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.

All-star Thoughts

This past weekend we were treated to the first ever League of Legends all-star game where five players from five regions of the world competed in Shanghai, China. Each player was voted on by the fans to represent the regions of North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Korea, and host country China. I just want to open up the article by saying the event was great from start to finish and I will be touching on everything from the appearance of the venue to the actual games with everything in between.

The Venue
All I can say about this is that it was fantastic and for anyone who didn’t watch you missed out. The crowd was great and anyone watching could hear the excitement throughout the weekend. Some people were saying they were cheering louder for the Chinese team but that’s to be expected and they weren’t silent for the other teams. Every player on every team received a warm reception and looked like they felt very welcome at the event. The venue itself looked fantastic the lighting off the ceiling looked really great and the computer stations were also extremely cool but to me neither of those things were the highlights. My favorite part was the monoliths behind the players showing the champion portraits, not only does this look cool but it helps to show what person is playing what character if you are not familiar with the scene.

The Personalities
Seeing all the players as individuals during the interviews and the 1v1 tournament was very interesting and helped to show how video gaming is something that has broken down personality walls. Gamers are no long the quiet introverted people that they were once thought of. The players that made up each all-star team had varying and distinct personalities but they all shared one trait that was great to see. Everyone there was proud to be chosen to represent their region in this momentous occasion, not only because of what was on the line but more importantly what it meant to their fans back home. Coming from various rival teams knowing they were there to represent all their fans and win they really embraced it. During the games these players are seen as bitter rivals, I don’t think everyone sees how behind the scenes these guys are all friends. Many of the players expressed in interviews how it was not only an honor to represent their regions but to be able to play on teams with these other great players. The varying ages of all the different players really shows how bright the future League of Legends will be. Eventually the first wave of superstar personalities move on from playing and either move onto other things or continue to work as coaches, analysts, or organizers to continue helping grow the scene.

The Play
This was the all-star event for a reason, we saw twenty five of the best come together for a few weeks of training followed by intense competition over the course of the weekend. Although all the series finished two-zero tha doesn’t do justice how close these games really were. Going in many people thought the NA and EU teams were really going to struggle against their Asian Counterparts. This really wasn’t the case as both teams showed that in lane phase they were able to duel and hold their own as well as being able to hold it together well in team fights with many of them finishing very close. The area where they struggled was picks and bans, as many people have said the champions used around the world vary and this cause them to struggle. There is something to remember about this event regarding picks and bans though, it’s the all-stars and everyone is there for a reason. Bans at an event like this are pick your poison, with only three bans there is no way to ban out all five positions. When playing against some of these other international players who have large champion pools there could be as many as ten champions who could be considered ban worthy.

In closing the event really was a great start to the future of e-sports and Riot continues to push the bar higher and higher. With a team that cares this much about their game, players that are showing they can be great entertainers while still holding a high standard of competition, and fans that genuinely care about the game enough to continue supporting it both live and through stream viewership it’s a bright future. I can’t wait to see what happens at all the world championships, future all-star games, and whatever else Riot decides to create.