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?
Monday, September 23, 2013
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.
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