MSI 2015 Day One Proves Painfully One-Sided.

The Mid-Season Invitational promises to answer many of the questions that have been asked for months. Is SKT or EDG the best team in the world? Has the west really closed the gap between themselves and the Asian teams? Will someone lose to the wild card invite this time? Thursday’s games brought some lucidity to these questions with half of the group stage games being played.

by Patrick Garren

All photos courtesy of Riot Esports

Game 1: Fnatic vs Team Solomid

Game 1 promised to be a fireworks show as the first ever Mid-Season Invitational opened with a classic showdown (from one of the events it replaced, the Battle of the Atlantic.) Fnatic entered picks and bans with a string of methodical Meta picks from their previous games, which they then threw out of the window, instead picking up as many TSM-favored champions as possible while banning out three top laners. Fnatic’s Huni brought Cassiopeia into the top lane for the first time of the season, and Marksman Steeelback and mid laner Febiven took Urgot and Leblanc respectively.

TSM failed, or rather, chose not to initiate a lane swap and paid the price early. Marcus “Dyrus” Hill gave up an early first blood, and from there the game was never in TSM’s control. Fnatic continued to push the early advantage they gained, strangling TSM out in a relatively short, largely uneventful 32 minute game.

Game 2: SK Telecom vs Besiktas eSports 

Besiktas came into this tournament as the winners of the International Wild Card Invitational, and they entered this game as enormous underdogs.  On the other side of the table, SK Telecom entered the tournament as massive favorites to win the entire event, and are in the argument with EDG for the best team in the world. The game started out with a bang in BJK’s favor, though, as a pre-3 minute, 4-man gank squad showed up in Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s lane for an early first blood for BJK. However, the true mark of a great team comes in their reaction to diversity, and SKT reacted in the best way they could. Top, bot, and jungle all got advantages over their corresponding lane partners, with several towers and a dragon falling for SKT as a direct result of BJK’s attention mid lane. The game was pretty much defined at 5 minutes when SKT top laner Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-Hwan dove under BJK’s top tower, killing their support Mustafa “Dumbledoge” Gokseloglu, who was still Level 2 due to the early roam, while a skirmish mid lane gave SKT jungler Bae “bengi” Seong-ung a double kill. A dragon fight at 14 minutes that eventually led to a 3 for 0 for SKT as well as a second dragon kill gave SKT a 6k gold lead and dominant control of the game they would end only 12 minutes later.

Game 3: Edward Gaming vs AHQ eSports Club

Game 3 saw an Asian clash between LPL Champions Edward Gaming and LMS winners AHQ eSports club. Edward Gaming were coming off an unimpressive playoff performance, while AHQ saw a recent resurgence culminating in their 3-1 victory over Yoe Flash Wolves during the LMS. With somewhat standard picks and lanes outside of Lie “Westdoor” Shu-Wei’s mid lane Karthus pick, the first bit of action came 5 minutes into the game with a counter gank from AHQ ending in Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu giving up first blood and Westdoor getting a kill onto his controversial Karthus pick. AHQ looked to be in control of the game until disaster struck the Taiwanese side when a gank from AHQ jungler Xue “Mountain” Zhao-Hong was answered by a teleport from EDG top laner Tong “Koro1” Yang, who got a double kill on his Hecarim while EDG picked up a 4 for 2 fight in their favor. The game stayed generally even from there, with EDG slowly pulling ahead into a slight gold advantage. However, AHQ engaged onto Koro1 in mid lane, with Koro1 able to escape and recall before teleporting back into the fight with homeguards to clean up for EDG, giving them a 3k gold advantage. EDG extended their lead at the 25 minute mark with a strong engage in the red side jungle, acing AHQ and pushing their lead to nearly 5k gold. From there, EDG continued winning minor skirmishes and taking objectives, choking out AHQ’s gold income before Koro1 helped lead EDG to victory with his legendary Hecarim.

Game 4: Team Solomid vs Besiktas eSports

BJK and TSM both came off of losses in their Game 1 matches and were desperate to put a check mark in the W column. TSM picked up an incredibly team-fight and wave clear oriented team comp, with BJK going for the double control mage/lane bully carry roles. This game was largely uneventful early, with the pure mechanical skill level advantage of TSM being very apparent, as Dyrus and Bjergsen gained almost obscenely large CS advantages over their lane counterparts. A roam bot lane from Santorin and Bjergsen’s Ziggs ended in two kills, a turret, and a dragon for TSM. BJK was down by 4k gold by 14 minutes, and for the second game in a row things came completely unraveled for them in the mid game. TSM systematically out-farmed, out-rotated, and out-played BJK at all facets of the game, and would end the game in a mere 26 minutes.

Game 5: AHQ eSports club vs Fnatic

Fnatic were soaring after their domination of TSM in the opening match of the event, but let’s be honest, that was hours ago, and AHQ isn’t TSM. Fnatic really did seem to be on to something with their pick ban strategy in Game 1, however they decided to completely abandon that idea and went back to their boring, predictable pick/ban selves. On the other side of the coin, Westdoor locked in Fizz, so there’s that. Karthus and Fizz on one of the biggest stages you’ve ever been on? I could be friends with this guy. AHQ started off strong and early, getting first blood at 55 seconds on to Steelback, with a 2^nd kill on the Fnatic marksman coming minutes later. This game seemed relatively close all the way up until the 20 minute mark, with Westdoor’s Fizz causing Fnatic tons of problems and Huni’s Hecarim picking up the slack for Fnatic’s floundering bot lane. AHQ began to pull ahead when a team fight initiated by Fnatic and Huni’s teleport homeguard ended in Westdoor completely ruining Fnatic’s chances of victory. His massive Fizz damage cleaned up the fight, and with a 4 to 0 team kill advantage, AHQ took a second dragon and snowballed their lead into a 31 minute victory over the European champions.

Game 6: SK Telecom vs Edward Gaming

This game was the most anticipated game of the tournament for anyone who pays attention to the Asian League of Legends scene. The LCK champions and the LPL champions, former world champion Heo “PawN” Won-seok and former LCK all-star Deft facing SKT again for the first time since leaving the Korean league after Season 4 Worlds. A lot of pride was on the line for this game, as well as a considerable advantage at progressing into the knockout stages of MSI. The most notable pre-game event was Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon being substituted in for SKT at mid lane. While this is nothing out of the ordinary, I’m sure many fans would have enjoyed watching the Faker vs Pawn mid lane matchup. EDG managed to pick up first blood in the top lane on SKT marksman Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan, but that would be one of their last hopeful moments of the game. SKT reacted perfectly, securing two kills on MaRin’s Rumble, with a teleport gank bot lane shortly after leading to a 10 minute dragon kill. SKT would systematically out-rotate EDG, taking 5 turrets and 3 dragons compared to 2 turrets and 0 dragons by the 25 minute mark. A 10k gold lead by 30 minutes would result in a decisive SKT victory, with many scratching their head over EDG’s poor performance.

Game 7: Besiktas eSports vs AHQ eSports

In the penultimate matchup of the night, AHQ looked to take a quick win and move to 2-1 after the first day of games against Besiktas, fresh off two harsh lessons in competitive League of Legends from the kings of east and west. This game was easily BJK’s best outing of the day, in that they weren’t completely dead in the water by the 15 minute mark. BJK managed to stay relatively close for the first 20 minutes, but their inexperience and mechanical deficiency against some of the best teams in the world continued to rear its ugly head. Unable to turn an even game with a 2 dragon lead into anything meaningful, Westdoor’s Twisted Fate began to systematically take over the game. Every Destiny resulted in a kill or an objective, often both, and AHQ took firm control of the game after the 25 minute mark. BJK can hold their heads up high going into Day 2, however, as their decision making and early game pressure looked better than it ever has in this game, and they pose a definite threat to a pre-occupied team looking past them towards a tougher matchup going into the second day. Can they take the torch from Kabum! eSports and knock a bigger power out of the tournament? 

Game 8: SK Telecom vs Team Solomid

I want to take a moment, as a genuine fan of competitive League of Legends, to thank whoever’s decision it was in the SKT management to make sure that us Western fans got the matchup we wanted to see. And while the game around it managed to be a relative shellacking, the potential was at least there. But boy was this game a beatdown. SKT held a 2k gold lead at 10 mnutes, and a 5k gold lead at 15 minutes. TSM was never in this game, and SKT continued to bolster their bid for the title of best team in the entire world, much less the MSI trophy itself. This game, almost agonizingly, lasted just over 30 minutes, with SKT rounding up almost 30 kills before finishing the game with nearly a 20k gold advantage.

Day 2 Scenarios

Day 2 poses plenty of interesting outcomes, and every team is still mathematically alive. It’s safe to say Besiktas is likely the first to be truly eliminated, and while maybe one day these play-in regions will have the resources to compete, unfortunately 2015 is not that time. Day 2 opens up with EDG and Fnatic, an enormous match-up for both sides. Both Fnatic and EDG play BJK in one of their three Day 2 matches, so a win here could see one team with a comfortable 3 wins. TSM and AHQ eSports follow up the first match, with TSM desperately needing a victory to have a glimpse at progressing into the knockout stages. Should TSM lose to AHQ, they face EDG later in the day to potentially decide their fate entirely. SKT has likely already secured a spot in the next round, but they have matches against Fnatic and AHQ to handle today. I predict a solid 5-0 for SKT in group stages, regardless of which mid laner they play, and I believe Faker could ride the bench the rest of the tournament, and SKT would likely still emerge from this tournament as the victors. They have that Season 3 World Championship aura about them.  

Week 8 LPL Review

A week without our beloved Team World Elite but with the comeback of Namei, a triple LGD confrontation and OMG facing Snake. A week full of spectacular matches!

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

March 13th

The return of Namei, the pride of China. Fans of the LPL and followers of the entire League of Legends scene have been waiting for this moment for months and today was the day. Both games were very close but there was only one person that was decisive in leading his team to the double victory; Namei.

From the first couple of minutes of the first game it was clear that the presence of Namei gave so much confidence to both Zero and Insec, that it was almost an honor to the spooky things that surround Friday the 13th. Some might think that I am over exaggerating but I'm not. Note that Wei the last few games was mostly down by 10-20 cs after a couple of minutes and Namei actually switched that around. Despite the early bot ganks by Gamtee, SHRC didn't lose faith, in what some believe to be the best skillshot dodging player in the world.

Namei appeared on the rift with Jinx, a very immobile ADC, yet coming to the rift with her he already had a 5-0 record and at the end of this full set it went to a 7-0 record, undefeated. Namei’s presence was surely noticed in teamfights where he would atl east pick up a minimum of two kills in every 5v5 confrontation (there were a ton of 5v5 confrontations in this game.) Seeing him stepping back and forth while continuing to dodge skillshots and taking out enemies was a joy to watch and gave a great feeling of joy to finally see that Namei was back!

SHRC defeated Gamtee, 2-0, after the first game ran for over an hour and the second game was won by Insec stealing the baron at the 30 minute mark with his AD Fizz jungle.

Something to really note about this set was that in the second game, Gamtee’s Sinkdream picked Sona. Sona already is quite a weird pick in competitive play but what was even more of a shock was him building the tear and then a sheen instead of picking up a Locket or Mikael’s even against a triple AP comp (Fizz, even in AD, does AP damage.) His trinket was also not upgraded after the twenty minute mark. A very peculiar way of playing a support in a professional competition with a soloQ build.

The second match of the day was between Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming. Both teams faced each other in the Damacia Cup earlier this week where IG took a 3-0 victory over VG. VG did fine their star support player, Mata, for approx $8000, for trolling, unprofessional behavior. All we could expect from VG is to actually play the way we are used from them to play and so they did. The match-up between these two teams was incredibly close and therefore also ended in a split.

Mata actually showed up and didn't troll. His beautiful hooks with one of his favorite champions, Thresh, sealed the first game to give them a 1-0 lead. Both games, as said before, were extremely close and were not decided until the very decisive teamfight in both games. A point for both teams is the right outcome, yet it doesn't help either one of them that much.

The third match of the day was the big one. Edward Gaming was facing LGD Gaming. Some believe that these are the the best teams in the LPL and therefore this should be a joy to watch. Clearlove was back in the line-up for EDG and with picking the Nunu as his jungler in Game 1 he was ready to give TBQ a very hard time in keeping his jungle to himself.

Clearlove and Pawn were the stars of this game, the Jungle/Mid duo were roaming together and ganking wherever they could. Especially the red jungle of LGD was turned into a graveyard for TBQ, who got picked off multiple times by Pawn’s Leblanc, who played as if he was possessed by Faker himself because my god was he good!

What is worth mentioning is that LGD had a huge gold lead, also being up in turrets at some point (8-4) and picking up a lead in the dragons early on. The gold lead that was close to 10k didn’t matter much for EDG who seemed to be cocky enough to just wait for those couple of picks and lategame teamfights to turn the game.

Pawn picked up a few multikills and turned teamfights around with his incredible distortion plays. Just before the end of Game 1, Imp sealed his teams' fate by face checking a brush with Pawn in it. He got blown up and so EDG ended Game 1.

Game 2 was a different level of League. Where Game 1 was, despite the gold lead, quite close, Game 2, or shall we call it "The Clearlove Show" was nowhere near close. For those who are familiar with the Foxdrop video about his best Lee Sin game, this is similar, but then in the second best league of League of Legends.

"The Clearlove Show" started from the first minute with a beautiful tower dive in the toplane and the one-man show didn't stop there. On his first back after his smite jungle item he came back with a warrior enchant, sightstone and a pink ward. That’s a lot of gold to have to spend after only 9 minutes into the game. The game was a one-sided show starring Clearlove, who ended the game with his fellow companions around the 29 minute mark without losing a single turret.

Both games are really worth watching if you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend that you do so.

Results Day 1:

Star Horn Royal Club vs Gamtee 2-0
Invictus Gaming vs Vici Gaming 1-1
Edward Gaming vs LGD Gaming 2-0
King vs Energy Pacemaker 2-0

March 14

The first match of the day was between LGD Gaming(4) vs Snake(3). LGD’s We1less pulled out the Cho’gath mid against the Lissandra from Baka and even managed to kill him 1v1 inlane. Despite this early victory, Snake already picked up the first dragon after 3.30 minutes because of the laneswap that occurred. Picking up another two dragons, Snake had three drakes at the 16 minute mark and seemed to be in good shape to be picking up that sub 30 minute fifth drake. Unfortunately for them, the game was quite close, not so much in kills, 5-9, but in gold. It only differed around 500-800 gold, while the turrets were at the same count.

LGD did use their midgame powerspike to their fullest potential and created picks here and there on the map which lead them to several teamfights for dragon that gave them two dragons to equalize with Snake. LGD managed to snowball their well-planned picks into a victory and were ready for the second game.

The first thing that got everybody’s attention was that Snake allowed Acorn, who didn't get swapped for Flame, to play his Rumble. Snake had a reason for this because they made sure that Acorn became useless in this game, starving him out after a laneswap - and after the standard lanes returned he got pressured by the rest of the Snake team to make sure that his powerspike got delayed, 31 cs at the 10 minute mark.

Snake made their poke comp Xerath/Nidalee/Corki work by picking the LGD members off one by one and in teamfights poking them down, followed by a chase for blood. Snake dominated this match and made LGD looked like a team that didn't belong on this level of gameplay. Worth mentioning is that despite the triple AP comp from Snake, the members of LGD didn't even bother to pick up a Locket of the Iron Solari. We1less was the only shining light for LGD but was not able to turn the tides of this game. A consistent team, Snake picked up the win in Game 2 and LGD was once again disappointing with their inconsistent way of playing.

The third game of the day was between Edward Gaming and Invictus Gaming. What seemed to become a very solid and quiet game (1-1 after 15 minutes) turned quickly after Koro1 picked off Kakao just the when the third drake spawned and IG was in their powerspike (Corki/Ezreal Tri-force and Nidalee jungle item). From that moment EDG took control and even went for a sub 22 minute baron. Promptly afterwards they took Game 1.

Game 2, it was Rookie’s Yasuo vs Pawn’s Jayce. Rapidly it was known that Rookie was going to win the lane match-up and he did so, taking Pawn extremely low so that Kakao could finish him off for first blood which set the tone for the match. A match that resulted in 41 kills after a 34 minute game in favor of EDG. Yes, this match was bloodthirsty from both sides, but after every skirmish on the map, EDG came out on top. It was either a turret, dragon or more time for Deft to free farm in a lane to continue to build up his inventory. The only win that Invictus Gaming had after a 2-0 defeat was that they didn't get slaughtered the way that LGD got slaughtered in Game 2 the day before, but they just lost to a better opponent. They can look back on the series with their heads held high.

The last game of the day was between OMG and Master3.

Cool got allowed on his Ahri twice and ended the series with a convincing 18-1-28. Cool is by far considered the best Ahri player in the world and despite the nerfs that the champion has seen, Cool showed that she was still far from “unplayable.” M3 made a huge mistake, letting OMG pick the same midgame composition twice in a row, yes, the same team, except for Game 2 where Cloud's Thresh got banned and he picked up the Janna instead. Cloud was by far the MVP for Game 1 with some beautiful roams and death sentences - he made game deciding picks from the first to the last kill. 

Where the first game started off a bit slow, the second game started off quite faster with Dade going ham on his Leblanc, which he played surprisingly well. Where OMG turned up the heat in Game 1 before M3 could really react. In Game 2 the same situation occurred except that Dade was the only one who was up to the challenge.

This was also directly the problem for M3, as only Dade was fed and didn't enjoy the peel that Uzi and Cool received from their frontline. After a somewhat disappointing start from Cool in Game 2, he shifted into the next gear and returned to the Cool on Ahri that we know. OMG showed that they are just as superior as EDG in China, both teams got no equals aside from each other.

Results Day 2:

LGD Gaming vs Snake 1-1
Energy Pacemaker vs Gamtee 1-1
Edward Gaming vs Invictus Gaming 2-0
OMG vs Master3 2-0

March 15th

Namei’s Star Horn Royal Club take on King in the first game of our final day.

What should’ve been a 4-0 week for SHRC got turned into a 3-1 week. King disrupted their party in honor of the comeback of Namei with a victory in Game 1 over SHRC, keeping them behind themselves as they remained in the eighth spot in the LPL.

So what did King do to make sure that they could defeat this revived SHRC? They picked them off. From the first until the last minute, King was all over SHRC. Their vision control was better, their Rengar/Lulu engages were crazy and would catch SHRC off by surprise. MLXG even used the Rengar ult to scout out SHRC so that they could set up a play right after. It was beautiful to see how King managed to destroy a team without really teamfighting and just by picking them off left and right.

Quite a disappointing appearance from SHRC but a great one from King.

Game 2 on the other hand was slightly different.

A forced “Namei comp” was the key to success in the second game of this match-up. Namei, on one of his best champions, Kog'maw, combined with the peel from Nunu, Morgana and Rumble was what really made it work. Corn actually played well on no other then Ahri, a champion which seems to become a second Thresh, since all chinese midlaners play that champion pretty good. SHRC recognized their powerspikes and forced plays around those powerspikes which secured them the second game and therefor a split.

The last game that we are going to review is that one between Snake and OMG. The first time these two teams met they split the points, let’s see how they did this time.

OMG didn’t came out on top in the draft phase, again Baka got put on his Xerath, the only champion he plays, Beast got put onto Nidalee and Krystal onto Corki. A full poke comp to which already took down several teams. 

The game started in favor of OMG by having Uzi picking up two kills before the fifth minute and he quickly snowballed by picking up more kills onto Kryst4l and setting him miles behind. This all seemed good for OMG, but this time, the team composition was not at all about Kryst4l, it was about Baka's Xerath and Beast's Nidalee, both of whom came out on top in this game with fantastic performances.

OMG didn't have a real tank, except for Lee Sin, and didn't know what to do against this Snake who were picking them off left and right, nullifying the fed Uzi, who up until late game still had the most gold onto him. After around 27 minutes, Snake already took away four dragons without having to put up a single fight. The game ended not much later as Baka ended the game with a impressive 10-0-5.

A great display of teamwork and pick/poke potential from the newcomers and a well deserved victory in game one.

Before Game 2 got going, Uzi was caught by the camera crying on his chair behind his computer. The team coach and host of the show tried their best to cheer the two-timed worlds finalist up. Even the crowd got involved into it. Uzi, who actually had quite a good first game, was so mad about losing the first game and not being able to secure three points that this was his way of expressing it.

The draft phase for the second game didn’t really seem to have many changes for Snake since they picked up the Xerath again, but this time, OMG came out with a Gnar, J4 and Uzi on his famous Lucian. Uzi was mad, emotional and above all eager to take this game and carry it by himself. Is 19-1-7 enough? Yes it was, yes it was. OMG took first blood by the hands of Uzi again and he got rolling together with his botlane partner Cloud.

Let’s take a quick look at this botlane before we do continue, the first time that we saw this duo in competitive play it didn't work out too well but most of the critics agreed that playstyle wise Cloud and Uzi would be the best duo. As I personally prefer San as ADC, I have got to say that Cloud and Uzi definitely convinced me and many others.

Cloud was again on his Thresh, he might be the best Chinese Thresh player we’ve seen and he showed this by two early mid roams together with Loveling to disrupt Baka his laning phase. OMG was creating pressure on especially the botlane, trying to get Uzi even more ahead then he already was. Kryst4l may be first in the MVP standings, but getting solo killed two games in a row by Uzi shows that those standings mean little. OMG had great dragon control yet their vision with the double sightstone didn’t work too well early. A problem that OMG runs in to quite a lot, the lack of vision. Nonetheless OMG forced three barons, of which one was a steal by Loveling, six drakes to secure the game.

Once again , the Chinese top teams split points.

Results Day 3:

Star Horn Royal Club vs King 1-1
Invictus Gaming vs Gamtee 1-1
OMG vs Snake 1-1
LGD Gaming vs Master3 1-1

Standings After Week 8:

Schedule for Week 9:

Day 1:

Invictus Gaming vs Snake
Vici Gaming vs Gamtee
Team WE vs OMG
Edward Gaming vs Star Horn Royal Club

Day 2:

Vici Gaming vs Snake
OMG vs King
Edward Gaming vs Master3
Team WE vs LGD Gaming

Day 3:

Snake vs Energy Pacemaker
Edward Gaming vs Gamtee
Star Horn Royal Club vs Team WE
OMG vs Invictus Gaming

Week 7 LPL Preview

After what was a somewhat shocking week, we are back with twelve fantastic confrontations. Let’s take a look at the most interesting matches this weekend and the Top Three Players to look out for.

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

Current standings:

Friday

Kicking off this week will be Master3 vs King. Last week, both teams showed up; Master3 defeated the still undefeated Snake 2-0 and King took a game off EDG. Both teams faced each other this week in the Demacia cup where Master3 came out with a 3-2 victory. Superstar Dade celebrated the revival of Master3 with a pentakill on Yasuo in Game 1. Tied for the 7/8th spot with 13 points apiece, this could really be a step in the right direction to either team to secure that 4th place spot towards the end of the split.

Star Horn Royal Club, Worlds finalists of 2014 are facing a powerhouse in LGD. Both teams made different impressions on us last week. SHRC got aced by EP, who finally got their first 2-0 of the split, where they played incredibly bad. They took a strike back against Master3, where two incredible games full of objective steals ended in a 1-1. SHRC really looked a lot better in this match-up and all we can ask for is that they continue that path of playing.

LGD is currently 4th in the standings after splitting against Gamtee and EP. This is really what LGD is all about this season, extremely well-played games followed up by a different LGD who don’t seem to be able to get that victory but will always settle for the draw. 

The last game of the day goes to OMG against Vici Gaming. OMG took a game off the top two team in the world, EDG, with a surprising new botlane in the form of San and Xiyang. Gogoing was dominating on his Gnar whom he played for the first time in the pro-scene. OMG looked really good that first game and hopefully they'll continue this type of gameplay and see how Vici gaming respond to that.

Vici gaming is home of the best support player in the world, Mata. The whole team has been playing better each week and it is really a joy to watch their rotations and picks as they have one of the strongest roaming supports in the scene. After failing to take a 2-0 against TWE last week, which could’ve given them the 4th spot in the standings, they’re certainly looking to turn up the heat against OMG.

Friday’s games

Master3 vs King

Star Horn Royal Club vs LGD Gaming

Team We vs Snake

OMG vs Vici Gaming

Saturday

The first game of Saturday can be described in one word for Snake. Revenge.

Revenge for their 2-0 beating at the hands of Master3 and revenge against all their vocal critics. Ella and Beast are the players who can make this match-up against King really turn if they give Kryst4l enough space to do his job in teamfights.

But it's easier said then done to “create space in teamfights” since King is such a teamfighting-oriented team who, still as they are sharing the 7th spot, should've been higher up the standings.

Both teams will bring out their best and this will be one of the must-watch confrontations in Week 7.

Saturday’s games

King vs Snake

Invictus Gaming vs Energy Pacemaker

Team WE vs Master3

OMG vs Gamtee

Sunday

Sunday is Edward Gaming’s chance for revenge against the surprisingly well-performing Snake, the only team to leave EDG with 0 points after 2 games.

EDG seems to be looking not only for a win, but for the same type of win that they showed in Game 2 against OMG.

Fast rotations, incredible picks so that the lead they build up will even give them 4v5 teamfight potential if needed. They will want to not only defeat Snake but to show everyone that EDG is the uncontested number 1 in the LPL.

Snake on the other hand as mentioned before is looking for revenge and in this match-up Snake will be seeking to show, once again, why they have been second for such a long time this split.

Perhaps not as big of a game as EDG vs OMG, but looking at the standings it actually is.

A win for EDG can enforce their first seat but a loss could bring both Snake and OMG closer to taking that away from them.

Finally we end the weekend with OMG vs SHRC.

These teams have had an incredible history together: OMG have been eliminated by SHRC at the last world championship and the worlds before, the last time being far closer with five incredible games of beautiful play. 

Since then a lot has changed and SHRC is not the team that they were used to be, losing UZI to OMG and not being able to have Namei play for them has really set them back a lot. Earlier this split OMG already 2-0’d SHRC and how things are looking now, the only thing that is marvelous about this match-up are the team names. OMG will most likely win this match, unless……

Top 3 players to watch:

1.     Gamtee’s Hu1 – After scoring a pentakill in his first ever professional match, this man is the person to follow this week. Gamtee will only play 1 game this week, but it’s against OMG. Let’s see if the penta-debut from Hu1 who also was quite good for a new jungler in terms of vision, can continue his positive performance in this week.

2.     Master3’s Dade – Sometimes it’s best to ignore the kills on a midlaner and actually look at his performance in teamfights. Dade performed good last week, yes he did good, not outstanding, but good. His Azir game might have not been the luckiest games that he has played but the way he performed in teamfights was incredibly good. Yes, he might have died a couple of times, but he made sure he died for a good cause. After scoring a pentakill during the Demacia Cup against King, all we can hope for is that DADE IS BACK!

3.     Master3 botlane- Normally a player should be standing here, but the botlane of Master3 has really been performing exquisitely the last few games. The Kalista/Leo combo is really a joy to watch as they carry teamfights on their own with the amount of CC and peel that Lovecd provides. A joy to watch!

The games are live viewable on the following streams at 6AM CEST:

http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames2

http://star.longzhu.tv/lpl

Day 1:

Master3 vs King

Star Horn Royal Club vs LGD Gaming

Team We vs Snake

OMG vs Vici Gaming

Day 2:

King vs Snake

Invictus Gaming vs Energy Pacemaker

Team WE vs Master3

OMG vs Gamtee

Day 3:

Vici Gaming vs Energy Pacemaker

Master3 vs Gamtee

Edward Gaming vs Snake

OMG vs Star Horn Royal Club

Week 6 LPL Preview

Two of the Best Teams in the World are about to take each other on! 

After a break because of the Lunar New Year, the LPL is back with twelve matches. Here's a preview of a few games that you might find interesting to watch. The games start at 06.00 AM CEST 00.00AM EST.

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

February 27

Vici Gaming (3-3-4) vs Energy Pacemaker(0-6-2)

This will be the first game of the week. There are a few interesting aspects about this matchup:

Vici Gaming has picked up two World Champions in Mata (support) and Dandy (jungle), but the team itself hasn't really been performing as was expected. They are starting to play better as a team and for the team itself we hope that this will result in a easy 2-0 win over EP.

Energy Pacemaker is still waiting for their first win of a series in this Spring Split but it will be very hard for them to realize this against this VG team who is growing by the week in strength and teamplay.

EP did manage to go into the break with a split against M3, let’s see if this has given them some more confidence to jump into this match against the inconsistent performance of VG.

LGD Gaming(5-3-2) vs Gamtee(1-4-5)

LGD, home of the team that might have the biggest toplane 'problem' of any team worldwide. With Acorn and Flame in the toplane, LGD can swap out players without getting weaker by doing so.  Although LGD might be higher placed at this point in the standings, Gamtee has split their session with OMG which means they are not to be taken lightly.

What we can hope for is for both teams to bring out their A game. In that case, I think that LGD will come out on top because of their strong ADC in IMP and incredibly talented toplane.

Team WE(0-6-3) vs King(2-6-2)

This will be a game where we can see if King has turned that 2-0 defeat by OMG into a positive vibe after giving them a real battle in the second game that series.

Assassin’s Azir looking incredibly strong that game together with Skye’s Rumble.

King can, if they win, climb a few spots and leave the bottom part of the standings.

Team We has been struggling. With only 3 ties and no wins they are on the bottom of the standings together with Energy Pacemaker. Spirit might be able to pull off something but it will be really hard for Team WE if King brings out the same amount of aggression and gameplay that they did in Game 2 versus OMG.

Edward Gaming(9-1-0) vs OMG(6-0-4)

EDG vs OMG. The first day of Week 6 will be concluded with two of the three current Chinese powerhouses of the Chinese League of Legends scene, or should we say two of the best teams in the world at this point? I’ll let you decide that.

EDG already dropped a set to newcomer Snake, who are currently sharing second place with OMG, and are really not going to want to drop another set to them. With Pawn and Deft, EDG has brought out the SSW gameplay that we all adored during Worlds 2014, strong rotations, incredible picks and tons of sub 30 minute stomps.

What can OMG do against such a team? First of all, OMG hasn't dropped a set although they did tie four of their series. The biggest problem that OMG will have against EDG is that, if they happen to win the first game, they shouldn't become sloppy or cocky in the second one. This kind of behavior has cost them several wins and also recently against King they almost threw the second game because of their arrogant way of playing.

Bottom line is that this game is the MUST SEE for any League of Legend fan, whether you are a LCS or LCK fan. Two of the best teams in the world will take each other on and I cannot wait to see this!

Click here to see the LPL schedule for the rest of the week!

The games are watchable on the following links:

English broadcast - http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames

Chinese broadcast - http://star.longzhu.tv/lpl

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