them at the steps leading up to the outer base turret, rather than under the turret itself. People focused the front line, and ignored the back. With such a disastrous defeat right at our door, they plowed into the turret, inhib, nexus turrets, and won.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Sorry to hear it...
Does it feel like a worse system than the ratings one we had before? I haven't played in a long time, so I can't really tell.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Alittle bit. It's not really a new system because your MMR is basically what your Elo was last season, you just can't see it. So when you see yourself gain and lose LP you don't really know if you are really progressing.
A system that rewards you with 0 points for a win given the right circumstances, but will always takes away points for a loss regardless of performance is not a fair system.
Don't let people see visible progress that is actually not accurate.
[ June 11, 2013, 09:56 AM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So... the summer split is starting. I didn't even know this, but Elementz is now the coach for Team Coast (formerly GGU). I'll probably watch just the first two games today, but they should be pretty cool. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Pretty easy game in the end for TSM vs Coast.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Curse came back to almost equality in the middle game against Vulcun, but in the end Vulcun won quite convincingly. Sycho Sid played a very impressive game on Kennen, ending it with 9/0/5. Edward didn't really shine in this one, but then again, it's his first competitive game with Curse. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, C9 exploded towards the end of the game. Dignitas really lost it when they couldn't contest the baron; up to that point they were behind, but managed to somewhat stick to C9. After the baron it all seemed to finish in an instant.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Pretty much every newer team won today, and all the established teams lost. Except for TSM in their first game (though they lost the second one).
Curse wasn't nearly as sloppy, and Edward had the Curse letters in his name in all caps.
CRSEDward. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Now I really have to watch those last three games! Those are some crazy results for day one...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I watched the last three games from yesterday. C9 vs TSM took a really long time to warm up, but I thought it was the most interesting. Kennen is having quite a resurgence, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him banned a lot today. I was really surprised to see Coast win so easily vs Vulcun. I think they lost just 1 turret. After the first three games I expected Vulcun to be the favorites in that match-up.
Anyway, Tryndamere for Curse vs VES, going vs a Jayce. I'd expect him to have lots of trouble in that lane, but what do I know?
Edit: He did get pushed out once, but then killed Jayce with the help of TF. I guess that's what makes him work in this team comp.
Edit2: Voyboy got a triple on Trynd, but then got greedy and died to Varus... Heh... Still, definitely made Trynd work so far.
Edit3: Ok, Trynd wasn't that bad... Tough game, and nice win for Curse.
[ June 13, 2013, 04:58 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Uhm... The CLG vs Dignitas marathon was interesting. 71 minutes win for CLG. Gotta be horrible for Dignitas though...
Edit: And after C9 vs Crs, Dig play TSM. I kinda hope that the organizers shift the games around and put Vulcun vs VES before Dig's game. Anyway, I'm off to sleep. I hoped to catch 3 games today, but it wasn't to be. Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Does anyone know why the lolesports has a -1 for Dignitas wins?
Posted by happymann (Member # 9559) on :
What is going on in this thread?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, it's mostly me and BB talking about LoL LCS lately.
Speaking of which, C9 beat TSM, Dig beat TSM and Coast beat CLG. Quite the crazy start so far.
Posted by happymann (Member # 9559) on :
Yeah. That still doesn't say anything to me (the uninitiated). Well then, carry on. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching C9 vs Curse from yesterday. I wonder how Curse lost it. They were 10-1 in kills and 5k gold ahead early on...
Edit: Oh. Right. Team-fights. Somehow Curse were really uncoordinated in fights; and the crazy initiations from Zac + Rumble followed by Sona ulties were awesome from C9.
[ June 14, 2013, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
VES are back with jungle Ez & mid Janna vs Dig. Smart play by Dig, keeping their duo lane bot to dissuade Ez from coming there and taking the early turret.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Crazy, crazy game... VES almost won, then didn't get to finish it despite only having to take one more nexus turret. Dig killed and killed and killed, then after a looong time managed to actually push to VES's base and win. Dig can consider themselves a bit lucky here. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And C9 are still undefeated after winning against Coast. Not bad. This feels like a very different season than the spring split...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Man, lots of surprises in the last games yesterday. Definitely a different season... I'm quite surprised by Curse's bad start; the change of one person in their roster shouldn't really have affected them that much. On the other hand it's nice to see Vulcun and Coast confirm their previous season finals form with a solid 3-2 first week. And C9... well, aren't they something different? Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ok, the EU LCS is just as crazy as the NA one. Two teams with 4-0 so far, and it's MYM and Alternate, both new to the LCS. aTn didn't play either Fnatic or Gambit, but they did beat EG, SK, NiP (the former Wolves) and co-new-guys LD, while MYM beat SK, NiP, Fnatic and LD. Tomorrow these two will meet, so only one will get out with a 5-0 after this week. SK and NiP are 0-4 so far. I'm very disappointed by NiP; they finished last season so well that I was expecting them to be one of the teams to beat this season. Anyway, it's just the first week (well, first two of three days of the first week), so there's still time. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm going to try to catch up on some of these games today.
The Wifi and 4G in my hotel over the weekend was terrible.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
There were some really good ones (and some stomps). Unfortunately I don't remember which was which. You're probably better off watching the highlights and then picking the most interesting games to watch from there.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
No matter how this actually ends, Fnatic vs NiP is definitely one to watch.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, C9 lost their perfect record, to CLG of all teams. They almost equalized at one point but made a real mess of their baron time. Just pushed the lanes a bit, then lost their Kennen in a 1 v 2, which meant that nothing came out of that. Oh well, couldn't last forever.
Curse lost again vs Vulcun though. Ugh... Vulcun controlled the whole match and could have finished it much earlier but went for the ultra-safe approach.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I forgot to write about it last week, but aTn played one of the best games I've ever seen vs Fnatic last week. I'm really looking forward to the next aTn vs Gambit game; Gambit are the only ones that beat them, and it was pretty close too.
This week in Europe NiP made 3 changes to their team... Some people are even wondering if that should be allowed. Anyway, they did pick a win against MYM.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, after watching aTn v Fnatic, I was *way* interested in seeing them play Gambit Gaming, though I don't know anything about GG's new support. I missed the games today, but I'm sure I'll catch the vids.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Strangely enough, both aTn and Gambit lost yesterdays matches vs SK and EG. I guess glory is temporary in the LCS. And I just saw the NA results, even more surprises there...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So... NiP and SK are 2-0 this weekend, while Fnatic and Gambit (the latter with a replacement) are 0-2. There were only surprises so far in EU in the 6 games already done. The closest to not being a surprise was EG winning vs Gambit. Also, SK won their first game ever vs Fnatic after 19 games all in favor of Fnatic.
Two more games, EG vs aTn and MYM vs LD. I don't dare make a prediction. o_O
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I finally watched SK's game against Fnatic. What an enjoyable bout. Though I can't help but feel like Koreans see our games and learn nothing from us.
edit: Except our numerous weaknesses.
[ July 02, 2013, 11:46 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
Guys I'm going to play League of Legends after a 6 month break. Wish me luck.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Good luck. If you play any kind of draft game, ban Nunu. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
BB, I meant to watch the rest of the All-Star games, especially the Koreans', but still haven't managed too; LCS got in the way. By the way, are you following the Korean league, or just speaking about what you saw at the All-Star and other tournaments?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I don't have enough time to follow NA LCS / EU LCS, and the Korean league. I would probably enjoy watching Korean play more, but I've been following the players in the LCSs for years now. I feel invested!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hehe, I know how you feel! This reminds me I still have to watch the last CLG vs TSM game; apparently it was pretty cool, at least from what some of the EU commentators said.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, Gambit crushed aTn. I caught only the end of it, but it was quite the stomp. Glad to see Gambit rebounding after last week. They went back to the classics, picking Ashe, Sona, Ryze, Shen and Udyr.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Just saw that Fnatic's Yellowstar moved from ADC to support, and they picked up a new ADC. Wow... Didn't expect them to make changes, although it's true that they weren't doing very well... Although, now that I checked I see that their previous ADC who was to young to play in the LCS will turn 17 in September. So the new ADC might be just a temporary sub and they want Yellowstar to improve as support in the meantime.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Well, Gambit crushed aTn. I caught only the end of it, but it was quite the stomp. Glad to see Gambit rebounding after last week. They went back to the classics, picking Ashe, Sona, Ryze, Shen and Udyr.
Speaking of crushes, LD absolutely destroyed Gambit despite letting them have their usual champions. It ended in 22 minutes, 20-3 in kills (and that because their support suicided to the fountain right at the end).
Fnatic on the other hand won against aTn and moved into third place with that after a 3-0 weekend. Looks like their roster change payed out so far.
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
Just played a game, and I was "that" guy. You know, the one who wanted to surrender after a spirit crushing first 20 minutes only for our team to end up making a marvelous come back.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hehe... What I ended up doing in cases where I wanted to surrender but the rest of the team wouldn't, was to ask for a vote once, then only ask again after we lost a couple more big team fights (if they didn't actually finish us by then). And then thank my teammates if we actually won the game.
On the other hand, I was a few times the one to rally the team from a bad position, feeling that we weren't quite that far behind. Back when Ryze was even really OP (Q dealt higher damage, had much higher mana scaling, R gave increased max mana) I had a game in which we were slightly better when one of our teammates disconnected. There were a few failed surrender votes (2-2), and I kept telling people I was getting to a point where I'd be unkillable. And after we won a couple more fights *and* got a baron, they got the point and the surrender votes stopped coming. We won that quite easily in the end, but I totally understood why people would ask to surrender in a 4 v 5 situation, since most of the time there's nothing you can do to win.
Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
I really do wonder if it's possible to keep a positive attitude the whole time, because often times for me it's despair and "ugh why do I keep playing" and "omg! what joy! i love this game lolz." I'm considering adopting the attitude of "never give up no matter what."
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I tend towards "never surrender". But I will in egregious situations. But even if I am certain we have lost, I will play it out because I feel like the other team should earn a victory, not have it handed to them prematurely.
I also start thinking in some games, "I'm not going to win, but what can I work on until I lose?"
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I finally managed to watch the semifinals and the final of the All Star tournament. Quite the powerful performance by the Koreans... I was especially impressed by them beating China so easily in the final. Now that most TV series are on their summer break I'll definitely try to watch some of the Korean League games.
In other news, I quit the LoL community on Google+ because I couldn't figure out how to keep it from taking over my stream. Seeing mostly community posts and very few friend posts is not what I was looking for when I joined it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
TSM insta-picked Annie and Zilean vs Vulcun! They started the line-up with Shen and Jarvan. And then finished with Xin Zhao. o_O I have no idea what's happening here. Jatt says they're probably gonna play an Annie + Xin kill lane.
Edit: Aaaand a 4-0 start for Vulcun. TSM ganked, badly (first Xin, then Zilean, and Jarvan never got in), then Zilean got caught going back, and everyone who wanted to help got killed.
Edit2: Somehow TSM managed to get back 5 (!!!) kills. Every time they catch someone they're dead. But Vulcun got 3 turrets (and top outer is also low) and a dragon, so they're still ahead. And just as I wrote this, there's another (sloppy) team fight which Vulcun wins 3 to 2. Still no turrets for TSM.
Edit3: Bad, bad initiation by TSM, and they lose everyone for one kill. They lost two top towers in the meantime, AND baron. And now inner middle. This went horribly wrong for TSM. And they lose another fight (get aced for nothing), and lose the game. Horrible game by TSM.
[ July 11, 2013, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yikes. I usually applaud unexpected champs, but you've got to be able to catch your opposition off guard.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
As Nami, 5/0/37 in ARAM. Yes that ARAM. I also didn't buy anything beyond a chalice of harmony, an amplifying tome, and one health pot, all at the very beginning.
We had a Kha'zix, Ezreal, Soraka, Nami, and Corki. With Soraka, health and mana runes, and the chalice, I was casting heal and and Nami's E constantly. They had a good initiate team, but with one lane and turrets in the middle, it wasn't hard to keep landing Qs and stunning big groups of them followed by the occasional ultimate just to knock the wind out of a sudden initiate. Also helped they had no poke. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Yikes. I usually applaud unexpected champs, but you've got to be able to catch your opposition off guard.
I don't think their comp was that bad; the stun-lock was working well when chained correctly. The problem was that several times people weren't on the same page: someone initiated while the others were backing off, or still too far away to help. Then they all went in one by one. And by 20 minutes it was obvious that unless they tried one risky move after another there was no way to come back against the Jayce + Cait poke. If they managed to get some early kills and snowball from there it would have been a different story. But even when they did get from 0-4 to 5-4 it was too late since they had started losing towers and map control, and Vulcun started moving as 5, making it much harder to pick one and kill him.
In other news, C9 beat both CLG and Vulcun and now have a positive record against every team in the NA LCS. Pretty impressive. I saw their game vs CLG (very well played), and I'll watch the one vs Vulcun tonight.
Also, another interesting thing: every match went according to current rankings. Which means of course that Curse lost again... It's getting really hard not to think that replacing Elementz was a really bad move. Their downward spiral started when the talks about his exit started, and doesn't seem to stop.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm not sure if I want to watch this week's games. Pretty much everybody I like lost. Somebody needs to bust C9 in the face, and badly.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, probably not gonna happen this week, especially after they beat numbers 2 and 3 in the rankings. They have only one game left, vs Velocity.
Who are you rooting for?
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
Nobody a whole lot these days. I tend to side with Curse, especially after they picked up EdWard, but now I'm just annoyed with them. Really I can be happy with Curse, CLG, or TSM winning.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, TSM proved in spring they can turn it around. And frankly, I think CLG are the closest to C9 right now, despite being ranked behind Vulcun. But Curse... Maybe they don't communicate well enough with EdWard, maybe there are still other problems within the team... I think there's a high chance that they won't finish the summer split with the current line-up.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Saw Curse vs Coast, Coast kinda dominated. Curse had double AP (Kass + Lissandra) but constantly lost their golem which hurt them a lot.
I'm now watching C9 vs Vulcun, which started with 1 kill apiece, then another for Vulcun (two ganks top) but C9 answered with a Nunu-enabled dragon. And then Vulcun went on a 10-kill spree. And the second dragon. How the heck did C9 come back?!?
Edit: Make that 12-1 for Vulcun, 4-1 in turrets, and 2-1 in dragons. I don't think I saw even one ultimate from Nunu this far...
Edit2: Wow... C9 traded a few fights 1 for 1, then picked a few more stragglers, and when Ryze's (late) RoA stacked up, managed to get a really good fight AND baron off of it. I feel like Vulcun got the four turrets and despite a 10k+ gold lead didn't know how to push their advantage. It's especially strange with a fed Tristana... So now it's still advantage Vulcun: 16-7 kills, 5-2 turrets, and an 8k gold lead. Looking forward to the next throw.
Edit3: Aaand there it is! A 2-1 for C9 around mid inhib turret, then they catch Zyra for a 2 for 2, but Tristana stays too long and gets both herself and Thresh killed. Which lets C9 get the second baron. Crazy stuff. Still 6k gold for Vulcun.
Edit4: Got sidetracked, getting back to this. C9 finally get out of their base with their second baron, take mid outer turret, but Trist is pushing top lane and TF teleports to help and Vulcun get the top inhibitor! You'd think this was the final nail in the C9 coffin, but I guess not...
Edit5: And here's why: Tristana gets caught by Ashe arrow! QSS used, then Ryze catches her, then Zyra, and Tristana is out. Ryze goes out for C9, but Shen and TF die for Vulcun. And somehow Eve (V) comes back and almost kills Zed! Zed goes back to heal, and then takes out Eve! Wow... And C9 get the middle inhib. Only 4k gold difference for Vulcun. And before Vulcun can even react C9 take out the *third* baron. Ryze with 6 items including Spirit Visage and GA should be pretty unkillable now.
Edit6: And C9 actually push too far to get the respawned inhibitor and only Ashe and Ryze get out, but they do get the inhibitor and there's no baron, so Vulcun can take no advantage from it. Later TF backdoors the bottom inhibitor, but pays with his life (Zed takes him out 1 v 1). Now finally a baron fight, and Vulcun take it! But C9 take out 3 people... o_O So 5 people vs one baronned-up Tristana and just one nexus turret... And C9 finish up the game.
[ July 12, 2013, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So C9 said they got outpicked because they banned Elise and Kennen but forgot about that Vulcun play Eve + Shen. And only picked Nunu because their jungler really hated playing against it. Then switched lanes on a whim to let Ryze in mid, but ended up with Zed dying 3 or 4 times at top. It's really amazing that they came back... In the post-game interview they said that Vulcun's big mistake was that Eve didn't build a Zhonya's and some more defensive items to allow Vulcun to dive in, so C9 stalled and stalled and stalled until they could turn it around. And a very interesting thing: C9's Zed player who got killed over and over again said at one point that he just started laughing because the game was going so ridiculously wrong for them. And they said that unless they keep it going to 50 minutes there's no way they'd win, so they just kept their spirits up knowing that there's nowhere worse to go... Amazing stuff.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Curse vs CLG first game today, and CLG pick a jungle Pantheon (and mid lane Zed, so mostly physical damage).
Edit: Yay! CLG... uhm... completely throw it. They were in control but lost a fight and baron, and still decided to split push with both Shen and Zed, and Curse just pushed through the middle for the win. Weird, weird end of the game. o_O
[ July 12, 2013, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
I thought that bum rush at the end was brilliant. I would never have called that, and would have probably lost the game. I didn't even realize they were attacking the Nexus until the announcer said, "The Nexus!" I thought they were trying to fight CLG as they streamed out one by one.
That Pantheon/TF ult combo was pretty brutal though, Curse did a decent job of thwarting it, but unless you have godlike presence of mind, you just aren't going to avoid that gank entirely.
Curse's game against Dignitas was a bit closer, but I think Curse not only played better in team fights, but specifically Cop identified one or two moments where he could chase down stragglers just by flashing in and picked up kills because of it. Dignitas couldn't catch him in the backline, and he just massacred late game because of all the farm/kills/lack of deaths.
Here's hoping this is the start of a Curse team that starts to coalesce, and become a tight knit group.
Cloud 9 still needs a punch in the mouth.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, still can't believe they turned it around against Vulcun...
Gabmit pulled out Annie mid and Athrox top vs MYM, and won, putting them shared top with aTn. I'm now catching up with the Fnatic vs aTn game (won by Fnatic). Fnatic are one game behind the leaders. On the other hand EG and SK are bottom of the table, so it's not all roses for the "old guard".
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Watching those games right now.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
SK after having all the advantages except reputation finally secure a second win over Fnatic.
Man, I don't know if that was the best strategy, it worked, but getting your team to hold back for that long would take epic amounts of control.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm just catching up to today's games. NIP vs Gambit is crazy... I have no idea how the start went that wrong for Gambit. They're losing every single lane even before NIP got some decent items, just on the base of ganks and outplays. And after getting ahead in both gold and levels NIP look incredible. 9-0 in kills?! Wow...
Edit: Oh, I meant 11-0... Yay, Gambit finally got a kill! But lost two more people. And 4 turrets in the meantime... o_O At one point NIP were clearly just having fun, chasing Ryze for half the map instead of taking an inhibitor. I don't think I saw even one ultimate from NIP's Shen so far, it just wasn't needed.
Got to the end of it. 26-3 in kills for NIP. I don't think Gambit know what hit them...
[ July 14, 2013, 03:51 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
You weren't kidding about SK against Fnatic. That was a slooow game... It's still not as "epic" as CLG.EU vs WE in the world championship, the one that ended with a disconnect right when CLG.EU were going for the final (and IIRC *first*) teamfight...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
In tonight's Gambit vs LD Alex Ich went for a Mejai's on Kassadin (after Tear and RoA). He is 4/0/1 so it's not that unexpected though... (I'm a bit behind the live stream.)
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah I laughed when he did that. Also Curse seems to have decided they want to win games after all.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeap, and I'm glad they did. I saw their match and thought they did pretty well. Managed to see all 4 EU games yesterday, and also caught C9 vs TSM in addition to Crs vs Coast. I'll try to catch up this weekend with Vulcun vs dig and CLG vs VES. It looks like after I said that CLG are closer to C9 than Vulcun their fortunes turned... Still, everyone, except probably VES, is still very much in the run.
In Europe it's even closer. I'm glad that Gambit are back on top and that NiP are close by. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, watching NIP vs LD now and NIP won a fight 4-0 despite being nearly 10k gold behind. Very, very impressive. Bjerksen on Kassadin picks a soulstealer (copy-cat ) afterwards. And promptly dies overstaying his welcome when pushing top lane after getting the turret. Ha! At least he had no stacks to lose yet (but he did lose baron buff).
Edit: Aaand dies again in the next fight. Not a great choice that Mejai's so far...
Edit2: Yeah, that fight was as good as it got for NIP. They messed up when baronned up and were completely lost from there.
[ July 19, 2013, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Of course now that I said that I was glad to see NiP and Gambit at the top they both lost today...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
SK Vs GG was a fantastic game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Indeed it was.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, after today's matches there are 4 teams at the top of the EU LCS with 10-8, one team a game behind, two more two games behind, and MYM just 3 games behind. Yeah, good luck predicting who's gonna qualify here...
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
I think it's great. It just shows you can be last in the LCS and the disparity of skill between your team and the top team isn't insurmountable.
Worlds is looming large though. I'm still unsure if any of our teams can beat up on the Asians.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Cloud 9 still needs a punch to the face.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I wonder if that's gonna happen before the worlds... Maybe in the NA playoffs?
It's definitely easier than trying to make sense of the European scene. Posted by Sa'eed (Member # 12368) on :
Since getting to level 30 I've been losing and performing badly under ranked. I'm even hesitant to complete the series of 10 games that determines league placement. Ranked is so, so serious.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, it is. There's a must-win attitude you just don't see in normals. Also, even at low ELO people have much more strategic knowledge than in normals, where you could even see teams with no jungler, something that I think I only encountered a couple of times in all my ranked games (they invariably lost).
A bit of picks & bans knowledge is also very important in ranked, although you can acquire it by playing some draft normals (and maybe watching commentated pro games).
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
Level 30 is definitely a sudden jump up in difficulty. You'd do well to watch a few pro-games, NA LCS is going on right now coincidentally. Just look at twitchtv.
That honestly will help you see a role being played properly, as well as what items should be purchased, and most importantly when to take objectives.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Speaking of learning from the pros, the one thing you're not likely to see in ranked games are lane swaps. Even something as basic as putting a Caitlyn mid vs Morgana to bypass the use of her shield. I tried to convince my teammates to do this once but no dice. Low ELO solo queue is (or was) very stubborn when it comes to innovation... I wonder how it is now, with the rise of AD mids like Zed, Kha'zix and Jayce, and with several LCS teams using double ranged AD carries (mid + bot or even top + bot). Don't expect 2v1's though...
On the other hand you don't have to always play counters to the enemy picks. If you know your champion and the match-up well enough you'll know whether to be aggressive or to back away from fights, whether to itemize for damage or for defense. It's really more important to know all that than to play OP champions. (And that works up to pretty high ELO from what I've seen in streams.)
[ July 26, 2013, 05:17 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
got a question for you all
1. what is the most epic tournament game ever played that I can watch on video
2. if I wanted to show someone a single game that encompassed the highest most amazing energy and spectacle of LoL, like .. largest crowd, best commentators, best spectacle, amazing game — just wow the pants off of someone who knows not about esports, which game would that be
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
Sam:
1: This one, gets my vote. Most of the game has an average of one kill a minute. Just crazy back and forth.
2: This one, for your friend.. Best in the US playing the best in Europe, pentakills, back and forth, good crowd energy. I would say one of the true criticisms made of the All-Star game is the Chinese audience barely cheered for non-Chinese competitors. Heck when the Koreans won it all one of the Chinese players refused to shake hands with one of the Koreans. Still it's top playing, all the players are energized, and of course 'Murica!
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
excellent, those are good
by chance do you guys have an opinion about what the best IEM World Championship 2013 game was?
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
As weird as it sounds. I did not watch that series at all. Like, I wasn't even aware it took place. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Cloud 9 unsurprisingly qualified for one of the semi-final places in NA with 7 games to go. They played a very entertaining game vs Dig yesterday, with lots of kills, and for a good while it looked like it could have gone both ways.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I caved and have just loaded up my first OGN video.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Annnnnnd it's going to be tough watching LCS NA/EU after that.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Which game did you watch?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I had seen MadLife's play in All-Stars since I always watch the supports, and he's probably the best support in the entire world. So I specifically looked for CJ Frost.
If you want to see a condensed version of just how crazy OGN is, I think MadLife has like three clips in it.
Top 6 plays of Champs Summer OGN.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Seriously, you see those two plays by him at the end of the top 6, and he makes those opportunities literally every single game, multiple times.
Korean awareness of what they can do with their champion's kit and summoner spells is just phenomenal.
It's almost as if you can clearly tell when they are going for a gank, or when they are trying to shave off ultimates and summoner spells, thus leaving you vulnerable.
Especially in that second game I linked, there's a moment where Vlad goes full on bully in the enemy top jungle, and just forces multiple cooldowns.
The announcers call that situation very well. He reached a point where a 1v1 duel is impossible, but if you send two up top, Frost punishes you with an objective and Vlad can still get away with ghost.
I haven't seen Vlad in NA/EU for at least a year.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Watching that first game right now.
Vlad has been played a few times in both NA and EU Summer LCS according to leaguepedia. I do remember a few games in which he did quite well, though I couldn't tell you which exactly.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
MadLife is pretty impressive, but I'll have to watch a non-Thresh game of his.
So, any thoughts on the last week of LCS? I find it interesting that in Europe LD has a negative W/L score only against MYM (although their two losses came in weeks 1 and 3). They have quite a tough week 9, and probably their game against MYM is the safest bet for a sure win. Gambit have games against Fnatic and EG against which they are 0-3 so far; who knows, we might see the Russians out of the playoffs entirely, especially since they're coming in this after a 0-3 record in week 8. I like Fnatic and NiP for the first two places, although aTn do have an easier schedule (at least on paper), and LD, well, they're still first.
In NA I feel like the only thing stopping Curse from being completely out is that Coast is also having a bad time. They do have a match against each other, so whoever wins that might qualify for the playoffs. Other than that it doesn't seem like there's that much to play for in the final week. Vulcun are on the brink of getting a top-two finish, while C9 already has it, and Velocity are all but eliminated. I do have next Thursday free so I might still watch some of the NA games. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
MadLife paradoxically almost always gets Thresh because his and his teammates champ pools are so deep, there are bigger bans. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
As for LCS, it still feels like with EU and even all of NA save C9 and to a lesser extend Vulcun, that all the teams can beat each other, it's more of a crap-shoot guessing who will win on a given day.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
I know I am a horrible person for saying this, but I am glad Curse and CLG are not doing too well in the NA LCS right now.
While a couple of their members are pretty nice guys, I cannot stand DoubleLife and Saint Vicious. I've played with Saint, interviewed Saint, and spoken to him on occasion, and he is just full of himself. Almost every featurette they do on him he is trash talking the team he is about to play against. Doublelift is the same. I realize these guys are young and may not know exactly how to act, but someone needs to get in there and teach all of these players some manners and sportsmanship.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow... Curse just won a 60 minutes game. I caught the last 7-8 minutes of it. Crazy.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So, we're back up in time for the play-offs.
I haven't seen too many super-week matches, but the results were very interesting. Alternate going from near top to a play-off for 6th-7th place after a 0-5 week was not what I expected. I fear that they'll crash even further in the quarters. NiP vs Gambit is probably going to be very close, but as much as I want to see more of Bjergsen I think Gambit is back in try-hard mode and will take this. I'm not gonna bet on them against LD though; LD have proven me wrong in the super-week and if they don't choke I can see them go to worlds.
In NA whoever qualifies from the quarters will have a very tough job against C9 and Vulcun. I feel like it's more of a race for 3rd place there.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And naturally I was wrong. aTn take out EG in game 1.
Edit: And EG get one back.
Edit2: aTn play Karma in game 3. I'll have to watch this no matter how it ends. Right now I'm just listening to it, it's like LoL Radio... Pathetic, I know.
Edit3: And EG qualify! Man, I feel bad for aTn, but after the super week I don't think anyone would have bet on them. They still got one game off of EG, hope they learn from this split and come back stronger in the next one.
[ August 23, 2013, 09:40 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I wish I could catch some of these matches, maybe on the weekend. But yeah, Superweek was pretty weird.
In other news, Cloud 9 still needs a punch in the face.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
They're probably only going to get it at worlds as things go now.
Hearing the commentators talking about the NiP vs Gambit match-ups I'm again reminded that the stars of most EU teams are their mids: Froggen (EG), xPeke (Fnatic), Alex Ich (Gambit; although Diamondprox is also a star on his own), Bjergsen (NiP), ocelote (SK; although I feel he's running more on reputation than on actual performance lately), ForellenLord (aTn). I have no idea what to say about LD and MYM, I've yet to watch them enough to get the feel on who's their star player (if any).
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Gambit - NiP 1-0 so far.
And in game 2 Gambit let NiP take Zed, and pick Kayle! No exhaust on Gambit's side either.
Edit1: Things are working well for NiP so far in game 2. They gave up first blood, but are now 2-1 in kills, 2-0 in turrets and 2-0 in dragons. The only silver lining for Gambit is Renekton with around 40 cs on Shen, but given the assist and global gold from objectives the only real deficit for Shen is in levels (1 down).
Edit2: 5-3 kills, 3-3 turrets, 2-1 dragons for NiP, but the teams are equal in gold, with Gambit farming much better than NiP (especially Renekton and Kayle). And in the meantime Kayle takes bottom inner turret to put Gambit slightly ahead. Kayle is also 3 levels ahead of Zed. Looks like things are going in Gambit's favor.
Edit3: Although Zed closes the level difference in no time by split pushing. He's now 17 to Kayle's 18, and will probably get even soon enough.
Edit4: Bjerksen's Zed goes in against Alex's Kayle and gets the ulti off before the Intervention, and even gets shielded by Shen, but Kayle turns it around and kills Zed! Then NiP try to pick a kill on a MF, but end up losing two people and giving up baron. Suddenly it looks bleak for NiP.
Edit5: Or maybe NiP do have an answer! Shen taunts Kayle and Zed immediately kills her! A 3-2 fight for NiP. They're still down 6k gold, 4 turrets and the middle inhibitor though. New team fight and SAME THING! 2 for 0 for NiP, with both Kayle and MF killed. Zed didn't even ulti Kayle, just straight up killed her, and ultied MF. A one kill each fight at baron, but it's Cait dead for NiP so they're at a bit of disadvantage. Gambit don't push it though and Cait will be back in time for the next fight. I feel like it's a fight between Kayle and Shen at this point.
Edit6: Yet another team fight win (3-2) for NiP, but they can't chase because of their lanes being pushed and the open mid inhib. Aaand Kayle picks a GA! Oh man.
Edit7: Gambit take advantage of the minion push on the bottom turret and take an uncontested baron, then catch Aatrox on the retreat! They push towards mid inhib, take it out, and Kayle flashes for a 1-shot on Caitlyn! Game over and Gambit qualify for the semis. NiP put up a good fight though.
[ August 23, 2013, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I caught the tail-end of GG V LDs. The better team won, but I think Worlds is going to be a pretty rough for NA and EU. You watch the replays of those fights, and there are so many mistakes being made. Things are just not tight enough.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I saw only Fnatic vs EG, I'm cathing up with Gambit vs LD right now. Fnatic played very well in game 1, but game 2 was very close until EG made a few mistakes and lost it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: I caught the tail-end of GG V LDs. The better team won, but I think Worlds is going to be a pretty rough for NA and EU. You watch the replays of those fights, and there are so many mistakes being made. Things are just not tight enough.
Definitely the better team won. I thought Gambit made way too many mistakes in both games. I thought LD did pretty good though... We'll see at worlds.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
First EG vs Gambit game is really sad for Gambit so far. They're down 8-0 in kills and 5-0 in turrets, despite having a Karthus and Shen for the global presence.
Edit: Total blowout by EG. Gambit found a few kills and turrets, but they really looked out of it from very early on. The Zac + Aatrox dive team of EG were perfect.
[ August 25, 2013, 04:04 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm not gonna spoil the rest for whoever still wants to watch the games, but I'll just say that the grand final was less rewarding than the small one. The fact that both team were already qualified AND that the EU #1 won't get seeded into the quarters at worlds means that there was much less to play for.
Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :
Fun Fact:
The Soviet Union was Communism.
The European Union is Socialism.
Both are/were headed by groups of unelected bureaucrats.
Soviet Union: Politburo European Union: European Commission.
The European Union is a joke. Ask any British person.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: I'm not gonna spoil the rest for whoever still wants to watch the games, but I'll just say that the grand final was less rewarding than the small one. The fact that both team were already qualified AND that the EU #1 won't get seeded into the quarters at worlds means that there was much less to play for.
Yeah, I realized that yesterday. Sucks when it comes down to that, and refs have to pay close attention to ensure no team is intentionally throwing the game, but it does sap energy.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, it was much less but still "interesting" enough for the teams. The prize for first place is $50k, double the prize for second, and the winner will (nominally at least) have the easier group at worlds. Plus the bragging rights for being #1 EU. But yeah, having to play a best of 5 after having fought for their World Championship survival yesterday would make everyone drop a notch in concentration.
At least in the NA LCS the winner is seeded into the quarters, so there's a *lot* to play for there.
Anyway, I was just thinking: with the formation of all those smaller regions it's going to be a hell of a job keeping track of the best teams and strategies out there. I wonder how much the meta will fragment because of it, especially in terms of valuing one champion or the other. I remember when NA and EU thought that Ezreal was crap while Korea was using him all the time, or when EU was using Eve and you'd never see her in NA, etc.
I hope we'll have some cool surprises at the Worlds. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just saw that either CJ Entus Blaze or Frost won't make it to the World Championship. Can't wait to see who beat *them*!
Edit: Or maybe not. According to this: Korean circuit points, only one team is already qualified, so both Blaze and Frost might sneak through.
[ August 26, 2013, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
Is there any sort of schedule posted for Worlds? I'd like to try to catch some of it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
By the way, the already qualified Korean team is probably not listed because they don't know if they'll end up first or second yet.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
CLG and Curse are battling each other today to avoid relegation. I'm still shaking my head over Curse losing to Dignitas yesterday.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I haven't seen yesterday's games (and I'm not particularly inclined to watch the relegation battle, although now that I know it's on...). I'll probably watch the 3rd/4th place match tomorrow, as everything else starts pretty late here, and catch up with today's semis and tomorrow's final on VoDs.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ugh. A lot of bad play from Curse in the second game so far...
Edit: And they lose. Oh well.
[ August 31, 2013, 06:27 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah. I feel bad for Edward, jumping ship from arguably the second best team in Europe to relegation in NA.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I kinda expect him to try to move to another team, especially if Curse don't qualify for season 4. Actually I don't see Curse surviving not playing in season 4. Hope I'm wrong and they try to get back to more winning ways without too many roster changes, but right now I'm not holding my breath.
As for the semis, I wonder how much the pressure will matter for Vulcun and C9. Although I expect C9 are way too confident to let pressure get to them. And Vulcun came here after a 5-0 super-week AND a victory over C9... Yeah... If TSM pulls off a win it's gonna be a surprise, if Dig wins it's gonna be a miracle.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hmm, I might hate myself tomorrow, but I'm really curious to see how TSM will be doing. Their comp is pretty strange, 3 APs and no tanks? Hmm...
Edit: Wow... That actually worked pretty well... They somehow managed to play around Karthus's long ulti cooldown since he didn't get blue, and with all that back-line damage they didn't even need tanks.
[ August 31, 2013, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Man! TSM making it look easy in game one against Vulcan. It would be so outstanding if they took the series.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Maybe Vulcun will let TSM pick Karthus again and last pick Soraka! Seriously now, if they don't ban Karthus they're asking for it.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Well it was a few things. Despite the first blood on Dyrus, they honestly weren't shutting down Karthus, which means if you don't get work done before level 6, he doesn't even have to come down to participate in fights, but he also pulls one of your players up top. Which opened up those two gold dragons.
But yeah, I think Karthus is getting banned, but that shouldn't really slow down Dyrus.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh, man. Vulcun with the mind games.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, of course Vulcun ban Karthus. I'm way too tired to watch the rest of the games though.
Edit: Nevermind. TSM is really killing it in teamfights. I have to see at least the end of this game.
Edit2: That *sneaky* baron! Great use of TP, but good for TSM to take out the buff from most Vulcun champions.
[ August 31, 2013, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Woooow... Very, very impressive by TSM.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
That was all team fight coordination, and TSM had the right moves for closing out fights. Vulcun wasn't slouching, but TSM clearly managed to eek out just a few more seconds of performance during those fights.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
C9 beat Dignitas 2-0, no surprises there.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching their first game right now and Dig started very well, but what the heck happened afterwards? From 6-2 for Dig in kills it went to 7-6 for C9. And then 10-6 *and* baron. Are you kidding me?!
Edit: Yeah, no more kills for Dig after the first 6. Incredible...
Now I really want to see how C9 do at worlds.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
tsm...tsm...tsm... :\
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I watched the first game, and from the scoreboards in the others I see things went pretty much the same way in all three. Who knows? NA might have the first team that can challenge the Asians. But I'm a bit disappointed with TSM, especially after their performance against Vulcun.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Watched the rest. It went from bad to worse for TSM...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah. I'm still not sure Cloud 9 is ready for Worlds, but even I will get squarely behind them when they are playing other countries. They are still Americans. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Which begs the question. If CURSE NA starts recruiting players from say OGN at what point is that stopped? I mean Edward is on Curse, but he's from Europe.
What rules are there for an NA team fielding a Chinese team for example and trying to dominate the league?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I don't think it should matter if someone's from Europe and not OGN or vice versa. Either put a quota for people who aren't citizens of a country in the region, or let everyone play where they want. Although the quota might not fly in Europe where the EU rejected a similar quota in football calling it discriminatory. There's another quota now based not on nationality but on having a certain number of players who've played in the team's youth academy, but I'm not sure how that would work with LoL. Especially for such small teams. Also, if you include reserves you could see teams having 3 out of 5 starting players from OGN, 2 from the region and 3 more reserves from the region which wouldn't really solve the problem.
Anyway, there's still the language barrier in some cases, not only between the players (could be countered by bringing a full team) but also with fans and/or sponsors. And the fact that they'd have to find players with both the desired quality (and role) and the willingness to move that far.
So as of yet I'm not really worried about this being a possibility.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Also, BloodWater (Vulcun) is Bulgarian and Nyjacky is Chinese, so Edward isn't the first/only "outsider" in NA.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
There's been some talk lately about season 4, especially about support/jungler gold and support spending on consumables (mainly wards). I wonder where they'll go with this. Maybe add some lane/jungle items that provide wards, so that supports don't have to buy them all? Of course the problem with that would be that supports might still buy wards and just light up the map, and then if you're not Nocturne/Zac/Shen you can't gank from the jungle... If they reduce the vision radius then supports would still buy wards to counter the vision reduction. I'm not even sure limiting the number of wards would work unless they want to do something drastic (no more than 2 wards of each maybe?). Or who knows, some of the support items would provide wards too (Shurelya's, Locket, etc. - I'm writing "etc" but in truth supports rarely get to finish even these two in addition to the Sightstone), so that they'd have more of an incentive to buy items instead of straight up wards?! Anyway the NA thread is huge (101 pages and it's only 1 day old), so I hope there are some good ideas in there.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And speaking of forums, there's a thread about this on EUW, but none on EUNE. If I were still playing and implicated in the forum life I'd be pissed that EUNE is again considered second tier...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
There are some great ideas even on the last page of the EUW thread: Ruby Sightstone passive that gives a discount for wards, a player can't place more than 5 wards on the map (kinda adapted from Sightstone but used for all wards), a mastery that gives "credit" on killing wards to buying wards, pink wards as invisibility detection only but needing the vision of a champion/ward/allied something to "function", etc. I just hope that rioters have enough time to sift through both threads and find the best ideas. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm sure they have designers working on it, I'd be surprised if they didn't have moderators forwarding the best ideas.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Oh yeah, definitely. It wasn't perhaps obvious from my post but the threads were started by a Rioter (hence my bitching about no EUNE thread). It's just the number of posts that amazes/scares me. If there were 4-5 ideas on one page, going through 100+ on NA and 60+ on EUW is gonna take a while.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just looked at the schedule of the World Championship on leaguepedia. Looks like I'm going to watch mostly replays again... The final starts at 5AM CET (so 6AM for me on a Saturday). If there's gonna be a pre-game ceremony I might actually get to watch the final live without straining my sleep schedule too much.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I might be limited to replays as well. But more because school takes all my time.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Surprisingly I caught game one about 15 minutes in. TSM pretty much cleaned house, but I have to say I am not sure how wise it is to let your team become sloppy when they are far ahead.
On the one hand it's relaxing to cut loose a little and have fun. But on the other, if you demand constant discipline from your team regardless of the game they are in, you get that when it becomes hard to keep your composure.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, we'll see soon enough. They have another game against OMG right after SKT T1 vs LD.
I'm really curious how the SKT T1 vs LD game will go, if LD can actually put up a real fight. GG.EU vs TSM seemed like a warm-up. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh I really hope LDs can trounce a Korean team. It would make me feel *way* better about C9 and TSMs chances.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Grr, this is taking too long... I'll probably watch one more game and then go to sleep.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Swain for LD! Wow...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
That's... sad... Good start but that was it for LD. And Swain didn't do much, did he?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, I'm out. Good night.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So, OMG beat SKT T1 in group A, while Vulcun beat Fnatic and Gambit beat Ozone in group B. I can't wait to see those games. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So Fnatic also beat Ozone, and Gambit beat Vulcun. I watched the day 1 games, and Vulcun was doing really well against Ozone for a good while, but made too many mistakes in the end. Fnatic on the other hand went behind against Vulcun from very early on (two kills at level 1) and never recovered.
I'm now awake just in time to see Fnatic vs Gambit. Fnatic with the double reviving champions Zac solo and Aatrox in the jungle, and with Leona support, while Gambit has Shyvana (!!) solo and Xin Zhao jungle. Gambit swapped lanes so Shyvana is in a 1 v 2 lane.
Fnatic did just take a kill in bottom lane with a three man dive which turned into a BF sword for Varus, but they didn't take the turret. Later on Gambit got a similar kill top, top turret and enemy blue while Gambit took dragon, Gambit's blue and later on bottom turret. Fnatic with just a 500 gold lead despite one dragon and first kill advantage.
And just as I typed this a great CC chain from Varus and Leona take out Gambit's MF. First little mistake of the game, as MF was pushed too far there. A bit later TF tries to get a kill top on Zac but he gets away, and Fnatic answers in mid, getting the turret. Gambit on the other hand take *both* remaining top turrets, including the inhibitor one. Fnatic take bottom inner, a kill on a yet again pushed Genja MF (really dude, stop it), and dragon. Aaand a pause.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, Fnatic getting kills after kills, and it's now 8-1. Amazing play for both Leona and Varus. And at the last team fight MF had already used her ulti so didn't have it available. Gambit really need to concentrate on fights more. Still, Fnatic only just took a turret after all those kills (inner middle). They almost take inhibitor middle, but Gambit stop them. and while Gambit pushes out, Fnatic lay a trap and take out Sona in an instant (and dragon afterwards). Fnatic in control here but only a 4.5k gold lead, so it's not over by any means. The momentum is definitely with Fnatic though.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Gambit take baron! And lose three people for one for it. Oh well. Better than leaving it for Fnatic, but now Fnatic finish off inhibitor turret and middle inhibitor.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Gambit lay a trap in top lane but Fnatic come back in force to take out 3 people for 0. The item difference is getting too much for Gambit to handle. The double revive champs doesn't help them either. Fnatic now took all inhibitor turrets; middle inhib will respawn soon but Fnatic can pick whichever lane they want and I don't think Gambit can do anything. Nope. Another Leona perfect ulti and first Xin, then Sona and Shyvanna are taken out. Two inhibs dead, TF killed on the fountain, and game over. 21 kills to 3 (well, to 4 after a fountain dive ). Amazing play from Fnatic. Much better than what they did against Vulcun.
Well, I'm off to work now. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm all jealous n' stuff.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Of me?
Anyway, Leona and Varus were really the stars of that one. And MF (and to a lesser point Shyvanna) the black holes, so to speak. Really an off game for Gambit. I'll watch Ozone vs Fnatic and Gambit vs Vulcun tonight. Nice to see Fnatic and Gambit at the top of the group. Although I have to admit, the thing I'm really waiting for is to see C9 play. (I know, I know...)
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Like I said, I think C9 needs to get punched in the face, but they are an American team, so I will still root for them. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just watched Gambit vs Vulcun and it was pretty much perfect play by Gambit. Vulcun made a few mistakes and Gambit took every small advantage and never gave Vulcun a chance to get back in. Too bad they couldn't play at the same level against Fnatic. Their bottom lane played much better vs Vulcun despite (or maybe because of) the fact that there wasn't much synergy between Sona and Kog'Maw.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Watched Ozone vs Fnatic and I quite liked Fnatic's team comp. Ozone's Kog'Maw was kind of a sitting duck against Lyssandra, Orianna and Leona even with the benefit of a Shen.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
One (not quite) surprise as TSM wins against LD, but OMG win against LD and GG while SKT T1 win against GG and TSM. I just caught the last one, and TSM made way too many mistakes to even hope to win. From Dyrus giving away kills in top lane to several facechecks and fights in which they were separated and picked off one by one.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Those kind of mistakes sound like fatigue.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, probably. Even Gambit after their game against Vulcun played quite badly vs Fnatic. Not to take anything from the winning teams, but some of those games feel lost instead of won. I wonder if it's also a question of discipline, as these players are good enough to know they've made a mistake, but in some games they make the same mistake twice or three times. The morale and the discipline might be shot after the first few times and they don't recover. There have been few comebacks so far from what I've watched and the scores I've seen. The only one that comes to mind is Ozone's vs Vulcun. LD started well vs SKT T1 but not that well as to call SKT T1's win a comeback.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching LD vs OMG now, and it's a very, very good game for both so far. OMG with the turret lead at 28 minutes but LD with the better team fights somehow: great Sona ulties and extraordinary play from Fizz, even against Ahri, Kennen and Zyra. I wonder if this ends in a big teamfight that leaves one team unable to defend their base.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ugh, just as I said that LD tried to tower-dive OMG and lost two people and then baron. Still just 2k gold difference, so that's very small, but OMG might pick more advantages with baron. And they do, finishing mid inhib turret and inhibitor. What can you do against level 18 baronned-up Tristana?!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, that tower-dive cost LD the game. OMG knew that the advantage they got from that was enough, especially Tristana on their side.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Watching TSM vs LD right now. A very quick move to bottom lane by LD gives them second blood, and lately their Elise also refreshes her buffs by taking out TSM's Vi who was trying to steal wraiths and walked over a ward. There was a perfect taunt by Shen while Vi was trying to jump over baron wall.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Despite LD's good start several ganks mid by Vi which even Ahri couldn't escape meant that TSM got 3k gold ahead around 20 minutes. And a perfect fight by TSM at 23 minutes ended up with 4-0 for TSM and baron, and it was an easy job from there. Just one more kill for LD when they baited Reginald into a 2v1 (even baronned-up Zed can't fight Ahri and Vayne). SKT T1 didn't make the mistake of giving Vi to TSM later on, and TSM last-banned Zed while leaving Ahri up...
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
TSM is actually playing better than I thought they would.
TSM's weakest player is Regi. He's cocky, arrogant, and immature. If TSM got rid of him and had another mid, this group stage would be going very differently.
Gambit is doing better than I expected. Their style reminds me more of season 2, and honestly I enjoyed watching Gambit more last season than this one.
Can't wait for the quarter finals. I want to see if Cloud 9 can take on the Asian teams.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I wonder if Regi is playing Ahri or not. There were a couple of games in which both Ahri and Zed were available, and he picked Zed and won, so fair enough. But against OMG they let Ahri through only to first pick Sona, while against SKT T1 they last-banned Zed and let Ahri through as I said previously. If they'd let both go through even if Faker picked Zed he could have gone with Ahri. Versus OMG his Fizz fell behind early, while versus SKT T1 he missed a lot of skillshots with Gragas and was constantly away from team fights. They haven't banned (or played) Ahri once so far, maybe they should start now.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hmm... Regi did play Ahri twice vs Vulcun in the playoffs, and twice more against Curse and Coast in week 9 of summer season. All wins. Nothing before that going back to week 6, even when Ahri was available.
Anyway, I think it's not just Regi's fault. Vs SKT T1 they were the ones ending the 2v1 and then SKT T1 camped Dyrus's Rumble top and made him useless, with the opposing solo laner (Renekton) several levels and lots of cs ahead. TSM could have reacted differently; let the 2v1s continue for example or send the jungler top to help.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Drat, Gambit lost to Ozone. Fnatic beat both Vulcun and Ozone. They can only lose their place in the quarterfinals in a tiebreak now, but they still have a game against Mineski so I doubt that will happen.
As for Gambit, at least they played Mineski after Ozone and they didn't end the day with a loss. There's still a possibility that they don't qualify (or end up in a tie-break too) since they have to play against Fnatic and Vulcun on the last day. I hope they pull together and get through though.
As for group B, TSM's gonna have a hell of a night, playing against both SKT T1 and OMG. I think they need to come up with something crazy, as I doubt that they can beat any of these teams head-on.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So, Ozone vs Gambit. Right from the start it's interesting to see Gambit banning Thresh and SSO first picking Sona to make Voidle play something else (Zyra). And when Gambit pick Aatrox, Ozone pick Zac, so one reviver per team. And Ozone did go for something different with two ADs (Cait + Ezreal).
Edit: Well, early game was awful from Gambit. So passive... Ozone took four turrets doing nothing but poking. Gambit's Karthus never used his ulti until now (level 11).
Edit2: Make that 5-0 in turrets, 2-1 in kills for Ozone. No Karthus & Zyra ulties from Gambit, no Sona ulti from Ozone. Ozone are just farming towers... This is horrible from Gambit. Atrox started with some damage and didn't do anything with it, Karthus started with Sorc boots and didn't do anything.
Edit3: First real fight and 3 for 1 for Ozone, 1 more kill later, and Ozone take 2 towers and top inhibitor. Gambit look like they have no idea what to do... 7k gold difference.
Edit4: One more turret, one more inhibitor, one more fight 2 for 1 for Ozone. Crazy... They just poked with Mystic shots and Cait and Ez ulties, and Gambit couldn't respond. Aaand free Baron for Ozone.
And they win. This was the saddest LoL game I've ever seen.
[ September 20, 2013, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just reading that was depressing. In other news, watching Fnatic trounce Vulcun was pretty lopsided. I've totally been in that fight where your guys die, and two of theirs limp off with slivers of health, and you just know that was the high water mark for your team. Your opponents are going back to base to spend more gold than you, and if you couldn't finish them off a second ago, you're not going to when they come plowing into your turret in a minute.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, I'm watching it now. I feel like with a bit of luck things could have been much closer. Vulcun also had good enough engage with Lyssandra and Sona (unlike Gambit in the other game), but so did Fnatic.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Just got to the 18min fight and that engage/counter-engage is exactly what happened and it was in Fnatic's favor.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And Fnatic vs Ozone now: so many early positional mistakes by Ozone (and a couple by Fnatic). Also, Ozone gave Fnatic both Kassadin and Zed... o_O And Kassadin got a triple kill and one more slightly later despite having no AP. And another fight at dragon where they aced Ozone for no deaths... I don't get it. Where did the Ozone from the Gambit game go?! And what were they thinking giving Kassadin to xPeke?!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Crazy game from Fnatic. Ozone gave away too much in the picks (Kass, Corki, Zed) and despite a good start just made too many mistakes.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
No surprises yesterday, both SKT T1 and OMG won both their games and qualify while TSM and LD are out.
I'm watching LD vs SKT T1, and SKT T1 actually let LD pick Zed *and* Vi, and then pick Riven to counter Zed.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SKT T1 also gave Zed to TSM and still won (picking Riven mid again). TSM tried to come up with a crazy team with Karthus top and Annie support, but SKT T1 countered with Jax.
OMG didn't first pick Ahri against TSM (TSM picked her) and then went Syndra and Volibear... o_O
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Fnatic qualify in first place with a great win against Gambit (lots of individual kills early on and Fizz got uncontrollable), so now they're playing a crazy one against Mineski with some interesting lineups: Blitz (played by Soaz, their top laner) and Sivir in bottom lane, Shen top (played by Yellowstar, their support) and Zed and Lee Sin rounding up, and Mineski go with Zilean, Nunu, Soraka, Sona and Varus. There's nothing riding on this game, so both teams are having a bit of fun.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And Fnatic surprisingly did win... Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Gambit finally did qualify after a tiebreaker with Ozone. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I watched Lemond Dogs Vs TSM, it was a pretty one sided affair. TSM has great laning, but their jungler isn't setting up ganks.
It was interesting that top Renekton was shoved up, so instead of coming back to his tower during the 2v1 gank, he cut through their tri-bush, and down towards mid. Meanwhile Fnactic's jungler came up river, and Fizz cut off Reginald in mid and won the ensuing fight. Though I don't get how Dyrus got killed up top, it's like he waited in the bushes to get killed.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Watching game 3 of Fnatic vs C9. Uhm... Wow...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
*jealous* I've used up all my free time today, and need to get back to work. :\
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
If you want to watch it, I'll just say it's not pretty... I saw half of game 2 (pretty close, but C9 were pulling ahead and Fnatic couldn't stop them) and game 3. And stayed up for the picks and bans for the first Gambit vs Najin Sword match, but then went to sleep. I have to say, as much as I wanted Gambit to qualify for old times' sake, I'm not surprised that they didn't although I know nothing about Najin Sword.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I actually saw game 3 of NS v GG. It was quite lop sided. Gambit was reacting to NS the *entire* time.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I still haven't managed to watch NS vs GG, but I did skim over the remaining two quarterfinals. SKT T1's matches weren't that close and there were several mistakes by Gamania Bears, mistakes that SKT T1 aren't likely to forgive.
The all-Chinese quarterfinal was very cool though. The Royal HZ AD carry (aptly named Uzi) was amazing! For once it's not the AP carry that's the star of the show. The second game was pretty close up to a point, OMG leading 8-7 in kills, and then they simply got aced in a teamfight with no kills in return. There were a few more kills here and there, and then there was another fight in which members of Royal HZ went low as they were fighting a 4 v 5, then Vayne came from the back and despite going down to around 100 HP mopped up the fight. Uzi played Caitlyn in the first game and Vayne in the second, both time with Flash + Cleanse. Both times Royal HZ gave Ahri to OMG, and played Vlad and Zed respectively in mid. In that first game Ahri got very fed (8/1/2) but it still wasn't enough to win. Uzi's Caitlyn in the same game went 9/1/4.
Can't wait for the semifinals. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
That sounds like fun to watch. Hopefully I'll find some time today.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I did manage to listen to Fnatic V C9 games 2/3. That was a very good series!
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just caught the last two team fights of game 5 between SKT T1 vs NS. I guess it wasn't as easy as predicted for SKT T1.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching the games right now and in game 3 at around 30 minutes there's an insane play from Impact and Faker for SKT.
Some interesting things happened in this semi-final: Faker got Ahri in games 1 and 3, both lost by SKT. He had Ahri available in game 2 and decided to switch to Orianna (nobody picked Ahri), then NS got Ahri in games 4 and 5 and lost both (SKT picked Orianna in both). NS picked Gragas in the first three games, then he was banned by SKT in the last two games.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm tuning in for Fnatic and Royal. Sounds like I'm here in time for game 2. Game 1 was apparently very one-sided.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
World's Final is happening right now. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I caught the tail end of the last match when I woke up. I'll re-watch the games sometime this week-end.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, I watched the final. Only game 2 was actually close, but Piglet proved too much for Royal in that one. I guess in the end the best team of the tournament really did win. It feels even more impressive now that Najin Sword managed to get them to game 5 in the semi-finals.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
For sure. I admire Royal for trying to catch them off with that Kassadin pick, and there were strengths to it. But they just didn't have an answer to SKT's overarching strategy, and they continued to lose the objective game.
Your mechanics can't completely overcome a gold deficit.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
So Season 3 is about to kickoff, and this past weekend teams from NA and Europe had a chance to play for bragging rights, but they also had some matches for people at the top of challenger league to win a slot in the LCS.
Riot actually pays players in the LCS a salary, (though this year, that salary comes at the cost of players not being allowed to stream other games) which is a huge boon. On salary your team can practice full time, scrim, and you get awesome tournament experience playing the best teams in your region week after week.
Without spoiling too much, I was interested in some of the new lineups on TSM, Gambit Gaming, EG, and Coast.
The last of that list played for entry back into the LCS and their series against The Walking Zedd was a fantastic series. The last game I think was Coast playing in top form.
edit: I'm still processing the huge changes to supports, and warding. But overall I think they had the right philosophy, and it appears supports are finishing more items than they were in the past. And warding has become a much more strategic choice with pink wards being completely visible, and people needing to choose which ward item they want to buy.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Wonders never cease. Curse's new lineup made it back into the LCS.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Also #1 on this week's OGN highlights reel is Madlife once again, doing stuff you just don't see, and not even stopping after doing it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching SKT T1 K vs Samsung Blue in the Korean Champions Winter. The first game was pretty one-sided, but in the second game T1 got a bit overconfident at one point and Blue mounted quite the comeback. Some interesting picks compared to NA/EU, especially in the AD carry department. Nidalee in the first two games (one play each) is pretty interesting too. I'll watch the third game tomorrow to see what else will happen.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
How were you watching it? I can never see Twitch featuring it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ended up watching game 3 too. I'll pay for it tomorrow. Blue were playing just too scared all the time.
I managed to learn a bit more about the trinkets and gold generating items by watching the LCS qualifiers and the Korean match, but there's still so much more to learn... I really want to get back in the game next year.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Cool! Thanks.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm glad people are realizing that Leona is just a fantastic pick for teams who want early aggression via flash, ult, xeneth blade, and shield bash or any combination of those. Not to mention her W is just fantastic early as well, a ton of armor and magic pen for quite a long time.
Late game she can fall off a little, but if you have been punishing the team early into mid, then she's done her job.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching the second Korean quarterfinal, CJ Blaze vs KT Bullets (starting on game 4). I have to admit I wasn't really impressed by the overall quality of play in the first two quarterfinals so far, but I guess that players are still adapting to all the pre-season changes in terms of map, items and playable champions.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
What is the difference between DOTA2 and League of Legands?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Are you talking gameplay, style, pricing, or what exactly?
From the gameplay point of view, from what I've heard/read, DotA2 is harder to get into. It also has more powerful champions (I've heard it said that in DotA2 all champions are overpowered, while in LoL all champions are underpowered).
DotA2 also has the "deny" mechanic where you can kill your friendly minions in order not to let the enemy gain gold/experience from the kills, a mechanic I find rather uninteresting: if you want them not to get experience/gold you'll have to harass them and push them out of the lane or away from the minions in LoL; denying feels like added complexity for the sake of complexity and without a counter.
DotA2 has items that will give you hard crowd control abilities, which is a thing they purposely stayed away from in LoL, keeping these abilities on champions only, thus making picking the right team comp more important (IMO). Basically DotA2's items will give you interesting active abilities, while LoL's will mostly give you power and defense, and only some "soft" utility (speed-up friendlies/slow enemies).
In terms of pricing the most important part is that you get all the champions for free in DotA2, while you'll have to play (and probably pay) a lot to have them all in LoL, and play some more to buy runes (with in-game money only).
There are certainly many other differences big and small, but I don't know enough about DotA2 to list them. Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Yeah once I got back into dota, my interest in LoL managed to vanish entirely. The expanse of diversity in abilities functionally trumps LoL in all ways. Which is pretty hardcore and extremely daunting to new players (and that's why LoL has such comparatively low impact abilities and ultimates), but the experience is just .. ahh, so refreshing.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
That is exactly what i was looking for. Thanks.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Yeah once I got back into dota, my interest in LoL managed to vanish entirely. The expanse of diversity in abilities functionally trumps LoL in all ways. Which is pretty hardcore and extremely daunting to new players (and that's why LoL has such comparatively low impact abilities and ultimates), but the experience is just .. ahh, so refreshing.
DOTA does have a pretty ugly art palette though.
Have any of you guys watched Heroes of the Storm yet? I do like the idea of different maps, and it looks like the Blizzard polish is still there, group leveling is good, no items I'm not sure of, and I haven't seen the leveling tree mechanic in action, I am worried their stable of characters might be too limited.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm taking a look now at a few videos of HotS, but it doesn't really do much for me. It would take a lot to make me move from LoL seeing how much I've invested in it already. I don't really feel like going through a similar learning phase again.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ooooh... C9 picked Teemo (mid apparently) in their first S4 game against TSM! Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Teemo wins...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
That was actually a very frustrating game to watch. I think Jatt had it exactly right, Teemo suffocates maps.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, it was more entertaining than the second game... EG were completely outplayed.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Welcome to the NA LCS EG! Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Yeah, that was a rude welcome.
The last game I saw was XDG vs Cloud 9, that was a pretty cool one. It's nice to see C9 trying different things; especially making Yasuo work pretty well.
On the other hand I'm a bit bored of the Shyvanna/Mundo/Elise/Renekton picks/bans. It looks like a lot of champions have almost disappeared from top and jungle lately, being replaced with combinations of these 4.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'm watching the replay of Dig vs TSM. Man, that Bjergsen...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I missed that one. I did catch Dig trounce Coast. Also a Chinese team (LMQ) is in the Challenger series tonight, which means they'll be joining our LCS if they win it all.
It would be nuts if this became a thing every year.
[ January 18, 2014, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So. CLG vs Curse. What. the. heck...
Edit: And Dignitas absolutely crushed C9. What is happening today?!
[ January 19, 2014, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
What happened with Curse/CLG?
Also way to go Dignitas!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just looked at the results today. Everybody in NA LCS has lost now at least once. I think that bodes so well for this upcoming season in the NA.
Very happy with this past weekend's results.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
CLG beat Curse in a game that ended 4-0 in kills, the first coming after 23 minutes... Curse made a very weird decision to swap two lanes that would have been in their favor, then their jungle Gragas got his blue stolen by a freaking autoattack (had used smite on red), and after that Curse never really challenged CLG. It felt like a non-game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Just looked at the results today. Everybody in NA LCS has lost now at least once. I think that bodes so well for this upcoming season in the NA.
Very happy with this past weekend's results.
Also, every team won at least once, that's not bad either. Coast even got two wins, one of them vs XDG. I wasn't really expecting XDG to finish 1-3 in the first week.
EU is a little more spread out and with more predictable results, with Fnatic at 4-0, Gambit at 3-1 (one loss vs Fnatic) and Alliance (with former EG, Lemondogs and CW members) at 0-4.
So far I'm most interested in TSM (because of Bjergsen ) in NA, and a bit in Gambit. It will probably take a couple more weeks for me to get to know all the teams though.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, we here in the NA got some truly solid European talent this year in Bjergsen and EG.
Europe got EdWard back on Gambit Gaming though, and I must say, I think he's doing much better there than he was on Curse.
Also, as much as it saddens me to say it, Curse putting Saint Vicious on coaching duties and as backup made the right call. They are playing better as a team overall.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
By the way, I almost forgot about the OGN Champions Winter final. Luckily for me it's going to be Saturday morning, starting at 10AM. I'm playing poker with some friends on Friday evening, but I'll definitely try to wake up early enough to catch it. You know, at this point I'd like to see a SKT T1 K vs TSM match just to see the awesome lane with Faker and Bjergsen!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Heh. Problem is Korean teams are just so fantastic at group communication. I still can't figure out why that is.
edit: That is, a mid laner relies on their jungler as well as being able to roam to another lane and setup plays, that's all communication, and it seems like some teams just luck into plays. Every time I heard what teams are saying when they play "Sounds of the game" it's "go go go ahri ahri ahri I'll get ahri, flash flash" all with other players saying unintelligible stuff in the background.
Look at how many deaths happen because of miscommunication, it boggles my mind that somebody goes in for a gank while their teammate is backing off. How does that happen?
[ January 21, 2014, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: BlackBlade ]
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Yeah, we here in the NA got some truly solid European talent this year in Bjergsen and EG.
Europe got EdWard back on Gambit Gaming though, and I must say, I think he's doing much better there than he was on Curse.
Also, as much as it saddens me to say it, Curse putting Saint Vicious on coaching duties and as backup made the right call. They are playing better as a team overall.
Agreed. I said it at the end of the summer split last year that if TSM wanted to start doing well again, Reginald would have to leave the mid lane role. Bjsergsen is doing a bang up job so far.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Mordekaiser played by ROCCAT in the second game of the second week! And SHC counter with a Morgana mid! Wow...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And Mordekaiser wins. o_O
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
The twitch stream has horrendous latency. I don't know if I can watch today.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Gambit is trying to give me a heart attack with their aggressive positioning.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh. Yeah. That was a fun game! Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
It really was, I just couldn't believe how they bullied so hard and then turned efforts to punish them into an almost ace without losing a single player.
I think the commentators were right, against another team, that would have been disastrous. But! Still entertaining gameplay. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SKT T1 K is absolutely crushing Ozone in game 1. 18-1 in kills, several turrets to 1, a baron and an inhibitor before 20 minutes. And Ozone resigns at 20 minutes! Ouch.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Alistar and Karthus (vs Yasuo) for SKT T1 K in game 2. Iiiinteresting. Ozone pick Zac to help Yasuo with his ulti.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SKT T1 K win game 2 also, and are now one game away from a no-loss winter championship. Quite impressive from these guys.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And it's done! Ozone started game 3 pretty well, getting 3 buffs and a kill and the lanes they wanted, but SKT T1 K came back into it and after Ozone stole dragon but lost two people, SKT took baron and there was no coming back from there on.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Looks like SKT haven't slowed done one bit since winning worlds.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Also, today's round of eight has been great so far. It occurs to me that Riot's decisions to start paying teams a salary for being in the LCS has had a very positive effect on individual and team play. As has their banning streaming of any game other than LOL on LCS player streams. While it may be financially punishing to players, it does force them to play that LoL, which gives them more hours practicing, and the best players can still make money streaming the game as well as streaming clinics on strategy. Additionally the players not doing well still have to just keep playing and get better or quit, so instead of them distracting themselves with other games while they practice (looking at you Dyrus and Chaox), they keep playing and get better.
With everybody playing LOL all the time, LCS teams are really solidifying performance, and individual players that traditionally were average or inconsistent are all playing much better. We'll see at World's if it means European and American teams can compete with Asian ones. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Did they enforce the no-none-LoL-streams rule? I thought they went back on that one.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Nice two wins by Dig today. I'm gonna stay up for TSM vs CLG too, I want to see Bjergsen. Maybe someone will run Teemo against him again to see if that's his Achilles' heel...
Edit: Drat. Zed, Kass and LeBlanc all banned against Bjergsen. I'd like to see him on Ahri once, but apparently Gragas is considered too hot right now, while Ahri has completely disappeared.
[ January 25, 2014, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I hadn't heard Riot backpedaling on the other game ban. Where did you hear they had?
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Huh, interesting.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
EG pick Soraka versus XDG. o_O And Urgot. Top lane Nidalee (AP?) and Mundo jungle (not top as common so far in this year's LCS). And Gragas mid; I guess they had to have *one* perfectly in fashion pick. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So far Soraka and Urgot are actually losing the lane against Sivir & Thresh. They tried to push from level one by taking Starcall, and ended up with fewer minion kills and only got level 2 at the same time as their enemies. Nidalee actually started with Doran's Blade, but ran low on mana and gave away first blood to Shyvana, who in turn died to Mundo. So first blood gold vs an assist. It's a crazy game so far.
There's a 5 v 5 (I think) battle at dragon, and EG actually get the dragon and live because of Soraka. One death for XDG.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Nidalee almost died in top lane but got a miraculous escape (went from second turret to brush, flashed back, pounced, then changed forms and healed just in time), then Shyvanna stayed too long and Nid came back and killed her.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
3 man gank from Mundo, Urgot, Soraka vs Thresh and Sivir, and actually XDG turn it back and kill all three! Position reverser doesn't really do much vs spell shield, box and lantern...
And now Shyvana kills Nidalee top! 2/2/1 Shyv, 1/3/2 Nid.
8-6 kills, 3-3 turrets and 3k gold advantage for EG. Crazy game so far.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And now a bad, bad fight for EG, and they lose 4 for 0, while Mundo lives and later takes dragon, XDG take baron. Still 2k gold advantage (-1 kills, +1 turrets), but I'm betting they're going to lose a couple of turrets now.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
What. the. heck. No turrets from XDG, and EG pick out three people from XDG! Baron buff gone, and now EG are back at 3.5k gold advantage.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
EG poke and poke and poke, Gragas tries to 1v2 Sivir and Thresh and dies (Ziggs ulti used), but EG take dragon in the meantime. Those Nid and Soraka heals are getting annoying for XDG. Not to mention the spears and barrels.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And EG win. Well, well, well. That was fun. Who needs the "classics"? (Shyv, Ziggs, Lee Sin, Sivir and Thresh for XDG)
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Great game by TSM vs Coast, although at one point they lost the thread, grouping and giving Katarina a perfect ulti+resets target.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just watched Dignitas and CLG. I feel for HotshotGG, I know he's been working really hard to be ready for LCS, but right now he's a weak link on his team. I hope he can fix that.
Dignitas though, nobody saw this performance out of them coming.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
What's the deal with Hotshot anyway? Is he a sub or was he again promoted to first team?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Gambit V Fnatic right now. Tanky Gragas maybe? Fizz? Very interested in watching this one.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Crazy game so far; to see so many kills yet so few turrets taken surprises me (even with so many assassins in the game).
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Gambit with their prefered item again: GA on 3 people! Looks like their game to lose.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
That was a superb game. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
It really was, only Fnatic would continue to play like they could still win all the way through like that.
Though I did find it funny that if *any* team other than Fnatic had lost one inhibitor the announcers would be saying, "this game is probably over" but Fnatic down 3 inhibs? "Fnatic hanging on by a thread!"
No, they lost the game as soon as the second inhibitor fell. Nobody comes back from losing two.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, yeah. At the end even when they stayed almost equal in fights the super minions took care of the nexus turrets.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'll do the responsible thing and go to sleep, but i hate misssing TSM vs C9.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Alliance really schooled Fnatic in today's first game. Impressive, considering their respective records so far in this LCS.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Really excellent. I think that's great news. It's not how you start your season, it's how you finish. Alliance really did their homework on this one. Pantheon was a great pick.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Great pick and well used. SHC also picked Pantheon against Millenium, but really couldn't make it work. That game ended with an insane amount of kills from Millenium (28 to 6, with their AD carry going 14/0/7).
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Nobody comes back from losing two.
I've been on teams that come back from losing three a number of times...Heck, I've been on teams that come back from 100 health left on Nexus before. Granted, those are bronze PUGs, but still.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
OK, I'll amend.
Unless your opponent's base is also blown up, if you have lost two inhibitors, you are not coming back. Especially, at the pro level.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow. Gambit lost to SHC and Fnatic lost to Roccat (ok, the second is less surprising). I haven't seen the games but I'll certainly watch the replays.
So, Fnatic end the week 0-2 and Alliance 2-0. Not a bet I would have made at the beginning of the week.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Wonderful. It's nice to know that when a team gets ahead, the other teams do analysis and homework and figure out how to defeat them. It's much more enjoyable that way than when one team has dialed in and crushes everybody, and because other teams keep losing they shake up their rosters and have to retrain.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Also, you can load up the live stream on youtube and just rewind to the previous games.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Indeed. I hope that both SHC and Roccat actually won their games instead of Fnatic and Gambit playing badly, since it means that the EU LCS is getting really competitive again.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I wouldn't say Fnatic played badly, but there was something missing in their performance. They were always reacting, and just seemed a bit lethargic.
I'm about to watch SHC and GG.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I watched SHC vs Gambit this morning; very convincing from SHC. Gambit's jungler was a bit behind SHC's in the rotations, and boy, did that snowball.
I'll watch the other game later today.
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
EG V TSM was a really good brawl. EG couldn't beat the undercurrent, but they put up a fantastic show. They should be proud of themselves, even if they lost.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Oh snap! Saint Vicious played today on Curse V Dignitas. And he was support Alistar, and he was magnificent at it...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Curse and TSM going at it now. I'd like to see TSM lose, I'm not gonna lie, because I'm on a "everybody should lose once in awhile bent".
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Krepo also just played a great Alistar vs CLG, but Link's LeBlanc was just too powerful for EG. I think we'll soon see some changes to LeBlanc, she's becoming probably the best mid-laner right now. Up there with Kassadin I guess.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
So they gave Bjergsen the non-burst Nidalee against Curse and he ends up 8/0/6 with a quadrakill at the end. Daaaamn...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah. Saint's shot calling wasn't bad, but he kept missing the initiate. And TSM is not the team you want to miss an initiate on.
Also Bjergsen having blue buffs while his opponent starved was not what Curse needed to do.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SK vs Fnatic is full of mistakes so far on both parts. Not a pretty game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And SK win...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I'm sure SK is happy to take that one.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Oh, I bet they are.
By the way, Froggen just picked Anivia vs Roccat. Haven't seen him on this champion in a looong time.
Edit: And Morgana support for Roccat. Very interesting so far. Pillars, walls, dark bidings, solar flares, it's crazy out there.
[ February 13, 2014, 04:25 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
SK follows up that win with another again Gambit. Geez, it's like every team you'd expect to win loses and vice versa.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I saw parts of yesterday's games. There were quite a few surprises as you said. I kinda expected Alliance to win too, so that made 3 surprise results out of 4. Fnatic going 0-5 in their last five games is probably the biggest surprise. Not sure what's going on there. In some of the games they start well then make mistake after mistake; it's probably a confidence problem too...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
That game from CLG! o_O Wow...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
And EG beat Curse. It's opposite week in both LCS.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Coast manages to beat XDG. I wouldn't say that result is surprising, though I would expect XDG to win that one.
Still their losing streak is over, and they did it with a pretty fun poke/Jax comp.
Excited to watch CLG.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
They were superb vs C9. I thought they might throw it by going too much for kills, but it wasn't going to happen. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
No joke. They won one fight, and then they just took took took.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Awwww, I really thought Dignitas was going to pull off the latest upset. They came close!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Coast follows up with a win over EG. Pretty sure Zion's Jax is getting the ban treatment in future games.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I only watched the first few minutes of that game, and Jax was just 1/1/0. Can't wait to see the rest tonight.
By the way, I tried to get back to playing this weekend, and was deterred by the mastery changes. I kept wondering what masteries and runes I should use now... I'll have to read some guides and figure things out, then I really want to play a bit again. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Heh, while I am intimidated by the new ward system and don't know exactly what I should be doing as support in terms of where to place and sweep for wards.
I'll need to watch a pro-stream.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I think I'm not as afraid of trinkets though. Since the vision game is much more of a team effort I think as a support it might make my life easier. It will make it harder as a jungler since there are more early wards, but you can't win them all.
I'm also surprised that champions like Ryze, Jarvan, Malphite, Ahri, Udyr, Cho'Gath, Zyra, etc. are no longer used in high level play (LCS mainly). I wonder if they've also fallen out of favor at the low ranked level at which I'd play.
By the way, do you think that rune pages have changed much? I know there are a few champions that use mixed penetration marks, but other than that I think it should be the same as before.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Doesn't seem much changed. I'm glad it's more of a team effort to ward, but in the past there were a handful of places you might expect to ward or find them, now there's obvious places, maybe places, places you ward because they look in the obvious places so you have to stay just outside that area, trinket wards don't last very long so you have to place them with a ton of intent.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Dude, don't scare me more than I already am! Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I haven't seen yesterday's matches, but... Fnatic lost again, and Roccat beat Gambit again. Fnatic really need a win today... I wonder if we'll see roster changes if they don't. Losing 6 in a row isn't really normal for them.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just realized, Fnatic went from 7-0 to 7-6. Ouch.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, I wonder if part of it is them not believing they can win right now. A streak like that isn't easy to shrug off, and it has the opposite effect on other teams.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
As for Gambit, Alex, Diamond, and Darian couldn't get visas to Cologne this week, so backup players had to be used. I wouldn't really give mad props to Roccat for winning this time. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
That explains a lot. They did win their second game though. Fnatic on the other hand lost their seventh in a row. Their crash is... horrifyingly impressive. Roccat also lost vs SK, so Gambit are still within one game from them.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah, Fnatic was utterly destroyed by CW. I wish I could see what's going on with the team.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
It's interesting seeing Pantheon back in a big way. I guess teams value that ability to choose exactly when and where to have a fight, and be a man up when you do.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Coast humbles TSM! But TSM makes them earn every bit of it!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Curse V C9 right now. Kinda want C9 to lose because Sneaky decided to take shots at Saint in the match preview.
Be gracious to your opponents in public, play smack on the rift.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Catching up right now. Nice to see Ahri in play again (TSM vs Coast).
Edit: That jungle invade at level one... Not the best play for TSM.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Woooow... That was an almost xPeke-Kassadin-level ending. A few early errors from both teams, but that was a very cool game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Froggen's currently playing one of the best Karthus games I've ever seen against Fnatic.
Edit: He did get caught once sitting on a ward, but other than that he was immense.
[ February 27, 2014, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Fnatic and Gambit on right now. Man, Fnatic look like they are visiting the dentist. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
That was fantastic work. Very poetic from Fnatic, beating the team that started this losing run, and doing it without losing a single man. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I just watched it. Are you kidding me?!? Wow...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
SK vs Alliance was almost as one-sided... Crazy games today.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Highly recommend XDG v Cloud 9.
Curse V CLG was close, but honestly both teams played pretty sloppily.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Coast V EG was also a good game. It feels like ZionSpartan plays his characters with an understanding of their limits much greater than his opponents.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I managed to catch up with the NA LCS. Saw the first two games yesterday, then the other two today. For a while there I thought Dig were going to take down TSM. XDG vs C9 was definitely the highlight!
I was looking forward to today's TSM vs C9, but I didn't know Bjergsen wasn't playing. Should still be an interesting game.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yeah visa issues again. Real obnoxious problem.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Reginald is covering for Bjergsen, so while not TSM at their strongest, Reg is a more than competent mid-laner. Should be a great game.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well... that turned out pretty one-sided.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Is it me or have 2v1 lanes pretty much disappeared?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Yep. As have turret rushes.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Good. Didn't like either of those things.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just when I start to wonder if the US or European LCS will be able to compete with Korea in worlds, I watch videos like this.
Faker is just at a whole different level mid.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I'll have to watch that later. I see he's playing LeBlanc, that should be a treat! Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Corwin: I'll have to watch that later. I see he's playing LeBlanc, that should be a treat!
His use of W is *far* more aggressive than anything I've seen in US/EU LCS, and really I'm surprised more pros don't use it like that.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I still want to see a Faker vs Bjergsen clash, assassin vs assassin.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
It would be the most competitive of matchups I think, but man Bjergsen would have to do his homework.
Still, when they did those 1 V 1 and 2 V 2 matches during All-Stars everybody seemed to do well. When you know no ganks are incoming you can lane very differently. So maybe being able to be creative and flexible wins out against fine tuned mechanics.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Still, when they did those 1 V 1 and 2 V 2 matches during All-Stars everybody seemed to do well. When you know no ganks are incoming you can lane very differently.
Yeah, there's that too. Also, the game you linked was a solo queue game; I'm not saying Faker isn't gonna play like that in tournament games, but maybe he's just a bit more relaxed & aggressive here. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
For sure, but I think he uses his W much more effectively than many Leblancs I've seen. He isn't going to just W towards his tower during a gank, so when people anticipate that and position to prevent that, he Ws towards his opponents tower and heads into the jungle, and then runs out the cooldown and moves through a wall. It's awesome outside thinking. Or when he recognizes he's *going* to die under tower, well go somewhere else!
Also, I laughed when he Wd into his base's wall. Even the pros are going to scuff up. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Fnatic looking healthy and getting their mojo back. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Well what do you know, a 2 v 1 lane. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I haven't seen any of this week's games yet, real life intervened. Which team were the culprits for the 2v1 lanes?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Copenhagen Wolves pulled out 2 V 1 lanes on GG.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wow, Alliance went 4-0 in the super-week (including victories against CW, Gambit and Roccat), and SK have caught up with Gambit! Also didn't expect SHC to go 0-4... Very interesting developments; I definitely need to watch some of the games.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
CLG V Dignitas is worth a watch, definitely a shake up of the meta.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Very interesting game between CLG and Dig. Nice to see Ryze making a comeback.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, got ninja'd. I've been watching the games tonight, though I think I'll go to sleep now. I'd have liked to see Coast vs Dig too, but it's gonna be very late here.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
KT Bullets V IG was an absolutely fierce clash. Top level play from both teams, beautiful team fighting, Asia is looking very strong right now.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I haven't watched the IEM games, but I'll definitely take a look this weekend. Thanks for the recommendation. Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
IG V Fnatic was also an awesome game, especially for Fnatic. Clearly teams like Fnatic and C9 belong in the conversation with KT Bullets, Invictus, and Taipei Assassins. Only time will tell if they can hold up to Royal Flush or SKT.
I'll be honest though, some of the play we've seen in Intel Masters has been top notch, beyond anything I've seen in the LCS. At from teams like Fnatic and C9 where I thought I'd seen it all.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Corwin: I won't spoil the outcome of GG V KT Bullets Game 2, but you won't see the ending coming.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Wooooow... Ok, that was crazy. Just when I thought Gambit were back in it...
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
And they really *were* back in it! They just played conventionally (get ready to shove another lane, expect them to wait in their base) absolutely no wards in the entire right side of the map because why would there be?! And when they found Renekton, they immediately took the bait.
One single ward would have told Gambit exactly what was happening, but honestly who expects a gambit (no pun intended) like that? That late in the game even Annie with her E can tank turrets.
Anyway, what a finish.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I saw the final yesterday. A bit disappointed by the 3-0 score... I still need to watch a few other games from the group stage. And definitely the Fnatic vs C9 semifinal. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I watched Fnatic vs Roccat and Alliance vs Gambit yesterday. Very interesting game, dominated a bit surprisingly by Fnatic and Alliance. I only say "a bit", because Fnatic has kinda proven that their back to form last week at IEM, and Alliance do come after a 4-0 super-week. Still have to watch SK's game; it did get them to first place!
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Krepo, Yellowpete, and Snoopeh are stuck in Europe again working out visas.
This is a pretty serious problem for the LCS. They need to get it figured out.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I really wonder where the problem is. Maybe their team's management didn't file the correct papers for a visa renewal? Otherwise it's strange to see all having problems at the same time; they're not even from the same country. But yeah, I agree, it's getting to be a problem. TSM were lucky to miss only one member of the team, and to have a top-level replacement ready in Reginald. I'm betting if this problem happens more often we won't see teams with 3+ people from places that need visas anymore.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
According to Evil Geniuses they did not anticipate how slow that particular visa application would take on the European side of things. But yeah, to have several countries involved all be slow is surprising.
If Riot doesn't have somebody working on this, they really should. Somebody who can talk to the relevant bureaucrats and at least be on good terms with them so they can speed things as fast as possible.
But you are also right if they can't, teams might stop recruiting from overseas, which really is to the sports detriment.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Watch Koreans make a mockery of the meta from the onset.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Also Koreans are way more fun to watch since they use the in-game chat while they play.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
inSec saying "My team was totally on cooldown" was the best comment of the series. Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Heh, I see they're having fun.
Haven't seen yesterday's EU LCS games, but I must say, Alliance is really coming together as a team. I think they're 7-0 in their last 7 games, and are now shared 2nd. Although with how close teams are in EU, nothing's sure...
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I missed the last two days of the EU super-week, but I have to say I'm impressed by SK's resurgence. Although the biggest surprise was that Alliance, who were the hottest team lately, lost to Millenium... If they hadn't they would have played a tie-breaker with Fnatic for second place. They should still be favorites vs CW in the quarters though.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
And in the NA, EG is fighting against relegation. That's really frustrating to be put in that position in part because of visa issues.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
I watched both LMQ games in the LCS, especially liked the one against CLG. Nice to see them 2-0 after the first day, maybe NA got a new challenger to the title. Still want to watch C9 vs TSM.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
It's virtually impossible for met to follow Leagues while I am in China. And while I'm in Hong Kong (where I have youtube/twitch it's still hard to find time.
But I fully plan on figuring out something. I really have no idea as to the state of the teams since All-Stars.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
LMQ has swept everything in the first week, although they haven't played dig, TSM or C9, so... We'll have to wait for next week to see where they are. I've seen three of their matches, but not the one against Curse, and they're playing pretty well.
dig got a great win over C9, but then folded against Curse. Haven't seen the Crs game yet. dig are still 3-1 after this week, not bad.
C9 predictably beat TSM in the opening match, but then managed to lose two games in the row (first time this happens for them in the LCS), against dig and coL (coL's only win!). Both times they made a few mistakes but their opposition also played very well.
Anyway, that means C9 are a surprising 2-2 after this week, TSM & dig tied for second at 3-1. And less surprisingly, EG are at 0-4 after playing LMQ, dig, CLG and TSM.
---
In EU, Millenium are a surprise 3-1 in first place (shared with SK and Alliance), Fnatic started with a worrying 0-2, then ended up 2-2, and Gambit is at 1-3... but they beat SK. No 4-0 or 0-4 team there.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Missed CLG vs TSM earlier, will try to watch it tomorrow. (CLG win)
On the other hand, I'm watching Dig absolutely crushing LMQ right now, 8k gold advantage at 21 minutes. (5-1 turrets, 7-3 kills) Very, very impressive from Dig.
Edit: Baron, 4 more kills and one more turret for Dig. Theirs to throw now.
Edit2: Aaand LMQ try to defend inhibitors but lose 2 more people and all three inhibs. That should really be the end of LMQ's streak in the LCS.
Edit3: 4 more kills and the game. Wow... That was pretty much perfect from Dig. I definitely didn't expect a 29 minutes, 17-3 kills win.
[ May 31, 2014, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Saw CLG vs TSM, very convincing win by CLG, even after giving Bjergsen Leblanc. CLG had a great Orianna + Alistar team, and managed quite a few great shockwaves off of Alistar dives.
LMQ vs C9 and TSM vs Dig tonight.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Well, C9 beat LMQ in a very, very close game. And Dig beat TSM, but I didn't get to see that one yet. Dig are now top of the table, and I can't say they don't deserve it; they've been playing great these two weeks.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
So qualifiers for Worlds are going on right now and Game 1 between Dignitas and TSM was a fantastic start.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
) has the best chance of taking it all.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)