2015 EU LCS Spring Split Predictions

By Matt “It's Pure Luck” Lee and the LCS FanZone staff.

Let us start off by saying that these preseason predictions often go horribly wrong but, at the same time, they're fun to do and are a great subject for debate. As we think back to the Spring Split of 2015 in Europe, if someone had told you before the season that Roccat would place third you likely would have been laughing uncontrollably on the floor. And yet, there we were at the end of the spring, watching Roccat accomplish a feat that not many people outside of the Roccat organization itself saw coming. Perhaps some team on this list who is not so highly thought of will surprise us all and make us look incredibly foolish come the end of this split. So, for a little more leeway, we have done this in a Top Three – Middle of the Pack – Bottom Three format.

*EACH CATEGORY IS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

TOP 3

Roccat – It was a great off-season for Roccat who managed to prevent their top two players in Jankos and Vander from being poached. At the same time they removed what seemed to be their weakest links in Xaxus and Celaver. Nukeduck is a huge pickup and his aggressive style in middle should really help this team. Overpow should find his style more suited to the top lane, he was often too passive when he was in mid. Closing out games was an issue at times for them last split, improvement there should see Roccat challenge for top two this spring.

SK Gaming – Logic would say that improving on last season’s roster, which finished in third place in the summer, should have SK Gaming back in the thick of things in Season 5. Unfortunately, that isn’t always how things work out. Add in a somewhat brash personality in Forg1ven and problems could potentially arise in team chemistry. But in the end, there is too much talent here for this team to not compete for a top 3 spot. Fox seems to be a very mechanically gifted player, now it’s up to him to prove it on the big stage. If he can do that and Forg1ven can adapt his style to fit the team, SK should be in a good position at season’s end.

Elements – Admittedly, the new name is indeed somewhat cheesy. But the roster is still really damn good. It’s hard to argue with the pickup of Rekkles as he is regarded as the best AD Carry in western League of Legends. But we aren’t so sure it fixes the problems that they had last split when the team was often at times far too passive. Rekkles is considered a better player than Tabzz, we just aren’t sure he is a better fit for this team. An aggressive playmaker was needed and that’s what Tabzz provided. Regardless, it’s hard to envision any scenario where this team does not finish top three and they remain the favorite to win this season.

MIDDLE OF THE PACK

Meet Your Makers – New name, slightly new roster, likely the same result for the team formerly known as the Supa Hot Crew. MYM was the most disagreed upon team when trying to place each team in their respective places and for good reason; roster shakeups and a lack of consistency the past season. H0R0 was picked up to replace the departed Impaler and it will be interesting to see how the communication between he and Selfie works out. Talented roster will show flashes of brilliance but be a very streaky, up and down team.

Gambit Gaming – IEM Cologne was a very solid showing for this roster and more important than anything perhaps is that Diamond seems to be rejuvenated. P1noy’s style should go quite well with Edward in that they are both very aggressive players. It will be a key for them to keep that aggression curbed just enough so that it doesn't backfire on them as we saw at times at IEM versus CLG. We aren’t sure they will compete for a top three spot, but they won’t be too far away from it. Expect far better results than we saw from them in the summer.

Fnatic – While MYM was perhaps the most disagreed upon team for the FanZone staff when putting this together, Fnatic was perhaps the most difficult to figure out. A legacy is gone as Yellowstar is now the only remaining player from the roster. To say that Febiven is the most proven player of the free agents added is somewhat of a scary thought. He has shown to have a very high level of talent but at the same time struggled mightily in past promotion tournament series. The pressure on newcomers Steelback, Huni and Reignover is immense as those are some big shoes they are left to fill. Yellowstar’s experience will be crucial for this team this split.

Unicorns of Love – They surprised Team SoloMid at IEM San Jose with a little bit of cheese and then…promptly ran into juggernaut Cloud 9 and were annihilated. With their oddball picks the Unicorns have become an entertaining team to watch but it takes more than that to consistently win games at this level. We don’t see them challenging for a top five spot this split, but they shouldn't be atrocious either. PowerOfEvil is a gifted player and should do enough in the mid lane to see the Unicorns return to the LCS in the summer.

BOTTOM THREE

Copenhagen Wolves – Roster stays mostly the same except for Freeze replacing the departed Woolite who jumped ship to Roccat. They found themselves in the promotion tournament twice last year (hey, they've still yet to drop a game there) and we wouldn't be surprised if they found themselves there again at the end of this split. Expect a few surprise wins out of the Wolves, but a finish above 7th place would be surprising.

H2k - The high of getting into the LCS was shortly replaced by a crippling blow as star player and mid-laner Febiven departed for Fnatic just weeks before the new season begins. Ryu isn't the same player he was when he was with the KT organization but he was solid when he substituted for Roccat at IEM Cologne. We liked this roster before the departure of Febiven, but that’s a tough obstacle to overcome for a team that’s new to the LCS.

GIANTS! – We were surprised to see this team escape the expansion tournament and make it into the LCS to be frank. It was hard to justify putting them anywhere above the bottom three because they are untested and have not been in this position before and the competition is much stiffer now than it was in the past for them. They may prove doubters wrong, but it’s something we have to see before we believe it.

Click here to check out the actual staff pick lists! 

Breaking Down IEM IX Cologne and Looking at Semifinals.

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

With Cloud9 winning IEM San Jose, it is soon time to start IEM Cologne. Here is a bit about the teams that have the potential to win, the casting crew, what is at stake and when it’s going to be played.

Gambit Gaming - The IEM Legends

Cacochard, Diamond, NiQ, P1noy & Edward

A new Gambit at IEM will be trying to replicate the previous success of the old five players from Gambit. The former five: Darien, Diamond, Alex Ich, Genja & Edward, were also under the name Moscow 5 and won IEM Season VI Global Challenge Kiev & World Championship. IEM Kiev was the first LAN event Diamond ever had attended. After coming under the Gambit Gaming organization, the team followed up by winning IEM Season VII Global Challenge and placing 3rd-4th in the World Championship. The next IEM would have the exact same outcome for Gambit, IEM Season VIII Cologne was won with a 2-0 over Fnatic & again they placed 3-4th in the World Championship. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure on the new guys to perform.

A quick mention that their previous organisation won’t be participating in the tournament, Moscow 5 again sadly has Visa problems for their new five players. So Diamond & Edward sadly won’t have the chance to face their old organization.

Toplane - Cabochard : Since the departure of Darien, Gambit has been trying to to fill the toplane role with Kubon but, after a relatively short stay, they switched him out with Cabochard who had previously subbed for them when Darien couldn't get a visa to play. He quickly got picked up by NiP after subbing, but after they failed to qualify for LCS, Cabochard got picked up by Gambit. Cabochard is known for his confidence through laning phase, which makes him vulnerable for ganks. If they can play well with his style of play, he should be one of the better toplaners going into the next season.

Jungle - Diamond : Diamond has been with Gambit for a long time and experienced their IEM success and he'll be trying to replicate it with new teammates. Diamond is known as the innovator and has been one of the players to look at when you define how to play jungle. He is still considered as a elite jungler of EU and will hopefully, for the spectators, come out with something new again. He joined the old Gambit boys by Edward knowing him, despite being 1800 elo which was low for professional players. He is known for exceptional Lee Sin play and for popularizing Evelyn jungle with various builds, most notably the old bluepot start which would allow him to have insane early pressure.

Mid - Niq : NiQ spent several years playing for multiple Polish teams, but after failing to qualify for LCS EU with Denial he himself approached Gambit after Alex Ich's announcement of leaving the team. He had big shoes to fill and has shown himself to be a solid player for Gambit despite having a bad split. He seemed to favour Nidalee in the midlane in the EU LCS. Also, expect to see his favorite champ, Fizz.

ADC - P1noy (Krislund) : He is mostly known under the name Krislund, but changed his name after being confirmed for Gambit because he wanted to have something that represented himself since he is half filipina. He ddidn'thave a good relationship with his father so he changed the name to p1noy because it meant that he was filipina which came from his mothers side.

He is an versatile adc who has played a ton in the Challenger Series, but he's also subbed for Gambit in the Relegation Tournament. He can play both play aggressive and passive well and will most likely be aggressive with his support, Edward. He also shown that he doesn't fall under pressure; he played his first match with Gambit in the Relegation Tournament and showed up big.

Support - Edward : Edward, the man who was previously known as Gosu Pepper, is a huge playmaking support. He is known as the “Thresh Prince” for good reason. He has always been the player to flash in for a kill or for trading the flash of the opposite adc. He would often do this on Sona as well. He has previously been praised as the best Sona and was picking her very often. He describes his playstyle as “see hero, kill hero” which we have seen in the EU LCS multiple times. He has also been trying to innovate the support champions, spamming Vel’koz in soloq and busting out Gragas in competitive play quite a few times.

Roccat - The 5 players with a storyline for IEM

Overpow, Jankos, Ryu, Woolite & VandeR

Roccat are here because Fnatic couldn’t participate without a full lineup. Despite that fact, Roccat are seen by many as the favorites of the tournament and with new strong additions, they are likely to win. They have been praised by many for being good in scrims which has lead to a lot of hype around them at the moment.

Toplane - Overpow : Overpow was for the early of the EU LCS split highly praised and hyped but did not perform exceptionally well in the midlane in the split. He was good at times but really passive in the midlane with many strange picks such as Mordekaiser. He has been praised for being aggressive & having instant tp’s since his role swap to toplane. Many didn’t feel like the removal of Xaxus was a good idea, but Roccat seems to feel happy about putting Overpow top. The question stands if he will be living up to the hype and showing dominance in his lane.

Jungle - Jankos : Jankos was praised as the best jungler in Europe after a good summer split. If you go back and look at his games when he was in the challenger series he wasn't a good jungler, but he's really developed a good understanding of the jungle and mechanical skill over time. He has immense early pressure every single game and has an incredibly high rate of first bloods. He also prefers champs such as Lee Sin & Elise who has great kits for early pressure.

Mid - Ryu: This IEM tournament is going to be an important one for Ryu, with LCS soon coming and teams locking in their rosters. This “tryout period” at IEM for Ryu will be the dealbreaker, with players like Nukeduck waiting in the wings if he doesn't perform. He is known for Ahri and Fizz but mostly for his Orianna which he has mastered completely. He is so good at holding his ultimate in fights so he can zone out the enemy. Despite Roccat consisting of four Polish players they talk in English so Ryu can have a chance of understanding them. It will be interesting to see how Roccat will cope with the language barrier.

ADC - Woolite : Replacing Celaver will be the former Copenhagen Wolves' adc, Woolite. He is one of the products of Copenhagens continuing adc production. He was the shining light for CW and, with a strong support, they could be contesting for the strongest botlane in EU. Woolite is an aggressive player and will suit VandeR well. He'll be a strong replacement for the underwhelming and defensive adc, Celaver.

Support - VandeR : Vander can also be called VandeRlife, because he was definitely a playmaking support who was top two in the LCS. His Thresh is his best champion and was often banned away from him. It will be interesting to see the pairing of Vander and Woolite vs Doublelift and Aphromoo in the semifinal. He has been on the show First Blood and seems to be a really smart player.

Dignitas - Addition of two Koreans 

Gamsu, Crumbzz, Shiphtur, CoreJJ, KiwiKid

Dignitas are going into this tournament despite being behind CLG, Curse and EG, but Curse and EG didn’t have the opportunity to show up so Dignitas, with the depature of Scarra, ZionSpartan and Imaqtpie, have the chance to show off their two new Korean players.

Top - Gamsu : Gamsu is a Korean who has played with Alienware Arena in OGN Winter and also been a sub for Samsung Blue. Without knowing much about Gamsu, I am looking forward to seeing what this new player can offer to the Dignitas lineup. He has also been playing under the name loopercorn in SoloQ in NA. 

Jungle - Crumbzz : Crumbzz, for me, is an very underrated jungler in NA. He is often solid and is extremely versatile since he has played top, jungle & mid competitively. He has also been great on the analyst desk the few times he has been there. He is trying to become the shotcaller for Dignitas which is a very underrated skill. Shotcalling is very important but many seems to forget it when they rate the player. He has previously shown good performances on Elise, Vi and Lee sin. Something I think he has under his sleeve is a Kayle and maybe a Nocturne jungle pick since he has played it once before.

Mid - Shiphtur : Shiphtur came to Dignitas as a “star signing.” People had enormous expectations and in his very first game he did get a pentakill on Leblanc. This was followed by many good performance and Dignitas climbed the ranks. Their performance dropped as the split went on and they didn't do too well in play-offs. He shines on assassin champs and Ziggs.


Adc - CoreJJ : CoreJJ has been streaming a lot on twitch while playing under the name DubuKiD. Many have said that he hasn't been doing too well in soloq but that obviously isn't a big deal when you look at competitive which is a different environment. If you haven’t seen his stream I would suggest it. He is, in my opinion, a very entertaining streamer.  He previously played on Bigfile Miracle with Fusions' new midlaner, Huhi. Other than that, I don’t know much about him but will be watching him closely at IEM.

Support - Kiwikid : With the news that Dignitas was not going to be fielding Imaqtpie, people speculated if Kiwikid was still going to be on the roster. With his roleswap from toplane, he has been kind of underwhelming so far. If he could show up at IEM with huge plays on champions like Thresh, he would minimize the backlash from the community next split.

Counter Logic Gaming - Mystery

ZionSpartan, Thinkcard, Link, Doublelift, Aphromoo

Counter Logic Gaming with the most votes are going to be looking to please their fans. Fan favorite Scarra will be leading the team as head coach. 

Toplane - ZionSpartan : ZionSpartan was also one of the new signings. He is this carry style toplaner who could even pull out a Nasus pick against a Maokai for instance. CLG has a history of turning toplaners into how they want them to play though, but let's hope we can see Zion in a sidelane doing what he does best. He has, in recent vlogs, seemed really happy and has had a great attitude so it seems like he is getting along with the other players.

Jungle - Thinkcard : He has previously subbed for CLG when CLG was bootcamping in Korea. This time he is subbing as well because Xmithie had visa problems. He tried to qualify for LCS with LoLPro but wasn’t showing up in the series at all himself. He isn’t really about fancy Lee Sin kicks or anything like that but is warding the map and being the second support in that sense.

Midlane - Link : Link has been under a lot of criticism and a great way to shut them up would be to come out strong at IEM. He has also been trying to roleswap to jungle but CLG felt like keeping him mid would be the best solution available for them. He will probably be playing farm/poke heavy champions despite of a lot of assassins being strong right now.

ADC - Doublelift : Doublelift is the front of CLG and the one CLG fans value most. He also has a unique story behind him. He was kicked out from home at age 16 because he wanted to be a pro gamer, and had to live with Travis Gafford. The glory days of Doublelift seem long gone and retirement has been an area which has been discussed. He often has Vayne bans against him but always plays the meta adc otherwise. Often he can get caught off guard and be in a bad position in teamfights. With that said, he does make a good botlane with Aphromoo. He has a reputation of trash talking opponents, but for himself, I hope he doesn't trash talk Woolite because I see Woolite getting the better of him.

Support - Aphromoo : Aphromoo is the star of the botlane but often doesn’t get enough credit because his duo partner has such a big name. He is one of the most lovable guys in the scene and has grown as a player since his role swap from ADC to Support. Rush hour as the botlane pairing is called, will have a hard time against the new botlane of Roccat I believe.


Semi-finals

Semi-finals are going to be hard to predict since we haven’t seen many of the teams in action and all of them have new players, but I believe that we might see an EU final here.

I don’t dare to predict the scores but I think that Roccat and Gambit are going to be in the final. Roccat has been sounding strong and will be trying their best to win IEM while on the other hand CLG weren’t sure if they were attending the event and have a sub as well. It wouldn’t be IEM Cologne without having Gambit in the final at least, and Dignitas took a while to get going against Aces High, which could be worrying sign.

IEM Casting line-up

Krepo, Deman, Deficio, stvicious, JoeMiller, Dexter & Sjokz

When to watch?

Saturday - December 20th

13:00 to 18:00 CET - LCS EU expansion winners match (BO5)

18:00 to 21:00 CET - Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Roccat vs CLG (BO3)

21:00 to 0:00 CET - Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Dignitas vs Gambit (BO3)

Sunday - December 21st

13:00 to 18:00 CET - LCS EU expansion decider match (BO5)

18:00 to 23:00 CET - Intel Extreme Masters Cologne final (BO5)

The IEM Cologne prize pool is 30.000$ and every team gets a bit of the cut obviously more for the higher placed teams. 

Teams that didn't make it: Also Dolphins of Wall Street & Aces High eSports Club participated in IEM but didn't make the semifinals.

Amazing, Niels & Mithy announced for Origen (xPeke’s newly formed team). Contenders for Top Lane Position Here!

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic

xPeke’s dream of creating his own team and brand is finally coming to life, and with the new announcement of Amazing, Niels & Mithy, the team is looking promising.

Origen announced the new players via Twitter but has not announced their toplaner yet, therefore the rumor mill is still producing names such as Alex Ich, SoaZ, Kev1n & Zorozero.

Looking at Alex Ich as the first contender and the most talked by the community for Origen’s toplane. 

Alex Ich has been a great midlaner over the years and was a dominant force in the EU LCS for Gambit. After leaving Gambit he joined NiP as their toplaner since NiP already had Nukeduck midlane at the time, but despite a star-studded team they failed to qualify for LCS. Him as a toplaner for NiP didn't seem like the biggest success, which was why he later played midlane. Since then, he has tried to form a team with players such as Kev1n, Impaler, Creaton & KaSing, which again left him to play midlane, but sadly the team disbanded after some shaky ranked-5’s performances which were streamed.

Alex recently signed with the Russian team, RoX.KIS which leads me to believe that he will have a hard time leaving them. Overall, I don’t think he is the best toplaner available, and fits way better in the midlane. xPeke also might see a problem in Alex Ich needing a place to stay with his wife & child. He is really liked by the community and still a decent player but I don't see it happening.

Possibility of happening: 3/10

Looking at the second contender, Kev1n.

With the recent failure of re-qualifying for LCS, Millenium decided to disband. Without a team, the possibility of Kev1n is likely. Kev1n has been in the scene for a long time with teams such as SK Gaming & Millenium and he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Trying to form a team with Alex Ich & trying to re-qualify with Millenium means that he certainly still has the drive for it.

Kev1n has always been at the top with high KDA even when his teams weren't placing high. I think that he is the most likely contender of the four and if he doesn't get picked I would be surprised. With that said, they have been playing ranked 5’s under the name “ORIGEN” on the client, the toplane account is completely new and I don’t see a reason for hiding it if it was Kev1n since he is without a team right now.

Possibility of happening: 8/10

sOAZ, the third contender.

Soaz, as we all know from Against All Authority & Fnatic, is a toplaner with a great champion pool and he knows xPeke very well. They have been together in Fnatic for a long time and that could be a crucial factor. Rumours have been flying around that xPeke doesn't like sOAZ and therefore doesn't want him in Origen.

sOAZ still seems to be on Fnatic and there is question to be made of whether he wants to take the chance of going through challenger or sticking with his secure Fnatic spot. This could explain the mystery top lane account Origen have been playing ranked 5’s with, since sOAZ is most likely still contracted to Fnatic. Also, the unknown player is presenting quite innovative picks in the toplane - such as Morgana and Ezreal. On the other hand, he has changed his name to sOAZIZSALTY in soloq, which could mean he is salty for being left on Fnatic while three of its five players have left.

Possibility of happening: 7/10

Looking at the last contender, Zorozero.

Zorozero is well known for playing for Lemondogs and NiP, and he was also praised as being the best toplaner in EU. No doubt that he was a great player, but he left for school and he surely couldn't have finished school yet unless he did some of it already. Personally I wish it would turn out to be Zorozero just for the sake of getting him back into the scene. Sadly, I think it is unlikely because of school. If he is finished, he could very well be looking for a team and they are hiding the name of the player under the name “touchmytagada.”

Possibility of happening: 5/10

The Rise of Teamwork MOBAs

by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

Recently I got lucky and saw the Heroes of the Storm icon pop up on my Blizzard launcher, so I dove in and played it the hardcore way to discover the possibilities of the game, both casual and eSports wise. Also, along with thousands of other viewers, I watched the small tournament hosted during Blizzcon featuring several big gaming structures. So I can ensure now : HotS is a teamplay-based game, very different from League of Legends, with great potential. It was what Blizzard publicized and they held on to their promise: short games, never-ending action and teamwork on various maps. In the end, my personal feeling is that Blizzard took the best out of Dota 2 and Counter Strike to make their own MOBA. But, as much as it will help the casual gamer enjoy this kind of game more easily than in Dota or LoL, isn't it dangerous regarding eSports and competition ?

Team too heavy, can't carry alone.

These words, we at least heard them once during our solo queue adventures in League of Legends. Why ? Because, to some extent, it is possible because of the inherent meta to have one player shine above others with a top-notch performance and help his team carry on and get the victory. It is almost impossible to do that in HotS for two reasons: shared experience and no gold/items system. In League, you can grow stronger and faster than your opponent because of the gold and the powerful items you can buy. If you farm better and get a few kills, you'll have more experience but also more gold - therefore more items and more power. You can then proceed to walk on the map and help your team secure objectives, kills and help the team grow stronger as a whole. Quite simple.

In HotS, it is almost impossible (if you take two players of the same level) to perform a 1v1 kill. You'll need help from your team to make a kill or to secure the big “objectives” on every map. And even if you get a kill, you won't be stronger than your opponent when he comes back. You'll have a bit more exp but that doesn't help you - except if you could secure another skillpoint (which are not available at every level). And if you have one more skill point, it doesn't mean you can really pressure your opponent, nor is it always worth doing so. Almost every time you try to go for a solo kill, you'll take too much time and the enemy team will be able to catch and insta-gib you. 

Even if you look at Assassins, which are supposed to be able to kill opponents easily because of their permanent invisibility, their burst might be not enough and one CC can easily turn the situation. They can't grow stronger because of items, therefore their potential is limited, especially in end game. 

One of the best things in the game : play an Elite Tauren Chieftain

If I can't outplay my direct opponent, what's the point ?

Well, the point is that your team can outplay the opponents, not just you. And when I talk about this around me, there is a clash of opinions. “Heh, I can already never count on my team on LoL, why would I be able to do so in HotS?” “I would never play a game where I can't feel that I'm making a difference on my own,” “Well, at least it should reduce the number of people trash talking because you lost your lane a bit,” “I don't care as long as I can watch Kerrigan's booty.”

While the latter seems a very constructive point, I'd prefer to look at a very interesting opinion here: “I want to feel that I'm making a difference.” And truly, who doesn't ? If we play videogames, we want to personally be the hero, to perform better than the others, to show off a bit. That's the point of several videogames, and moreover, that's the point of competition. HotS may be a more casual-oriented game, but it still is a MOBA, therefore a competitive game where your ranking is important. Ranked games aren't available yet so I couldn't test what is going on and if teams were truly behaving like they should (with reduced toxicity.)

Until I can experience ranked, I'm still worried about that point since I've been seeing a special type of champion inside the game: the “siege specialists.” It means what it means, those champions are literally afk pushing lanes the whole game, or even afk in base giving a few buff to the team if you look at Abathur. It means that in several games you'll play almost 4v5 or face a split-pusher in a teamplay-based game. Of course, it increases the number of strategies, but it'll just lead to more toxicity and trash talk.

In HotS, you have to pay Gangplank so he can throw his ultimate for you.

So...Should I watch it ?

I'm only getting to the main point now, but I wanted to offer sufficient background to those who couldn't play the game at all yet. Whenever I see a MOBA now, I can't help but think of its eSports potential. Competition and a strong community are the keys to MOBAs success and it'll be a truly successful game only when it gets a competitive scene on its own, with its own large community. Blizzard clearly showed, by hosting a tournament during the Alpha, that they want to be on that eSports stage, and not just wait to watch what will happen like for Hearthstone.

So what of HotS potential? I'm torn. On one hand, I know a lot of people have gotten sick of the League of Legends scene because of the toxicity, the failures, and because it got boring. And Blizzard is a force that cannot be stopped when you consider its marketing and communication potential. They might be the gaming company with the strongest loyalty too, because of their history. An example? How many of us consider that the future Warcraft movie has poor casting and will probably result in a deception, but will still go see it? And the sequel? If you've been playing Blizzard's games for a while, you cannot not go see it. Another example, just recently they launched Warlords of Draenor and got 3 millions players back by snapping their fingers. No other company is able to do such a feat.

But let's get back on track. Do I want to watch a competition where I can't see outplays on an individual scale? Let's just take a look at the famous Faker vs Ryu Zed/Zed outplay. We were all stoked to see this. And we will continue to shout at the top of our lungs each time a 1v1 or a 2v2 trade engages. Almost none of those trades in HotS will result in a kill and you may only see 5v5 teamfights. I can't help but think that it'll get pretty boring very quickly, even if games are shorter. I want to see teams battling each other and outperform their opponent on a strategical point of view but I also want to see individual actions. And I want to be able to catch my breath between them. In HotS, it's action 100% of the time: no laning phase, no anything, and I'm afraid some viewers will be lost in what's going on and never get the time to understand it, since the game is already over twenty minutes in.

On the other hand, Blizzard has found a counter to this by offering a large panel of maps with different objectives and strategies, and they plan to bring more to the table. That's the Counter Strike side of the game: teams will be able to perform better on some maps while their opponents will outperform them on others. And along with the pick/ban phase of every game, you'll have a drafting phase of the map choice like for Starcraft or CS. Strategy-wise, it's pretty interesting and appealing, so long as teams don't decide that some maps are hard to play and never pick them. (I'm thinking about the Dragonshire map where taking the objective in a 5v5 premade scenario is almost impossible without taking drastic risks.) But we'll have to wait a bit more until we can see that.

Just an Alpha, yet a tournament with Fnatic, EG, C9 and more. 

That's how powerful Blizzard is.

It's not LoL, it's not Dota, it's not CS:GO, it's...different.

The major advantage of HotS is that it's a game bringing something new to the table and it benefits from Blizzard's very strong marketing power. We've seen what they can do on a game where eSports is not one of their first objectives, like Hearthstone, and damn, their studio at Blizzcon was amazing. For HotS, I have high expectations and I want to see what they can deliver. It's extremely interesting to see a new scene potentially rising up. Will they implement a league system? Will they copy the WCS model? What will the studios look like? Will they partner with Riot to create a global eSports convention?

Of course, I also might be dead wrong and teamplay-based games with non-stop action is what people want to see. Maybe they want to see 5v5's all the time, and how one team will outperform the other on this specific objective. But I mostly think that HotS will appeal to a more casual genre of gamer, and moreover, a casual genre of viewers. Studies have shown that a large part of the eSports viewership is not part of the “hardcore” gamers and they might be drawn by this casual looking MOBA with no pauses and no time to look away. It could also attract lovers of Bo3/Bo5 instead of Bo1 since it'll most surely be the standard format for this game.

In the end, HotS will probably be a success on the eSport scene and all the big multi-gaming structures will have a team. But I might not be watching if I can't find a way out of its repetitiveness. I do have high expectations that the pro teams will prove me wrong and show me how many strategies they can pull off in a game where an individual's performance is minimized, but how do you identify which player might have bigger potential than another? Do you only rely on personal affinity to recruit a new player? If your team is performing badly, how do you identify the weakest link?

One thing is for sure: Heroes of the Storm is a new kind of game inside the MOBA genre and is one of many. TOME, which just came out on Steam, is looking strongly like HotS on some points and trying to make a name in the competitive teamwork market. For now, I can only wait and propose a whole bunch of questions for which I'll be eagerly looking for answers. 

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 by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

Expansion Tournament Round 2 Preview

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic 

Only one day is left until the second round of the expansion tournament, and going in we have Millenium, Giants, Reason Gaming, Different Dimension, H2k, Meloncats, Gamers2 & n!faculty, a line-up which is sure to give us some great games.

Millenium vs Giants 

Kev1n, H0R0, Ryu, Creaton & Jree vs Werlyb, Fr3deric,xPepii, Adryh & Rydle

Going into the first game of Round 2, we have two strong sides. Millenium are the favorites, but you should expect Twitch chat to be filled with hype around Giant's xPepii, especially when he gets a kill.

Although Millenium is expected to win, I have given one game to Giants because I feel that xPepii's unorthodox level 3 roams and aggressive play are going to give them an advantage, one they can possibly use to secure a win. At the very least, his unconventional moves creates fun games that are entertaining to watch and they should be a bit different from the others.

On paper, Millenium are the much stronger team, despite Giants having a midlaner who was once considered one of the best in his role. Toplane will have the biggest mismatch, as Kev1n's skill and experience is going to outshine Werlyb. In the Black Monster cup, it was Millenium's botlane that was the driving force with good farm and solo kills, and if they can transition that into the game vs Giants, they should come out with the win..

Player to watch from Millenium: H0R0

My reasoning behind picking H0R0 as the player to watch is that he has so far has been both good and lackluster in the Black Monster Cup. He often goes for a sightstone after his jungle item, which I hope can give Millenium great opportunities and maybe make it easier for Ryu to pick off the enemies on an assassin like Leblanc. There's been a lot of hype behind H0R0 coming to EU, and in scrims he apparently has splendid performances. He hasn't been an outstanding player in BMC, but I believe he can show up big when it matters.

Players to watch from Giants: xPepii & Adryh

I have chosen two players from Giants because I simply couldn't leave out xPepii, because his unexpected early roams and crazy playmaking potential makes him a player to watch. Adryh seems to be the carry of Giants. In the first round of the expansion he went 9-0-8 on Jinx & 7-4-10 on Lucian when the Jinx was picked away from him. He is one of the only Jinx players at the moment, and I think if they can snowball him on a Jinx they can have a shot.

Predicted score: Millenium 2-1 Giants

Reason Gaming vs Different Dimension 

Kubon, Xayoo, Takefun, Celaver & Libik vs Warrior Lady, AnOnPsyCko, Magebane, Dom1nant & Wildpanda

The second game is between Reason Gaming and the big EUNE surprise, Different Dimension.

Reason Gaming’s matches sadly weren't streamed against SK Prime, but they are up on the ESL YouTube channel. In the first game, Reason Gaming got outplayed and set themselves too far behind too early with Takefun dying multiple times in the first ten minutes. In the second game, Reason had a comfortable lead but were shaky with their decision-making around dragon. Despite that, they came out victorious in Game 2. In Game 3, it was Takefun going 16-3 (even though he gave up first blood) and Xayoo, stealing the baron and winning the game just after.

On paper they have decently strong & experienced players, and are the favourites against Different Dimension, but I fear for them if they move on. Against other teams who should advance in the tournament, DD has the worst positioning.

Different Dimension got through with a 2-0 sweep against the first seed from the EUW ladder, SPARTA. I think that everybody expected EUNE to only have one team which could put up a fight - Tricked esports. However that was not the case. Dom1nant was really dominating on the rift, which is also the reason why he is the player to watch.

Player to watch from Reason: Takefun

Takefun was hit or miss and I expect him to be again, but he has the ability and skill to outlane Mageban, although after his 16-3 game on Leblanc, I imagine that champion will be banned out by DD. Takefun will need to be one of the players that shows up, because I fear that Celaver is going to struggle in the bottom lane.

Player to watch from DD: Dom1nant

Dom1nant is the absolute star of the team and will have to perform every game if they want to have any hopes of winning. He has been under the wing of SK Forgiven and seems to have improved quite a bit. My only fear for Dom1nant is that he isn't an ADC, but a midlaner. He might not have strong performances on many champions, so that could be a worrying point for DD.

Predicted score: Reason Gaming 2-1 Different Dimension

H2k vs Meloncats 

Odamne, loulex, Febiven, Hjarnan, Voidle vs zeclipse, gillius, Abaria, Crykee, Dioud

I fear for the Meloncats that they are going to struggle against a really strong H2k. H2k are the favourites for this game, and maybe even for the whole tournament. Especially with Flaxxish being banned for toxicity and and their coach going to toplane, it is going to be extremely hard. It will be interesting to see what H2k are going to do, and if they are going to focus top or let Odamne try to win hard alone up there.

Unless Abaria could somehow snowball a champion and destroy Febiven, I don't see any way for Meloncats to score an upset, and considering how strong Febiven is right now, I don't even think that's possible.

Player to watch from H2k: Febiven

Febiven is the obvious player to watch, he is so strong and is considered one of the best in the whole of Europe. He has multiple accounts in high challenger and is a great mechanical player. I think he is going to get camped by Gillius, but he should survive and make it easy for his team.

Player to watch from Meloncats: Gillius

I think that Gillius is their only player that goes even or is better than the opposite teams player on that position. It's going to be harder for him than loulex, though, as loulex will have way more to work with. Gillius will probably struggle despite being really good individually. I think he should try to camp Febiven, maybe with Abaria on a snowballed champion.

Predicted score: H2k 2-0 Meloncats

Gamers2 vs n!faculty 

Jwaow, Kou, Ocelote, Yuuki60 & KaSing vs Xaxus, Obvious, Soz Purfect, Sedrion & Mountain

The last game of round 2 might also be the closest. This is the only series where I was seriously in doubt about who was going to win. It could go either way.

On one side we have Ocelote and Gamers2 who have Top Three players in every position, but doesn't seem to be delivering the results in tournaments like Paris Game Week and Black Monster Cup - where they lost to teams such as Giants, Millenium Spirit, SK Prime - all teams they should be able to beat if they want to be a LCS team. With that said, they did advance from the first round easily and won over Reason Gaming in their seeding match.

K0u has struggled lately, he is isn't playing up to his standards from his Ninjas in Pyjamas days which is obviously affecting the whole team. He is the best challenger jungler IF he is playing his best. My concern is he will get out-jungled by Obvious if he keeps playing like he has lately.

Ocelote hasn't exactly been the driving force he'd love to be, and if he wants it to be in the expansion tournament, it should definitely be against Soz Purfect, who I consider one of the weaker players on the enemy team.

On the other side we have a n!faculty, which struggled against Tricked but managed to pull through, n!faculty has 2 standout players in Obvious & Xaxus. Xaxus we all know from his time on Roccat. He wasn't a flashy player but he was always consistent. Therefore, I think that it's going to be an even affair toplane and will probably be swung by the junglers. Obvious is a great jungler and the best player on his team, which is why he is the player to watch.

Player to watch from Gamer2: Yuuki60

The reason behind picking Yuuki is that I feel he is the best player on Gamers2 despite being overshadowed by Gamers2's bigger names like K0u, Ocelote, Jwaow and now KaSing. Speaking of the arrival of KaSing, I think he can, with Yuuki, become a quality LCS level botlane. Yuuki has had Dioud and Rydle prior to KaSing, but they didn't have the same skill level as Yuuki. I believe Yuuki is going to show how good he is and will outshine Sedrion by a lot.

Player to watch from n!faculty: Obvious

The player to watch from n!faculty is Obvious. I was considering Xaxus, but felt like Obvious was their most flashy and probably best player. Obvious often makes plays both in the early and late game and with new solo laners on the team, I believe he is going to have an easier time in the jungle and can potentially focus on shutting down K0u, who can be a really good or lackluster. If he can pressure him so much, it will give them a good chance!

Predicted score: Gamers2 2 - 1 n!faculty

*A quick side note: Games from Round 1 involving Gamers 2 & Reason Gaming have been re-casted and uploaded to ESL’s YouTube channel.

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By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic 

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.

WHO IS NEXT IN OUR TOP TEN? CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE LIST! 

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by Tristan "verlashcaster" Jakobsen

Support-Staff Heavy Enemy Esports Readies for Battle

by Josh C. 

Enemy eSports' League of Legends team was finalized less than two months ago; their support staff has been working with the team for less than a month, and their coach has been around for ten days. But even if their team and staff-building seems a bit rushed, it's paid off for Enemy, who may stand as a prime example of the third-wave 'support staff' world of today's eSports. Playing their debut match this weekend, the team showed up with a dominating 2-0 over opponent Noble Truth. Next week, they'll be facing one of the hardest opponents of the tournament: the mysterious Team Fusion - and they seem to be feeling confident about the encounter. I had the chance to reach out to Team Manager, Angel "Angel" Vigil, and Team Coach, Hussain "xDaku" Moosvi, to talk about the importance of support staff and their preparations for Enemy's hopeful road into the LCS.

Q: Angel, Enemy eSports picked up this team less than two months ago: How did you go from having nothing to hiring one of the most extensive support staffs in League of Legends?

Angel: The first month was entirely focused on getting the players, so I actually had less than two months to get the support staff ready. In fact, we started with a different coach which didn't pan out. Prior to NME, I haven't had to put together coaching team and support staff. Before, I had people who helped out, but no real coach. My initial thoughts were to get someone who had the most experience, and they could then hand that experience off to the players. I reached out to Nicholas "nubbypoohbear" Harlan, who had played under me for a year and a half. We had a lot of experience together and a friendship. But in the end, it didn't work out, because even though he had a lot of great knowledge, he wasn't really a coach. So when the team needed more than that, two weeks before the LCS Expansion Tournament, I brought in Hussain, who had reached out to me earlier with an interest in coaching for NME.

As for support staff, we had kept Brad Marx, our former analyst, but we had him and a dozen other applicants apply for head analysts position, and after a long interview process Brad was determined to be a better fit for the team. The knowledge and resources he provided really worked well with the team. Our Sports Psychologist we found on Reddit after he did an AMA--is that something I should be saying?--and he had specialized training to become a sports psychologist.

Q: Where did this inspiration come from? Most LCS teams have a sparse support staff; even Curse just hired a Sports Psychologist.

Angel: I've been managing teams since before the LCS even began, and I've had these ideas since the LCS at least. There was always things I thought teams should be doing once they have the profit to do so. They should build the team first, and with that comes the growth and the profit. Most teams focus on the profit first.

Farther along I want a nutritionist - I want them to be healthy. I have all these ideas I want to be implemented in the future. People who were in the LCS at first were inexperienced: they found five mechanical players who took little effort to maintain. As the LCS expanded, they needed more to become better. If you look at Korea and the infrastructure, the biggest difference between Korea and the Western scenes is infrastructure. The thing that sets us apart is that we don't just have strong players, but we also have the staff to support them and make them that much better.

Q: Hussain, how was it to come in with so little time before such an important tournament, and how has working with the support staff helped you in your new role?

Hussain: I got lucky, but in the past I've had analysts and two other support staff members working under me and experience on using their information to improve the play. When I came in with less than two weeks to go, the team had a lot of the base parts already in existence, compared to a lot of teams I've dealt with before. After watching the second scrim block I saw what clearly needed to be fixed. With the Sports Psychologist and Analysts I had a lot of information coming in, and this helped me see what I could go with. Talking with the players and seeing how scrims went, I was able to map out weekly strategies for growth. This allowed me to implement positive change very quickly.

Q: What did you and the team do to prepare for the LCS expansion tournament?

Hussain: I came in and completely changed how the team practiced. When I first started, I had a huge meeting with the players, analysts, and management. We mapped out what we’d be doing for the coming days and how we’d be going into the tournament. In the end, I restructured our entire way of practicing.

Q: What is the support staff doing to help this process?

Hussain: The team is made up of good players, but they've never really competed on this level of the expansion tournament. Even in challenger, you can’t just have a good team play and win it. Managing the players and guiding them a certain way is important - absolutely everything relies on the support staff right now. We have good players, but the support staff makes them perform like great players.

Angel: I just want to add on; five mechanical players are good, but five coachable players are better.

Hussain: The players have been very receptive to the coaching and support staff. They want to improve themselves, as individual players and as a team, so they are very coachable.

Q: Once/If you get into the LCS, what would you do to change your infrastructure to compete with top tier teams?

Angel: I’ve talked to a lot of LCS players and coaches and tthey've commented on how strong our support staff is. I wouldn't want to change much: maybe a little more structure as far as diet and sleep schedules go. Our scrims and practice routines are good, but I want to get Hussain into the house - I feel like that would help a lot. Give us a couple of months and we’ll be able to compete with LCS teams. We haven’t had a ton of time to develop the players, only two weeks, so we've been giving players crash courses to improve. So really the biggest thing will be allowing time for the support staff to make a real impact on them.

Hussain: A lot of the way we practice, in the way of scrimming and player management, was taken from LCS players and teams. Going into the LCS we’d be ahead of a lot of teams already just with the support staff we have.

Q: With your large support staff and team philosophy, how do you get the most out of a day of scrimming? How does all the information come together?

Hussain: When it comes to practicing, we plan out everything for the week and scrims before. Going into scrims we are all on the same page, which was the #1 philosophy when we made the practice schedule. We constantly keep in touch with everyone involved, and go back and forth on what the right direction of the team is. We make the right moves beforehand, that way everyone is on the same page, and we also keep in touch with management quite a bit, so we get a feel for what is best for the players. Our biggest goal is to make sure everything we do is done universally.

Angel: One thing I did when I was made team manager was to increase communication among different tiers of management. If everyone is involved it gets everyone emotionally invested in the team, which benefits the team itself. If we decide something on the coaching staff, I'll talk it over with the House Manager, Sean "Hadaka" Mulryan, and then we bring it to the general management. If a decision ever stops being made by us, another tier of management can come in and make educated decisions. Luckily, we rarely see a disagreement with upper management. The culture we built within Enemy has been positive: everyone feels like they are part of the team from myself, to the coaching, to the graphics artists, brand managers, etc. They feel like they are contributing and that creates a fun atmosphere without hindering professionalism.

Q: I know you can't talk about it that much, but what are you doing to prepare for the elusive Team Fusion match next Sunday?

Hussain: Without giving too much away: whatever Fusion has on Enemy is very different than what we are right now, even from what we practiced last week. I don't think they really have an edge on us. The best team will win that day and that's how it'll play out. It's not easy for them to scout us at the moment either. We have been preparing for Fusion, but we've also been preparing intensively for the teams beyond Fusion. We won't be happy with just a Fusion win.

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If Enemy eSports makes it through to the LCS, they may stand as proof that a strong support staff = a strong team. For more on what constitutes a great support staff, check out my post "The Support Staff of a Winning Team," and let me know your thoughts on the importance of support staff in the comments.

You can follow Enemy eSports on online at: Facebook, twitter, their website, and Azubu.TV. They are sponsored by Better Builds, West Coast Chill, Azubu.TV, and Neen.

by Josh C. 

Expansion Tournament Sunday Preview: Fusion Continues to Successfully Hide from their Enemies.

by Jodi "PunkLit" McClure

The Expansion Tournament continues today with six fight-ready teams, but outside of some minor hype around tourney favorites, LolPro, today is really all about Team Fusion and its top laner, Korean stand-out and all around fun guy, Yoon "MakNooN" Ha-woon. MakNooN has won over American fans with his delightfully upbeat persona, and Fusion is a 'who's who' of LCS fan favs who have never reached their full potential. We love these guys. All of these guys! And it would be great to see them happy, but before I talk about the unusual particulars of their match, let's take a look at the rest of today's offerings.  

Starting out the day is Curse's Team LolPro vs Fission eSports. Lolpro is strong coming into this series, having destroyed all comers in the Black Monster Cup. Fission, on the other hand, can be inconsistent, one moment dismantling top teams like Coast, and the next losing to ladder unknowns. Lolpro 'should' make fast work of Azingy and his mates, but I wouldn't say Fission can't be dangerous. So long as Lolpro comes to play, a 2-0 here is probable.

The second offering of the day will be Enemy Esports vs Noble Truth. Another top contender, Enemy eSports finished second in the Black Monster Cup and have been looking very strong all season, fairly dominating ranked 5s with their 'The Cackson 5' moniker. Loaded with Challenger veterans, Enemy will undoubtedly have little trouble with relative newcomers, Noble Truth.

And finally, there is what would have been the dessert of this three course meal, but unfortunately, Team Confusion has already forfeited their match. The exact circumstances aren't really known yet, but MakNooN and Fusion have officially moved on to Round 2, and while this is good for Fusion, it is potentially disastrous for their next opponent. There are literally no VODS of Fusion playing as a team, and there's a ton of them out there for Enemy. Fusion has a strong support staff too, so there's no question they'll make use of this advantage, giving them a pretty glaring edge in next week's games. For fairness's sake, here's hoping that Enemy Esports can rise to the challenge.

Social Media & eSports; for Better or Worse

by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

In the last few weeks, I've come across multiple articles talking about the influence of social media in eSports, each one adopting a different point of view. A great deal has been written about the departure of Amazing, Dexter and Thorin from their respective structures and, in the end, it all came down to the pressure caused by social media. With the explosive growth of eSports, social media is truly a third power, and it can influence the career of professionals in the field. But as eSports are a worldwide phenomenon and couldn't exist without the internet, social media is a part of this model and can't be rejected. I wanted to discuss the pros & cons of this model and how it could possibly evolve.

           

We've never been so close to our public figures.

Many share the opinion that eSports have created a new way to interact with public figures, professionals, players, game editors and even tournaments promoters; and that it allows everyone to have a role in this big adventure. It's the truth. We have never been so close together with the expansive use of Twitter, Facebook & Reddit. Our questions can be answered by other passionate fans, promoters and professional players themselves. We can ask questions, and expect quick answers. We can offer opinions and they'll be read almost every time if they present some kind of value. We, as social media users, have a “power” we don't have in other traditional sports where most famous public figures are relying on PR agencies to handle their communication and to tell them how to react to given situations. We have none of this in eSports. Each player or professional is handling his own social medias accounts and they give direct answers. Moreover, the streaming possibilities are endless and pro-players appear to us “au natural,” speaking without any control and even giving information on topics they maybe shouldn't talk about.

           

Is it a good model? I can't decide on my own. But it has its perks. I believe that because players are so thankful and approachable, fans give them respect in return. Almost every official match we're seeing crowds cheering for great plays and players, even if they have a favorite in their hearts. We cheer them all, and they thank us by being as close and friendly as possible. There are few lies. It's a short distance between them and us and it gives me a unshakable feel of joy and hope towards human kind. I've never experienced something like this before and I believe that traditional sports should seek inspiration in eSports, and learn that fans enjoy much more hearing honest opinions than premade or shady ones.

Great power means great responsibilities.

In the other hand, every system has its flaws and many great players or contributors of the field have been facing extreme amounts of social pressure, together with work pressure, which can deeply affect their personal lives. Because eSports are still very young, and because it gained an immense amount of popularity in just a few years, people are still figuring out the limits of a system almost entirely relying on social media. In traditional sports, newspapers were here before and they adapted their system to the internet because it became so huge it couldn't be ignored. But eSports were born because of social media. Of course, it is not the first business that emerged due to the internet, but it is the first sport to do so. And as we all know, sports unleash our passions more than other things. Therefore, social media become a double-edged sword: whenever players are performing well, we congratulate them; whenever they are underperforming, we are telling them to get back on tracks (often in a poor way). In the end, we are just expressing opinions as always, but we are not expected to be heard that much and some people don't realize how it impact the one who reads it. And viewers are not the only ones to blame.

           

I don't want to point fingers on people, but it is because of this use of social media that Thorin got fired from Ongamers. But he's not the only one to mix personal feelings and work. Is that something they should work on? Yes and no. Yes, because you have to consider that you're talking through social media to extremely young players. Most of them were shut-in guys with no idea of what fame or popularity could mean, and I believe it is extremely difficult for them to face crude remarks head-on and not feel a thing. In traditional sports, they have decades of experience facing paparazzi, hateful journalists, experts, etc. and they learned how to deal with it. I don't think that's the case for eSports players yet. But you can't shut down social media's hateful comments or journalists picking on you; and as a player you can't be kept in a cocoon where you hear nothing. You'll have to face this problem sometime. If Thorin was fired, it's not because a structure or a pro-player complained, it's because at some point CBS & Ongamers felt he would deteriorate the image of the company, period.

           

Yet, here we are in this Season 4 of League of Legends where two European players went back home because they didn't feel welcome in North America. They bowed to the media pressure, both social and journalistic, and went back to a more comfortable environment. Who can blame them? They are already facing extreme mental pressure on a daily basis because of their work, with few ways to escape even more pressure as Reddit was one Alt+Tab away. It'd be insane to deliberately add more mental pressure on oneself, when they can escape it quite easily as their gaming level will allow them to get back on their feet elsewhere. Nevertheless, it's still a loss for the team they left behind. On the human side, I think it can cause or compound several anxiety issues. It also means a third party destroyed the adventure of a young European player hoping to live big in North America. How would you feel if you went studying in a foreign country and a lot of people picked on you ? I'm not sure any of us would really enjoy that trip.

I still want to be a part of this adventure.

Despite having strong flaws, I believe the eSports model still has more benefits. Being able to feel close to public figures is something we should hold dearly as it reinforces honesty, generosity, solidarity and the warm camaraderie of a shared passion. That stomach churning feeling - when someone is criticizing eSports - is something I hadn't felt before, even as a lover of traditional sports. It's like, the people who come together through eSports are somehow closer and more protective of themselves as a group.

Nevertheless, having a professional flee their team because of social media pressure is quite problematic. What do you do as a team owner when you're seeing one of your biggest players go away just because fans and/or journalists were a bit hateful? Do you try to limit the use of social media so they can avoid the harsh reality? I don't believe it's a solution, as at some point they'll still read what is said and it will still hurt them. Do you try to control it? Then you'll lose all the popularity and monetary perks that come with an interactive sport.

For a team owner, the answer could be to allow PR firms to handle the work and make players focus only on the game. Let them tell you when to go see fans, when to sign stuff, when to wave, etc, but I find this truly horrible. In the other hand, you can't be that idealistic Gale-like friend, coming right out of Hunger Games and saying, “What if no one would bully them? If we stop bullying them, they will feel welcomed.” Yeah, great stuff, except it's impossible. For me, the solution would be to recruit both psychologists and communication professionals inside the gaming structures at the sole service of the pros. We are seeing the beginning of it with  SK recruiting a sports psychologist, but it's not enough yet.

What does a communications professional do better than a PR agency? First, he would be part of the team and would consider only his company's interests. He won't take care of the communication of other teams, or even other companies, and therefore feel better integration and stronger loyalty. Second, he would be almost all the time with teams, players and coaches, and can understand with the help of a psychologist what are their personality and how to take advantages out of it. They can help by highlighting some aspects of the players personalities, developing them into true individual beings and not the same as others; therefore making them realize their uniqueness to boost their confidence against mass hatred.

The players who understood this at some point are very few: Krepo, Tabzzz, Aphromoo, Kiwi, maybe Dyrus and some others. They all use their unique traits to communicate. Krepo is the analyst/adult guy, Tabzz is really down-to-earth and honest without being mean, Aphromoo is just plain honest and respectable, Kiwi is crazy, and Dyrus is often “salty.” But the best part of that combination of comm/psych would be just to be there and act as a constant support whenever players are feeling down or unsure due to social pressure. They could be the part of the staff which helps new players feel at home, and could act as a relay between the head executives and them.

           

Of course, it'd cost some money which structures might want to spend elsewhere, but I'd say those guys are one of the most important parts of the infrastructure a team could want. Moreover, even if communication and psychology are their primary mission, they could easily help on other fields like lifestyle coach, analyst, etc.

As eSports are a new model of sports, it brings its perks and disadvantages, mostly because of the use we are making of social media and because of the pressure it can create towards guys who were mostly shy shut-ins three years ago. But a new model brings also its new kind of solution. We must take the best out of traditional sports, and out of eSports, and always be reluctant to just copy a given model. We are already making something better, we don't want to blew it or stop along the road.

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by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet