--- ALL vs GMB ---
It's been a long super-week, and Kha'zix, Kassadin, and LeBlanc were all banned, so you can forgive me if my attention started to stray when ALL started to lose this game. Froggen was on Lulu, after all, and not only is that largely un-entertaining to watch, GMB is also virtually a sure thing once they've carved out even the smallest of advantages. But this is one of the only examples on record of how to come back against GMB, even if ALL wasn't actually all that down in gold.
--- SK vs ROC ---
Pretty non-risk filled game. You could probably guess that from Lulu mid and Kayle support.
--- MIL vs SHC ---
This is your chance to see some Olaf top and Zilean support. Also, SHC just doesn't look dominant anymore, and MIL has somehow gotten their act together?
--- FNC vs SK ---
Another fine upset for SK, who actually look like a valid team now. Gotta love EU, where all the teams can just end up tied at the end of the season.
--- SHC vs CW ---
As we have seen before, Amazing on Lee Sin is a surprisingly terrifying prospect.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
EU LCS W8D1-D2 (Spoilers)
--- CW vs FNC ---
Ugh, the worst for me, since I hate Lulu mid and Annie support. And somehow, they still win. Someone make this trend go away.
--- ROC vs GMB ---
The battle for all the first places. A very good one, Deman was shrieking at them for nearly a solid half hour at the end. Great plays, too. I think, in the end, though, that Gambit shouldn't have tried to fight after they grabbed that last baron. Just back off, let it heal you up, come back stronger.
--- SK vs MIL ---
Relatively even game, but not all that exciting - low kills. Boo Lulu/Annie! Not a big fan of Zigs/Evelyn, either.
--- SHC vs ALL ---
Wow, that was a boring game. Usually when the team you're rooting for wins, at least it's a 'good' game. But no, despite this, it was amazingly boring, like SHC was slowly giving ground and giving ground, and then realized too late there was no comeback left to mount.
--- ROC vs MIL ---
This first place vs last place, and ROC is running that mid-Mord again. Two huge pauses early in the game, fast forward to the 45 min mark. There's a fight at the 17:30 mark in-game, which is pretty cool, and makes you grateful that EU and NA just like to YOLO it and stay in the fight until they win or die. Have you ever watched the OGN? Their 5v5 engages become a whole lot of disengage and run away, really quick. Maybe it's smarter to live and fight another day, but 5v5 fights are just more entertaining when champs throw their lives away. Also, you gotta love an upset of that caliber!
--- GMB vs SK ---
Alex on LeBlanc, yup, this one went how you would expect.
--- CW vs ALL ---
I'm rooting for ALL, of course, but nowadays I'm also rooting against Annie support and for Nid mid. It's selfish, and I hope you do it too: what works in LCS affects what we, the rest of LoL players, see in soloQ. Good game for me in that case, Shook is always effective on Elise, and Froggen's mid Nid makes the rest of us Nidalees look smart.
--- FNC vs SHC ---
xPeke on LeBlanc and Soaz on Malphite, whee. SHC didn't really show up, so I actually wonder what took so long for FNC to close it out.
--- GMB vs CW ----
Alex gets Kassadin. You'll have to watch the separate video they have of picks and bans to find out how that one happened. But regardless of how or why, you know what it means. Also, I've mentioned at least twice now that I don't like Annie support, and Edward is obviously the only exception to that rule, because Edward doesn't really play as a support. That's part of the reason why Gambit either snowballs furiously to a win, or to a horrible loss.
--- ALL vs ROC ---
ALL won of course (Kassadin to Froggen, wtf), but the vid seems to be missing from the youtube playlist... Doesn't everyone love how Wickd is the only one who plays Irelia ever?
--- MIL vs FNC ---
Much more exciting with no Lulu or Annie on the map. LeBlanc and Zed are all about go in and get someone, or die trying.
Ugh, the worst for me, since I hate Lulu mid and Annie support. And somehow, they still win. Someone make this trend go away.
--- ROC vs GMB ---
The battle for all the first places. A very good one, Deman was shrieking at them for nearly a solid half hour at the end. Great plays, too. I think, in the end, though, that Gambit shouldn't have tried to fight after they grabbed that last baron. Just back off, let it heal you up, come back stronger.
--- SK vs MIL ---
Relatively even game, but not all that exciting - low kills. Boo Lulu/Annie! Not a big fan of Zigs/Evelyn, either.
--- SHC vs ALL ---
Wow, that was a boring game. Usually when the team you're rooting for wins, at least it's a 'good' game. But no, despite this, it was amazingly boring, like SHC was slowly giving ground and giving ground, and then realized too late there was no comeback left to mount.
--- ROC vs MIL ---
This first place vs last place, and ROC is running that mid-Mord again. Two huge pauses early in the game, fast forward to the 45 min mark. There's a fight at the 17:30 mark in-game, which is pretty cool, and makes you grateful that EU and NA just like to YOLO it and stay in the fight until they win or die. Have you ever watched the OGN? Their 5v5 engages become a whole lot of disengage and run away, really quick. Maybe it's smarter to live and fight another day, but 5v5 fights are just more entertaining when champs throw their lives away. Also, you gotta love an upset of that caliber!
--- GMB vs SK ---
Alex on LeBlanc, yup, this one went how you would expect.
--- CW vs ALL ---
I'm rooting for ALL, of course, but nowadays I'm also rooting against Annie support and for Nid mid. It's selfish, and I hope you do it too: what works in LCS affects what we, the rest of LoL players, see in soloQ. Good game for me in that case, Shook is always effective on Elise, and Froggen's mid Nid makes the rest of us Nidalees look smart.
--- FNC vs SHC ---
xPeke on LeBlanc and Soaz on Malphite, whee. SHC didn't really show up, so I actually wonder what took so long for FNC to close it out.
--- GMB vs CW ----
Alex gets Kassadin. You'll have to watch the separate video they have of picks and bans to find out how that one happened. But regardless of how or why, you know what it means. Also, I've mentioned at least twice now that I don't like Annie support, and Edward is obviously the only exception to that rule, because Edward doesn't really play as a support. That's part of the reason why Gambit either snowballs furiously to a win, or to a horrible loss.
--- ALL vs ROC ---
ALL won of course (Kassadin to Froggen, wtf), but the vid seems to be missing from the youtube playlist... Doesn't everyone love how Wickd is the only one who plays Irelia ever?
--- MIL vs FNC ---
Much more exciting with no Lulu or Annie on the map. LeBlanc and Zed are all about go in and get someone, or die trying.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
NA LCS W7D1-D2 (Spoilers)
Watch out for that preshow. I know you probably skip it to get straight to the games, but they interview Doublelift and Aphromoo, that's always full of 'oh, snap!' moments. Do you not love Doublelift? Come on! He's either a more awesome version of you, or a more uncensored version of any sports star. Like, for once getting an unfiltered, honest answer out of Peyton Manning: "What do you think of the Manning bowl?" "Well, we would always throw Eli up against walls by his underwear, so no, I'm not worried." Also, since a player named Sheep has joined the league, this is Phreak's first opportunity to go nuts with the puns. Even if you hate puns (like me), you will definitely be impressed by Kobe, who does not smack anyone, even though he's within arms reach of Phreak most of the time.
--- C9 vs XDG ---
If you haven't been paying attention, XDG made another switch, taking Zuna full circle back to his original role. I'm kinda glad it worked out for them; he's better as an ADC than anything else he's tried. The new support, Sheep, is good. They hinted at something unpleasant with their last support's departure, and that's always sad to hear. In other news, Lemonnation was caught fruit-handed on stage, where no food is allowed. An orange and a banana were confiscated, and am I the only crazy one that wants some hard-hitting investigative journalism on this issue? Where did this fruit come from? Why did C9 lose after it was confiscated? Why did he have an orange, if his name is LEMONnation? Questions.
--- CLG vs CRS ---
Do you ever watch these games, maybe live, and think during picks and bans: "This is over, please skip me to the end."? Maybe even in ban phase, you could call this - Crs let LeBlanc through to Link, who was MVP last week.
--- Dig vs TSM ---
Reggie is temporarily back mid, subbing for Bjergsen, and it's basically old times: a roll against Dig.
--- CST vs EG ---
Another game where you couldn't say what exactly went wrong for EG, or what CST was doing so much better, but they were clearly ahead, start to finish. Me, I don't believe in support Annie.
--- C9 vs TSM ---
Reggie is on LeBlanc, but you don't get to see him do anything good with her. C9 is legendary for their team fight phase, but they were already ahead by lane phase, so nobody looked good on TSM, of course.
--- EG vs Dig ---
EG brings out Top Yasuo, in case you haven't seen that before. It seems to be going well with the jungle Panth early on, but the game becomes a very back and forth affair, and EG lives up to what we thought about them: high level individual play, but no end-game plan or clear direction in team fights. Hope that is either untrue, or changes, for EG's sake.
--- XDG vs CLG ---
Wow, this one was quick. CLG is massive ahead before 20 minutes and just toys with XDG for the remainder. Lulu mid was a bad idea against Link, Mancloud. Sheep was good on Morgana support, though.
--- Crs vs CST ---
Nice try, banning Jax, Nid, and Leblanc, Crs. Shiphtur just takes Ahri and dodges around Voyboy's Gragas. There's a long game pause early on, so speed ahead to nearly the hour-mark of the vid, where you will see a terribly sad flash by Wizfuzin, attempting to block the Cait ult, but he totally overshoots the mark, and Ace in the Hole whizzes behind him to kill Daydreamin. Nice game again from CST, they always look so dominant when they start winning.
--- C9 vs XDG ---
If you haven't been paying attention, XDG made another switch, taking Zuna full circle back to his original role. I'm kinda glad it worked out for them; he's better as an ADC than anything else he's tried. The new support, Sheep, is good. They hinted at something unpleasant with their last support's departure, and that's always sad to hear. In other news, Lemonnation was caught fruit-handed on stage, where no food is allowed. An orange and a banana were confiscated, and am I the only crazy one that wants some hard-hitting investigative journalism on this issue? Where did this fruit come from? Why did C9 lose after it was confiscated? Why did he have an orange, if his name is LEMONnation? Questions.
--- CLG vs CRS ---
Do you ever watch these games, maybe live, and think during picks and bans: "This is over, please skip me to the end."? Maybe even in ban phase, you could call this - Crs let LeBlanc through to Link, who was MVP last week.
--- Dig vs TSM ---
Reggie is temporarily back mid, subbing for Bjergsen, and it's basically old times: a roll against Dig.
--- CST vs EG ---
Another game where you couldn't say what exactly went wrong for EG, or what CST was doing so much better, but they were clearly ahead, start to finish. Me, I don't believe in support Annie.
--- C9 vs TSM ---
Reggie is on LeBlanc, but you don't get to see him do anything good with her. C9 is legendary for their team fight phase, but they were already ahead by lane phase, so nobody looked good on TSM, of course.
--- EG vs Dig ---
EG brings out Top Yasuo, in case you haven't seen that before. It seems to be going well with the jungle Panth early on, but the game becomes a very back and forth affair, and EG lives up to what we thought about them: high level individual play, but no end-game plan or clear direction in team fights. Hope that is either untrue, or changes, for EG's sake.
--- XDG vs CLG ---
Wow, this one was quick. CLG is massive ahead before 20 minutes and just toys with XDG for the remainder. Lulu mid was a bad idea against Link, Mancloud. Sheep was good on Morgana support, though.
--- Crs vs CST ---
Nice try, banning Jax, Nid, and Leblanc, Crs. Shiphtur just takes Ahri and dodges around Voyboy's Gragas. There's a long game pause early on, so speed ahead to nearly the hour-mark of the vid, where you will see a terribly sad flash by Wizfuzin, attempting to block the Cait ult, but he totally overshoots the mark, and Ace in the Hole whizzes behind him to kill Daydreamin. Nice game again from CST, they always look so dominant when they start winning.
EU LCS W7D1-D2 (Spoilers)
--- ALL vs FNC ---
ALL does a thing where they lock in Lulu first, and then wait to see what xPeke will pick mid into Lulu, then pick something else mid and let Nyph support Lulu. Also, Wickd goes back to Irelia, and tries to lvl 1 jump on someone with her. When that doesn't work, he just teleports back to top lane before he loses any cs. There's a kind of amazing Karthus ult that takes down Rekkles, even though it doesn't look like it's going to. Rekkles didn't even barrier. ALL wrap this one up pretty neatly.
--- SK vs SHC ---
It seems that SK's lineup is brutal: Renekton, Panth, Nid, Vayne, Annie. Once they use their combo, or Nid starts massively damaging with spears, you wonder why all these picks got through. Beer goggles for champions, I guess. Win-goggles. Panth will channel his ult, and just as it becomes visible to the enemy team, Annie slams Tibbers down in the center, so the target takes max damage from the Grand Skyfall. They blow up SHC's bot lane multiple times with this move.
--- MIL vs GMB ---
It was closer early on than I expected, after MIL chose Swain mid and Elise top. Did you just hear the slightly muffled derisive laughter of five Russians? Yup. At the end, Deficio deadpans: "And Diamond has Manamune. On Aatrox. Really, Darian? Really?"
--- ROC vs CW ---
Leblanc top, Zigs mid, Morgana support? Really, ROC? Has that been working for you in scrims? Because I'm not sure how that's sensible.
--- FNC vs GMB ---
I just criticized the triple-AP lineup, but Fnatic makes it work with Lulu top and Nidalee mid. Maybe because they've been playing it longer, maybe because they just got ahead really early and never let up the advantage. They started their losing streak with Gambit, and they ended it with Gambit. After losing to every other team in league, wow!
--- CW vs MIL ---
A high level show of Lee Sin skills by CW's Amazing, but otherwise a pretty standard game.
--- ALL vs SK ---
ALL gets down at about the 10-15 min mark, and never gets their act together to get back in it, though it keeps looking like they will. Just another case of that inevitable snowball.
--- SHC vs ROC ---
Mostly dull.
ALL does a thing where they lock in Lulu first, and then wait to see what xPeke will pick mid into Lulu, then pick something else mid and let Nyph support Lulu. Also, Wickd goes back to Irelia, and tries to lvl 1 jump on someone with her. When that doesn't work, he just teleports back to top lane before he loses any cs. There's a kind of amazing Karthus ult that takes down Rekkles, even though it doesn't look like it's going to. Rekkles didn't even barrier. ALL wrap this one up pretty neatly.
--- SK vs SHC ---
It seems that SK's lineup is brutal: Renekton, Panth, Nid, Vayne, Annie. Once they use their combo, or Nid starts massively damaging with spears, you wonder why all these picks got through. Beer goggles for champions, I guess. Win-goggles. Panth will channel his ult, and just as it becomes visible to the enemy team, Annie slams Tibbers down in the center, so the target takes max damage from the Grand Skyfall. They blow up SHC's bot lane multiple times with this move.
--- MIL vs GMB ---
It was closer early on than I expected, after MIL chose Swain mid and Elise top. Did you just hear the slightly muffled derisive laughter of five Russians? Yup. At the end, Deficio deadpans: "And Diamond has Manamune. On Aatrox. Really, Darian? Really?"
--- ROC vs CW ---
Leblanc top, Zigs mid, Morgana support? Really, ROC? Has that been working for you in scrims? Because I'm not sure how that's sensible.
--- FNC vs GMB ---
I just criticized the triple-AP lineup, but Fnatic makes it work with Lulu top and Nidalee mid. Maybe because they've been playing it longer, maybe because they just got ahead really early and never let up the advantage. They started their losing streak with Gambit, and they ended it with Gambit. After losing to every other team in league, wow!
--- CW vs MIL ---
A high level show of Lee Sin skills by CW's Amazing, but otherwise a pretty standard game.
--- ALL vs SK ---
ALL gets down at about the 10-15 min mark, and never gets their act together to get back in it, though it keeps looking like they will. Just another case of that inevitable snowball.
--- SHC vs ROC ---
Mostly dull.
The Voice: The Drinking Game
Disclaimer: Probably you don't want to actually play this game. You will get so drunk, it is not even funny. Maybe just play it as a bingo-style game.
CATEGORY 1: Job
The job has to be something utterly crap. The kind of job that if someone on the street told you that's what they did, the first thing you might say is: "But you're waiting for something else, right?" No, really. If you don't believe me, well, you've probably not been paying attention, and you will see when I start listing some examples.
- Utterly crap (e.g. work for family business, waiter, bartender, store attendant)
- Floating from music gig to music gig
- Supported by parents / In school
- Says the words: "But my real dream is to pursue music full-time"
- Indicates how money is tight and The Voice is a "really big opportunity that I need right now"
CATEGORY 2: History
Bonus points if they start with the words: "Music has always been a part of my life." Because that is a cliche too enormous to be ignored. Music has been a part of everyone's life. It's really hard to not have music in your life, dudes.
- Mentions being really into sports. Maybe you don't know Meyers-Briggs typology like I do, but SP's make up nearly 100% of musicians and sports stars. Don't think your 'almost MLB-career' makes you special, dude. Every one of these musicians has the same history.
- Drugs or alcohol abuse candidly confessed to
- Unexpected pregnancy and subsequent "life-changing" parenthood experience. See above note on SP's.
- Has been dropped by a music label already once
- Mentions a recent death in the family, and how they have to win The Voice, "for them"
CATEGORY 3: Appearance
We're looking for significant alterations and unique stylings here.
- Tattoos
- Excess piercings
- Hair coloring / Long hair for guys
- Silly headgear / hairstyle
- Wacky outfit
CATEGORY 4: Support Network
For some reason, everyone mentions support network. And this usually falls into the broad categories of "My family totally supports me in my dream," and "my family doesn't get it and The Voice is the last chance before they make me go to graduate school"
- My family totally supports me in my dream
- My family doesn't support me at all
- The Voice is my last chance. If I don't get on a team, I'll have to go to (something else)
- Family member a professional musician
- Carson calls someone using the very obvious Sprint Samsung tablet OR starts crying during confessional when talking about support network
CATEGORY 1: Job
The job has to be something utterly crap. The kind of job that if someone on the street told you that's what they did, the first thing you might say is: "But you're waiting for something else, right?" No, really. If you don't believe me, well, you've probably not been paying attention, and you will see when I start listing some examples.
- Utterly crap (e.g. work for family business, waiter, bartender, store attendant)
- Floating from music gig to music gig
- Supported by parents / In school
- Says the words: "But my real dream is to pursue music full-time"
- Indicates how money is tight and The Voice is a "really big opportunity that I need right now"
CATEGORY 2: History
Bonus points if they start with the words: "Music has always been a part of my life." Because that is a cliche too enormous to be ignored. Music has been a part of everyone's life. It's really hard to not have music in your life, dudes.
- Mentions being really into sports. Maybe you don't know Meyers-Briggs typology like I do, but SP's make up nearly 100% of musicians and sports stars. Don't think your 'almost MLB-career' makes you special, dude. Every one of these musicians has the same history.
- Drugs or alcohol abuse candidly confessed to
- Unexpected pregnancy and subsequent "life-changing" parenthood experience. See above note on SP's.
- Has been dropped by a music label already once
- Mentions a recent death in the family, and how they have to win The Voice, "for them"
CATEGORY 3: Appearance
We're looking for significant alterations and unique stylings here.
- Tattoos
- Excess piercings
- Hair coloring / Long hair for guys
- Silly headgear / hairstyle
- Wacky outfit
CATEGORY 4: Support Network
For some reason, everyone mentions support network. And this usually falls into the broad categories of "My family totally supports me in my dream," and "my family doesn't get it and The Voice is the last chance before they make me go to graduate school"
- My family totally supports me in my dream
- My family doesn't support me at all
- The Voice is my last chance. If I don't get on a team, I'll have to go to (something else)
- Family member a professional musician
- Carson calls someone using the very obvious Sprint Samsung tablet OR starts crying during confessional when talking about support network
Saturday, March 8, 2014
How I met your mother: spoilers
I didn't get to post before the other stuff I predicted, so I'll post this time. Looks to me that the mother dies. That's why he tells stories later in life, she's been gone since the kids were small.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)