Pretty poor outing for it's first run of four players, unfortunately. I played with Z, Nan, and WJ, and it more or less sucked. Well, Z was plenty invested, and both caught onto the rules immediately, and sneakily played to win, as I imagined the game would go.
Here's the crap part: WJ and Nan continued to play like loser-Pandemic. WJ literally just fished on her turn, every turn, and surfed the web on her Nexus the rest of the time. Nan was pretty much asleep in his chair. Only Z and I were making any decisions to try and leave the island, and they would go along with whatever we determined had to be done next. Neither of them made any effort to win, either.
Back to square one in looking for good co-op games. Though, playing by myself (yes, the game can be played solo) was kind of interesting. Lonely, I should emphasize, but interesting.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Review: 7 Wonders (boardgame)
Played 7 Wonders with Nan, Z, and WJ. Interesting and fairly quick. Well, quick depending on who you're playing with. Occasionally you choose your move in about three seconds and someone (or everyone) else sits around pondering their cards for half an hour. If that kills you, and your friends have a penchant for that, better implement a timer system, which we are considering for all games at home from now on, sidebar.
You randomly choose and man a wonder of the world - there are some that you would want more than others; have not quite figured out the advantages inherent in some of them. Everyone gets seven (eight?) cards from the Age 1 deck, and you choose one to play, then pass your hand clockwise. Here are your choices:
You randomly choose and man a wonder of the world - there are some that you would want more than others; have not quite figured out the advantages inherent in some of them. Everyone gets seven (eight?) cards from the Age 1 deck, and you choose one to play, then pass your hand clockwise. Here are your choices:
- Resource card: generates resources that you can use to play more cards.
- Science card: has a symbol on it that can add up to big victory points at the end if you have a lot
- Victory card: has straight victory points on it
- Trade card: increases your ability to get resources or gold
- Combat card: more shields means that you have more fight power when everyone battles at the end of the age. 1/3/5 victory points for winning against your adjacent opponents between every age.
- Play a card face down: to level up your wonder and give yourself access to it's special abilities and victory points
Tada! Limited options, limited cards, and everyone decides at the same time then passes their cards on to another player, so even if you have seven people, it's always your turn. Thus, your choices affect you, and you can also choose to deliberately sabotage someone else. And, if you already see that you're losing by a wide margin, the entirety of the game can't last all that long, so your freedom is always nigh, at least.
The biggest complaint, after only a few plays, is that there seems to be a very distinct way to win. I almost expect that if I wanted to crunch numbers, I could mathematically prove that there's only one reasonable strategy... but I don't really want to ruin it, so let's just think about it in broad terms.
- Resource cards count for absolutely nothing in the final tally of victory points. Sure, they allowed you to build other buildings, but seeing as you can only play 7 cards per age, 21 cards total, each card you waste on resources is a card that could have netted you victory points...
- Victory cards count for exactly the number that is written on the front, which is anywhere from 1-8. The higher level ones are extremely expensive, though several of them can be had for free if you build the low level ones early on in the game. Of course, waiting around for free ones is something of a gamble.
- Combat cards give you victory points at the end of the age, IF you have more than your left or right neighbor. Sure, you get -1 victory point if you lose the battle, -2 if you lose to each of your neighbors, but you can only win a maximum of 2/6/10 each age, and that's IF your neighbors are letting you win. Early on, only 1 combat shield can be built, and in age 3, up to 3. But it's not only expensive, it's using up one or more or your precious 7 cards per age.
- Trade cards help early on in making resource purchases less expensive, so one of those could be useful. The rest provide you with gold, and only one or two will provide you with victory points at the end, so they're basically played when needed.
- Playing a card face down is pretty useful, depending on your wonder's super power. But that's only two cards - and you'll just want to put one down there that you don't need, and you want to keep away from your opponents.
- So we're left with green science cards. There's three symbols, and if you have all three, that's 7 victory points for every matched set. ALSO, you get n^2 for each symbol, where n=the number of cards you have with that symbol on it. So if you have, say, 2 compasses, 2 wheels, and 3 tablets, that's 7x2 for the two sets, 2^2 for the compasses, 2^2 for the wheels, and 3^2 for the tablets. That's 31 victory points for seven cards, and don't even get me started on all the other bonuses you can get. And, a lot of these cards can be had for free if you build the early versions. Just saying, Z won both our games by going for nothing but green cards.
So the analysis reveals that if only one person is going for green cards, they will FOR SURE win. They build exponentially, for crying out loud. Even if only two people are collecting greens, you will probably lose to one of them. Apparently, every person playing must try to get green cards, even if they aren't benefited by them at all, just to deny the monopoly. This game will likely be at Thanksgiving, so it'll be under some more scrutiny then, and hopefully we'll know for sure.
Sorry if I semi-ruined that game with math. I do that sometimes.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Review: Castaways (boardgame)
When you think of Castaways, I want you to think of Arkham Horror. It's cooperative, it's meant to be challenging, and the number of pieces is plain crazy. The biggest difference is the co-op; there is a single game winner! Of the castaways that escape the island (if indeed any of you escape the island), the one with the most 'story points' hoarded is named the actual winner, but you could have used those story points to reroll any bad dice roll; thus, if you have one jerk among your nominal board game group, it could be a very tedious night of not-actually-cooperative play. Interestingly, this makes it somewhat more of a realistic 'marooned on a desert island' situation, don't you think?
If you don't know Arkham Horror, let me just say that there are a lot of pieces to this game. Some that you might not even use. The setup is long (not as long as Arkham Horror) but the variety of outcomes more resembles Betrayal at the House on the Hill, because of the 100+ different plot cards that are randomly summoned throughout the game. And though I'm referencing several dark-genre games, let me be clear that this game is 100% island castaway adventure themed. No otherworldly portals or demonic creatures to eat your sanity.
Your commodity to burn is energy. Energy to attempt campfires, energy to build shelters, energy to explore the island wilderness. All players choose what they want to do (or attempt to do) by placing their tokens on the board in the appropriate slots. Energy is paid, and off we go: to forage for food, salvage some of the shipwreck, or just get miserably lost in the jungle. All things have a consequence, and many decisions have to be made, either individually or as a group.
I think this game isn't for everyone, obviously. A lot of folks who checked it out over the GGC weekend took one disdainful look and said "too many rules". But, like Arkham Horror, it runs fairly smoothly once you establish what goes where. And Rob may not like how it's not quite 'co-operative' since there is a competitive aspect. I think I like that, too. It dispels the "do whatever the veteran says to do" quality that ruins games like Pandemic and Arkham Horror. I have yet to play it with a real troll, though, and my opinion could easily change. For right now, at least, Castaways is inheriting the best qualities from Betrayal at the House on the Hill and Arkham Horror in a more positive setting, and keeping the balance between teamwork and every-man-for-himself.
If you don't know Arkham Horror, let me just say that there are a lot of pieces to this game. Some that you might not even use. The setup is long (not as long as Arkham Horror) but the variety of outcomes more resembles Betrayal at the House on the Hill, because of the 100+ different plot cards that are randomly summoned throughout the game. And though I'm referencing several dark-genre games, let me be clear that this game is 100% island castaway adventure themed. No otherworldly portals or demonic creatures to eat your sanity.
Your commodity to burn is energy. Energy to attempt campfires, energy to build shelters, energy to explore the island wilderness. All players choose what they want to do (or attempt to do) by placing their tokens on the board in the appropriate slots. Energy is paid, and off we go: to forage for food, salvage some of the shipwreck, or just get miserably lost in the jungle. All things have a consequence, and many decisions have to be made, either individually or as a group.
I think this game isn't for everyone, obviously. A lot of folks who checked it out over the GGC weekend took one disdainful look and said "too many rules". But, like Arkham Horror, it runs fairly smoothly once you establish what goes where. And Rob may not like how it's not quite 'co-operative' since there is a competitive aspect. I think I like that, too. It dispels the "do whatever the veteran says to do" quality that ruins games like Pandemic and Arkham Horror. I have yet to play it with a real troll, though, and my opinion could easily change. For right now, at least, Castaways is inheriting the best qualities from Betrayal at the House on the Hill and Arkham Horror in a more positive setting, and keeping the balance between teamwork and every-man-for-himself.
Friday, October 11, 2013
BQBL: Where Are They Now Special!
Here we go, yellow highlights for out of the league, green highlights for moved to another team.
Rob's Team:
Rob's Team:
- Broncos
- Timothy Richard Tebow was traded to the Jets as their backup, made more headlines there by jogging shirtless in the rain than the starting QB did for actually playing real games. He was let go after the 2012 season and after a brief stint trying out for the Patriots, is no longer in the league.
- But the Broncos got Peyton Manning so that's the most negative BQBL points ever.
- Raiders
- Jason Campbell was moved to Chicago, and then to the Browns, where he seems to have been beaten for the starting job by Brandon Wheeden, and then again beaten for the job when Wheeden went down by Brian Hoyer. Yikes.
- The Raiders are playing Pryor, which seems promising.
- Carson Palmer moved to Arizona, where I think he's still starting.
- Colts
- Curtis Painter is now backing up the other Manning in New York
- The Colts drafted Andrew Luck, so that's also a bad BQBL bet
- Dolphins
- Matt Moore appears to still be on the Dolphins, but the starting job now belongs to Ryan Tannehill
Alison's Team:
- Cowboys
- Tony's still Tony. Threw for 500 yards last Sunday and then lost the game with a pick within the last two minutes. Overall, that's going to be negative BQBL points, but it continues to hurt.
- Eagles
- Vince Young played for her? Oh, man. He is so out of the league now. I miss Vince.
- Michael Vick is still around. Still playing questionably and getting hurt.
- Browns
- Remarkably this year, the Browns are doing okay with Wheedon and Hoyer? Not sure how that's happening
- Colt McCoy got picked up by San Francisco as a back up
- Lions
- Matt Stafford is still their QB. Still trucking along up there.
Xian's Team:
- Texans
- Matt Schaub was a freaking hero for the previous season, and quickly a pariah early in this season.
- Matt Leinart is out of the league.
- Steelers
- Ben did fine last season, but is somehow stinking up the place so far this year...
- Ravens
- Ravens actually won the superbowl and gave Joe Flacco a huge new contract, but they haven't been doing too hot so far this year either... BQBL needs points (like I said when we were playing) for getting a fat contract and then disappointing.
- Seahawks
- Whaddya know, Tavaris Jackson is still on the Seahawks team, but he's been obscured by Russell Wilson's coolness, I guess. His photo reflects how unhappy he is about this.
Nan's Team:
- Panthers
- Cam Newton is no longer the hot stuff. Not sure how he's scoring in BQBL points, but we don't hear much out of the Panthers these days.
- Jaguars
- Would you believe they are STILL fielding Blaine Gabbert? He's still crushing the triple-digit BQBL scores, too! I checked the website where they tally these things, and they worship him like a god.
- Luke McCown is backing up in New Orleans
- Chiefs
- Tyler Palko seems to be out of the league
- The Chiefs did a major remodel and got new QB and coach and seem to be doing alright, for once.
- Buccaneers
- Josh Freeman is the reason I thought to do a special on where they are now. He's finally had it in Orlando and their differences caused the team to abruptly let him go mid-season, for which there should be huge BQBL points. The Vikings just picked him up.
My Team:
- Redskins
- Surprise, surprise, Rex Grossman is still lurking as a backup in Washington D.C.!
- The Redskins moved up in the draft last year to take RG3, and he's been hit or miss, I feel.
- Bills
- At least they cut Fitzpatrick, but he's shown back up in a backup role in Tennessee. Still sporting that horrible caveman beard. And terrible QB play.
- The Bills have a new rookie QB who is already hurt, so likely they are a good team for BQBL this year.
- 49ers
- I picked them because I don't have confidence in Alex Smith, who was traded to St. Louis. As it turns out, Game Manager is pretty safe stuff in BQBL, so he's not a good pick in either city.
- Colin Kaepernick is coached by Harbaugh, BQBL numbers are still low there.
- Bengals
- Bengals still aren't winning, but Andy Dalton doesn't look like he's scoring high BQBL points still.
Monday, September 23, 2013
LCS LIVE UPDATE 6:30PST (Spoilers)
NJS takes the best of three after dropping that first game to GMB. They looked downright terrifying, and I'm not sure we learned anything about how to beat them in the future. Maybe lane swapping, banning bot lane, something.
Bye for now, Alex, we still wuv u!
It's as if every single audience member in LA brought a goofy sign. Riot is probably minutes away from breaking out the privacy paneling. Stay cool, guys.
Quikshot reminds us that last year, GMB came up against TPA's Mid Nidalee, and couldn't deal with the immense poke then, either. Maybe NJS was taking a page out of that book?
Bye for now, Alex, we still wuv u!
It's as if every single audience member in LA brought a goofy sign. Riot is probably minutes away from breaking out the privacy paneling. Stay cool, guys.
Quikshot reminds us that last year, GMB came up against TPA's Mid Nidalee, and couldn't deal with the immense poke then, either. Maybe NJS was taking a page out of that book?
LCS LIVE UPDATE 6:15PST (Spoilers)
GMB vs NJS Game 3, 34 minutes in
Kills 7 14
Towers 1 7
Gold 43.0k 55.5k
Them Spears. I love Nidalee, personally. Think about the matchup with Gragas: spears are faster cooldown, higher damage (at max range) and travel faster, making them harder to dodge. They're not AoE, but right now, they're doing 75% of some of GMB's health bars. Also, Nidalee is healing PraY. It's looking really bad for GMB, would hate to see them knocked out, but this seems pretty much insurmountable.
Kills 7 14
Towers 1 7
Gold 43.0k 55.5k
Them Spears. I love Nidalee, personally. Think about the matchup with Gragas: spears are faster cooldown, higher damage (at max range) and travel faster, making them harder to dodge. They're not AoE, but right now, they're doing 75% of some of GMB's health bars. Also, Nidalee is healing PraY. It's looking really bad for GMB, would hate to see them knocked out, but this seems pretty much insurmountable.
LCS LIVE UPDATE 6:00PST (Spoilers)
GMB vs NJS Game 3, 18 minutes in
Kills 4 11
Towers 1 4
Gold 25.8k 32.1k
NJS just won a big teamfight at dragon. They're a bit ahead, so the Nidalee has both blue buff and AP Elixir, doing mega damage with the spears. Somehow, Nagne uses her to zone Alex completely out of the fight and 1v1s him to death! Quite the surprise. The rest of the team is able to protect PraY long enough for him to murder all. Worth mentioning that PraY and almost everyone else left dragon pit as Voidle was ulting, so Crescendo hit no one of consequence. Very bad fight for GMB.
Kills 4 11
Towers 1 4
Gold 25.8k 32.1k
NJS just won a big teamfight at dragon. They're a bit ahead, so the Nidalee has both blue buff and AP Elixir, doing mega damage with the spears. Somehow, Nagne uses her to zone Alex completely out of the fight and 1v1s him to death! Quite the surprise. The rest of the team is able to protect PraY long enough for him to murder all. Worth mentioning that PraY and almost everyone else left dragon pit as Voidle was ulting, so Crescendo hit no one of consequence. Very bad fight for GMB.
LCS LIVE UPDATE 5:50PST (Spoilers)
GMB vs NJS Game 3, 9 minutes in
Kills 2 4
Towers 0 1
Gold 11.6k 15.1k
The Nidalee pick actually turning out not so bad so far. Bot lane got ahead early last game and this game, I'm thinking mostly due to the face that Cain is just better than Voidle. All GMB asks of Voidle is not to lose it for them, while Alex makes all the plays, but PraY seems to expect his Thresh to do a lot of work on initiating and teamfights. Last game the casters thought GMB would ban the Thresh, but I guess it didn't occur to GMB.
Kills 2 4
Towers 0 1
Gold 11.6k 15.1k
The Nidalee pick actually turning out not so bad so far. Bot lane got ahead early last game and this game, I'm thinking mostly due to the face that Cain is just better than Voidle. All GMB asks of Voidle is not to lose it for them, while Alex makes all the plays, but PraY seems to expect his Thresh to do a lot of work on initiating and teamfights. Last game the casters thought GMB would ban the Thresh, but I guess it didn't occur to GMB.
LCS LIVE UPDATES 5:40PST
Game 3 Picks/Bans:
[GMB bans: Jax, Elise, Ahri][NJS bans: Fizz, Kassadin, Zed]
Gambit Gaming
Darien: Shen
Diamond: Evelynn
Alex Ich: Gragas
Genja: Kog'Maw
Voidle: Sona
NaJin Sword
Expession: Renekton
watch: Nunu
Nagne: Nidalee
PraY: Corki
Cain: Thresh
Look at all those Alex bans.
[GMB bans: Jax, Elise, Ahri][NJS bans: Fizz, Kassadin, Zed]
Gambit Gaming
Darien: Shen
Diamond: Evelynn
Alex Ich: Gragas
Genja: Kog'Maw
Voidle: Sona
NaJin Sword
Expession: Renekton
watch: Nunu
Nagne: Nidalee
PraY: Corki
Cain: Thresh
Look at all those Alex bans.
LCS LIVE UPDATE 5:15PST (Spoilers)
NJS vs GMB Game 2, 24 minutes in
Kills 16 3
Towers 8 1
Gold 43.4k 28.1k
Getting ruined, but GMB isn't the surrendering type.
Kills 16 3
Towers 8 1
Gold 43.4k 28.1k
Getting ruined, but GMB isn't the surrendering type.
LCS LIVE UPDATE 5:10PST (Spoilers)
NJS vs GMB Game 2, 15 minutes in
Kills 9 3
Towers 5 1
Gold 26.6k 18.4k
Only 12 minutes in and it was already looking very bad for GMB. And NJS doesn't seem like the type of team to throw away an early lead like this, when it took a lot of aggression to get this far in the first place. This is probably going to be fast.
Kills 9 3
Towers 5 1
Gold 26.6k 18.4k
Only 12 minutes in and it was already looking very bad for GMB. And NJS doesn't seem like the type of team to throw away an early lead like this, when it took a lot of aggression to get this far in the first place. This is probably going to be fast.
LCS LIVE UPDATE 5:00PST (Spoilers)
NJS vs GMB Game 2, 10 minutes in
Kills 6 3
Towers 0 0
Gold 16.2k 12.9k
Once more Twitch into the Rift from NJS. The casters mention that in the Korean leagues, Twitch is nearly 100% pick/ban for PraY, and I get it. If you're by far the best player on your team, take a champ that can melt the entire other team at once, right? It's very CLG, but then again, the other players aren't as supportive as they could be. Where Link would usually play Orianna to shield Doublelift, Nagne chooses Ahri again, to perhaps charm an enemy off PraY?
Early aggression and grouping up coming out of NJS, which we learned from the previous matchup of Fnatic and C9, is the way to defeat a team with better teamfight than you. Two kills (!) early on Alex Ich help to keep him down, and after he's gone, NJS grabs a sub-7-minute dragon. Something they may have learned from watching the games Gambit lost in the EU circuit - sacrifice everything to kill Alex, then take as much advantage as you can while he's dead, because GMB generally doesn't engage if Alex isn't there.
Kills 6 3
Towers 0 0
Gold 16.2k 12.9k
Once more Twitch into the Rift from NJS. The casters mention that in the Korean leagues, Twitch is nearly 100% pick/ban for PraY, and I get it. If you're by far the best player on your team, take a champ that can melt the entire other team at once, right? It's very CLG, but then again, the other players aren't as supportive as they could be. Where Link would usually play Orianna to shield Doublelift, Nagne chooses Ahri again, to perhaps charm an enemy off PraY?
Early aggression and grouping up coming out of NJS, which we learned from the previous matchup of Fnatic and C9, is the way to defeat a team with better teamfight than you. Two kills (!) early on Alex Ich help to keep him down, and after he's gone, NJS grabs a sub-7-minute dragon. Something they may have learned from watching the games Gambit lost in the EU circuit - sacrifice everything to kill Alex, then take as much advantage as you can while he's dead, because GMB generally doesn't engage if Alex isn't there.
LCS LIVE UPDATE 4:50PST
I should mention that everyone picked NJS to win, even the online fans.
Game 2 Picks and Bans:
[NJS bans: Kassadin, Evelynn, Fizz][GMB bans: Jax, Zed, Shen]
NaJin Sword
Expession: Renekton
watch: Elise
Nagne: Ahri
PraY: Twitch
Cain: Thresh
Gambit Gaming
Darien: Malphite
Diamond: Aatrox
Alex Ich: Orianna
Genja: Corki
Voidle: Sona
Also like to mention that I won the bet from the previous post!
Game 2 Picks and Bans:
[NJS bans: Kassadin, Evelynn, Fizz][GMB bans: Jax, Zed, Shen]
NaJin Sword
Expession: Renekton
watch: Elise
Nagne: Ahri
PraY: Twitch
Cain: Thresh
Gambit Gaming
Darien: Malphite
Diamond: Aatrox
Alex Ich: Orianna
Genja: Corki
Voidle: Sona
Also like to mention that I won the bet from the previous post!
LCS LIVE UPDATE 4:45PST (Spoilers)
Gambit takes game 1 against NJS. They clearly had a lot of respect for PraY, and focused the vast powers of Alex Ich on ruining his day via repeated assassinations. When Alex got in trouble, he had Shen ult, then Zhonya's, and finally Guardian Angel to back him up. As for the Twitch, they thought the Blood Boil, Thresh lantern, and Ahri charm would be enough support, but anyone who's been on the wrong end of a Fizz dive can tell you, nothing stops that murderous fish.
Lin bets me money on a Shen ban for next game. My money may be on Fizz.
Lin bets me money on a Shen ban for next game. My money may be on Fizz.
LOL LIVE UPDATE 4.30PST (Spoilers)
35 minutes into game 1 of GMB vs NJS, and after the baron steal, you can see that NJS has no interest in teamfighting the fight-loving Russians. There's a bit of a mid-game lull while they dance around eachother through the whole map, trading objectives. NJS, I think, knows the strength of GMB is teamfights, so they try to push. Eventually, though, GMB catches them mid with a Shen taunt-flash. That's right, I said taunt-flash. APPARENTLY, you can start the taunt, and then flash, and it gets someone a mile away. This is something that... I didn't even want to know about this game. Once they've gotten rid of Ahri, it's all about getting the Twitch, and you can't protect PraY forever.
Later, Voidle sacrifices himself mid to distract NJS from the fact that GMB is doing baron. When NJS gets to the pit, GMB has the buff and is just exiting. The fight breaks out, and Alex Playful Tricksters over the Nunu ult damage to get the Twitch, again. Unbelievable stuff.
Later, Voidle sacrifices himself mid to distract NJS from the fact that GMB is doing baron. When NJS gets to the pit, GMB has the buff and is just exiting. The fight breaks out, and Alex Playful Tricksters over the Nunu ult damage to get the Twitch, again. Unbelievable stuff.
LOL LIVE UPDATE 4:20PST (Spoilers)
28 minutes into GMB vs NJS. For some reason, GMB tries to early baron, and Nunu just ambles over, flashes in, and smites that thing right out from under them. Gold is now exactly even.
LOL LIVE UPDATE 4:15PST (Spoilers)
24 minutes into GMB vs NJS, 7-5 in kills in favor of GMB, 2-0 tower in favor of NJS.
Alex's Fisherman Fizz terribly dangerous, as one may have guessed. He's 5/0/2. Darien is 1/4/6 and gave up first blood, as you may have also suspected. But as they say in EU, when Darien feeds, GMB wins.
PraY is the real threat on NJS right now, since Ahri is a lot less farmed than Fizz. Alex makes a special point of Playful Trickster'ing right onto him, but it doesn't always work, with Ahri's charm sometimes peeling him off and Thresh's Dark Passage.
Alex's Fisherman Fizz terribly dangerous, as one may have guessed. He's 5/0/2. Darien is 1/4/6 and gave up first blood, as you may have also suspected. But as they say in EU, when Darien feeds, GMB wins.
PraY is the real threat on NJS right now, since Ahri is a lot less farmed than Fizz. Alex makes a special point of Playful Trickster'ing right onto him, but it doesn't always work, with Ahri's charm sometimes peeling him off and Thresh's Dark Passage.
LOL LIVE UPDATE 3:50PST
Gambit and NaJin Black Sword are introduced on stage. They mention it frequently, but let me give you the summary - NaJin Black Sword have moved into the next stage of elite competition by mimicking the NFL: all their scrims are private, against their own sister team, NaJin White Shield. Shield functions as what we call in the NFL a 'scout team', a team that does the scouting of the enemies, and then mimics the opponents style, for NJS to practice against, without giving away their own strategies to the public. It makes them unscoutable, and they can pull out some nasty surprises that they've polished up in secret. On the other hand, Gambit has been on this stage before, and you know they can turn it on when needed.
Bans:
[GMB bans: Caitlyn, Jax, Corki][NJS bans: Kassadin, Zed, Evelynn]
Gambit
Darien: Shen
Diamond: Elise
Alex Ich: Fizz
Genja: Varus
Voidle: Sona
NaJin Sword
Expession: Diana
watch: Nunu
Nagne: Ahri
PraY: Twitch
Cain: Thresh
See that? Diana top? Told you, surprise moves.
Also, I've clearly been listening to the casters for too long if I laughed at "Spray and PraY". Get it?
Bans:
[GMB bans: Caitlyn, Jax, Corki][NJS bans: Kassadin, Zed, Evelynn]
Gambit
Darien: Shen
Diamond: Elise
Alex Ich: Fizz
Genja: Varus
Voidle: Sona
NaJin Sword
Expession: Diana
watch: Nunu
Nagne: Ahri
PraY: Twitch
Cain: Thresh
See that? Diana top? Told you, surprise moves.
Also, I've clearly been listening to the casters for too long if I laughed at "Spray and PraY". Get it?
LOL LIVE UPDATE 3:34PST (Spoilers)
Fnatic vs C9 went 1-1 in the first two games, each team showing their strengths in their respective wins. But Fnatic adjusts for game three more magnificently, by effectively preventing C9 from reaching their all-too-dominant team-fighting phase with early dive comp. xPeke on Kassadin, Leona, Shen, Lee Sin, and Varus (for long distance pokes) were savages early game by 3v1 diving Balls' Vlad and not letting him become an effective split pusher. Fnatic quickly turned it into an avalanche, and the suddenly quiet crowd was forced to watch as they built it to 18-0 before steadily pushing for the win. That's it for our apple pie in this tournament, I guess. I guess we'll just bake one for the eventual winners. Congrats to Fnatic for moving on, to face the winner of the China v China matchup!
Friday, September 20, 2013
PVZ2, Helpful Summary
TL;DR of last post:
Let's say you're at a free music festival featuring cool bands. There's two stages.
On the first stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times. At the back, discreetly, they're selling their CDs, maybe a few shirts. As consumers, we're not offended by this, and if the band is good, they'll get some sales.
On the second stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times, but they stop five minutes in and demand $50 from the listening audience before they will go on. "The rest of our show is the best part," they promise.
From a soulless marketing standpoint, they're both aiming for the same demographic, and aiming for the same sales. What is team #2 doing wrong? You be the judge. But I think it's safe to say, nobody I know is going to stick around the second stage.
Let's say you're at a free music festival featuring cool bands. There's two stages.
On the first stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times. At the back, discreetly, they're selling their CDs, maybe a few shirts. As consumers, we're not offended by this, and if the band is good, they'll get some sales.
On the second stage, there's a band playing some great music and having fun times, but they stop five minutes in and demand $50 from the listening audience before they will go on. "The rest of our show is the best part," they promise.
From a soulless marketing standpoint, they're both aiming for the same demographic, and aiming for the same sales. What is team #2 doing wrong? You be the judge. But I think it's safe to say, nobody I know is going to stick around the second stage.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
LCS NA Summer W9 pt2
I miss Nidalee. Who do you miss?
Cloud 9 vs Team Dignitas
[C9 bans: Diana, Kassadin, Sona][Dig bans: Rumble, Zac, Zed]
Cloud 9 vs Team Dignitas
[C9 bans: Diana, Kassadin, Sona][Dig bans: Rumble, Zac, Zed]
C9: Shen, Evelynn, Kennen, Ashe, Zyra
Dig: Elise, Jarvan, Orianna, Ezreal, Janna
Phreak points out in champ select that Dig has chosen mostly blonde champs. The skins actually made it so almost none of them were blonde in-game, though. That aside, mid Kennen! And Dig tries to ban out Meteos, then tries to focus him down to disastrous results that made Dig look downright awful. Meteos would be two towers deep and soloing scarra and crumbz, and still would not die. Didn't die the entire game, despite all the focus. Does that make his KDA infinity? Please do NOT expect similar results on your jungle Evelynn.
Velocity Esports vs Counter Logic Gaming
[VES bans: Twitch, Elise, Ahri][CLG bans: Lee Sin, Varus, Urgot]
VES: Shen, Evelynn, Viktor, Kennen, Blitzcrank
CLG: Zac, Sejuani, Orianna, Tristana, Thresh
Yup, VES has nothing to play for, you can see that now. The only reason I knew how to spell Viktor is because Phreak mentioned it during champ select. But why is CLG messing around with Sejuani? And am I even spelling that right? At any rate, CLG's Sejuani experiment nearly costs them a game that they really had no excuse for losing. Eventually they win, but not all that gracefully.
Curse vs Team SoloMid
[Crs bans: Twisted Fate, Karthus, Shen][TSM bans: Orianna, Kassadin, Thresh]
Crs: Zed, Nunu, Kennen, Caitlyn, Nami
TSM: Renekton, Nocturne, Ahri, Twitch, Sona
This is the first time the YouTube video stalled during a game for me. It wasn't that long, anyway. TSM generally starts to roll, and then WildTurtle gets bored and flashes straight over the wall into 5 Crs players.
Team Coast vs Cloud 9
[CST bans: Rumble, Zac, Elise][C9 bans: Riven, Ahri, Zed]
CST: Shen, Jarvan, Renekton, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
C9: Kennen, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Zyra
What a terrible time for a "win or you're out" scenario, CST. You could feel the doom in the air, even though CST was up by a little bit early. You can't just be up a little bit early on C9. By now you know their team fight is just plain superior to yours, and that's just a fact. This is one of those games that makes you think about the value of over-aggression on your carries. Perhaps DontMashMe should have gone all in at the fight at baron when they had something of an upper hand, because he was doing a lot of damage at that time. You can't be sure what would have happened, but it's something to think about.
Team Dignitas vs Velocity Esports
[Dig bans: Evelynn, Twisted Fate, Lee Sin][VES bans: Kennen, Shen, Zed]
Dig: Zac, Elise, Gragas, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks
VES: Riven, Jarvan, Karma, Twitch, Zyra
Well, they didn't have any more to lose, so Karma it is. They proceed to get destroyed, but look at it this way, at least they didn't surrender. Really, would you do that well in their position?
Vulcun vs Team SoloMid
[Vul bans: Twitch, Ahri, Zed][TSM bans: Evelynn, Lee Sin, Shen]
Vul: Zac, Jarvan, Ezreal, Ashe, Zyra
TSM: Karthus, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Sona
I don't know if it's the caster's fatigue from this super week, or possibly it's my own fatigue, but their chatter doesn't even feel relevant anymore. If you want to see the best version of this, you should watch EU (I know, another EU plug!) When the final superweek went into overtime by 5 extra games, all the casters couldn't even speak straight by the end. Anyhow, this game was relatively back and forth, but it definitely felt like TSM was always on a back foot. Eventually Vul wins a definitely end game fight.
Curse vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Crs bans: Nocturne, Thresh, Shen][CLG bans: Nasus, Kennen, Orianna]
Crs: Zac, Amumu, Ahri, corki, Elise
CLG: Renekton, Jarvan, Karthus, Twitch, Lulu
More loopy casting from our favorite play by play specialists, and more dull winning by Crs.
Velocity Esports vs Vulcun
[VES bans: Zac, Sona, Zed][Vul bans: Ahri, Evelynn, Shen]
VES: Ezreal, Singed, Nidalee, Jayce, Ashe
Vul: Malphite, Lee Sin, Diana, Vayne, Zyra
I don't begrudge VES some self-entertainment via crazy champs, so support Ashe is a-okay with me, except her frost shot turns out to be non-useful every time. Top lane Ez loses his lane really fast, though, and the that Nidaleee that I wanted to see so much doesn't exactly acquit herself well. I know it sucks, VES, having to keep playing with nothing to win. But you put yourself in this hole, and you have to accept this punishment with gracefulness.
Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Dig bans: Nocturne, Jarvan, Shen][CLG bans: Lee Sin, Kassadin, Gragas]
Dig: Zac, Xin Zhao, Pantheon, Vayne, Sona
CLG: Malphite, Elise, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
This seems like a good game to illustrate the weakness of CLG, which is not a 'weakness' as traditionally defined. They have enormously skilled individual players, yes. That's good for several early kills, and sometimes, that's enough for them to get ahead and win games. But in the team fight phase, if the other team can work together, they're going to outfight CLG's individual brilliance. You can see them, in some of the teamfights, making decisions independent of each other, and at this extremely high level of play, that solo queue mentality isn't going to win you championships anymore.
Team Coast vs. Curse
[CST bans: Zac, Twitch, Elise][Crs bans: Riven, Shen, Zed]
CST: Kha'Zix, Lee Sin, Ahri, Vayne, Zyra
Crs: Kennen, Amumu, Orianna, Caitlynn, Thresh
I think CST was already mathematically eliminated, but they kept it even until a bad fight at baron at around 30 min. After that, they pretty much threw in the towel.
Cloud 9 vs Team SoloMid
[C9 bans: Ahri, Sona, Nocturne][TSM bans: Elise, Evelynn, Zed]
C9: Shen, Zac, Kassadin, Ashe, Zyra
TSM: Renekton, Jarvan, Karthus, Twitch, Thresh
Haha, I almost wrote "Reginald" instead of "Karthus". They let C9 get the Ashe/Zyra combo, though they've seen the kind of havoc it can cause. I wish I was as good as Sneaky on Ashe, but as Phreak points out, it's mostly due to the intense team-oriented play that C9 employs. SoloQ Ashe doesn't really hold up to that ideal.
Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming (tiebreaker)
[Dig bans: Nocturne, Jarvan, Shen][CLG bans: Lee Sin, Gragas, Fiddlesticks]
Dig: Zac, Evelynn, Zed, Ezreal, Alistar
CLG: Elise, Sejuani, Vladimir, Vayne, Sona
Crumbz dies trying a steal of blue, and the casters bring up a very good question: who was he trying to steal that buff from? Link doesn't have mana, bigfatlp wasn't even bothering to get it, even his own team doesn't use mana. Just get your own, Crumbz, jeez. At any rate, Crs steamroll after that. C'mon, CLG.
Our one-week fantasy league did not turn out all that well for me (19.2 points) and though Xian came close, Meteos didn't quite do it for him (28.3 points). Lin was victorious (31.6 points), due to Sneaky being the C9 team member with the totally crazy KDA of 14.3.
Velocity Esports vs Counter Logic Gaming
[VES bans: Twitch, Elise, Ahri][CLG bans: Lee Sin, Varus, Urgot]
VES: Shen, Evelynn, Viktor, Kennen, Blitzcrank
CLG: Zac, Sejuani, Orianna, Tristana, Thresh
Yup, VES has nothing to play for, you can see that now. The only reason I knew how to spell Viktor is because Phreak mentioned it during champ select. But why is CLG messing around with Sejuani? And am I even spelling that right? At any rate, CLG's Sejuani experiment nearly costs them a game that they really had no excuse for losing. Eventually they win, but not all that gracefully.
Curse vs Team SoloMid
[Crs bans: Twisted Fate, Karthus, Shen][TSM bans: Orianna, Kassadin, Thresh]
Crs: Zed, Nunu, Kennen, Caitlyn, Nami
TSM: Renekton, Nocturne, Ahri, Twitch, Sona
This is the first time the YouTube video stalled during a game for me. It wasn't that long, anyway. TSM generally starts to roll, and then WildTurtle gets bored and flashes straight over the wall into 5 Crs players.
Team Coast vs Cloud 9
[CST bans: Rumble, Zac, Elise][C9 bans: Riven, Ahri, Zed]
CST: Shen, Jarvan, Renekton, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
C9: Kennen, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Zyra
What a terrible time for a "win or you're out" scenario, CST. You could feel the doom in the air, even though CST was up by a little bit early. You can't just be up a little bit early on C9. By now you know their team fight is just plain superior to yours, and that's just a fact. This is one of those games that makes you think about the value of over-aggression on your carries. Perhaps DontMashMe should have gone all in at the fight at baron when they had something of an upper hand, because he was doing a lot of damage at that time. You can't be sure what would have happened, but it's something to think about.
Team Dignitas vs Velocity Esports
[Dig bans: Evelynn, Twisted Fate, Lee Sin][VES bans: Kennen, Shen, Zed]
Dig: Zac, Elise, Gragas, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks
VES: Riven, Jarvan, Karma, Twitch, Zyra
Well, they didn't have any more to lose, so Karma it is. They proceed to get destroyed, but look at it this way, at least they didn't surrender. Really, would you do that well in their position?
Vulcun vs Team SoloMid
[Vul bans: Twitch, Ahri, Zed][TSM bans: Evelynn, Lee Sin, Shen]
Vul: Zac, Jarvan, Ezreal, Ashe, Zyra
TSM: Karthus, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Sona
I don't know if it's the caster's fatigue from this super week, or possibly it's my own fatigue, but their chatter doesn't even feel relevant anymore. If you want to see the best version of this, you should watch EU (I know, another EU plug!) When the final superweek went into overtime by 5 extra games, all the casters couldn't even speak straight by the end. Anyhow, this game was relatively back and forth, but it definitely felt like TSM was always on a back foot. Eventually Vul wins a definitely end game fight.
Curse vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Crs bans: Nocturne, Thresh, Shen][CLG bans: Nasus, Kennen, Orianna]
Crs: Zac, Amumu, Ahri, corki, Elise
CLG: Renekton, Jarvan, Karthus, Twitch, Lulu
More loopy casting from our favorite play by play specialists, and more dull winning by Crs.
Velocity Esports vs Vulcun
[VES bans: Zac, Sona, Zed][Vul bans: Ahri, Evelynn, Shen]
VES: Ezreal, Singed, Nidalee, Jayce, Ashe
Vul: Malphite, Lee Sin, Diana, Vayne, Zyra
I don't begrudge VES some self-entertainment via crazy champs, so support Ashe is a-okay with me, except her frost shot turns out to be non-useful every time. Top lane Ez loses his lane really fast, though, and the that Nidaleee that I wanted to see so much doesn't exactly acquit herself well. I know it sucks, VES, having to keep playing with nothing to win. But you put yourself in this hole, and you have to accept this punishment with gracefulness.
Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Dig bans: Nocturne, Jarvan, Shen][CLG bans: Lee Sin, Kassadin, Gragas]
Dig: Zac, Xin Zhao, Pantheon, Vayne, Sona
CLG: Malphite, Elise, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
This seems like a good game to illustrate the weakness of CLG, which is not a 'weakness' as traditionally defined. They have enormously skilled individual players, yes. That's good for several early kills, and sometimes, that's enough for them to get ahead and win games. But in the team fight phase, if the other team can work together, they're going to outfight CLG's individual brilliance. You can see them, in some of the teamfights, making decisions independent of each other, and at this extremely high level of play, that solo queue mentality isn't going to win you championships anymore.
Team Coast vs. Curse
[CST bans: Zac, Twitch, Elise][Crs bans: Riven, Shen, Zed]
CST: Kha'Zix, Lee Sin, Ahri, Vayne, Zyra
Crs: Kennen, Amumu, Orianna, Caitlynn, Thresh
I think CST was already mathematically eliminated, but they kept it even until a bad fight at baron at around 30 min. After that, they pretty much threw in the towel.
Cloud 9 vs Team SoloMid
[C9 bans: Ahri, Sona, Nocturne][TSM bans: Elise, Evelynn, Zed]
C9: Shen, Zac, Kassadin, Ashe, Zyra
TSM: Renekton, Jarvan, Karthus, Twitch, Thresh
Haha, I almost wrote "Reginald" instead of "Karthus". They let C9 get the Ashe/Zyra combo, though they've seen the kind of havoc it can cause. I wish I was as good as Sneaky on Ashe, but as Phreak points out, it's mostly due to the intense team-oriented play that C9 employs. SoloQ Ashe doesn't really hold up to that ideal.
Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming (tiebreaker)
[Dig bans: Nocturne, Jarvan, Shen][CLG bans: Lee Sin, Gragas, Fiddlesticks]
Dig: Zac, Evelynn, Zed, Ezreal, Alistar
CLG: Elise, Sejuani, Vladimir, Vayne, Sona
Crumbz dies trying a steal of blue, and the casters bring up a very good question: who was he trying to steal that buff from? Link doesn't have mana, bigfatlp wasn't even bothering to get it, even his own team doesn't use mana. Just get your own, Crumbz, jeez. At any rate, Crs steamroll after that. C'mon, CLG.
Our one-week fantasy league did not turn out all that well for me (19.2 points) and though Xian came close, Meteos didn't quite do it for him (28.3 points). Lin was victorious (31.6 points), due to Sneaky being the C9 team member with the totally crazy KDA of 14.3.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Plants vs Zombies 2
I saw a host of games at PAX that were freemium / moba, and even the show floor presenters looked as if they were salivating to get in on the mythical cash cow that is LoL, or Candy Crush, or what have you. I almost felt bad for them, standing there with beta keys in hand, sadly watching the hundreds of gamers with their backs to them, huddled around one of the many TVs Riot had set up around the show so more people could watch the regional finals. Obviously, from the rest of my posts, you know where my loyalties lie. But loyalties aside, you are all doing several things wrong, and it is making me sad.
The first of which is, of course, that you are too late. Do you even play mobas? You can't just show up one day and say, "hey this is the most awesome game of all time, and it's free, why don't you give it a go" and think that millions of players will suddenly all drop LoL to rush over to your game. Let's even say for argument that your game is unequivocally better (which you can't prove to anyone by looking exactly like LoL in every aspect). We have teammates on LoL. Contacts. Nurtured friendships and hard-earned rankings. We aren't leaving, and even if we were, we would need ALL our friends go with us at the same time. If you've ever been on the Internet, you know this is not going to happen. The only people you can expect to be in your lobbies are the people who have been banned from LoL, and that's no way to start a community of players. I could go on and on about it, but you should know this. You weren't first the party, you can't expect to take people away from a game they already play. I shouldn't even have to elaborate on this huge bullet point.
The second problem, which I'm encountering with PVZ2 is, your game is not... fun. Like so many MMOs before you, you've been sucked into the freemium lure, and you thought, "I can make players pay for premium content by making it compelling!" And you did that. But the free part of the game, the part that millions of people have access to? No longer compelling. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person that's told you this, either. Try to think critically about your decisions, ok? If the free part is not fun, your whole game is no longer compelling. If you need a LoL example, I'll let you know right now, you can play LoL with 100% effectiveness without ever spending a dime. Almost all money goes to cosmetic changes and very minor conveniences. Most of the people I know who buy Riot Points only do so because we've been playing the game for nigh-on a million years and we just felt like paying a little money. I played Duel of Champions for an enjoyable half hour until it started throwing me into PvP matches against people I didn't know, with no hope of winning due to using only free cards. There's no other modes, there seems to be no way to get better cards without money, and even with paid-for cards, how do I know I'm going to be competitive? I really enjoyed it up to that point, but I can't invest even this small amount of money in so pointless a venture.
The third problem, and this may sound harsh, game companies, but here goes: your greed is showing. It's pretty obvious who's a greedy corporate entity, and who's an indie studio just by looking at what you sell and what you charge. Indie's will give things away in packs, sometimes the whole rest of the game content at one go, because they want you to have fun and play the game they made. Greedy SOBs with evil finance departments (or whatever is the source of this evil, I don't actually know) will charge for every individual object they can possibly make distinct. They'll even trump up some kind of in-game currency so you can spend real money on literally nothing. I understand you need to make money to survive - that is true of everyone in everything that we do. But the heartless penny-counters clearly don't know what "fun" or "video games" are all about, don't let them make these important decisions. Withholding the game that you made for piecemeal ransom is self-sabotage. If you got to go on a rollercoaster for free, then at the very top of the first hillclimb someone showed up with their hand out expecting twenty bucks for the rest of the ride, you'd be understandably disappointed. If your game costs twenty bucks and you want to somehow tap into the freemium crowd, you should probably call your free section a 'demo' or a 'trial' and then charge twenty bucks for the real game, like we've been doing all these years. I know it's just a semantics change, but look at our airline industry: upcharge for first class, business class, checked bags, in-flight food, entertainment, internet, blankets, headphones, window seats, aisle seats? And next, rumors of upcharges for carry-ons? What's next, upcharge for higher quality air? Do you want to be like them? Or do you want to preserve a little professional dignity?
PVZ2 begins as the game you knew before: simple, fun, with the same silly humor you learned to love in the original. But it quickly (or however long it takes for you, personally) becomes apparently that they were not satisfied with the amount of money they were getting from you before. $3 to unlock the Jalepeno. $4 for the Torchwood. $4 for the Snow Pea. $5 to unlock the world gate to open up a new area. $4 for an extra seed slot. $20 or more for extra coins to spend on in-game cheats. The packs are listed all the way up to $100, listed here as "The Best Deal". Really, PVZ2? One hundred real dollars for fake coins in your game is the best deal? Your hand is out expectantly, and it's a little too transparent to be the same clean fun as it was before.
The first of which is, of course, that you are too late. Do you even play mobas? You can't just show up one day and say, "hey this is the most awesome game of all time, and it's free, why don't you give it a go" and think that millions of players will suddenly all drop LoL to rush over to your game. Let's even say for argument that your game is unequivocally better (which you can't prove to anyone by looking exactly like LoL in every aspect). We have teammates on LoL. Contacts. Nurtured friendships and hard-earned rankings. We aren't leaving, and even if we were, we would need ALL our friends go with us at the same time. If you've ever been on the Internet, you know this is not going to happen. The only people you can expect to be in your lobbies are the people who have been banned from LoL, and that's no way to start a community of players. I could go on and on about it, but you should know this. You weren't first the party, you can't expect to take people away from a game they already play. I shouldn't even have to elaborate on this huge bullet point.
The second problem, which I'm encountering with PVZ2 is, your game is not... fun. Like so many MMOs before you, you've been sucked into the freemium lure, and you thought, "I can make players pay for premium content by making it compelling!" And you did that. But the free part of the game, the part that millions of people have access to? No longer compelling. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person that's told you this, either. Try to think critically about your decisions, ok? If the free part is not fun, your whole game is no longer compelling. If you need a LoL example, I'll let you know right now, you can play LoL with 100% effectiveness without ever spending a dime. Almost all money goes to cosmetic changes and very minor conveniences. Most of the people I know who buy Riot Points only do so because we've been playing the game for nigh-on a million years and we just felt like paying a little money. I played Duel of Champions for an enjoyable half hour until it started throwing me into PvP matches against people I didn't know, with no hope of winning due to using only free cards. There's no other modes, there seems to be no way to get better cards without money, and even with paid-for cards, how do I know I'm going to be competitive? I really enjoyed it up to that point, but I can't invest even this small amount of money in so pointless a venture.
The third problem, and this may sound harsh, game companies, but here goes: your greed is showing. It's pretty obvious who's a greedy corporate entity, and who's an indie studio just by looking at what you sell and what you charge. Indie's will give things away in packs, sometimes the whole rest of the game content at one go, because they want you to have fun and play the game they made. Greedy SOBs with evil finance departments (or whatever is the source of this evil, I don't actually know) will charge for every individual object they can possibly make distinct. They'll even trump up some kind of in-game currency so you can spend real money on literally nothing. I understand you need to make money to survive - that is true of everyone in everything that we do. But the heartless penny-counters clearly don't know what "fun" or "video games" are all about, don't let them make these important decisions. Withholding the game that you made for piecemeal ransom is self-sabotage. If you got to go on a rollercoaster for free, then at the very top of the first hillclimb someone showed up with their hand out expecting twenty bucks for the rest of the ride, you'd be understandably disappointed. If your game costs twenty bucks and you want to somehow tap into the freemium crowd, you should probably call your free section a 'demo' or a 'trial' and then charge twenty bucks for the real game, like we've been doing all these years. I know it's just a semantics change, but look at our airline industry: upcharge for first class, business class, checked bags, in-flight food, entertainment, internet, blankets, headphones, window seats, aisle seats? And next, rumors of upcharges for carry-ons? What's next, upcharge for higher quality air? Do you want to be like them? Or do you want to preserve a little professional dignity?
PVZ2 begins as the game you knew before: simple, fun, with the same silly humor you learned to love in the original. But it quickly (or however long it takes for you, personally) becomes apparently that they were not satisfied with the amount of money they were getting from you before. $3 to unlock the Jalepeno. $4 for the Torchwood. $4 for the Snow Pea. $5 to unlock the world gate to open up a new area. $4 for an extra seed slot. $20 or more for extra coins to spend on in-game cheats. The packs are listed all the way up to $100, listed here as "The Best Deal". Really, PVZ2? One hundred real dollars for fake coins in your game is the best deal? Your hand is out expectantly, and it's a little too transparent to be the same clean fun as it was before.
Friday, August 23, 2013
LCS NA Summer W9 pt1
What a week to have caught up on my VOD's, eh? Two week hiatus between matches. I took the time to badger two of my friends into belatedly starting a Fantasy LCS league with me. Only one week left, really, so we just drafted a position player each and agreed that best KDAs would win it. Xian won the initial roll, so he got Meteos, and Lin and I just picked the rest of Cloud 9, haha.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Coast
[CLG bans: Twitch, Zed, Shen][CST bans: Tristana, Elise, Twisted Fate]
CLG: Zac, Nocturne, Ahri, Vayne, Thresh
CST: Rumble, Nasus, Zigs, Ezreal, Zyra
Maybe picking bigfatlp as my jungler was a silly move. He didn't die, but he didn't land any kills either. Oh well, positive points is positive points. I picked him and Doublelift because CLG needs some decisive victories during superweek to stay in it, and I believe they're going to come out with long games, high scores, and big wins, or die trying. Doublelift did good for me in this game, and unfortunately for Lin, shiphtur's Zig's just wasn't effective.
Team Dignitas vs Curse
[Dig bans: Ahri, Jarvan, Twitch][Crs bans: Shen, Kassadin, Fiddlesticks]
Dig: Zac, Elise, Zed, Ezreal, Sona
Crs: Kennen, Nasus, Karthus, Varus, Thresh
Both Lin and I avoided both these teams, so Xian is the only one with anything at stake here. The game was a super long slog fest that came down to a sudden death finish.
Velocity Esports vs Team SoloMid
[VES bans: Jayce, Zed, Kassadin][TSM bans: Elise, Varus, Lee Sin]
VES: Zac, Jarvan, Anivia, Urgot, Zyra
TSM: Shen, Nocturne, Karthus, Twitch, Sona
No mercy-kill for VES, they have to play the remainder of their games for balance. Nobody gambled on any of the VES players in the fantasy league, because in this last week, they have no real reason to try and win. As much as they may play for pride and come out with unusual champs and unexpected strats, they also probably shouldn't give away their secrets for the upcoming relegation matches.
Vulcun vs Cloud 9
[Vul bans: Kassadin, Twitch, Zac][C9 bans: Caitlyn, Ahri, Shen]
Vul: Kennen, Lee Sin, Zed, Tristana, Zyra
C9: Elise, Jarvan, Jayce, Vayne, Sona
Concerned that C9 would phone it in with nothing to play for, our fears were not allayed by a surprising level 1 face-check and subsequent fast loss by C9. A weakness, or just playing with a bit of 'meh'? Concerning for the fantasy points, at any rate.
Team SoloMid vs Team Coast
[TSM bans: Elise, Zed, Blitzcrank][CST bans: Karthus, Twisted Fate, Shen]
TSM: Rumble, Jarvan, Ahri, Twitch, Sona
CST: Riven, Nasus, Diana, Caitlyn, Zyra
CST banned all kinds of global ults and Zionspartan got Riven, but nope. TSM is on that late-season roll that happens when you're TSM.
Team Dignitas vs Vulcun
[Dig bans: Ahri, Evelynn, Shen][Vul bans: Kassadin, Ezreal, Zed]
Dig: Elise, Lee Sin, Gragas, Graves, Fiddlesticks
Vul: Zac, Jarvan, Karthus, Tristana, Sona
Might just be me, but this game seemed to have more intricacies than usual. First blood comes from a duel between Zac and Elise, which Zac is winning until Elise lands a cocoon, and then activates his passive. But before she can kill the bloblets, Karthus channels ult to kill her first. Karthus has to be careful where he channels, though, because Gragas will blind throw his ult to disrupt him. As for the others, they're all jump-in champs; the question is, when to jump in?
Counter Logic Gaming vs Cloud 9
[CLG bans: Rumble, Nasus, Twitch][C9 bans: Nocturne, Jarvan, Ahri]
CLG: Zac, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Tristana, Thresh
C9: Shen, Elise, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
I like to ban those three also, CLG, but letting C9 have the Ashe/Zyra? Early game goes so well for CLG, Doublelift gets some nice plays in. I feel like I would enjoy being ADC a lot more if there was love like CLG loves Doublelift. So much protection! But, when lane phase is over, C9's 5v5 team fight is always just superior.
Velocity Esports vs Curse
[VES bans: *did not ban first, Kennen, Thresh][Crs bans: Lee Sin, Rumble, Shen]
VES: Elise, Zac, Lissandra, Varus, Zyra
Crs: Zed, Nasus, Orianna, Twitch, Sona
As if things weren't bad enough for VES, they also got punished by the peeps on high for unpausing a game early and lost a ban, and THEN lost first blood on an unfortunate face check. It does not get better from there.
Vulcun vs Team Coast
[Vul bans: Riven, Twitch, Jarvan][Cst bans: Shen, Sona, Tristana]
Vul: Zac, Evelynn, Zed, Caitlyn, Zyra
Cst: Kha'Zix, Elise, Ahria, Ezreal, Lulu
Not many more Z-champs could have been picked by Vul. Ziggs? Zilean? Coast began a comeback, but then I guess they realized they didn't have a tank, so it stopped cold at Vul's front steps.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Coast
[CLG bans: Twitch, Zed, Shen][CST bans: Tristana, Elise, Twisted Fate]
CLG: Zac, Nocturne, Ahri, Vayne, Thresh
CST: Rumble, Nasus, Zigs, Ezreal, Zyra
Maybe picking bigfatlp as my jungler was a silly move. He didn't die, but he didn't land any kills either. Oh well, positive points is positive points. I picked him and Doublelift because CLG needs some decisive victories during superweek to stay in it, and I believe they're going to come out with long games, high scores, and big wins, or die trying. Doublelift did good for me in this game, and unfortunately for Lin, shiphtur's Zig's just wasn't effective.
Team Dignitas vs Curse
[Dig bans: Ahri, Jarvan, Twitch][Crs bans: Shen, Kassadin, Fiddlesticks]
Dig: Zac, Elise, Zed, Ezreal, Sona
Crs: Kennen, Nasus, Karthus, Varus, Thresh
Both Lin and I avoided both these teams, so Xian is the only one with anything at stake here. The game was a super long slog fest that came down to a sudden death finish.
Velocity Esports vs Team SoloMid
[VES bans: Jayce, Zed, Kassadin][TSM bans: Elise, Varus, Lee Sin]
VES: Zac, Jarvan, Anivia, Urgot, Zyra
TSM: Shen, Nocturne, Karthus, Twitch, Sona
No mercy-kill for VES, they have to play the remainder of their games for balance. Nobody gambled on any of the VES players in the fantasy league, because in this last week, they have no real reason to try and win. As much as they may play for pride and come out with unusual champs and unexpected strats, they also probably shouldn't give away their secrets for the upcoming relegation matches.
Vulcun vs Cloud 9
[Vul bans: Kassadin, Twitch, Zac][C9 bans: Caitlyn, Ahri, Shen]
Vul: Kennen, Lee Sin, Zed, Tristana, Zyra
C9: Elise, Jarvan, Jayce, Vayne, Sona
Concerned that C9 would phone it in with nothing to play for, our fears were not allayed by a surprising level 1 face-check and subsequent fast loss by C9. A weakness, or just playing with a bit of 'meh'? Concerning for the fantasy points, at any rate.
Team SoloMid vs Team Coast
[TSM bans: Elise, Zed, Blitzcrank][CST bans: Karthus, Twisted Fate, Shen]
TSM: Rumble, Jarvan, Ahri, Twitch, Sona
CST: Riven, Nasus, Diana, Caitlyn, Zyra
CST banned all kinds of global ults and Zionspartan got Riven, but nope. TSM is on that late-season roll that happens when you're TSM.
Team Dignitas vs Vulcun
[Dig bans: Ahri, Evelynn, Shen][Vul bans: Kassadin, Ezreal, Zed]
Dig: Elise, Lee Sin, Gragas, Graves, Fiddlesticks
Vul: Zac, Jarvan, Karthus, Tristana, Sona
Might just be me, but this game seemed to have more intricacies than usual. First blood comes from a duel between Zac and Elise, which Zac is winning until Elise lands a cocoon, and then activates his passive. But before she can kill the bloblets, Karthus channels ult to kill her first. Karthus has to be careful where he channels, though, because Gragas will blind throw his ult to disrupt him. As for the others, they're all jump-in champs; the question is, when to jump in?
Counter Logic Gaming vs Cloud 9
[CLG bans: Rumble, Nasus, Twitch][C9 bans: Nocturne, Jarvan, Ahri]
CLG: Zac, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Tristana, Thresh
C9: Shen, Elise, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
I like to ban those three also, CLG, but letting C9 have the Ashe/Zyra? Early game goes so well for CLG, Doublelift gets some nice plays in. I feel like I would enjoy being ADC a lot more if there was love like CLG loves Doublelift. So much protection! But, when lane phase is over, C9's 5v5 team fight is always just superior.
Velocity Esports vs Curse
[VES bans: *did not ban first, Kennen, Thresh][Crs bans: Lee Sin, Rumble, Shen]
VES: Elise, Zac, Lissandra, Varus, Zyra
Crs: Zed, Nasus, Orianna, Twitch, Sona
As if things weren't bad enough for VES, they also got punished by the peeps on high for unpausing a game early and lost a ban, and THEN lost first blood on an unfortunate face check. It does not get better from there.
Vulcun vs Team Coast
[Vul bans: Riven, Twitch, Jarvan][Cst bans: Shen, Sona, Tristana]
Vul: Zac, Evelynn, Zed, Caitlyn, Zyra
Cst: Kha'Zix, Elise, Ahria, Ezreal, Lulu
Not many more Z-champs could have been picked by Vul. Ziggs? Zilean? Coast began a comeback, but then I guess they realized they didn't have a tank, so it stopped cold at Vul's front steps.
LCS EU Gamescom 2013
Watching the live coverage of Gamescom 2013, and I realized that most of my excitement was to see the international wildcard tournament and see what cool metas they've come up with in their various countries, then see them go head to head. Vastly disappointed to see that they all watch the readily-available streams of all the other regions, and all the picks, ban, and lanes are exactly the same as they are here. Guess the days of server isolation and differing metas is long gone?
Monday, August 5, 2013
LCS NA Summer W8
Wow, I've practically caught up. I actually watched most of these live, and let me tell you, the live comment stream was truly a sea of horrors. Week 8, ahead. By the by, do you think Riot knows that nearly every single one of the interview vods are busted on YouTube? Is it just me? Well, as long as it's not busted in the middle of a team fight in-game, I won't be upset.
Team Dignitas vs Cloud 9
[Dig bans: Rumble, Nasus, Ashe][C9 bans: Sona, Master Yi, Ryze]
Dig: Elise, Nasus, Kassadin, Graves
C9: Shen, Zac, Zed, Twitch, Zyra
C9 in a bloodbath. But you knew, right? Even Jatt and Phreak couldn't be unbiased, with phrases like "oh, that didn't turn out too bad for dignitas, considering!" and "how about that, dig got the kill!"
Team Coast vs Counter Logic Gaming
[CST bans: Tristana, Jayce, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Riven, Gragas, Zed]
CST: Shen, Elise, Ahri, Twitch, Nami
CLG: Jarvan, Zac, Orianna, Ezreal, Thresh
Really zz. It's 6-2 in kills at nearly 40 minutes in, those 6 kills for CST coming mainly from their huge CC getting chained on a single target over and over. CLG never seems to get their act together after that to engage a team fight, even though there were several opportunities, and even several times where they should have engaged to defend an objective! What is going on.
Vulcun vs Velocity Esports
[Vul bans: Lee Sin, Ahri, Thresh][VES bans: Ryze, Twisted Fate, Elise]
Vul: Shen, Evelynn, Zed, Vayne, Sona
VES: Kennen, Jarvan, Orianna, Varus, Leona
Vulcun roll, no upset this time. Did something happen to Anivia? Why doesn't ecco play the bird anymore? Not that I think it would dig them out of this, but if the outcome is already determined...
Team SoloMid vs Curse
[TSM bans: Thresh, Elise, Orianna][Crs ban: Kassadin, Jayce, Twisted Fate]
TSM: Rumble, Jarvan, Karthus, Graves, Sona
Crs: Shen, Zac, Ryze, Ashe, Zyra
Long game, kind of a strange grind. TSM in the end.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Vulcun
[CLG bans: Ashe, Evelynn, Twisted Fate][Vul bans: Tristana, Elise, Shen]
CLG: Vladimir, Zac, Orianna, Vayne, Thresh
Vul: Jayce, Jarvan, Ahri, Twitch, Sona
Vul wins due to one or two late game fights that just go bad for CLG. Which is generally the way they've been losing lately, making them cohorts in the teamfighting doldrums with VES. C9 is the opposite of that spectrum: all about amazing team mechanics. Also, I think Zac has probably got to go. He is super interesting, and his passive is great. But the elastic launch maneuver puts him WAY too far in front - bigfatlp would just die surrounded by five enemies before his own team could even put a speck of damage on anyone.
Team Coast vs Velocity Esports
[CST bans: Kennen, Twisted Fate, Jayce][VES bans: Zed, Elise, Riven]
CST: Shen, Evelyn, Karthus, Vayne, Thresh
VES: Rumble, Jarvan, Ahri, Varus, Zyra
VES wins in a statement game. That statement being: we're not dead yet. The Evelynn, just like the Zac, just isn't all that useful of a champ, sometimes. Most times. VES, on the other hand, had a crazy amount of damage in a straight line, so at the end of the game, when CST runs up to try and contest baron, VES can ruin their day easily. Think about it: Jarvan EQ, Zyra snare, Ahri charm+ball, Varus arrow Rumble ult. All straight piercing lines!
Curse vs Cloud 9
[Crs bans: Zed, Rumble, Zyra][C9 bans: Orianna, Shen, Elise]
Crs: Zac, Jarvan, Karthus, Tristana, Nami
C9: Kennen, Nasus, Kassadin, Ashe, Thresh
C9 zz-roll. But you knew, right? They don't even have anything left to play for, and their teamfight is just superior. You can tell in that last fight, when Crs didn't protect Cop and Nyjacky the way C9 clusters around Hai and Balls.
Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas
[TSM bans: Lee Sin, Elise, Aatrox][Dig bans: Karthus, Shen, Rumble]
TSM: Jayce, Nasus, Kassadin, Graves, Thresh
Dig: Zac, Jarvan, Diana, Ezreal, Sona
Interesting ending, even imaqtpie was shaking his head at how he managed to survive the last fight. While we were all still shocked, he pushed down the base for the sudden win.
Vulcun vs Curse
[Vul bans: Twitch, Jarvan, Tryndamere][Crs bans: Shen, Zac, Elise]
Vul: Malphite, Evelynn, Ahri, Tristana
Crs: Rumble, Nasus, Jayce, Ashe, Zyra
Vul zz-roll. I'm telling you, maybe they ought to try and close games out faster than that. Not just for my sake, watching their incredible slow snowball, but one bad engagement could have spelled another dramatic comeback against them.
Cloud 9 vs Velocity Esports
[C9 bans: Jarvan, Kennen, Shen][VES bans: Zed, Kassadin, Zac]
C9: Elise, Nasus, Jayce, Ashe, Zyra
VES: Rumble, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, Varus, Nami
C9 in their usual 35 minutes. But you knew, right? What a terrible time for VES to go up against the nearly-undefeated C9.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team SoloMid
[CLG bans: Rumble, Zed, Shen][TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Elise, (did not ban third)]
CLG: Malphite, Nocturne, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
TSM: Jayce, Zac, Kassadin, Graves, Sona
Another decisive win for CLG against TSM. 4-0, at least they can consistently beat somebody. And I reiterating above point about Zac.
Team Coast vs Team Dignitas
[CST bans: Ezreal, Kassadin, Zed][Dig bans: Riven, Ahri, Elise]
CST: Aatrox, Fiddlesitcks, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Thresh
Dig: Zac, Jarvan, Gragas, Graves, Sona
It may be worth it to you to check out the pick/ban phase, where Phreak insists that ZionSpartan told him that he'd pick Teemo. He really believed him, too, poor Phreak. At least their real picks are somewhat off the (heavily) beaten path: jungle fid, aatrox. Not that they win with those champs. This also could be a good game to watch because it feels like two teams that are still trying to adapt and understand the new meta of objective-first gameplay. You can see the good: each team grouping up as four early and pushing down one or even two towers without trying for kills. And you can see the bad: teams overpushing, and the opposing team taking advantage of setting up ambushes where they'll know their enemies will be.
Standings
C9 21-2
Vul 15-8
CLG 11-12
Dig 11-12
TSM 11-12
Crs 9-14
CST 9-14
VES 5-18
Team Dignitas vs Cloud 9
[Dig bans: Rumble, Nasus, Ashe][C9 bans: Sona, Master Yi, Ryze]
Dig: Elise, Nasus, Kassadin, Graves
C9: Shen, Zac, Zed, Twitch, Zyra
C9 in a bloodbath. But you knew, right? Even Jatt and Phreak couldn't be unbiased, with phrases like "oh, that didn't turn out too bad for dignitas, considering!" and "how about that, dig got the kill!"
Team Coast vs Counter Logic Gaming
[CST bans: Tristana, Jayce, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Riven, Gragas, Zed]
CST: Shen, Elise, Ahri, Twitch, Nami
CLG: Jarvan, Zac, Orianna, Ezreal, Thresh
Really zz. It's 6-2 in kills at nearly 40 minutes in, those 6 kills for CST coming mainly from their huge CC getting chained on a single target over and over. CLG never seems to get their act together after that to engage a team fight, even though there were several opportunities, and even several times where they should have engaged to defend an objective! What is going on.
Vulcun vs Velocity Esports
[Vul bans: Lee Sin, Ahri, Thresh][VES bans: Ryze, Twisted Fate, Elise]
Vul: Shen, Evelynn, Zed, Vayne, Sona
VES: Kennen, Jarvan, Orianna, Varus, Leona
Vulcun roll, no upset this time. Did something happen to Anivia? Why doesn't ecco play the bird anymore? Not that I think it would dig them out of this, but if the outcome is already determined...
Team SoloMid vs Curse
[TSM bans: Thresh, Elise, Orianna][Crs ban: Kassadin, Jayce, Twisted Fate]
TSM: Rumble, Jarvan, Karthus, Graves, Sona
Crs: Shen, Zac, Ryze, Ashe, Zyra
Long game, kind of a strange grind. TSM in the end.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Vulcun
[CLG bans: Ashe, Evelynn, Twisted Fate][Vul bans: Tristana, Elise, Shen]
CLG: Vladimir, Zac, Orianna, Vayne, Thresh
Vul: Jayce, Jarvan, Ahri, Twitch, Sona
Vul wins due to one or two late game fights that just go bad for CLG. Which is generally the way they've been losing lately, making them cohorts in the teamfighting doldrums with VES. C9 is the opposite of that spectrum: all about amazing team mechanics. Also, I think Zac has probably got to go. He is super interesting, and his passive is great. But the elastic launch maneuver puts him WAY too far in front - bigfatlp would just die surrounded by five enemies before his own team could even put a speck of damage on anyone.
Team Coast vs Velocity Esports
[CST bans: Kennen, Twisted Fate, Jayce][VES bans: Zed, Elise, Riven]
CST: Shen, Evelyn, Karthus, Vayne, Thresh
VES: Rumble, Jarvan, Ahri, Varus, Zyra
VES wins in a statement game. That statement being: we're not dead yet. The Evelynn, just like the Zac, just isn't all that useful of a champ, sometimes. Most times. VES, on the other hand, had a crazy amount of damage in a straight line, so at the end of the game, when CST runs up to try and contest baron, VES can ruin their day easily. Think about it: Jarvan EQ, Zyra snare, Ahri charm+ball, Varus arrow Rumble ult. All straight piercing lines!
Curse vs Cloud 9
[Crs bans: Zed, Rumble, Zyra][C9 bans: Orianna, Shen, Elise]
Crs: Zac, Jarvan, Karthus, Tristana, Nami
C9: Kennen, Nasus, Kassadin, Ashe, Thresh
C9 zz-roll. But you knew, right? They don't even have anything left to play for, and their teamfight is just superior. You can tell in that last fight, when Crs didn't protect Cop and Nyjacky the way C9 clusters around Hai and Balls.
Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas
[TSM bans: Lee Sin, Elise, Aatrox][Dig bans: Karthus, Shen, Rumble]
TSM: Jayce, Nasus, Kassadin, Graves, Thresh
Dig: Zac, Jarvan, Diana, Ezreal, Sona
Interesting ending, even imaqtpie was shaking his head at how he managed to survive the last fight. While we were all still shocked, he pushed down the base for the sudden win.
Vulcun vs Curse
[Vul bans: Twitch, Jarvan, Tryndamere][Crs bans: Shen, Zac, Elise]
Vul: Malphite, Evelynn, Ahri, Tristana
Crs: Rumble, Nasus, Jayce, Ashe, Zyra
Vul zz-roll. I'm telling you, maybe they ought to try and close games out faster than that. Not just for my sake, watching their incredible slow snowball, but one bad engagement could have spelled another dramatic comeback against them.
Cloud 9 vs Velocity Esports
[C9 bans: Jarvan, Kennen, Shen][VES bans: Zed, Kassadin, Zac]
C9: Elise, Nasus, Jayce, Ashe, Zyra
VES: Rumble, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, Varus, Nami
C9 in their usual 35 minutes. But you knew, right? What a terrible time for VES to go up against the nearly-undefeated C9.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team SoloMid
[CLG bans: Rumble, Zed, Shen][TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Elise, (did not ban third)]
CLG: Malphite, Nocturne, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
TSM: Jayce, Zac, Kassadin, Graves, Sona
Another decisive win for CLG against TSM. 4-0, at least they can consistently beat somebody. And I reiterating above point about Zac.
Team Coast vs Team Dignitas
[CST bans: Ezreal, Kassadin, Zed][Dig bans: Riven, Ahri, Elise]
CST: Aatrox, Fiddlesitcks, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Thresh
Dig: Zac, Jarvan, Gragas, Graves, Sona
It may be worth it to you to check out the pick/ban phase, where Phreak insists that ZionSpartan told him that he'd pick Teemo. He really believed him, too, poor Phreak. At least their real picks are somewhat off the (heavily) beaten path: jungle fid, aatrox. Not that they win with those champs. This also could be a good game to watch because it feels like two teams that are still trying to adapt and understand the new meta of objective-first gameplay. You can see the good: each team grouping up as four early and pushing down one or even two towers without trying for kills. And you can see the bad: teams overpushing, and the opposing team taking advantage of setting up ambushes where they'll know their enemies will be.
Standings
C9 21-2
Vul 15-8
CLG 11-12
Dig 11-12
TSM 11-12
Crs 9-14
CST 9-14
VES 5-18
Thursday, August 1, 2013
LCS NA Summer W7
Have I mentioned it before? I stopped summarizing the EU matches to save time, but they've been infinitely more interesting. New comps, new champs, new metas. Diamond even ran Karma in the jungle! It beats watching the same champs do the same old dull snowball. Maybe I'll try to go back to reporting on those also, someday. Anyhow, back to NA Week 7, despite my ever-so-slight disappointment.
Velocity Esports vs Cloud 9
[VES bans: Zed, Jayce, Elise][C9 bans: Lee Sin, Shen, Kayle]
VES: Renekton, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Varus, Zyra
C9: Rumble, Zac, Kennen, Ashe, Thresh
C9 in under 30 min. You knew that, though, right?
Team Dignitas vs Team SoloMid
[Dig bans: Thresh, Karthus, Shen][TSM bans: Lee Sin, Master Yi, Elise]
Dig: Aatrox, Nocturne, Kassadin, Graves, Sona
TSM: Jayce, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu
TSM zz-roll. At least they're back in form. I wonder why Reggie doesn't play Lissandra?
Team Coast vs Vulcun
[CST bans: Sona, Ryze, Jayce][Vul bans: Riven, Tryndamere, Zed]
CST: Elise, Lee Sin, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
Vul: Shen, Nunu, Twisted Fate, Ashe, Zyra
Vul zz-roll. See? The new NA meta is 'extremely boring snowball'.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Curse
[CLG bans: Jayce, Nunu, Thresh][Crs bans: Karhtus, Twisted Fate, Elise]
CLG: Shen, Nocturne, Gragas, Vayne, Lulu
Crs: Zac, Jarvan, Orianna, Twitch, Nami
Yuck, this was such a brutal roll, it made CLG look like a bunch of noobs.
Team SoloMid vs Vulcun
[TSM bans: Sona, Shen, Twisted Fate][Vul bans: Jayce, Karthus, Caitlyn]
TSM: Rumble, Elise, Zed, Twitch, Lulu
Vul: Zac, Nasus, Ahri, Ashe, Thresh
Pretty valiant come-back attempt by Vul, but nope, TSM zz-roll.
Cloud 9 vs Team Coast
[C9 bans: Riven, Nami, Shen][CST bans: Rumble, Jayce, Twisted Fate]
C9: Elise, nasus, Kennen, Vayne, Thresh
CST: Renekton, Zac, Zed, Ezreal, Sona
C9 roll. You knew, though, right?
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Dignitas
[CLG bans: Lee Sin, Sona, Zed][Dig bans: Shen, Twisted Fate, Elise]
CLG: Zac, Jarvan, Orianna, Vayne, Thresh
Dig: Kha'Zix, Nunu, Master Yi, Ezreal, Lulu
Interesting game - Doublelift got ahead early and bought a guardian angel. This basically squashed any hope of a comeback by negating a lot of the 'reset comp' strategy that Yi and Kha'Zix would go for.
Curse vs Velocity Esports
[Crs bans: Karthus, Twisted Fate, Shen][VES bans: Elise, Jayce, Tryndamere]
Crs: Zac, Jarvan, Orianna, Twitch, Nami
VES: Rumble, Lee Sin, Ahri, Varus, Thresh
Crs zz-roll.
Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9
[TSM bans: Rumble, Twisted Fate, Jayce][C9 bans: Caitlyn, Shen, Karthus]
TSM: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Twitch, Thresh
C9: Ryze, Zac, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
A little more exciting, but again, the outcome was almost pre-determined, right?
Curse vs Team Dignitas
[Crs bans: Sona, Zed, Ryze][Dig bans: Jarvan, Zac, Elise]
Crs: Shen, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Twitch, Thresh
Dig: Aatrox, Lee Sin, Kassadin, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks
Dig zz-roll
Velocity Esports vs Team Coast
[VES bans: Zed, Riven, Jayce][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Shen, Rumble]
VES: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Twitch, Nami
CST: Gragas, Jarvan, Ahri, Vayne, Thresh
CST roll. Poor VES, who will soon be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and have difficult time mustering will to compete for nothing.
Vulcun vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Vul bans: Tristana, Vayne, Zac][CLG bans: Ashe, Twisted Fate, Lee Sin]
Vul: Shen, Nunu, Orianna, Twitch, Zyra
CLG: Malphite, Elise, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
This one is probably the best one to watch, even though I'm not sure you can take away tips and tricks for mounting a comeback from WAY back. This is at least the second time we've seen Vul lose a game from way out in front, and there IS a certain sense of ... milling about from their team during end game moments instead of sealing certain victory. But that's not to entirely take away from a very valiant (and unlikely) come-from-behind win by CLG, it was pretty cool.
Standings
C9 18-2
Vul 12-8
CLG 10-10
TSM 10-10
Crs 9-11
Dig 9-11
CST 8-12
VES 4-16
Velocity Esports vs Cloud 9
[VES bans: Zed, Jayce, Elise][C9 bans: Lee Sin, Shen, Kayle]
VES: Renekton, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Varus, Zyra
C9: Rumble, Zac, Kennen, Ashe, Thresh
C9 in under 30 min. You knew that, though, right?
Team Dignitas vs Team SoloMid
[Dig bans: Thresh, Karthus, Shen][TSM bans: Lee Sin, Master Yi, Elise]
Dig: Aatrox, Nocturne, Kassadin, Graves, Sona
TSM: Jayce, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu
TSM zz-roll. At least they're back in form. I wonder why Reggie doesn't play Lissandra?
Team Coast vs Vulcun
[CST bans: Sona, Ryze, Jayce][Vul bans: Riven, Tryndamere, Zed]
CST: Elise, Lee Sin, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
Vul: Shen, Nunu, Twisted Fate, Ashe, Zyra
Vul zz-roll. See? The new NA meta is 'extremely boring snowball'.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Curse
[CLG bans: Jayce, Nunu, Thresh][Crs bans: Karhtus, Twisted Fate, Elise]
CLG: Shen, Nocturne, Gragas, Vayne, Lulu
Crs: Zac, Jarvan, Orianna, Twitch, Nami
Yuck, this was such a brutal roll, it made CLG look like a bunch of noobs.
Team SoloMid vs Vulcun
[TSM bans: Sona, Shen, Twisted Fate][Vul bans: Jayce, Karthus, Caitlyn]
TSM: Rumble, Elise, Zed, Twitch, Lulu
Vul: Zac, Nasus, Ahri, Ashe, Thresh
Pretty valiant come-back attempt by Vul, but nope, TSM zz-roll.
Cloud 9 vs Team Coast
[C9 bans: Riven, Nami, Shen][CST bans: Rumble, Jayce, Twisted Fate]
C9: Elise, nasus, Kennen, Vayne, Thresh
CST: Renekton, Zac, Zed, Ezreal, Sona
C9 roll. You knew, though, right?
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Dignitas
[CLG bans: Lee Sin, Sona, Zed][Dig bans: Shen, Twisted Fate, Elise]
CLG: Zac, Jarvan, Orianna, Vayne, Thresh
Dig: Kha'Zix, Nunu, Master Yi, Ezreal, Lulu
Interesting game - Doublelift got ahead early and bought a guardian angel. This basically squashed any hope of a comeback by negating a lot of the 'reset comp' strategy that Yi and Kha'Zix would go for.
Curse vs Velocity Esports
[Crs bans: Karthus, Twisted Fate, Shen][VES bans: Elise, Jayce, Tryndamere]
Crs: Zac, Jarvan, Orianna, Twitch, Nami
VES: Rumble, Lee Sin, Ahri, Varus, Thresh
Crs zz-roll.
Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9
[TSM bans: Rumble, Twisted Fate, Jayce][C9 bans: Caitlyn, Shen, Karthus]
TSM: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Twitch, Thresh
C9: Ryze, Zac, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
A little more exciting, but again, the outcome was almost pre-determined, right?
Curse vs Team Dignitas
[Crs bans: Sona, Zed, Ryze][Dig bans: Jarvan, Zac, Elise]
Crs: Shen, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Twitch, Thresh
Dig: Aatrox, Lee Sin, Kassadin, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks
Dig zz-roll
Velocity Esports vs Team Coast
[VES bans: Zed, Riven, Jayce][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Shen, Rumble]
VES: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Twitch, Nami
CST: Gragas, Jarvan, Ahri, Vayne, Thresh
CST roll. Poor VES, who will soon be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and have difficult time mustering will to compete for nothing.
Vulcun vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Vul bans: Tristana, Vayne, Zac][CLG bans: Ashe, Twisted Fate, Lee Sin]
Vul: Shen, Nunu, Orianna, Twitch, Zyra
CLG: Malphite, Elise, Ahri, Ezreal, Thresh
This one is probably the best one to watch, even though I'm not sure you can take away tips and tricks for mounting a comeback from WAY back. This is at least the second time we've seen Vul lose a game from way out in front, and there IS a certain sense of ... milling about from their team during end game moments instead of sealing certain victory. But that's not to entirely take away from a very valiant (and unlikely) come-from-behind win by CLG, it was pretty cool.
Standings
C9 18-2
Vul 12-8
CLG 10-10
TSM 10-10
Crs 9-11
Dig 9-11
CST 8-12
VES 4-16
LCS NA Summer W6
Sweet, Riot incorporates the left-hand list of topics the commentators are about to talk about. Looks like someone besides me is a fan of SportsCenter! And that's no disrespect, I love that thing, and the text bar at the bottom (even though someone is taking it as an opportunity for added puns), the extra statistics helpfully dropping down from under people's names, the upgraded lighting all over the fancy caster desk. All of it is awesome, keep that up, Riot. Little bit less successful is the on-site interview, but you'll get there in time. Future additions may include a real girl, that'd be cool (I volunteer); even if you have to just include a girl in Teemo cosplay holding up a round card, why not. Week 6, ahoy.
Cloud 9 vs Team SoloMid
[C9 bans: Shen, Caitlyn, Kartus][TSM bans: Jayce, Twisted Fate, Elise]
C9: Rumble, Nasus, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
TSM: Yorick, Zac, Ryze, Vayne, Thresh
Ouch. Brutality by C9.
Curse vs Team Coast
[Crs bans: Riven, Thresh, (did not ban third)][CST bans: Nunu, Shen, Twisted Fate]
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Jayce, Twitch, Fiddlesticks
CST: Renekton, Gragas, Lux, Corki, Zyra
More unusual picks, which would be fun and interesting, if Crs did not just slowly roll CST down.
Vulcun vs Team Dignitas
[Vul bans: Zed, Kennen, Lissandra][Dig bans: Elise, Evelynn, Twisted Fate]
Vul: Zac, Nunu, Ezreal, Kog'Maw, Sona
Dig: Rumble, Lee Sin, Ryze, Caitlyn, Fiddlesticks
It's a copycat league - Dig copied the Fid support, and Vul copied the double AD (From Korea, maybe). But it's an ugly roll in Vul's favor, not really worth watching.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Velocity Esports
[CLG bans: Kayle, Evelynn, Rumble][VES bans: Elise, Jayce, Twisted Fate]
CLG: Irelia, Nunu, Ezreal, Tristana, Sona
VES: Shen, Lee Sin, Orianna, Varus, Thresh
Ouch, another smashing, even though CLG was solidly ahead. I feel like I've said that before about CLG, and that makes me even sadder.
Team Coast vs Team SoloMid
[CST bans: Karthus, Zed, Renekton][TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Jayce, Blitzcrank]
CST: Shen, Jarvan, Ahri, Twitch, Nami
TSM: Rumble, Elise, Ryze, Vayne, Thresh
TSM zzz-roll. I'm telling you, the EU games are more exciting.
Cloud 9 vs Curse
[C9 bans: Shen, Jayce, Nunu][Crs bans: Rumble, Twisted Fate, Elise]
C9: Jayce, Nasus, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
Crs: Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Ahri, Caitlyn, Thresh
C9 in a roll-face. Did you think otherwise?
Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Dig bans: Vladimir, Jayce, Shen][CLG bans: Graves, Nunu, Zed]
Dig: Elise, Lee Sin, Kassadin, Varus, Sona
CLG: Vayne, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Thresh
Lot of kills in this one, something of an exciting game, but it felt frustrating that CLG wasn't making the right moves as a team to pull out the win. When viewed from the omni-vision perspective, sometimes you take for granted how obvious the next move is, and watching CLG lose because of bad moves late game is a tedious feeling.
Velocity Esports vs Vulcun
[VES bans: Elise, Ryze, Sona][Vul bans: Rumble, Nunu, Evelynn]
VES: Shen, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Zyra
Vul: Yorick, Zac, Ezreal, Kog'Maw, Thresh
Vulcun already won a game with double-AD comp, you can't really expect it to work twice in a row? Secondly, it's time to retire that Yorick. Thirdly, as the commentators mention, the community never predicts Vul to win any of their games, except their games against VES. Ironic. Finally, if you never believed me about maplestreet before, watch the 'signoff' video at the end, where maplestreet and NK are interviewed. They're sitting right next to eachother, and I don't know how Kobe isn't laughing out loud at trying to talk to the tiny, tiny maplestreet around the gigantic NK. They also had some silliness about maplestreet and Oddone going to minigolf? They just seem like they never had that close of a sibling relationship, and now that Riot is trying to force one on them, they're all very awkward. Let 'em alone, Riot. It's a cute story, but I'm sure you can find another one.
Standings
C9 15-2
Vul 11-6
CLG 8-9
Dig 8-9
TSM 8-9
Crs 7-10
CST 7-10
VES 4-13
Cloud 9 vs Team SoloMid
[C9 bans: Shen, Caitlyn, Kartus][TSM bans: Jayce, Twisted Fate, Elise]
C9: Rumble, Nasus, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
TSM: Yorick, Zac, Ryze, Vayne, Thresh
Ouch. Brutality by C9.
Curse vs Team Coast
[Crs bans: Riven, Thresh, (did not ban third)][CST bans: Nunu, Shen, Twisted Fate]
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Jayce, Twitch, Fiddlesticks
CST: Renekton, Gragas, Lux, Corki, Zyra
More unusual picks, which would be fun and interesting, if Crs did not just slowly roll CST down.
Vulcun vs Team Dignitas
[Vul bans: Zed, Kennen, Lissandra][Dig bans: Elise, Evelynn, Twisted Fate]
Vul: Zac, Nunu, Ezreal, Kog'Maw, Sona
Dig: Rumble, Lee Sin, Ryze, Caitlyn, Fiddlesticks
It's a copycat league - Dig copied the Fid support, and Vul copied the double AD (From Korea, maybe). But it's an ugly roll in Vul's favor, not really worth watching.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Velocity Esports
[CLG bans: Kayle, Evelynn, Rumble][VES bans: Elise, Jayce, Twisted Fate]
CLG: Irelia, Nunu, Ezreal, Tristana, Sona
VES: Shen, Lee Sin, Orianna, Varus, Thresh
Ouch, another smashing, even though CLG was solidly ahead. I feel like I've said that before about CLG, and that makes me even sadder.
Team Coast vs Team SoloMid
[CST bans: Karthus, Zed, Renekton][TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Jayce, Blitzcrank]
CST: Shen, Jarvan, Ahri, Twitch, Nami
TSM: Rumble, Elise, Ryze, Vayne, Thresh
TSM zzz-roll. I'm telling you, the EU games are more exciting.
Cloud 9 vs Curse
[C9 bans: Shen, Jayce, Nunu][Crs bans: Rumble, Twisted Fate, Elise]
C9: Jayce, Nasus, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
Crs: Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Ahri, Caitlyn, Thresh
C9 in a roll-face. Did you think otherwise?
Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Dig bans: Vladimir, Jayce, Shen][CLG bans: Graves, Nunu, Zed]
Dig: Elise, Lee Sin, Kassadin, Varus, Sona
CLG: Vayne, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Thresh
Lot of kills in this one, something of an exciting game, but it felt frustrating that CLG wasn't making the right moves as a team to pull out the win. When viewed from the omni-vision perspective, sometimes you take for granted how obvious the next move is, and watching CLG lose because of bad moves late game is a tedious feeling.
Velocity Esports vs Vulcun
[VES bans: Elise, Ryze, Sona][Vul bans: Rumble, Nunu, Evelynn]
VES: Shen, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Zyra
Vul: Yorick, Zac, Ezreal, Kog'Maw, Thresh
Vulcun already won a game with double-AD comp, you can't really expect it to work twice in a row? Secondly, it's time to retire that Yorick. Thirdly, as the commentators mention, the community never predicts Vul to win any of their games, except their games against VES. Ironic. Finally, if you never believed me about maplestreet before, watch the 'signoff' video at the end, where maplestreet and NK are interviewed. They're sitting right next to eachother, and I don't know how Kobe isn't laughing out loud at trying to talk to the tiny, tiny maplestreet around the gigantic NK. They also had some silliness about maplestreet and Oddone going to minigolf? They just seem like they never had that close of a sibling relationship, and now that Riot is trying to force one on them, they're all very awkward. Let 'em alone, Riot. It's a cute story, but I'm sure you can find another one.
Standings
C9 15-2
Vul 11-6
CLG 8-9
Dig 8-9
TSM 8-9
Crs 7-10
CST 7-10
VES 4-13
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
LCS NA Summer W5
Another long week for week 5.
Vulcun vs Team SoloMid
[Vul bans: Karthus, Draven, Twisted Fate][TSM bans: Nunu, Elise, Thresh]
Vul: Vladimir, Zac, Jayce, Caitlyn, Sona
TSM: Shen, Jarvan, Zilean, Xin Zhao, Annie
I love unique team comps (especially after watching only pro matches for so long), but I think XZ is too far outside wildturtle's skillset. Also, the comp apparently doesn't defend towers? It's over in 24 minutes.
Cloud 9 vs Counter Logic Gaming
[C9 bans: Karthus, TRistana, Nunu][CLG bans: Zac, Twisted Fate, Elise]
C9: Rumble, Nasus, Jayce, Ashe, Zyra
CLG: Shen, Jarvan, Ahri, Caitlyn, Thresh
I know I hate playing against a Jayce, but it may be time for some overall statistics on how stupid OP he and his jerk poke is.
Velocity Esports vs Team Dignitas
[VES bans: Zac, Diana, Zed][dig bans: Nunu, Evelynn, Elise]
VES: Renekton, Shen, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Thresh
dig: Kennen, Nocturne, Ryze, Graves, Sona
A successful Kennen comp, huhn. But it was against VES, who seem basically resigned to just losing out the rest of their games, so no conclusions on Kennen/Ryze just yet.
Team Coast vs Curse
[CST bans: Elise, Karthus, Draven][Crs bans: Nunu, Shen, Jayce]
CST: Riven, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Zyra
Crs: Kassadin, Nasus, Lissandra, Ezreal, Thresh
Ouch, roll. CST had all the map control, forever, and ZionSpartan was a terror on Riven.
Team SoloMid vs Velocity Esports
[TSM bans: Evelynn, Draven, Elise][VES bans: Jayce, Nunu, Twisted Fate]
TSM: Renekton, Nasus, Karthus, Caitlyn, Lulu
VES: Shen, Kha'Zix, Ahri, Twitch, Thresh
Easy roll for TSM
Cloud 9 vs Vulcun
[C9 bans: Sona, Kennen, Elise][Vul bans: Draven, Rumble, Jayce]
C9: Ryze, Nunu, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
Vul: Shen, Evelynn, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Thresh
Nice comeback, C9. You almost expect it now, but it was nicely done nonetheless.
Curse vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Crs bans: Tristana, Karthus, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Vladimir, Nunu, Elise]
Crs: Kennen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Draven, Sona
CLG: Shen, Pantheon, Zed, Caitlyn, Thresh
What happened?! CLG were solidly in control of this game for so long, and then... they just turned their backs for a second, and Crs snuck in and took out their nexus. Very odd.
Team Dignitas vs Team Coast
[Dig bans: Riven, Evelynn, Jayce][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Zed, Nunu]
Dig: Kennen, Elise, Ryze, Graves, Sona
CST: Shen, Jarvan, Orianna, Draven, Thresh
Ah, the Kennen/Ryze comp works again for Dignitas. And, they banned Riven and Jayce.
Cloud 9 vs Velocity Esports
[C9 bans: Evelynn, Karthus, Nunu][VES bans: Zac, Rumble, Twisted Fate]
C9: Kennen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Draven, Thresh
VES: Elise, Nasus, Lux, Kog'Maw, Zyra
It may have been the top team in the league vs the bottom, but C9 made it look so awesome that I want to try the "everyone roam" comp now.
Team SoloMid vs Counter Logic Gaming
[TSM bans: Elise, Shen, Kennen][CLG bans: Karhtus, Jayce, Nunu]
TSM: Renekton, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu
CLG: Irelia, Nocturne, Orianna, Ezreal, Thresh
I know it's ridiculous to always expect this matchup to be a 'classic' game, since they're not even the same teams anymore, but it totally turned into a good game! Also, when was the last time you saw both Renekton and Nasus in the same game?
Vulcun vs Team Coast
[Vul bans: Riven, Rengar, Evelynn][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Shen, Nunu]
Vul: Jayce, Zac, Ryze, Caitlyn, Thresh
CST: Elise, Jarvan, Orianna, Draven, Blitzcrank
That Jayce!
Team Dignitas vs Curse
[Dig bans: Shen, Karthus, Jayce][Crs bans: Nunu, Ryze, Elise]
Dig: Twisted Fate, Nocturne, Zed, Graves, Janna
Crs: Lee Sin, Jarvan, Ahri, Draven, Thresh
Having had a little success this week with Kennen/Ryze, Dig pulls out the TF/Zed again, and once again, they get rolled under.
Standings
C9 13-2
Vul 10-5
CLG 8-7
CST 7-8
Dig 7-8
TSM 7-8
Crs 6-9
VES 2-13
Vulcun vs Team SoloMid
[Vul bans: Karthus, Draven, Twisted Fate][TSM bans: Nunu, Elise, Thresh]
Vul: Vladimir, Zac, Jayce, Caitlyn, Sona
TSM: Shen, Jarvan, Zilean, Xin Zhao, Annie
I love unique team comps (especially after watching only pro matches for so long), but I think XZ is too far outside wildturtle's skillset. Also, the comp apparently doesn't defend towers? It's over in 24 minutes.
Cloud 9 vs Counter Logic Gaming
[C9 bans: Karthus, TRistana, Nunu][CLG bans: Zac, Twisted Fate, Elise]
C9: Rumble, Nasus, Jayce, Ashe, Zyra
CLG: Shen, Jarvan, Ahri, Caitlyn, Thresh
I know I hate playing against a Jayce, but it may be time for some overall statistics on how stupid OP he and his jerk poke is.
Velocity Esports vs Team Dignitas
[VES bans: Zac, Diana, Zed][dig bans: Nunu, Evelynn, Elise]
VES: Renekton, Shen, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Thresh
dig: Kennen, Nocturne, Ryze, Graves, Sona
A successful Kennen comp, huhn. But it was against VES, who seem basically resigned to just losing out the rest of their games, so no conclusions on Kennen/Ryze just yet.
Team Coast vs Curse
[CST bans: Elise, Karthus, Draven][Crs bans: Nunu, Shen, Jayce]
CST: Riven, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Zyra
Crs: Kassadin, Nasus, Lissandra, Ezreal, Thresh
Ouch, roll. CST had all the map control, forever, and ZionSpartan was a terror on Riven.
Team SoloMid vs Velocity Esports
[TSM bans: Evelynn, Draven, Elise][VES bans: Jayce, Nunu, Twisted Fate]
TSM: Renekton, Nasus, Karthus, Caitlyn, Lulu
VES: Shen, Kha'Zix, Ahri, Twitch, Thresh
Easy roll for TSM
Cloud 9 vs Vulcun
[C9 bans: Sona, Kennen, Elise][Vul bans: Draven, Rumble, Jayce]
C9: Ryze, Nunu, Zed, Ashe, Zyra
Vul: Shen, Evelynn, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Thresh
Nice comeback, C9. You almost expect it now, but it was nicely done nonetheless.
Curse vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Crs bans: Tristana, Karthus, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Vladimir, Nunu, Elise]
Crs: Kennen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Draven, Sona
CLG: Shen, Pantheon, Zed, Caitlyn, Thresh
What happened?! CLG were solidly in control of this game for so long, and then... they just turned their backs for a second, and Crs snuck in and took out their nexus. Very odd.
Team Dignitas vs Team Coast
[Dig bans: Riven, Evelynn, Jayce][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Zed, Nunu]
Dig: Kennen, Elise, Ryze, Graves, Sona
CST: Shen, Jarvan, Orianna, Draven, Thresh
Ah, the Kennen/Ryze comp works again for Dignitas. And, they banned Riven and Jayce.
Cloud 9 vs Velocity Esports
[C9 bans: Evelynn, Karthus, Nunu][VES bans: Zac, Rumble, Twisted Fate]
C9: Kennen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Draven, Thresh
VES: Elise, Nasus, Lux, Kog'Maw, Zyra
It may have been the top team in the league vs the bottom, but C9 made it look so awesome that I want to try the "everyone roam" comp now.
Team SoloMid vs Counter Logic Gaming
[TSM bans: Elise, Shen, Kennen][CLG bans: Karhtus, Jayce, Nunu]
TSM: Renekton, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu
CLG: Irelia, Nocturne, Orianna, Ezreal, Thresh
I know it's ridiculous to always expect this matchup to be a 'classic' game, since they're not even the same teams anymore, but it totally turned into a good game! Also, when was the last time you saw both Renekton and Nasus in the same game?
Vulcun vs Team Coast
[Vul bans: Riven, Rengar, Evelynn][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Shen, Nunu]
Vul: Jayce, Zac, Ryze, Caitlyn, Thresh
CST: Elise, Jarvan, Orianna, Draven, Blitzcrank
That Jayce!
Team Dignitas vs Curse
[Dig bans: Shen, Karthus, Jayce][Crs bans: Nunu, Ryze, Elise]
Dig: Twisted Fate, Nocturne, Zed, Graves, Janna
Crs: Lee Sin, Jarvan, Ahri, Draven, Thresh
Having had a little success this week with Kennen/Ryze, Dig pulls out the TF/Zed again, and once again, they get rolled under.
Standings
C9 13-2
Vul 10-5
CLG 8-7
CST 7-8
Dig 7-8
TSM 7-8
Crs 6-9
VES 2-13
Monday, July 22, 2013
LCS NA Summer W4
New in Week 4 is a set of delightful technical difficulties that force one team to play in a green room. Like that positive spin I put on that?
Curse vs Vulcun
[Crs bans: Kennen, Lissandra, Thresh][Vul bans: Draven, Nunu, Jayce]
Crs: Vladimir, Nautilus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Sona
Vul: Shen, Elise, Orianna, Tristana, Zyra
The actual game got extra delayed because of the new room, and once the game is restarted, there is a stupid crazy level 1 fight in the jungle. It's so long, Voyboy and Nyjacky respawn and get back in the fight. But why would you fight, Vul? Elise is obviously good, but Orianna is kind of hopeless at level 1. Nonetheless, Vul counters all TF ults with Shen ult, and consistently outnumbers Crs in fights.
Velocity Esports vs Team SoloMid
[VES bans: Twisted Fate, Lissandra, Karthus][TSM bans: Kayle, Nunu, Kennen]
VES: Elise, Evelynn, Ryze, Draven, Sona
TSM: Jayce, Nasus, Zed, Caitlyn, Thresh
This whole season for some reason, Reginald has been listed at the top of TSM's lineup, as if he told them he was playing top and Dyrus would be playing mid. If you haven't noticed, I've been rearranging them back to their original positions in my champ listing, because that is a lie. Jatt makes the very good point that by banning Kayle, TSM has denied VES one of their favorite comps: the no-tank line up. That one ban affects several people, not just Vileroze. Sorry, VES, this is not the start of your comeback, even though you were solidly up for most of that game.
Cloud 9 vs Team Dignitas
[C9 bans: Master Yi, Diana, Evelynn][Dig bans: Nunu, Rumble, Thresh]
C9: Elise, Zac, Jayce, Draven, Lulu
Dig: Twisted Fate, Xin Zhao, Zed, Graves, Sona
Somehow, despite being a new team to the league, C9 is really awesome at late game close outs and comebacks, which is contrary to everything we've known previously. Or maybe C9 is just way better at team fights than we've seen in NA before, and that closes out the games for them.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Coast
[CLG bans: Blitzcrank, Rengar, Lissandra][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Elise, Nunu]
CLG: Jayce, Nasus, Orianna, Tristana, Sona
CST: Shen, Evelynn, Zed, Draven, Thresh
I like CLG, and I generally like scrappy underdogs, but even though they're both now, it's not coming together for CLG. Someone put these guys in an 80's style training montage, stat. As for CST, they spent time before and after the game talking about how the addition of Elementz as coach has been a huge boon for them.
Curse vs Cloud 9
[Crs bans: Zac, Nasus, Jayce][C9 bans: Karthus, Nunu, Elise]
Crs: Kennen, Nocturne, Ahri, Draven, Leona
C9: Rumble, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Thresh
Kennen, Nocturne, and Ahri are some of my favorite champs, but I feel like they've had several bad games at the pro level lately. It's time to take a detailed look at C9 and find out what champs work against their high-level team play. Master Yi? They did ban it against dig, and he is a team-ruiner.
Team SoloMid vs Team Coast
[TSM bans: Rengar, Thresh, Evelynn][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Nunu, Shen]
TSM: Jayce, Zac, Karthus, Draven, Sona
CST: Elise, Jarvan, Ryze, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
TSM roll, despite Daydreamin on Blitz!
Velocity Esports vs Counter Logic Gaming
[VES bans: Twisted Fate, Jayce, Nidalee][CLG bans: Kayle, Evelynn, Nunu]
VES: Elise, Lee Sin, Rumble, Varus, Janna
CLG: Shen, Jarvan, Xerath, Draven, Thresh
This game's somewhat about Doublelift. First, the pre-game vid is about how Doublelift got his name, from his original hobby: card sleight of hand. Phreak made a pun about how he makes minions disappear, and Kobe may have injured himself with resultant face-palm. Doublelift also surprises the casters by choosing Draven, a champ he has previously been disgusted with. He got no less than 7000 shield when dived on at the end - that's what Protect the Doublelift is all about!
Team Dignitas vs Vulcun
[Dig bans: Thresh, Jayce, Lissandra][Vul bans: Nunu, Zed, Draven]
Dig: Twisted Fate, Xin Zhao, Diana, Graves, Sona
Vul: Shen, Elise, Ryze, Tristana, Lulu
Dig's second attempt at this comp did not go any better than the first. I get how you want to try it again, because it could have just been the fact that you were up against C9 the first time, but nope, still not working here.
Standings
C9 10-2
Vul 8-4
CLG 7-5
CST 6-6
TSM 6-6
Dig 5-7
Crs 4-8
VES 2-10
Curse vs Vulcun
[Crs bans: Kennen, Lissandra, Thresh][Vul bans: Draven, Nunu, Jayce]
Crs: Vladimir, Nautilus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Sona
Vul: Shen, Elise, Orianna, Tristana, Zyra
The actual game got extra delayed because of the new room, and once the game is restarted, there is a stupid crazy level 1 fight in the jungle. It's so long, Voyboy and Nyjacky respawn and get back in the fight. But why would you fight, Vul? Elise is obviously good, but Orianna is kind of hopeless at level 1. Nonetheless, Vul counters all TF ults with Shen ult, and consistently outnumbers Crs in fights.
Velocity Esports vs Team SoloMid
[VES bans: Twisted Fate, Lissandra, Karthus][TSM bans: Kayle, Nunu, Kennen]
VES: Elise, Evelynn, Ryze, Draven, Sona
TSM: Jayce, Nasus, Zed, Caitlyn, Thresh
This whole season for some reason, Reginald has been listed at the top of TSM's lineup, as if he told them he was playing top and Dyrus would be playing mid. If you haven't noticed, I've been rearranging them back to their original positions in my champ listing, because that is a lie. Jatt makes the very good point that by banning Kayle, TSM has denied VES one of their favorite comps: the no-tank line up. That one ban affects several people, not just Vileroze. Sorry, VES, this is not the start of your comeback, even though you were solidly up for most of that game.
Cloud 9 vs Team Dignitas
[C9 bans: Master Yi, Diana, Evelynn][Dig bans: Nunu, Rumble, Thresh]
C9: Elise, Zac, Jayce, Draven, Lulu
Dig: Twisted Fate, Xin Zhao, Zed, Graves, Sona
Somehow, despite being a new team to the league, C9 is really awesome at late game close outs and comebacks, which is contrary to everything we've known previously. Or maybe C9 is just way better at team fights than we've seen in NA before, and that closes out the games for them.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Coast
[CLG bans: Blitzcrank, Rengar, Lissandra][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Elise, Nunu]
CLG: Jayce, Nasus, Orianna, Tristana, Sona
CST: Shen, Evelynn, Zed, Draven, Thresh
I like CLG, and I generally like scrappy underdogs, but even though they're both now, it's not coming together for CLG. Someone put these guys in an 80's style training montage, stat. As for CST, they spent time before and after the game talking about how the addition of Elementz as coach has been a huge boon for them.
Curse vs Cloud 9
[Crs bans: Zac, Nasus, Jayce][C9 bans: Karthus, Nunu, Elise]
Crs: Kennen, Nocturne, Ahri, Draven, Leona
C9: Rumble, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Thresh
Kennen, Nocturne, and Ahri are some of my favorite champs, but I feel like they've had several bad games at the pro level lately. It's time to take a detailed look at C9 and find out what champs work against their high-level team play. Master Yi? They did ban it against dig, and he is a team-ruiner.
Team SoloMid vs Team Coast
[TSM bans: Rengar, Thresh, Evelynn][CST bans: Twisted Fate, Nunu, Shen]
TSM: Jayce, Zac, Karthus, Draven, Sona
CST: Elise, Jarvan, Ryze, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
TSM roll, despite Daydreamin on Blitz!
Velocity Esports vs Counter Logic Gaming
[VES bans: Twisted Fate, Jayce, Nidalee][CLG bans: Kayle, Evelynn, Nunu]
VES: Elise, Lee Sin, Rumble, Varus, Janna
CLG: Shen, Jarvan, Xerath, Draven, Thresh
This game's somewhat about Doublelift. First, the pre-game vid is about how Doublelift got his name, from his original hobby: card sleight of hand. Phreak made a pun about how he makes minions disappear, and Kobe may have injured himself with resultant face-palm. Doublelift also surprises the casters by choosing Draven, a champ he has previously been disgusted with. He got no less than 7000 shield when dived on at the end - that's what Protect the Doublelift is all about!
Team Dignitas vs Vulcun
[Dig bans: Thresh, Jayce, Lissandra][Vul bans: Nunu, Zed, Draven]
Dig: Twisted Fate, Xin Zhao, Diana, Graves, Sona
Vul: Shen, Elise, Ryze, Tristana, Lulu
Dig's second attempt at this comp did not go any better than the first. I get how you want to try it again, because it could have just been the fact that you were up against C9 the first time, but nope, still not working here.
Standings
C9 10-2
Vul 8-4
CLG 7-5
CST 6-6
TSM 6-6
Dig 5-7
Crs 4-8
VES 2-10
Friday, July 12, 2013
LCS NA Summer W3 pt2
MLG doesn't have cameras on the players as they play, which I somehow miss a little bit, even though they never actually do anything interesting while they play (and Zuna is actually kinda alarmingly creepy while he plays). Instead, they put a small square ad, and a square where they can keep live track of tweets in favor of each team. What we may take away from this is that easily twice the number of people will watch the TSM game online as the other teams, which I did not know previously, thanks to my dedicated avoidance of the forums.
Vulcun vs Team Dignitas
[Vul bans: Kennen, Draven, Zed][Dig bans: Nunu, Twisted Fate, Elise]
Vul: Jayce, Jarvan, Lissandra, Caitlyn, Sona
Dig: Ryze, Lee Sin, Master Yi, Varus, Thresh
The real hype was for more Master Yi, of course, but it just didn't see the same success. And may I compliment Kobe and Riv for their sweet coordination shirts, and Kobe's birthday.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Cloud 9
[CLG bans: Zac, Thresh, Rumble][C9 bans: Jayce, Nunu, Tristana]
CLG: Kennen, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Sona
C9: Ryze, Elise, Lissandra, Ezreal, Janna
Cloud 9 is NA's new Gambit? Angered by their one loss suffered at the hands of CLG, they took it to them with no mercy. CLG actually made a good game of it, but C9 finally closed the door.
Curse vs Team SoloMid
[Crs bans: Lissandra, Karthus, Kennen][TSM bans: Nunu, Twisted Fate, Orianna]
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Jayce, Draven, Sona
TSM: Rumble, Nasus, Ryze, Caitlyn, Thresh
Interesting match, impressive come-back for Crs.
Team Coast vs Velocity Esports
[CST bans: Janna, Evelynn, Elise][VES bans: Nunu, Lissandra, Jayce]
CST: Riven, Jarvan, Ahri, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
VES: Kennen, Lee Sin, Kayle, Draven, Zyra
Oh man, Daydreamin, that Blitzcrank is so good, I am forced to empathize with Evaniskus, who just got blown up every moment because of those amazing grabs. VES made a valiant comeback effort, but guys, you shouldn't have wasted that ban on Lissandra, who has never been as big of a threat as Blitz.
Vulcun vs Cloud 9
[Picks and bans not shown]
Vul: Jayce, Jarvan, Lissandra, Kog'Maw, Sona
C9: Kennen, Elise, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Janna
Vulcun managed to win. Almost managed to throw it away at the last second, but then managed to win.
Team Dignitas vs Velocity Esports
[Dig bans: Evelynn, Shen, Elise][VES bans: Zac, Jayce, Diana]
Dig: Twisted Fate, Nunu, Zed, Ezreal, Janna
VES: Kennen, Maokai, Kayle, Draven, Thresh
You know a champ needs nerfs when you ask scarra afterwards when he knew they'd win and he says "when they let us get Nunu".
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team SoloMid
[CLG bans: Thresh, Caitlyn, Lissandra][TSM bans: Nunu, Twisted Fate, Jayce]
CLG: Elise, Nocturne, Zed, Urgot, Janna
TSM: Kennen, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Varus, Sona
They signed off in the previous vid, but this one's at the end, so. This is NA's classic matchup, the best we've got, even though CLG is basically a new team. And it did not disappoint in that regard. It went nearly 60 minutes, and you know that's good because no one can just stomp the other.
Standings
C9 8-2
CLG 6-4
Vul 6-4
CST 5-5
Dig 5-5
TSM 4-6
Crs 4-6
VES 2-8
Vulcun vs Team Dignitas
[Vul bans: Kennen, Draven, Zed][Dig bans: Nunu, Twisted Fate, Elise]
Vul: Jayce, Jarvan, Lissandra, Caitlyn, Sona
Dig: Ryze, Lee Sin, Master Yi, Varus, Thresh
The real hype was for more Master Yi, of course, but it just didn't see the same success. And may I compliment Kobe and Riv for their sweet coordination shirts, and Kobe's birthday.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Cloud 9
[CLG bans: Zac, Thresh, Rumble][C9 bans: Jayce, Nunu, Tristana]
CLG: Kennen, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Vayne, Sona
C9: Ryze, Elise, Lissandra, Ezreal, Janna
Cloud 9 is NA's new Gambit? Angered by their one loss suffered at the hands of CLG, they took it to them with no mercy. CLG actually made a good game of it, but C9 finally closed the door.
Curse vs Team SoloMid
[Crs bans: Lissandra, Karthus, Kennen][TSM bans: Nunu, Twisted Fate, Orianna]
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Jayce, Draven, Sona
TSM: Rumble, Nasus, Ryze, Caitlyn, Thresh
Interesting match, impressive come-back for Crs.
Team Coast vs Velocity Esports
[CST bans: Janna, Evelynn, Elise][VES bans: Nunu, Lissandra, Jayce]
CST: Riven, Jarvan, Ahri, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
VES: Kennen, Lee Sin, Kayle, Draven, Zyra
Oh man, Daydreamin, that Blitzcrank is so good, I am forced to empathize with Evaniskus, who just got blown up every moment because of those amazing grabs. VES made a valiant comeback effort, but guys, you shouldn't have wasted that ban on Lissandra, who has never been as big of a threat as Blitz.
Vulcun vs Cloud 9
[Picks and bans not shown]
Vul: Jayce, Jarvan, Lissandra, Kog'Maw, Sona
C9: Kennen, Elise, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Janna
Vulcun managed to win. Almost managed to throw it away at the last second, but then managed to win.
Team Dignitas vs Velocity Esports
[Dig bans: Evelynn, Shen, Elise][VES bans: Zac, Jayce, Diana]
Dig: Twisted Fate, Nunu, Zed, Ezreal, Janna
VES: Kennen, Maokai, Kayle, Draven, Thresh
You know a champ needs nerfs when you ask scarra afterwards when he knew they'd win and he says "when they let us get Nunu".
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team SoloMid
[CLG bans: Thresh, Caitlyn, Lissandra][TSM bans: Nunu, Twisted Fate, Jayce]
CLG: Elise, Nocturne, Zed, Urgot, Janna
TSM: Kennen, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Varus, Sona
They signed off in the previous vid, but this one's at the end, so. This is NA's classic matchup, the best we've got, even though CLG is basically a new team. And it did not disappoint in that regard. It went nearly 60 minutes, and you know that's good because no one can just stomp the other.
Standings
C9 8-2
CLG 6-4
Vul 6-4
CST 5-5
Dig 5-5
TSM 4-6
Crs 4-6
VES 2-8
Thursday, July 11, 2013
LCS NA Summer W3 pt1
I found the VOD's over on MLG's page, because they were at MLG Anaheim for Week 3. And once again at MLG, the picks and ban numbers are pre-crunched and displayed before each match.
Team SoloMid
Most picked: Caitlyn (46.6%), Cho'Gath (40%), Rumble (40%), Sona (46.6%), Diana (26.6%)
Most banned: Jayce (53.5%), Elise (40%), Nasus (40%)
Most banned against: Shen (66.6%), Karthus (60%), Kha'Zix (26.6%)
Team Dignitas
Most picked: Zac (42.8%), Ezreal (35.7%), Diana (28.5%), Jayce (28.5%), Sona (28.5%)
Most banned: Twisted Fate (64.2%), Thresh (50%), Caitlyn (28.5%)
Most banned against: Diana (64.2%), Gragas (50%), Evelynn (42.8%)
Velocity Esports
Most picked: Nasus (40%), Elise (33.3%), Varus (33.3%), Zyra (33.3%), Draven (26.6%)
Most banned: Malphite (60%), Twisted Fate (60%), Jayce (26.6%)
Most banned against: Elise (60%), Draven (46.6%), Evelynn (26.6%)
Curse
Most picked: Jarvan (30.7%), Sona (30.7%), Varus (30.7%), Elise (23.1%), Ezreal (23.1%)
Most banned: Jayce (41.7%), Elise (41.7%), Diana (33.3%)
Most banned against: Twisted Fate (53.8%), Miss Fortune (53.8%), Blitzcrank (23.1%)
Counter Logic Gaming
Most picked: Orianna (46.1%), Elise (30.7%), Malphite (30.7%), Thresh (30.7%), Ezreal (23.1%)
Most banned: Jayce (38.4%), Kha'Zix (38.4%), Zac (38.4%)
Most banned against: Twisted Fate (84.6%), Elise (23.1%), Lux (23.1%)
Vulcun
Most picked: Sona (50%), Tristana (37.5%), Kog'Maw (31.2%), Jarvan (25%), Jayce (25%)
Most banned: Twisted Fate (50%), Shen (31.2%), Nocturne (31.2%)
Most banned against: Jayce (50%), Nasus (37.5%), Tristana (37.5%)
Team Coast
Most picked: Blitzcrank (44.4%), Ezreal (33.3%), Orianna (33.3%), Riven (27.7%), Thresh (27.7%)
Most banned: Shen (50%), Karthus (33.3%), Twisted Fate (33.3%)
Most banned against: Jayce (66.6%), Caitlyn (38.8%), Elise (38.8%)
Cloud 9
Most picked: Sona (58.3%), Zac (58.3%), Ezreal (50%), Rumble (41.6%), Jayce (33.3%)
Most banned: Karthus (41.6%), Kayle (33.3%), Thresh (33.3%)
Most banned against: Kennen (33.3%), Kha'Zix (33.3%), Twisted Fate (33.3%)
Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas
[TSM bans: Lee Sin, Thresh, Lissandra][Dig bans: Shen, Nunu, Karthus]
TSM: Rumble, Elise, Twisted Fate, Draven, Lulu
Dig: Kennen, Nocturne, Master Yi, Ashe, Janna
Haha, when they show the picture lineup of the teams, both teams are super serious except for the ADC, which is giving a goofy grin in both cases. There was a pretty solid cheer from the crowd when Yi was picked up, and scarra did not disappoint, taking on Reggie mid with some quality Yi aggression. There's also a ton of kills, so this is a fine game to watch.
Velocity Esports vs Curse
[VES bans: Jayce, Twisted Fate, Zac][Crs bans: Draen, Elise, Nunu]
VES: Kennen, Evelynn, Kayle, Twitch, Zyra
Crs: Shen, Nasus, Karthus, Vayne, Thresh
This one goes back and forth and is pretty exciting, so it's somewhat recommended. I'm not into it, personally, because the fights are crazytown with giant flashy circles all over the place, coupled with two of the most subtle and dangerous ADCs - did both these teams plan it that way?
Counter Logic Gaming vs Vulcun
[CLG bans: Caitlyn, Thresh, Jayce][Vul bans: Twisted fate, Nunu, Shen]
CLG: Jarvan, Zac, Xerath, Tristana, Lulu
Vul: Kennen, Elise, Zed, Varus, Sona
I was worried about the Xerath, because "success" and "Xerath" just are words that never seemed to go together. But things worked out - and if you were worried about Bigfatlp jungling on Zac, he'd leap into the fray with abandon way ahead of the rest of his team, so maybe the role of jungler isn't so far off the mark for him.
Team Coast vs Cloud 9
[CST bans: Zac, Rumble, Elise][C9 bans: Riven, Nami, Nunu]
CST: Kennen, Jarvan, Lissandra, Twitch, Fiddlesticks
C9: Jayce, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Draven, Thresh
As Phreak said late in the game: "Goodbye, Coast"
Team SoloMid
Most picked: Caitlyn (46.6%), Cho'Gath (40%), Rumble (40%), Sona (46.6%), Diana (26.6%)
Most banned: Jayce (53.5%), Elise (40%), Nasus (40%)
Most banned against: Shen (66.6%), Karthus (60%), Kha'Zix (26.6%)
Team Dignitas
Most picked: Zac (42.8%), Ezreal (35.7%), Diana (28.5%), Jayce (28.5%), Sona (28.5%)
Most banned: Twisted Fate (64.2%), Thresh (50%), Caitlyn (28.5%)
Most banned against: Diana (64.2%), Gragas (50%), Evelynn (42.8%)
Velocity Esports
Most picked: Nasus (40%), Elise (33.3%), Varus (33.3%), Zyra (33.3%), Draven (26.6%)
Most banned: Malphite (60%), Twisted Fate (60%), Jayce (26.6%)
Most banned against: Elise (60%), Draven (46.6%), Evelynn (26.6%)
Curse
Most picked: Jarvan (30.7%), Sona (30.7%), Varus (30.7%), Elise (23.1%), Ezreal (23.1%)
Most banned: Jayce (41.7%), Elise (41.7%), Diana (33.3%)
Most banned against: Twisted Fate (53.8%), Miss Fortune (53.8%), Blitzcrank (23.1%)
Counter Logic Gaming
Most picked: Orianna (46.1%), Elise (30.7%), Malphite (30.7%), Thresh (30.7%), Ezreal (23.1%)
Most banned: Jayce (38.4%), Kha'Zix (38.4%), Zac (38.4%)
Most banned against: Twisted Fate (84.6%), Elise (23.1%), Lux (23.1%)
Vulcun
Most picked: Sona (50%), Tristana (37.5%), Kog'Maw (31.2%), Jarvan (25%), Jayce (25%)
Most banned: Twisted Fate (50%), Shen (31.2%), Nocturne (31.2%)
Most banned against: Jayce (50%), Nasus (37.5%), Tristana (37.5%)
Team Coast
Most picked: Blitzcrank (44.4%), Ezreal (33.3%), Orianna (33.3%), Riven (27.7%), Thresh (27.7%)
Most banned: Shen (50%), Karthus (33.3%), Twisted Fate (33.3%)
Most banned against: Jayce (66.6%), Caitlyn (38.8%), Elise (38.8%)
Cloud 9
Most picked: Sona (58.3%), Zac (58.3%), Ezreal (50%), Rumble (41.6%), Jayce (33.3%)
Most banned: Karthus (41.6%), Kayle (33.3%), Thresh (33.3%)
Most banned against: Kennen (33.3%), Kha'Zix (33.3%), Twisted Fate (33.3%)
Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas
[TSM bans: Lee Sin, Thresh, Lissandra][Dig bans: Shen, Nunu, Karthus]
TSM: Rumble, Elise, Twisted Fate, Draven, Lulu
Dig: Kennen, Nocturne, Master Yi, Ashe, Janna
Haha, when they show the picture lineup of the teams, both teams are super serious except for the ADC, which is giving a goofy grin in both cases. There was a pretty solid cheer from the crowd when Yi was picked up, and scarra did not disappoint, taking on Reggie mid with some quality Yi aggression. There's also a ton of kills, so this is a fine game to watch.
Velocity Esports vs Curse
[VES bans: Jayce, Twisted Fate, Zac][Crs bans: Draen, Elise, Nunu]
VES: Kennen, Evelynn, Kayle, Twitch, Zyra
Crs: Shen, Nasus, Karthus, Vayne, Thresh
This one goes back and forth and is pretty exciting, so it's somewhat recommended. I'm not into it, personally, because the fights are crazytown with giant flashy circles all over the place, coupled with two of the most subtle and dangerous ADCs - did both these teams plan it that way?
Counter Logic Gaming vs Vulcun
[CLG bans: Caitlyn, Thresh, Jayce][Vul bans: Twisted fate, Nunu, Shen]
CLG: Jarvan, Zac, Xerath, Tristana, Lulu
Vul: Kennen, Elise, Zed, Varus, Sona
I was worried about the Xerath, because "success" and "Xerath" just are words that never seemed to go together. But things worked out - and if you were worried about Bigfatlp jungling on Zac, he'd leap into the fray with abandon way ahead of the rest of his team, so maybe the role of jungler isn't so far off the mark for him.
Team Coast vs Cloud 9
[CST bans: Zac, Rumble, Elise][C9 bans: Riven, Nami, Nunu]
CST: Kennen, Jarvan, Lissandra, Twitch, Fiddlesticks
C9: Jayce, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Draven, Thresh
As Phreak said late in the game: "Goodbye, Coast"
LCS NA Summer W2
Week 2 in the NA LCS Summer Split. I didn't say last week, but the changes to CLG has made the entire team look like the same medium-small asian dude from a distance, aside from Nientonsoh. I'd also like to reiterate here my idea for exhibition matches every week. Maybe team captain can draw a paper out of a hat with a silly restriction: all ninjas, all champs that begin with the letter S, all yordles, all Demacian. Some Dominion, maybe.
Cloud 9 vs Counter Logic Gaming
[C9 bans: Karthus, Nunu, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Zac, Thresh, Rumble]
C9: Kennen, Lee Sin, Zed, Ezreal, Lulu
CLG: Jayce, Elise, Orianna, Tristana, Janna
CLG, as we've said before, is just the best players, shoved into whatever roles were available. Occasionally this is total chaos, and in other situations, they are just fine despite that. There were several obvious mistakes (they sat around in the baron pit waiting for it to respawn a minute early due to miscalculation) but they managed a win. It makes you wonder, though. Why force bigfatlp to jungle? Kobe is sitting right there.
Team SoloMid vs Velocity Esports
[TSM bans: Draven, Thresh, Kennen][VES bans: Elise, Jayce, Kha'Zix]
TSM: Shen, Zac, Karthus, Caitlyn, Sona
VES: Vladimir, Master Yi, Orianna, Varus, Lissandra
Everyone was excited for AP jungle Yi, but no, TSM zz-roll from level 1. The only excitement was a pause from TSM because apparently a spider landed on Reggie. Not Elise, a real spider. And they chased it around for a while, while Phreak made a million crazy jokes about champ abilities like "Smite it!" etc. Afterwards, Jatt interviews Theoddone and his brother maplestreet form VES (the interview cam has been total fail this summer) and if you thought theoddone was the smallest, most rag-doll-looking asian kid ever, then maplestreet will prove there's always an even smaller asian out there somewhere.
Vulcun vs Curse
[Vul bans: Tryndamere, Blitzcrank, Nunu][Crs ban: Ryze, Thresh, Twisted Fate]
Vul: Kennen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Tristana, Sona
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Malphite, Draven, Leona
Reginald's earlier interview where he flat out said that Crs is full of not-good players is starting to have the dire ring of truth. Vulcun just rolls over them like a truck.
Team Coast vs Team Dignitas
[CST bans: Zac, Diana, Karthus][Dig bans: Nunu, Riven, Caitlyn]
CST: Rumble, Elise, Jayce, Ezreal, Blitzcrank
Dig: Twisted Fate, Lee Sin, Zed, Draven, Thresh
Kiwikid is playing TF mid, while scarra is taking Zed top. Not sure why. OMG! Is it specifically illegal to _switch seats_ in a LAN tournament?! Amazing idea, guys.
Cloud 9 vs Vulcun
[C9 bans: Karthus, Caitlyn, Tristana][Vul bans: Zac, Zed, Jayce]
C9: Rumble, Nasus, Kennen, Draven, Thresh
Vul: Elise, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Janna
Well, that's one of the rare times we've seen the TF lose. If I had to say why, I'd say it was because C9's play style is exactly what counters Vulcun's lineup - they aggressively dive all the time, going for Mancloud and Zuna before any disengage or counter can happen.
Team SoloMid vs Counter Logic Gaming
[TSM bans: Nunu, Elise, Shen][CLG bans: Draven, Zac, Ryze]
TSM: Jayce, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Ezreal, Thresh
CLG: Malphite, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu
It was probably more in favor of TSM than it should have been, since at one point, CLG was up in kills 19-9, yet on their back foot inside their own base. The game is good, though, especially the end is worth watching. It always looks like CLG has to scrap for every win, even when they have more gold and kills. Way to go, Link. Impressive game.
Velocity Esports vs Team Coast
[VES bans: Fiddlesticks, Jayce, Nunu][CST bans: Janna, Kennen, Elise]
VES: Zed, Nasus, Xerath, Varus, Thresh
CST: Riven, Jarven, Lissandra, Draven, Nami
Boom, goes VES when they gather up in baron pit and CST lands on them hard.
Curse vs Team Dignitas
[Crs bans: Diana, Zac, Kennen][Dig bans: Nunu, Thresh, Twisted Fate]
Crs: Shen, Nocturne, Karthus, Ezreal, Leona
Dig: Jayce, Lee Sin, Evelynn, Draven, Blitzcrank
Woah, dig. What's going on with you.
Standings
C9 6-1
CLG 4-3
CST 4-3
TSM 4-3
Vul 4-3
Dig 3-4
Crs 2-5
VES 1-6
Cloud 9 vs Counter Logic Gaming
[C9 bans: Karthus, Nunu, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Zac, Thresh, Rumble]
C9: Kennen, Lee Sin, Zed, Ezreal, Lulu
CLG: Jayce, Elise, Orianna, Tristana, Janna
CLG, as we've said before, is just the best players, shoved into whatever roles were available. Occasionally this is total chaos, and in other situations, they are just fine despite that. There were several obvious mistakes (they sat around in the baron pit waiting for it to respawn a minute early due to miscalculation) but they managed a win. It makes you wonder, though. Why force bigfatlp to jungle? Kobe is sitting right there.
Team SoloMid vs Velocity Esports
[TSM bans: Draven, Thresh, Kennen][VES bans: Elise, Jayce, Kha'Zix]
TSM: Shen, Zac, Karthus, Caitlyn, Sona
VES: Vladimir, Master Yi, Orianna, Varus, Lissandra
Everyone was excited for AP jungle Yi, but no, TSM zz-roll from level 1. The only excitement was a pause from TSM because apparently a spider landed on Reggie. Not Elise, a real spider. And they chased it around for a while, while Phreak made a million crazy jokes about champ abilities like "Smite it!" etc. Afterwards, Jatt interviews Theoddone and his brother maplestreet form VES (the interview cam has been total fail this summer) and if you thought theoddone was the smallest, most rag-doll-looking asian kid ever, then maplestreet will prove there's always an even smaller asian out there somewhere.
Vulcun vs Curse
[Vul bans: Tryndamere, Blitzcrank, Nunu][Crs ban: Ryze, Thresh, Twisted Fate]
Vul: Kennen, Lee Sin, Jayce, Tristana, Sona
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Malphite, Draven, Leona
Reginald's earlier interview where he flat out said that Crs is full of not-good players is starting to have the dire ring of truth. Vulcun just rolls over them like a truck.
Team Coast vs Team Dignitas
[CST bans: Zac, Diana, Karthus][Dig bans: Nunu, Riven, Caitlyn]
CST: Rumble, Elise, Jayce, Ezreal, Blitzcrank
Dig: Twisted Fate, Lee Sin, Zed, Draven, Thresh
Kiwikid is playing TF mid, while scarra is taking Zed top. Not sure why. OMG! Is it specifically illegal to _switch seats_ in a LAN tournament?! Amazing idea, guys.
Cloud 9 vs Vulcun
[C9 bans: Karthus, Caitlyn, Tristana][Vul bans: Zac, Zed, Jayce]
C9: Rumble, Nasus, Kennen, Draven, Thresh
Vul: Elise, Lee Sin, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Janna
Well, that's one of the rare times we've seen the TF lose. If I had to say why, I'd say it was because C9's play style is exactly what counters Vulcun's lineup - they aggressively dive all the time, going for Mancloud and Zuna before any disengage or counter can happen.
Team SoloMid vs Counter Logic Gaming
[TSM bans: Nunu, Elise, Shen][CLG bans: Draven, Zac, Ryze]
TSM: Jayce, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Ezreal, Thresh
CLG: Malphite, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu
It was probably more in favor of TSM than it should have been, since at one point, CLG was up in kills 19-9, yet on their back foot inside their own base. The game is good, though, especially the end is worth watching. It always looks like CLG has to scrap for every win, even when they have more gold and kills. Way to go, Link. Impressive game.
Velocity Esports vs Team Coast
[VES bans: Fiddlesticks, Jayce, Nunu][CST bans: Janna, Kennen, Elise]
VES: Zed, Nasus, Xerath, Varus, Thresh
CST: Riven, Jarven, Lissandra, Draven, Nami
Boom, goes VES when they gather up in baron pit and CST lands on them hard.
Curse vs Team Dignitas
[Crs bans: Diana, Zac, Kennen][Dig bans: Nunu, Thresh, Twisted Fate]
Crs: Shen, Nocturne, Karthus, Ezreal, Leona
Dig: Jayce, Lee Sin, Evelynn, Draven, Blitzcrank
Woah, dig. What's going on with you.
Standings
C9 6-1
CLG 4-3
CST 4-3
TSM 4-3
Vul 4-3
Dig 3-4
Crs 2-5
VES 1-6
Thursday, June 27, 2013
LCS NA Summer W1 pt2
Week 1 is a super week, in case I didn't mention.
Team Dignitas vs Team SoloMid
[Dig bans: Shen, Thresh, Karthus][TSM bans: Evelynn, Ryze, Jayce]
Dig: Kha'Zix, Zac, Diana, Ezreal, Janna
TSM: Yorick, Elise, Kennen, Draven, Lulu
Either Kobe or Riv said of the early game dance-off: "Step Up 3: The Rift" and that was actually funny, so whoever it was is my new favorite caster for today. Dig roll.
Vulcun vs Velocity Esports
[Vul bans: Evelynn, Janna, Elise][VES bans: Twisted Fate, Ryze, Jayce]
Vul: Rumble, Nsaus, Kha'Zix, Tristana, Thresh
VES: Kennen, Jarvan, Kayle, Draven, Nami
When it comes to base racing, it looks like there's no substitute for pro level experience?
Team Coast vs Counter Logic Gaming
[CST bans: Sejuani, Kennen, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Jayce, Kha'Zix, Ryze]
CST: Orianna, Elise, Zed, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
CLG: Renekton, Jarvan, Karthus, Ezreal, Thresh
The reason there's an Orianna in the top lane is because ZionSpartan had to go to his own high school graduation. Jintae, their old mid player, is subbing in. CLG was doing well for a lot of this game, until DontMashMe became totally monstrous on his Cait.
Velocity Esports vs Team Dignitas
[VES bans: Karthus, Diana, Nasus][Dig bans: Thresh, Elise, Evelynn]
VES: Renekton, Ezreal, Janna, Tristana, Sona
Dig: Kennen, Zac, Kha'Zix, Graves, Lulu
Interesting. The Ez has smite, but didn't spend too much time in his jungle. They spend it all shoving each lane hard, and forcing Dig to run around like crazy trying to keep their turrets up. And it almost works - Dig is on their last turret inside their base, while VES is completely fine. But lucky for Dig, they had champs with a LOT of hard engage to catch VES's disengage team and finally, finally ace them for the win. It was such a good idea, VES! I'm going to talk my peeps into trying it.
Cloud 9 vs Team Coast
[C9 bans: Twitch, Nunu, Caitlyn][CST bans: Kennen, Kha'Zix, Ryze]
C9: Rumble, Zac, Jayce, Ezreal, Sona
CST: Elise, Fiddlesticks, Zed, Graves, Thresh
C9 wins really fast.
Team SoloMid vs Vulcun
[TSM bans: Lee Sin, Caitlyn, Sona][Vul bans: Kha'Zix, Karthus, Twisted Fate]
TSM: Shen, Elise, Ryze, Draven, Thresh
Vul: Kennen, Sejuani, Jayce, Tristana, Lulu
TSM zz-roll
Counter Logic Gaming vs Curse
[CLG bans: Blitzcrank, Draven, Kha'Zix][Crs bans: Twisted Fate, Kennen, Elise]
CLG: Jayce, Sejuani, Vladimir, Vayne, Lulu
Crs: Ryze, Zac, Karthus, Ezreal, Thresh
Just fast forward to the 45 minute mark, because whatever happened early matters a lot less when you're 45 minutes in and gold is dead even. More sudden death at high levels; it's nice that it still exists, even though these teams have played each other several times. Haha, they tried to ask Link afterwards if CLG was getting paid by the hour by their sponsors, and Link politely declined to discuss the 'confidential' matter.
Team Dignitas vs Team Coast
[Dig bans: Zed, Thresh, Kha'Zix][Cst bans: Karthus, Ryze, Jayce]
Dig: Elise, Zac, Diana, Ezreal, Alistar
CST: Riven, Fiddlesticks, Ahri, Varus, Blitzcrank
Usually, I am not amused by birthday Fiddlesticks, because I'm always the victim, but it IS pretty funny when a commentator says: Happy Birthday, Crumbz! after he's been blown up by crowstorm. Birthday-storm. Surprise! Crumbz's Zac and imaqtpie's Blue Ez are too awesome. Some of the mechanics at the end are extremely impressive. Amazing ending. You should watch it, it's very close, and kinda crazy exciting.
Vulcun vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Vul bans: Orianna, Elise, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Kha'Zix, Jayce, Kennen]
Vul: Ryze, Nasus, Xerath, Caitlyn, Thresh
CLG: Yorick, Nocturn, Karthus, Kog'Maw, Sona
Whew, CLG, this is going to be a long season at this rate? 56 minute game, but eventual loss.
Team SoloMid vs Curse
[TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Thresh, Ziggs][Crs bans: Karthus, Kha'Zix, Elise]
TSM: Jayce, Zac, Orianna, Caitlyn, Janna
Crs: Kennen, Nasus, Ryze, Varus, Sona
Do you see that Ziggs ban? Yeah, that's TSM telling you that they don't really respect the threat that you present. Reggie said as much afterwards, too. The next step is for them to play like, Teemo and Karma and still roll. Just to be really insulting.
Velocity Esports vs Cloud 9
[VES bans: Zac, Kennen, Kha'Zix][C9 bans: Evelynn, Kayle, Janna]
VES: Jarvan, Elise, Rumble, Ezreal, Nami
C9: Ryze, Nasus, Zed, Jayce, Thresh
Interesting really early base race, but C9 still takes the expected win in the end.
Standings
C9 5-0
CST 3-2
TSM 3-2
Vul 3-2
CLG 2-3
Dig 2-3
Crs 1-4
VES 1-4
Team Dignitas vs Team SoloMid
[Dig bans: Shen, Thresh, Karthus][TSM bans: Evelynn, Ryze, Jayce]
Dig: Kha'Zix, Zac, Diana, Ezreal, Janna
TSM: Yorick, Elise, Kennen, Draven, Lulu
Either Kobe or Riv said of the early game dance-off: "Step Up 3: The Rift" and that was actually funny, so whoever it was is my new favorite caster for today. Dig roll.
Vulcun vs Velocity Esports
[Vul bans: Evelynn, Janna, Elise][VES bans: Twisted Fate, Ryze, Jayce]
Vul: Rumble, Nsaus, Kha'Zix, Tristana, Thresh
VES: Kennen, Jarvan, Kayle, Draven, Nami
When it comes to base racing, it looks like there's no substitute for pro level experience?
Team Coast vs Counter Logic Gaming
[CST bans: Sejuani, Kennen, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Jayce, Kha'Zix, Ryze]
CST: Orianna, Elise, Zed, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
CLG: Renekton, Jarvan, Karthus, Ezreal, Thresh
The reason there's an Orianna in the top lane is because ZionSpartan had to go to his own high school graduation. Jintae, their old mid player, is subbing in. CLG was doing well for a lot of this game, until DontMashMe became totally monstrous on his Cait.
Velocity Esports vs Team Dignitas
[VES bans: Karthus, Diana, Nasus][Dig bans: Thresh, Elise, Evelynn]
VES: Renekton, Ezreal, Janna, Tristana, Sona
Dig: Kennen, Zac, Kha'Zix, Graves, Lulu
Interesting. The Ez has smite, but didn't spend too much time in his jungle. They spend it all shoving each lane hard, and forcing Dig to run around like crazy trying to keep their turrets up. And it almost works - Dig is on their last turret inside their base, while VES is completely fine. But lucky for Dig, they had champs with a LOT of hard engage to catch VES's disengage team and finally, finally ace them for the win. It was such a good idea, VES! I'm going to talk my peeps into trying it.
Cloud 9 vs Team Coast
[C9 bans: Twitch, Nunu, Caitlyn][CST bans: Kennen, Kha'Zix, Ryze]
C9: Rumble, Zac, Jayce, Ezreal, Sona
CST: Elise, Fiddlesticks, Zed, Graves, Thresh
C9 wins really fast.
Team SoloMid vs Vulcun
[TSM bans: Lee Sin, Caitlyn, Sona][Vul bans: Kha'Zix, Karthus, Twisted Fate]
TSM: Shen, Elise, Ryze, Draven, Thresh
Vul: Kennen, Sejuani, Jayce, Tristana, Lulu
TSM zz-roll
Counter Logic Gaming vs Curse
[CLG bans: Blitzcrank, Draven, Kha'Zix][Crs bans: Twisted Fate, Kennen, Elise]
CLG: Jayce, Sejuani, Vladimir, Vayne, Lulu
Crs: Ryze, Zac, Karthus, Ezreal, Thresh
Just fast forward to the 45 minute mark, because whatever happened early matters a lot less when you're 45 minutes in and gold is dead even. More sudden death at high levels; it's nice that it still exists, even though these teams have played each other several times. Haha, they tried to ask Link afterwards if CLG was getting paid by the hour by their sponsors, and Link politely declined to discuss the 'confidential' matter.
Team Dignitas vs Team Coast
[Dig bans: Zed, Thresh, Kha'Zix][Cst bans: Karthus, Ryze, Jayce]
Dig: Elise, Zac, Diana, Ezreal, Alistar
CST: Riven, Fiddlesticks, Ahri, Varus, Blitzcrank
Usually, I am not amused by birthday Fiddlesticks, because I'm always the victim, but it IS pretty funny when a commentator says: Happy Birthday, Crumbz! after he's been blown up by crowstorm. Birthday-storm. Surprise! Crumbz's Zac and imaqtpie's Blue Ez are too awesome. Some of the mechanics at the end are extremely impressive. Amazing ending. You should watch it, it's very close, and kinda crazy exciting.
Vulcun vs Counter Logic Gaming
[Vul bans: Orianna, Elise, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Kha'Zix, Jayce, Kennen]
Vul: Ryze, Nasus, Xerath, Caitlyn, Thresh
CLG: Yorick, Nocturn, Karthus, Kog'Maw, Sona
Whew, CLG, this is going to be a long season at this rate? 56 minute game, but eventual loss.
Team SoloMid vs Curse
[TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Thresh, Ziggs][Crs bans: Karthus, Kha'Zix, Elise]
TSM: Jayce, Zac, Orianna, Caitlyn, Janna
Crs: Kennen, Nasus, Ryze, Varus, Sona
Do you see that Ziggs ban? Yeah, that's TSM telling you that they don't really respect the threat that you present. Reggie said as much afterwards, too. The next step is for them to play like, Teemo and Karma and still roll. Just to be really insulting.
Velocity Esports vs Cloud 9
[VES bans: Zac, Kennen, Kha'Zix][C9 bans: Evelynn, Kayle, Janna]
VES: Jarvan, Elise, Rumble, Ezreal, Nami
C9: Ryze, Nasus, Zed, Jayce, Thresh
Interesting really early base race, but C9 still takes the expected win in the end.
Standings
C9 5-0
CST 3-2
TSM 3-2
Vul 3-2
CLG 2-3
Dig 2-3
Crs 1-4
VES 1-4
Monday, June 24, 2013
LCS NA Summer W1 pt1
New season has begun, and several things happened over the break. Highlights include: HotshotGG stepping down from CLG, Edward joining Curse from Gambit, GGU changing their name to Team Coast, and Quantic changing their name to Cloud 9.
Team Coast vs Team SoloMid
[CST bans: Ryze, Kennen, Karthus][TSM bans: Jayce, Lee Sin, Trundle]
CST: Vladimir, Nunu, Zed, Twitch, Nami
TSM: Shen, Elise, Kha'Zix, Draven, Thresh
TSM zzz-rolll
Curse vs Vulcun
[Crs bans: Lee Sin, Kha'Zix, Thresh][Vul bans: Miss Fortune, Blitzcrank, Twisted Fate]
Crs: Jayce, Trundle, Lux, Ezreal, Zyra
Vul: Kennen, Sejuani, Ryze, Caitlyn, Sona
Vulcun roll, Saint was being a little weird at the end. Notice I've given up on the 'command' part of 'vulcun command', because they've officially added some kind of product name to their name instead. It's a lot less majestic than 'command,' if you ask me.
Team Dignitas vs Cloud 9
[Dig bans: Twisted Fate, Kha'Zix, Kennen][C9 bans: Evelynn, Karthus, Ryze]
Dig: Jayce, Zac, Orianna, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
C9: Elise, Nasus, Zed, Draven, Thresh
Nice, C9.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Velocity Esports
[CLG bans: Elise, Kha'Zix, Shen][VES bans: Malphite, Twisted Fate, Jayce]
CLG: Vladimir, Sejuani, Orianna, Twitch, Thresh
VES: Kennen, Lee Sin, Kayle, Draven, Zyra
WTF, CLG. Nientonsoh top lane, Bigfatlp in the jungle, Chauster on support? You just can't do this and want to win.
Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9
[TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Thresh, Jayce][C9 bans: Karthus, Shen, Kha'Zix]
TSM: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Ezreal, Sona
C9: Ryze, Zac, Kennen, Draven, Lulu
This one was worth watching. And you can tell, by the way it has twice as many views on youtube as other game clips. A fine display of team fight mechanics all around.
Team Coast vs Vulcun
[CST bans: Kennen, Lee Sin, Ryze][Vul bans: Blitzcrank, Jayce, Kha'Zix]
CST: Riven, Fiddlesticks, Zed, Ezreal, Thresh
Vul: Elise, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Caitlyn, Sona
All ZionSpartan, as usual. And don't forget surprise party Fiddlesticks!
Curse vs Velocity Esports
[Crs bans: Draven, Evelynn, Elise][VES bans: Ryze, Kha'Zix, Kennen]
Crs: Tryndamere, Nautilus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
VES: Jayce, Lee Sin, Kayle, Varus, Thresh
Crs has perhaps the five most frustrating champs ever. You know what I mean, those are the five guys where you think the fight is over, and you're just about to relax when bam!
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Dignitas
[CLG bans: Ryze, Kha'Zix, Evelynn][Dig bans: Twisted Fate, Hayce, Sejuani]
CLG: Elise, Nocturne, Karthus, Graves, Janna
Dig: Kennen, Zac, Diana, Varus, Sona
Wow. 71 minutes. If you have 71 minutes to kill, I recommend it, because LoL games are always sudden death at 35 minutes, so there's about 35 minutes of sudden death. And they don't just sit around and look at each other, either. There's 30-something deaths on each team.
Cloud 9 vs Curse
[C9 bans: Tryndamere, Karthus, Thresh][Crs bans: Jayce, Ryze, Kennen]
C9: Rumble, Zac, Kha'Zix, Ezreal, Sona
Crs: Elise, Maokai, Twisted Fate, Draven, Blitzcrank
The question that haunted me during this game is: why is Nyjacky wearing that huge hood? Like he's a tiny Emperor - and then you recall that he usually plays Ryze, hahah. Well it's your downfall, Sith Lord - Cloud 9 always wears white jackets.
Team Coast vs Team SoloMid
[CST bans: Ryze, Kennen, Karthus][TSM bans: Jayce, Lee Sin, Trundle]
CST: Vladimir, Nunu, Zed, Twitch, Nami
TSM: Shen, Elise, Kha'Zix, Draven, Thresh
TSM zzz-rolll
Curse vs Vulcun
[Crs bans: Lee Sin, Kha'Zix, Thresh][Vul bans: Miss Fortune, Blitzcrank, Twisted Fate]
Crs: Jayce, Trundle, Lux, Ezreal, Zyra
Vul: Kennen, Sejuani, Ryze, Caitlyn, Sona
Vulcun roll, Saint was being a little weird at the end. Notice I've given up on the 'command' part of 'vulcun command', because they've officially added some kind of product name to their name instead. It's a lot less majestic than 'command,' if you ask me.
Team Dignitas vs Cloud 9
[Dig bans: Twisted Fate, Kha'Zix, Kennen][C9 bans: Evelynn, Karthus, Ryze]
Dig: Jayce, Zac, Orianna, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
C9: Elise, Nasus, Zed, Draven, Thresh
Nice, C9.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Velocity Esports
[CLG bans: Elise, Kha'Zix, Shen][VES bans: Malphite, Twisted Fate, Jayce]
CLG: Vladimir, Sejuani, Orianna, Twitch, Thresh
VES: Kennen, Lee Sin, Kayle, Draven, Zyra
WTF, CLG. Nientonsoh top lane, Bigfatlp in the jungle, Chauster on support? You just can't do this and want to win.
Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9
[TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Thresh, Jayce][C9 bans: Karthus, Shen, Kha'Zix]
TSM: Renekton, Elise, Orianna, Ezreal, Sona
C9: Ryze, Zac, Kennen, Draven, Lulu
This one was worth watching. And you can tell, by the way it has twice as many views on youtube as other game clips. A fine display of team fight mechanics all around.
Team Coast vs Vulcun
[CST bans: Kennen, Lee Sin, Ryze][Vul bans: Blitzcrank, Jayce, Kha'Zix]
CST: Riven, Fiddlesticks, Zed, Ezreal, Thresh
Vul: Elise, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Caitlyn, Sona
All ZionSpartan, as usual. And don't forget surprise party Fiddlesticks!
Curse vs Velocity Esports
[Crs bans: Draven, Evelynn, Elise][VES bans: Ryze, Kha'Zix, Kennen]
Crs: Tryndamere, Nautilus, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Blitzcrank
VES: Jayce, Lee Sin, Kayle, Varus, Thresh
Crs has perhaps the five most frustrating champs ever. You know what I mean, those are the five guys where you think the fight is over, and you're just about to relax when bam!
Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Dignitas
[CLG bans: Ryze, Kha'Zix, Evelynn][Dig bans: Twisted Fate, Hayce, Sejuani]
CLG: Elise, Nocturne, Karthus, Graves, Janna
Dig: Kennen, Zac, Diana, Varus, Sona
Wow. 71 minutes. If you have 71 minutes to kill, I recommend it, because LoL games are always sudden death at 35 minutes, so there's about 35 minutes of sudden death. And they don't just sit around and look at each other, either. There's 30-something deaths on each team.
Cloud 9 vs Curse
[C9 bans: Tryndamere, Karthus, Thresh][Crs bans: Jayce, Ryze, Kennen]
C9: Rumble, Zac, Kha'Zix, Ezreal, Sona
Crs: Elise, Maokai, Twisted Fate, Draven, Blitzcrank
The question that haunted me during this game is: why is Nyjacky wearing that huge hood? Like he's a tiny Emperor - and then you recall that he usually plays Ryze, hahah. Well it's your downfall, Sith Lord - Cloud 9 always wears white jackets.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
LCS All Star Tournament
All star tournament in Shanghai, complete with new map and some all-star types of shenanigans, such as 2v2 and 1v1 face offs between nations. But no commentary on these first videos.
NA: Dyrus, Saintvicious, scarra, Doublelift, Xpecial
EU: Soaz, Diamond, AlexIch, Yellowpete, Edward
GPL (SE Asia): HaRleluyar, Chawy, Mistake
LCL (Korea): inSec, PraY, Madlife
LPL (China): PDD, Troll, Misaya, Weixiao, XiaoXiao
2v2 Skill Showdown
ADC and support in a race to two kills, one tower, or 100 creeps, whatever comes first. EU may have the most trouble here, as Edward's English is... not developing all that fast, and he still makes calls to Yellowpete in Russian. Yellowpete is still pretty optimistic about it all, though.
*CN: Annie and Kennen vs EU: Kennen and Blitzcrank
*NA: Varus and Thresh vs GN: Sivir and Lulu (1:47!!!)
CN: Kennen and Lulu vs *LCL: Ezreal and Kennen (much longer)
*LCL: Twitch and Jarvan vs NA: Twitch and Annie
Jungler Skill Showdown
While the 2v2 matchups were mostly true to role, junglers aren't as well equipped for the rules of Magma Chamber, and most of them pick up non-jungling champs. So it's more a test of ... how good you are when you're not jungling? They do discuss, as a group, some interesting points, like how the jungler doesn't usually have a direct opponent, how junglers have to keep track of all three lanes, and how junglers have to love ruining people's day. Side note: Harleluyar is a stylish rocker-asian dude, popping his collar in his photo. Sorry Saintvicious, we're just saying.
GPL: Lee Sin vs *LPL: Twisted Fate
NA: Heimerdinger vs *LCL: Twitch
LPL: Caitlyn vs *EU: Caitlyn
EU: Lee Sin vs *LCL: Lee Sin
Top Lane Skill Showdown
sOAZ shows that Nunu;s not just OP against Wickd, but against the world!
*LCL: Kennen vs LCS: Soraka (Soraka, Dyrus?)
LPL: Annie vs *EU: Nunu
*LCL: Varus vs GPL: Twitch
*EU: Darius vs LCL: Varus (wow, soaz!)
Mid Lane Skill Showdown
NA: Lulu vs *EU: Quinn (More supports, NA?!)
*GPL: Jarvan vs LCL: Quinn
EU: Tristana vs *LPL: Orianna
LPL: Caitlyn vs *GPL: Caitlyn (Toyz brought smite, and it worked!)
LPL vs NA
We got wrecked, as you might have expected. Put up a pretty good showing in the second game, but yeah. Tough sledding against the home team.
EU vs LCL
Europe got wrecked, too. InSec was a terror on Lee Sin, and there just weren't enough bans to go around for all of them.
NA vs EU
Hey, we beat EU, so all is not lost. Well, EU may have some thinking to do. At least your profile photographer is better, EU? For reals, your portraits are pretty nice, and NA's are kinda sad. The games were nice and close, even though NA was up 22-8 in the first one, EU almost pulled off a sweet back door. In the second game, NA did a little more Protect the DoubleLift, and he got a pentakill, so that's cool. Scarra, you're a much better Karthus than TF.
LPL vs GPL
Home team advantage, too strong!
NA vs LCL
Nope, US, just not happening. But it's a good thing that you got a taste of the international scene. You'll be up against them again.
LPL vs LCL
Yikes, Korea. How on earth are you playing like you've been a team for years? At one point, the enemy Caitlyn locks onto a Korean player with next to no health left, and no other friendly champs in the area to block. The korean player runs around for a second, then from nowhere lantern-jumps to the friendly Thresh, who saves him. He wasn't even on screen.
NA vs LCL
Nope, US, just not happening. But it's a good thing that you got a taste of the international scene. You'll be up against them again.
LPL vs LCL
Yikes, Korea. How on earth are you playing like you've been a team for years? At one point, the enemy Caitlyn locks onto a Korean player with next to no health left, and no other friendly champs in the area to block. The korean player runs around for a second, then from nowhere lantern-jumps to the friendly Thresh, who saves him. He wasn't even on screen.
Monday, June 17, 2013
LCS Summer Promotion Tournaments: Summary
Summer promotion tournament in the EU on youtube is going to have to be just summaries, because I'm far enough behind as it is, and anyway, not all the videos are on this youtube list. Maybe they're lurking somewhere else, but these games are all best of fives - too long!
Giants vs Alternate
Giants took a 2-0 game lead before Alternate got it together and won the next three in a row. Congratulations new EU LCS team Alternate, and goodbye for now, Giants. Apparently it was an exciting five games, but they're not here in this youtube list.
Against All Authority vs Sinners Never Sleep
Wow, sad meltdown by aAa, and the commentators are mostly at a loss on how to describe it. SNS wrecks them in three games straight.
Copenhagen Wolves vs Samurai in Jeans
CW is actually a super strong team, but their record was hampered by those first games that they were forced to play without Bjergsen. They show the new team how it's done in four games.
Dragonborns vs Meet Your Makers
Naturally this one goes to five games, just for the stress factor. MYM just eliminates Lux in all the games, and manages despite Hosan on Draven.
And let me just squeeze in the summer promotion in the NA, just to wrap that up.
Complexity vs Quantic
The NA challenge teams are full of familiar handles, moreso than the EU challengers. I wonder if that was about the last tournament taking place during college finals. Quantic sweeps coL and emphatically replaces them.
Team MRN vs Velocity
Velocity has a strange comp where they run two ADs and two supports and a jungle Ez? True to their name, MRN once again MRNs a team: there's a magnificent backdoor in the truest sense. That's no base race, is what I mean. But MRN's scrappy comebacks draw to a sad close, and they are replaced by Velocity.
Team Dignitas vs Team Summon
Sorry Team Summon, dig is still legit.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Azure Cats
What a coincidence, BigFat going up against HotShot to get into the league. But HotShot has more talent on his team. I'm usually a little down on Aphromoo, but he landed some good pulls as blitzcrank in that second game.
Giants vs Alternate
Giants took a 2-0 game lead before Alternate got it together and won the next three in a row. Congratulations new EU LCS team Alternate, and goodbye for now, Giants. Apparently it was an exciting five games, but they're not here in this youtube list.
Against All Authority vs Sinners Never Sleep
Wow, sad meltdown by aAa, and the commentators are mostly at a loss on how to describe it. SNS wrecks them in three games straight.
Copenhagen Wolves vs Samurai in Jeans
CW is actually a super strong team, but their record was hampered by those first games that they were forced to play without Bjergsen. They show the new team how it's done in four games.
Dragonborns vs Meet Your Makers
Naturally this one goes to five games, just for the stress factor. MYM just eliminates Lux in all the games, and manages despite Hosan on Draven.
And let me just squeeze in the summer promotion in the NA, just to wrap that up.
Complexity vs Quantic
The NA challenge teams are full of familiar handles, moreso than the EU challengers. I wonder if that was about the last tournament taking place during college finals. Quantic sweeps coL and emphatically replaces them.
Team MRN vs Velocity
Velocity has a strange comp where they run two ADs and two supports and a jungle Ez? True to their name, MRN once again MRNs a team: there's a magnificent backdoor in the truest sense. That's no base race, is what I mean. But MRN's scrappy comebacks draw to a sad close, and they are replaced by Velocity.
Team Dignitas vs Team Summon
Sorry Team Summon, dig is still legit.
Counter Logic Gaming vs Azure Cats
What a coincidence, BigFat going up against HotShot to get into the league. But HotShot has more talent on his team. I'm usually a little down on Aphromoo, but he landed some good pulls as blitzcrank in that second game.
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