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League of Legends - Road to Worlds Season 5

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League of Legends Playoff Season is here, and the sort out for who goes to Worlds is happening now!

 

North America and Europe are in their semifinal rounds for the Summer Split, Korea's playoff gauntlet is kicking off, and China is in the quarterfinals. SEA already has a qualifier! AhQ will be representing the GPL.

 

Talk about how Faker is actually technically underrated, TSM is the best, CLG will choke, and Huni is the cutest here. Ask all your League strategy questions, such as "Is League a baby game for babies?"

 

Yes, it is. Welcome to the most popular baby game in the world.

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I've got a strategy question. 

 

Is League a baby game for babies?  :)

Undeniably true. I believe these will prove my point.

 

 

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Here's my professional assessment of League cuties.

 

Dreamiest player: Yellowstar

 

Dreamiest coach: YamatoCannon

 

How long will the Fnatic winning streak last? Will

be proven correct?

 

Also, Faker? Please.

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LGD - world champions 2015 beating Fnatic 3-1. Calling it now and will edit it later in case I am wrong.

 

I was thinking today that I'd like to EU and NA  lose a slot each for worlds cause neither have 3 world class teams (I would say NA at the moment have 0 and EU has 1 - Fnatic).The two slots could be used to bring in another two teams from outside the 5 main regions cause right now it's 7 regions (Turkey, Brazil, CIS, SE Asia, rest of Latin America, Japan and Austrailia) competing for two spots. 

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LGD - world champions 2015 beating Fnatic 3-1. Calling it now and will edit it later in case I am wrong.

 

I was thinking today that I'd like to EU and NA  lose a slot each for worlds cause neither have 3 world class teams (I would say NA at the moment have 0 and EU has 1 - Fnatic).The two slots could be used to bring in another two teams from outside the 5 main regions cause right now it's 7 regions (Turkey, Brazil, CIS, SE Asia, rest of Latin America, Japan and Austrailia) competing for two spots. 

 

Quoting you for posterity! I personally think SKT is, once again, the best team in the world (currently). Fnatic improved, but they did as well. Less up on what the LPL has going on this season.

 

Just to talke it through, the LMS gets two qualifier spots all its own. So TPA/Ahq/Yoe are all vying for auto-qualification spots. I'll be frank - the top 6-8 teams in the world are all in China and Korea. The Top 20 or so gets rounded out by the middling tier of China and Korea, with LMS, EU, and NA sprinkled in. I know that the LCS scene feels so far behind the Asian teams, but the independent international qualifiers are even further behind. I would say I disagree with you. As poor as some of the showings have been from EU and NA, none of the wildcard invites have ever shown they should be given more precedent over the larger regions. They all get smashed. Winning a single game is a major upset.

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http://na.lolesports.com/articles/power-rankings-7282015

 

So, put absolutely NO stock in Power Rankings of any kind ever please, but they are compiled by analysts who actually cover the regions. Bearing in mind that this is 3 weeks old, Fnatic is 4th in Riot's overall power rankings (the one all the way at the bottom). They are an EXCELLENT team.

 

I am maybe an eternal Western fanboy, but I do believe the Western scene has some genuinely world class teams. The reason so few of them are in high regard currently is that two of the teams coming out of the all star break that seemed like they would tune up for worlds absolutely collapsed (Cloud 9 in NA and SK in EU), TSM looked really vulnerable at times this season (but is predictably back in the semifinals of the LCS), and besides Fnatic the three other good teams in EU all have either their ups and downs or are unknown. H2K came out strong and faded, Unicorns of Love really shines in series play (Bo3/Bo5) so they're harder to evaluate in seasonal match play, and Origen is world class on paper but those guys have been out of the competitive scene since last year.

 

The plus side is that I think NA has never been more competitive, but because the teams who finished with top seeding in the split aren't the teams we're used to seeing there, we don't know if it's just the fall of tradition or if NA's rising tides have lifted multiple boats. There are running jokes that Team Liquid (nee Team Curse) always finishes 4th, and CLG always chokes, and they're at the top of the table. After this weekend we may actually have some mathematical qualifiers and we'll know more.

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They've been crushing it this split, but the amazing thing is that they didn't dominate like this because they always managed to build a lead, but because they could turn seemingly any situation around with superior teamfight coordination. They've been behind by a considerable margin in some of the later matches I watched, when there was already a bit of "When will this winning streak end?" mystifiying going on, but everytime I started to think "Is this it?" their opponents make some tiny mistake and they instantly capitalize on that.

 

This is maybe more about the other teams' inability to push their lead than Fnatic's strength sometimes, so everybody's curious how long they can keep this up against better teams, but then again it definitely takes a lot of consistency to be able to maintain an 18 game winning streak, even if it's consistently being able to recover after getting yourself in a bit of trouble. After a while, it definitely started to feel like they couldn't mess up hard enough to not come out on top. They pulled out the highly unconventional Trundle support for their last two games. Granted, they weren't exactly facing the top of the leaderboards at that point, but still.

 

Primetime League actually had

this week looking at what's behind Fnatic's success. And can I just say how amazing I think it is that Riot have their own weekly esports show, complete with a fantasy fantasy football league of sorts?

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Quoting you for posterity! I personally think SKT is, once again, the best team in the world (currently). Fnatic improved, but they did as well. Less up on what the LPL has going on this season.

 

Just to talke it through, the LMS gets two qualifier spots all its own. So TPA/Ahq/Yoe are all vying for auto-qualification spots. I'll be frank - the top 6-8 teams in the world are all in China and Korea. The Top 20 or so gets rounded out by the middling tier of China and Korea, with LMS, EU, and NA sprinkled in. I know that the LCS scene feels so far behind the Asian teams, but the independent international qualifiers are even further behind. I would say I disagree with you. As poor as some of the showings have been from EU and NA, none of the wildcard invites have ever shown they should be given more precedent over the larger regions. They all get smashed. Winning a single game is a major upset.

 

I don't think any of the other teams in the other regions are any better but if I am going to watch teams that have no chance of making it out of the group stages at  worlds I like to see a bit of variety in where they come from. I also think the experience of playing against the likes of China and Korea will expose the teams to a level of play they can learn alot from which would improve the level of play in their regions. I do think LGD have a chance especially if their jungler continues to improve like he has in the playoffs so far. 

 

 

Wow.  Fnatic look like they are tearing up Europe.

 

Fnatic will get destroyed at worlds against China and Korea who won't give them the chance to recover from the mistakes they make early game. I am hoping they realise that before then.

 

Are western teams really that bad in league?  They aren't even top 8?

 

I would say Fnatic could be 7/8th but I don't watch LMS (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macu) to know how good they are. I watched the quarter finals of China today and am currently watching the semi-finals in Europe and there is a gap there I don't see being closed anytime soon. NA and EU teams make far more mistakes compared to their Chinese and Korean counterparts at a similar level in their regional standings and Chinese and Korean teams will punish them for those mistakes.

 

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NA and EU LCS finalists determined! Some really exciting series, some surprising outcomes, and some amazingly expected outcomes.

 

EU LCS Semifinals:

 

Origen vs H2K

 

Game 5

 

Unicorns of Love vs Fnatic

 

Game 4 Game 5

 

NA LCS Semifinals:

 

CLG vs TIP

 

Game 4 Game 5

 

TSM vs Team Liquid

 

Game 5

 

Fnatic vs Origen in the EU, and TSM vs CLG in NA. Honestly, very predictable matchup in EU, and not unexpected in NA, as these are the top 4 Western teams to me with the fall of Cloud 9.

Fnatic don't even drop a game! Now 21-0 this split, with a chance to go for the clean sweep including playoffs. They trailed at various points in the games, and then when you look up they've tied the game and Rekkles has a 1500 gold lead on the other carry. It's uncanny.

TSM looks like the same remade team they always do come playoff time. With their usual manufactured luck (baron steal, quadra kills) they squeaked two close wins with a completely different style than they used in the Quarters, and then in Game 4 just steamrolled, building an 11k+ gold lead and methodically dismantling the base. The real surprise is not only did CLG not choke, they swept 3-0. The first game was by far the closest. Doublelift's insistence on jumping FORWARD in fights finally pays off with their first Finals appearance.

With their Finals appearances, both Fnatic and TSM have secured guaranteed births at Worlds on circuit point accumulation. If either or both win the finals, they will get the automatic bid for winning the split, and the points bid will go to another team.

TiP, Liquid, H2K and UoL will all also travel to Madison Square Garden for the 3rd/4th place match. Because an automatic birth is on the line, these games are for way more than just pride. These teams should all be rooting for TSM and Fnatic, to remove their math from the points calculations altogether.

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I'm super disappointed with the TSM result. They always do this - lackluster season, barely putting in enough effort, and then wrangle their way into a topslot in playoffs through a total lack of ability of their opponents to put them in their place. I hope CLG knocks 'em down but I doubt it'll happen. They're the esports equivalent of a kid who's figured out they can just coastwithout studying.

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The analyst desk session after FNC vs UOL was incredibly long. Guess they had to make up for the games themselves?

 

That first game was particularly brutal to watch, Fnatic stomped them in under 30 minutes without losing a single tower. Then again, as an exercise in figuring out Fnatic's draft, that had some value for UOL. They learned that they shouldn't let them have Shen, and that Reignover does play Elise and they need to prioritize that pick as well. Unfortunately, there's only so many champions you can take away from your opponents, so there's not a lot of use to having an exhaustive list of who you can't let them have.

 

I'm also not really sure why they banned Kalista but not Sivir. It seems to me you either want to ban both of these (so your opponent doesn't get either), or neither (so you'll at least get the one your opponent doesn't pick). With them just banning one, Fnatic first-picked Sivir in all three games, and UOL had to settle for one of the b-rate AD carries, Lucian in their case. Could at least have taken a Tristana for the siege and mobility I guess.

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I actually assume most people who might read this either A) know the outcome of these already b ) don't care, or C) B) but in deference to the fact that someone might be seeing this for the first time I spoilered outcomes and analysis. I'll set the statute of limitations to a day or so, because I don't want every post to be a spoiler post.

 

Unless YOU, THE READER, want it to become a spoiler-post thread

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Since a couple of people actually watch these - do you watch any of the pre or post-game analysis? The links were to basically the full broadcast, but I go straight through to actual action and sometimes don't even watch picks/bans. I feel similarly to sports, where if I want more in depth coverage I will seek it out myself. I don't give a fuck about all the extra bluster and "having to play within yourself" and "they're really relaxed/nervous" all of that bullshit.

 

With that said, I am immensely surprised with how good both

 (this is a bad name) and
 are. I checked out all of them and I learned some things on a level that I was interested to know.

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e: Hat tip to sclpls who totally posted this in the Esports Today thread and I missed it.

 

https://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/topic/10343-esports-today-81115-reliving-the-international/?p=375869

 

Just postin' up a storm here. Renegades won the NA CS (Challenger Series) this weekend, earning the auto-invite to the LCS for Spring 2016. That means that Maria "Remilia" Creveling is the first woman to make it to the professional scene in League of Legends.

 

http://lol.esportspedia.com/wiki/Renegades

http://lol.esportspedia.com/wiki/DreaMCatcheR

 

She was up in the air about actually staying on the team after qualification, but last I heard has decided to keep playing.

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I saw some of these games, but I didn't know Remilia has decided to move into the professional scene. Gamers were predictably terrible towards her, because of course those fucking pissbabies can't get over how much better she is at this game than them. She kicked endless butt in the matches I saw, so hopefully she gets to keep doing that without getting too much of this garbage.

 

When the game's not live I skip straight to where the match starts, but when I am watching the stream I do show up early or stick around for a bit sometimes, although that's partly because I'm even more interested in the infrastructure Riot are building up to make this watchable than I am in the championship. It's a fascinating problem!

 

There is a little bit of asking exhausted players how they're feeling after a match, but most of the surrounding coverage is pretty interesting. They pick up by looking at where both teams are at the moment and then move into previous matchups and comparing them a little bit, then there's the live team composition analysis during the draft and step by step analysis of major teamfights afterwards. None of it is that important if you just want to get the action, but if you feel like hearing a little bit more about what's going on hear it can be nice... until they start trading back and forth tiny differences in irrelevant statistics.

 

Jatt-22 is definitely a weirdly high-brow reference in that context, especially considering that the only other pop-cultural reference I remember hearing in a match recently was them calling something "the Exodia of team compositions"

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Jatt does have some of the same sounds as Catch, but I feel like they're going for an All-22 reference, which is the NFL coaches' film where all 22 players are shown on the screen through the entire play. That seems somehow both less and more esoteric.

 

http://www.nfl.com/coachesfilm

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Maybe that's just where my mind went, but I feel like the two overlapping arrows going in different directions kind of point that way too.

 

It... doesn't make much sense either way.

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After watching the VODs of LGD 3-0 EDG I have decided to fully get onboard the nascent LGD hype train but unlike the SKT hype train of years past I have no tickets to give out. I think they could be on the only team to out play SKT at their objective based style especially if their jungler (TBQ) keeps playing as well as he has against EDG

 

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EU playoff finals are about to begin. At this point it's probably considered a major upset if Origen takes a single game from Fnatic. Personally, I figure it's gonna be another 3-0 stomp.

 

Update: I stand corrected.

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