posted
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...
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
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.
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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.
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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).
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posted
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.
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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.)
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
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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!
Posts: 1194 | Registered: Jun 2010
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As weird as it sounds. I did not watch that series at all. Like, I wasn't even aware it took place. Posts: 1194 | Registered: Jun 2010
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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.
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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.
posted
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.
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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.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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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. Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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MadLife paradoxically almost always gets Thresh because his and his teammates champ pools are so deep, there are bigger bans. Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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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.
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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.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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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.
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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.
posted
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).
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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.
posted
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.
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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.
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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.
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posted
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.
posted
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.
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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.
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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. Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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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.
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posted
CLG and Curse are battling each other today to avoid relegation. I'm still shaking my head over Curse losing to Dignitas yesterday.
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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.
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Yeah. I feel bad for Edward, jumping ship from arguably the second best team in Europe to relegation in NA.
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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.
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posted
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.
posted
Man! TSM making it look easy in game one against Vulcan. It would be so outstanding if they took the series.
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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.
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