Official Worlds Groups

Group A

Dark Passage

ahq e-Sports Club

Samsung Galaxy White

EDward Gaming

Group B

SK Gaming

Star Horn Royal Club

Taipei Assassins

Team SoloMid

Group C

LMQ

OMG

Fnatic

Samsung Blue

Group D

Alliance

Cloud 9

NaJin White Shield

KaBuM!

Final List of the 16 Teams Going to Worlds

North America

Team SoloMid (TSM) #1

Cloud9 (C9) #2

LMQ (LMQ) #3

Europe

Alliance (ALL) #1

Fnatic (FNC) #2

SK Gaming (SK) #3

Korea

Samsung Blue (SGB) #1

Samsung White (SGW) #2

NaJin White Shield (NJWS) #3

China

EDward Gaming (EDG) #1

Starhorn Royal Club (SHRC) #2

OMG (OMG) #3

Southeast Asia & Taiwan

Azubu Taipei Assassins (TPA) #1

Ahq e-Sports Club (AHQ) #2

Turkey, Russia, & Oceania

Dark Passage (DP) #1

Latin America & Brazil

KaBuM e-Sports (KBM) #1

Alliance Calls Top in the EU LCS

There was a time we all snicked at the alleged 'Super Team,' who looked good on paper but got off to a rough start. Then came the their learning to play together, followed by a steady stream of improvement that culminated in a winning Summer Split. They worked hard to prove they were worthy of their 'Super Team' moniker, and they're deserving of all the hype that comes with it. Great job Alliance, and good luck at Worlds!     

European LCS Week 10 Power Rankings

by Matt “It’s Pure Luck” Lee


Welcome to my European LCS power rankings! While it’s perhaps a bit late in the season to start doing this as we head into our final week, it’s one of the most enjoyable debates that can be had when talking about the LCS.  First let’s take a look at the criteria teams will be judged on:

• It’s not just your record that determines your ranking. Just because you have a better record than another team does NOT necessarily mean you are better in my eyes.  The proverbial “eye test” is incredibly important. Are you winning games narrowly or convincingly? Did you go 2-0 in a week where you trailed in both games but the other team made massive mistakes and it allowed you to come back? How a team looks is very important.
• Results from the past few weeks.
• General trends of a team’s performance vs upper-echelon opponents in the league. Playing well vs the top tier teams is obviously more impressive than crushing the bottom three constantly.
• A team’s performance historically. This will weight a bit less, but a team like Fnatic will get more of a pass when they are struggling a bit than someone like the Copenhagen Wolves will.

With that defined, let’s take a look at the rankings!

1) Alliance (18-6) – This one really won’t come as any surprise. After a minor setback in losing four straight during Weeks Seven and Eight, Alliance has come back very strong and won four in a row. The win over red-hot Fnatic was particularly impressive as Rekkles and friends had been destroying everything in their path on the back of an eight game win streak. It wasn't the cleanest of wins as it took fifty-two minutes, but they played it safe, knowing a win all but guaranteed them the top spot in the final standings.

2) Fnatic (16-8) – Fnatic saw their eight game win streak snapped vs Alliance on day one last week. It didn't faze them much, though, as they took down a good Millenium team on the second day. One could make a case for Fnatic being in the top spot and they might have a point. They sit at 9-1 in their last ten games and they weren't narrowly winning these for the most part. Fnatic had been decimating their opposition ever since Week Seven. Ultimately, Fnatic posting a 1-3 record vs Alliance gives Alliance the slight nod.

3) Millenium (13-11) – Millenium have been playing fairly well lately, picking up four wins in their last six games after scuffling a bit during Super Week.  As usual for them, the catalysts continue to be Kerp and Creaton. Creaton has been outstanding the last three weeks, posting a KDA of 10.25. Kerp has continued to show his Twisted Fate pick is to be feared, and he even managed to pull out a surprise pick in Zilean last week and played it very well.  If Millenium continues to progress their style and show they can play more than a pick based team at a high level, they have a very high ceiling with the talent that is on the team.

4) Supa Hot Crew (14-10) – Much like Millenium, Supa Hot Crew sits here with an outside chance at possibly grabbing that two seed and getting a bye in the playoffs. More than likely though, they will end up fighting it out for the three seed. The upcoming game between SHC and Millenium on Thursday could very well decide who does grab that spot; a loss by the Crew there would drop them to 1-3 vs Millenium on the split. While MrRalleZ tends to be considered the best player on this team, you could make a case that the most important is Selfie in the mid lane. We saw it this past week as he had a terrific KDA of 13.5 in playing Ahri both games. Consistent play from him should see positive results for SHC in the future and at the least a shot at Worlds in the third place game.

5) Roccat (11-13) – Roccat continue to be one of the most (if not the most) puzzling teams in the European LCS. They managed to pull their record back to .500 after they had an impressive run between Weeks Four and Eight, where they won nine of their twelve games.  And then in Week Ten, they promptly managed to go 0-2, and it was to two teams very close to them in the standings, Millenium and the Supa Hot Crew.  Celaver and Xaxus in particular have had a difficult time this split. Celaver currently has the sixth best KDA among AD carries in Europe, while Xaxus is seventh among top laners. Jankos has been a bright spot for the team, and as he goes the team tends to go. His teammates will need to step up if they wish to avoid facing relegation in the promotion tournament.

6) SK Gaming (12-12) – SK finally ended the free fall they had been in by defeating Roccat last week, though it wasn't easy for them to close that game out. That game itself showed where the confidence level of SK is right now; they had a massive lead early on and gave Roccat every shot to get back into it. They simply have not looked like the same team from the first six weeks of this split, or the one from all of spring. They sit at 3-7 in their last ten games; many of them decisive victories for their opponents. Looking even further into it, two of those three wins came in Super Week vs Gambit and the Copenhagen Wolves, both of whom are a mess. Many claims around SK the last split and even early on in this one were that they didn’t have great individual talent and mechanics, but great teamwork through the mid and late game. It might be the time where the lack of mechanical ability in comparison to their opponents is catching up to them.

7) Copenhagen Wolves (7-17) – The Wolves are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but the chances are minimal, as one win by Roccat or one loss by the Wolves puts Roccat in the playoffs and sends the Wolves to the promotion tournament.  They had managed to put two decent weeks back to back in Weeks Eight and Nine, going 3-1 in their four games. Last week however, the wheels fell off the wagon. They were dispatched fairly quickly by Millenium in a game that only took 31:23, and then were defeated by Alliance in what was possibly the most lopsided game in the EU LCS this year.  The Wolves can avoid the dreaded eighth place finish if they beat Gambit this week, or if they win one game and Gambit lose at least two.

8) Gambit Gaming (5-19) – While Gambit was definitely on a downward trend toward the end of the spring split, it would be hard for many people to say they saw this coming. They sit two games behind the Wolves for the seventh place spot with only four games left, so it’s likely Gambit end the season in last place. The twist of fate there would be the possible date vs Ninjas in Pyjamas and Alex Ich in the promotion tournament. The team as a whole simply does not look to be LCS caliber at this moment. The benching of Darien hasn't helped at all, and Diamond looks even worse since he was put back into the starting lineup. In fact, Diamond has a line of 3/17/7 since he was reinstated as a starter. At this point in time, it’s hard to imagine Gambit will retain their spot in the LCS with the way they are playing.

Battle At The Top: A Review of the EU LCS Match of the Week

By Ethan "AkeyBreakyy" Akey


For the third match of W10D1 (week 10, day 1) Fnatic took on the EU LCS leading team, Alliance. On a seven game winning streak, Fnatic hoped to continue their streak and tie with Alliance, who was sitting at the top of the leaderboard. As we saw in week 9, Fnatic made quick work of the Cophenhagen Wolves, and Rekkles earned the first Pentakill of the Summer Split. If Alliance allows Rekkles to pick Vayne, they could be in for a world of hurt. Rekkles currently holds the highest KDA for any Player/Champion combo when he is on Vayne. If Fnatic can lock up Vayne for their ADC, they could have a better chance at tying this series up with the EU LCS leader. Fnatic needs to tie up the series between Alliance, which it currently sits at a 2-1 in favor of Alliance right now. Both teams are coming into this match in their best playing form.

With the majority of the bans going to eliminate top tier junglers and mid laners, sOAZ locks up Gragas with the first pick for Fnatic. In return, Alliance pick up Kog’Maw and Oriana for their first and second pick. With Lee Sin being banned, this opens up Elise, which is one of Cyanide's top picks. For Fnatic’s second pick, Cyanide decides to go with Jarvan instead. Fnatic uses Jarvan as their signature dragon-stealing champion, and Fnatic looks to ride their aggressive playstyle into this match-up with this pick. With Fnatic’s third pick, YellOwStaR gets his Thresh, which is his go to champion. This is YellOwStaR's eleventh game on Thresh, with eight victories under his belt - potentially the strongest Thresh player in the EU LCS. Riven and Morgana are locked up for Alliance with their third and fourth picks. While Fnatic may have a very strong Thresh, Nyph is undefeated on Morgana for Alliance. With Fnatic now needing a lot of burst damage to take down the shields of Riven, Oriana, and Morgana, they grab Jinx and Ziggs. Jinx is an interesting pick. Vayne could have been more of the hyper-carry that Rekkles excels on. If Fnatic can chain their crowd-control together, they can easily shut down Shook on Riven. Wickd rounds out the final pick for Alliance by taking Irelia. Fnatic and Alliance jump in to the Summoner’s Rift to see if one team can level the score or if Alliance can pull ahead even further.

To start this match, Shook is tested by Fnatic after he is invaded by the entire enemy team. Being forced to blow his Flash within the first fifty-five seconds of the match, this could really shake up his confidence and force Shook to play very passive for the duration of his cooldown. Fnatic displays a very aggressive start to their match against Alliance by forcing three of their members to pop Flash within the first three minutes of the match. With more than half of Alliance without their summoner spell, this is the strong and strategic start Fnatic needs that can allow them to put the pressure down on the enemy turrets or to secure kills.

YellOwStaR proves to be the impact player in the early phases of this game by picking up the first blood for Fnatic and puts on a display to show he is not afraid to roam from top to bottom in order to support all of Fnatic's lanes. Around the 8:00 minute mark, all of the lanes start to normalize with the teams rotating their ADC & Support duos back to the bottom lane. With Alliance having their duo back in the bottom lane, this allows them to secure the first dragon of the game. Shook, on the other hand, hasn't been much of a factor up to this point, being bullied from the start and having his jungle buffs stolen from him.

Fnatic gives up one death for a dragon kill, but Rekkles picks up a kill on Froggen with a Super Mega Death Rocket. Soaz scores a kill as Wickd gets caught out under the middle turret, and Fnatic, with three turrets down, pulls ahead with a 2k gold lead. Here Fnatic puts on a show with Jarvan and displays just why they utilize him as the dragon-stealing pick, as Cyanide does just that on the second dragon of the game. Alliance is still waiting on Shook to get involved. Fnatic is too mobile and Shook hasn't been able to have much presence this game. Soaz is still playing catch-up on Fnatic's side but Wickd, on the other hand, needs to pair with Shook to pick off Rekkles right away in team fights.

Alliance catches Peke with Fnatic turning around and splitting up. With this very important engage, Fnatic loses dragon, and Alliance picks off both Peke and YellOwStaR.

This match has been all about the strategic level. Fnatic punished Alliance and got their baron and, in return, Alliance punished Fnatic's mistake and got a tower, dragon, and two kills. We haven't seen a real full-on team fight, partially due to the fact that this game could end with one convincing team fight. One mistake from any player could cost their team the game. All of these champions can melt enemy towers, and get through them very quickly. Both teams are playing a very passive and careful style, almost avoiding any team fight because of how easily they can sway the match.

Alliance gets the baron, gaining the confidence they need to push in to Fnatic's base. With this baron, they break through the defense of Fnatic, taken their middle turret, middle inhibitor, and their top lane inner turret. The indecisiveness by Fnatic has lead to them being pushed past their own inhibitors. At this point, Fnatic also know the fear of being clumped up and annihilated by the AOE potential of Alliance. 

At the 52 minute mark, two men down for Fnatic, two inhibitors down, and the numbers advantage for Alliance, this spells defeat for xPeke and the boys. With a 6-3 victory going to Alliance, they shut down Fnatic and become undisputed leader of the EU ladder. After Fnatic took the first baron, Alliance nailed their aggressive playstyle down even harder. If Fnatic had played more aggressively, could they have saved their win streak? Both teams demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of their opposing compositions. In the end, Fnatic just didn't have the damage to burn through Morgana, Oriana, and Irelia. Alliance secures their spot at the top of the ladder with this win over Fnatic and currently holds a 3-1 series lead between the two teams. Viewers can only hope that this is just a glimpse of what is to come at the Summer Split finals.

Who’s on Track for Season 4 Worlds?

by Reece "Sabrewolf" Dos-Santos

This season is shaping up to be the first season of NA where the three spots for worlds are not completely predictable. The NA LCS, by the half-way point, has already seen a good share of upsets, turnarounds, and explosive matches. By week six, the usually dominant Cloud 9 have already picked up their most losses in a split and appear to mirroring their European counterparts, Fnatic, in putting up inconsistent showings that vary from world class dominance to frighteningly average slumps.  When looking at the NA LCS with an objective view of only this split, it’s hard to deny that the three teams currently in pole position look to be the ones that push for the three NA spots.

The NA LCS:

CLG have consistently shown superiority in rotations, and mid to late game clarity in their game play.  They know what they’re working towards in almost every game and cleanly achieve their goals. The only team CLG cannot seem to overcome at this moment is Cloud 9, who delivered two of their four overall losses. LMQ got off to an electrifying start in the NA LCS, and while there were concerns about their ability to hold it up, they have been addressing the critics with particularly strong performances from Vasilii and three time "MVP of the Week," XiaoWeiXiao. Performances that are being backed up more and more by an improving Ackerman. Meanwhile, Dignitas have shown that they mean business with their additions of ZionSpartan and Shiphtur, and they have honestly shocked many watchers with their overpowering form in the first half of the split. However, like the other two front runners, Dignitas show signs of cracks. These cracks were clearly evident in their complete decimation at the hands of compLexity. Dignitas, out of the three, has had the best showings, but also put out one of the worst. The key to securing the Worlds' spot for them is simply consistency.

Despite being the favorites and the biggest NA names, Cloud 9 and TSM have had some substandard performances and only recently began clawing their way back. TSM, in particular, have begun to find some sort of form since the addition of Locodoco as a coach, but their main problem as a team is their inability to take games from the top teams in NA. They have a clean 6-0 record against the bottom three but are 0-5 against the top three. If TSM can work out how to challenge the top teams, they can push their way in for one of the spots at worlds, but unfortunately, a perfect record against EG, COL, and CRS won’t get TSM anything more than a mid-table finish. In almost a complete opposite regard, Cloud 9 are 2-0 against CLG, yet they haven’t been able to pick a win against the two bottom teams in the NA LCS. Whether it’s an issue with underestimating the lower tier competition or simply a bad clash of match-ups, Cloud 9 are sitting in fourth place solely because of their inability to take games from the lower tier competition. Both Cloud 9 and TSM can make it to Worlds, but only if they look at each other’s weaknesses and learn from them. The NA LCS is no longer their playground - it’s a battleground.

NA LCS Dark Horse: Evil Geniuses

The Evil Geniuses were mediocre at best last split and looked to repeat that form this split until they swapped out Snoopeh and Yellowpete, who honestly were well past their prime. The additions of Altec and Helios have completely revitalized the team and seem to have brought out the best in Pobelter, Krepo and Innox. Their performances have suddenly become fluid, calculated and hard-fought, and they only look to get better and better as they become more adjusted to each other - which is a scary thought when considering how good they looked in Helios’s first week. EG may sneak their way into playoffs and could be the team to upset the war between the Top Five.

The EU LCS: 

EU, however, isn't as much of a tight contest compared to NA.  Alliance are already an almost guaranteed spot with a completely dominant 10-2 record, with losses against SHC and GMB which honestly seemed like they had simply removed their foot from the gas pedal. Alliance was a team created by Froggen to go Worlds, and honestly it seemed shaky at the start of the Spring Split, but then the team grew used to each other and almost perfectly synergized. We have to give it to Froggen, he knows how to create a top tier team. At this point, the only plausible way Alliance could not make it to Worlds is through a monumental internal explosion between them, the chances of that are highly unlikely. But EU have shown that any team can slump their way out of first place in the blink of an eye. Alliance’s test now is merely breaking that stereotype, which shouldn't be hard for them.

The other team that looks jet set for Worlds is SK gaming who, like Alliance, completely shot out from the bottom of the table into complete bliss in the second half of spring. SK has shown complete dominance in their team-based game play and map rotations, and clarity in ending games where they are comfortably ahead. Jesiz, in particular, has blossomed into a hero that SK Gaming can rely on in almost every game, along with consistent performances from CandyPanda and Nrated, with Freddy and Sven rarely making mistakes themselves. Two of SK’s four losses are against Alliance and  that's perfectly understandable considering the depth of Alliance’s dominance in the first few weeks of summer.

The third EU spot for worlds is where things heat up as there is no clear team that looks set to take it. The main battle seems to be between Supa Hot Crew, Fnatic, and Millenium, all of whom have put up good performances but still have consistency issues that hold them back. The one thing that unites all three teams is the talent of their mid lane: Kerp, Selfie, and xPeke are all world class mid laners who can easily carry their teams on a good day, but have also shown that they are not exempt from being shut down. Similarly, all three teams also have standout ADC’s in Creaton, Mr RalleZ, and Rekkles, who are complete monsters when left unchecked. The battle between these three teams is where EU playoffs will become interesting, as SHC and MIL have mirrored Alliance and SK’s resurgence from the bottom two teams into top of the table powers, but Fnatic are three split champions for a reason. They always find a way to weasel themselves into pole position when it matters, but this split will be their hardest test yet.

EU LCS Dark Horse: Roccat

Roccat are undeniably talented. They are one of many teams to deny NiP a space in the LCS and showed overpowering form in spring that led them to finish third place overall. They, however, inherited the “first place slump” that so greatly affected Fnatic, and have only recently begun to recover with two back to back 2-0 weeks (partly due to one of the matches being a forfeit). Roccat’s point to work on is simply closing out games and playing with more of a passion rather than playing not to lose. Their overly passive game play was the main catalyst of the ward chanting and Mexican waves from the London LCS crowd that sought entertainment.  

The Anatomy of a Base Race

by Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis

The Weakness of the Split Push

LCS Week Four brought two intense base-race games. Victory came before a lot of people even realized the game was ending. The games were split, ironically, between NA and EU. Fnatic vs. Alliance and EG vs. LMQ. In both games the advantage seemed to be going in favor of the eventual loser. Fnatic had a strong kill lead and they were in control of the speed of the game. EG had been ahead in gold even after the game was over. Both Alliance and LMQ made critical choices to swing the momentum of the game in their favor and force the enemy into a hard decision.

First up, Fnatic against Alliance. Everyone was looking forward to this game as a close match-up. Fnatic were the winners of the Spring Split but were looking lackluster and sloppy in their first few games this summer. Alliance were the front-runners and despite their few losses, they looked like a powerhouse. I’d like to take a moment to look at the lineup for each team.

Fnatic in my opinion had the better pick/ban phase here. Banning out the popular Lee Sin jungle is always good because he’s far and away the best right now. Jax was nice as well because Fnatic’s comp just isn't built to handle a late game Jax (No one could stop his split push) and Wickd has been known to pull it out.

Fnatic first-picked Braum as soon as they saw he was left open. This was particularly surprising to me and I’m sure Fnatic as well. What was more surprising was after Alliance made their two picks, Twitch was still open. Rekkles had an outstandingly scary game on Twitch the day before against SK and to leave the rat open and not pick him away from Rekkles is either a slap in the face or stupid. To be fair though, Alliance did pick away Lucian because of the synergy that Braum and Lucian’s passive have. Cyanide also picked up Evelynn at the same time to go with the stealth theme. Then they rounded it all up with a Twisted Fate and Shyvana pick-up. All around, Fnatic built a solid team that not only was full of champs that are strong in the meta, but also work pretty well together.

If you look closely, Fnatic’s team is really focused on controlling the map and forcing mid game team fights. Twisted Fate, Evelynn and Twitch can all show up on someone without them realizing how out of position they are. Once the fight starts, Shyvana can come flying in if needs be and Braum can protect the possibly slightly out of position Twitch. Laning would be the weakness for Fnatic if one would guess. Especially if you look at their match-ups.

I feel Alliance really fell behind right from the start with their picks and bans. First of all, letting Braum though was a bit of a mistake. It literally forced them to pick up Lucian and let Twitch through to Rekkles. Ziggs was a nice ban, however, as was Morgana since Nyph picked up Thresh. The early Kayle pick was actually very well-played. Kayle has the amazing versatility of going almost anywhere (of course her professional viability has been top and mid). This left Wickd and Froggen the ability to trade Kayle off into whatever lane they felt would be better. She ended up going top to handle Shyvana, with Froggen taking Leblanc with the final pick to bully Twisted Fate early on and make sure his Level 6 ganks would be forced with either low health or after backing to base. Elise was a pretty standard pick, considering Evelynn and Lee Sin were off the board as of that time, leaving her as the only standard left.

 Alliance built their team around picking people off when they tried to rotate. While Kayle was a nice flex pick, I don’t really think she fit well with this composition. Kayle is a constant damage mage who can make a hyper carry invulnerable for a short amount of time. No one on her team can make a lot of use out of her ult other than herself. Lucian should be able to kite effectively with The Culling and Relentless Pursuit, and Froggen is all about bursting people and leaving immediately. Invulnerability is never a bad thing to have, but it’s value on this team is lacking compared to what some other top laners may have been able to bring. The rest of the team, however, can grab someone and burst them down before the enemy knows what happened to them.

Game

Now into the game. Shook on Elise starts with a pink ward over extra pots. This is a very smart pick up from Shook. He knew he could use the spiderlings to tank jungle minions and used the extra gold to try and track down Evelynn. Both teams set up and protect their buffs, a much different strategy than what had been occurring that day. In fact, we ended up with standard lane match-ups. It’s important to note this because this is a huge win for Alliance.

Alliance had a team made of people who were strong laners/dueling champs. If Fnatic had forced a lane swap and given free farm to Twitch and later on let Shyvana get some after lanes had pushed, they would have been able to avoid most fights until they hit their mid to late game spike. Alliance would have had to force picks and make themselves vulnerable.

When I saw the composition and how the lanes had worked out to be standard, I had expected Shook to try and make an early gank and play off the advantage all of the laners had. Shook never even attempted a gank until late in the game, and even then he wasn't successful. At the 5:00 mark, there had been almost no immediate action in the game. Alliance’s passiveness was making them lose before they even fought. Even worse, Soaz’s Shyvana was outfarming Wickd on Kayle. It was only a slight lead, but the fact that Kayle hadn't dominated that lane was a bad sign.

Thirty seconds later, Cyanide made the first gank at bottom lane. YellOwStaR jumped forward on Braum and got a quick start on his passive onto Thresh. Twitch followed up and Evelynn showed herself right after. Nyph flashed backwards to try and escape, but the sudden pressure was too unexpected. He went down and Tabzz escaped. Rekkles was already 1/0/0. A minute afterwards, Evelynn goes bot one more time in the same fashion. Still no pinks bought by Nyph and there’s a similar outcome. This time Wickd on Kayle tries to turn things around with a teleport to a ward, but they get nothing from it and run off. Twitch gets another kill.

At a quick glance you’d say Rekkles is already way ahead, but if you would look at CS at this time, Tabzz’s Lucian was up 25 creeps. So if we assume a 400 gold first blood plus a second kill at 300, Rekkles has 700 gold extra. However, take an average of 22 gold per CS and Lucian makes up 550 of that gold, putting Rekkles up only 150 - not even enough for a non-consumable item. The fact that Lucian was that far ahead in CS was huge in keeping him in the game. If they had been even, Rekkles most likely would have run away with the game.

There’s a lull in the action until 9:00. Fnatic coordinates a tower dive on Kayle in top. The combination of Evelynn, TF's ult, and Shyvana is enough to overpower Wickd’s ult and they take a clean kill with Soaz’s Dragon’s Descent being used to escape the tower aggro. This was a well-played gank which led to Fnatic taking the first tower. However, Alliance realized how many members were in the top lane, and took dragon right afterwards, unknown to Fnatic. Despite Fnatic completely controlling the game and making all of the early moves, they’re only ahead by 1k gold.

At 12:15, Fnatic make a bold move and pull a 5-man gank bottom using both TF's ult and Shyvana teleport. The gank is successful in gaining a kill on Thresh for Shyvana, but with all of the resources used, Kayle is able to free farm top. Fnatic split up afterwards, and while sitting in the bottom mid brush, Evelynn is caught out. After a small tussle, Shook’s Elise takes the kill. He is chased down by Xpeke directly afterwards, making it an even trade. Of course, an even trade is better for a team that is behind. It seemed like Fnatic wanted to take the dragon, but they didn’t realize Alliance already took it.

While trying to siege mid around the 14:40 mark, Nyph tosses out a hook and hits Shyvana. At first it seems Alliance just wants to poke at her for a  bit, but they keep poking into a full engage. After spending so much time and energy on Shyvana they have no abilities to use on anyone else when Fnatic tower dives. Cyanide gets a revenge kill on Elise, and Lucian is chased out through the jungle by Braum and Twitch. With a quick flash, Rekkles takes the kill. Alliance did, however, keep their tower up through all of this.

16:00 in,  Alliance take the second dragon. At this point Fnatic have improved their lead, but only to 2k gold. Considering the amount of pressure they’ve been flaunting and control they had, most people would have assumed they were far ahead, but Alliance’s dragons and CS on Lucian were keeping them in the game.

Finally, Fnatic get the mid tower they had been sieging at 17:15. However, after all of this time Alliance has taken Fnatic’s mid tower low as well. Fast-forward to 21:08. Xpeke TF ults down into bottom. A critical thing to notice here is this is 45 seconds before the next dragon spawn. Fnatic had no timer and if they did, I doubt they would have used TF’s ult so soon. They get no immediate kills out of it. At the same time, right at dragon, Leblanc and Kayle  get split by Braum and Evelynn. Braum ults onto Froggen and Evelynn pops her ult on Kayle. At first, it seemed like they were going to split targets, but right after the Braum ult, YellOwStaR turns right around and jumps onto Cyanide. Wickd ults himself, moves over to the red side wall and flashes over. Fnatic have control for the third dragon, but head to bottom in order to siege the tower first. Remember, Fnatic don’t have the timer for dragon..

           

This was a mistake as once again, Alliance move forward and start dragon at 22:00. Nyph zones out Fnatic once they realize and make their way over with a well-placed box. Kayle and Leblanc poke while Elise and Lucian take the dragon with their better sustained damage. Alliance takes the third dragon and as Fnatic attempts to back off, YellOwStaR moves late and is caught by a Thresh hook. He’s low health from the small engage before and is quickly taken out.

Here is where the magic happens. Because Alliance made a good pick and had kept themselves in the game as far as gold is concerned, they rush mid to take the low turret. As most of the team takes mid, Leblanc runs interference in the jungle by wraiths, forcing Soaz and Cyanide to take a much longer route into their base. Note that it’s only Shyvana and Evelynn though. Rekkles and Xpeke have gone back to bottom to try and counter push.

With all five mid, Alliance are able to out shove the strong pushers of TF and Twitch. As they take down the inhibitor tower, Soaz sits back and Braum moves up to try and stall, but he is hooked when the tower gets low. Once the tower is down completely, they go all in and kill YellOwStaR once again, following up on Shyvana right after. Evelynn finally comes in behind Alliance as they close in on the nexus. This whole time Twitch was pushing continuously. Xpeke, on the other hand, had second thoughts and started walking back to base. However, as Soaz went down he changed his mind again and popped his ult to go back to push with Twitch.

Xpeke and Rekkles back as their nexus turrets go down, but at this point it’s too late. Alliance closed it out and won the game with some great strategical play that set themselves up to capitalize on Fnatic’s positioning. While this was definitely some great play by Alliance, Fnatic really mispositioned and had split their calls in what they wanted to do. Alliance made a great play in not only starting the dragon, but starting it from the side where they could easily transition into the mid tower that was about to die. The fact that they kept going was purely because of Fnatic’s misplay from there.

To avoid redundancy, I’m going to look at the pick ban phase and only the shift for EG/LMQ.

All in all EG have a solid team fight team, right off the bat you can tell their plan is to let Jax get big and just sustain under tower while he split pushes. Ziggs and Lucian have all the abilities necessary to keep their towers alive and just hold out. I believe the Lee Sin pick was partially because of Helios’ ability to make plays with him and to get Jax rolling early. The bans that EG focused on were things that would either shut down Jax in top lane or basically anything that they felt would let LMQ get a lead early. LMQ have a great ability to snowball a lead when ahead.

LMQ built a composition based on poking out EG. It’s an interesting concept and late game one would think EG would have the advantage, barring some great Caitlyn Peacemakers and Nidalee spears. Braum is great for disengaging and Shyvana is just going to tank out the Ziggs and Lucian damage, since Shyvana can’t handle Jax late game. LMQ’s bans were similar to EG’s in that they were attempting to ban out the strong/known champions that EG plays. Also, Lulu and Corki would be able to clear waves, and while they did let Ziggs through, that’s about it.

Game

4:00 in Helios ganks top and First Bloods Ackerman’s Shyvana with a quick tower dive, but Shyvana gets a kill in response. The kill went over to Jax though, which is exactly what they wanted to get out of that. If Jax can split, EG will win.

At 6:45 Helios is caught out trying to snowball Pobelter’s lead in mid. NoName and Mor had roamed to help Nidalee, who was getting poked out. After some dancing and Pobelter being zoned out, XiaoWeiXiao tosses a spear from the distance to get the kill. The fact that Mor was able to roam came from how Vasilii had dominated with his Caitlyn in lane, gaining 52 CS at this time over Altec’s 36 on Lucian.

Once we hit 10:00, we see Helios and NoName, who had been mirroring each other all game, connect by LMQ’s red buff. While taking a pink, Helios gets cocooned, but Pobelter was quicker on the draw - following up and as soon as he’s free. He combos with Pobelter’s bombs to kick NoName back for the kill. While all of this is happening, Innox and Ackerman were having a brawl, with Innox about to die. Pobelter and Helios made the smart roam up after their kill and gave Jax a jump out, and Ziggs cleaned up the kill on Shyvana afterwards. At this point, EG was still down in gold from lost dragons. They had traded this off in order to get Jax fed, which was working well.

After Jax gets a solo kill on Shyvana, EG made rotations and took all three outer towers, pulling themselves up to a 6k gold lead. Jax, having a Blade of the Ruined King and a Phage at this point, was becoming a late game terror, compared to Ackerman - who had no complete items at this point. At around 19:00, EG decides to pressure LMQ’s blue buff. Nidalee is caught with a binding after LMQ laid down some poke. Mor jumps to protect his mid laner and is successful, but a clutch teleport nets Jax a kill as they disengage. Meanwhile, Helios takes down Elise back further in the jungle. EG, up until this point, had been pressuring their lead well, and getting their Jax fed enough to split.

And once again we come to the base race. At a whopping 46:20 total time, LMQ had taken Baron and were sieging mid lane as five. As Jax split pushes the bottom, Lucian drops The Culling to deter LMQ off of the mid inhibitor tower. Ziggs drops the Mega Inferno Bomb as well. Mor shields The Culling, and the Mega Inferno Bomb does not hit many targets. This prompts LMQ to engage, knowing they had an ultimate advantage in fight, as well as the fact that they were baroned-up and able to tank tower because they were at late game status. As the tower went down and the Culling ended, Braum uses his ultimate and knocks up Pobelter. Krepo makes a mistake here and shields Altec’s Lucian (who had a Banshee’s Veil spell shield) and not Pobelter, who receives all of the knock up and is immediately deleted.

Altec and Krepo focus their damage on the tanky Elise, and Helios uses his kick on Shyvana on the side of the fight and achieves nothing with it. LMQ lost Braum in exchange for Ziggs, and is still strong enough to win a 4v3 fight. Innox and LMQ both take inhibitors and move on to nexus turrets. However, the crucial fact here is that Ziggs is down for EG. They have no way to keep all of LMQ off the tower. All of their damage left is single target. That, in addition to all of LMQ having a way to speed up their attack speed. Jax had no way of matching their speed. He makes the mistake of trying to teleport back to a dying tower, wasting any possibility of winning the game.

Closing Thoughts

So what has been learned? If you’re planning on split pushing, you have to be able to stall while your fed duelist takes towers as soon as it turns into a base race. Even the most fed split pusher will lose out to more bodies on the opposing team. Fnatic couldn't agree on what they wanted to do. They floundered and let Alliance walk right into their base. And when Fnatic called their bluff, Alliance went deep in and took the game in the confusion. EG’s mistakes came from not pressuring with their top laner enough. They got Jax ahead and did nothing with it while LMQ slowly poked their way back into the game. The fact that LMQ ran a poke team was what really won them the game, because it became a fight of who could hit skillshots, and the last fight especially showed that LMQ was on top of that.

            

EU LCS W3D1 PREVIEW

Alliance 5W - 1L vs Roccat 1W - 5L

Alliance is unstoppable. Roccat is in so bad a slump that replacing its bot lane with potatoes might help. Generally, in the bizarro world of the LCS, this means we can expect Roccat to surprise win.

SK Gaming 4W - 2L vs Millenium 3W - 3L

SK is showing consistant play. Mellenium is still wavering. If Week 1 Kerp shows up, Millenium will have a shot. If Week 2 Kerp shows up, Mellenium will lose. It's a Tale of Two Kerps.

Copenhagen Wolves 2W - 4L vs Gambit 2W - 4L

Both teams are trying to find synergy with their new players. Both teams are slowly improving. However, niQ is still finding his stride with Gambit, while the Wolves' new players are at the heart of their progress. Based on this observation alone, I expect the Wolves to really come together and make a strong showing in this game.   

Supa Hot Crew 4W-2L vs Fnatic 3W - 3L

Fnatic lost to Gambit. Lost...to...Gambit. Meanwhile, Supa Hot Crew are on a Supa Hot Streak. Once again, this should mean a Fnatic surprise win, but Fnatic like riding roller coasters and I expect them to beat Roccat on Friday, so, unfortunately, today will have to be the down side of 'up and down.'  

EU LCS Roster Swaps: What’s the Impact?

by Reece "Sabrewolf" Dos-Santos

Millenium - Kottenx

While Kottenx may have been picked up in the dying weeks of the Spring Split, I feel the true display of his impact to the team started with the qualifier against NiP. His ganks are impactful, the team responds better in tough situations, and overall their rotations and shot-calling have gotten miles better. Millenium now have depth to their game-flow that wasn't present last split. Their play-style isn't as predictable and their synergy with each other is stronger. It’s like Kottenx was the long lost key to unlock the chest of riches that is Millenium’s hidden potential.

Every other member of the team has seen a huge rise in both confidence and overall performance. Creaton is returning to the form he showed before he broke his hand and Kev1n is showing why he is one of the best top laners in EU. Kerp, in particular, now completely shines in the mid lane and rightfully deserved MVP for week one. If he wasn't on fantasy teams before Super Week, he definitely will be now.

Millenium already have a third of the wins they achieved last split in this first week. Last split, they faced Roccat in the opening Super Week and only managed two kills. This split, the tables were turned as Roccat were dominated and could only manage three kills. Being 3-1 and tied top with SK and Alliance is undoubtedly a better position than anyone could have imagined and clearly a position they deserve to be in.

Supa Hot Crew - wewillfailer (and the addition of Nick "LastShadow" De Cesare as an analyst.)

The difference to Supa Hot Crew this split is amazing. With the addition of wewillfailer and analyst Nick De Cesare from Korea, the crew, like Millenium, look like they've found a new lease on life. Suddenly, the mid to late game weariness is gone and replaced with structured objective rotations. Their leadership seems more solid and you can see it in their shot-calling. They still retain their explosive play-style but there is now an element of confidence and tactical awareness behind it. Other obvious differences are that this time they are in the split with the belief they'll go far, rather than just hoping to win one game. Also, wewillfailer doesn't give up as many free deaths as Migxa did. 

These changes have seen them give hard-fought battles against the top three teams in the league at the moment, coming away with a win off Alliance and what could have been wins off Millenium and SK Gaming. Considering that they finished this week 2-2 with what was probably the hardest Super Week draw of any team, it’s hard to deny the fact that the Supa Hot Crew are building up to become a real force to be reckoned with and could be a challenger for Worlds at this rate.

Copenhagen Wolves - Woolite and Airwaks

To have to come into a split replacing arguably the best ADC and jungler of spring is no easy task. The real success behind the Wolves last split was driven by Forg1ven and Amazing, the latter picking up a back-to-back MVP awards. 

While Woolite and Airwaks have shown that they are ready to debut upon the LCS stage, it's still glaringly obvious that they don’t have the relentless carrying capabilities of Forg1ven and Amazing. They have talent. Airwaks was essential in the Wolves’ only win of the Super Week against Millenium, and Woolite held his own in kills and cs, but they haven’t yet gained the experience needed to consistently pull the team through, and until they do, the Wolves will struggle with their upcoming games. 

YoungBuck, Unlimited and cowTard simply do not showcase hard-carrying potential; they come across as players who cement the success of the team rather than the players who create that success. Either cowTard or YoungBuck needs to start individually shining or the new blood needs to adjust quickly to the demands of the LCS and their team if they want a shot at playoffs.

Gambit Gaming- niQ

Many had expressed fears that Gambit wouldn't be the same after the departure of Alex, and indeed, in the Super Week, there were worrying signs. Genja put up some good stats but couldn't carry. Darien’s performance was less than helpful. EDward and Diamond seemed unable to make much impact across the games, and niQ doesn't seem to have the natural synergy with the team that Alex had. While niQ is clearly a mechanically-strong player, off the laning-phase he appeared to dwindle in relevance. It doesn't really seem as if niQ’s introduction to the team has changed any of the problems that were arising at the end of the Spring Split. 

Gambit hasn't truly replaced their leader role and the lack confidence among them is evident. Diamond, in particular, doesn't appear to be the jungle king he once was. Alliance had absolutely no regard for dragons in their game against Gambit and simply chased kills all the way to the end like a solo queue team - and they still won. Despite having the whole off-season to work on their issues after almost ending up in relegation, it appears they still haven’t filled all the cracks in their team. Every dynasty has to come to an end. Is this the split were Gambit’s does?

We had our friends at CSI enhance this a few times.

And now we can make out what it says!

EU LCS Spring Playoffs - Semifinals

Today's Matches (Bo3s): 

1. Fnatic vs Alliance 
2. SK Gaming vs Roccat 

3. Fifth Place Match = Gambit vs Copenhagen Wolves

(The popular boy band Fnatic)

EU PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

Tuesday April 15
EU LCS Spring Playoffs - Quarterfinals

11:00am est Alliance vs Copenhagen Wolves
1:00pm est Roccat vs Gambit

Best of 3 Series

----

Wednesday April 16
EU LCS Spring Playoffs - Semifinals

11:00am est Fnatic vs Alliance
1:00pm est SK Gaming vs Roccat
4:00pm est for fifth place - Gambit vs Copenhagen Wolves

Best of 3 Series

---

Thursday, April 17
EU LCS Spring Playoffs - 3rd Place
11:00 am TBA v TBA
Best of 3 Series

EU LCS Spring Playoffs - Finals
1:00pm TBA v TBA
Best of 5 Series

*All times are Eastern Standard Zone  GMT -5

EU LCS SEMIFINALS : PREDICTIONS

BY Jeremy “Ne0 Jets” Heimann

1. COPENHAGEN WOLVES VS ALLIANCE

    Season series 3-1 in favor of ALLIANCE

COPENHAGEN WOLVES last beat Alliance January 14th, all the way back at the start of the spring split. During the split, the Wolves were led by Amazing in the jungle with a 4.1 KDA and their ADC, Forg1ven, with a 3.7 KDA ratio. While the two of them led the team by stats, they really need to get their Mid, Cowtard, and Top Lane, Youngbuck, off to better starts. Each of them averaged only around 2.5 KDA. Youngbuck has shown that his Heimerdinger Top is scary and I expect it to be banned out. I also expect him to fall back to Renekton whenever possible.

ALLIANCE, the “Superteam,” failed to live up to the media hype that surrounded their name early on. Lack of synergy, poor positioning, weak champion pools and individual egos all contributed to their inconsistency, but eventually they learned to work as a unit and managed to finish the spring split just short of First Place. Froggen has a 72.9% kill participation, probably because of his Karthus play. Even when he isn’t on Karthus, he is always around when the team fights break out, and he's not someone you can ban out easily. ADC Tabzz is third in average KDA, sitting at a solid 5.5 (higher then anyone on the Wolves.) Tabzz and Nyph have really grown as a Bot Lane team and should be feared. Shook and Wickd both averaged around 3.0 KDA and are the key reasons why Alliance finished 3rd this split. Shook likes early game Junglers while Wickd tries to counter the meta with Trundle or Irelia.

Prediction ALLIANCE 2-1 win. 

2. GAMBIT GAMING VS ROCCAT 

      Season series 3-1 in favor of ROCCAT

GAMBIT may have lost three games to ROCCAT but they won the most recent and they still have a chance to get the last laugh in this playoff series. Gambit is a playoff machine and they play better when they've had some boot camp time. They finished fourth at IEM Katowice when just before that they were looking shaky. You can’t base what Gambit will do on the regular season. This team comes ready to play and goes up a notch when it’s elimination time. Gambit’s Mid Laner, Alex Ich, is fourth in total kills with 116, and he loves to play high mobility champs with strong kill potential. Genja has an impressive 6.0 KDA, but he'll really need to have a good showing in the playoffs for Gambit to win. His lane mate, Edward, has a team low 2.1 KDA. Diamond in the jungle hasn’t had a great year, but he is still a very dangerous Jungler. I expect to see some bans thrown at him: Eve, Kha'Zix and Xin (yes, Xin) are all strong in patch 4.5. If one gets through, it will be banned the next game. Darien plays a solid Top. He just needs to just go tanky and stay away from the Ryze pick.

ROCCAT had some serious ups and downs (including moments of freefall) and they needed to stop the bleeding. They went an average 2-2 in Super Week right before playoffs and haven’t been so dominant since early in season when they were challenging the meta. Teams have caught grown accustomed to their play style, and they are facing a team that has toyed with the meta a few times themselves. Individually, their stats don’t really stand out but, as a team, they are solid across the board. Their Support, Vander, actually leads the team in KDA at 4.1, followed closely behind by Celavar with a 4.0 KDA. Overpower has a huge champion pool and can seemingly play whatever. Xaxus in the Top Lane is a solid, all-around player. Jankos has good synergy with Bot and works hard on getting them going.

Prediction GAMBIT 2-1 win. 

EU LCS W11D3 Thur, April 3 - Super Week

Today's Matches: 

1. Millenium vs SK Gaming
2. Copenhagen Wolves vs Supa Hot Crew
3. Alliance vs Gambit Gaming
4. Fnatic vs Roccat
5. Alliance vs Copenhagen Wolves

Poor CandyPanda... :( 

LCS Central's Joshua Kon gives us his predictions for the EU LCS's Final day: 

1. SK Gaming to clinch the #1 seed when they beat Millennium in the first game.

2. A Tie Breaker match for the #2 Seed between Roccat and Fnatic

3. #4 Seed to be secured by Alliance after defeating Gambit

4. A Copenhagen Wolves 2-0 day

5. Gambit to be the #5 Seed

6. A Gambit vs Alliance series in the first round of next week's playoffs!

What are YOUR predictions, esports fans?