Friday, April 10, 2015

Rising From the Void: Cho'gath's Return 

Image by 9ooo

by Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis

Cho’Gath has been a seemingly new pick rising to popularity in the recent weeks. To most people this might seem like a random occurrence, but there’s actually a trail we can follow back to all the way before the season even started. Read More...

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Week 11 LPL Preview – League of Trolls & The 8th Place Seed


by Michael "Tribble" Godani

The last three days of the regular Spring Split in the LPL. Traditionally, this week is a huge trollfest, and we shouldn’t expect much different from this precious competition except that Master3, Team WE and SHRC are still in the race for a playoff spot. We will discuss a few interesting games, the ones that are most likely to be troll free and the games for that eighth place playoff ticket. Read more....

Preview of EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Final: Origen vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy



By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic


EU Challenger Series Final will go live at 18.00 and Origen will go in as massive favorites again. However, Copenhagen Wolves Academy have looked really solid and even took a clean 2-0 vs Gamers2 in the semifinals.


Origen vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy
Soaz, Amazing, xPeke, Niels & Mithy vs Morsu, Kirei, CozQ, Vizility & Hybrid

Origen has been dominating the whole split and despite an unconvincing win 2-1 over Reason Gaming, I feel like they should go 3-0 or 3-1 here. Origen has way more experienced players and more quality player for player. However, Copenhagen Wolves Academy have been surprising all throughout and nobody expected them to be in the finals or to come out of groups as second seed.















PICKS AND BANS:

Origen:

Origen seems to have a lot of flexibility in their draft with flex champs like Lulu and Morgana and I predict them to be at an advantage coming out of champ select. CWA will be hard pressed to try and ban out Peke and Soaz. I can see Origen focusing on getting a Malphite pick to counter Morsù as they did in their previous win against this team.

When Origen have first pick they could ban out Ahri, Cassiopeia & Rek'Sai and force CWA to ban Leblanc as they did in their win against them. However, it does leave all of Morsù's champions open, which can be deadly if they don’t get the Malphite. Otherwise, I would try to ban out Morsù if they feel like they can’t get their hands on Malphite or something else that they feel comfortable bringing up in the top lane.

I feel like, even though it didn’t work for them in their previous game against Copenhagen Wolves Academy, Origen could go for a Kog’Maw comp. After all, it's a B05 and they have room to be flexible with comp choices. But getting comfortable picks across the board should be enough to for them to find a victory and the auto-promotion spot.

Copenhagen Wolves Academy:

CWA have a massive disadvantage in the pick and bans because Origen’s Soaz & xPeke seem able to play anything at a competitive level. Amazing, on the other hand, is more known for having a smaller champion pool and sometimes not performing when uncomfortable.

In Challenger, Amazing has played five champions across thirteen games & six of those games has been Rek’Sai. Banning out Sejuani as a strong power pick, Lee Sin, then Rek’Sai or Nidalee and picking the one left open could allow them to get ahead and try to snowball from there like they did in their win against Origen.

Putting Amazing on the likes of Gragas or another tank in Nunu could force Origen to make the decision to go with the Kog’Maw comp which didn't work for them the last time. This has weaknesses, though, as it allows the rest of Origen to play what they want and leaves up the Malphite who seemingly counters every champion in Morsù’s champion pool.

If they decide not to try to ban out Amazing they could go for their own winning recipe of trying to hold down the solo laners to have minimal impact by banning Maokai, Lissandra and Zed. This does leave up the Malphite which I think they could be trying to swap out with one of the three.

Getting good picks for their solo laners will be incredibly important and getting either a Rek’Sai or a tanky jungler is also really important for CWA if they want to try to win at least a game or two or potentially the series.

Player to Watch from Origen: xPeke

Who else than our former Fnatic superstar. xPeke is one of the still standing old players and still has the drive to compete. He is a player who can play any midlane champion you put him on but personally I've always loved watching xPeke playing Ahri. New unorthodox midlaners have shown to be coming into the meta and xPeke seems to have picked some of them up by playing Vladimir in 2/3 games vs Reason Gaming and to success both times.

Player to watch from Copenhagen Wolves Academy: Morsù

Morsù has been carrying games for them on good 1v1 champions such as Jax, Irelia, fizz and even Fiora. If he can get his hands on one of these champions it could work out greatly for him, but he's often target banned. Origen has shown willingness to not ban out Morsù and therefore it can put him in a position where he is on his favorite champions and in a position to carry. In their win against Origen he was on Irelia and was 9-1-4 on her. Also trying to avoid lane swaps would be a good idea to let Morsù get a lot of resources.

Predicted score: Origen 3-1 Copenhagen Wolves Academy

The game will be played April 7th at 1 PM EST & 18:00 CEST

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

EU LCS : The Backstage Experience


by Chase "RedShirtKing" Wassenar

For the average fan, attending the LCS is an incredible experience. You get to sit with a few thousand people, each of whom are just as passionate about the scene as you are, as you watch your favourite teams face off head-to-head in front of your very eyes. Much like more traditional sports, there's a certain sense of energy that comes from joining in chants, seeing the players' reactions in real time, and bonding with fellow fans over that crazy triple kill that you couldn't see coming and OH MY GOD HOW DID HE ESCAPE THAT GANK?!? Add in the more personal touches like the ability to high-five players after the game or get autographs from teams willing to stick around that have been lost from many live sporting events, and you have an experience that cannot be matched.

I love League of Legends, but this eSport is more than just a fandom for me. As a writer for Paravine with my own weekly podcast and the occasional talk show appearance on Into the Rift, the ability to attend the LCS is not just a chance to see my favourite teams try to prove their worth on the big stage, but is also my chance to get some serious work done. While the fans go crazy over their poro gear in the stands, I'm backstage in the press room live tweeting games, arranging interviews with team managers (after desperately trying to track down their information, of course), taking notes, prepping for the next piece of content, and making professional connections that will help in my future work within the scene. It can be hectic at times, especially when you're not used to the experience, but it is also easily some of the most fun I've ever had. Ever wonder what it's like to attend the EU LCS as a semi-professional journalist? Read on to find out.

It's Not about the Style

You know that incredible crowd I was telling you about in the opening paragraph? When you're working in the press, you don't spend much time in the stands. Instead, as soon as you pick up that fancy press pass (which takes only slightly less interrogation than it takes the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to pick up their lanyards if they don't find your name on the press list right away), you're led backstage through a small dining area to the press room. With the exception of the big screen TV constantly playing the LCS in the background, there's essentially no difference between this room and the types of meeting rooms you'd expect at any place of business. At first, I missed the paper screens adorned with all your favourite champions that decorated the former Cologne location, but the new setup is undoubtedly more functional. The internet is speedy, the room is mostly soundproof once the doors are closed, and there's plenty of space for each writer to have their own personal table set-up. That may sound pretty dull for those of you who use the LCS as an escape from the tedium of ones daily work life, but the good news is that the stands are only a couple of minutes away if you need to feed off the crowd's energy to keep you going. That said, I doubt you'll have that issue because...

You're Constantly Working

This is probably a “no, duh” moment for a lot of you, but when you're going to an event like this as a journalist, you're not there to enjoy the games; you're there to get stuff done. Every minute you spend out there listening to the roar of the crowd is a minute you could be studying your notes to better understand why a team picked that particular composition or how that player has performed on this specific champion in their previous matches. If you're like me and only get to attend the LCS during breaks from University, you've got to find a way to cram in as many interviews as you can, which means even more preparation than normal. Don't forget that interviews don't just fall from the sky, so you'll have to spend a great deal of time on Skype trying to track down team managers, or roaming the hallways trying to physically grab somebody's attention. Oh, and you better be keeping a strong social media presence throughout the event, because if you don't, no one will notice when your content goes up. By the way, you're taking time to meet as many new people as possible so that you can take advantage of the networking opportunities in front of you, right? Because that's how you turn a freelance job into one that lets you do this for a living. It's a lot for one person to balance, so you're probably hoping that someone will be there to help you out, but...

No One is Going to Help You

When you email Riot for your press pass, the first thing they do is ask with which teams you'd like to interview so they can let the teams know you are coming. That's how it all works in theory. In practice, the LCS is a huge production that takes a ton of time, energy, focus, and stressful work from pretty much everyone involved in order to pull off. If you spend the day sitting in the press room waiting for Riot to bring in a player or team manager for you, you're going to have a bad time. It can be a tough lesson to learn if you find yourself shy or are the kind of person who is afraid of getting in the way, but an essential one if you want to succeed in this industry.  But assuming that you're a strong, independent journalist that doesn't need anyone else to help them do their job, you'll soon find that...

The Press Room is Filled with Awesome People

In another section that will likely come as no surprise, it turns out that watching League of Legends with a bunch of people who are passionate about the scene and happen to be incredibly educated about every aspect of the league is a lot of fun. There's always an interesting handful of people hanging out in the press room, ranging from veterans like Adel “HypeAlgerian” Chouadria from Azubu to individual team's PR departments hoping to grab good photos for their social media pages. It takes a lot of work and effort to make a living out of eSports, and the people who have made it are among the most knowledgeable and interesting personalities in the scene. Even better, they each offer something new to your understanding of the game, as it's easy to find someone whose strength in analysis is your weakness and vice versa. There's nothing quite like being able to improve at what you do while also having a great time. And the best part of it all is...

You Never Know Who Will Drop By

True story: after catching a glimpse of Pr0lly in the hallway, I chased him down to arrange an interview with KaSing. He was talking with someone I didn't immediately recognize who introduced himself only as Nick. After I grabbed the interview, I headed back to the press room, but to my surprise, Nick was following close behind. He ended up hanging out with us for about ten minutes or so talking about Magic: the Gathering, travelling with his wife, and the merits of the Karthus farming mini-game. Eventually, he was pulled out by a Rioter who said they needed him for something important. When he left, I asked who it was we'd been talking to, since everyone else seemed to be quite familiar with him.

It was Nick Allen.

I'd feel more embarrassed about that story if it wasn't so common for key figures in the industry to stop by and say hi during the few moments of downtime people had. I knew Devin “Piratechnics” Younge was going to say hi because we'd worked together on Into the Rift in the past, but we also were joined by Thomas “Flyy” Mihailov, ROCCAT's owner during the team's must-win match against Giants Gaming. Couple that with the constant stream of players, coaches, analysts, managers, and casters that roam up and down the halls throughout the day, and it eventually starts to feel quite normal. Speaking of the players...

Interviews Matter Above Everything Else

If you're more a features writer like me, there's a temptation to spend your time just trying to network and plan out your article for the upcoming week with whatever extra pieces of info you manage to grab from the other journalists and your hopefully fine tuned listening skills. That's what I did the first time I was in Cologne, and while I enjoyed myself, I left feeling like I had failed to get the most out of my time there. It's so much easier to arrange interviews in person than it is to grab players over Twitter or Skype, and those conversations can often be the most enlightening. And once you actually sit down and talk to those players, you realize...

The Players are Just Like You

Much like a little kid can't imagine their parents as anything other than “mom” or “dad”, it's hard to imagine your favourite celebrities as being regular people. That's why Imgur is filled with gifs of people like Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence being regular human beings; it blows our collective consciousness to see public figures we look up to or admire acting so normal. When I told my Twitter followers I was heading to Berlin and would ask any questions they wanted passed on, the most popular question by far was “What is (insert player name here) like in real life?”, and in the vast majority of cases, the answer is that they're pretty much like everyone else their age, except much, much better at League of Legends.

Once I understood this, I started noticing a lot of little moments that had gone over my head before. There was a great moment right before the Elements vs. Gambit game during which Woolite and Jankos ran into the press box like two 5-year-olds on Christmas morning and pleaded with Flyy to let them watch the game before the shuttle took them home. I decided to leave the press room to sit with the team and see if I could learn anything from watching players break down a live game. I quickly realized, however, that they, like the Gambit fans that took over the crowd, were more interested in cheering big plays and making Reddit-style jokes when someone made a misplay. It was easy to see not only how much these guys cared about keeping their playoff hopes alive (a task about which they felt quite confident at the time), but also how much they still loved the game itself.

Ultimately, my greatest takeaway from my time in Berlin are the stories I gained while I was there. There were a lot of silly moments, like when I took a bunch of ridiculous pictures with Piratechnics while he told me about Berlin's sneaky good Japanese restaurant scene, or when the entire press room banded together to laugh at my microphone, which was so big it looked like a webcam from first glance. Other times, the room got deathly quiet as team managers and staff watched nervously as their teams battled for playoff seeding or just to keep their season alive. It is an incredible experience to watch a coach or analyst break down every mistake their team is making, wincing at every missed CS as if that creep will be the difference in the game. If their team won, the room would erupt with cheers and hugs and promises of players for interviews. If they lost, however, there would be mostly silence as the team staff packed up their gear and quietly made their way back to make sure their players took the loss in stride.

My favourite story, however, came as I left the Berlin studio after the second day of games. On the way out, HypeAlgerian and I ran into Leviathan and the rest of Gambit getting ready to head home. Cabochard asked me what had happened with the stream, which had sadly struggled from technical difficulties preventing their convincing win over Elements from being streamed live. I told them that Riv had come on stream and told everyone they would rebroadcast the game later. The entire Gambit team looked at each other for a split second, smiled, and said, “LATA!!!” in their best Trick2G voice. I couldn't help but burst out into laughter with them as they climbed back into the car, giving their best blue card salute as they drove off into the distance.

As soon as their van pulled out of the parking lot, I realized that my adventure was over just as quickly as it had began. I had watched ten games of my favourite teams battling head-to-head on one of the largest stages in eSports, but the crowd was long gone. The energy they brought with them had disappeared into the night, replaced instead by the sound of a light breeze and the moonlight lighting our way towards the train station. I was no longer in the eSports bubble that had provided so much entertainment during my time there, but the friends I had made and the memories we created have stuck with me ever since.

Preview of the EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Third Place Match: Gamers2 vs Reason Gaming

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic




The last spot for the promotion tournament is on the line in today's EU Challenger Series third place match. Gamers2 performed a lot worse than expected against the Copenhagen Wolves Academy, while Reason Gaming put up a strong fight against Origen. Gamers2 should be the slight favorites, but they'll lose if they play as badly as they did in the semifinals.


Gamers2 vs Reason Gaming
SmittyJ, Gilius, Eika, Jebus & Hiiva vs Kubon, Xayoo, Takefun, Celaver & Libik


This game will be a lot closer than anticipated. G2 have more individual strengths but seemed lost against Copenhagen Wolves Acadamy. On the other side, Reason got a free pass into the playoffs and have no pressure on them for the rest of the tournament. Reason had a good showing vs Origen but I imagine G2 will have reviewed their mistakes and made adjustments. I'm just not sure that will fix all of their problems. 

Pick and Bans:

So far these two teams' records against each other are 1-1. Kubon's Irelia seemed to contribute largely to G2's loss, so taking her and possibly Hecarim away from him would seem a wise idea. Also, any bans targeting Takefun's main assassins; Zed, Leblanc and now Ahri, could be a smart move, but I feel like banning Sejuani, Hecarim & Irelia would be the better choices.

Sejuani will certainly be a contested pick, although Gilius didn't find success on her vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy. I expect both junglers to try and get her because of her current strengths despite Gilius' frustrating showing.

For Gamers2, focusing their comp around Jebus would be preferable as he has shown himself to be a key player vs the Polish team. The popular Kog’maw comp could be an idea or something else they have up their sleeve. 

Reason banned out Nidalee previously and should do it again so as not to allow Gamers2 to snowball - even though this might leave Lee open. Getting comfort picks for Kubon would be ideal since he has been their key player against Gamers2.  

Player to Watch from Gamers2: Jebus

In their win against Reason he seemed to be one of the leading players with his 10-2 score, and after a disappointing loss and unsteady performance in the semifinals, he'll be trying to show his worth.

Player to Watch from Reason Gaming: Kubon

For the same reason as Jebus, he is the player to watch. When his team has managed to find victories vs Gamers2, he's gone 11-3-11 on Irelia. Even in their loss, he was 5-4, but it wasn't enough to carry his team. 

Hecarim and Irelia seems like obvious bans so if he can draw two bans it also shows his ability to contribute in the pick and bans. Getting him on a more damage-oriented or carry style champion will be essential to their comp. He's shown his Rumble to be a decent pick and it can do well against the likes of Maokai so that could also be a possibility. 

Predicted score: Gamers2 2-1 Reason Gaming

The game will be played today, April 7th, at 1 PM EST / 18:00 CEST.

If you want to contact me or follow me on twitter -> www.twitter.com/musinlol