The fun of power rankings

Recently the official LoL Esports site posted this article which outlined power Rankings for the League scene worldwide and created a lot of debate from everyone in the scene. The best part about power rankings is they are simply someone’s opinion and should in no way be taken as law, they are meant to create debate. In this case they created a firestorm of debate since many of these teams don’t see each other regularly as there are multiple different regions represented. In saying that though the top three of the article are pretty clear cut as the top three and they are all from the same region so we’ve seen them play against each other recently. After that though it just becomes hazy and based on speculation as some of these teams are also between seasons so their play hasn’t been seen since Worlds back in October, 2013.

Some good news about these rankings in regards to the top three is that (1)SK Telecom recently beat number (3) KT Bullets handily in a Best of five with a three-zero sweep in the OGN Winter Semifinals. With this win they will play against (2) Samsung Galaxy Ozone in the finals. The KT bullets are expected to win their series against Najin White shield and take 3^rd place in OGN which will put some strength behind the top three. 

Now these rankings become really questionable but I can’t really go into that since I didn’t get to watch the LPL finals where (5) OMG lost against (7) Positive Energy. The next issue lots of people have is (4) Gambit Gaming and (6) Cloud 9 who haven’t seen organized play since Season 3 Worlds. Since I can’t really speak on those I’m going to just look at power rankings for NA and EU specifically which in one case Is clear cut and in another isn’t clear cut at all.

NA

(1)    Cloud 9. (2) Evil Geniuses. (3) TSM. (4) XDG. (5) Counter Logic Gaming. (6) Dignitas. (7) Curse. (8) Coast.

Cloud 9 is the clear favorites here, they dominated season three with their 25-3 record and in most of those games they didn’t just win but they dominated their opponents. All of the players are strong mechanically and their intelligence coupled with exceptional team fighting skills, similar to what is seen in Korea will be important to another repeat of last season.  Strong play from Meteos is going to be the key to their success just like it was last season. 

EG is new to the NA scene although none of these players are new they are all known but how they place will come down to the play of Innox and Pobelter. Both players are new to the professional scene but have been in the amateur scene for a while showing exceptional play that I think will be the key to EG’s success.  Everyone knows how Krepo and Yellowpete function as a duo, although Krepos Leona has become somewhat of a terror it’ll be up to Yellowpete to step up. This is the same situation with Snoopeh, everyone has seen him play over the past few years so it will be up to him to redefine himself with some expected plays and picks.

TSM added Bjergson who exploded into the EU scene last season to become one of the top tier mid-lane players in the entire world. Now for season four transferring over to NA and eliminating TSM’s biggest weakness in Reginald. With solid play from Dyrus and Oddone in top lane and jungle respectively alongside the continued growth and synergy of Wildturtle and Xspecial in bot lane TSM looks very promising and could be very strong this season.

XDG didn’t really change anything from Season 3 but at the same time they really didn’t need to as they were the only team to split games with Cloud 9 and showed very dominant play from their midlaner mancloud. Their finish depends on the ability to close games out better, it’s really that simple. All of them are solid players who have shown they can perform and they showed good play at worlds but again closing out games plagued them.

Disclaimer: Positions two through four are up in the air in my eyes, any of these teams could fall into any of those positions because they are all so close. 

CLG has the potential, Doublelift’s favorite word, to do well but that will only happen if hey shift away from Doublelift centric strategies. The addition of Dexter in the jungle will definitely strengthen the team but relying on one person to make all the plays will be a mistake that teams at the professional level are able to take advantage of. Nien and Link have both shown glimpses of brilliance in the past when it comes to making plays and it’s time for them to take that and run with it.

Dignitas struggled last season and will continue to struggle as they really lack someone whos going to consistently make plays from their position. Scarra and Crumbzz are very consistent players but that is their problem. They don’t win or lose at their position more often than not they will split, which means their teammates will need to come though. Imaqtpie and Cruzerthebruzer will need to take control on their lanes if dignitas really wants to succeed this split. Kiwikid as a support is also an experiment as his 1v1 play in the top lane was questioned last year as it was frequently the weak link for the team. Moving him to the support role he could shine by working behind Imaqtpie who has shown he can compete with the best marksmen in NA.

Curse is just all kinds of experiments with the addition of Zekent and Quas to the roster and the return of Iwilldominate from suspension they are a wild card team that could be strong. The summer split was somewhat of an experiment for them by bringing on Edward. Their key player will be Voyboy, he was their most consistent player last split and him adapting to the midlane will be what defines success for Curse.

Coast looked weak during the 2013 Summer Split and strong during the NACL but they haven’t seemed to address any of the problems they had last season. The NA challenger scene isn’t as strong as other region so winning that is nice but that doesn’t mean they will perform at the prolevel.

EU

I won’t go into as much detail as in NA because I simply don’t know as much.

(1)    Gambit Gaming. (2) Alliance. (3) Millennium [ex Alternate]. (4)Fnatic. (5)Supa Hot Crew. (6) ROCCAT. (7) Copenhagen Wolves. (8) SK Gaming. 

Gambit is always a power house team and with the return of Edward in bottom lane they look like they will roll through EU and dominate the other teams outside the top four. Although they will be challenged by Alliance and Millennium I think that they will continue to win games on the back of Alex Ich and Diamond who are the best mid-laner and jungler in EU.

Alliance played a weak Dignitas squad during BotA but they rolled through them and with Froggen and Wickd returning alongside their new players Tabzz who played on a dominant Lemondogs team last split and Nyph who was always a consistently strong support player for SK Gaming they have the important pieces to succeed this season but it will be up to building team synergy. 

Millennium, formally Alternate, showed last split that they have the ability to be a top team in EU now they need to keep them together through the entire season. Araneae is definitely the closest jungler to Gambit’s Diamond and when he was rocking so was the team. With the addition of Kev1n the team and transition of Kerp to mid Alternate will make some noise and contribute to an exciting race for top three. 

Fnatic falling down to four is probably the thing that most people will question but the issue here is the addition to Rekkles they are going to have to build that synergy again. He has a lot of hype surrounding him as the next big marksmen in the scene but his positioning in BotA left something to be desired. With other strong players like xPeke, Cyanide, and sOAZ they need to not fall into the CLG trap and plan everything around their marksman.   If they can do that and develop that synergy they could challenge the top three but only time will tell.

This is where I can’t say anything else; I know almost nothing about these other teams and based my rankings off what little I saw of them in the promotion tournament.

Bonus All-star Predictions

NA – Meteos, Bjergson, Dyrus, Doublelift, Krepo
EU – Diamond, Alex Ich, Wicked, Creaton, Yellowstar

Let’s talk about support Annie

Support Annie has recently become somewhat of a power pick since the sweeping changes of season four. The changes are pretty interesting for a few reasons that build off each other and resulted in changes all over the map. Players are ward capped, three green wards and one pink ward, which makes the vision game a team effort and not something that one player can shoulder, typically the support in the past. Gold generation items have been revamped to be unique and work in different niche ways depending on the play-style, and the addition of a new trinket slot for vision only item which works similarly. This has allowed supports to have more disposable income to buy more traditional items and increase their ap, armor, or whatever stat they chose. Enough about the changes though this is about Annie’s place in the bottom lane.

Annie has become somewhat of a power pick in the support scene right now alongside Leona and Thresh. The support scene currently consists of Leona > Annie/Thresh > everyone else which really has frustrated lots of players in solo queue. Annies high burst damage and AoE stun when she has her passive stacked has turned her into a walking terror. In the past the drawback with support has been the low gold income which has slowed their ability to buy items that don’t grant vision significantly. With those changes we have seen support changes aimed at allowing them to have increased effects of their spells with higher AP. An example might be Nami’s bubble slows for longer and her passive speeds up more as her AP rises. This affects Annie a little differently though because she was designed as an AP mage and not a typical support. 

Annie has no typical support skills, she doesn’t give a shield to anyone on her team nor does she have any ability to speed her teammates up. What Annie does is kill things; she kills them fast with fire and a bear. When her passive is stacked up initiating with a flash Tibbers(R) followed by Incinerate (W) and Disintegrate (Q) is her bread and butter. Here in lies the problem that myself and some other players have with her current state, these spells all scale like typical AP mage skills, all above 70% of her AP, which allow for massive damage almost instantly not to mention that passive stun and the ability to stack this stun up and just hold it for an indefinite amount of time. This is something that no other support can do as they typically have kits filled with utility through shields to support their own team or high CC to hinder the opposing team. The next issue is how to fix this problem without possibly eliminating Annie as a support pick.

My solution would be to put Pyromaniac, her passive that allows the stun, as a stacking buff that fall off with time. To clarify her stun would only be effective on stack four and if she doesn’t cast an offensive spell for (x) seconds she loses a stack, yes this means molten shield stops counting towards her passive.By hindering her initiation skills but make her more of a sustained utility team fighter she wouldn’t be allowed to have this high burst along with CC together at the start of the fight that currently cripples teams.  

Only time will tell how the support role will change but with the LCS starting up later today we are sure to see some balance changes coming out soon as we see the best players compete with these new strategies.

Post your thoughts on the current support scene in the comments bellow, are there any other changes that you’d like to see or would these changes cripple Annie to much?

Why expanded rosters are great for the LCS.

With any sport it’s not just about the players on the field, there are also players on the bench who come in at critical moments to utilize their specific skillset in relief. Many people forget about the unsung heroes because they aren’t always the flashiest or just might not be known yet. With League of Legends continuing its evolution as an Esport we are now seeing an expanded bench is now impacting the game. Many of the rosters in the past have been only five people and when people were swapped out it was usually followed by them leaving the team for another team thus continuing the cycle. Many of the fans didn’t know who officially the subs on different teams were so it was always a surprise when someone new was playing. This was one of the different things about how the LCS was functioning compared to more traditional sports.

With worlds coming up and some teams struggling they are looking for a solution to fix their current problems. Subs have been getting called in and rosters are being expanded to add additional players and coaches. The roster swaps that we have seen so far have led to lots of success for the teams that could lead to a new trend that will boost the level of competition to a new level. Teams will have to prepare for different game-plans as no two players are alike and everyone has their own style and tendencies. This could lead to some really cool things with how the game continues to evolve in the competitive scene. With having expanded rosters it could allow teams to have players that specialize in playing certain ways or champions. Although many players are able to play a wide variety of champions very well could see players emerge that are extremely specialized. What I mean by this is there could be players who specialize in playing defensive and stalling games out to the late game or the opposite hyper aggressive players whos early game play can snowball games very early on.  

A swap can provide many things for a team like a different play-style or champion pool which can give a team a completely different look. An example of this is what we saw at the EU LCS event in Tenerife during week six. Evil Geniuses, formally Counter Logic Gaming EU, has been typically known as a team that draws games out and focuses on the late game. A problem with this strategy is if teams can get ahead of them early on they are able to stop them from ever reaching that point. With the high stakes of season three and the recent struggles they have been having, currently 8-10 and tied for last in the EU LCS, they looked to shake it up. 

The face of EG ex CLGEU Snoopeh will now be splitting time with their new member and jungler, Shacker. Notice I didn’t say either of them were substitutes because they are both important members of the team who will be serving very different roles. The play-styles of these two are so different with Snoopeh being a defensive early game player while Shacker is more of an aggressive early game player. This will allow them to play different styles and show a different look that can force teams to study the different styles that they might have to play against depending which jungler is playing. Now teams that go in to play EG will need to prepare to play against two very different strategies that will come two very different players both of which have very different champion pools. In this case it could be argued that it might be like playing against two different teams as the styles are so different.

This means that a team might not know exactly which players are playing on the opposing team until the point when the lineup cards are submitted and considered official by the rules.   

Per section 3.3 Roster Submission of the LCS rule book, “Requests to modify a starting lineup may not be submitted any later than two hours prior to start of broadcast and/or webcast on a day in which the team is playing a match. This roster card must identify the five Starters for the team’s first match of the day, as well as any available Reserve players for subsequent matches that day.” (Riot Games, 2013)

That rule is very important as it states that teams don’t have to release their rosters ahead of time allowing for their opponents to focus on playing against certain comps. As rosters continue to expand and teams start using more players the games will become more exciting and more epic then they already are. This is a huge step forward and a big reason to be excited for the future as a fan of the LCS. 

How do you guys feel about these expanded rosters, let me know and leave your thoughts in the comments section!

Human interest pieces and why they are important to the growth of LCS.

While watching LCS on the TV at my parent’s house one afternoon my mom sat down and started watching and I started to explain what goes on in the game and what is important to winning the game. She didn’t really know what was going on but having watched me play sports she understood what moments were exciting when she saw my enthusiasm rise during important team fights and suspenseful moments. It was great having her be open towards the idea of esports and want to learn but then the match ended and this came on. I noticed she didn’t get up like is usual at my house when a commercial comes on during a sporting event.

After the piece ended she said to me “That’s really nice how they have these stories, it makes them relatable.” It really started me thinking how great these really are for the scene and help it to expand into mainstream culture. These types of features show how gamers are all different types of people who come from all different backgrounds. Saintvicious was in the navy, Vileroze has a wife and child, and Zionspartan was finishing high school just to name a few of the different stories we have seen. Making the players relateable is what will be the hook that will bring those who might not play the game interested. As I said above my mom might not know a single thing about the strategy or technique behind what makes a good League of Legends player. One thing she does know is how to be a person and how to relate to people, its something we all share.

These three stories give a wide base that allow people to relate to the players as people and become more interested in them outside of their play. They will be one of the biggest things to help to push esports into the mainstream culture and help to continue its explosive growth with people who identify as gamers and with those who don't. By being inclusive to all people esports will be able to attract those people that might be hesitant or not understand the game.


I feel that the biggest problem with athletes today in some professional sports leagues is that they are painted as these heroes or saviors of a city and made to be a "larger then life figure" when in reality they are no different from anyone else in the world. Remembering that although someone may be good at baseball they have to put one foot in front of the other every morning just like everyone else. This is where the LCS is being great and not only keeping the players grounded but also reminding the fans that these players are no different from anyone else. Maybe even one day someone watching the features about one of these players might be in the LCS and have a feature about themselves.

The players in LCS are no different from those in any other traditional sport, they all have to work hard and make sacrifices to get to where they are. With features like these it shows how esports helps to reach so many different people and brings together such a diverse group of players and fans. Everyone has stories that define them and their path to the professional scene and that’s one of the most important things to remember. 

I know the team at Riot has some great stories that they could talk about and with World Championships coming up I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Excitement of the Summer Split

This past week the LCS Summer Split started in North America and boy was it exciting. With all the new teams and roster changes everyone knew it would be great but this first week was on another level. Opening up with a super week was a great decision on Riot’s part and really multiplied the excitement and helped put this season on the next level. 

There were a few noteworthy roster changes from North America that will be interesting experiments to watch. HotshotGG steps back from CLG, Nientonsoh takes over the top lane and Bigfatlp moves into the jungle. Edward moved from Gambit into the Curse bottom lane. This also brings up another question about player movement in the LCS and how it affects the teams, but that’s something for another post.

The CLG experiment will be very interesting to watch through the entire season especially since the team was put into relegation last split. Picking up Nien was an interesting move for the team since there were other players available for the top lane. Last split both Team MRN and Complexity were eliminated which meant the availability of veterans MegaZero and Nick Wu. From watching the games Nien doesn’t exactly look uncomfortable in top lane but he doesn’t look confident either. The struggles in lane phase don’t transition into the later game, Nien is able to team fight effectively purely based off his raw skills. This is going to an interesting thing to watch and see how long it takes for them to really work together with this new team makeup. The potential is there for this to be a homerun but at the same time I think it will make them a top four team. 

Now we come to curse and how this could cause the team to go down in a blaze of glory. Edward is a fantastic aggressive support player, former EU Allstar, who is now playing with Curse. The interesting part of this is that Cop has never been a very aggressive ADC so it just feels like it is an odd match. The different play styles could end up balancing each other out and being great. In week one it just didn’t look like they were a great combination. This could end up helping to break Cop out of this shell of passivity and make him one of the top ADCs in the NA scene. The other questionable issue is the language barrier, although this is a much smaller issue as he just needs to understand since he isn’t the shot-caller. 

Both of these problems should improve with more as the teams practice together and scrim other teams. This continues to show the evolution of the NA scene and hopefully create a good showing for the World Championships.