LoL eSports Discussion

zoraster · Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:01 pm

In post 5451, Espeonage wrote:He played Janna mid that one time in an important game and won.

I looked it up and it looks like Alex Ich played Janna into Regi. But maybe i'm missing one?

zoraster · Tue Oct 27, 2015 9:37 am

In post 5465, BROseidon wrote:
In post 5461, Venmar wrote:I fucking <3 Sneaky

I don't actually get why people like sneaky. He's really good, but he comes off as immature a lot.

I like sneaky when he's not knee deep in his shtick, but his shtick operates like 80% of the time.

zoraster · Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:26 am

I don't view getting Koreans as all that helpful anyway. The talent pool may be somewhat deeper in Korea, but importing even very good Koreans doesn't solve all that many problems. That's not to say you shouldn't recruit in Korea; you'd be stupid not to do so if you have resources to really evaluate those players. But just buying a Korean introduces many issues that need to be solved, so you can't just plug in one and expect results. Liquid's year was pretty much defined by trying to integrate Piglet, for example.

zoraster · Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:11 pm

it doesn't help that NA and EU play half the games in a given season that Korean teams do. That said, playing that many games didn't really help China.

zoraster · Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:33 pm

decades?

zoraster · Wed Oct 28, 2015 8:00 am

Which has a shorter lifespan? A CLG coach or mid laner?

zoraster · Wed Oct 28, 2015 11:35 am

I wonder if Steelback wants to come back to the US.

zoraster · Wed Oct 28, 2015 12:16 pm

apparently renegades offered freeze an annualized salary of over $120,000 a month plus the 24k from riot (if he played in both splits). http://www.dailydot.com/esports/freeze-lcs-offers/

zoraster · Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:38 am

sounds like C9's challenger team (at least the one with Meteos) is scuttled: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegend ... er_future/

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 5:16 am

I'm about to spoil things for you. don't come in here and expect me not to do so.

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 7:53 am

yeah that's pretty awesome. Top 1000 players and second highest division (since one didn't have anyone in it).

I think we did pretty well as a group with pretty much everyone in the top half.

I notice Bro removed himself from the league!

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:02 pm

I very much look forward to upcoming public conflicts between regi and doublelift. Still, seems like the perfect result for TSM.

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:07 pm

in that video turtle says that people have a misperception of bjerg and that he's "actually a really nice guy." Does anyone really think he's a jerk?

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:10 pm

Forgiven joined Gambit!

I wonder if CLG Freeze is incoming. It seems like it'd take a huge event to make CLG kick DL without anything to replace him.

Wild Turtle would be a good get for RNG. Don't understand the hate.

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:13 pm

So? Who is this perfect ADC RNG could pick up?

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:16 pm

I don't think that'd be a great fit culture-wise. C9 would be a more natural place if he's leaving CLG, though that's a big if.

zoraster · Sat Oct 31, 2015 6:50 pm

yeah i mean that's the ideal candidate.

zoraster · Sun Nov 01, 2015 2:56 am

In post 5555, MTD wrote:
In post 5544, zoraster wrote:Forgiven joined Gambit!

Source on that? can't find any indication.
I mean yea, officially he has never left gambit, but does that mean anything?

I mean that's the team he played with all split after leaving SK. He probably won't be back is my understanding.

zoraster · Sun Nov 01, 2015 2:56 am

In post 5555, MTD wrote:
In post 5544, zoraster wrote:Forgiven joined Gambit!

Source on that? can't find any indication.
I mean yea, officially he has never left gambit, but does that mean anything?

Source? I'm saying that he joined them, not that he just joined them. My point being that he was a top tier ADC who joined a mediocre team. He's not coming back is my understanding.

zoraster · Sun Nov 01, 2015 5:23 am

In post 5560, BROseidon wrote:
In post 5552, zoraster wrote:yeah i mean that's the ideal candidate.

Fuck I would even go for Forgiven over Turtle.

This seems like a shortsighted plan. He's clearly amazing (though the graves/lucian meta was far better for him), but he sounds like a pretty miserable person to have on your team.

zoraster · Sun Nov 01, 2015 1:33 pm

In post 5565, BROseidon wrote:
In post 5562, zoraster wrote:
In post 5560, BROseidon wrote:
In post 5552, zoraster wrote:yeah i mean that's the ideal candidate.

Fuck I would even go for Forgiven over Turtle.

This seems like a shortsighted plan. He's clearly amazing (though the graves/lucian meta was far better for him), but he sounds like a pretty miserable person to have on your team.

I think it's a lot easier to work on attitude than it is to work on mechanical talent.

I think you are wrong. I think sometimes it's worth it to take on a bad attitude, but I don't think it's very easy to improve the attitude of a player, particularly one who has shown himself unable to deal with multiple different teams.

Sometimes people can change -- if you had a bad attitude as a 17-year-old, it's perfectly plausible you'll have mellowed by 21, but it's harder to see why Forgiven would suddenly be a great person to have as a teammate a few months later.

zoraster · Sun Nov 01, 2015 1:35 pm

In post 5567, BROseidon wrote:Also apparently C9 has a new jungler, so Hai is likely moving to support.

Depending on how the meta progresses, this is probably the best possible result for them.

zoraster · Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:54 am

it is? how?

p-edit. what quadz said

zoraster · Fri Nov 06, 2015 2:57 am

Looks like RNG may have won the Freeze lottery: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegend ... gades_adc/

Kind of a lot of speculation, but it seems convincing to me.

zoraster · Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:28 am

Yes indeed.

zoraster · Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:32 am

I don't really like Regi, but he didn't come across as skeevy to me. Coming to an agreement to trial Sven makes sense. Loans are pretty common in some sports (Soccer is the best example). I don't really get the objection.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:17 am

so there's going to be an RNG and a NRG? Good lord.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:33 am

I'm not sure I see your problem.

Like it can suck for those players who qualified, and perhaps there should be a rule (which I assume is what you mean by "legal") that requires 3/5 players to qualify, but it's the team that's qualified, not the individual players. So NRG is buying the team. They may be buying the contracts too (or Coast may be eating the cost of the guaranteed money, whatever it is, from the sale of the team, as well as compensating any sponsors), but they're bringing in new people.

We say they're buying the slot because they're not really keeping the individual players or structure intact, but it's probably more accurate that they're buying the team, changing the name, firing everyone, and bringing in new people.

Think TSM. TSM's players all qualified to stay in the LCS this season, but only Bjerg is returning. The owner is the same, but those players still did the same amount of "earning" it as the Challenger Series team.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:41 am

I do think it's weird that you can get around the 3 out of 5 player rule by selling your team (if in fact that's what's going on), but I also think it's weird that Challenger teams have to keep 3/5ths of their players while LCS teams don't.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:49 am

It's a painful part of the professionalization of esports.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 8:36 am

In the event a team is relegated, do we expect players (like Freeze) to stick around on a challenger team?

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:38 am

He "earned" the relegated spot just as much as a promoted team member "earned" the LCS spot. But of course we don't expect that of Freeze because he's LCS caliber and it'd be a waste of his talents when he could join a competitive team in the LCS. Plus, presumably the money is better for LCS teams (either in income or in general value of the slot), so a challenger team probably isn't going to pay him what the market would bear (which is apparently 10k a month?).

The flip side of "LCS caliber player but got relegated because not LCS calibre team" is "not LCS player but got promoted because LCS caliber team." In both situations, the team and the esport benefit from being able to move the player to the appropriate league.

---

The question is this: do we want esports to be a professionalized major thing or do we want it to just be the broadcasting of amateur events?

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:58 am

No, he didn't say anything like that.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:18 am

In post 5656, quadz08 wrote:I suppose these are necessary growing pains, to an extent - but right now, with so many of the teams that aren't the biggest ones continually shifting in and out of existence, it's difficult for someone to root for an organization - rather, they root for a group of players. I'm rooting for Renegades next split because of Remilia and Crumbzz, for example - not because I give a shit about the RNG organization. It's going to take some time for more teams to exist in the long-term, and I think I'll know we've made it when it's a rarity when organizations stop existing after they're relegated, rather than the norm.

I think the basic issue is that whatever people think, it's pretty hard to really root (in a way that makes money) for a team that's in danger of being relegated regularly.

Esports has a pretty big problem of not having much in the way of geographic based fanbases that would engender more unthinking support, particularly before you get to international tournaments. It'd be like if the NBA were solely played by Los Angeles.

If Coast really cared about what happened to their players, they'd put some sort of contractual obligation on the new organization if they don't decide to retain them. But of course they didn't because they wanted to sell the team and get maximum price for it. Coast sold for a REASON though. And one of those reasons is likely that they didn't have full faith in the team in place.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:32 am

It'd be nice if they did a tournament like the FA Cup. I just don't know where it'd go in the season, and the argument would probably be made that the time should be used to play more international tournaments.

zoraster · Mon Nov 16, 2015 11:41 am

I don't think teams usually want to use their resources right now to have a full second string, plus stamina and health aren't really that relevant so it's a lot easier to field your normal team.*

*Health is relevant only in a long-term sense. Not playing a best of 5 series isn't going to decide whether or not your wrist is damaged.

zoraster · Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:34 am

how is rush's english? i seem to recall him doing interviews in english maybe?

zoraster · Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:58 am

In post 5681, Cabd wrote:I mean the ashes of the tip and gravity slots are out there... somewhere. So they'll likely be on one of those.

But with the fnatic imploding thing, huni could end up there too.

I thought the rumor was the huni was going to CJ Entus? I didn't really see anything about fnatic "imploding"??

zoraster · Wed Nov 25, 2015 4:21 am

Marin is surprising, but easyhoon and Tom didn't seem sustainable.

zoraster · Thu Nov 26, 2015 5:12 pm

Bro LOVES forgiven. Like when he made that silly bet with me and got off on a technicality

zoraster · Thu Nov 26, 2015 5:28 pm

In post 5703, BROseidon wrote:
In post 5701, zoraster wrote:Bro LOVES forgiven. Like when he made that silly bet with me and got off on a technicality

I was right! SK tanked w/o Forgiven!

Even with him they were clearly outclassed by the end of that split. The new meta was not great for him. The new one should be better?

zoraster · Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:11 pm

I don't think it was that weak, really. I just think the meta shifted to late game carries that didn't really maximize his talents. He was fine on corki and Caitlyn but neither gave him the opportunity to be the beast he was when graves and Lucian were strong.

zoraster · Tue Dec 08, 2015 3:59 pm

meh.

bog standard forgiven team.

zoraster · Wed Dec 09, 2015 4:26 am

Trust in Deilor.

Also, this format stuff is fascinating. Simultaneous streams aren't much fun. I think BO2 is probably better for a spectator because you always know how many games a team is going to play on a day, and if you look at their schedules they're able to put in a "game of the day" each day that doesn't have simultaneous broadcasting.

zoraster · Wed Dec 09, 2015 4:42 am

http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/worlds/ ... split-2016

Basically in summer split, EU will have Best of 2s (3 points for winning both), 1 point for splitting. NA will have Best of 3s. Everyone will play everyone twice.

The schedule changes and will have simultaneous broadcasts, and NA will play 2 of the series on Friday.

zoraster · Wed Dec 09, 2015 4:56 am

to be fair, i imagine you'll catch more than you think because (1) games wil llast different times and there's significant downtime between matches that you can flip over to an active game. If they're smart they'll stagger start times a bit to really get this, and (2) for BO3 only a fraction of games will go the full 3, so there will be a lot of times where one match is still going on but the other is over.

zoraster · Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:57 am

Yeah, I think overall it's a very good change. It just has a few drawbacks.

zoraster · Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:41 am

On the other hand, if you pick a team to follow, you can now see them play 4-6 games in a week.

zoraster · Thu Dec 10, 2015 3:22 pm

I don't understand why they aren't?

anyway, i understand why dyrus being in the all stars is nice, but...

zoraster · Thu Dec 10, 2015 3:25 pm

what in the world is going on with dash's hair?

zoraster · Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:57 am

In post 5776, AGar wrote:To be fair, I was mainly following along with Richard Lewis.

why in the world would you do this?

zoraster · Fri Dec 11, 2015 4:58 am

edit: I see others got to that first. So I'll add this one: he's been banned from future Dreamhack hosting events because he choked a player. http://www.pcgamer.com/richard-lewis-dr ... ts-update/

zoraster · Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:02 am

I understand people taking issue with the separation of OGN, but the venom over going BO2/BO3 is ridiculous ,even if offering "used to soccer splits" is a lame reason.

zoraster · Sat Dec 12, 2015 3:58 am

In post 5794, AGar wrote:But as far as eSports journalists go, the guy has been doing it profitably for well over 8 years now, and very well at that. Most of the time, his information is on point. Now, one owner can completely mislead on a situation, which is what appears to have happened with the shirts deal, but when an esports journalist can get a quote from a team owner on an actual development, that's newsworthy considering that all of these team owners have a general belief that their sites should be the only sites putting out content and are extremely hard to pull any form of relevant information from.

Perhaps esports has gotten too big and professional for him. If you are a journalist who literally attacks someone you're covering, you aren't doing it right. There are now plenty of outlets that aren't like this for anyone to need this guy.

I suspect that he will find himself more and more isolated with fewer and fewer sources. Most remaining will likely be the types that already want to stir shit because that's what he's become: a tabloid asshole. This might make for some sensational headlines, but they've become so warped as to be meaningless.

He deserves no respect.

zoraster · Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:01 am

In post 5794, AGar wrote:Regardless, the tone-deaf response to the Bo2/Bo3 format as well as the whole OGN/KeSPA thing are some pretty ugly things. But it appears that Valve and Blizzard are trying to out fuckup Riot this week, so I have a feeling Riot is actually pretty ok with how the week went.

Riot didn't fuck up with the BO2/BO3 format. That's reddit's need to be perpetually outraged about everything. Sure, the soccer thing was a little lame, but if this is your biggest complaint, you need to find other things to be mad about. Because Riot moving to a Bo2 or a Bo3 is literally a response to people's complaints before about the bo1 thing. Who the flip cares if a throwaway line was lame?

The OGN split is a much bigger deal, and I don't know if it's really a fuck up or not, but I certainly understand the bad feelings behind it.

zoraster · Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:14 pm

but not santa reck!

zoraster · Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:37 pm

In post 5808, AGar wrote:I mean, they did. Giving one region a distinct advantage over another is a pretty big deal. Bo2 is probably the better regular season format, as quadz mentioned. But in terms of who's getting a better deal, NA came out way ahead. Having more games and a more intimate knowledge of how to approach Bo3 series strategy wise and having a regular idea of how to prepare for them is huge.

Mountains out of molehills. The relevant regional difference isn't between EU and NA other than as it relates to viewership, and EU has had the shorter end of that stick for a while.

zoraster · Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:41 pm

Fair enough.

zoraster · Mon Jan 04, 2016 4:45 am

In other news, I guess I should organize fantasy? LCS starts a week from Thur, right?

zoraster · Mon Jan 04, 2016 7:21 am

to be fair, we can't actually draft yet as riot hasn't put up the new season.

zoraster · Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:17 am

SO MANY THINGS TO DO. Yes. it's happening. i'm on it. Hopefully.

zoraster · Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:21 am

Spring Split Fantasy! Sign up now!

zoraster · Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:53 am

this game is so much fun.

zoraster · Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:55 am

Deilor Deilor Deilor.

zoraster · Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:08 am

i mean i have origen and amazing. it's hardly over. it's not like you have gamsu.

zoraster · Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:09 am

i don't know why the scores aren't updating in real time though :-/

zoraster · Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:40 am

origen is going to hurt a lot. not that concerned about amazing's 7 or rekkles' 18ish.

zoraster · Sun Jan 24, 2016 10:30 am

or maybe league at a professional level is kinda hard.

zoraster · Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:03 am

steelback's makeup stylist for his photo went for smokey eyes.

zoraster · Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:36 am

love this game.

zoraster · Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:41 am

loving this zilean pick.

zoraster · Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:41 am

both probably? if you think about it, it's not that different than a comp with fiora top, corki mid, lucian bot except for the top matchup and having two magic dealers rather than two ad dealers.

also, loving kasing actually getting good use out of the abyssal voyages.

zoraster · Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:13 am

seems pretty early to say that.

zoraster · Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:16 am

well right now i don't think he's regretting it because it's too early

zoraster · Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:22 am

I think by playoff they can probably be top 2 or 3.

zoraster · Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:48 am

I don't see why. They've lost to Fnatic, H2K, G2 and Vitality. They've beaten Roccat, elements and UoL. They play Giants and Splyce to close out this "half" of the split, which they should win.

So essentially they need to improve enough to beat one of the four teams they lost to while not having the others pass them. Not that tall an order.

zoraster · Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:52 am

---
It's worth pointing out schedule strength so far by looking at games left to play in this half. UoL has to face Vitality and H2K, so it's very possible they'll go 0-2 over the next two. Vitality faces G2 and UoL, so the same for them (though obviously they can't BOTH go 0-2).

Compared to Origen's Giants and Splyce and Fnatic's ROCCAT and Elements, it's clear who's had the harder schedule thus far. H2K sits kind of in the middle and faces UoL and ROCCAT.

zoraster · Sat Feb 06, 2016 11:24 am

Huni vs. Huhi kind of confusing

zoraster · Sun Feb 07, 2016 2:34 pm

In post 5995, SleepyKrew wrote:It makes me so uncomfortable listening to C9's ingame talk because it's just Hai whereas every other team has everyone talking

Why? hai is amazing.

zoraster · Fri Feb 12, 2016 8:02 am

fnatic looking lost. particularly gamsu and their new support.

zoraster · Sat Feb 13, 2016 10:56 am

This feels like darshans meta

zoraster · Sat Feb 13, 2016 12:06 pm

C9in second feels weird.

zoraster · Sat Feb 13, 2016 12:51 pm

Well no. Compared to how I feel like their skill level is.

Feel like IMT is heads and shoulders over everyone and the only team that feels like they're playing not super sloppy

zoraster · Sat Feb 13, 2016 12:59 pm

That's probably fair

zoraster · Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:40 am

this game is awesome.

zoraster · Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:14 pm

worlds is in NA (SF, Chicago, NYC, LA) this year. at the very least, favorable time zones! I think the group stages sound fun and are more likely to have teams I know, so if I'm living in SF at time maybe I'll try it.

zoraster · Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:22 pm

that was pretty clever, myko. I applaud it.

zoraster · Sun Feb 21, 2016 4:19 am

After losing my first four weeks, I was sure I was heading for relegation. Now I have hope!

zoraster · Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:29 pm

immortals clinch playoffs. their magic number is 3 for a bye (i.e. a combination of them winning or their nearest opponents losing).

NRG and TL are 1-4 (EDIT) over the past 5, while Echo Fox, C9 and CLG are 4-1. Hopefully it stays pretty close. Would like to see games matter at the end of the split.

There is no auto-relegation this year, but you have a much better chance of avoiding relegation if you finish 8th or 9th than if you finish 10th.

zoraster · Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:07 pm

Uh yes I do

zoraster · Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:30 am

What's their record this split with froggen playing?

zoraster · Thu Feb 25, 2016 9:04 am

Wow. Forgiven just announced he's got to do army duty, nearly in tears. Clearly he's broken up about it. This seems a surprise to the interviewer who was like... "shit... guess i'll just ask the normal questions about how they did well!"

At least Sjokz had the presence of mind to say "uh no... let's not talk about the game"

zoraster · Thu Feb 25, 2016 9:14 am

I didn't realize that Ryu's absence was also military based, but I did know South Korea had mandatory service.

zoraster · Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:01 pm

In post 6060, Lady Lambdadelta wrote:
In post 6052, zoraster wrote:Wow. Forgiven just announced he's got to do army duty, nearly in tears. Clearly he's broken up about it. This seems a surprise to the interviewer who was like... "shit... guess i'll just ask the normal questions about how they did well!"

At least Sjokz had the presence of mind to say "uh no... let's not talk about the game"

It's so hard to on the fly say something tactful and Riot approved when a player blindsides you with that.

Sjokz likely had instructions from above to talk about it as opposed to game analysis.

I think the reporter did the best he could in the circumstance.

I think there's certainly truth to this, and it's a difficult situation. But someone who is actually interviewing as the job probably runs with it. Certainly you're going in there with the expectation that it's going to end in some platitudes, maybe the best thing being some frank trash talk. But I've seen enough interviews that have gone off the tracks to know that professionals will reassess what they're saying.

zoraster · Fri Feb 26, 2016 8:31 am

well in a couple months we get to see if you're right.

zoraster · Sat Feb 27, 2016 11:53 am

Yeah hard not to root for them in that game. I think it might be good for immortals in the end though.

zoraster · Sat Feb 27, 2016 12:36 pm

I really want the teams to get 2 out of 3 experience.

zoraster · Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:41 am

that was about 45 seconds straight of across the board outplays.

zoraster · Thu Mar 03, 2016 6:06 am

Forgiven has gotten a temporary deferral. Not sure for how long: https://www.facebook.com/H2kGaming.EU/p ... =3&theater

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:01 am

man TSM just threw that game.

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:14 am

sometimes i think Riot lets ESL do these events to emphasize just how much better Riot is at it.

Not that they need to do that, what with DOTA2's Shanghai Major.

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:22 am

If TSM had managed to kill even one more of them before getting aced, they may not even have been able to get any nexus turrets as they'd lack either (a) the ability to tank or (b) damage.

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:04 am

IEM managed to broadcast TSM's voice comms for at least part of the match: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegend ... ad/d0n8y6k which is interesting if probably infuriating for the teams. always wanted to hear more than just the snippets you get in the highlights.

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:07 am

Yeah another game where at 31 minutes they were able to push through inner, inhib turret, inhib, two nexus turrets, and the nexus... Only partially aided by minions. Like I get at 45 minutes that happens.

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:11 am

The wait between games is interminable. They could probably make the games best of 3 if they were more efficient.

zoraster · Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:01 pm

It's pretty common since the teams are set pretty far in advance.

zoraster · Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:01 am

Klig looks completely outmatched.

zoraster · Sat Mar 05, 2016 12:56 pm

maybe you can see him counter kalista, but that doesn't explain

why

.

zoraster · Sun Mar 06, 2016 4:01 am

Gamsu looking amazing.

zoraster · Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:07 am

Cabo is playing nasus!

zoraster · Thu Mar 10, 2016 9:41 am

zoraster · Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:54 am

Steelback is just about the saddest looking person.

zoraster · Sat Mar 12, 2016 9:36 am

I hate that C9's gone back to putting Jensen on Varus. They tried that a ton back summer of last year, and it was just as uninspiring.

zoraster · Sat Mar 12, 2016 2:56 pm

That was awesome and awful

zoraster · Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:07 am

In post 6172, Iecerint wrote:I think the problem is that they don't respect Yellowstar.

Probably. But it also seems like he doesn't have as much confidence to really take control as he did in Fnatic. I wonder if TSM will trade him back to Fnatic after this split.

zoraster · Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:19 am

TL? I guess it's possible, but they don't exactly look good. More of a "high potential, low achievement" thing right now, but that's similar to TSM.

zoraster · Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:23 am

I guess that's different, but both seem to fit that same mold of "high potential, low achievement" just for slightly different reasons.

zoraster · Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:36 am

But if the Marlins weren't performing well, I wouldn't say "oh. they're the most likely to make a run to the world series other than the top 3!"

zoraster · Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:47 am

It COULD happen that way, sure. But I don't see a reason it'd be more likely to happen when you could say nearly the same thing about TSM: they could be a top team if they figured their shit out.

Also, the Marlins haven't won a world series since 2003, which was also the last time they made the playoffs. So if you made a bet every year that the Marlins would outperform their expectations and even just make the playoffs, you'd have lost the last 13 times.

zoraster · Tue Mar 15, 2016 6:05 am

so apparently it's the finals of the eu challenger series today. The new promotion tournament format is a bit complicated, but it's pretty clear you want to be the #1 CS team as you just have to win one out of two best of 5 matches, whereas if you're #2 you have to win your first (probably against Giants, possibly ROCCAT) and then you have to win one of two best of 5 matches.

zoraster · Sun Mar 20, 2016 3:24 am

it's not the best formatting, but this runs through a lot of the tie-breaker scenarios: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegend ... io_in_the/

zoraster · Sun Mar 20, 2016 3:44 am

But to break down some common threads:

Current standings:

1 Immortals 16W-1L
2 Counter Logic Gaming 12W-5L
2 Cloud9 12W-5L
4 Liquid 9W-8L
4 TSM 9W-8L
6 NRG Esports 8W-9L
7 Echo Fox 6W-11L
8 Team Impulse 5W-12L
9 Renegades 4W-13L
9 Team Dignitas 4W-13L

Matches today:
Renegades vs. Echo Fox
Liquid vs. Cloud9
Impulse vs. Immortals
CLG vs. Dignitas
TSM vs. NRG

Echo Fox has nothing but pride at stake in this game as they're assured a safe LCS return at 7th but can't get 6th.

At the bottom of the table, the very most important thing is not to finish 10th. While it's no longer an automatic relegation, the promotion tournament is structured so that it's less likely you'll stay up (digression later). Finishing 8th is still better than 9th due to the way it's set up, but the difference is marginal. Renegades and DIG are likely to have a playoff either between themselves or with TIP (either individually or in a 3 way tie). The promotion tournament is all best of 5s and happens this weekend.

Spoiler: Summer Split Promotion Tournament

In years past, I didn't find the playoff seeding to be that meaningful other than getting a bye in the first round. But with Immortals looking nearly unbeatable, getting more championship points for just getting to the finals, and the new seeding policy, getting a higher seed is definitely worthwhile.

The short is that for EACH ROUND, the top remaining seed faces the bottom remaining seed, rather than having a bracket formed beforehand. So before, if #6 upset #3, #6 would still face #2 in the semis. But now, #6 will face #1 in the semis. Which means if you get 6th seed, you assure you'll face Immortals even if you win.

So anyway, the places to watch are getting the bye (#2) between CLG and Cloud 9 (which also avoids Immortals until the finals). The rest of the teams just want to NOT get the #6 seed because then they at least have a chance of dodging Immortals in the semis.

Because NRG and TSM face off against each other, that's probably the top regular match of the week until tie-breakers come into play.

zoraster · Sun Mar 20, 2016 4:23 am

You don't need TSM to win, really. You just want them to come out with, say, 3rd place points.

zoraster · Tue Mar 22, 2016 2:22 am

http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/article ... tournament

This is so amateur. It kind of makes me angry. They could have easily decided to implement this rule back in January with all the other promotion tournament changes. Or even in February. But they waited until all the teams are decided?

Also, this means that the promotion tournament will happen at the same days as the LCS playoffs, which is disappointing

zoraster · Thu Mar 24, 2016 3:08 am

If this were a news site or something, I might agree. As this is a gaming studio using the vernacular of gaming people...

zoraster · Fri Mar 25, 2016 2:30 am

In post 6217, animorpherv1 wrote:Man, I can't wait to watch giants flounder again in summer! SO COMPETITIVE. SO MUCH FUN.

I suspect they will be the odd team out of the promos.

zoraster · Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:02 am

I guess you take what you can get as a coach in pro LoL, but TSM would not be a fun team to coach. Basically like having to deal with Jerry Jones breathing down your neck.

zoraster · Fri Mar 25, 2016 10:35 am

In post 6225, pickemgenius wrote:I think people are too afraid to challenge regi as the dominant voice.

It would be a great job, you just have to have enough cajones to actually want to do the job properly.

I think they're probably afraid for a reason. I don't think any good coach really wants to be micromanaged by ownership. It's possible Regi would be okay with someone challenging him at the very first, but at the first sign of anything other than an Immortals type season, you'd have him involved in your stuff.

zoraster · Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:04 am

zoraster · Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:06 am

Am I significantly behind the feed? The game seems pretty even to me right now.

zoraster · Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:11 am

yeah, now it's definitely in favor of giants.

zoraster · Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:16 am

Or not!

zoraster · Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:33 am

I don't think they need to drop Soaz. That seems pretty hasty.

zoraster · Sat Apr 02, 2016 10:51 am

Yeah. Sleepy will be changing back soon in conjunction with Scummies

zoraster · Sat Apr 02, 2016 11:42 am

I don't really get why they've played it all four games, prioritizing it even

zoraster · Sun Apr 03, 2016 12:03 pm

my wife got excited when gnar was picked.

zoraster · Sat Apr 09, 2016 10:06 am

I haven't watched it, but I'm excited to see whether bro's opinion on soaz is just his typical overreaction or legitimate.

zoraster · Sat Apr 09, 2016 2:50 pm

Series was great. Five was super tense

zoraster · Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:03 am

Fnatic Gauntlet run to qualify for worlds?

zoraster · Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:22 am

True. But they'd probably need to get first or second to not have to use the gauntlet. Lots of time to pass (remember how certain Bro was that SK was going to be the only good team from EU last year? He was wrong, but he wasn't making a stupid guess), but right now they don't look like they're going to challenge for that.

zoraster · Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:17 am

Forgiven in a old graves/Lucian meta.

zoraster · Sat Apr 16, 2016 8:34 am

another game where the team marginally behind gets an ace and goes through the ENTIRE turret line to win the game. Not even at a particularly late time. I really don't think it's the death timers that need to be tweaked. The turrets are just so weak.

zoraster · Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:05 am

I wonder what the effect of making turrets point based like zzrot portals or wards (but obviously way more hit points) would be like. Maybe make attack speed too strong?

zoraster · Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:25 am

I mean there was the era of Mord last season.

zoraster · Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:31 am

it's easy to forget because it was so incredibly OP, particularly at a pro level, that it was always banned. I think he was banned almost 90% of the games at worlds.

I hope they don't pull nonsense like that this year. If they're going to do their mage rework, they need to release it between splits.

zoraster · Sat Apr 16, 2016 1:47 pm

I don't really get the objection to adcs merely existing regardless of mandatoriness

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:05 am

But the meta for the past couple of months hasn't really been a true siege meta. It's been a 1-3-1 split push meta that's heavily devoted to rotational play and teleports. That's still not team fighting, obviously, but to the extent there's sieging it's to facilitate the split push.

I still don't think there's an inherent problem with adcs or that this is the cause. But rather objective control isn't that important outside of turrets.

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:10 am

buff turrets, buff objective rewards.

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:11 am

What tank meta? Top lane goes tank, sometimes jungle does... but that's not really an issue?

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:15 am

Also of the top 10 most commonly picked Top champions in plat+ play, only 3 are true tanks. Ekko builds tank now, but that's sure to be fairly short-lived in the next few patches.

Irelia, Darius, Trundle build bruisery

Yasuo and Riven build damage.

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:16 am

If you're worried about items... the answer is probably tweak items.

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 8:36 am

they did, but i never thought the game was as far in favor of origen as the casters seemed to think. Although they were down in kills, G2 managed to answer most kills with objectives.

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:41 am

man that was a fun game.

zoraster · Sun Apr 17, 2016 1:49 pm

I think tristana is the most fun adc to watch.

zoraster · Fri May 06, 2016 12:04 pm

disagree.

zoraster · Sat May 07, 2016 9:20 am

holy cow. that CLG/RNG game was fun to watch. Stixxay has been awesome. Also, I have to say... It's hard to think that this is the same Xmithie as the one from last year.

zoraster · Sat May 07, 2016 3:20 pm

they definitely shouldn't have, but they did have significant scaling on their side.

zoraster · Tue May 10, 2016 5:35 am

what's the story there? are they doing a challenger team?

zoraster · Wed May 11, 2016 7:25 am

The prodigal sun! https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegend ... r_returns/

zoraster · Wed May 11, 2016 7:25 am

not exactly surprising, of course.

zoraster · Tue May 17, 2016 3:06 am

It doesn't mean nothing, but it means a lot less for a couple of reasons:

1. There's a real difference in prestige between a Riot event and others even if the others use much of the same talent.
2. Even more importantly IEMs use a somewhat strange qualification method where it is not at all the case the top teams from each region will go.
3. Sorta related to #1 is the timing of each event. IEM San Jose tends to be a bunch of teams that are just having fun because they're not even sure of their rosters for the coming season. IEM Katewice has tended to have teams that are still much more focused on how they're going to do in their respective leagues. MSI and Worlds come at a time when teams have their set rosters (pretty much) and can prepare for the tournament at hand more than just in the week preceding (G2 aside).

zoraster · Tue May 17, 2016 3:35 am

I'd love to do some sort of study to see if my wild hypothesis has any truth: going to Katowice is actually bad for teams in their domestic leagues.

Yes, you get exposed to international play and that can be helpful, but you end up having to spend a lot of time to play in it that could otherwise be used to (a) practice more for the league and (b) rest your team a bit mid-split to avoid burnout. In the middle of a season, spending 2 days traveling as well as the jet lag, etc. over a two week period is just kind of rough. Particularly for a game where focus is a huge part of things.

And any hype gained is quickly spent. You win IEM (like TSM) and people are hyped but then if you don't win your domestic league (or struggle in the season!) you feel a let down. And even if you do win it, if you don't win MSI after, you're now old news and whatever you did there is more important.

zoraster · Tue May 17, 2016 4:48 am

I don't think so. Their team wasn't terrific last year and the only thing that really made their MSI performance seem out of place was their IEM finish. The competition in Spring NA LCS was super low and everyone they faced at MSI (obviously) were also winners of their respective leagues.

zoraster · Tue May 17, 2016 4:57 am

Think about how MUCH better NA was this split compared to last year's spring, particularly by playoff time. Liquid, who finished 4th this year and 3rd last year is leaps and bounds better than last year. CLG is far better, TSM by playoffs looked to have gelled pretty well (though I think they still look shakier than their 2nd place finish would indicate), Immortals despite the surprise and decisive loss in playoffs still looks top notch, even C9 looks just as good as last year's C9 if not better (they're just facing better competition).

The 6th place team in the playoffs seems relatively similar: Gravity last year vs. NRG, but otherwise I think the top teams in NA are far stronger than their 2015 counterparts.

zoraster · Tue May 17, 2016 7:12 am

I don't think you'll have found me saying that in the past. I was pretty into EU last year.

zoraster · Wed May 18, 2016 5:21 am

mithy and zven moved to G2 it looks like.

zoraster · Wed May 18, 2016 5:56 am

it's possible that the lack of practicing may have been due to known upcoming roster changes? who knows

zoraster · Wed May 18, 2016 7:30 am

i've said this before, but it would have to be a pretty big drop for me to want forgiven on my team. I don't know who the out and out best ADC among Zven, Freeze and Forgiven is, but Forgiven isn't so much ahead that I'd want him over that. (If I had to hazard a guess it'd be Forgiven, Zven, Freeze on pure talent).

#choicesI'llnevermake

zoraster · Wed May 18, 2016 8:50 am

was mithy their shotcaller?

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 10:45 am

I promise you it was not me. It was probably shotty

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 10:45 am

I promise you it was not me. It was probably shotty

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 10:45 am

I promise you it was not me. It was probably shotty

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 10:45 am

I promise you it was not me. It was probably shotty

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 10:46 am

the rare quadra post.

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 11:39 am

New LoL thread: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=92&t=66608

zoraster · Fri May 20, 2016 11:39 am

New LoL thread: http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=92&t=66608

zoraster · Mon May 23, 2016 7:08 am

I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing: https://pvplive.net/c/espn-and-riot-gam ... 500-millio

On the one hand, nice to see it continuing to grow and potentially become more "legitimate." And there would be major stakeholders in keeping LoL relevant.

But on the other hand, I pretty much like where it's at right now. ESPN might bring some better interest pieces, more news, etc. but I don't think they'd improve the overall casting product. And I'm not looking forward to paying a cable subscription to watch it if they ink an exclusive deal (which for half a billion makes me believe they would).

zoraster · Mon May 23, 2016 11:49 am

Okay. I'm willing to listen to anything, but I think we should use First Two Games as the standard rather than Best Game. For one thing, Best Game STILL benefits NA players over EU players.

zoraster · Mon May 23, 2016 12:00 pm

Well you don't get to carry over your players from one to the other so... not sure it matters.

zoraster · Mon May 23, 2016 12:07 pm

I think you misunderstand. Obviously you can still do that, but because NA players will play more games they have a higher chance of going off in any given week.

zoraster · Tue Jun 07, 2016 6:19 am

xpeke is going to be playing ADC? This is going to end well...

Also.... shit.

zoraster · Tue Jun 07, 2016 6:20 am

I took Forgiven because he fell pretty far in the draft, but I've been saying it for a while: top teams are crazy to take Forgiven.

zoraster · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:39 am

This game is going over 70 minutes.

zoraster · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:49 am

Fnatic has 4 zz'rot portals defending.

zoraster · Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:22 am

can Zven get to 1000 cs?

zoraster · Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:23 am

nope. Close though!

zoraster · Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:27 am

they are correct.

zoraster · Fri Jul 08, 2016 5:02 am

as opposed to?

zoraster · Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:36 am

Anyone planning on going to the World's group stages? I bought a few days. Doubt I'll go to all, but they're good tickets so hopefully I can just sell them if I'm not.

zoraster · Thu Aug 04, 2016 5:54 am

I did.

zoraster · Thu Aug 04, 2016 5:54 am

But apparently it's not working out very well, eh?

zoraster · Thu Aug 04, 2016 7:22 am

I think Sona mid is a pretty niche pick that needs a good composition both for and against her.

zoraster · Wed Aug 10, 2016 4:16 am

Just checking: no one is planning on going to Worlds group stages are they/need tickets?

zoraster · Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:32 pm

I don't think they did. Aphro is probably the best support in NA and was definitely one of the big reasons for their earlier success, but this season he's struggled along with his team.

zoraster · Thu Aug 11, 2016 6:23 am

Yeah, I can understand that! I'd offer a ticket, but I suspect the $30 ticket isn't the major expense in that equation

On another note, I really don't get reddit. I understand not upvoting this. The appeal is mostly to nerds like me so not generally applicable. But what is the deal with downvoting it? It's informational, it's not like I'm expressing some viewpoint in it.

It's frustrating because I know some subsection find it interesting.

zoraster · Thu Aug 11, 2016 11:38 am

no, the group stages in SF. I have both Thursdays, first Saturday and last Sunday. I'm going to sell a few because I don't think I want to drive that far in so many times, but I'm not sure which.

zoraster · Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:31 am

can you find that? I'm a pretty active lurker on there and hadn't seen it.

zoraster · Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:45 pm

I think the Fnatic of last year was arguably the best western team in the "modern" era (which I'd say is probably Season 3 and after). But they underperformed somewhat at worlds even thought they got into the semis. Even before that they weren't showing the same crispness. That's not that surprising though -- league is a pretty fast changing game and a month+ between the season ending and worlds is a long time.

TSM this split is pretty awesome though. They should have a decent shot of performing as well as Fnatic/OG last year.

zoraster · Sun Aug 14, 2016 6:22 am

Fnatic vs. H2k delayed until Tuesday because of technical problems. Yikes. That'd be rough in the season much less in the playoffs.

I was pretty excited for the series too. Much more than I will be for G2 vs. UoL or Winner vs. Splyce.

zoraster · Wed Aug 17, 2016 6:58 am

I mean, it couldn't have been any worse.