Pro Play and Celebrity Gossip

[Kail]

Kind of disappointed in the playoffs/requalifiers as a whole.

[Rasix]

Looks like none of the big name/talent free agents are going to be picked up either (yet).  We get to see some old stalwarts continue to under perform, while some legitimately bad ass players go home to live with mom and dad.

I think it's still a legit possibility that eventually Cop gets replaced at Curse (he seems to be their newest fall guy). Hotshot; I don't know how you don't replace him immediately with MegaZero or NickWu (even though he played like shit during relegation matches).  I guess he's "learning new champs!" and won't immediately pick Cho'gath, Malphite or Nid if they slip through bans.

I think they need to look at their overall job security and relegation format.  Only top 2 having immunity makes for some very uncomfortable relegation matches.  What if DIG lost despite finishing 3rd during the regular season split?

fake edit: guess I don't need to spoiler what I already spoiled. 

[Malakili]

I think more churn is better than less all things considered.  When you think about the health of the pro scene you need to have some realistic chance of getting into the LCS in order to help the scene grow and develop. 

[Ashamanchill]

I can't say anything about the situation regarding Cop, but Hotshot will not be replaced, as that team is his. Literally his: he owns it. It would be like crying for the firing of Mark Cuban in Dallas.

[Azuredream]

I think more churn is better than less all things considered.  When you think about the health of the pro scene you need to have some realistic chance of getting into the LCS in order to help the scene grow and develop. 

I don't know, making half your teams have to fight to keep their spots seems a little much. Especially as it seems like 'LCS or bust' now.

[Malakili]

I think more churn is better than less all things considered.  When you think about the health of the pro scene you need to have some realistic chance of getting into the LCS in order to help the scene grow and develop. 

I don't know, making half your teams have to fight to keep their spots seems a little much. Especially as it seems like 'LCS or bust' now.

I look at it from a developing talent standpoint.  If you like at the Korean example for Starcraft - once they got over that initial hurdle (which was due to a number of specific factors that I won't go into) they had a legitimate system in place that gave people a pretty clear path to becoming a professional.  One of the most important parts of this system was that you didn't have to be performing at the very highest levels to be able to make a living doing it (not an amazing living, but a living).  This encouraged talented players to actually pursue pro gaming because they had a reasonable expectation of being able to survive doing it.  If you have too little ability for new teams to make a name for themselves, then you are effectively saying to all the new talent "don't waste your time on this, your chances of success are zero."  And that's with an already ultra competitive field of players and teams to begin with.

Starcraft 2 is having this problem right now in fact.  The North American scene in particular is very weak and this is one of the big reasons.  Blizzard's WCS is helping to a degree, but the fact that it isn't region locked isn't great.  I think in the long run Riot is helping the competitive scene mature and grow this way. 

[Ashamanchill]

Game 1 of NA v China in the books.

[Azuredream]

On China vs NA:

[Ashamanchill]

Game 2

[Kail]

Missed the games, but...

[Ashamanchill]

Missed the games, but...

I'm thinking that was pretty overblown. Watch the game it happens in. It really doesn't have that big of an impact, and I'm pretty sure the end result would have been the same.

[Goumindong]

Missed the games, but...

They discovered it after the game was in progress. I don't know if they made a judgement on whether or not the game will be replayed.

[Margalis]

XSpecial + DoubleLift did really well. Rest of NA team is bad, they don't make plays, they just slowly lose while hoping someone else on the team wins the game for them.

Dyrus constantly ulting 1 person with Malphite, Scarra doing nothing both games.

If you look at Rumble in that first game he had so many ridiculous plays. He was doing his best to win the game by himself. Meanwhile all the solos in NA do zero.

[Azuredream]

NA vs EU


The games were amazing to watch - the big crowd in the background really helped contribute to the intense atmosphere. The end of game 1 was heart-stopping.

[Kail]

Uhm, wow.

Okay, NA v. EU was insane.  Like, holy shit.

[Ashamanchill]

[Goumindong]

Everyone on the EU team speaks english. They tried to kill doublelift but Dyrus change from killbro to peel so that the harder initiate on SV and Scarra could go and kill the enemy team. I mean look at the last two team fights. Varus can't get to Liftlft because he is ezreal and far away. Ditto Ich has he doesn't have a hard gap closer and is their damage. This leaves only their support/jungler/top and you expect their support to peel.

Every fight Jarvan and Gumby would blow their ults on Liftlift and try to kill him. But Xpecial and Dyrus peeled and liftlift is PENTALIFT

[Ashamanchill]

Well, yes, they do speak English, just really poorly. Especially when push comes to shove. That being said, that's all obsolete now, as things unfolded more or less as expected when NA faced Korea.

[Nightblade]

China vs. NA

[Ashamanchill]

So, in yet another example of life proving Ashamanchill so completely wrong: HotshotGG is stepping down from the roster of CLG to focus on running the business side. Fuck. I should have used my power to say, 'no TSM will simply never disband. Won't happen.'

[ezrast]

I don't like to rag too much on Hotshot (it's just so easy!) but I could see him being a lot more useful in a coaching role. Hopefully removing him from the actual gameplay while establishing him as an authority figure outside of it will cut down on the bickering the team is known for (though I'm not sure how much that's been an issue lately).

[Rasix]

I thought this was going to happen the second that CLG won and two teams with good (for NA) top laners lost.  I didn't expect them to get an AD (and mid) main instead for top.  I can see Nien having a pretty high ceiling, but the same could be said for Mega as he had to top lane for a team with a pretty bad jungler, mid, and their AD situation was shit at the beginning of the season as well.  Megazero on a good team could be quite the terror. But, CLG will be CLG. 

Chauster will be a definite upgrade over Aphro, although he used to get caught a ton. Jiji jungle? Dunno, but he does OK in solo queue   

They'll maybe be better than last year, but I still see them fighting for relegation at season end.

[Goumindong]

Chauster will be OK as a support. He isn't a mechanically strong player and so i think they will suffer for it, especially since he is no longer in their initiator spot and can't call dives as easy.

[Ashamanchill]

From what I've read, they use the mantra of Korean teams, you pick the best player, not the best player in that role.


And because I didn't really have time to discuss it properly at the time, my thoughts on the All Star Game(s): Still with the same fucking set of champions huh? I was hoping that maybe, having an exposure to a few different regions, and the games not being worth as a game of a given player's team, we might see something, anything different, but nope. It's the same champions all the way down.My favourite part is when the casters will mention 'oh this player has such a deep champion pool', and I'm like, yeah, that means they can play either Jarvan, Voli or Nasus, whoah.

[Rasix]

Curse just signed Edward from Gambit Gaming (or Gosu Pepper from Moscow Five if you prefer).   Solid pickup, but if he was frustrated with how Genja played, Cop is going to give him fits.  Back to the bench, Rhux. 

Makes you wonder if the CLG pickup of Nien was possibly to deny Curse the opportunity to replace Cop with him.

[Rasix]

NA teams look god awful right now.  I guess they enjoyed their break.

[Azuredream]

First day of Summer Split was pretty meh. The only game I enjoyed watching was TSM vs Cloud 9, and even that one was full of less than stellar play. Although, Cloud 9 looks like they deserve that LCS spot- I've heard that they really should've been in it last season just going by talent, but didn't make it.

[Rasix]

60+ minute game still going on right now between CLG and DIG.

edit: 71 minutes total.  My god. 

[Azuredream]

That was crazy. Link's Karthus had 1000+ AP at one point, where he just sold his boots to make a Deathcap. Doublelift was buying GA, proc'ing it, selling it, waiting 5 minutes, then buying it AGAIN. There were a lot of awful plays in that game, but it was really tense and suspenseful at the end.

[Rasix]

Seems like DIG should have won, but they didn't really make plays. Crumbz's Zac was fucking terrible.  He didn't die a lot, but all he really did was launch himself into a 1v5, take a ton of damage, and run away. When he wasn't doing stupid shit, Chauster's disengages were really strong.

edit: Man, cloud9 aren't bad.  They were getting pummeled early, but game back, won a major team fight at baron and just go win the game. They are really, really socially awkward though. Young too.  Funny watching these teams that didn't have to do the awkward interviews last split.

[Ashamanchill]

Curse gaming,  Ho boy.

[Azuredream]

Everybody in NA not named Cloud 9 looks really bad.

[Margalis]

OGN finals were last night - those players are on a wholly different level now.

[Ashamanchill]

Oh I know. Going from watching the Asians at the All Star tournament to watching the NA LCS is pretty funny. And thanks to the Korean win at the All Stars their region gets an extra team at the Season 3 finals. Ya, go ahead Phreak, tell me with a straight face how Dignitas, Curse, or CLG has any hope of competing at all.

[MediumHigh]

North America's inability to play video games is legendary.