EU Playoffs : Preview and Predictions: Quarterfinals

by Pieter "antdriote" Cnudde 

Intro:

I’ll be breaking down the teams: looking at recent performances and each position. Then I'll look how they are matched against each other: play style and champion picks. It's incredibly hard to predict what such a big patch like 4.13 will do on the pro scene (I hate it when riot does this right before playoffs, but they want everything in order for worlds so I guess we should forgive them.)

The most notable change is, of course, heal and exhaust. We will probably see more assassin play and perhaps barrier again on ADC's (I definitely recommend it on midlaners that don't want to run ignite.) The nerfs and buffs to the marksmen also open up the pool. Vayne could be a special pick-up again for players like CandyPanda or Rekkles, while Graves and Sivir buffs could bring them back to competitive play. Sivir was a very favourite markswoman, used for quick rotations, and she only got better at it.

The holy trinity of junglers got nerfed, but all three are still very strong and I don't expect too many new jungle picks. All power supports got scaled back except Morgana, but I don't expect many new picks there until Sona becomes available for play. Lulu and Gragas got hit a bit, while Maokai still runs rampant. Ziggs got hit on his ult, but will still be a priority pick for his normal wave clear, together with Xerath if they fix the bug on time. Nothing new and broken seems to have emerged, but no one has had enough time to figure everything out yet.

Supa Hot Crew - Roccat

SHC has been a team on the rise, half because of the downfall of stronger teams, but also because they have consistently improved throughout the split. It’s a team made off pseudo-star players. Selfie and MrRalleZ shine when they carry, but don’t do this frequently enough. Impaler and Mimer are the strong rocks of SHC in that they can be relied on to do their job and push them to victory. With the latest addition of KaSing, they have, so they say, found a better voice in the team; a solid captain in the wild seas they are sometimes in. Selfie’s large champion pool is a strong point for SHC, since he isn't easy to ban out and can really devastate the enemy if he gets a dangerous pick like Yasuo. He is, unfortunately, not the most consistent mid, and if he doesn't get the best start, he tends to falter later in the game. MrRalleZ is somewhat similar; he always brings good numbers, but he can’t do it without his team. Too much pressure in the botlane could make it hard for him to carry. Though he isn't the flashiest player, he will deal considerable damage in teamfights if left unchecked. Impaler is always aggressive, even when he shouldn't be, but it mostly works out for them. He is bannable, though, and not the strongest in 1v1s. He could be targeted with good counterjungling. If Impaler does well, the whole team tends to do well, so a lot will depend on him if the lanes aren't going smoothly. Mimir can be crucial on having great TPs, but should just have a solid laning phase so he can tank or be the utility that Selfie and MrRalleZ need to win the game.

Roccat was a team destined for relegation, then a team on a hot streak, but now they've fallen again in the last few weeks. Overpow is probably the most passive midlaner in EU. Even though he occasionally does well in teamfights at the later stages of the game, it’s usually way too late - when his opponents can just free farm to break the 20 minute CS record or roam the map and make an impact in other lanes. Jankos and Vander are the pillars for Roccat. Vander is a great support that can make clutch plays/picks to win a teamfight or snowball the botlane. While Jankos will always stick to his style, he is very scary at it; an aggressive jungler that carries his team through early ganking or strong counterjungling. Celaver feels like a weaker version of MrRalleZ, only going in when Vander makes a move, but he provides the dps the team needs to win the games. Xaxus is not the most mechanically skilled player, but he was quick to jump on the Maokai train before anyone else, so we might see some strong picks from him on the new 4.13 patch. In general, Roccat secured wins with (mostly in the midlane) strange picks and very long, sloppy games.

The teams' head-to-head is 2-2 this split, with Roccat winning the most recent match this past Superweek. To be fair, SHC didn't had the best start in Superweek. Impaler’s Rengar was lack-luster and the Zilean pick in mid is something teams still have to adjust to. SHC looked stronger on the last day of Superweek and has looked the better team this whole split. Jankos will probably be the key factor for Roccat to win the series. Roccat leads the EU with the most first bloods and Jankos is almost always involved. Overpow’s lack of pressure in mid will be heaven for Selfie, but Jankos will always be around to bite him in the ass. Impaler can handle Jankos if he gets a comfortable jungler to control the early pressure, and makes sure that his lanes can get ahead by themselves. Vander and Jankos could really swing the lead into their favour with good pressure all around the map.

Most bans will probably be targeted around the midlane since both players have a pretty big pool. This will open up the botlane and jungle to get the strong picks that they need to win the game. This mostly benefits Roccat, since Overpow is never the hard carry from the team. SHC’s best chance is focusing on Jankos or Vander, banning out junglers/getting Impaler a strong first pick, and making sure their botlane has a durable combo that can’t be beaten easily in lane. Roccat has to focus the midlane and make sure Selfie doesn't get rolling, or keep pressuring bot and get a lead by keeping MrRalleZ down and getting early dragons.

Both teams haven’t showed the most consistent tactical play, yet but I feel SHC will make the better rotations and clutch calls. Roccat plays conservatively and won’t risk too much in the midgame if they aren’t ahead by a large margin. This is a weakness but could also lure the SHC in a false sense of security and they could make ill-advised moves because of it.

In general, if SHC makes the right calls, they are the stronger team in mid-late game with better rotations and teamfights. Roccat will need to win early and feast on the occasional reckless moves from SHC to get a lead early and close out the game. If Roccat doesn't get a decent gold lead by the twenty minute mark, I don’t see them winning a game unless SHC makes really dumb moves. Both teams are exploitable in pick and bans and should really focus on that and early game vision to make the right moves.

My prediction: 3-1 for SHC. They have to prove that they deserve that third place and didn't just luck out in the split. I do think Roccat can take a game just by having a surprise pick, which could throw SHC off guard, or if Jankos gets a great opening which can snowball the game out of control. 

SK Gaming - Millenium 

What seemed like a top contender for the top three in EU suddenly dropped at the end of the season because a lack of practice. SK Gaming stepped it up again in the last Superweek, beating Millenium, and both Fnatic and Alliance. They looked more focused; back as a solid team that has great synergy and an objective-focused mindset. However, their loss to Gambit showed that they can still fall easy under a lot of early pressure.

Fredy is a solid top laner but has the tendency to feed unnecessary on his favourite feed-to-win champ Aatrox. He hasn't shown much potential on the newly strong top laners like Maokai or Gragas, nor is his Lulu very scary. On the other hand, his Nidalee is ban-worthy, and he can put a lot of pressure down with certain older picks like Shyvana or Renekton. Map vision and clear communication from SK should make sure Fredy doesn't overextend too much so he can grow into a scary threat for the teamfights. Svenskeren makes or breaks most of SK's games. If he can do well, the team will carry with him, but when he isn't impactful early, then the team just seems to whither away like an old man in a nursing home. I feel the team will need to focus their priority on making sure he gets a strong champion and a solid start in each game. Jesiz isn't the flashiest player but has shown brilliant play on a variety of champions, most recently with Ahri. He can’t really be targeted heavily with bans anymore but he can be beaten in lane with some early pressure. He's not the best at farming, so it's very important that he gets off to a good start to be relevant in the whole game. Candy and nRated are not the strongest botlane but are very smart and have a lot of experience. They will not be easily swayed into a bad trade and can surprise the enemy on occasion. nRated’s Gragas support play is very scary when played well, which makes Gragas a great flex pick for the team if Fredy works on that pick as well. Though we have to find out if the Gragas nerfs in the new patch affect him much in laning phase. With Maokai still unchanged, he should probably be the biggest priority for most teams, but I believe we will see him almost perma-banned throughout the playoffs.

Millenium is a one-trick pony team that hasn't changed much at the end of the split. They excel at pick-oriented assassin comps that catch lone players off-guard. Most teams have gotten used to this style and know what to ban and how to play against it to minimize its effectiveness. However, this new patch favours assassins, and with increased Zed and Talon play in other regions, this could be a bright spot for Kerp and his team. Millenium went 0-4 in Superweek and is definitely not looking hot. This patch could be their lucky break to making it into the semi’s. They can beat SK with early power and a strong split push. kev1n is a strong top laner that can excel on certain picks like Irelia. His smart play in lane and timed aggression could be a real problem for SK if he gets help from his jungle. Kottenx has really helped Millenium get away from that relegation position they were in last split. Good pressure and mechanics have really helped the team to a lot of wins. His 2v2 with Kerp is very dangerous for any team if Kerp gets his hands on a strong assassin. Kerp’s Zilean drew some bans but teams just have no idea how to play against it. It’s not the best pick and Kerp should focus on his assassins or some heavy wave clear champs like Ziggs or Orianna.

Millenium’s botlane is the real strength of the team but with most comps relying on split push and pick potential, Creaton and Jree get left out on their own sometimes. Creaton has shown on many occasions that he is a brilliant ADC and can carry if the team lets him. Lucian will be a great champion to have back in his pool. The versatility and all-around strength of that champion let’s Creaton do whatever he wants, even if the team isn't focused around him. Corki and Tristana will probably be the priority picks since they bring mobility and carry potential for Creaton. Jree has also shown solid support ability and is one hell of a fisher on both Blitzcrank and Tresh.

Millenium should focus on their strengths: give Kerp a strong 1v1 champion and Creaton a strong self-peeling ADC - while Jree and Kevin zone for him. Kottenx just needs to take control of the early game and it could set Millenium up for an upset over SK.

The teams' head-to-head is also 2-2. They are both quite even in lanes with a slight edge to Millenium. SK more than makes up for it in having a much better tactical understanding of the game. A lot will depend on the junglers; both of them need to get their lanes rolling and have a big control over the map. SK will try to take advantage by grouping up and rotating to take down turrets, while making sure Kerp doesn't get free kills. Millenium’s recent performance doesn't promise much for the playoffs, but the new patch is really in their favour. SK should stay calm in the early game and not give up too much then they can out rotate and outplay Millenium on a tactical level with probably a better team comp. If SK can attack the weak points of Millennium in the pick and ban phase and then play a measured game, they should take the series without too many problems. Millenium can surprise them though, and their botlane should never be underestimated.

My prediction: 3-2 for SK. SK is the smarter team and have shown recently that their lanes aren’t as weak anymore. If they prepare hard and think about the series, even if they drop a game they should beat Millenium. Millenium has looked very weak lately and their one-style has always been weak and exploitable. They have a lot of talent in their team, however, and could surprise with a strong assassin pick or maybe a more ADC-centered comp. But in my experience, consistency and smart play beats explosive game play in a "best-of" series.


Thanks for reading, I’m open for any comment so leave them below or tweet me @antdrioite
I will make a preview about the semi’s and finals after the quarters are over.

Pro-gaming, pro-communication?

by Louis "Guichex" Lemeillet

There is a lot to say about how communication is handled by professional gaming structures, and it is so because those companies are still in their early stages of development, and so are eSports as a whole. Everybody is trying things to improve their overall image and ultimately try to get on the “mainstream” stage where sponsors and popularity will help them become very profitable companies.

I see two sides inside this industry's communication: the gaming or sportive one, and the brand one. They are of course inseparable and must be run hand in hand, but I separate the two of them because one is actually run flawlessly while the other one depends on which structure you're looking at.

The eSports Titans are One Step Ahead.

Whether you're looking at Fnatic, SK, Na'vi, or some other great multi-gaming structures, you can see that communication regarding gaming performances and merchandising are almost flawless : they update every time it's necessary to inform when each team will be performing, where they are in their respective standings, or to present post-game interviews with the players. All the same, they jump on any occasion to highlight their online store, new branded products (when they have some), their own YouTube videos or even interviews made by other organizations. The timing of such communications is very often related to news regarding one of its team, and help nurture their image. Or they also communicate for the online store when they have a “hole” in their communication schedule, to never let their fans/followers without news more than a few hours.

Those structures do a better job running their gaming & merchandising communication because they have existed a long time and learned from their past experiences. Also, they'll have an easier time publishing various news about their pro-gaming teams because they have so many players! Supa Hot Crew, for example, will face more trouble finding interesting things to tweet about than Evil Geniuses, because they only have an LCS team while the other has multiple gaming factions. It's important to communicate news throughout each day because it'll help your gaming structure nurture and develop its image as a whole. It keeps people interested. It's kind of like advertising : the more you publish, the more people you can touch, then you can sell more products/have more fans/etc. No company has a better communication than the other, but if you don't have it at all, you won't be seen as good as the others.

You have many solutions to fill the gap between a young pro-gaming structures and an older one, but it implies you'll have to talk about less interesting things, but you have to do it if you want to keep people interested in your brand. For eSports, everything is going through social media. You have to keep being seen by your followers and potentially others. The more you communicate, the more you have a chance of a post being shared/re-tweeted and you'll maybe gain one more follower. “Less interesting things” can include: open questions, photos of pro-players performing daily tasks (playing, coaching reunion, eating, whatever), or sharing images sent to your team (fan art, merchandising pictures, etc.) or articles about your team/gaming news. Nevertheless, this job is quite time-consuming and requires a bit of communication knowledge (to know what you can share, communicate, take for yourself, etc.) and I have the feeling that younger gaming structures don't have a specific person related to that task. It's just someone who has another main function (like manager, coach, business analyst), who is running it on the side. It's not THAT important but still has some meaning if you don't want to create an immense gap between bigger structures and yours.

Still, Everyone is Making Mistakes.

All gaming structures made mistakes in their choices, in their communication, and still, younger structures seems to not understand everything from that. Pro-gaming is no different than other industries on that regard: communication is really important if you want to secure a real fanbase and a real merchandising income. Advertising can be considered as important as communication, but it is working with sponsors and will rely on a good campaign.

And here, you have so much room to make the difference. North American structures like TSM, Cloud 9 and Dignitas, are making great moves possible by creating extremely fun and creative sponsor films/web shows. And they decided to do it not only because it was fun, but because consumers want that. On the other side, you have Fnatic making a razor ad that appears to have been shot and edited by your average 13 year-old; or that ugly ad from Razer showing a 14 year-old Snoopeh with a...special facial expression.

The "Hyperglide with Fnatic" campaign may be a bit old, but that Razer ad is extremely recent and was aired on the Twitch channel of Riot Games during the LCS, so more than 200k people could have seen it. After asking Snoopeh directly on Twitter (that's the beauty of eSports), he answered me that he didn't know about this and didn't approve of anything. I think it's safe to assume that Evil Geniuses, as a company, also didn't approve of it. Whether it was an intern at Razer who created this and everyone validated it, it is quite frightening to see this as it may ruin the player's image, but also the gaming structure he belongs too. Moreover, it's a bit of a shame to publish this when you already heard rumors of this gamer being replaced as a starter in his team.

But basically, it means that nobody on Evil Geniuses actively control what is done with their players image. Even if you have a contract saying Razer can use Snoopeh's image for advertising their products since they are the official sponsor of Evil Geniuses, you can't do whatever you want and Evil Geniuses could ask for repairs for this crappy ad (if Razer never sent them anything of course). Conclusion: Something is really wrong somewhere, and it's more probable that it comes from Evil Geniuses not having a proper communication team (which would be really frightening if you consider the size of this company in eSports), or does not have properly educated people in charge of their player's communication. I am not here to blame anyone, but some people are specifically going through many years of studies to handle communication, press relations, sponsorships, etc. And I feel like even older structures are failing to develop such a team of skilled people, relying on people they know in the eSports world.

On the other hand, one of the recent hot topics on Reddit was the possible acquisition of XJ9 by Supa Hot Crew as a coach/analyst. I don't know if what he's done in the past is true or not, I don't know if he's surrounded of hate because of misunderstandings or whatever, and I don't care one bit: what's important is that people are aware of it, and that it creates an ugly controversy. I don't care if he's the best player in the world: controversy is bad for your brand's image and Supa Hot Crew has gone back in time towards global acknowledgment by simply not speaking about this rumor. If those things are true regarding XJ9 (if you're not aware of who he is or what he done, look it up on the interweb), there is a risk that a similar story might break inside SHC and do long-term damage to the teams reputation, at least on the brand side.

Gaming Structures Have to Make the First Step.

I talked in a earlier article about what could become of eSports when it goes mainstream, and when technology companies will come to be personal sponsors of star players. I still think, at this point, that it's up to gaming structures to move forward, and they can't wait to be seen by those mainstream companies hoping money will rain on them. The one with the best communication, around its brand and its players is the one who will get the juicy sponsorship contracts. Actually, in my opinion, the most “valuable” team right now is TSM, as they have really passionate fans, are getting quite good results, and never fail to appear in some epic commercials (like that last HyperX one,) and they've managed to make it into some mainstream news websites like The Hollywood Reporter. Plus, their players come from various countries and have different personalities. TSM is “bankable." Cloud 9 is too.

I think CLG could be one too, but clearly they don't appear in as much mainstream news as TSM or even Curse, who's using its business/company side to get fame. Teams are apparently investing different amounts of times in the search of business partners, as some mainly focus on the game. It's not something to blame, but in the end, some of the teams will get bigger financial means than others and will develop even further with staff, facilities, and financial means to recruit rising star players. In the end, for the long-term, maybe TSM will be the greatest winner of all this.

The point is: gaming is still just a "game" for some gaming structures. They want their players to perform well, and don't think about the rest. But it doesn't mean you should totally exclude this part and never seek potential partners. With the rise of eSports, it's first come, first serve, and some teams might actually focus too much on their performances. Cash prizes won't pay everything at some point. Moreover, it's not like they are alone in this since many eSports marketing agencies are popping up on the market - it's just they don't believe it's necessary or they think they can manage it themselves while doing some work for teams at the same time. Pro-gaming structures might need to trust a bit more in the external world and not focus so much on “gamers are the only ones that can help us.” It's good to get old players into the eSports world, but most of them will lack the expertise needed to successfully market their team's brand and image for the future.

NA LCS Week 11 Power Rankings

by Ethan “AkeyBreakyy” Akey and Matt “It’s Pure Luck” Lee

First it was Europe’s turn, now we turn our attention to the North American scene before super week gets under way!  Just a reminder, here are the criteria the teams will be judged on; it is no different than Europe.

• It’s not just your record that determines your ranking. Just because you have a better record than another team does NOT necessarily mean you are better in my eyes.  The proverbial “eye test” is incredibly important. Are you winning games narrowly or convincingly? Did you go 2-0 in a week where you trailed in both games but the other team made massive mistakes and it allowed you to come back? How a team looks is very important.
• Results from the past few weeks.
• General trends of a team’s performance vs upper-echelon opponents in the league. Playing well vs the top tier teams is obviously more impressive than crushing the bottom three constantly.
• A team’s performance historically. This will weight a bit less, but a team like Fnatic will get more of a pass when they are struggling a bit than someone like the Copenhagen Wolves will.

So let’s get right down to it!

1) Cloud 9 (15-9) – Not much room for debate here. Their win over current top-of-the-table LMQ on Sunday was as dominating a performance as we have seen from any team this entire split. Currently sitting at 5-1 in their last six games and 7-3 in their last ten, Cloud 9 seem to have gotten over the middle season slump they had been in. One other impressive thing to note about Cloud 9 is their record vs the other teams in the top six of the standings. The only teams they do not have a chance to grab a 3-1 record versus are compLexity and Team SoloMid. LMQ has been good and currently hold first place, but everything points to Cloud 9 still being the team to beat in North America.
-Matt

2) LMQ (16-8) – While LMQ clings to the top of the LCS standings, their devastating loss to Cloud 9 last week has dropped them to our #2 spot. Like Cloud 9, LMQ has a 5-1 record for their previous six matches  - their only loss coming from Cloud 9, who hold a 3-1 record against them. The only other teams LMQ has a losing record against are Curse and Dignitas, both of whom face them in Week Eleven. If LMQ can pull wins off in both matches, C9 will be their only losing record.
-Ethan

3) Team SoloMid (15-9) – Week Ten was a very good week for TSM as they went 2-0, including a big win over slumping arch-rival Counter Logic Gaming. It wouldn't have been surprising if TSM had instead struggled the final two weeks of the season while they adjusted to their roster change, but it turned out not to be an issue. One knock against them is that they have been awful vs the top teams in the league, but I’m not sure that is entirely true. Against the top six, they sport a record of 7-10 which isn't great, but neither is it as terrible as it’s been made out to be. They are also the only team in the top six (and one of only two in the league) to have winning record vs Cloud 9. The major blemishes are the current 0-3 marks vs LMQ and Dignitas, and they will get a shot at both of them this weekend. A bye into the semifinals would be perhaps more important to TSM than any other team; the more time Lustboy and WildTurtle have to play together, the better off they are.
-Matt

4) Counter Logic Gaming (13-11) – After falling 0-2 in Week 10, and losing to their rivals, TSM, we have CLG sitting in the fourth position. Entering Week Eleven, CLG currently only holds positive win records over three of the four  bottom ranked teams. With their most recent loss to TSM, CLG now sits with a even 2-2 record against them. With their starting roster sitting out Week Eleven in order to attend boot camp in Korea to prepare for playoffs, it is highly likely that CLG will land in the fourth or fifth place semifinal spot. We can’t really judge CLG on how well their substitute roster will play, but from recent showings, CLG has fallen to our fourth spot.
-Ethan

5) Curse (10-14) – Curse is one of the more bizarre teams in the North American LCS. They currently sport winning records vs each of LMQ, CLG and Dignitas respectively. And yet at the same time, they are 1-2 vs Complexity and 1-3 vs EG.  Curse have been playing fairly well since they had a poor 3-7 start with a 7-7 streak since then. While nothing amazing, it’s at a level of what you would expect from a team that’s in the middle of the pack in the standings. Despite the fact they are two games behind Dignitas, Curse gets the nod in this spot with the free fall Dignitas are currently in.
-Matt

6) Dignitas (12-12) – While Dignitas does hold the better record over Curse,  they are another bizarre team that holds winning records over top teams such as LMQ and TSM. At the same time, Dignitas is also 1-3 vs Complexity and 1-2 vs Curse. Dignitas opened the Summer Split with a stunning 7-2 record into Week Five. Since then, Dignitas hasn't had a positive win record from any week. Even though they have two games on Curse, by going 1-5 in the past 3 weeks of the LCS, Team Dignitas falls down to our sixth spot.
-Ethan

7) Evil Geniuses (7-17) – EG had a rough super week back in Week Seven when they went 0-4. But since then they have played to the tune of a .500 record, winning three out of their past six games and beating Curse twice and CLG once. EG also seems to be the team who lose more heartbreaking games than anybody else (Curse might argue that point though), often giving some of the top tier teams all that they can handle. More often than not, it seems that Altec is the catalyst for this team, especially if he gets his hands on Twitch or Tristana. It will be interesting to see how the Evil Geniuses finish the season as they draw both Cloud 9 and LMQ this week.
-Matt

8) compLexity (8-16) – Now that we have reached the bottom of our rankings, it’s hard for fans to not expect compLexity to sit at the eighth spot. The difficult decision of whether coL or EG should be at the bottom was decided by the potential that EG shows against top-tiered teams, compared to what compLexity has to show. The only glimpse of light that compLexity has shown this season is the winning record they have over Cloud 9, although one of these wins was coming out of a Super Week when it's easier to snipe a top tier team. In the past six games, compLexity is 2-4, and they haven’t had a winning week at all this split. It will be interesting to see how they fare against Evil Geniuses this week, as they could potentially can finish the season off with a draw.
-Ethan

Underestimated Items

by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos 

There are a ton of Items within League of Legends - a few with a lot more upfront impact than others. Some items may be considered core items and must-buys on certain champions and in certain categories, like Blade of the Ruined King on most AD Bruisers. But with the glaring popularity of those items comes the overlooking of others that honestly could make game changing differences when utilized correctly. I merely aim to touch upon a few within this article to try and raise awareness on the items that no one will see coming.

Ohmwrecker:

When this item was first announced I was excited because the concept sounded amazingly useful, especially for my play style, which involves a lot of diving and reckless assassinations. The thought of being able to fully commit to an opponent who thinks they’re safe under a turret is undeniably strong. So strong, in fact, that the item itself simply could not be allowed to have overwhelming stats. It doesn't match up against core AP items such as Void Staff and Athene’s, but I still believe that on the right champions it can be a useful item. Champions like Fizz and Akali, who have to go balls deep for kills, would greatly benefit from the ability to disable turrets for 2.5 seconds as they provide a suitable window for the final blow and the escape attempt (not to mention that the item resets the stacking damage of turrets as well which is even more valuable in the current patches where they reach max power faster). Another benefit of Ohmwrecker is that it provides a little bit more health, which is valuable to high damage assassins who cannot afford to use too many slots for defensive measures. I often find myself wondering why teams like LMQ, who are known for furiously diving turrets, don’t utilize this item to its potential.

 Another great tip with this item is the fact that when next to the nexus turrets, this item disables them both, allowing for dynamic diving that no one would expect and also enabling teams to finish the game faster when racing death timers and without minions. When considering what to build Ohmwrecker over, consider it over items that would otherwise provide similar stats like Rylais and Liandries. AP Supports can also combo this item with Twin Shadows and Talisman of Ascension to ensure escape is never truly possible for an enemy.

Sword of the Divine:

Sword of the Divine is an interesting concept that has also never really seen any screen time in the professional scene and in normal play, maybe because the base stats aren’t as impressive or maybe because no one has truly figured out how to efficiently utilize this item. 100% Attack Speed and Critical Strike Chance is a very powerful steroid that can turn any trade in your favour in an instant. On AD Carries, this item is crazy, but it isn't built in favour of Static Shiv, Phantom Dancer, and Youmuu’s Ghostblade, which provide much better stats (and the latter gives an active that seems more valuable at face value). You even lose the attack speed that Sword of the Divine gives you when it goes on cooldown so why would anyone want to build the item? The redeeming feature of Sword of The Divine in my opinion is the fact that the current cooldown is halved by champion kills. Assuming every time you use it you get a kill it has a 30 second cooldown, this makes it effective in split push situations where you can easily 1v1 and dispatch the person that tries to stop you. It also makes the item effective in extended team fight situations where you could legitimately use it more than once if you pick up two or three kills from its first use. Unlike Ohmwrecker which is a more reliable pickup, Sword of the Divine requires mastery and effectiveness in its use to become a super item. Misuse could leave you crippled, but effective use could be the deciding factor in many fights.

Zeke’s Herald:

Why this item isn't used more is beyond me, especially when AD mid laners like Yasuo remain top tier picks.  If your solo laners are AD, someone on your team should definitely have Zeke’s Herald. +20 AD and 10% Life Steal are valuable stats that could easily turn the tide of any team fight, and the CDR and the Health are also valuable stats that could benefit some bruisers and junglers. Assuming all four other team mates benefit from the passive, the item itself has 300% gold efficiency. Provided your team is also under the protection of Locket of the Iron Solari, you have a huge amount of extra stats in both offence and defense. I believe Zeke’s Herald is a great pickup on the current Rengar play style seen in the LCS, which plays out on CDR and bruiser items rather than full damage. Thresh could also greatly benefit on the extra damage on his basic attacks as well as the added effect for the ADC which could help snowball the lane. Zeke’s Herald also has the benefit of being the only defensive/utility item that provides Life Steal, making it viable on champions that need tankiness on top of life steal like Trundle and Shyvana. When building Zeke’s Herald, always look towards its aura impact rather than the impact of its face value stats. The items I’ve covered so far all have rather average base stats but the power of these items comes from the enemy’s inability to fully comprehend the value of their passives and actives. The true power of Zeke’s Herald can be summarized by Ashe: United we are stronger. 

European LCS Week 10 Power Rankings

by Matt “It’s Pure Luck” Lee


Welcome to my European LCS power rankings! While it’s perhaps a bit late in the season to start doing this as we head into our final week, it’s one of the most enjoyable debates that can be had when talking about the LCS.  First let’s take a look at the criteria teams will be judged on:

• It’s not just your record that determines your ranking. Just because you have a better record than another team does NOT necessarily mean you are better in my eyes.  The proverbial “eye test” is incredibly important. Are you winning games narrowly or convincingly? Did you go 2-0 in a week where you trailed in both games but the other team made massive mistakes and it allowed you to come back? How a team looks is very important.
• Results from the past few weeks.
• General trends of a team’s performance vs upper-echelon opponents in the league. Playing well vs the top tier teams is obviously more impressive than crushing the bottom three constantly.
• A team’s performance historically. This will weight a bit less, but a team like Fnatic will get more of a pass when they are struggling a bit than someone like the Copenhagen Wolves will.

With that defined, let’s take a look at the rankings!

1) Alliance (18-6) – This one really won’t come as any surprise. After a minor setback in losing four straight during Weeks Seven and Eight, Alliance has come back very strong and won four in a row. The win over red-hot Fnatic was particularly impressive as Rekkles and friends had been destroying everything in their path on the back of an eight game win streak. It wasn't the cleanest of wins as it took fifty-two minutes, but they played it safe, knowing a win all but guaranteed them the top spot in the final standings.

2) Fnatic (16-8) – Fnatic saw their eight game win streak snapped vs Alliance on day one last week. It didn't faze them much, though, as they took down a good Millenium team on the second day. One could make a case for Fnatic being in the top spot and they might have a point. They sit at 9-1 in their last ten games and they weren't narrowly winning these for the most part. Fnatic had been decimating their opposition ever since Week Seven. Ultimately, Fnatic posting a 1-3 record vs Alliance gives Alliance the slight nod.

3) Millenium (13-11) – Millenium have been playing fairly well lately, picking up four wins in their last six games after scuffling a bit during Super Week.  As usual for them, the catalysts continue to be Kerp and Creaton. Creaton has been outstanding the last three weeks, posting a KDA of 10.25. Kerp has continued to show his Twisted Fate pick is to be feared, and he even managed to pull out a surprise pick in Zilean last week and played it very well.  If Millenium continues to progress their style and show they can play more than a pick based team at a high level, they have a very high ceiling with the talent that is on the team.

4) Supa Hot Crew (14-10) – Much like Millenium, Supa Hot Crew sits here with an outside chance at possibly grabbing that two seed and getting a bye in the playoffs. More than likely though, they will end up fighting it out for the three seed. The upcoming game between SHC and Millenium on Thursday could very well decide who does grab that spot; a loss by the Crew there would drop them to 1-3 vs Millenium on the split. While MrRalleZ tends to be considered the best player on this team, you could make a case that the most important is Selfie in the mid lane. We saw it this past week as he had a terrific KDA of 13.5 in playing Ahri both games. Consistent play from him should see positive results for SHC in the future and at the least a shot at Worlds in the third place game.

5) Roccat (11-13) – Roccat continue to be one of the most (if not the most) puzzling teams in the European LCS. They managed to pull their record back to .500 after they had an impressive run between Weeks Four and Eight, where they won nine of their twelve games.  And then in Week Ten, they promptly managed to go 0-2, and it was to two teams very close to them in the standings, Millenium and the Supa Hot Crew.  Celaver and Xaxus in particular have had a difficult time this split. Celaver currently has the sixth best KDA among AD carries in Europe, while Xaxus is seventh among top laners. Jankos has been a bright spot for the team, and as he goes the team tends to go. His teammates will need to step up if they wish to avoid facing relegation in the promotion tournament.

6) SK Gaming (12-12) – SK finally ended the free fall they had been in by defeating Roccat last week, though it wasn't easy for them to close that game out. That game itself showed where the confidence level of SK is right now; they had a massive lead early on and gave Roccat every shot to get back into it. They simply have not looked like the same team from the first six weeks of this split, or the one from all of spring. They sit at 3-7 in their last ten games; many of them decisive victories for their opponents. Looking even further into it, two of those three wins came in Super Week vs Gambit and the Copenhagen Wolves, both of whom are a mess. Many claims around SK the last split and even early on in this one were that they didn’t have great individual talent and mechanics, but great teamwork through the mid and late game. It might be the time where the lack of mechanical ability in comparison to their opponents is catching up to them.

7) Copenhagen Wolves (7-17) – The Wolves are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but the chances are minimal, as one win by Roccat or one loss by the Wolves puts Roccat in the playoffs and sends the Wolves to the promotion tournament.  They had managed to put two decent weeks back to back in Weeks Eight and Nine, going 3-1 in their four games. Last week however, the wheels fell off the wagon. They were dispatched fairly quickly by Millenium in a game that only took 31:23, and then were defeated by Alliance in what was possibly the most lopsided game in the EU LCS this year.  The Wolves can avoid the dreaded eighth place finish if they beat Gambit this week, or if they win one game and Gambit lose at least two.

8) Gambit Gaming (5-19) – While Gambit was definitely on a downward trend toward the end of the spring split, it would be hard for many people to say they saw this coming. They sit two games behind the Wolves for the seventh place spot with only four games left, so it’s likely Gambit end the season in last place. The twist of fate there would be the possible date vs Ninjas in Pyjamas and Alex Ich in the promotion tournament. The team as a whole simply does not look to be LCS caliber at this moment. The benching of Darien hasn't helped at all, and Diamond looks even worse since he was put back into the starting lineup. In fact, Diamond has a line of 3/17/7 since he was reinstated as a starter. At this point in time, it’s hard to imagine Gambit will retain their spot in the LCS with the way they are playing.

Battle At The Top: A Review of the EU LCS Match of the Week

By Ethan "AkeyBreakyy" Akey


For the third match of W10D1 (week 10, day 1) Fnatic took on the EU LCS leading team, Alliance. On a seven game winning streak, Fnatic hoped to continue their streak and tie with Alliance, who was sitting at the top of the leaderboard. As we saw in week 9, Fnatic made quick work of the Cophenhagen Wolves, and Rekkles earned the first Pentakill of the Summer Split. If Alliance allows Rekkles to pick Vayne, they could be in for a world of hurt. Rekkles currently holds the highest KDA for any Player/Champion combo when he is on Vayne. If Fnatic can lock up Vayne for their ADC, they could have a better chance at tying this series up with the EU LCS leader. Fnatic needs to tie up the series between Alliance, which it currently sits at a 2-1 in favor of Alliance right now. Both teams are coming into this match in their best playing form.

With the majority of the bans going to eliminate top tier junglers and mid laners, sOAZ locks up Gragas with the first pick for Fnatic. In return, Alliance pick up Kog’Maw and Oriana for their first and second pick. With Lee Sin being banned, this opens up Elise, which is one of Cyanide's top picks. For Fnatic’s second pick, Cyanide decides to go with Jarvan instead. Fnatic uses Jarvan as their signature dragon-stealing champion, and Fnatic looks to ride their aggressive playstyle into this match-up with this pick. With Fnatic’s third pick, YellOwStaR gets his Thresh, which is his go to champion. This is YellOwStaR's eleventh game on Thresh, with eight victories under his belt - potentially the strongest Thresh player in the EU LCS. Riven and Morgana are locked up for Alliance with their third and fourth picks. While Fnatic may have a very strong Thresh, Nyph is undefeated on Morgana for Alliance. With Fnatic now needing a lot of burst damage to take down the shields of Riven, Oriana, and Morgana, they grab Jinx and Ziggs. Jinx is an interesting pick. Vayne could have been more of the hyper-carry that Rekkles excels on. If Fnatic can chain their crowd-control together, they can easily shut down Shook on Riven. Wickd rounds out the final pick for Alliance by taking Irelia. Fnatic and Alliance jump in to the Summoner’s Rift to see if one team can level the score or if Alliance can pull ahead even further.

To start this match, Shook is tested by Fnatic after he is invaded by the entire enemy team. Being forced to blow his Flash within the first fifty-five seconds of the match, this could really shake up his confidence and force Shook to play very passive for the duration of his cooldown. Fnatic displays a very aggressive start to their match against Alliance by forcing three of their members to pop Flash within the first three minutes of the match. With more than half of Alliance without their summoner spell, this is the strong and strategic start Fnatic needs that can allow them to put the pressure down on the enemy turrets or to secure kills.

YellOwStaR proves to be the impact player in the early phases of this game by picking up the first blood for Fnatic and puts on a display to show he is not afraid to roam from top to bottom in order to support all of Fnatic's lanes. Around the 8:00 minute mark, all of the lanes start to normalize with the teams rotating their ADC & Support duos back to the bottom lane. With Alliance having their duo back in the bottom lane, this allows them to secure the first dragon of the game. Shook, on the other hand, hasn't been much of a factor up to this point, being bullied from the start and having his jungle buffs stolen from him.

Fnatic gives up one death for a dragon kill, but Rekkles picks up a kill on Froggen with a Super Mega Death Rocket. Soaz scores a kill as Wickd gets caught out under the middle turret, and Fnatic, with three turrets down, pulls ahead with a 2k gold lead. Here Fnatic puts on a show with Jarvan and displays just why they utilize him as the dragon-stealing pick, as Cyanide does just that on the second dragon of the game. Alliance is still waiting on Shook to get involved. Fnatic is too mobile and Shook hasn't been able to have much presence this game. Soaz is still playing catch-up on Fnatic's side but Wickd, on the other hand, needs to pair with Shook to pick off Rekkles right away in team fights.

Alliance catches Peke with Fnatic turning around and splitting up. With this very important engage, Fnatic loses dragon, and Alliance picks off both Peke and YellOwStaR.

This match has been all about the strategic level. Fnatic punished Alliance and got their baron and, in return, Alliance punished Fnatic's mistake and got a tower, dragon, and two kills. We haven't seen a real full-on team fight, partially due to the fact that this game could end with one convincing team fight. One mistake from any player could cost their team the game. All of these champions can melt enemy towers, and get through them very quickly. Both teams are playing a very passive and careful style, almost avoiding any team fight because of how easily they can sway the match.

Alliance gets the baron, gaining the confidence they need to push in to Fnatic's base. With this baron, they break through the defense of Fnatic, taken their middle turret, middle inhibitor, and their top lane inner turret. The indecisiveness by Fnatic has lead to them being pushed past their own inhibitors. At this point, Fnatic also know the fear of being clumped up and annihilated by the AOE potential of Alliance. 

At the 52 minute mark, two men down for Fnatic, two inhibitors down, and the numbers advantage for Alliance, this spells defeat for xPeke and the boys. With a 6-3 victory going to Alliance, they shut down Fnatic and become undisputed leader of the EU ladder. After Fnatic took the first baron, Alliance nailed their aggressive playstyle down even harder. If Fnatic had played more aggressively, could they have saved their win streak? Both teams demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of their opposing compositions. In the end, Fnatic just didn't have the damage to burn through Morgana, Oriana, and Irelia. Alliance secures their spot at the top of the ladder with this win over Fnatic and currently holds a 3-1 series lead between the two teams. Viewers can only hope that this is just a glimpse of what is to come at the Summer Split finals.

Understanding Your Champion

By Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis

So you’ve heard casters and other people talk about what a champion is good at, what certain team comps are good at, and finally, champion power curves. This is some complex stuff that I find a lot of people grasp, but do not truly understand. Everyone knows that Tristana has a strange power curve, and it has to do with her passive, but do you know what specifically about her kit makes this true?

This kind of logic applies to all champs and teams, and I feel a huge part of trying to climb the ladder comes from understanding what you and the rest of your team are good at. Now, many people try and memorize things like match-ups or where a champion's strengths lie, but that takes a lot of time. Time that could be better spent putting a plan together for the game. The better thing to do is apply logic and draw conclusions from that.

First of all, this requires understanding champions. I’m not saying you need to memorize every skill and every cooldown, although the more you do, the easier it is and more precise you can be. It’s important to look at what the basic champs skills are. Let’s take an example, since that’s the best way to get a handle on these types of things.

We’ll take Caitlyn as a first example. Caitlyn’s known as a lane bully ADC that dominates in lane and falls off in comparison to other ADCs as the game continues. I’ve seen a lot of people take this to mean she doesn't do damage late game, and that’s not true. First, what makes her strong in lane?

·         Her 650 range is the highest base range in the game.

·         She has a very easy time pushing the lane at level 1 with her Q

·         Her Q also is a great way to farm and poke at the same time because it passes through targets

·         Her E lets her escape ganks on the off chance she gets her range closed in on.

·         She can self ward with W

·         Her Ult is guaranteed damage and can be impactful in non-sustain lanes

Some of this is pretty obvious stuff, some of it not as much. The more you’re able to piece together from experience, the more you can strategize. Now, since we know what her strengths are; what are her weaknesses?

·         Ultimate can be blocked, and forces her to stand still and cast

·         Only one basic skill does meaningful damage

·         She has no built-in steroids

·         Her only self peel is slow and has a long CD

           

            So how do these points lead to Cait having a lackluster late game? First, her ultimate can be intercepted by other champs. The cast time is long and the target is obvious. Using this in a teamfight can not only mean death if used at the wrong time, but lowers your DPS because you’re no longer attacking the enemy. It’s best used in between fights, but once late game comes around, ADCs are known for constant DPS in teamfights which means her Ult has little to no use in that aspect. Add in the fact that the long and obvious cast time means someone else has a long time to jump in front of the bullet and tank the shot. Late in the game people are almost always moving in groups, which means the tankiest person can usually take the shot and you’ll get the least out of your skill.

            Next, her W and E come into account. When you compare Caitlyn to other ADCs, most other ADCs have more damaging skills. Kog has his W Q and ult(which I’m counting because it can be used multiple times in a fight), Draven has everything except his E, etc. Caitlyn has one basic skill that can be used in a teamfight outside of her auto attacks. Not only that, but it loses damage as it passes through targets and forces her to stay still to cast it. Her W and E are of no use to her in teamfights outside of trying to get away from people.

Finally, and in relation to the last point, she has nothing in her kit that boosts her damage output. Think of every ADC that is known for late game power: Kog Maw, Twitch, Vayne, Tristana. What do all of these champs has in common? They all have something in their kit that inherently boosts their damage output. Whether it’s percentage health damage, attack speed boosts, or a range increase. Caitlyn has nothing of the sort that can give her more damage other than building items, which means her possible damage is inherently lower.

Now I went into a lot of detail, but as long as you can understand the bullet points, you can apply this to any champ. Look at where they are strong and where they aren’t strong and you can piece together what you as a player and team need to avoid and what you need to exploit.

The common things you need to look at are:

·         Range

·         CD length

·         What Abilities do

·         How well they scale (do they do % damage/have high ratios or fall flat)

·         Where does power spike and where does it die

            You don’t have to know specifics, but have a general idea. I’ll use Shaco this time to demonstrate my point since he’s a champ I don’t know as well.

Strengths:

·         Mobile from Q which is a flash with invis

·         Great at setting traps and bursting with surprise while feared

·         Very slippery

·         Passive and E give a lot of damage

·         Ult creates clone for confusion and procs all on-hit and can attack on its own

            Weaknesses:

·         No immediate CC on command

·         Dangerous/Slow early clear

·         Very squishy and revealing in wrong location means death

·         Usually needs to gank because he will not clear well until he gets items

·         Teamfight potential is weak because invis time is low and W needs to be pre-set to be of much use.

·         All single target damage

These are the reasons why Shaco is known for devastating early ganks, but can’t teamfight well unless he gets far enough ahead to burst people. His dueling potential is also great especially if he puts a trap down in advance when the game is still running as planned. As you can see even though I’ve never played Shaco, my experience and understanding of the fundamentals of his kit let me know what he does and what I should do in response.

Now if you’re trying to find what a team as a whole is built upon, you apply the same process times 5. You’ll look at the positives and weaknesses of each champ on your team and the other team. Compare the similarities and you’ll see what both teams compositions are built for and are weak against. You can look and see where each player gets their power spike in terms of levels and items once you get really good at it.

This is a massive part of becoming a successful jungler more than any other role. It lets you know who’s weak and when, and that’s huge when you’re affecting every lane and contemplating invading the other jungler.

So let’s take it all full circle and look back at Trist and how her power curve works. She’s got a good early game, poor mid game, and a disgustingly strong late game. Her good early game comes from the fact that her base damage on her E skill is pretty good, and it’s magic damage on top of that, which most bot lanes don’t itemize for early. Her E also gives grievous wounds, meaning that she should regen from the trade better. Once you get to mid game, the damage from that falls off because it scales off AP which you won’t build. In fact, all of her skills have AP scaling, which is why she falls off very hard past early game. Her saving grace, actually, has nothing to do with her early game power and is why she has a strange curve. It’s actually a combo of her passive and Q. Her passive gives her range per level and her range gets to be higher than anyone in the game late besides an ulting Twitch. Throw in a whopping 90% attack speed boost on her Q and you've got a lot of damage hitting from very far away. The Q attack speed means she can build more AD and hit harder. The final part of her kit that makes her unstoppable late game is the safety she gets. Her ultimate is low cooldown and blows people away from her as well as having a long range jump that resets on a kill or assist.

Analyzing champions is a huge skill of League of Legends that takes some time to fully understand on its own. However, you don’t have to start memorizing everything about every champ. With 119 champions in the game that is nearly impossible. The important thing is to understand the basic idea of what each champ does and plan around everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. If you apply this to your own games, you can look past the idea of just trying to CS and following a similar pattern every game, and start strategizing on how to pull an advantage through logically understanding strengths and weaknesses.

Intimacy has its Price : The Big Booth Debate

Booths vs. No Booths

By Jerrod "Thousand Eyes" Steis

            Recently the big stink going around the LCS circuit is over the implementation, or lack thereof, of soundproof booths. Anyone who watches LCS today will see the players are in an open air environment and are fully visible to fans. This was to promote intimacy between fans and players, just like almost any other sport. However, LoL, and E-sports in general, aren't like other sports. There’s a lot of deception and trickery as well as other things that need to be hidden from the opposing team. Most sports remedy this by having a playbook or sidelines where these plans are relayed out to the field. Imagine, in football, if the audience told the other team what play they were running. That’s the best analogy for what the LCS is dealing with at the moment.

            Riot’s always run a thin line between having the audience feel engaged with the game, and the audience actually being part of the game. The LCS is run in an open atmosphere where players and spectators see things at almost the same time. Riot has admitted there is a slight delay, but even still, players know the delay. Players wear sound-proof headsets and small earbuds that go underneath. These headsets don’t completely block out all sound, but they at least do something to keep players from hearing anything from the audience that might change the outcome of the game. However, even if they can’t make out specific words, cheers alone can be enough to understand what's occurred. Let’s look at what the crowd generally cheers for in the LCS:

·         Wards

·         Towers

·         Dragons

·         Barons

·         Kills

·         Steals of any kind

            Of all of these, the only ones that aren’t always visible to both teams are Dragons and Barons. Based on positioning  of the enemy it can be pretty simple to make out what was done and have an almost exact timer for it if the audience is heard. Krepo has even come out himself to say that players are well aware of both the crowd and the delay that they’re seeing.

This set up has recently come under fire as Complexity’s ADC ROBERTxLEE stated on his stream that there was a point in his match against Curse where he wasn't sure what was being said on the comms. This wasn't an issue with headsets not working properly either. The sound that was being heard was coming through his teammates mics. Riot absolutely needs to address this issue. Communication between teammates in a game as cooperative as LoL is paramount. Most of the time, plays happen in League because the other team didn't work as a cohesive unit for one reason or another. If this persists and happens again, it could easily swing the outcome of a game, and consequently a season, if it occurs at the right (or in this case wrong) time.

Ideas have been passed around for a while now, and the most readily accepted one is the implementation of booths. Booths have been used in many E-sports games. Starcraft and Dota usually use booths for their events for the exact reason that people are clamoring for them now. They do a better job at keeping sound out of players hearing range than headsets alone. In fact, OGN, the Korean LoL league, uses both of them

The only issue here is the possibility of these booths being little to no use in terms of effectiveness. People have argued that considering the strength of the headsets used, the diminishing returns of adding a booth are almost non-existent. The headsets used in the LCS are approved for use near jet engines, meaning that if sound gets through them, theoretically, a booth isn’t going to do much to stop it. The other issue comes with vibrations.

Obviously sound comes from vibrations, and at events like the LCS there’s not only a lot of sound, but a lot of other things that can cause vibrations as well. (e.g. feet stomping, inflatable noise makers, etc.) Booths and headsets do nothing to stop this and it can cause all of the issues that come with sounds. For large scale crowds, there really is no effective way to keep things from being heard outside of playing from a remote area, and Riot will do anything to keep that from happening.

The normal LCS crowd has a few hundred people. According to most, albeit self-proclaimed, sound experts, vibrations shouldn't be an issue routinely faced in the LCS. World’s may be another issue, but normal games leading up to the world playoffs should see at least some effectiveness from booths.

There’s also been the argument of money. To be honest, it’s hard to get a grasp on which side of the argument is really true here. It’s more an issue of conflicting information rather than one side being right or wrong. I’ve seen reports of the LCS making Riot tons of money, and I’ve seen other information that says the LCS actually loses money in exchange for further advertising the game. There’s no official information straight from Riot so I can’t actually confirm which side is correct. This is in addition to varying booth prices. Depending on how high tech Riot would get if they decided on booths, the prices could go from a few hundred each or into the thousands. If it’s true that the LCS doesn't make money, it’s easy to see how Riot could refrain from putting more money into booths.

Personally, I find myself siding with putting booths on stage. Riot has always prided themselves on keeping player/audience interaction high, but at this point there are enough other ways for players to interact that the negatives outweigh the positives. Even if they decide against booths, there needs to be some kind of statement as to why or what Riot intends to do. There’s no reason to not comment on this considering the amount of backlash that has occurred. Fans need to at least hear a reason and keeping quiet about this will only increase the controversy as people make up their own reasons.