Not entirely certain what you're getting at but okay.


In regards to the Curse Academy vs CLG game, I'm of mixed feelings. The last 3 games finally had CLG give some sort of good showing since Week 9 of the LCS but it was largely enabled by CA.

Both the 3rd and 5th game's wins for CLG were largely due to them hitting late game and Tristana being horrendously overwhelming at that point. Plus, unlike other late game Tristana plays, LiftLift didn't get caught like he often does at the 40+ minute mark. With that said though, the 3rd and 5th games highlighted one of CA's weaknesses.

In every game they played, CA would bring in strong mid game team comps that are just flat out more scary in teamfights around the 20 minute mark. This is largely the reason they won game 1 and 2, because they'd win a big fight early and have the game snowball off that. The problem is that, this was literally the only game plan they brought in.

When they tried to bring that mid game power to bear in the third game, they fucked up and ended up giving DoubleLift and quadra in a team comp largely designed to be a protect the ADC team comp. CLG still manages to do a little bit of throwing despite that lead, but when they hit the 40 minute mark, Tristana is largely unstoppable without a hyper carry on the opposite team. Game 4 was them trying that shit again in the top lane but once again giving a huge lead because they pushed too hard against a team that had so much disengage. This time CLG played impeccably and didn't give them back any leads via throws.

Game 5 was interesting because of the Hecarim pick. But honestly, that team comp was once again a mid game power house. That Hecarim was scary as fuck at the 15 minute mark onwards, but Curse just kept getting cockblocked by CLG every time they tried to use his power, resulting in those 3 deaths on that terrible dive on Link. And again, just like game 3, despite picking up baron that mid game team comp just gets outscaled by the Tristana, this time with a Ryze to back her up.

I'm a CLG fan, but I think that CA should have won game 3, because that quadra was largely due to mechanical error rather than strategy. It took them till game 4 to figure out a strategy to deal with a team whose only strategy was to be a mid game powerhouse. Once they figured out how to stall though, the end result was sort of inevitable. This strategy is even worse when you look at every game they played and noticed that CA consistently were losing in each lane until that early team fight.

TLDR: CA should have swept that 3-0, but they fucked up in game 3, let CLG get the lead and only had 1 strategy for all 5 games, resulting in a 2-3 for them when CLG figured it out in game 4.

 

Ah.

characters

 

Ascension is pretty fun. Not URF levels of fun, but a nice change of pace.

 

So Vayne and Anivia is officially OP together at bot lane. If you duo queue with people, get your freelo in rank while it lasts.

 

Holy crap millennium.

You lost... to Poppy.

Poppy.


First mid Hec, and now Poppy. Have fun in ranked!


(Also, T8 just took the first game against complexity. I don't wanna lose prolly in the lcs though, but its always good to see challenger teams that are actually good.)

 

I remember Morello swearing that if Poppy ever got close to seeing competitive play, she'd be nerfed so hard that Olaf players would feel like they got off lightly.

Today, she relegated a team from the LCS.

God help her.

 

To be fair, Poppy became a monster due to Millenium giving her a free lane and then also offering up sacrificial lamb's early to make sure that she would be terrifyingly fed super early... No adaptation for enemy picking a hyper carry who has horrendous early levels, Millenium went to that game like it was blind pick normals...

 

Poppy's kit is OP. Her passive is one of the strongest in the game, her ultimate is arguably the strongest assassination ulti while also being useful for escapes, her moves all do magic damage but can scale from ad and proc lifesteal im pretty sure, and she has a charge that can stun.

She only has two options- either be absurdly overpowered, or have her numbers be so nerfed that it doesn't matter how op her kit is put together because its easy enough to stop her from getting rolling.

Morello's quote thus boiled down to "If poppy is ever proven to be strong enough to be useful in competitive play, we'll nerf her numbers even more so that she isnt used until we can get her rework in." There's no real counterplay to a fed poppy (You can't burst her down because of her passive and w, you can't 5v1 her without someone dying becuase of her ulti or her escaping, she can pick any target and kill them without anyone being able to hurt her), and thats the problem.

 

NEW META

 

So me and Logic we're duoing normals so he could practice support/vision.

We call duo bot, but our Jinx is like, "nah I called it first, I'm adcing."

So we decide to duo jungle because fuck Jinx. It goes hilariously. The other team was so salty.

 

I'm... almost sad that Jinx still went positive.

 

Group B is basically free for TSM at this point.

Svenskeren gets himself suspended from SK's first 3 group games for making a racist summoner name even after having a cultural sensitivity meeting when arriving in Taipei. Gilius is gonna need to carry that team so incredibly hard to even make 2nd at this rate.

SHRC are the only real threat I feel, though who knows - Taipei Assassins might shock us all.

Just hilarious that Svenskeren is still as retarded as he was 2 years ago and potentially cost his team the tiniest chance they had at Worlds.

Meanwhile Curse & Cop agree to part ways and SKT T1 drop half their main roster (Piglet & PoohManDu, sister team loses H0r0). An eventful final morning before Worlds kicks off.

 

Done and done.

The only ones I'm truly unsure about are 2nd place in Group B, it could be anyone other than SK I feel.

Then there's Group D. Shield are the 'weakest' Korean team going in even though their streak to make it was insane, both C9 and Alliance are in with a chance. It's anyone's group I feel, well, outside Kabum.

 

http://pickem.lolesports.com/#series/1/user/41048/my-picks

The only slightly contraversial ones I'm going for is Fnatic to get through over OMG in group C and Alliance to win their group.


I'm so sad about Mandu retiring, he was one of my favourite players. Heimerdinger jungle never forget. ;_;

 

Man. I just want C9 not to get rekt in the first round. That is all.

 

Boom.

Group A is easy to call unless there are chokes and throws on a truly massive scale. And I mean the kind of choking that would make NiP look like a strong organisation who always show up and play at their best in EU LCS promotion tournaments.

Group B is Royal's to lose. I had SK second until Svenskeren managed to fuck himself, his team and his entire region by being a racist moron. I don't care how good Gilius played on challenger teams, there's zero chance of SK getting through now. TPA take second, because TSM's record at worlds (and really, NA's as a whole) is absolutely fucking pitiful. Importing two Europeans and a Korean to carry their team still isn't enough to overcome the sandbag effect of having to play in NA.

That sandbag effect is the same reason why LMQ are at the bottom of group C. It wouldn't shock me if Fnatic manage to take second, but I wouldn't put any money on it. As good as they can be, they're way too inconsistent.

Group D is tough to call. Shield get out, Kabum don't and it's a coin flip between Alliance and Cloud9 for second. I picked Alliance because of the NA sandbag effect and really hoping to see Froggen play Pawn or dade.