IEM Katowice with a side of sportsmanship

After every event I feel like I'm saying "more reasons to be excited for season three," and IEM Katowice continued that trend.  Here are the three biggest highlights from the event and more reasons to get hype for Season 3.

Both Azubu teams made it out of their groups to show that Korea will continue to be a force during season 3.  Frost and Blaze both powered through in the group stage of the tournament going 3-0 showing that they are going to continue to be scary teams during season 3.  The Korean teams continue to show they are very strong and will be favorites in international play.  Although neither team won they both played well throughout the tournament.

Gambit gaming formally M5 won and proved why they will continue to be one of the best teams in Europe and considered one of the best teams in the world.  After going 1-2 in the group stage and making it to the bracket stage because of the time tiebreaker they had play spoiler if they wanted to win and face-off against Korean Powerhouse Azubu Frost.  They beat Frost 2-0 and moved onto the finals against Frost’s sister team Blaze who took out Fnatic 2-1 in the other series of the bracket stage.  Gambit took the momentum gained into the finals against Frost’s sister team Blaze.  To the surprise of many they won 2-0 and took the tournament.  Some people had thought that Gambit, formally M5, wouldn’t be able to compete at the same level they had in the past but that was proven not to be the case.  Gambit is alive and will continue to have a huge impact in the scene during season three.

Although these things happened and added to the growing list of reasons why Season 3 is setting up to be the best yet.  The more important thing that happened was arguably one of the best if not the best examples of sportsmanship in the LoL E-sports and possible the E-sports scene as a whole to date.  

After SK holds off a push from Fnatic to save the nexus, Fnatic's Xpeke teleports back in and takes the nexus while dodging Olaf axes.  This was an understandably heartbreaking loss as the winner of this game would’ve gone onto the bracket stage.  Although that was an exceptional play, what we witnessed during the postgame interview was the important part.  During the interview we saw Ocelote talk about SK Gaming and wanting to show they are a top team and he is a top player.  He felt like they failed the fans and failed himself, but someone very important disagreed and that someone was Fnatic’s Xpeke.  With this quote I feel like Xpeke showed the true spirit of sportsmanship and the meaning of respect and set an example for the entire E-sports community, "the way you played today, you are definitely a top team in the world.” 

Even though neither of these teams won the tournament they continued to raise the bar for conduct and play.  What Xpeke said to Ocelote not only is touching and shows the great character of these teams but also provides a beacon of hope for the scene.  When you have players that conduct themselves in this manner it proves how much they care about this as a career.  In the light of the recent suspensions of players that would otherwise be playing in season three Xpeke and Ocelote showed that the scene isn’t just negativity.  It contains not only outstanding players but outstanding men who are shining examples of E-sports can become.  With players like this taking part in some of the most exciting events in the scene and being watched by hundreds of thousands on streams globally, the future is bright in E-sports and everyone should take notice.  I hope SK, Fnatic, and Riot are all proud of the great examples that these players set at IEM Katowice and that they continue to put this great conduct on display for the world. 

LCS: Path to Pro Recap

The excitement that followed the announcement that five amateur teams would be able to earn contracts to play professional LoL for season three was immense.  The community really got behind the idea of who the next big team would be.  Would we see dominance from the same teams or could a dark horse emerge to completely change the scene?  Nobody could really answer that question, of course everyone had their own opinions but only time will tell who was right and who was wrong.

Going into the tournament it seemed to be a fair belief that teams like; Curse, Fear, and Good Game University (Formally Team Dynamic), all had a good chance to make it because of their previous professional experience either during season one or season two.  There were other players who’ve had professional experience scattered through various other teams but none of them have been together as long as the three mentioned above.  Although some people might’ve expected Meat Playground to be in that group their roster has changed because of the age restrictions keeping Pobelter and Lightsludge off the team.  This created a tough situation for Meat Playground since many considered those two players to be extremely important for the success of the team.

The rest of the teams were mostly unknown players who had come from online qualifiers.  The most recognizable team was Epik Gamer which contained names like Salce, Dan Dinh, and Westrice who were all names that have been associated with various pro teams in the past.  Although this team had the potential to qualify for the season they were ousted in the group stage going down 0-2.  The only other team that could be considered known was Team MRN, not because of its players, because of its manager.  The biggest challenge for many of these teams was the transition from online to playing in a live environment.  Even though the even didn’t include fans the idea of having to play somewhere new that you are unfamiliar with really can change how you play.  Rivington and Phreak briefly touched on this when they talked about how something as minor as desk height can change keyboard placement and how that works with hand placement.  Although this is something that doesn’t seem like a big deal these things can change comfort levels of the players.

When all was said and done on day one we saw four teams move into the season and four teams going into a four team playoff for the final spot. Three of the four teams that advanced were mentioned above because of their previous professional experience.  For Curse, Fear, and Good Game University made this look like business as usual and dominated their games.  Although GGU did lose their first game to Dirt Nap Gaming it was how they responded to that loss that was impressive.  They took their loss and learned from their mistakes and responded in the following two games.  Dirt Nap definitely opened some eyes to show that although these teams weren’t professional they were definitely nothing to be ignored like people thought.
Day two opened with the four teams who didn’t already qualify fighting for the coveted final spot in the NA LCS.  This day proved to be the most exciting of the weekend with both of the opening series going two one and showing some very interesting strategies.  Crowd favorite MRN had a rocky Saturday and many people wondered if the dream had run out for the online team.  To the cheers of twitter and most of the internet community they came back strong using a strategy built around heartbeat and his Urgot.  Urgot is a champion who has really fallen out of favor as an AD carry in the NA scene for safer options like Ezreal, Corki, and Caitlyn. This seemed to throw teams off because of how team MRN used Urgot to dive in and swap their ADC into their team to be killed almost instantly.  Once the ADC died many teams seemed to panic and crumble which caused them to lose the fight.  Team MRN used a combination of somewhat unconventional strategies, like using Urgot, as well as simply not being very well known to their advantage.  This helped them qualify and gain the final sponsorship spot in the LCS NA Region for season three.

Congratulations to Fear, Good Game University, Curse, The Brunch Club, and Team MRN on qualifying for season three.  Thanks to all of the other teams for an extremely exciting weekend of League of Legends. Good luck to all of the teams in season three and it should make for an exciting year of league of legends.
Next week I’ll cover my thoughts on season three and why it’s setting up to be some of the most exciting LoL play we have ever seen!

Ranked Season 3 is Changing!

With the announcement of a new ranked system on January 15^th the way ranked queue works is completely changing.  Some players in the past have been upset with how ranked worked with many threads on the forums asking for the removal of the current ELO system.  Although many people cited problems with the issue nobody could agree on a solution so Riot took action.  The solution they are taking to the problems players have with ranked queue was to say “Out with the old, In with the new.”  The ranked changes took a few features away but added new things that players will need to understand to fully grasp how the game is changing.  Displayed ELO in the postgame score screen as well as the removal of the single ladder.  Some of the new additions are a new rating system, the addition of an interesting divisional system within a tier of play, a new type of advancement system, losing the ability to fall down a tier, and a new pinnacle tier for players.  All of the additions and subtractions will provide for a new ranked experience that should prove to add excitement and a change of pace for the ranked scene.  Although these changes are being added to all ranked queues the biggest impact will be felt in ranked fives where players will be able to achieve their dreams of being a professional gamer.

Under the old system we have been used to since the game was started we were governed by ELO points.  There was one ladder with one system for moving up and five tiers as you rise through the ranks. Many people were unhappy with how ELO worked and thought it was an unfair gauge of skill specifically in solo queue. A string of losses because of trolls and leavers could result into falling into a lower bracket with different players which may not have as great of an understanding or cooperation and could cause further ELO loss.  When a player fell to like this it was commonly referred to as going to “ELO hell” a place where teammates actions could drag down smart plays made by good players causing them to lose the game.  Under the soon to be old system there was no way to really stop this and the only remedy was to hope that you didn’t fall too far and had a string of wins to boost yourself back up.  It was very possible to gain or lose 100 to 200 ELO over a weekend and be playing above or below your real rating.  This was most apparent near the ELO where the next tier (bronze, silver, gold, etc.) of play was divided at.

With the new system we gain something called league points which work similar to ELO with some slight tweaks.  A player will still gain or lose points with a victory or defeat, although the specific amount is still a mystery.  Moving through each division and tier will have very distinct criteria compared to currently where there are no gates to assure someone is ready for higher ranked games.  This could lead to a more stable system where a players rating will fluctuate less and therefore create more even games with a more even skill distribution across the teams.  Under this new system every 100 points there are divisions with six per tier in total.  When a player reaches 100 league points a series of advancement games is triggered.  To succeed in the advancement series it requires winning two of the next three games for a division and three games of the next five for a tier. This helps to assure that when a player moves up a division and especially a tier they are actually ready.  This assures that if someone had a few good games in a row, they are actually ready to move into the next division or the next tier if they are already in the highest division of that tier.

This new system creates and environment where there is a larger feeling of excitement as a player moves up through the divisions and tiers. It is yet to be seen if there will be a congratulations splash similar to what a player receives when they receive a ribbon from the new honor system.  The thing most players will most likely look favorably on is that once a tier is achieved it cannot be lost UNLESS there is a period of absence. For example once a player achieves Gold they can only go as low as the lowest division in Gold, they are unable to fall back into silver tier. It is still possible to fall from the highest Gold division to the lowest Gold division with enough losses.  Without knowing how many League Points a win or loss is worth it is difficult to know how quickly this could happen.

Elo still exists but it is no longer a displayed value on the end game score screen.  The criteria to move up to a higher division it requires gaining 100 league points which triggers an advancement series  The only question is if when advancement games are triggered will all other players be in advancement games as well?  This is mainly for solo queue where it is possible to have ten players with no association in a game.  In a perfect world solo queue advancement games will be between ten people all fighting to advance onward.  In the ranked team queue it seems much easier to find two teams who are both in the advancement stage and have the battle for who gains the opportunity to move on.

After a player has moved up through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond they will have the opportunity to move onto the new Challenger tier. This new tier helps to show which players are the best of the best in that specific queue structure.  This will also help these teams get exposure to sponsors and possibly even tournament invites where they will be able to compete in a LAN environment.  Things like this will help to expose these up and coming teams and give them the opportunity to be discovered and visible.  The chance of gaining sponsors and playing in more tournaments can help them to become even more competitive and challenge for the top spots.  These things could help the teams move up and possibly take the next step by turning them into the next pro team.

With the new season structure the top thirty-two teams, in the Challenger tier, at both the midpoint and the end of the season will be chosen to participate in a tournament identical to the Path to Pro tournament that happened in January 2013.  Thirty-two team online tournaments with the top eight teams will then participate in a sixteen team live tournament against the bottom four pro teams as well as four teams who will qualify from partner events like MLG and IPL. The top four teams from the live tournament will then join the top four teams from the pro league to take part in the League Championship Series Pro League.  This system is similar to what is used in European sporting leagues where teams can be promoted up and relegated down between divisions based on their performance.  Teams will want to continue practicing and attempting to improve since everyone will by vying to get in the Championship Series and nobody will want to fall out.
Changes like these and many others help Riot to create the most exciting environment in E-Sports today.  Along with the Riots massive involvement in the scene through sponsoring tournaments of their own and cosponsoring them through IPL and MLG.  They are blazing a trail that gamers love and Riot as a company should be very proud of.  Hopefully other companies are taking notes and do things to help expand their own E-Sports scene to help the scene as a whole.

Three Steps To Dealing With Bullies Online

When you see bullying happening there are a few ways to combat it without getting yourself in trouble online.  I’d highly advise against taking the situation into your own hands and trying to get justice so you don’t get punished yourself.  Dealing with these situations can be as simple as following these three steps; don’t engage the bully, diffuse the situation, and support the person being bullied.

Don’t Engage. Many times the bullies are there to get attention so do exactly what they don’t want and just ignore them.  Ignoring them just continue doing whatever you’re doing and encourage your teammates to do the same.  Eventually they will move on because they aren’t getting a reaction if enough people adopt this hopefully they will lose interest.  If they don’t move on then get out of the situation as soon as possible.  Typically a great tool in games is to just put them on your ignore list, usually this will get rid of any chat they send that you might see.

Diffuse the situation by doing what you can to keep up team moral by being positive and uplifting.  If you go toe to toe with the bully you might end up getting yourself in trouble and now you look like a bully.  They may not like you and they might shift their attention to you but that’s okay just ignore them.  The way you combat the bully is just reporting them it’s as simple as that.  Let the appropriate people deal with them, the customer support employees have much more power than your words do.  When talking to people who have been banned in the past, some of them change after the first time while others it might take a few.  The one thing that stayed constant was that they didn’t care what anyone on the internet thinks about them, although they do care about their accounts because like many others they put time and money into it and would rather not lose it.

Support the person being bullied and help them get through the current situation.  Being there for someone when they need support can lead to the start of a great friendship.  Help that person improve which will not only help them avoid bullies in the future but improve at the game.  Maybe the bully was right when they said that person wasn’t the greatest of players but they didn’t express it in a constructive way.  It’s one thing to critique someone while it’s another to help them get better.  The best result is that this person passes the good deed along and the cycle repeats.

Thanks for reading and have a happy New Year!

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”