Showing posts with label Tristan Jakobsen.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tristan Jakobsen.. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Top 5 Performers During Week 1 of the LCS

by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

The first week of the LCS is over, and it has been a rough ride for every LCS team. Huge upsets and surprising consistency/inconsistency has shown up in both North America and Europe. In this article, I will list the top 5 most impressive players of the first week.


5. T8 Slooshi8
“Don’t call my boy Slooshi a noname,” a friend of his wrote on twitter when he landed the first double kill as Orianna in yesterday’s game against TSM. Dyrus and Wildturtle fell to a fantastic shockwave + distortion, and from there he became pretty much unstoppable. He landed every single ultimate, leaving TSM without options and he let his team gracefully stomp. It looked like T8 wasn't a newly qualified team for the LCS at all, but a top contender. Even if his first game of the split didn't go as well as Slooshi would have hoped when he played Lulu against CLG, he clearly showed that his Orianna is a force to be reckoned with. His pure skill and sleeper status earns him the 5th spot on our list for Week 1.


4. FNC Yellowstar
Earning the first week MVP in EU, Yellowstar has shown that he’s still one of the (if not the) best supports in the western regions. Coming into the spring split with almost no weight on his shoulders as a leader of a brand new Fnatic team, his Annie play during the first two games was truly outstanding. Every single flash stun he executed in the games against Elements and H2K was flawless and every single one resulted in more kills funneled over to the new carries of the what-was sleeper team. His amazing stuns, vision control and ability to turn around pretty much any teamfight earned his team a 2-0 the first week and a solid 4th place in this list.


3. FNC ReignOver 
ReignOver brings his Korean prowess to the LCS scene, showing the western world that Rengar isn't useless at all. Managing to pull off two successful ganks pre-level 6 against the reigning European champions is darn impressive. His synergy with his team is overwhelmingly mind-blowing, especially when you take a peek at the top lane. Together with Huni, (who was very close to make it onto this list), they piled up an impressive combined KDA at 6.18. This guy has potential to be a top jungler in the western world.


2. TL IWDominate
Who else to take the title of the 1st week MVP other than IWDominate? He went 3/0/0 as Nunu against their first game against Team Impulse, where he faced the top ranked Korean solo queue player Rush, whom he held down perfectly. His shot calling prowess could clearly be seen shining throughout the first week as he carried his team to a 2-0 even playing with a substitute AD Carry. This was a statement that when Piglet arrives to North America to play for Team Liquid, they are expected to be a contender for the top spot in the NA LCS.


1. FNC Febiven
Everyone bashed him and criticized him for leaving the solid ex-challenger team H2K to join a newly formed Fnatic team with no expectations at all. The result was jaw-dropping. Fnatic went 2-0 in their first week against Elements and H2K. Nobody expected them to, and everyone rejoiced in the fact that Febiven not only handled Froggen with ease, but racked up a KDA of 22 against the reigning European champions. He only missed 3 out of 23 total shots with his Xerath ultimate in the game too, really striking fear into the hearts of every Elements fan. He impressed us again in his game against H2K where he racked up a KDA of 14, even if he was being the focus target for H2K pretty much the entire game. Heed my advice, fantasy LCS-players. You want this guy on your squad.

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Honorable Mention: Keith
I decided not to include subs on this list, but if I had, boy would Team Liquids AD-carry sub make it on. Even though he’s just a challenger player, the team decided to play around him in their first game against Team Impulse. His Kog’Maw went HUGE, ending the game with 17 KDA. The praise came shortly thereafter, but no one could prepare anyone for what a monster Keith would be in the next game against CLG when he had an amazing 21 KDA as Caitlyn, neatly crowning his short LCS run. Let’s see if Piglet can live up to the example the young AD-carry has set on the ADC role.

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  by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

Saturday, November 22, 2014

THE TOP TEN DEADLIEST ADCS

by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

Perhaps they aren't the Best ADCs, but they certainly are the most dangerous as far as your healthbar is concerned. Between their kill count, KDA and pure potential, these are the guys you're most likely to see just before your screen losses its color.  

Number 10: The Adorable CandyPanda 


With the help of long-time pro, nRated, CandyPanda took to the botlane for SK Gaming in the European LCS. This lad from Germany is a player that mostly lies in the middle of the pack when it comes to AD Carrys. His KDA rests on a rather unimpressive 3.8 and his GPM lies dull steady at 380. In fact, per stats, he wouldn't even have made it on this top ten list if it wasn't for his tendency to play passively throughout almost the whole split and then explode into a killing machine that eats champions for breakfast - kind of like Gnar, but with more arrows and less boomerangs. His Vayne at worlds is a perfect example of when the Panda goes all hulk and actually shows up. In his match vs TSM, he played the whole game according to what needed to be done, and when TSM made the decision to rush and scatter into SK’s base, that’s when the game was decided.  

Here’s some of CandyPandas' Vayne mechanics. Even though he goes in recklessly and dies, he still manages to wreak enough havoc for SK to win the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sbd204IUC4&feature=youtu.be&t=40m26s

So what about next split?
Whilst CandyPanda left SK Gaming and is now a free agent, it would be interesting to see him in the LCS again. He’s a major sleeper (and boy does he sleep for long hours) but, when you wake the panda up, he’s not all that cute and cuddly anymore. 

Average KDA: 3.8
GPM: 380 
Support: nRated
Most Played Champion: Lucian.


Number 9: The Lawful Cop 
























Cop has the fifth lowest GPM (377) of all AD carries in the LCS. He’s a rather passive player and often relies on the rest of the team to win the game, but even though he’s shaky in many areas, you cannot deny his KDA is monstrous. Showing up with an impressive 5.8 average, you know that he and Xpecial made a really good team. Do you remember the game vs Complexity that went on forever? (You know, that game where there was so much chaos and back-and-forths your eyes got exhausted being in the same room as your monitor?) It was here Cop probably made his biggest play of the summer split. His Kog’Maw kites here are just amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iysBJ2jSubI

What about next split?
Cop was replaced this season by none other than ex-SKT T1 K’s Piglet, which is almost unarguably an upgrade. Still, you should expect Cop to show up and be one of the best players in the NA Expansion tournament as part of Curse Academy. 

Average KDA: 5.8
GPM: 377
Support: Xpecial
Most Played Champion: Corki.


Number 8: The Wild Turtle 

Although not so ‘yung’ anymore, WildTurtle is still one of the most famous League of Legends players in the world. Known to be an incredible solo queue player, he will sometimes do reckless things without thinking. It's a habit he brings to the LCS, and while it doesn't always work out the way he thought, it still works.

Most people assume Turtle would place higher on this list but, in all honesty, even though TSM won the NA LCS Summer Split, his performance wasn't top notch. However, you cannot deny the fact that he’s a motivated player that has sick mechanics, even though he sometimes has problems translating them into team oriented plays (which might have to do more with him switching support two times during the season.) There’s a significant point when you look at Turtles' stats, and it’s obvious they improved when Lustboy replaced Gleeb in the TSM starting roster.

And, of course, let's not forget the very last teamfight of the summer season, when he secured a triple kill and the cup for TSM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2qfZ9Z8rA&feature=youtu.be&t=49m14s

What about next split?
WildTurtle is still part of TSM and has kept practicing and improving with Lustboy. Predictions are he’s going to improve his stats during the next split.

Average KDA: 4.6
GPM: 381 
Support: Gleeb / Lustboy.
Most Played Champion: Lucian.


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by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen