LCS EU W9

Week 9 in the EU.  DB actually wins one, but they'll need an crazy week 10 to get out of relegation.  GG looks like a soulless robot of win, until the last game against SK, so watch that one if you want to see GG finally look human.  Watch the others if you want to see them slowly dismantle the hopes and dreams of their enemies.  Giants also had one bad game and two really good ones, slowly trying to claw their way up the standings a little.

Gambit Gaming vs Dragonborns
[GG bans: Draven, Jarven, Kayle][DB bans: Thresh, Elise, Nasus]
GG: Shen, Volibear, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Lulu
DB: Zed, Udyr, Orianna, Varus, Sona
Alex goes crazy aggressive on Shushei in mid.  DB drags it out (including a cutesy steal of dragon by Hosan) but the end result is always the same.

Evil Geniuses vs Fnatic
[EG bans: Kassadin, Kha'Zix, Kennen][Fnatic bans: Lux, Renekton, Thresh]
EG: Zed, Volibear, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Leona
Fnatic: Shen, Nasus, Katarina, Varus, Nunu
Poor xPeke.  EG took TF away from him, then brutalized him with it.

Against All Authority vs Gambit Gaming
[aAa bans: Kha'Zix, Zed, Nasus][GG bans: Jarvan, Diana, Varus]
aAa: Renekton, Volibear, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Thresh
GG: Shen, Elise, Karthus, Ezreal, Lulu
Being in a league with GG must be frustrating.  Like being in the same division as the Patriots.  aAa kept it as close as possible until the fifty-ninth minute, before just giving up out of exhaustion or something.

Giants vs Dragonborns
[Giants bans: Draven, Kayle, Thresh][DB bans: Kennen, Kassadin, Elise]
Giants: Shen, Jarvan, Diana, Varus, Lulu
DB: Zed, Nasus, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Sona
Battle of the bottom two, and only now does DB look like they have it together.  Let's see if this win, snapping an epically long 14 game losing streak, sparks a huge winning streak in super week?  They'll need it.

Giants vs Evil Geniuses
[Giants bans: Lux, Zed, Thresh][EG bans: Kha'Zix, Kassadin, Elise]
Giants: Rumble, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Kennen, Zyra
EG: Shen, Volibear, Ahri, Varus, Leona
Gotta love two teams with crazy early aggression.  Way to amp it up, EG.  But strangely, they don't defend their objectives well, and Giants just steadily pokes down towers when EG's not looking.

Fnatic Gaming vs Dragonborns
[Fnatic bans: Lux, Draven, Thresh][DB bans: Leona, Elise, Twisted Fate]
Fnatic: Jayce, Nocturne, Zed, Twitch, Zyra
DB: Malphite, Jarvan, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Kayle
Kayle support, right?  Makes a lot of sense.  Invulnerability doesn't depend on AP, after all.  But the same thing as last game seems to happen - when DB groups up to defend an objective or get some revenge kills, Fnatic just goes on pushing towers down somewhere else.

Giants vs Against All Authority
[Giants bans: Thresh, Renekton, Shen][aAa bans: Kennen, Kha'Zix, Elise]
Giants: Olaf, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Varus, Sona
aAa: Diana, Nasus, Kayle, Vayne, Zyra
Complete wreckage from Giants, not even that many kills.

Gambit Gaming vs SK Gaming
[GG bans: Fizz, Varus, Miss Fortune][SK bans: Renekton, Shen, Kha'Zix]
GG: Rengar, Nasus, Zed, Caitlyn, Thresh
SK: Rumble, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Ashe, Elise
It's been so long since I've seen Rengar, I couldn't remember the name to write down for a long time.  What is his story?  I totally forget.  He looks like the love child of Kha'Zix and Warwick.  Whatever happened to Warwick, did he retire from the league, or just due for an overhaul?  Sorry to ramble, there are a few key points that SK must have researched about GG (this is SK's only game this weekend):

1. Diamondprox on Nasus runs ghost, not flash, leaving him with no flash substitutes, and no way out of the Jarvan Cataclysm. 
2. Keeping Alex down is probably a hopeless proposition, so it's better to go after Darien and Diamond.  
3. Going after Darien will cause Diamond and Alex to come up to his lane to help out - if you have to sacrifice your top laner, so be it; at least get Alex's tower, thus hurting Alex's farm.
4. Genja is always protected by Edward, so may as well try to blow up Edward and then disengage before Genja hurts you
5. Speaking of Edward, SK knew about his Thresh flash/lantern engage with Diamond and easily dodged it.
6. If you ARE going to go after Alex, get him alone, and just blow all your ults on him.  Equalizer, Cataclysm, Frost Arrow, Destiny; it's probably necessary, and without Alex, there's likely not going to be a big team fight soon anyway.

Standings
GG 18-5
Fnatic 18-5
SK 14-9
EG 12-11
CW 9-14
aAa 8-15
Giants 8-15
DB 5-18

LCS NA W9

Week 9 in North America, we may actually one day catch up to live at this rate.

Curse vs Team MRN
[Crs bans: Shen, Vayne, Twisted Fate][MRN bans: Kayle, Thresh, Diana]
Crs: Renekton, Volibear, Karthus, Miss Fortune, Sona
MRN: Malphite, Jarvan, Lux, Caitlyn, Lulu
Crs rolllllll

Team Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming
[d bans: Udyr, Lux, Twisted Fate][CLG bans: Gragas, Diana, Shen]
d: Kayle, Elise, Zed, Caitlyn, Thresh
CLG: Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Nidalee, Vayne, Sona
Low kill, 25 minute game?  Games like these seem very strange, like dig wasn't really into it, you know?  As if, "hey, the base is going down."  "Enh, whatever."

Team Complexity vs Curse
[coL bans: Ryze, Miss Fortune, Jarvan][Crs bans: Shen, Zed, Twisted Fate]
coL: Jayce, Alistar, Janna, Varus, Kayle
Crs: Kha'Zix, Volibear, Morgana, Twitch, Thresh
Aw, coL, you kinda had this game won.  Maybe you just don't have that late game, close-out experience.

Good Game University vs Team MRN
[GGU bans: Malphite, Jarvan, Shen][MRN bans: Jayce, Ryze, Twisted Fate]
GGU: Kha'Zix, Nasus, Lux, Twitch, Thresh
MRN: Riven, Nocturne, Karthus, Caitlyn, Lulu
Another game that makes a good case for Twitch.

Good Game University vs Team Dignitas
[GGU bans: Diana, Gragas, Shen][d bans: Twisted Fate, Jayce, Kha'Zix]
GGU: Vlad, Nasus, Karthus, Caitlyn, Thresh
d: Fizz, Hecarim, Zed, Varus, Janna
Very nice game, gold is very even, many 5v5s that go either way.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Team MRN
[CLG bans: Renekton, Malphite, Twisted Fate][MRN bans: Cho'Gath, Nidalee, Shen]
CLG: Nasus, Maokai, Lux, Twitch, Thresh
MRN: Riven, Jarvan, Ahri, Vayne, Sona
Jatt saw the MRN bans and was like, 'what year is this'?  But whew, MRN, making the game boring to watch if there's no Cho or Nid.

Good Game University vs Team Complexity
[GGU bans: Amumu, Zed, Shen][coL bans: Kha'Zix, Thresh, Nasus]
GGU: Jayce, Elise, Karthus, Caitlyn, LeBlanc
coL: Victor, Malphite, Kennen, Twitch, Sona
Support LeBlanc?  GGU's new support is unorthodox, to say the least.  It works, though - I guess DontMashMe doesn't need babysitting, he wants a support that will dive and kill other supports?  Also, coL's champs don't seem to have much synergy?

Curse vs Team SoloMid
[Crs bans: Shen, Karthus, Lulu][TSM bans: Volibear, Jarvan, Brand]
Crs: Akali, Nautilus, Kha'Zix, Varus, Thresh
TSM: Renekton, Nasus, Diana, Miss Fortune, Sona
There's a hilarious standoff at level 2 at the blue buff, when TSM simply will not give up on the jungle invade.  Nobody dies, but it's 4v4 just all standing there trading pot shots for quite some time.  It gives you a good idea that in this matchup, no quarter will be given.

Standings
Crs 18-5
Dig 16-7
TSM 16-7
CLG 11-12
GGU 9-14
MRN 8-15
VC 8-15
coL 6-17

LCS EU W8

Week 8 in the EU.  By and large a bland week, all the games were won by the team higher in the standings; no upsets.  Most of the games were won by steady rollface, too.

SK Gaming vs Fnatic Gaming
[SK bans: Varus, Nasus, Kassadin][Fnatic bans: Shen, Jarvan, Thresh]
SK: Olaf, Volibear, Diana, Twitch, Sona
Fnatic: Elise, Nocturne, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Lulu
Twisted Fate clinic by xPeke?  With games like these, you wonder why everyone doesn't always run Twisted Fate, with the gold advantage on top of the global presence, ganking potential, and stun.

Gambit Gaming vs Evil Geniuses
[GG bans: Anivia, Cassiopeia, Jarvan][EG bans: Zed, Elise, Thresh]
GG: Shen, Nasus, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Sona
EG: Malphite, Malzahar, Akali, Varus, Lulu
You hardly need to watch the game: afterwards, in the interview with Edward and Alex, they were asked what they thought when EG decided to jungle Malz.  Alex said: "We all laughed out loud".  And then they were given one line to promote themselves for the all-star voting, and Alex said: "I did pentakill. Vote for me."  That's about all you need to know, I guess.

Giants vs Copenhagen Wolves
[Giants bans: Zed, Varus, Kha'Zix][CW bans: Kennen, Elise, Kassadin]
Giants: Rumble, Hecarim, Diana, Miss Fortune, Zyra
CW: Shen, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Graves, Thresh
Whew, quick game, surrendered at 22 minutes, with 23 (!) kills from CW.  Another strong argument for Always Play TF strat.  And some extreme puns from both commentators.

Against All Authority vs Dragonborns
[aAa bans: Draven, Jarvan, Nasus][DB bans: Shen, Diana, Thresh]
aAa: Elise, Volibear, Lux, Miss Fortune, Janna
DB: Kha'Zix, Udyr, Kayle, Tristana, Zyra
Your games make me sad lately, DB.

SK Gaming vs Evil Geniuses
[SK bans: Anivia, Malphite, Zed][EG bans: Kassadin, Jarvan, Shen]
SK: Rumble, Volibear, Twisted Fate, Varus, Thresh
EG: Akali, Nasus, Lux, Miss Fortune, Lulu
I love to see Wickd on Akali, but this is another Always Play Twisted Fate strat.

Fnatic Gaming vs Gambit Gaming
[Fnatic bans: Shen, Renekton, Thresh][GG bans: Varus, Jarvan, Leona]
Fnatic: Kha'Zix, Volibear, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Lulu
GG: Elise, Nasus, Fizz, Ezreal, Sona
Very odd game.  7 kills in the first five minutes?  Fish, bear, spider, dog?  Card player, music player, pirate hunter, forest fairy, cave explorer? These are by and far the top two teams, and they have either both gone completely mad, or this is their planned strategies, clashing into one another.

Dragonborns vs Copenhagen Wolves
[DB bans: Kha'Zix, Twisted Fate, Lux][CW bans: Draven, Jarvan, Zed]
DB: Jax, Nasus, Ahri, Graves, Thresh
CW: Shen, Xin Zhao, Kassadin, Varus, Zyra
Every individual on DB seems like a good player, but they have no plan?  Hire me as your coach/manager, DB!  I will give you a plan to follow.  The first part of this plan might involve not letting Bjergsen have Kassadin, too.

Against All Authority vs Giants
[aAa bans: Kha'Zix, Volibear, Kennen][Giants bans: Kayle, Jarvan, Elise]
aAa: Renekton, Nasus, Orianna, Tristana, Thresh
Giants: Shen, Dr. Mundo, Kassadin, Miss Fortune, Zyra
How on earth is aAa's new support player able to land all those Death Sentences?  Crazy.

Dragonborns vs Evil Geniuses
[DB bans: Lux, Malphite, Shen][EG bans: Jarvan, Draven, Elise]
DB: Lulu, Nunu, Kog'Maw, Nidalee, Janna
EG: Zed, Volibear, Anivia, Miss Fortune, Thresh
DB, you know I love your unorthodox champ choices, but I also want you to not get relegated.  Four supports and a Kog'Maw was like watching a train wreck.  You knew that EG knew the answer: split push and over-occupy Kog's lane.  Anywhere the Kog was not, it was dive-time to consume a delicious support player.  EG was totally unafraid of even the Kog, to say nothing of a Lulu vs Zed.  The commentators wondered the whole time what DB was thinking, and discussed amongst themselves after the game, too.

Fnatic Gaming vs Against All Authority
[Fnatic bans: Shen, Renekton, Lux][aAa bans: Kha'Zix, Twisted Fate, Katarina]
Fnatic: Rumble, Nasus, Ahri, Varus, Leona
aAa: Elise, Jarvan, Orianna, Ezreal, Lulu
More boring champion choices, but closer game.

Giants vs SK Gaming
[Giants bans: Kayle, Jarvan, Nasus][SK bans: Kennen, Elise, Miss Fortune]
Giants: Rumble, Volibear, Kassadin, Vayne, Alistar
SK: Zed, Shen, Fizz, Varus, Thresh
Fun and exciting level 1 brawl that SK comes out slightly on top.  The rest is as you'd expect.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Gambit Gaming
[CW bans: Elise, Shen, Thresh][GG bans: Jarvan, Kha'Zix, Kassadin]
CW: Singed, Xin Zhao, Zed, Varus, Zyra
GG: Renekton, Nasus, Kayle, Miss Fortune, Lulu
Dismantlement, is the word used most often by the commentators here.

Standings
Fnatic 17-4
GG 16-4
SK 13-9
EG 11-10
CW 9-14
aAa 9-13
Giants 6-14
DB 4-16

LCS NA W8

Week 8 in the NA, and you know it's crunch time, because roster swaps have started flying around.  A lot of the league is pleasantly modeled after other professional sports leagues, and let me tell you something from years of watching the NFL: benching has it's desired effect, long-term, perhaps 10% of the time.  Even if one player is truly better than another, you should have made that determination before the season started - changing now and having no time to develop synergy is a mostly losing proposition.  But, corollary to that knowledge, the spectator also has to know that the team HAS to do something, to at least feel like they tried everything to turn their season around. So that's the intricacies behind benching, food for your thought as you assess how the new players are doing this week.

Team Complexity vs Counter Logic Gaming
[coL bans: Vayne, Malphite, Lulu][CLG bans: Rumble, Zed, Caitlyn]
coL: Kha'Zix, Shen, Ziggs, Varus, Zyra
CLG: Udyr, Jarvan, Lux, Twitch, Thresh
Wow, big fight in the first minute.  Oddly, both teams stayed in and tried to fight it out - usually at least one of the teams will try to disengage the level 1 fight immediately.  Anyhow, coL gets the best of it and comes up 4-1 at 1:15, and then keeps killing HotShot top.  It's the kind of game any of us would surrender at 20 minutes, but CLG pretty much has no choice but to grind it out as best as they can.  And we should all watch this game to learn how it's done.  If you can't watch the whole thing (it's actually pretty long!) watch the part right around the 34 minute mark of the game (53:30 in the vid).

Good Game University vs Curse
[GGU bans: Jarvan, Renekton, Twisted Fate][Crs bans: Jayce, Akali, Kayle]
GGU: Kha'Zix, Nasus, Ryze, Caitlyn, Elise
Crs: Irelia, Volibear, Veigar, Miss Fortune, Thresh
Double-wow, another huge 5v5 at level 1?!  This one is even crazier, as both teams alternately engage, disengage, re-engage, try to pick each other off, and keep coming back for more death.  Is this a symptom of all the new players?  Well it's a little more even, 2-3, so it doesn't make the rest of the game crazy.  Clearly, that's left for the Veigar to do - have not seen a Veigar in pro play.... ever, I think.  I hate that little bugger.  Doesn't everyone?  He makes the teamfight even more insane - now there's spirit fire, rappel, rune prison, Veigar stun, and Thresh prison, completely obscuring vision, while MF ult blasts across everyone's face.  It's crazy to watch, and I can only assume that Crs gets the edge because their circles are the more dangerous of that mess, combined with MF ult.

Vulcun Command vs Team SoloMid
[VC bans: Draven, Malphite, Caitlyn][TSM bans: Nidalee, Diana, Lulu]
VC: Vladamir, Nasus, Karthus, Tristana, Sona
TSM: Shen, Xin Zhao, Xerath, Varus, Thresh
Interesting thought, pairing Vlad's ult with Karthus'.  And Vlad held his 2v1 lane very successfully.

Team MRN vs Team Complexity
[MRN bans: Zed, Amumu, Zyra][coL bans: Renekton, Twisted Fate, Shen]
MRN: Malphite, Evelynn, Kha'Zix, Vayne, Lulu
coL: Rumble, Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Caitlyn, Thresh
Whee, close games.  At one point, MRN overstay their welcome in coL's base and gets mostly wiped out, then coL immediately overstays their counter-base-attack, and gets ruined in return.  Fun times!  It's more entertaining for the spectators when you valiantly refuse to disengage.

Team SoloMid vs Curse
[TSM bans: Miss Fortune, Jarvan, Volibear][Crs bans: Diana, Twisted Fate, Nasus]
TSM: Shen, Nocturne, Karthus, Draven, Thresh
Crs: Renekton, Udyr, Ryze, Kog'Maw, Sona
TSM gets an early first blood, and rides that and their long-range ults to easy victory.  I've said it before, even the top-ranked team can be made to look bad by a random off game.

Vulcun Command vs Team Complexity
[VC bans: Amumu, Kha'Zix, Zed][coL bans: Nasus, Diana, Jarvan]
VC: Vlad, Hecarim, Karthus, Miss Fortune, Sona
coL: Darius, Shen, Annie, Varus, Kayle
Yeah, you read that right, that's an Annie on coL's new mid, pr0lly.  And a support Kayle.  The element of surprise gives them an early lead, and though they stay ahead of any comeback VC tries to make, the game has several interesting engages.

Team MRN vs Good Game University
[MRN bans: Jayce, Elise, Ryze][GGU bans: Malphite, Twisted Fate, Shen]
MRN: Renekton, Nasus, Diana, Miss Fortune, Lulu
GGU: Rumble, Nocturne, Karthus, Caitlyn, Thresh
Classic Karthus game, despite a very fine Renekton game.  All my dire warnings about benchings are going for naught - all the new players are doing fine.

Curse vs Vulcun Command
[Crs bans: Diana, Nidalee, Shen][VC bans: Renekton, Twisted Fate, Sona]
Crs: Katarina, Volibear, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Thresh
VC: Rumble, Nasus, Zed, Varus, Lulu
Pretty decisive, even within each engagement.

Standings
Crs 16-4
dig 16-5
TSM 15-7
CLG 10-11
MRN 7-13
VC 8-15
GGU 6-14
coL 6-15

LCS EU W7

Week 7 in the EU, piled into two somewhat low resolution vids.

Giants vs Gambit Gaming (00:44:00)
[Giants bans: Kayle, Thresh, Zed][GG bans: Kennen, Kassadin, Shen]
Giants: Rumble, Elise, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Zyra
GG: Renekton, Nasus, Diana, Ashe, Janna
Ashe-Janna is like throw-back uniforms.  I love it.  But, alas, GG loses, which is not what you'd expect, eh? This is the second time Giants has upset GG, this time from really far away on the leaderboard. 5-11 now, and two of those are against GG?!  Interesting...

Against All Authority vs Fnatic (02:36:00)
[aAa bans: Nasus, Leona, Thresh][Fnatic bans: Renekton, Shen, Sona]
aAa: Elise, Volibear, Zed, Ezreal, Alistar
Fnatic: Kha'Zix, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Varus, Lulu
It seems to have been a bad few weeks for aAa.  Even the Lulu was on a killing spree.

Copenhagen Wolves vs SK Gaming (03:45:00)
[CW bans: Volibear, Kayle, Kassadin][SK bans: Zed, Kha'Zix, Thresh]
CW: Shen, Jarvan, Orianna, Graves, Lulu
SK: Irelia, Nasus, Ahri, Varus, Sona
It's one of those classic questions: big choke, or impressive comeback?  Can't even tell you for sure how SK managed it, but you can watch that one for yourself.

Dragonborns vs Against All Authority (05:09:00)
[DB bans: Nasus, Volibear, Twisted Fate][aAa bans: Draven, Jarvan, Thresh]
DB: Elise, Xin Zhao, Lux, Varus, Lulu
aAa: Diana, Shen, Kayle, Ezreal, Sona
Why would DB ban those three champs, you ask?  Why, for early game cheese, of course!  They kill the Ez in the river at about 49 seconds.  Unfortunately they don't... press their advantage?  I like you DB, I'll be sad if you get relegated.

SK Gaming vs Gambit Gaming (00:59:30, second vid)
[SK bans: Thresh, Zed, Kha'Zix][GG bans: Nasus, Volibear, Kayle]
SK: Shen, Jarvan, Ahri, Graves, Sona
GG: Elise, Hecarim, Kassadin, Miss Fortune, Lulu
SK made it pretty respectable, but it never really felt like anything but a foregone conclusion.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Against All Authority (01:59:00)
[CW bans: Karthus, Sona, Elise][aAa bans: Jarvan, Thresh, Zed]
CW: Singed, Xin Zhao, Kha'Zix, Varus, Lulu
aAa: Diana, Volibear, Shen, Ezreal, Alistar
CW continues their upward trend, aAa continues their downward spiral.

Dragonborns vs Giants (03:01:00)
[DB bans: Kennen, Kassadin, Twisted Fate][Giants bans: Draven, Kayle, Thresh]
DB: Shen, Jarvan, Ahri, Ezreal, Sona
Giants: Rumble, Elise, Diana, Miss Fortune, Zyra
It does seem like DB is a team made of individually awesome dudes, but they don't stay together in team fights and focus down single targets / tightly defend carries. Just one thought, in continued hope they don't get relegated.

Gambit Gaming vs Copenhagen Wolves
[GG bans: Jarvan, Kha'Zix, Singed][CW: Miss Fortune, Kassadin, Thresh]
GG: Elise, Hecarim, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Lulu
CW: Shen, Xin Zhao, Zed, Varus, Zyra
Good try, CW, but GG's a machine.  Even though you were up on kills and close in towers, they still had a load more money, in that robotically meticulous kind of way that they have.

Standings
Fnatic 15-3
GG 13-4
SK 11-8
EG 10-8
Giants 6-11
CW 7-13
aAa 6-12
DB 4-13

LCS NA W7

Week 7 in the NA.  Idea of the week: Riot should include a practice mode - you know, in Street Fighter and other fight games, when you want to perfect your craft, you test out your combos in an isolated practice chamber, where the damage you do is reported meticulously?  I think a lot of teams would like to specifically practice a 'come from behind' situation, or a 'late game 5v5' practice, without playing 40 minute games of 10 friends to set up such a situation?

Team Solomid vs Counter Logic Gaming
[TSM bans: Vayne, Evelynn, Taric][CLG bans: Rumble, Thresh, Malphite]
TSM: Shen, Xin Zhao, Diana, Draven, Lulu
CLG: Nasus, Nunu, Lux, Caitlyn, Janna
CLG has looked bad the last few weeks, and TSM has looked really good with WildTurtle.  I typically support 'protect the super carry,' but the commentators seem to have a point - one mistake mid to late game, and it's over.

Curse vs Team Dignitas
[Crs bans: Rumble, Diana, Elise][d bans: Miss Fortune, Ryze, Lux]
Crs: Gragas, Volibear, Karthus, Varus, Sona
d: Renekton, Nasus, Kayle, Caitlyn, Lulu
Big-time matchup between powerhouses in the NA, but as always, one team just gets an edge and makes the other one look bad - at least, not as good as they are. Still a number of good engagements, though.

Good Game University vs Vulcun Command
GGU: Jayce, Nasus, Ryze, Caitlyn, Lulu
VC: Elise, Volibear, Diana, Kog'Maw, Thresh
They must have had a restart and then restarted the vod, so we didn't get to see bans.  It was a nice close game until late, the best kind, really.

Team Complexity vs Team MRN
[coL bans: Twisted Fate, Renekton, Irelia][MRN bans: Zed, Kayle, Kha'Zix]
coL: Rumble, Amumu, Diana, Caitlyn, Sona
MRN: Udyr, Nasus, Anivia, Varus, Thresh
Odd fights, near the end.  It didn't seem like coL was that much ahead, but they would win the fights in a really definitive way - as if MRN didn't have appropriate damage to go toe to toe with them.

Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas
[TSM bans: Elise, Kayle, Lulu][d bans: Draven, Caitlyn, Shen]
TSM: Rumble, Volibear, Diana, Varus, Sona
d: Renekton, Nasus, Gragas, Ezreal, Thresh
Many large creatures involved on both teams?  Also, they should make a 'fisherman' Thresh skin, because of the way he throws the hook and reels in his targets.  Somehow, dignitas is up in kills, but TSM is up in gold? They must be ignoring kills in favor of objectives and towers.  They go back and forth with who seems to be in the winning position, which makes for a good game, if not high in kills.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Curse
[CLG bans: Gragas, Volibear, Twisted Fate][Crs bans: Vayne, Xerath, Urgot]
CLG: Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Lux, Twitch, Lulu
Crs: Elise, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Varus, Sona
CLG has been doing so bad lately, but right before the game started, in the interview with Crs, someone said that CLG has been playing well in scrims, but comes out to gameday and 'chokes'.  In the athletic sport world, we call that 'bulletin board material', and it only serves to poke the sleeping bear.  Even though you're at the top of the league right now, Crs, you don't want to poke bears.  After the game, we get more flashbacks to the early days of media focus on sports, when HotshotGG talks about how the community is influencing him.  When you grow up heading to pro sports these days, you learn fast to ignore the community.  I mean, Dwight Howard has to keep on living his life, HotShot.  Sorry there's hecklers and expectations and disappointment.  Even the Kardashians have to learn to ignore it.  You're doing just fine, I'm sure. Also, at about 56:46, they admit to KDA-hoarding, purposefully killing Cop to decrease his league-leading KDA.  Hahahaa.

Team MRN vs Vulcun Command
[MRN bans: Nidalee, Diana, Elise][VC bans: Akali, Renekton, Twisted Fate]
MRN: Rumble, Nasus, Lux, Varus, Janna
VC: Singed, Volibear, Kha'Zix, Caitlyn, Lulu
A weekend that proves that even high ELO teams can be made to look like noobs by equally high ELO teams.  MRN got rocked by coL earlier, and they rock VC in turn.

Team Complexity vs Good Game University
[coL bans: Orianna, Nasus, Akali][GGU bans: Amumu, Zed, Thresh]
coL: Rumble, Shen, Kha'Zix, Caitlyn, Sona
GGU: Jayce, Elise, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Lulu
Close game - even kills and less than 500 gold difference at 44 minutes!! Of course, that means that at 44 minutes and 37 seconds, the whole game is decided in one five-second fight.

Team MRN vs Team Dignitas
[MRN bans: Diana, Gragas, Kayle][d bans: Twisted Fate, Irelia, Renekton]
MRN: Rumble, Trundle, Jayce, Caitlyn, Janna
d: Shen, Nasus, Zed, Varus, Elise
dignitas runs a somewhat strange strategy near the end of double pushing both side lanes at once.  It's kind of interesting.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Complexity
[CLG bans: Rumble, Shen, Caitlyn][coL bans: Vayne, Evelynn, Twisted Fate]
CLG: Malphite, Jarvan, Lux, Twitch, Lulu
coL: Zed, Amumu, Kayle, Ezreal, Elise
I miss Nidalee.

Good Game University vs Team SoloMid
[GGU bans: Malphite, Thresh, Shen][TSM bans: Elise, Akali, Jayce]
GGU: Kha'Zix, Trundle, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Sona
TSM: Renekton, Nasus, Zed, Caitlyn, Lulu
Smush.

Vulcun Command vs Curse
[VC bans: Gragas, Janna, Twisted Fate][Crs bans: Nidalee, Diana, Rumble]
VC: Kennen, Jarvan, Quinn, Miss Fortune, Sona
Crs: Renekton, Nasus, Ryze, Kog'Maw, Lulu
Well, there's your chance to see Quinn in action at a high level. It's a losing effort, though.

Standings
Crs 14-3
dig 16-5
TSM 14-6
CLG 10-10
VC 7-13
MRN 6-12
GGU 5-13
coL 4-14

LCS EU W6

Week 6 in the EU, happening in Lille, France, apparently.

SK Gaming vs Giants
[SK bans: Kennen, Elise, Kassadin][Giants bans: Kayle, Jarvan, Shen]
SK: Zed, Volibear, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Lulu
Giants: Kha'Zix, Nasus, Ryze, Trist, Zyra
Solid win from SK.  Nothing really exciting

Against All Authority vs Evil Geniuses
[aAa bans: Lux, Anivia, Zed][EG bans: Sona, Elise, Jarvan]
aAa: Nasus, Shen, Kayle, Varus, Taric
EG: Renekton, Cho'Gath, Cassiopeia, Miss Fortune, Thresh
Low kill game, controlled all the way through by EG

Gambit Gaming vs Fnatic Gaming
[GG bans: Leona, Nunu, Elise][Fnatic bans: Shen, Renekton, Thresh]
GG: Kha'Zix, Volibear, Kayle, Kog'Maw, Lulu
Fnatic: Jayce, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Varus, Blitzcrank
Fnatic plays a beauty of a game, and after the loss, we start to get a better picture of the underlying relationships.  GG are apparently not here to play.  I guess, in Soviet Russia, game play you?  Racist memes aside, GG is apparently did not get a gaming house in Germany, preferring to fly in every weekend to smoke fools and then fly home, and they do not socialize or make nice with other teams.  They are only here to dominate and take their money, thanks.  Losing is apparently excruciatingly unacceptable, and you can see it on their faces afterwards - even though they played a solid game and only lost because Fnatic played a flawless one, they are royally pissed. It's interesting and worth keeping an eye on. After all, it is a game, GG. Chillax.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Dragonborns
[CW bans: Draven, Zed, Xin Zhao][DB bans: Renekton, Caitlyn, Lux]
CW: Singed, Jarvan, Kha'Zix, Graves, Thresh
DB: Rumble, Volibear, Kayle, Varus, Taric
This game is inside the vid for the following game, but it cuts off partway through, so don't bother starting it up.

Gambit Gaming vs SK Gaming
[GG bans: Jarvan, Kayle, Volibear][SK bans: Renekton, Shen, Darius]
GG: Elise, Nasus, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Thresh
SK: Jax, Vi, Twisted Fate, Graves, Lulu
GG takes it's towering ire out on SK, and AlexIch shows Darian how Kha'Zix is really played.  With brutality.

Evil Geniuses vs Giants
[EG bans: Elise, Kassadin, Jarvan][Giants bans: Lux, did not ban 2nd or 3rd]
EG: Zed, Nassus, Anivia, Miss Fortune, Thresh
Giants: Kha'Zix, Mundo, Twisted Fate, Ashe, Lulu
Giants was apparently late to the stage, and their punishment was the loss of two bans.  So guess who gets Zed and Anivia and then rolls face starting from minute one?  I guess their real punishment was to sit through an entire game, even though they basically lost it in a level 1 team fight very early.

Against All Authority vs Copenhagen Wolves
[aAa bans: Lux, Singed, Twisted Fate][CW bans: Elise, Sona, Karthus]
aAa: Kha'Zix, Volibear, Rumble, Vayne, Thresh
CW: Renekton, Jarvan, Zed, Varus, Lulu
What's going on, aAa?  Don't you have home field advantage in France?

Dragonborns vs Fnatic
[DB bans: Leona, Kassadin, Elise][Fnatic bans: Draven, Lux, Jarvan]
DB: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Gragas, Ezreal, Janna
Fnatic: Shen, Nasus, Zed, Varus, Nunu
DB has two substitutes this week?  I didn't hear why, but they weren't the most cohesive team before this, either.

Against All Authority vs SK Gaming
[aAa bans: Jarvan, Nassus, Kha'Zix][SK bans: Sona, Elise, Thresh]
aAa: Kennen, Udyr, Zed, Caitlyn, Lulu
SK: Shen, Volibear, Kayle, Graves, Taric
Seriously, aAa?  Is it because you've been banned from using Sona lately?  Is your whole comp dependent on Crescendo?  Is Karalius prone to getting caught in the jungle if he's not Sona?  Despite the magical matchup of  every lane (ninja v ninja, bear v bear, mask v mask, guns v guns, and purple v purple) I can't recommend this game, too much of a roll.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Evil Geniuses
[CW bans: Anivia, Elise, Thresh][EG bans: Singed, Kha'Zix, Kassadin]
CW: Shen, Xin Zhao, Zed, Varus, Lulu
EG: Renekton, Jarvan, Lux, Graves, Alistar
This game was magnificently even all the way to the end, and basically was a wacky nailbiter that felt like it was in sudden death for nearly half an hour. A good one to watch.

Fnatic vs Giants
[Fnatic bans: Ryze, Elise, Kassadin][Giants bans: Blitzcrank, Shen, Twisted Fate]
Fnatic: Zed, Nasus, Katarina, Varus, Nunu
Giants bans: Kha'Zix, Jarvan, Zyra, Kennen, Sona
xPeke makes a strong case for the following: 1) split pushing is the true path to victory, 2) Katarina is, in fact, a split pusher, and 3) xPeke for president.

Dragonborns vs Gambit Gaming
[DB bans: Shen, Renekton, Kayle][GG bans: Draven, Jarvan, Gragas]
DB: Zed, Xin Zhao, Lux, Sivir, Lulu
GG: Elise, Nasus, Evelynn, Miss Fortune, Thresh
DB gets a cheese first blood very early, and it seems to make GG mad...

Standings
Fnatic 14-3
GG 11-3
SK 10-7
EG 10-8
CW 6-11
aAa 5-10
DB 4-11
Giants 4-11

LCS NA W6

Week 6 in the NA Spring league.

Team Dignitas vs Team MRN
---d bans: Renekton, Irelia, Shen---MRN bans: Thresh, Kayle, Draven---
d: Elise, Nasus, Diana, Caitlyn, Janna
MRN: Rumble, Jarvan, Karthus, Vayne, Sona
MRN has more substitutions? I didn't really catch why they needed to change things around.

Team SoloMid vs Complexity
---TSM bans: Elise, Thresh, Kayle---coL bans: Renekton, Rumble, Draven---
TSM: Shen, Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Sona
coL: Zed, Amumu, Diana, Kog'Maw, Lulu
Silly M eye A.  He gets caught out a lot, for a professional support player.  Just saying.  On a different note, I couldn't really imagine playing with a hat on my head.  Reginald's wearing a winter beanie, and Lautemortis is wearing a gigantic spiked Koopa Troopa?  This game was really, really close the whole way to the end.  But TSM finally got a pentakill on their somewhat superior ADC at the very end, and that was that.

At the beginning of the next video, Deman is in the "interview lounge" (don't think they've named it yet, but it's a little nook with some couches) with Xspecial and Wildturtle, and they talk about what is up with ChaoX in a pretty frank manner (he actually said he hopes ChaoX "learns his lesson"(!)), which is refreshing for someone like me, who watches a lot of ESPN.  May you never develop the crazy politically-correct atmosphere of the NFL, esports!  They also seem to have a reality show following them in their gaming house, which would be cool, but I'm behind enough on vods as it is.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Dignitas
---CLG bans: Singed, Gragas, Kayle---d bans: Twisted Fate, Vayne, Renekton---
CLG: Malphite, Nasus, Orianna, Ezreal, Lulu
d: Rumble, Volibear, Diana, Caitlyn, Elise
Yikes, CLG got stomped.

Team SoloMid vs Team MRN
---TSM bans: Akali, Jarvan, Renekton---MRN bans: Shen, Kayle, Thresh---
TSM: Malphite, Nasus, Twisted Fate, Draven, Lulu
MRN: Elise, Nocturne, Karthus, Caitlyn, Sona
At one point, running up mid with his team, Reggie pulled the Destiny, looked around, then just teleported himself bot to farm a lane - MRN immediately engaged with the nocturne ult, knowing Reggie couldn't attend that party on time.  Unfortunately, they couldn't quite blow up the whole team before Reggie could walk himself back, but it was a cute move.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Solomid
---CLG bans: Singed, Shen, Renekton---TSM bans: Vayne, Malph, Taric---
CLG: Karthus, Jarvan, Orianna, Ezreal, Leona
TSM: Rumble, Xin Zhao, Zed, Draven, Thresh
Holy buckets, it's 6-1 at 5:45 in favor of TSM.  What is going on, CLG?

Team MRN vs Team Complexity
[MRN bans: Zed, Kha'Zix, Kayle][coL bans: Renekton, Irelia, Jarvan]
MRN: Udyr, Shen, Twisted Fate, Draven, Lulu
coL: Elise, Volibear, Jayce, Caitlyn, Thresh
Don't disregard MRN v coL!  It's the matchup that features the Wu brothers facing off.  Besides, it's an Udyr!  But it's 15-1 near the thirty minute mark in favor of MRN...

Vulcun Command vs Counter Logic Gaming
[VC bans: Vayne, Twisted Fate, Renekton][CLG bans: Kha'Zix, Zed, Singed]
VC: Rumble, Nasus, Nidalee, Tristana, Thresh
CLG: Karthus, Jarvan, Katarina, Ezreal, Sona
CLG runs that lineup again, with the Karthus top, and it works a little better this time, but VC eventually overcomes it.

Team Dignitas vs Team Complexity
[d bans: Kha'Zix, Zed, Caitlyn][coL bans: Diana, Kayle, Elise]
d: Rumble, Volibear, Gragas, Draven, Alistar
coL: Darius, Amumu, Ryze, Varus, Thresh
Wow, that's a lot of very large dudes on both teams, but mostly dignitas.  These two teams are pretty friendly with one another, and did they agree to make it an interesting game?  Because there's 27 total kills in the first 19 minutes.  It's the kind of murderous free for all that reminds you why you love to play LoL in the first place.  Deman calls the game 'pretty lively', to which Phreak remind him that all these kills means that they're mostly dead.  Ba-dum-pish.  In case you weren't going to watch the whole vod, you're welcome, for bringing you all of Phreaks greatest puns. At the end, I feel that coL bungled a team fight when they should have stayed and fought with Darius instead of running away (and then turning around one by one), and that ace sealed their fate immediately.

LCS EU W5

Week 5 in the EU looks a bit short because the last few games are piled up in the last video.

Evil Geniuses vs Dragonborns
---EG bans: Draven, Xin Zhao, Kha'Zix---DB bans: Volibear, Singed, Anivia---
EG: Renekton, Jarvan, Lux, Miss Fortune, Elise
DB: Wukong, Nassus, Vi, Caitlyn, Taric
I still want to root for DB, they are like, the people's champs.  But 'unorthodox play style' just sometimes means 'lose in really silly-looking ways'.

SK Gaming vs Against All Authority
---SK bans: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Shen---aAa bans: Orianna, Kayle, Vi---
SK: Rumble, Elise, Jarvan, Caitlyn, Thresh
aAa: Kha'Zix, Taric, Karthus, Vayne, Sona
Ocelot on Jarvan mid?  Taric jungle?  Odd game.

Fnatic Gaming vs Evil Geniuses
---Fnatic bans: Urgot, Skarner, Annie---EG bans: Soraka, Udyr, Xerath---
Fnatic: Jayce, Nassus, Katarina, Varus, Nunu
EG: Zed, Cho'Gath, Anivia, Miss Fortune, Elise
If you're wondering about bans, just take the first letters of each champ.  I don't know if they agreed on it beforehand or what, but those guys.  Anyway, long game, rare come-from-behind win.

SK Gaming vs Dragonborns
---SK bans: Draven, Xin Zhao, Kha'Zix---DB bans: Kayle, Orianna, Diana---
SK: Rumble, Jarvan, Zed, Ezreal, Lulu
DB: Renekton, Volibear, Elise, Miss Fortune, Thresh
DB is still being 'unorthodox'...

Evil Geniuses vs Against All Authority (3:38:00)
---EG bans: Sona, Kha'Zix, Elise---aAa bans: Anivia, Lux, Kayle---
EG: Zed, Jarvan, Malphite, Graves, Thresh
aAa: Renekton, Nassus, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Taric
Oh, EU meta.  You change so fast, who can keep up?  Wickd on Zed appears to be midlane, Graves and Thresh went top, and Froggen on Malphite went bot. When the 2v1 lanes get the towers, everyone rotates like a carousel. My question is, how did Froggen adjust from AP mid champs like Anivia to a champ like Malphite?!  And freddy also changed from Karthus to Renekton?  Was this also something that EG put the other team up to?  Why would they run all AD against a Taric? Well, they win anyway, but I really don't know what to even make of it.

Fnatic Gaming vs SK Gaming (5:00:00)
---Fnatic bans: Thresh, Sona, Jarvan---SK bans: Leona, Katarina, Elise---
Fnatic: Zed, Nassus, Kassadin, Varus, Nunu
SK: Singed, Xin Zhao, Lux, Caitlyn, Lulu
Ocelot makes for a mean Lux, Fnatic more organized.

Dragonborns vs Against All Authority (6:16:00)
---DB bans: Elise, Taric, Shen---aAa bans: Draven, Kha'Zix, Xin Zhao---
DB: Singed, Nassus, Syndra, Miss Fortune, Sona
aAa: Renekton, Jarvan, Kayle, Twitch, Thresh
 Long game, very even, base race.  Exciting, but there were a few pauses in the middle.  Very difficult day overall for the casters.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Fnatic (7:30:00)
---CW bans: Leona, Nasus, Kassadin---Fnatic bans: Thresh, Xin Zhao, Lux---
CW: Rumble, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Lulu
Fnatic: Elise, Gangplank, Zed, Varus, Nunu
Huhn, this is the first time I've seen GP.  Both teams have been playing at a high level lately, and there are some very nice brawls in this game.  At 24 minutes, there's a 5v5 near dragon, and as noted by the commentators, every single summoner spell and every ult is on cooldown afterwards, and only one person dies on each team.

Standings
GG  9-2
Fnatic 11-3
SK  8-6
EG  8-7
aAa 5-7
DB 4-8
Giants 4-8
CW 3-11

Dead Space 3, Day 4

The open space sections in Dead Space are still unique (right?  No other game does this kind of thing?)  And while we always enjoy these unique and frankly, really good looking graphics, it's always frustrating to cruise around in open space - there's no sound, so you can't tell where damage could be coming from.  Also, it's mostly floating explosives, so you have to watch all three dimensions around you, or face instant death.  Just saying, they're nice sections, it's just also nice that they have limited appearances throughout the game.  Makes the oxygen time upgrade on the RIG useless, though!  Also, finding secret caches out there in the vastness of space is tough stuff.
Anyhow, in addition to open space fetch quests, we also run a few side missions while we're out here.  Hooray for side quests!  Or is this more detraction from a scary storyline?  I can't tell, I'm too blinded by the lust for better guns.  I've turned this game into Borderlands!
There's finally a large setpiece event, when we go down to the planet to attempt to shut off the marker signal for good, and our crappy ship breaks up on re-entry.  Being co-op, there are a few moments when we spend more time blaming each other than flying the ship, because one person is flying the ship, and one person is shooting down mines - some of the events are scripted, and there's no way to avoid several of the impacts.  We thought it was game over when the cinematic showed us crashing into a mountain peak and the ship breaking in half, but nope, that was scripted, not bad driving.
Down on the planet, we're stranded and alone and freezing to death, marching around an ice storm with no objective markers.  We have no idea what number spells our certain doom via hypothermia, so we try to keep our temperatures (as shown on our health gauge indicator) above 20C.  Probably we could go all the way to 0 before death, though.  The blizzard happily conceals burrowing necromorphs, who pop out like lurkers to tear off limbs and spit acid. We slog from safe spot to safe spot like we're playing German Spotlight with growling undead.  Another member of the 'crew' dies, and neither Xian nor I feel any remorse (Clarke and Carver don't seem too bothered, either) despite him croaking right in front of us needlessly.  I turned on the heat, dude, why did you freeze to death?  We head downstairs to find the last two thermal snowsuits, which the crew apparently didn't bother to do, leaving this last guy to die instead of even looking? What bastards.  Why are we with these chumps, again?
Downstairs, we find a new enemy, and a text log that suggests that we throw something to make noise to distract them and then sneak past.  Why... would I do that?  I have a gun, and these guys only take one or two bullets a piece.  I mean, we love sneaking games, but there's nothing around to grab with kinesis to throw, anyway!  So we just run into the room with guns blazing and take out the whole lot of them systematically.  Do you ever get the feeling that you're meant to play the game a certain way, and you just don't see it until you've already done it the hard way?

LCS NA W5 pt2

Last few games of week 5 at MLG Dallas are here, starting with Complexity vs TSM.

Complexity vs Team Solomid
---coL bans: Xerath, Twisted Fate, Malphite---TSM bans: Kayle, Elise, Thresh---

coL: Rumble, Volibear, Kha'Zix, Varus, Lulu
TSM: Renekton, Jarvan, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Sona
Largely unremarkable, as usual.

Vulcun Command vs Team Dignitas
---VC bans: Kayle, Diana, Rumble---d bans: Twisted Fate, Nidalee, Elise---
VC: Singed, Nassus, Kha'Zix, Tristana, Sona
d: Shen, Vi, Gragas, Draven, Thresh
Long game, close in gold, but VC was on the attack for a lot of it.

Team MRN vs Crs
---MRN bans: Volibear, Kayle, Malphite---Crs bans: Renekton, Diana, Twisted Fate---
MRN: Cho'Gath, Trundle, Caitlyn, Corki, Janna
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Thresh
Long game.

There's an international exhibition afterwards, with Gambit Gaming vs Team Dignitas, Crs vs KT Rolster B, and then the winners facing off.  Let me just sum up and say, I've lost faith in scarra's badassness, and NA in general gets schooled; in strategy, micro, teamfight mechanics, everything.  They've got work to do before the real international finals.

LCS NA W5 pt1

Week 5 in the NA is happening at MLG in Dallas, which, I have to say, is a pro-looking set-up.  Each team is on stage in boxes like Starcraft booths.  The game screens are clean and up to 1080p resolution.  Also, the most picked and banned for each team is listed during picks and bans phase, which I was going to do once I had more data, but this is extremely convenient.

• TSM most picked: Taric (54.6%), Miss Fortune (54.6%), Orianna (45.5%), Maokai (36.4%), Jarvan (36.4%)
• TSM most banned: Kayle (54.6%), Elise (36.4%), Twisted Fate (27.3%)
• TSM most banned against: LeBlanc (54.6%), Singed (36.4%), Kayle (36.4%)
• GGU most picked: Lulu (41.7%), Elise (33.3%), Akali (25%), Lux (25%), Twitch (25%)
• GGU most banned: Kayle (41.7%), Xin Zhao (41.7%), Nidalee (33.3%)
• GGU most banned against: Nidalee (58.3%), Twitch (50%), Kayle (33.3%)
• coL most picked: Jarvan (44.4%), Shen (44.4%), Taric (44.4%), Twitch (33.3%), Kog'Maw (33.3%)
• coL most picked: Jarvan (44.4%), Shen (44.4%), Taric (44.4%), Twitch (33.3%), Kog'Maw (33.3%)
• coL most banned: Nidalee (55.6%), Kayle (44.4%), Singed (44.4%)
• coL most banned against: Zed (66.7%), Kayle (44.4%), Vi (33.3%)
• dig most picked: Diana (50%), Alistar (50%), Xin Zhao (41.7%), Singed (41.6%), Draven (33.3%)
• dig most banned: Twisted Fate (58.3%), Nidalee (33.3%), Elise (25%)
• dig most banned against: Kayle (66.7%), Gragas (33.3%), Draven (33.3%)
• Crs most picked: Jarvan (45.5%), Taric (45.5%), Xin Zhao (36.4%), Miss Fortune (36.4%), Ryze (27.3%)
• Crs most banned: Shen (72.7%), Rumble (27.3%), Kayle (27.3%)
• Crs most banned against: Xin Zhao (54.6%), Kayle (45.5%), Miss Fortune (36.7%)
• CLG most picked: Vayne (45.5%), Lee Xin (36.4%), Cho'Gath (36.4%), Taric (27.3%), Malphite (27.3%)
• CLG most banned: Xin Zhao (45.5%), Rumble (27.3%), Zed (18.2%)
• CLG most banned against: Nidalee (63.6%), Shen (54.6%), Twisted Fate (36.4%)
• VC most picked: Alistar (53.9%), Elise (30.8%), Ezreal (30.8%), Kog'Maw (30.8%), Xin Zhao (30.8%)
• VC most banned: Kayle (61.5%), Twisted Fate (46.2%), Xin Zhao (23.1%)
• VC most banned against: Elise (46.2%), Nidalee (38.5%), Rumble (30.1%)
• MRN most picked: Tristana (55.6%), Jarvan (44.4%), Renekton (44.4%), Vi (44.4%), Akali (33.3%)
• MRN most banned: Kayle (55.6%), Singed (33.3%), Shen (22.2%)
• MRN most banned against: Renekton (56.6%), Jarvan (44.4%), Twisted Fate (33.3%)

Team SoloMid vs Good Game University
---TSM bans: Elise, Akali (did not ban third)---GGU bans: Miss Fortune, Kayle, Jarvan---
TSM: Rumble, Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Thresh
GGU: Singed, Zed, Diana, Vayne, Lulu
Pretty dominated by TSM.  They didn't even ban a third champ, that's how unworried they were?

Complexity vs Team Dignitas
---coL bans: Diana, Alistar, Thresh---d bans: Jayce, Caitlyn, Jarvan---
coL: Elise, Cho'Gath, Kha'Zix, Varus, Sona
d: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Kayle, Draven, Lulu
dignitas trades mid and bot lanes, to be extra-harrassful in mid, and so Patoy's Lulu can roam from lane to lane.  She didn't much, though.  And somehow, somehow, complexity claws and scratches its way to a big upset.  Seriously, Phreak and Rivington were discussing the online voting poll earlier (Rivington also introduced Phreak as "the one, the only, Phreak, who's face just does tons of damage") and the folks out in the world were 96% to 4% in favor of dignitas.  This one is probably worth watching.

Curse vs Counter Logic Gaming
---Crs bans: Xerath, Vayne, Twisted Fate---CLG bans: Kog'Maw, Xin Zhao, Renekton---
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Ryze, Miss Fortune, Sona
CLG: Rumble, Shen, Gragas, Caitlyn, Lulu
What's going on with you, CLG?  Now Link is playing top, HotshotGG's in the jungle, and bigfatlp is back and in mid?  Too much turnover, CLG, you can't play like this.  Crs is basically made up of people you've kicked out, and they're delightfully out for vengeance.

Vulcun Command vs Team MRN
---VC bans: Akali, Renekton, Irelia---MRN bans: Thresh, Elise, Kayle---
VC: Rumble, Renekton, Nidalee, Tristana, Sona
MRN: Shen, Jarvan, Ryze, Caitlyn, Nami
New player on Team MRN, they don't seem to have their act together during this game.

Curse vs Team Solomid
---Crs bans: Xerath, Thresh, Singed---TSM bans: Akali, Elise, Twisted Fate---
Crs: Katarina, Jarvan, Kayle, Kog'Maw, Janna
TSM: Rumble, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Sona
You know how sometimes some team just gets so far ahead it makes the other team look bad?  No matter how good the other team is, there's nothing they can do to salvage the situation, or even a little bit of dignity from the loss.  That was this game.

Team Dignitas vs Good Game University
---d bans: Twisted Fate, Caitlyn, Lulu---GGU bans: Diana, Gragas, Singed---
d: Elise, Vi, Kayle, Varus, Sona
GGU: Jayce, Trundle, Kog'Maw, Ezreal, Janna
Epic poke comp from GGU, with the AP Kog'Maw mid.  But poke comps don't seem to be terribly successful at tower defense.

Complexity vs Vulcun Command
---coL bans: Nidalee, Twisted Fate, Lux---VC bans: Zed, Kayle, Elise---
coL: Rumble, Amumu, Kha'Zix, Caitlyn, Thresh
VC: Shen, Nassus, Diana, Varus, Sona
One of the rarest games out there.  Dead even in kills and gold for nearly an hour.  Every fight after 40 minutes is like sudden death - an ace means game over.  They eventually base race, and that's the ultimate in sudden death.

Team MRN vs Counter Logic Gaming
---MRN bans: Thresh, Rumble, Kayle---CLG bans: Syndra, Jarvan, Renekton---
MRN: Irelia, Shen, Diana, Tristana, Alistar
CLG: Elise, Maokai, Ryze, Vayne, Lulu
Another close game, despite new player on MRN in mid.

LCS EU W4 pt2

Week 4 super week, day 2.

Fnatic vs Copenhagen Wolves
---Fnatic bans: Lux, Nidalee, Syndra---CW bans: Leona, Kayle, Vi---
Fnatic: Shen, Volibear, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Sona
CW: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Kassadin, Ezreal, Thresh
Wow.  I had assumed (as you may have) that Fnatic would just zzz-roll, so I left it on in the background and started to do other stuff.  The constant screaming brought me back over, and I was glued to it for the rest of the match.  This game is a must-watch - it is exciting.  Deman's mind is all but blown at the end from the constant screaming.  Need more convincing?  There is a base race, AND there is a backdoor, both of which are epic.  Aranaea, guest analyst at the desk, thanked Lolesports profusely for inviting him, because that was the best LoL game he's ever seen.  You should probably watch it.

Evil Geniuses vs Against All Authority
---EG bans: Xin Zhao, Nidalee, Renekton---aAa bans: Kayle, Anivia, Lux---
EG: Rumble, Vi, Ryze, Varus, Thresh
aAa: Elise, Shen, Kha'Zix, Ezreal, Sona
I've never seen Wickd on Rumble.  aAa seems strong early on, and despite some late fumbling around, they manage to pull off the upset.

Gambit Gaming vs Fnatic
---GMB bans: Elise, Leona, Caitlyn---Fnatic bans: Xin Zhao, Thresh, Volibear---
GMB: Shen, Nassus, Kassadin, Miss Fortune, Taric
Fnatic: Rumble, Vi, Kayle, Corki, Sona
I think I will always be rooting against any team that fields Corki.  And lo and behold, GMB rolls.  Nice fights, though.  All three games so far have had good fights.

Giants vs Dragonborns
---Giants bans: Draven, Thresh, Xin Zhao---DB bans: Kennen, Ryze, Volibear---
Giants: Shen, Vi, Diana, Vayne, Sona
DB: Wukong, Jarvan, Kayle, Caitlyn, Taric
I agree with the commentators, some producer slipped some super aggression into everyone's coffee this morning, because kills are again quite even, aggression and kills happen throughout the match, and fights are exciting and plentiful.  Though DB are usually of the disposition to pick fights rather than play safe.  There's even a sweet baron steal.

SK Gaming vs Copenhagen Wolves
---SK bans: Varus, Elise, Lux---CW bans: Vi, Kassadin, Kayle---
SK: Irelia, Xin Zhao, Diana, Graves, Sona
CW: Renekton, Shen, Nidalee, Ezreal, Thresh
CW has been looking good in their last few games, and they were keeping up in this one, but they seemed to have bad positions for the last few skirmishes, and that's all it takes.

Gambit Gaming vs Against All Authority
---GMB bans: Elise, Nidalee, Vi---aAa bans: Kayle,Thresh, Xin Zhao---
GMB: Shen, Nassus, Kha'Zix, Ashe, Lulu
aAa: Renekton, Volibear, Twisted Fate, Varus, Sona
Mostly monsters and archers?  Huhn, Volibear early teleports into enemy blue - what cheese!  Have I mentioned before that GosuPepper - now his handle is just EdWard, is quite the epic support?   He made two kills under enemy turret early in this game to save his ADC, and he was wealthy and happy.

Against All Authority vs Fnatic
---aAa bans: Leona, Diana, Vi---Fnatic bans: Lux, Shen, Xin Zhao---
aAa: Malphite, Nassus, Kayle, Ezreal, Sona
Fnatic: Lee Sin, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Alistar
Kills were even, but towers were not.

SK Gaming vs Gambit Gaming
---SK bans: Thresh, Nasus, Zed---GMB bans: Kayle, Graves, Shen---
SK: Darius, Vi, Kassadin, Kog'Maw, Sona
GMB: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Taric
The commentators basically asked themselves where SK was, and why they didn't show up for this game.

Dragonborns vs Evil Geniuses
---DB bans: Anivia, Lux, Reneketon---EG bans: Xin Zhao, Vi, Kayle---
DB: Kha'Zix, Jarvan, Elise, Nidalee, Soraka
EG: Zed, Shen, Twisted Fate, Draven, Sona
That was fun.  DB basically picked champs that can each fill multiple roles, so there was definitely a moment of confusion while swapping and right before locking in.  But they ended up as listed above, with Nidalee bot lane with Soraka, Kha'Zix top bruiser, and Shushei on Elise mid.  Also, Nid v Draven, you can aim the spear at the spot where he's going to catch the axe.  Sweet!  And think about it!  AP Nidalee doesn't depend so much on levels as much as she needs items to make that spear just massively hurtful.  And with Soraka there, spears are infinite!  Look out for AP bot lane in your soloq.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Giants
---CW bans: Kennen, Ryze, Kayle---GIA bans: Syndra, Vi, Elise---
CW: Singed, Xin Zhao, Kassadin, Varus, Sona
GIA: Wukong, Volibear, Diana, Vayne, Zyra
Well, well, well, CW.  Fine play these last few games, especially Deficio and Bjergsen, support and APC.  What an unfortunate story, Bjergsen: He couldn't be in the qualifiers because it was just before his 17th birthday, and then when he finally arrived in Cologne, he got mugged and couldn't be with his team for the early weeks of the season!  He went 15-0 in this game!

Dragonborns vs SK Gaming
---DB bans: Volibear, Shen, Vi---SK bans: Draven, Jarven, Kayle---
DB: Xin Zhao, Elise, Kha'Zix, Nidalee, Soraka
SK: Irelia, Nassus, Diana, Graves, Taric
DB's tricks don't work a second time.

Giants vs Evil Geniuses
---GIA bans: Lux, Kayle, Shen---EG bans: Kennen, Elise, Vi---
GIA: Irelia, Xin Zhao, Kassadin, Ashe, Sona
EG: Renekton, Maokai, Anivia, Varus, Zyra
Oddly, Froggen gets Anivia, and EG does pretty terribly. Very mysterious.

Dead Space 3, Day 3

Alright, the difficulty is cranked all the way up, and it's still not scary.  We die more, yes, but neither of us are scared.  Xian still hates the regenerating monsters, but he hasn't quit the game abruptly due to terror.  The only moments of terror occur when the game regretfully informs me, "Your co-op partner has died," and I still have the ability to run around and shoot the critters gathering around my ankles.  Usually I turn around to see Xian trying to fend off a huge necro that's putting a spike through his head, or flailing around as smaller necros systematically tear off his arms.  I lift my gun, but since the game has already told me there's no saving him, I just shrug sadly.
"How are you doing over there?" I venture hopefully.
"NO, NECRO, I NEED THAT ARM," he wails.
"So I guess we're not doing so good."
"GET THIS GUY OFF ME!"
"He's already tearing off your face, dude.  You're already dead, the game is already restarting from checkpoint.  This is just punishment. If I could take an action, I'd mercy-shoot you to prevent you from turning into a necro."
Mostly inarticulate yelling in reply.

The story continues to be inscrutable, and now that he's not scared, he's finally more alarmed that it's not clear or cohesive.  Someone once again sends us off on another fetch quest, and immediately a ton of necros leap out as if to distract us from the incongruity of it all.
"Wait, why is Isaac, the engineer, sent to do this and no one is coming with?  I'm not even on their stupid team," I ask while shaking off mini necros.
"Yeah," Xian muses, using his always-preferred shotgun.  "Was it always this unreasonable in the other Dead Spaces, and we just didn't notice?"
"We were spending most of our effort just getting out of each room alive," I agreed, double-tapping everyone that was down.  "We didn't exactly have time to ponder the why of it all.  Although I do remember you bitterly asking why you had to cross the necromorph'd daycare last game."
"And did you give a satisfactory answer?" Xian asked, stomping into the next room.
"I didn't have to.  You got exploded by a babymorph-bomb and then turned the game off to cry."
"Good times," he says, sounding a touch resigned as he raids the lockers and absently blasts a necro with his shotgun after it bursts out of a vent. "Did we get the stupid part to fix the stupid spacecraft?"
"Yeah, I grabbed it. Is the next part on this floor?"
"I think it's on the other side.  But I hear a lot of gurgling noises."
"Yeah, they're still out there.  But I'm sure they're just waiting for us on the other side."
We brute force our way through the next sections, both irritated at the way the rest of the so-called crew is doing a total of diddly-squat while Clarke and Carver are wading neck deep through necros to repair and fuel the spacecraft. After all that, Ellie sentences us to death by accident by firing up the shuttles thrusters and has no way of turning it off?  I mean, Ellie, you're supposed to be the love interest here, but you're not really supporting that cause, because I'm starting to hate your stupid ass.
This part is the worst.  I'm not scared of horror games, that's not my problem.  My gaming weakness is timing games.  If there's a rotating fan that you have to time just so in order to get through or it's certain death, you can bet I'm going to fail that thing like twenty times in a row.  The next part is supposed to be hectic and harrowing, but I manage to die on every single jet of flame that you're supposed to time your way past perhaps ten times.  I can hear Xian gritting his teeth on the other side of the Skype as we start the sequence over for the thirtieth time, when he says "this time, wait for the jet of flame before running?"  The regenerator necro isn't even scaring him anymore, he just flicks a stasis shot at him every time he shows up - and we know where he's going to show up, because we're only making incremental progress through this sequence.
Ugh, the shame.  It takes nearly half an hour to get through the stupid thirty second sequence.  Turning down the difficulty wouldn't even help, because I'd always die to the flames, which are one hit kills, not difficulty-dependent.  It was so late afterwards, we just saved and quit.

LCS EU W4 pt1

Super week in the EU, lots of games to get to.  Notice that the EU setup doesn't include a number of small sophistications that have been added to the LA studio: players still wearing double earphones, no name labels or 'power ranger cam', no fancy touch screen debriefing screen.  They do, however, have an in-studio audience, which is pretty cool.

Gambit Gaming vs Dragonborns
---GG bans: Draven, Jarvan, Vi---DB bans: Ryze, Kayle, Xin Zhao---
GG: Shen, Volibear, Zed, Miss Fortune, Thresh
DB: Renekton, Amumu, Kha'Zix, Varus, Leona
Huhn, guess the patch hasn't deterred the EU from taking Kha'Zix.  And the Xerath popularity wave hasn't reached their shores, either.  Exciting game - DB (and to a lesser extent GG) is one of the last teams that's all about killing folks and not just grinding away.  But alas for my favorite team DB, GG is that one team in the movie that's disciplined and organized and cohesive, and DB is the team in the movie that has moxie and renegades and is mostly undisciplined.  It's what we love about them, but they just get edged in all the big fights.

SK Gaming vs Against All Authority
---SK bans: Renekton, Elise, Xin Zhao---aAa bans: Twitch, Shen, Vi---
SK: Irelia, Jarvan, Kayle, Varus, Taric
aAa: Jayce, Volibear, Nidalee, Ezreal, Sona
There are some nice fights in this one, if you enjoy somewhat one-sided fights.  Ocelot apparently grew a beard of +2 power.  SK wins.

Giants vs Fnatic
---Giants bans: Malphite, Nidalee, Tryndamere---Fnatic bans: Ryze, Kennen, Xin Zhao---
Giants: Garen, Hecarim, Diana, Ashe, Sona
Fnatic: Shen, Kayle, Zyra, Miss Fortune, Leona
A Garen!  Woaaah.  Even the commentators scrambled to remember his abilities.  We've never seen him with Hecarim or Diana, and we've never seen him 1v2.  Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work, and he ended up not being effective.  And Jimbz, previously my hero, was not effective as Ashe.  Fnatic just pushes them down.

Evil Geniuses vs Copenhagen Wolves
---EG bans: Elise, Syndra, Kayle---CW bans: Anivia, Thresh, Sona---
EG: Shen, Vi, Lux, Varus, Alistar
CW: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Kassadin, Ezreal, Taric
Nope, don't watch it.  Poor CW doesn't even put up much of a fight.

Giants vs SK Gaming
---Giants bans: Kayle, Xin Zhao, Vi---SK bans: Kennen, Sona, Elise---
Giants: Shen, Hecarim, Ryze, Caitlyn, Thresh
SK: Darius, Volibear, Orianna, Graves, Zyra
Pretty dull grind to victory for SK.

Fnatic vs Dragonborns
---Fnatic bans: Xin Zhao, Jarvan, Thresh---DB bans: Shen, Kayle, Volibear---
Fnatic: Elise, Vi, Nidalee, Miss Fortune, Sona
DB: Darius, Amumu, Lux, Draven, Taric
That's a lot of roots, DB. But somehow Fnatic has more objective pushing power.  Even though there were very nice, even fights and deaths were equal until the end, Fnatic cleared the base, and that's how you win.

Evil Geniuses vs Gambit Gaming
---EG bans: Twisted Fate, Renekton, Kassadin---GG bans: Anivia, Lux, Kayle---
EG: Irelia, Vi, Nidalee, Draven, Taric
GG: Shen, Xin Zhao, Kha'Zix, Kog'Maw, Thresh
No, Wickd, don't face check that brush!  First blood at a minute for GG.

Copenhagen Wolves vs Against All Authority
---CW bans: Sona, Nidalee, Shen---aAa bans: Lux, Kayle, Thresh---
CW: Singed, Vi, Syndra, Varus, Zyra
aAa: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Lulu
Is it just me, or is CW's comp full of very angry characters?  Are they angry because of their standings?  Well they played solidly in this game.  Their AP carry, Bjergsen, even got a pentakill.  Good game.

LCS NA W4 pt2

This was a long week, so I broke it up into two.  I'm loving the touch screen analysis.  It's like Sportscenter for LoL.  LoLcenter.  Also similar to the Sportscenter effect, the commentators mention that the players have become obsessed with their KDA ratios because the LCS keeps track of them and displays it next to your name in order to have a vague sense of 'grading'.

Good Game University vs Dignitas
---GGU bans: Singed, Xin Zhao, Draven---d bans: Twisted Fate, Kayle, Elise---
GGU: Akali, Vi, Orianna, Graves, Lulu
d: Diana, Nocturne, Gragas, Ezreal, Sona
I can't recommend this vid because it's been a really long day of games, and Phreak has gotten especially loopy with his casting.  Dignitas wins.

Team MRN vs Team Solomid
---MRN bans: LeBlanc, Singed, Malphite---TSM bans: Twisted Fate, Kayle, Renekton---
MRN: Akali, Jarvan, Nidalee, Tristana, Alistar
TSM: Rumble, Xin Zhao, Xerath, Miss Fortune, Taric
Just check out that lineup and tell me who had the better skill set to deal with Jarvan's ult?  That's right, one team has 5 jump skills, and one team has zero.  Team MRN just took out CLG earlier in the night, and they proceed to dismantle TSM, as well.  Nice.

Team Solomid vs Vulcun Command
---TSM bans: Nidalee, Elise, Rumble---VC bans: Miss Fortune, Jarvan, Kayle---
TSM: Singed, Maokai, Xerath, Kog'Maw, Taric
VC: Renekton, Xin Zhao, Lux, Ezreal, Alistar
This is the first game of the next morning, and Muffinqt was still trying to wake up during picks and bans.  As for Xerath, flavor of the week, it looks like.  VC gets solidly ahead and even looks like they're about to end it, but somehow, TSM uses their experience and savvy to delay until Kog'Maw becomes basically unstoppable.

Dignitas vs Complexity
---d bans: Zed, Jayce, Twisted Fate---coL bans: Singed, Kayle, Diana---
d: Elise, Xin Zhao, Nidalee, Jayce, Zyra
coL: Shen, Maokai, Kassadin, Kog'Maw, Taric
Woah, dignitas dismantled them in under 20 minutes.

Good Game University vs Team MRN
---GGU bans: Renekton, Vi, Nidalee---MRN ban: Kayle, Rumble, Twisted Fate---
GGU: Fizz, Elise, Orianna, Twitch, Alistar
MRN: Akali, Jarvan, Lux, Tristana, Sona
MRN has a ton of damage in this game.  They really blow up anyone they find.

CounterLogic Gaming vs Curse
---CLG bans: Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate, Nidalee---Crs bans: Shen, Malphite, Xerath---
CLG: Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Lux, Vayne, Lulu
Crs: Tryndamere, Nocturne, Kayle, Miss Fortune, Alistar
Kind of a dull grind to victory for CLG, despite two invulnerability abilities for Crs.  Some of the fights were really weird and scattered.  Like, low ELO fights.

Team SoloMid vs Curse
---TSM bans: Akali, Twisted Fate, Xin Zhao---Crs bans: Shen, Xerath, Kayle---
TSM: Singed, Maokai, Orianna, Kog'Maw, Alistar
Crs: Elise, Jarvan, Ryze, Tristana, Lulu
High level game play all around, high level fights.  Crs just edges them in kills, eventually.

Complexity vs CounterLogic Gaming
---coL bans: Xerath, Malphite, Vayne---CLG bans: Zed, Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate---
coL: Jayce, Jarvan, Kayle, Twitch, Taric
CLG: Shen, Lee Sin, Nidalee, Kog'Maw, Lulu
CLG discovers the miracle that is AP Nidalee, coL neglects to purchase MR.  It was ugly.

Team MRN vs Dignitas
---MRN bans: Draven, Singed, Kayle---d bans: Renekton, Akali, Twisted Fate---
MRN: Shen, Jarvan, Nidalee, Tristana, Sona
d: Elise, Xin Zhao, Diana, Corki, Alistar
dignitas lane switched mid and bottom, so the Corki/Alistar was against the Nidalee in mid, and I disliked it.  I dislike Corki in general.  I found myself in the strange position of rooting against scarra, and that turned out to be a losing proposition.  Dignitas rolled solidly, despite AP Nidalee, which has been so solid lately!

Vulcun Command vs Good Game University
---VC bans: Vi, Twisted Fate, Twitch---GGU bans: Nidalee, Kayle, Singed---
VC: Elise, Jarvan, Lux, Kog'Maw, Alistar
GGU: Akali, Xin Zhao, Orianna, Ezreal, Sona
Phreak got excited during picks and bans because VC was headed towards an all animal team (Alistar, Elise, Kog'Maw), and he scoffed at the "entirely humanoid" GGU team.  Anyway, if you were waiting for an epic Akali game, this is going to be the one.  ZionSpartan just carries his team via some murderous Akali.

Standings: 
Dig: 10-2
Crs: 9-2
CLG: 7-4
TSM: 7-4
MRN: 4-5
VC: 4-9
GGU: 2-10
coL: 1-8

LCS NA W4 pt1

Week 4 in the NA LCS, and it's some kind of 'super week'.  Guess there will be a lot of games to cover.   Let us take this time to grudgingly approve of the amount of improvements Riot has made to this spectator mode.  At the dawn of time imemorial, it was awful, they had to ad-hoc a sixth player who just had to carefully stand in the fountain the whole game, do you remember?  Then proper spectator mode, with helpful items and gold at the bottom, with optional vision toggles.  Then, auto-camera, and now their setup correctly labels the person in a tiny window at the bottom (not that they're usually doing much), which is another fine incremental improvement, like the single headset improvement from last week.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Vulcun Command
---CLG bans: Hecarim, Rumble, Kog'Maw---VC bans: Twisted Fate, Xin Zhao, Nidalee---
CLG: Malphite, Jarvan, Xerath, Vayne, Alistar
VC: Singed, Volibear, Kayle, Twitch, Thresh
This Link character plays some unusual AP mids.  Do you remember Xerath? He's the blue ghost-guy that shoots lightning and can root himself for really long range shots?  I mean, he was OP when he first came out, but I haven't seen him in quite some time.  Wonder if he got buffed.  Some fun big fights, but CLG was winning most of them, despite letting VC get Kayle.  VC really hung in there, though.

Curse vs Team MRN
---Crs bans: Shen, Taric, Renekton---MRN bans: Kayle, Twisted Fate, Akali---
Crs: Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Lux, Caitlyn, Lulu
MRN: Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Nidalee, Tristana, Alistar
Whew, new Trynd art?  How long has that been there?  No way to know!  I haven't seen a Trynd in a game in months.  It suits Voyboy well, though.  It's all about balls of steel, and that's Voyboy for you.

Team SoloMid vs Complexity
---TSM bans: Shen, Kog'Maw, Vi---coL bans: Kayle, Singed, Orianna---
TSM: Malphite, Jarvan, Xerath, Miss Fortune, Taric
coL: Rumble, Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate, Varus, Fiddlesticks
Still no Leblanc, Reginald?  Would it surprise you if I just spoiled it and said TSM rolls?  Probably not.  There were a few good fights, though, to coL's credit.

Good Game University vs Counter Logic Gaming
---GGU bans: Malphiate, Shen, Nidalee---CLG bans: Twitch, Rumble, Lux---
GGU: Akali, Elise, Kayle, Caitlyn, Nunu
CLG: Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Orianna, Vayne, Alistar
Nope, sorry GGU.  Nice fights, but CLG had all the aoe cc.

Curse vs Complexity
---Crs bans: Shen, Vi, Jayce---coL bans: Nidalee, Kayle, Tryndamere---
Crs: Elise, Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Taric
coL: Zed, Jarvan, Ryze, Twitch, Thresh
Even _I_ just fast forwarded through this one.  The undefeated team against the nearly-winless team?  This is Patriots v Browns.  Eventually I saw Crs engage a fight top lane without their ADC, and won it against all 5 of coL.  Sorry coL.

Good Game University vs Team Solomid
---GGU bans: Singed, Malphite, Taric---TSM bans: Kayle, Akali, Twisted Fate---
GGU: Tryndamere, Xin Zhao, Lux, Corki, Lulu
TSM: Rumble, Jarvan, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Leona

Dignitas vs Vulcun Command
---d bans: Nidalee, Hecarim, Elise---VC bans: Draven, Diana, Kayle---
d: Singed, Vi, Gragas, Graves, Zyra
VC: Rumble, Xin Zhao, Ryze, Ezreal, Alistar
They didn't have much of a chance, but they put up a good fight.  It was back and forth for a while, but dignitas maybe has more experience in end-game.

CounterLogic Gaming vs Team MRN
---CLG bans: Tristana, Jarvan, Xin Zhao---MRN bans: Malphite, Shen, Kayle---
CLG: Nidalee, Wukong, Orianna, Vayne, Taric
MRN: Renekton, Vi, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Sona
HotShotGG back on Nidalee!  Tragically, his Nidalee gets pretty stomped by MRN MegaZero's Renekton... What is wrong with CLG?  Perhaps it is as we have always suspected: only high schoolers have the attention span and OCD twitch skills to excel at this kind of stuff.  Or do you need to get rid of this Link fellow (or DoubleLift) and get Kobe24 back?   At any rate, his Nidalee is a tank Nidalee, and that's not going to have the awesome spears we saw earlier. CLG mounts an effort at a comeback based on nothing more than bold-faced bluffery, but that just did not work for long.  MRN achieves the upset.

Dignitas vs Curse
---d bans: Miss Fortune, Twisted Fate, Tryndamere---Crs ban: Singed, Kayle, Vi---
d: Elise, Xin Zhao, Diana, Kog'Maw, Alistar
Crs: Nidalee, Jarvan, Lux, Twitch, Taric
Oddly, dignitas looks like the undefeated team in this matchup.

Vulcun Command vs Complexity
---VC bans: Zed, Vi, Kayle---coL bans: Nidalee, Singed, Hecarim---
VC: Elise, Xin Zhao, Twisted Fate, Kog'Maw, Alistar
coL: Shen, Jarvan, Diana, Ezreal, Taric
This wasn't a bad game, though the end may have been foreordained.  Both teams were always ready to fight, even coL wanted to engage the fight when they were behind, which is a lovely sentiment for a spectator, because it keeps the action coming.  But VC is on the rise, while coL is still in the basement.

LCS NA W3

North American LCS, Week 3.  It seems that they've finally caught up with reason and the teams are wearing only one headset per head.

Vulcun Command vs Counter Logic Gaming (1:11:00)
---VC bans: Twisted Fate, Thresh, Kayle---CLG bans: Xin Zhao, Jarvan, Rumble---
VC: Singed, Hecarim, Nidalee, Kog'Maw, Alistar
CLG: Nassus, Lee Sin, Syndra, Vayne, Sona
Wow, it's a game that will make HotShotGG want to get back to some Nidalee.  MandatoryCloud in mid just starts being a monster with the spears later in game.  Tune in and watch each spear eat 50-70% of a CLG player's health!

Curse vs Good Game University (2:23:00)
---Crs bans: Rumble, Lulu, Nidalee---GGU bans: Xin Zhao, Elise, Kayle---
Crs: Akali, Jarvan, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Taric
GGU: Fizz, Leona, Jayce, Graves, Zyra
Leona jungle?  Well, tune in, if that's something you want to run.  Curse continues it's dominance.

Dignitas vs Counter Logic Gaming (3:24:00)
---d bans: Nidalee, Syndra, Kayle---CLG bans: Xin Zhao, Gragas, Diana---
d: Singed, Vi, Kayle, Draven, Zyra
CLG: Galio, Dr. Mundo, Ahri, Kog'Maw, Alistar
I'm excited by the unconventional picks (Galio!) and there were a lot of fights early and late, but CLG just seemed unprepared, or at least unprepared for Kayle's Intervention.  Scarra proves he is still awesome, wish he'd go back to playing Katarina.  I agree with commentators that Scarra was somehow pushing the limits of the range of Kayle's ult - how was he hitting people so far away?  Expect a range or cooldown nerf, very soon.  BTW, in the after-game interview, Scarra implies that there is a huge gap in CLG's gameplay, but he was coy about saying what it was in a broadcasted interview.  But he did say it was huge.

Complexity vs Vulcun Command (4:27:00)
---coL bans: Hecarim, Singed, Jarvan---VC bans: Zed, Kayle, Thresh---
coL: Jayce, Xin Zhao, Lux, Kog'Maw, Soraka
VC: Elise, Lee Sin, Nidalee, Ezreal, Alistar
Aw, coL, giving Soraka a bad name by not taking heal first and getting gibbed by Alistar/Ezreal.  At 30 minutes, it was 0-10 in kills and 0-6 in towers.  This kind of jump in performance from week to week would get them tested for PEDs in another sport.

Team MRN vs Good Game University
---MRN bans: Nidalee, Twitch, Fizz---GGU bans: Taric, Kayle, Xin Zhao---
MRN: Renekton, Vi, Twisted Fate, Tristana, Alistar
GGU: Shen, Jarvan, Lux, Ezreal, Lulu
Was it MRN's plan to just stall out the game for forever and gain gold advantage via creeps and TF passive?  If so, why did GGU play into their hands?  First blood happened at nearly 26 minutes, and it was straight to lose from there for GGU.

Counter Logic Gaming vs Complexity
---CLG bans: Zed, Singed, Kayle---coL bans: Nidalee, Twisted Fate, Syndra---
CLG: Malphite, Xin Zhao, Jayce, Urgot, Taric
coL: Shen, Jarvan, Cassiopeia, Twitch, Thresh
It was actually close, and coL wins several team fights, but CLG manages to eke it out in the end.  I guess I'm never that excited by Twitch games.  You can hear Spray and Pray, but you can't see it very well, and Twitch gets away via fading to invisibility, which is very passive to watch.

Team MRN vs Vulcun Command
---MRN bans: Singed, Nidalee, Kayle---VC bans: Twisted Fate, Jarvan, Xin Zhao---
MRN: Renekton, Vi, Syndra, Urgot, Taric
VC: Elise, Hecarim, Lux, Ezreal, Alistar
More aggression and fights go down in this one, and MRN even wins some and looks to be ahead for a while, but somehow VC turns around one or two of those fights and then steamrolls straight to victory.  The commentators love the Elise play, but I can't support this positivity towards the spider lady.

Good Game University vs Complexity
---GGU bans: Zed, Jayce, Twisted Fate---coL bans: Nidalee, Jayce, Kayle---
GGU: Cho'Gath, Xin Zhao, Lee Sin, Twitch, Leona
coL: Shen, Vi, Malphite, Ezreal, Taric
Even the commentators were confused during picks and bans, so if what's written directly above makes you scratch your head, you're certainly not alone.  I'm not sure if this is part of the plan, but ZionSpartan on Lee Sin spends the first ten minutes of the game playing like his head's on fire and only the blood of his enemies will put it out. He's supposed to be mid, but he spends most of his time running around the enemy jungle, looking for victims. But coL eventually manages to turn his aggression around and win some team fights.  They also realize that it was all about reaching the Twitch, and they proceed to do so.  From there they carefully roll their way to their first victory.  Hooray, Complexity, you will not be winless this season!

Standings: 
Crs 6-0
Dig 5-2
TSM 4-2
CLG 2-3
VC 3-5
GGU 1-6
MRN 1-3
coL 1-2