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League of Legends: Season 2 - World Championship | Grand Finals is LIVE!

Pancakes

hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
It'll probably turn into a big deal...

Not really. Azubu started throwing the game and still managed to outplay CLG.EU as they started recovering. People will try to make a mountain out of this molehill but nothing will come out of it.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
Oh well, really liked CLG's gameplay but AF are pretty amazing and now maybe we'll see some Lux in the finals. Too bad M5 did so terrible, they're usually the most fun to watch, even if the matches against TBA were dreadful.
 

Lethality

Member
No bug = stalled the game out for a little longer.

So whats the difference

CLG EU has come back from a 15k deficit and won before. In fact, that's what they are most comfortable with. Stall until they know they're ready. Though, even with this fact I just could not see them win that last match. Shy controlled CLG's movement and positioning rather well throughout the entire game. I would even go as far as to say he pretty much controlled how he wanted CLG to move. Game 3 was all Shy.



As for the game itself, that last team fight showed how crucial Shy was to the team. While Ez was beating down on Singed, we had Woong tearing down on Ez and everything just went into place. CLG focused too much on killing Singed. Overall a well played series.

Game 1 was amazing, seeing CLG going into the offensive and giving the Korean powerhouse a taste of their own medicine. Then we had the Flawless game from Azubu Frost in Game 2... then we had a really hype match with Shy and his Singed. I am VERY pleased with this set and I'm glad I stayed up all night.
 

Lethality

Member
People not getting stunned by things that should stun happens fairly often in LoL. Nothing to see here.

And besides, even if it were true, what's Riot going to do? It's a tournament with a prize pool of 2 million, and they've already fucked up with how the stage was setup(AZF incident) and now a possibility of a bug ruining a game? It's not going to look good on Riot and League eSports
 

Boken

Banned

I remember seeing Graves cleansing to walk out of range of the tether, so I think this is about right.

VODS for the SEMI FINALS are up here: http://www.reddit.com/r/LoLeventVoDs/comments/119rzq/season_2_world_championships_part_2_ongoing/


Regarding NA teams sucking ass, I think this 4channer has a good point...
1ix7O.png
I think theres too many fans in NA compared to the talent available which also causes the streaming/tournament imbalance. Theres also lacking an amateur league that allows newer teams to replace the so called "pro" teams. There are a lot of good newer teams that aren't getting any scraps right now. "Pro" teams dont even scrim them half the time. Other than TSM, NA teams just peacock around and the bigger tournaments rarely invite the newer teams. I guess we will see in season 3, but I really hope Riot can shake up the NA scene.
 

y2dvd

Member
What would Riot have to do to shake up the NA scene and why would it be their responsibility? There's some truth to that 4channer post though.
 

Boken

Banned
What would Riot have to do to shake up the NA scene and why would it be their responsibility? There's some truth to that 4channer post though.

Some ideas:
- establish an amateur league which allows teams to rise up to the "pro" status. If Riot dont want to do it, at least partner with some esports body.
- encourage large tournaments to invite the top amateur team
- feature smaller tournaments on the official website... or at least on the competitive page, not just the huge ones
- up and coming teams feature on official website

It's Riots responsibility because:
1. they benefit from it - if the NA scene sucks ass, fewer north americans will follow competitive LoL.
2. by accelerating the growth of competitive LoL, they're responsible for the growing pains that they created... like the lack of teams because it all happened too fast

basically, the NA scene needs new blood and it needs to be good blood too. The new infrastructure needs to allow new teams to be legitimised and tested

or just copy whatever they did in korea
 

EXGN

Member
The salaries will hopefully allow teams to rely less on streaming in the future. For example, I know CLG got so far behind in streaming while they were at Korea that they had to stream in the weeks leading up to the world finals so they didn't risk losing their contract with Own3d. I actually think that really hindered their performance, but if they didn't do it, they risk losing their gaming house and whatever.

That said, I think that Anon post is a bit too critical - CLG, Dig, etc. went to Korea to practice instead of staying home and streaming. They missed out on a lot of streaming money in an effort to improve their skills and play more difficult teams. The only team that really fit that bill is TSM, although they did cement their place as the dominant NA team by staying in the U.S.
 

Boken

Banned
The salaries will hopefully allow teams to rely less on streaming in the future.
The salaries are nothing compared to NA teams stream revenue.

Anyway, for those interested:
ALEX ICH ON WHY THEY LOST

Alex Ich said:
Here are a couple of statements regarding those games:

We couldn't analyze the situation correctly after the 2nd game. Nidalee got free fb there and we were stuck with the idea that fb is what impacted the lane. We should have banned her in the 3rd game. Besides, we should have first picked Sona instead of Nunu in the 3rd game. These two mistakes played huge role in our loss. All in all though, we had to win the 2nd game. Well, not much we can do about it now, you win some, you lose some.

http://moscowfive.ru/news/final-vtorogo-sezona-reportazh?COMMENTS_PAGE=297

The problem was we sucked so hard in the 2nd game that it was very hard to assess the core reason of losing, there were far too many misplays. Basically we lost both 2nd and 3rd game absolutely similarly though

http://moscowfive.ru/news/final-vtorogo-sezona-reportazh?COMMENTS_PAGE=311
 

brian!

Member
I think something to realize about the NA scene is how weird and exciting their role is in evolving the "sport". What that one pictured stated is true; there are "better" players in NA who are not part of top-tier teams. How can we approach this then? The goal of the Top Two teams does not seem to be to create the best competitive team, it's to create the best competitive brand. Obviously having a team that can keep up with the competition is part of this, you cannot be legitimized in a sport environment without that. But on the other hand, you have so many other facets keeping NA fans interested.

Like the celebrity of the players, the entertainment value, is something I don't see (as someone from NA) in the "better" teams. I'm not saying that one thing is better than the other, just that these teams play different roles and inhabit different spaces. Bringing "drama" to the forefront (and even M5 as a new team counted on drama to bring notoriety to them), these teams make you, as a league fan, pay attention to them for different reasons.

If you turn to look at Riot, you can see what they are really all about by the way they balance, the way they focus on certain productive values (it's really revealing that the cheating controversy was enabled by the simplest "oversight", like really common sense shit), on concentrating on certain things whiles casting (NA Regionals, omg Saint vs. Hotshot "grudge match" when either person could really give a shit). Like I'm not saying that they are consciously creating a dramatic environment, but they are certainly aware of how important it is to how League has been popularized.

Hotshot and Regi have gotten some good fucking money for a video game that is not sustainable, like every competitive game will be overshadowed by new games, lack of interest, etc. It's interesting then to see how this concentration on entertainment will keep this focus.

I mean for me, it's easier to watch a TSM game (with the pathos of them allowing us to view their journey to the finals) where not that much innovation or skill level is involved, then to watch say CLG vs. WE and grand turtle matches. Like it has very little for the actual skill being displayed, whereas the spectacle of watching a game excites me.

Does Riot have any real reason to fight against streaming culture when it has helped them so much? Same goes for fans. Unless they see diminished interest (which IS a real concern, this weird nationalistic thing where if NA isn't at the top NA fans become disinterested, which extends to a lot of other uh USA #1 shit that defines this country), I don't see Riot as group that really wants to contradict this organic thing that has sprung out.
 

brian!

Member
That said, I think that Anon post is a bit too critical - CLG, Dig, etc. went to Korea to practice instead of staying home and streaming. They missed out on a lot of streaming money in an effort to improve their skills and play more difficult teams. The only team that really fit that bill is TSM, although they did cement their place as the dominant NA team by staying in the U.S.

It was essentially this gamble. A lot of talk flowed around about how going there was "worth it" in helping the players grow, but there was also a lot of talk about how it financially made no sense. So if they DID win, they would inhabit this realm where they were these "risk takers" who abandoned money-making for the "real" shit. But they lost, and the consensus is that they made a dumb decision.

Like look at how TSM will leave certain tournaments because they aren't allowed to stream and it financially doesn't make sense. Everyone is all SCUMBAG TSM, but they forget in the next week when Dyrus like throws someone with Volibear and screams into his mic. And that's something really special I think, to help fans leave this whole "real e-sports" bullshit and have a good time.

edit: fuk dbl post my b
 

Boken

Banned
Like the celebrity of the players, the entertainment value, is something I don't see (as someone from NA) in the "better" teams. I'm not saying that one thing is better than the other, just that these teams play different roles and inhabit different spaces. Bringing "drama" to the forefront (and even M5 as a new team counted on drama to bring notoriety to them), these teams make you, as a league fan, pay attention to them for different reasons.
Asian teams have plenty of personality. Its just that its easier to expose yourself as a NA-er to personality from NA teams, obviously. Right now, reddit is gushing over how genuine TPA is.

(semi/quarters spoilers)
Translated from TPA Toyz Facebook page: This coming from the guy who went 7/0/6, 6/0/5, 5/0/9, 2/0/9 in the games that TPA won. Lots of respect.

Before the Najin Game:

"As you guys probably know, tomorrow TPA's going to be up against Najin. And you guys probably know of the player Maknoon.

I'd like to share a story here. About a year ago, a little nobody who'd just hit 2000 elo in Season 1 thought he was hot stuff. This little nobody learned of Maknoon through a friend, and the friend asked that nobody if he would be interested in playing against [Maknoon]. Not knowing what he was getting into, that nobody agreed. After 3 matches, that nobody came to learn the meaning of the Chinese proverb: "There are mountains beyond the mountains, heavens beyond the heavens", i.e. "There's always someone better than you". He got stomped.

Throughout Season 2, for the whole year, that nobody told himself that he'd work and get better than [Maknoon]. Tomorrow that nobody's going to be facing off against Maknoon on the same stage.

That little nobody was me..."

After the Najin Game:

"I'm at a loss for words right now. Yes, it's only the semifinals, but for me, the nobody, I've proven something. 2:0 Najin. Maknoon came over, gave me a hug and said quietly, "I'm proud of you." That just sent me over the top. I consider Maknoon one of my mentors, and regardless of who won, he's still one of the players I respect the most..."

After the M5 Game:

"What's most heartening is that even when everyone thought you were just a nobody, we were able to make all this happen through our own strength. Undoubtedly, facing stronger opponents has only made ourselves stronger. Versus M5, TPA's power was unleashed and we 2:1'd one of the world's top teams. And now the world knows who we are. I love you guys."

Anyway, nobody is saying we need to kill streaming culture, or to stop NA teams just creating shows, rather we need to create an infrastructure that allows newer, better teams to appear and be able to prove themselves. That way they can shit all over TSM/CLG/dig and then we can have NA good teams that stream and have personality! horray!

Right now its like, the top NA teams refuse to scrim newer teams and theres little exposure and events even for the new teams. They get no practice and no way to improve and progress.
 

brian!

Member
Asian teams have plenty of personality. Its just that its easier to expose yourself as a NA-er to personality from NA teams, obviously. Right now, reddit is gushing over how genuine TPA is.

no, you're definitely right, but TPA also lives in this realm where like, um. say you ask an NA fan, who is following the tournament "who would win? TSM vs. TPA"?. Like that question itself will reveal something about the nature of NA vs. Asia. I didn't mean to say that Asian teams don't have personality. For obvious reasons it's not as easily accessible for NA. And Asian players DO stream.

Like I'm trying to make the distinction between how popularity (and this helps determines Riot's grasp on how the individual teams help the LoL brand) functions; for NA it cannot be about valor in tournaments. They are desperately trying to hold onto that, like all this talk about how "it's anyone's game on any given day", but NA is smart enough to reject that. So what makes them survive in the context of these overseas "superpowers"? M5 has, before this tournament, only really lost to CLG.EU, so why aren't all these fans flocking towards M5 (and M5 DOES get a lot of fans based on their tournament merit, but it's only part of this greater thing) There isn't really one specific answer, but the amalgamation of all these various, pretty different things is what makes me want to follow E-sports, not which team is more skilled, wins more tournaments.

I TOTALLY agree that Riot should provide infrastructure for exposing unknown teams. Reddit does this to a certain extent (though it is via NA stream that they find this). Names like Azingy, Silsol, that one guy who everyone says ghosts; I'm not saying these players are good, just that we do have this notion of more players than these top players like Aphromoo, nientensoh, Chaox, etc., that they have "characteristics" identify, and that they should be given a platform.

Then again, don't make it too easy or people will quit high school so they can be in CLG or something.

Edit: Fuck! It just occurred to me how awesome it is that these little cuts of time are called "Seasons", like TV shows
 

Boken

Banned

Not booths. Many players have noted a preference for headphones for some reason or another. Its an awning installation so teams cannot see the screen behind them.

Anyway, here is a sneak peek at the trophy for the winners. Looks badass and huge:youtube

REMINDER:
Grand Finals: Oct 13, 7pm (GMT-7) [World time]

HOWEVER:
There will be a show match first
Also, I’m excited to say that at 5pm Pacific on Saturday October 13, we’ll start the broadcast with a showmatch featuring some featuring some of the top professional players that have competed in the World Championship. Tune in at 5pm on www.leagueoflegends.com to see your favorite players compete on the Fields of Justice one last time.
So 2 hours before start time, there will be a showmatch: [World time]
[source]
 

Sielys

Member
Huh, they put together a LAN client so quickly? Why the hell haven't they done this earlier?

Oh well, at least now we won't see any technical problems in the Finals. Hopefully.
 
That was hilarious, but I wish blue team hadn't gone so standard.

Like Chaox using Ezreal in a showmatch. Could have at least pulled out a Draven or something.
 
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