LCS Qualifiers: Day 2, Quarterfinals

Day 2 of Qualifiers is the Quarterfinals.  Anyone who wins here gets a berth into Season 3, apparently.  Losers go on to Day 3 eliminations.

Day 2, FeaR vs Meat Playground, Game 1
---FR bans: Amumu, Nunu, Kha'Zix---MP bans: Rumble, Jayce, Shen---
FR: Olaf, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Kog'Maw, Sona
MP: Malphite, Jarvan, Elise, Ezreal, Lulu
This was a long game.  Everyone was extremely wealthy by the end.  Both teams were geared for late game, and also had good late game defense.  Even though FR started pulling away at the end, it took them a lot of time to finally finish the base.  It was all a matter of protecting the Kog'Maw, their main source of damage, and that was a challenge, to keep Jarvan and Malphite away.  Phreak and Rivington (sp?) are entertained with MP Zuna's (Kog'Maw) volume level during team fights.

Day 2, FeaR vs Meat Playground, Game 2
---FR bans: Nunu, Amumu, Kha'Zix---MP bans: Rumble, Jayce, Kog'Maw---
FR: Shen, Nocturne, Evelynn, Graves, Lulu
MP: Malphite, Cho'Gath, Vlad, Ezreal, Sona
This one was a lot shorter, Phreak thinks that's because the teams have the measure of one another's skills and tactics. If so, that only applied to FR, because they were winning this game early and often.  Between Shen, Nocturne, and Evelynn, MP never had any idea when the engage was coming, and how many members of FR would be there.

Day 2, DirtNap Gaming vs GoodGame University, Game 1
---DNG bans: Elise, Ziggs, Akali---GGU bans: Jayce, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Nocturne, Kassadin, Graves, Lulu
GGU: Katarina, Shen, Karthus, Vayne, Nunu
Early lane switch, but the order of champs is still correct in spirit. Old school match-up mid between Kassadin and Karthus.  DNG gets behind early, and then doesn't seem to have a plan to get back into it.

Day 2, DirtNap Gaming vs GoodGame University, Game 2
---DNG bans: Elise, Ziggs, Nunu---GGU bans: Jayce, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Maokai, Kayle, Graves, Sona
GGU: Akali, Shen, Orianna, Ezreal, Lulu
Akali was banned in the first game and now that she wasn't, GGU takes her, and promptly becomes terribly over-aggressive on all fronts.

Day 2, DirtNap Gaming vs GoodGame University, Game 3
--DNG bans: Elise, Ziggs, Nunu---GGU bans: Jayce, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Maokai, Kayle, Graves, Sona
GGU: Rumble, Cho'Gath, Anivia, Twitch, Lulu
All three of these games seem oddly dictated by failed attempts at first bloods.  Whoever tried it first invariably blew it, and the game seemed to snowball from that point onwards.  Both teams seemed good at pressing their advantage when they were ahead, but didn't have a plan for how to come back from behind.  In this case, it was GGU ahead from beginning to end.

Day 2, Curse vs Azure, Game 1
---CRS bans: Olaf, Nunu, Evelynn---AZG bans: Elise, Amumu, Kha'Zix---
CRS: Katarina, Cho'Gath, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Sona
AZG: Shen, Nocturne, Orianna, Twitch, Lulu
Lulu gets caught out right at the beginning, and it doesn't get any better from there.  AZG pretty much gets destroyed. Voyboy builds a Warmog's Katarina top vs the Shen.

Day 2, Curse vs Azure, Game 2
---CRS bans: Kha'Zix, Nunu, Evelynn---AZG bans: Elise, Katarina, Twisted Fate---
CRS: Olaf, Cho'Gath, Ryze, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks
AZG: Rumble, Amumu, Karthus, Miss Fortune, Lulu
AZG makes it more respectable, but Voyboy would not be denied.  As Olaf, he teleported into the very center of AZG while they were taking dragon and just went man mode.  Which is a funny thing to say - after the game, you can see CRS celebrate by lifting Voyboy over their heads, and he is a really small dude. Phreak mentions that Voyboy actually already qualified for season 3 with CLG, but because he left the team, had to qualify again with a new team.

Day 2, MRN vs The Brunch Club, Game 1

---MRN bans: Malphite, Evelynn, Jayce---TBC bans: Jarvan, Riven, Anivia---

MRN: Cho'Gath, Nocturne, Orianna, Caitlynn, Nunu

TBC: Zed, Shen,  Kha'Zix, Ezreal, Sona
MRN ClakeyDeeeeee is the brother of TBC Nickwu, apparently.  A couple of exciting 5v5 fights that are close, but ultimately won by TBC due to very slight mistakes by MRN.  Kha'Zix also chalks up an official pentakill at one point.

Day 2, MRN vs The Brunch Club, Game 2
---MRN bans: Evelynn, Kha'Zix, Zed---TBC bans: Jarvan, Riven, Anivia---
MRN: Olaf, Shen, Ziggs, Graves, Lulu
TBC: Jayce, Cho'Gath, Ryze, Caitlynn, Nunu
TBC just slowly accumulates too much power for MRN.  Even though MRN dives through TBC to get to Caitlynn, Jayce and Ryze are still dishing out huge amounts of damage.

Results:
IN => Curse, The Brunch Club, Good Game University, FeaR
To Final Elimination Round => MRN, Azure, Dirtnap Gaming, Meat Playground

LCS Qualifiers: Day 1, Group D

Group D: Team MRN, Cloud 9, The Salad Bar, Azure Gaming

Team MRN vs Cloud 9
---MRN bans: Evelynn, Malphite, Katarina---C9 bans: Jarvan, Riven, Shen---
MRN: Irelia, Cho'Gath, Anivia, Ezreal, Sona
C9: Elise, Amumu, Lee Sin, Twitch, Nunu
This is the one.  I won't spoil it for you.  Watch it.  It's only about 20-25 minutes. Heck, you can fast forward until almost 15 minutes into the game itself.

Cloud 9 vs The Salad Bar
---C9 bans: Ezreal, Twisted Fate, Syndra---TSB bans: Nunu, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
C9: Katarina, Amumu, Vlad, Twitch, Zyra
TSB: Cho'Gath, Lee Sin, Jayce, Miss Fortune, Blitzcrank
I like that Katarina is back in vogue.  And top Katarina with teleport is wonderfully deadly.  It led to a slow snowball.  WildTurtle also gets a pentakill right at the end with Twitch.

The Salad Bar vs Azure Gaming
---TSB bans: Kha'Zix, Kassadin, Evelynn---AZG bans: Syndra, Lee Sin, Shen---
TSB: Singed, Jarvan, Jayce, Miss Fortune, Blitzcrank
AZG: Cho'Gath, Amumu, Katarina, Ezreal, Nunu
I thought that the Syndra ban in the previous game was a troll, but I guess someone on TSB can legitimately play Syndra?  No one can really listen to ALL of the analysis that runs through the champ select and pre-game, though they probably have mentioned it.  During the game itself, the commentators really emphasize how AZG just picked up a free agent ADC, Demonlul, 'off his couch' just a few weeks ago, as they say in the regular sports business.  He had taken some time away from LoL to 'focus on high school', and that's about as much as I was able to listen to - he got a pentakill on Ezreal at the end of that game.  Just wrong.

Team MRN vs Azure Gaming
---MRN bans: Evelynn, Ryze, Malphite---AZG bans: Anivia, Kha'Zix, Shen---
MRN: Riven, Jarven, Ahri, Urgot, Taric
AZG: Cho'Gath, Nocturne, Kassadin, Graves, Nunu
Demonlul on Graves got fed early, and things looked really bad for MRN.  They wrench the ship upright and pulled off a slow and methodical come-back victory, featuring MegaZero on Riven.

Azure Gaming vs Cloud 9
---AZG bans: Katarina, Kha'Zix, Elise---C9 bans: Twisted Fate, Ryze, Evelyn---
AZG: Olaf, Nocturne, Orianna, Miss Fortune, Nunu
C9: Riven, Amumu, Corki, Twitch, Lulu
Another strange mid from C9.  Couldn't quite figure out what the plan was, but lane phase went on for quite some time, so I think they were trying to power level the Corki.  When that doesn't work, the Twitch split pushes while the rest of the team dances around trying not to get engaged on.  Olaf with teleport put a stop to that, though, and AZG finally lowered the hammer.

Results:
1. MRN (2-0)
2. AZG (2-1)
3. C9 (1-2)
4. TSB (0-2)

LCS Qualifiers: Day 1, Group A

Group A: The Brunch Club, Pulse eSports, Curse, compLexity

The Brunch Club vs Pulse
---TBC bans: Olaf, Kayle, Shen---pLs bans: Nunu, Amumu, Evelynn---
TBC: Jayce, Maokai, Kha'Zix, Ezreal, Sona
pLs: Cho'Gath, Jarvan, Ryze, Miss Fortune, Taric
Ellie Bee on Sona face checked bot bush and found all of pLs.  Bad times. Despite being perpetually behind in kills, TBC keeps up admirably in gold.  pLs realizes that TBC consists of a major poke comp, and counters this with hard engage.  After a while, TBC realizes that their best bet to counter back is to counter-engage with Sona's ult and use the Jayce gate and Sona speed up to never be around for hard engage.  They slowly snowball to the win.

Pulse eSports vs compLexity
---pLs bans: Kha'Zix, Nunu, Evelynn---coL bans: Twisted Fate, Ryze, Ahri---
pLs: Olaf, Xin Zhao, Kayle, Ezreal, Taric
coL: Shen, Amumu, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Lulu
pLs had both push comp and split push comp with Olaf, who was a monster.  They took mid inhibitor by 17:00, and also starting winning team fights, perhaps due to superior gold - perhaps due to superior team.

Curse vs compLexity
---CRS bans: Olaf, Shen, Evelynn---coL bans: Twisted Fate, Nunu, Elise---
CRS: Kha'Zix, Cho'Gath, Ryze, Miss Fortune, Lulu
coL: Jax, Amumu, Katarina, Ezreal, Sona
Mid Katarina vs Ryze?  I don't know what your plan was, coL.  Well, at least we got to hear Deman make the Kha'Zix noise as Voyboy comes rampaging through the whole coL team.

Curse vs The Brunch Club
---CRS bans: Maokai, Shen, Evelynn---TBC bans: Amumu, Nidalee, Kha'Zix---
CRS: Elise, Cho'Gath, Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Lulu
TBC: Zed, Malphite, Kassadin, Miss Fortune, Sona
Voyboy was a positive monster top lane with Elise.  Even when TBC tried to go for a gank, TF could always threaten to teleport up there to turn it around.  Nothing went their way in this matchup.

The Brunch Club vs Pulse, Game 2
---TBC bans: Olaf, Kayle, Shen---pLs bans: Amumu, Kha'Zix, Kassadin---
TBC: Zed, Cho'Gath, Evelynn, Twitch, Soraka
pLs: Karthus, Jarvan, Ryze, Ezreal, Taric
Weird lineups on both sides. Soraka also took starfall level 1.  Then the Soraka lucked out that she leveled up just before she was murdered by the Ezreal and got heal in time.  Twitch got the turnaround kills and ended up with a BF sword in 4 minutes. Didn't get better for pLs from there.

Results:
1. Curse (2-0)
2. TBC (2-1)
3. pLs (1-2)
4. coL (0-2)

LCS Qualifiers: Day 1, Group C

Group C: 1 Trick Ponies, Dirt Nap Gaming, Falafel Gaming, Meat Playground

1Trick Ponies vs Dirt Nap Gaming
---1TP bans: Zyra, Lee Sin, Kha'Zix---DNG bans: Evelynn, Jarvan, Malphite---
1TP: Olaf, Amumu, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Sona
DNG: Shen, Maokai, Jayce, Graves, Lulu
1TP always seems to have an unusual plan.  This game, they send MF mid with Sona, Olaf bot, and Katarina top, and it seems to backfire, because Sona makes a silly move and gets herself first blooded. Later 1TP groups up mid to fight and lets bot fall.  Eventually 1TP gets so far behind in gold, DNG Cris on Shen becomes completely unkillable - Deman calls him a 'raid boss' when all five 1TP's are on him for a full minute and he just casually kills them all.  Gruesome.

1Trick Ponies vs Falafel Gaming
---1TP bans: Nocturne, Amumu, Shen---FG bans: Lee Sin, Evelynn, LeBlanc---
1TP: Zed, Olaf, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Sona
FG: Rumble, Nunu, Pantheon, Graves, Lulu
No tricks this time from 1TP, just LilKvn mid with Katarina.  But I doubt it's the standard style of gameplay that let's them get so far ahead; I think they just outclass FG.

Meat Playground vs Falafel Gaming
---MP bans: Rumble, Shen, Nunu---FG bans: Evelynn, Kha'Zix, Lee Sin---
MP: Vlad, Amumu, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Sona
FG: Elise, Cho'Gath, Pantheon, Ezreal, Leona
Absolutely crazy aggressive MP Arthelon on Katarina mid - first item potion of fortitude with the intention of tower dive for first blood.  After that, ran to bot to tower dive to kill both bot and got himself killed.  His crazy aggression seems to be okay with the rest of MP, which savagely initiated fight after fight and the score quickly got out of hand.

Dirt Nap Gaming vs Meat Playground
---DNG bans: Amumu, Malphite, Nidalee---MP bans: Twisted Fate, Shen, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Nocturne, Jayce, Graves, Sona
MP: Cho'Gath, Lee Sin, Evelynn, Caitlyn, Nunu
MP initiates a lane switch, but loses the life exchange when the ganks happen, starting off in an early 4-1 deficit. DNG knows how to put the lockdown on, and turns that advantage into a big snowball.

1Trick Ponies vs Meat Playground
---1TP bans: Zyra, Shen, Ezreal---MP bans: Katarina, Amumu, Miss Fortune---
1TP: Zed, Evelynn, LeBlanc, Caitlyn, Lulu
MP: Malphite, Nunu, Kha'Zix, Kog'Maw, Sona
Right at the outset, Phreak definitely states that Kog'Maw will get too huge late game for 1TP to do anything about - they'll have to win within approx 20 min or not at all.  I wonder if 1TP knew that.  MP puts ADC and support mid, strangely, and 1TP immediately moves their lanes to counter.  Apparently the 'one trick' that 1 Trick Ponies is named after is LilKvn's LeBlanc, which he mains.  And indeed, he plays a classy LeBlanc with a number of flashy kills, but MP's strong late game eventually overpowers their assassin-heavy team.

Results:
1. DNG (2-0)
2. MP (2-1)
3. 1TP (1-2)
4. FG (0-2)

LCS: Qualifiers Day 1, Group B

I've reviewed all of the games on the first two days of qualifiers, and the most important game to watch is MRN vs C9 during the group stage on the first day of qualifiers.  It's only about 20 minutes, but at the same time, is a pretty close and exciting game.  Here is the link to the playlist on youtube.  Group stage means that you play everyone in your group and best records move on - basically you win twice, you're clear, and you lose twice, you go home.

Group B: Fear, TowerDive TV, GoodGame University, Epik

FeaR vs TowerDive TV

---FR bans: Draven, Katarina, Lulu---TDT bans: Evelynn, Blitzcrank, Twisted Fate---

FR: Elise, Lee Sin, Ryze, Kog'Maw, Nunu

TDT: Xin Zhao, Shen, Lux, Ezreal, Sona

TDT had an unusual line-up, and an unusual strategy; Shen gave red buff to XZ top, and blue buff to EZ bot, and then spent all his time trying to gank, basically giving up jungle to try and dominate lanes.  Alas, it did not work. 

FeaR vs GoodGame University

---FR bans: Katarina, Nunu, Kha'Zix---GGU bans: Shen, Evelynn, Lee Sin---

FR: Rumble, Cho'Gath, Jayce, Ezreal, Zyra

GGU: Nidalee, Elise, Ziggs, Graves, Lulu

GGU initiates a lane switch, but champs are still listed above in order of the spirit of original lane assignments. I like ZionSpartan's Nidalee, but they couldn't quite overcome some key Rumble and Ezreal ults.  They made a good game of it, though.

GoodGame University vs TowerDive TV
---GGU bans: Rumble, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---TDT bans: Irealia, BlitzCrank, Ryze---
GGU: Katarina, Shen, Karthus, Twitch, Nunu
TDT: Singed, Amumu, Vlad, Draven, Lulu
GGU continues to switch top and bot lanes, confident in ZionSpartan's Katarina 1v2, even picking up first blood down there with a gank from NintendudeX's Shen at the moment Lulu moves off to ward river. Katarina and Shen go on to dictate team fights, while Karthus surely outlanes Vlad mid, and the 2v1 lane top pushes out as well. 

Epik Gamer vs GoodGame University

---EG bans: Elise, Nidalle, Katarina---GGU bans: Amumu, Evelynn, Shen---

EG: Kha'Zix, Maokai, Orianna, Twitch, Sona

GGU: Rumble, Olaf, Ziggs, Caitlynn, Nunu

Wonder what is up with Epik Gamer.  Rusty?  Been busy?  They seemed extremely off their game.  Well, Westrice was fine, but couldn't possibly carry hard enough to fight off all of GGU.  Dan Dinh's jungle was invaded every which way, Salce didn't dominate mid, and cat8 and PureGoldenBoy got ruined even though they went 2v1 top vs ZionSpartan's Rumble.

Epik Gamer vs TowerDive TV

---EG bans: Blitzcrank, Nunu, Lee Sin---TDT bans: Evelynn, Amumu, Ryze---

EG: Kha'Zix, Maokai, Ahri, Ezreal, Zyra

TDT: Irelia, Jarvan, Vlad, Miss Fortune, Taric

The mistakes for EG continue in this game, starting with a disastrous level 1 jungle invade that leaves Westrice dead and Dan Dinh way behind.  After getting down 6-0 in kills, EG claws it's way back into contention, but then seemingly throws the game away. Strange and unfortunate, because losing twice means we won't be seeing any more of Epik Gamer this season.

Final results:
1. FeaR (2-0)
2. GGU (2-1)
3. TDT (1-2)
4. EG (0-2)

AC3: Day 2

Some silly ship stuff happens – I did like the little board games that I could play to kill the time, though.  We arrive in America none the worse for wear, and I start getting acquainted with my five fellow Templars.  Again, are we not supposed to know that?  They really seem like the evil dudes, to me.  We wantonly murder our way through the streets of Boston, after all.  One of my guys shoots a dude point blank in the face.  Anyhow, there is some loose explanation about how they need some native assistance to read the inscriptions on the stolen green circle necklace.  Therefore, we need to rescue some natives that are being kidnapped and sold into slavery.  After that, make friendly with the de facto native leader lady, who is a strong, independent, fiery Ubisoft archetype.  And now, we know where we are going with all this – the real main character will be their tragic, somewhat conflicted offspring.  Let’s just get to it, already, then!  I plow through the next missions as fast as possible.

Haytham finds the self-same grotto that Desmond and Friends just entered at the beginning of the game.  But without a proper Apple of Eden, there’s no way for him to open the door.  Frustrated, he sets up Templar shop in Boston to continue pursuit of his nefarious goals.  And, I suppose, this is where the bomb is supposed to be dropped, according to Desmond’s reaction.  I remind you, we've seen hints before in other ACs that Desmond’s ancestry is littered with both Assassins and Templars, don’t you remember!  My question is, why is his dad still such a jerk about things.  Everyone else on the Mystery Van Troop is perfectly friendly enough.

Did they up the ESRB rating?  I don’t recall us swearing quite so much in previous ACs.

I forego further exploration of the grotto in the present time for now to hop back into the Animus and leap into the shoes of our proper main character.  Let me take this opportunity to mention that Nan literally said, “Great, we’re finally in America, and that means characters with names I can pronounce.”  What amazing prophetic powers he has, because the main character has a particularly unpronounceable name!  Let’s call him ‘Ken’ until someone gives him a pronounceable nickname.  We play hide and go seek with our fellows, cheating outrageously by use of our eagle sense and new batman-like Greatest Detective skills.  Naturally, during this interlude, the Templars show up and burn the village to the ground, killing Mom.  You saw it coming, right?  You've played all the other ‘burned village, orphaned hero’ games, right?  Great.  Fast forward nine years, where we’re learning the new mechanics of free running through trees and hunting animals.  They seem like good additions to the manifold of AC tricks. 

Naturally, I’m  granted a vision of the First Civilization fellows, who basically tell me that I’m the last piece that Desmond needs to see in order to unlock the last door.  Great.  My character doesn't even understand, but decide to go for it, and doggedly waits outside a stranger’s door to receive training.  How did he know about this guy?  Did someone tell him and I missed it?  Anyway the guy is an old black guy with a cane named Achilles, and he eventually agrees to train me in the ways of the Assassin.   Somehow, my character also knows about his father, and understands that he must kill him to succeed in his goals of defending the village, etc.  I must have missed that part, too, where someone told him his father was Haytham. 

Biggest Loser S14:E3

By and large an uneventful episode, though we did learn a few terrifying statistics about childhood obesity that I dearly hope are exaggerated for tv audience.  For instance, guess what percentage of parents of obese children think their children are either normal or even under weight?  Like, if you were the parent of an obese child, and you were asked directly where you thought your child landed on the obesity scale, what would you answer?  Seventy five percent!!!  Holy hell!  Look right at your kids, folks.  Look right at them.  Those extra jelly rolls are NOT normal kid shapes!
Anyhow, they try to make a point by locking the team that lost the trivia challenge (blue team) in the kid's playroom for four and a half hours every day and not letting them work out.  Actually just seemed silly and un-impactful for either team or audience.  Just saying.
The challenge is to crawl through a pit filled with bubblegum a bunch of times, and it seems both gross, and potentially dangerous to knees and other twistable joints.  I'm not a fan.
Jillian and Pam fight some more - Pam still has a bit of negativity inside her, and Jillian is tired of mincing words with her.  Sorry Jillian, sometimes it takes people weeks or months to realize it, but after watching so many seasons of this show, I'm sure whoever survives to the end will make that breakthrough.  They did have a hilarious moment right in the middle of getting in each other's faces - Pam says she cannot possibly manage these bearclaws!  And Jillian stops screaming for a second to laugh and correct her - bearcrawls, Pam.  Not bearclaws.  Bearclaws are how you got into this mess.  Bearcrawls will get you out.
Dolvett's team (red) loses the weigh in and is forced to make the first elimination decision of the season.  They've made it more Survivor voting style (more high-tech) instead of their usual discussion/sniping format.  They eliminate Cate.
Have I mentioned the new pictures all over the gym?  Former contestants with motivational quotes and thin smiling bodies. I'm loving it.  I even hear some of them have become trainers.  That is too awesome.  Here's a link to all the posters.