Official Worlds Groups

Group A

Dark Passage

ahq e-Sports Club

Samsung Galaxy White

EDward Gaming

Group B

SK Gaming

Star Horn Royal Club

Taipei Assassins

Team SoloMid

Group C

LMQ

OMG

Fnatic

Samsung Blue

Group D

Alliance

Cloud 9

NaJin White Shield

KaBuM!

Final List of the 16 Teams Going to Worlds

North America

Team SoloMid (TSM) #1

Cloud9 (C9) #2

LMQ (LMQ) #3

Europe

Alliance (ALL) #1

Fnatic (FNC) #2

SK Gaming (SK) #3

Korea

Samsung Blue (SGB) #1

Samsung White (SGW) #2

NaJin White Shield (NJWS) #3

China

EDward Gaming (EDG) #1

Starhorn Royal Club (SHRC) #2

OMG (OMG) #3

Southeast Asia & Taiwan

Azubu Taipei Assassins (TPA) #1

Ahq e-Sports Club (AHQ) #2

Turkey, Russia, & Oceania

Dark Passage (DP) #1

Latin America & Brazil

KaBuM e-Sports (KBM) #1

The Delicate Case of YouPorn

by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

As you might know already, there have been several rumors about YouPorn investing in the field of eSports by sponsoring professional players in various popular games. Nothing is written in stone yet, but rumors are YouPorn is talking with a Dota2 team and some Hearthstone players who don't mind getting their nicknames linked to the “YP” tag.

What started out as what seemed like a joke is now maybe about to happen, since officials from YouPorn recently revealed their official eSports jerseys in a Reddit AMA. The jersey isn't as ugly as some expected it to be, as long as you're okay with pink. But fashion is not what I want to talk about. What is truly interesting me is the fact that YouPorn might get into the eSports scene. Some may find it fun, others might be worried about the image it will convey, and still others will be totally against it because...you know...Pr0n.

Wait so... This is not a joke ?

We still don't know for sure that YouPorn is actually sponsoring eSports players or not since nothing has been officially announced and contracts still need to be signed. But the real question is if they sponsor something like an official Dota 2 team, is it a joke or not? Just imagine Alliance vs YouPorn Gaming in the semi-final of the International 4. That would be...special.

Of course, it would make some people laugh, but it would probably send a really bad image to the world about eSports. Various companies like Riot, Valve, ESL, and others have worked hard for years to improve the image of eSports and make it mainstream. Moreover, they tried to make it very "pure," by getting it as close as possible to traditional sports: high quality competitions and streams, professional journalism (we saw the first press conferences in the last The International,) strict rules, salaries for pro players, professional visas, etc. And I don't think having a company affiliated with a morally suspicious sector will help in moving towards this greater goal that is having eSports recognized as a true sport.

We're facing the crucial step of assessing eSports as something “real” that everyone will have to acknowledge, and on the other side we're facing people who still think that it is not a serious business. And since it's geeks and nerds we're talking about, everything is allowed. Even porn. Because geeks spends time on their computer so they go often on porn sites, right? So...we can do it, right?

Let's say it once for all. No, you can't. Porn, although it is allowed in our “civilized” countries, is not something that you can show to the public and advertise. If we allow YouPorn to have sports teams, then they could also rent giant billboards. That would be completely insane. And illegal. Nevertheless, eSports are not properly legislated and maybe they could do it without being punishable. But at the same time, it would ruin any hope of eSports becoming a real sport, with its own legislation, at least for a few more years.

The reasoning behind it is simple. If you allow a morally questionable industry to sponsor some team, then the team becomes morally questionable. And if the team becomes part of a major tournament, then the whole field is morally questionable. Therefore, it can't be allowed.

What are the police doing?

It seems that the logical point of view would be to not allow a YouPorn eSports team to compete in any competition since it would damage the competitions image, and therefore, it would be stupid for any pro player to join this team since they won't be allowed to compete. And yet, few have spoken up to this topic by saying, “This is not right.”

Even if I'm pretty sure companies such as Riot or Valve won't allow a team sponsored by YouPorn, I'm still getting a little worried about how nobody is trying to stop them from what they're doing. And what is truly scaring me is the answers they got on their first tweet, like Araneae saying “Good idea” (even if he was being facetious.)

As soon as this topic arose, some of the biggest actors in eSports should have spoken up and said that YouPorn can't join the eSports world. Yet they still seem to think that they can come in with their team and join the party.

So I have two concerns right now. The first one is that YouPorn just walks right in and get themselves a team in some pro-gaming competition, but I don't find it realistically happening since no company will have the guts to take such a risk. Mainly, because there is no perks to allow it, aside from making a bunch of guys laugh for a week - until you get everyone on your back, transforming this whole funny story into a scandal.

The second one is that some companies will say, “No, it's really really bad. You can't,” and take the little path instead of the main road. Then YouPorn will say, “Okay,” and create “YP Gaming” or whatever, and come back with, “It's not YouPorn. YouPorn is financing it, but it's not Youporn. It's a 100% legitimate company.” With this solution, we will never have to face a YouPorn logo on the team jerseys, but it'll be harder for eSports companies to refuse their participation. In the end, nothing has changed because it still is a team sponsored by a porn company, but unofficially. And I have a feeling that what's really important in that last paragraph is the word “financing.” Youporn is probably one of the most visited websites in the world and so it could invest a lot of money into the eSports world which is currently trying to develop itself even further. This whole case could probably turn into a battle of ethics against money - a fight we often see money win in our actual societies.

Behind the curtains, this is a great deal for eSports.

Companies such as Riot or Valve would have problems refusing that kind of team into their competition because it'd be a 100% arbitrary decision, legally speaking. If YouPorn decides to go all the way, the mainstream media will continue to see eSports as a joke since we'll face a juridic battle between one eSports company and YouPorn. Even if a porn company doesn't win, the story still happens and the image of the eSports world is still damaged in association.

A story like a porn company, or at least a morally questionable one, trying to get into eSports is something that was probably bound to happen with all the fuss the eSports community is making, but officials are really under-reacting to this matter. If played well, companies could make their case in front of the law and ask for a real recognition to avoid such matters. It could be the trigger, maybe not to make governments totally acknowledge the eSports thing, but towards the development of a proper legal environment, the beginning of writing specific laws which would further be applied by each company.

As mainly Riot, but also Valve, Blizzard, and many others are trying to develop eSports as a whole, with a very “pure” image of it (fining players or structures for their behavior, etc.) they could have foreseen this kind of problems and deal with it instantly, maintaining their purity and further developing the community.

By letting this matter run on on its own, we're probably bound to face the official announcement of YouPorn buying and sponsoring an eSports team, where it will create a massive fuss. It might even be relayed into some mainstream medias and hurts the image of the community. And it'll be too late to say, “We never thought they would actually do it.”

Is it Time for a Ten Team LCS?

by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 

Remember earlier in the year when the possibility of a ten team LCS was hinted at by Riot? I’ve been giving it some more thought now that the regular season is over, and there are a lot of pros and cons to the idea. Based on my own perspective of the scene and what I feel it needs to grow and prosper, I'd like to talk about some aspects I think are important, and examine what it might be like if the LCS were to make this change. 

The first thing I’d like to highlight is that with the current structure, a team that finishes in third place in the regular season standings can find themselves on the receiving end of an unfortunate playoffs run and suddenly end up in the promotion tournament fighting to save their jobs. I personally believe that this is a huge kick in the shins for a team that fought hard for an entire split to reach top three, only to rejected back to the bottom because of two lackluster performances. I saw a lot of talk during the EU LCS's Supa Hot Crew vs Roccat game on how Supa Hot Crew “don’t deserve to be third seed if they lose to the sixth seed," but I believe this to be false. Their position as third seed was decided by a long split of hard work, trials and tribulations, and the possibility of having done all that work and having it overturned by two bad results can be both mentally crippling and simply unfair. This is currently the situation that Millenium faces as they prepare for the promotion tournament off the back of a very hard slide from being a team hell bent on Worlds. 

The LCS in its current format is just too unforgiving. End of split playoffs should be all about pushing forwards to try and grab a spot at Worlds after having a good enough season to qualify, but for the teams who qualify third through sixth, it starts off being about securing your place in the LCS. It doesn't make sense in my mind that the same teams that could go to Worlds could suddenly become teams that lose their jobs within the same tournament. With a ten team LCS, playoffs could still be between the teams in the first to sixth spot, however the tournament could be entirely about progression towards Worlds rather than the double pressure of dropping out the LCS, which could instead be the fate of the teams that simply finish eighth, ninth and tenth, with seventh remaining in the LCS but not in the playoffs bracket. Not only will this ease pressure off the players, but it will make the LCS more stable as a competitive league and less about peaking at the right time. The regular season standings will actually serve more of a purpose in deciding the fates of the teams, which is what it's meant to do in the first place.

On top of changing playoffs and on the topic of making the regular season actually matter, having ten teams in the LCS would also see the end of Super Weeks and bring about a fluid regular season schedule which I believe is more than needed for the LCS players, as well as the staff and the spectators. Super Weeks heavily promote tilting and peaking performances which can greatly affect the standings. Fnatic spent six weeks in fourth place during the Summer Split, and then Week Seven Super Week comes along and suddenly they go 4-0 and remain in second for the rest of the split. The fact that twelve games of the twenty eight are Super Week games can greatly swing the season in your favour or against you if you’re a tilting team or happen to run across unforeseen trouble. Spectator-wise, they’re also very time consuming and taxing on most weekly schedules: six days of consecutive matches following the four from last week provide ten days of LCS streaming with only one day of break in between. It’s just too much in a short amount of time; a normal regular season would be fluid, more consistent and more enjoyable for both players and spectators of the LCS. It would also allow for unavoidable happenings to be less punishing (like Visa issues for a particular player or a sudden loss in confidence for one week.)

One other aspect of the LoL pro scene that will be affected by the change to ten teams is the challenger scene. There is an argument that the challenger scene will greatly diminish in quality if there is space for two more teams in the LCS. The top challengers will have a gateway into the LCS, meaning that the scene in challenger will be less competitive. While this is a fair point, the challenger scene is also a very large pool that could generate great up and coming players at any point and while it will initially become “easier” in a sense due to there being two less top tier teams, other teams will rise to the occasion and take their space at the top. It also makes the challenger scene more attractive as there is more of a chance to actually requalify as many teams that remain in the challenger scene at this current time tend to become unstable and see many roster changes in an attempt to find something that can make it in. A good example of this is Ninjas In Pyjamas, who have yet to find a roster that can make it back into the LCS despite numerous switches and rotations of top level players - at every point having a squad that “should be in the LCS.” The addition of two extra LCS spaces would allow teams like NiP who are stuck in limbo at the top of challenger to have more of a chance to make it in, which in turn also allows for other teams to rise to the top of challenger. We will see more underdogs and rising talent as well as more organisations getting involved in sponsoring teams, which could be beneficial to both the players and the challenger scene in a whole. Teams that “should be in the LCS” will more than likely make it while teams that aren’t quite ready will have more of a chance to improve and grow.

Overall, I believe the switch to ten teams will be a great change to the LCS and I hope it goes through in time for the Season Five Spring Split. The positive effects that the switch will have are more than worth the change and will be a big step towards making the LCS and LoL Esports a better experience for everyone involved. 

MonteCristo Criticism : Legitimate or Schadenfreude?

By Jodi 'PunkLit' McClure

The first time I saw MonteCristo, I was surprised by how fragile he appeared. He was tissue thin, like if someone sneezed on him, he would instantly crumble into a tiny pile of bone and ash. He knew League though, and he was beautiful, and those two things quickly off-set any preconceived notions I had about his size. From regular appearances on the LCS, I grew acquainted with his smoldering bedroom eyes, his perfectly chiseled features, and, more importantly...his notoriously imperious attitude. Being American (and a stalwart TSM fan,) I was quickly perturbed by his continuous bashing of NA and EU teams. Who cared about the Koreans and how much better they allegedly were than us? How dare he come into our house and run his fancy white-gloved finger across the dust. But, unfortunately, time and again, Worlds proved him right. And eventually I had to admit it was true. Somehow, we were lacking.

I don't recall at what point I stopped hating MonteCristo and starting hanging onto his words like he was Jesus, but it was probably somewhere around the start of Season Four. I found myself valuing his keen, experienced insight. He never failed in his predictions. Clearly, he was all-knowing. And even when he was delivering venomous swipes of his knife, he always remained so angelically calm and soft-spoken that the poison was practically negated. But he did like to swing that knife, frequently and sometimes cruelly, at every kid who played in the LCS. It's a habit that has caused him to have a fair share of haters, (with many a pro player among them).

So it was with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction that his many adversaries watched CLG go down to Curse in a fast 3-0 during Playoffs, and the german term, schadenfreude, applied. Lord, they were quick to swarm social media sites and jump on Monte's ass, thrusting fingers in his face, gleefully cackling, "You said everyone else was bad, and yet, your team has failed. Where are your Korean Gods now?"

For MonteCristo, whose skin is as thick as his ego, these words have little effect. He is a consummate professional, and is fully capable of taking what he dishes out. Having bullets fired at him comes with his job and like Superman, he stands there smirking while they bounce off his chest. But for his team, whose hopes and dreams rode on his wisdom and guidance, it's was hard not to feel the sting, and I don't doubt Doublelift wasn't the only person on the team who considered retirement in the uncomfortable days that followed. So, we can't help but ponder the possibility...did MonteCristo actually fail them? 

A coach must be equal parts teacher, mentor and drill instructor, trying to find a way to bring out the best performance in each and every one of his pupils, and I don't double Monte tried to be those things. According to him, he spends hours and hours each day watching films and working with his team over Skype. But I have a quote from him that's sat on the left sidebar of this site forever. "'Potential' is bullshit. Results are the only thing that matters."   

Monte focused his coaching on changing how the team communicated and having them understand strategy at a very high level. He felt he had a better grasp of what champions were coming up and what strats were being used. Big picture tactics, as he called it. But he probably sees a much different scene gazing out his big picture window in Korea than one might see from Manhattan Beach, and it's possible that by asking his team to look out his window, he took them too far from the reality of their own. 

  

Opinions on Reddit and Twitter seem to vary. There is the more base, raw emotion of 'He talked shit about other teams, he deserves it,' to the reasoned, 'He's not a bad coach but he needs to spend more time with his team,' to the extremely forgiving, 'He can only do so much. It's up to the players to perform.' But the truth probably lies somewhere between all these. Dexter admitted stress was an issue, and expressed nothing but relief when their playoff game was over. It's possible that by taking the team to Korea, Monte put his boys too far into the center of our cross hairs at a time when they needed less stress, not more.

At the end of the day, at least for now, we can only speculate. MonteCristo once said, "There's nothing that effects me in eSports more than whether CLG wins or loses," but the repercussions from this - their most devastating loss - still remain to be seen.