Pro Play and Celebrity Gossip

[Rasix]

Lautemortis, I think, is leading the league in deaths.  He gets picked on a lot and it seems to be pretty easy to fuck with his jungle.  He does, however, have a pretty rad beard.

Almost all my picks differ from yours:

Top:  Dyrus.  He's really been the most consistent all LCS and with unknown team chemistry, I'd rather just have someone solid up there.  Voy is also a good choice.  Voy is a bit better if you want to run a more assassin heavy comp.
Jungle:  Saint by far.  He's the only scary jungle presence in NA right now.  Crumbz is also good.  Oddone has been fine, but I think he's third right now as far as junglers go.
Support:  Patoy.  He's probably the only Mistake/Lustboy/Edward quality support in NA.  Xpecial is also good.
Mid: Scarra or Regi.  Scarra kind of gets pooped on by Euro and Asian mids, but he's got a better champ pool than Regi and his overall consistency of play is probably the highest.  Regi does have a lot of big stage experience like the rest of TSM save Turtle.
Bot:  Doublelift or Qtpie. Doublelift is probably the best technical AD and on a team running more threats than CLG, he'd probably beast pretty hard.  Qtpie I think is an underrated AD and if you want to go with synergy bot, might as well pair him up with the best support in NA. 

So, my first choice team has 1 TSM, 1 CRS (I think they're really doing well as a team effort), 2 DIG, and one CLG.

 

[Ashamanchill]

Voyboy
Scarra
Saint Vicious
Patoy
Cop

[Rasix]

And... CLG now has lost to complexity.  Lost is a generous assessment.  They got pasted.  

NickWu is just a beast of a laner and hotshot right now is.. not good.   CLG probably had the dumbest level 1 fight I've ever seen.

[Kail]

And... CLG now has lost to complexity.  Lost is a generous assessment.  They got pasted.  

NickWu is just a beast of a laner and hotshot right now is.. not good.

Holy wow, that game was hilarious.  Five kills before minions spawn.  Baron steal.  CLG successfully defending their nexus at 60hp.  I think I actually busted out laughing out loud at like four or five different times, haha.

EDIT: WHAT THE SHIT now it's Curse v. GGU and another 5 kills before minions spawn.   And Nyjacky on Veigar 

[Ashamanchill]

For those who don't want the results, ahem, ruined.

[ezrast]

It's kind of crazy how quickly the bottom four teams are becoming serious threats considering how clearly they were in a different division from the big names when the season started.

[Rasix]

Big name teams have had fairly stable rosters for a while now.  They've all had some big name departures for various reasons, but outside of TSM, they've had time to adjust.

These lower tier teams were largely created out of whole cloth at the start of LCS.  Sure, some have been in various teams together, but not as rosters existing for as long as the top teams have.   They have a lot of good individual talent, but the overall team synergy and big game experience just isn't there yet.  Also, many are just starting to shed some of their under performing players because, I assume, they've been reluctant to mess with their still forming team synergies.

One of these bottom 4 is going to permanently displace either CLG and in enough time, TSM.

[Ashamanchill]

Big name teams have had fairly stable rosters for a while now.  They've all had some big name departures for various reasons, but outside of TSM, they've had time to adjust.

These lower tier teams were largely created out of whole cloth at the start of LCS.  Sure, some have been in various teams together, but not as rosters existing for as long as the top teams have.   They have a lot of good individual talent, but the overall team synergy and big game experience just isn't there yet.  Also, many are just starting to shed some of their under performing players because, I assume, they've been reluctant to mess with their still forming team synergies.

One of these bottom 4 is going to permanently displace either CLG and in enough time, TSM.

Just for lulz, they should import over one smaller brand Asian team and watch how they do. I had literally never even heard of K T Rolster until they showed up al MLG Dallas, and they spanked the best NA and Europe had to offer.

[Rasix]

It'd be a bloodbath.  LG-IM, Naijin Shield, Taipei Snipers: they'd all cream the US teams.  DIG and Curse would win games, but TSM likely couldn't beat an Asian solo queue team.  And we like know nothing about the lesser known Chinese teams, which I assume are all scary as hell. 

[Malakili]

It'd be a bloodbath.  LG-IM, Naijin Shield, Taipei Snipers: they'd all cream the US teams.  DIG and Curse would win games, but TSM likely couldn't beat an Asian solo queue team.  And we like know nothing about the lesser known Chinese teams, which I assume are all scary as hell. 

Yea, they are on another level over there.

[Ashamanchill]

It'd be a bloodbath.  LG-IM, Naijin Shield, Taipei Snipers: they'd all cream the US teams.  DIG and Curse would win games, but TSM likely couldn't beat an Asian solo queue team.  And we like know nothing about the lesser known Chinese teams, which I assume are all scary as hell. 

I concur, except about the part about Dig and Curse winning some games at all. As much as I like those teams, they tend to fall right the fuck apart when facing anything unknown to them, Curse especially.

[Rasix]

I mean like a game in a series (possibly one out of multiple).  But they still wouldn't take a best of 3 and a best of 5 would likely go 3-1.

TSM beat Curse with a season 2 global comp.   

[Ashamanchill]

That's what I mean about Curse. They fell behind a bit, and all of a sudden they were playing like they were in solo queue. At my elo. TSM didn't win that game, Curse just flushed it right down the drain. Oh well. At least I have Fnatic v Mosco- ughhhh - Gambit Gaming to look forward to tomorrow.

[Rasix]

WTF was Saint doing that match.  FACE CHECK EVERYTHING.  I had just caught the end before, but watching this game.. good god.

[ezrast]

My take on NA teams is that they aren't dynamic and get beaten by new strategies, but over time they adapt very well and are usually able to force the game into being played their way (farmfest until one team gets aced at a neutral objective). They get murdered by Asian teams because they aren't exposed to the playstyle enough to figure out a counter, but if they were regularly competing I don't think it would be all that lopsided. Definitely would still put them behind other regions overall though.

[Ashamanchill]

Fuckin' sweet, finally someone does something original. Froggen on Jungle AD Malzahar. Looking to see how it turns out, cuz I'm sure if it fails it will be right back to the same goddamn junglers all the way down.

Edit: Never mind, the rest of EG can't fucking play the game worth shit.

[Rasix]

DIG without Crumbz looked like a bad solo queue team.  Got stomped by CLG, who had a completely average performance.  It'll be interesting to see if DIG can beat GGU tomorrow.  They should probably just have Lambo play Nocture, at least then you have your sub jungler on something comfortable.

Nothing interesting now until the last game tomorrow (CRS v. TSM).

edit: this col v. crs game is pretty entertaining.  jungle alistar, ap janna, support kayle.  NickWu just destroyed voyboy in lane.

edit2: col is soooo going to throw this.

And they throw.  Early game team and failed to close.  Just let Voy farm, farm, farm while they failed to get mid inhib turret.  Cop closes it out with a penta.

[Margalis]

That Col vs Crs game was so dumb. Early game team, build huge lead, do absolutely nothing with it. You have Janna farming all game on one side while Kha'Zix is farming all game for the other side - hmm. This is a problem you see in silver-level solo queue - teams that do nothing to actively try to win the game and end up losing. Whoever is calling the shots on Complexity screwed up really bad. You could see that loss coming about 20 minutes before it actually happened.

The Dig vs CLG game was well-played by CLG. It was a little hard to tell what happened in some of those engages but it looked to me like Hotshot on Cho silenced Kayle right as Scarra on Zed went in, so Kayle wasn't able to ult Zed and he just insta-died. The skirmishes where Aphro flash ulted and Chauster flag tossed in were very well-coordinated.

[ezrast]

Game 2 of Curse Academy vs Summoner is pretty fun. CA making all sorts of clutch plays, for better or worse, with lots of really close team fights. Pobelter, Rhux, and IWDominate are all fun to watch in general.

[Ashamanchill]

I also though CLG played well in their game v Dig. They defended each tower like the whole game rested on it, which was cool to see someone do for once. Dig looked like the very team that went 0/3 at the Season 2 finals.

[Rasix]

Yah, they executed very well.  I probably didn't give CLG enough credit, but DIG just looked really bad.  Like the team I thought they would be after week 1 LCS.  I don't know why people give Cho'gath to Hotshot.  I imagine a majority of their wins are with him on Cho.  If  you do, I think you have to put the 2v1 lane against him rather than putting it mid, where they didn't really accomplish much other than temporarily zoning Link.

[Rasix]

Quantic v Curse Academy was really entertaining.  End of game 3 was absolutely chaotic.

[Kail]

Lots of weirdness today, been really interesting so far.

And about to finally see someone try their hand at Viktor in the coL vs. GGU game... 

[Rasix]

I probably would have gone 0-4 picking these games.  However,

It'll be interesting to see if DIG can beat GGU tomorrow. 

 

TSM is looking strong for NA finals. 

[Azuredream]

Oh man, EG vs Fnatic. The game as a whole wasn't all that entertaining, but it was worth it for the ending.

[Ashamanchill]

Sorry guys,  as dodging this thread cuz I didn't have time this weekend to watch the games. Now that I'm caught up on them  Fucking Curse losing to TSM again? They are looking like shit coming into the finals. Stop playing like a bunch of solo queue all stars maybe? Meanwhile, yeah TSM is looking like they are going to come out on top yet again. Queue all the obnoxious 'baylife' bullshit.

[Druzil]

There have not been many streamers on the last few nights, everyone must be scrimming hard for the final week.  So many games this week, it should be really interesting.

For me the best part of last weeks games  was support Leblanc.   Support just seems like the best place to get some really interesting champs onto your team.  With all of the lane swapping it feels like the sustain support are not really as crucial anymore.

Also, why is Sona not being banned more?  Crescendo winning so many team fights in LCS.

[Rasix]

SK v. GMG game from Sunday was pretty interesting to watch.  Not really in that the quality of the game was anything special, but SK had been 0-11 to them at that point. For all of the hate that Ocelotte gets, he played a flawless game in a lane he should have lost hard.  Darien's Rengar pick was unfortunate.

The AllStar 1v1 best of 5 between Soaz and Wickd got 140k viewers yesterday.  It was pretty entertaining, but it kind of showed that Wickd isn't an intellectual giant in top lane. Wickd used champs in his comfort zone while using killing summoners (exhaust/ignite). Soaz instead played some pretty nasty lane bullies.  For the final game, he played Nunu v. Wickd's Jayce. Infinite sustain and poke ftw.  Wickd probably should have won game 4 as Zed, but Soaz using Draven had put so much damage on his tower, Wickd had to all-in him before he hit 6.

Kinda psyched for this last week.

[Rasix]

DIG.    They're looking like the worst team in the LCS right now.    Maybe trolling solo queue as hard as they do is having some sort of negative effect.  Doubtful.

Secret CLG counter DIG strat:
1.  Ban out scarra.
2.  Win easy.

[Azuredream]

Whoever draws them in the playoffs is going to be happy. They've looked absolutely awful- every one of their games recently is like watching a horrible trainwreck as it happens. I'd never actually seen a 'XX has left the game' in a pro game before. Granted, he left about 10 seconds before their nexus blew up, but it still seemed like a 'fuck this, I'm out' kind of reaction.

[Druzil]

Other than Dig though I thought the quality of games was great this week for far.  Some really exciting games and nail biter late game matches.

[Rasix]

Yep.  The lower tier teams are making for some entertaining games.  The competition over the last 2 spots pretty intense.

COL has become a fun team to watch.  Seems like MARN is fading a bit, however.

edit: Dyrus on Kha'zik.  WTF.  I don't think I've ever seen him play this champ even in solo queue.

[Ashamanchill]

Yup, Dig is playing beyond terrible, and Curse's current infighting has put them on tilt. Leaving the only top team to being playing well going into the final being (Ashamanchill's whole world shudders), ughhh, TSM.

[Rasix]

TSM's going to likely win season finals.  They just look really strong right now save the odd derp game.  If they pull CLG in the semi finals, that could be their only hiccup since sometimes CLG can manage to look like a tournament team.  But TSM has done well against them this year.    Perhaps Curse if they pull their head of their asses.   I just don't see anyone in NA taking 2 out of 3 unless someone on TSM has stomach flu during the games.

Is World Finals after this and the All-Star game?  Anyone know the date?

[Ashamanchill]

I think you hit the nail on the head with your assessment Rasix. Chances are TSM will mow down CLG if they meet them, but there is a small chance their playstyle could win against TSM. As for the rest, lol.

I'm not even sure they are doing an all regional finals until the end of the season, which if I'm not mistaken is in the fall. I know Leaguepedia has a Summer Season of LCS slated anyways.