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Enzee

Enzee

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I'm hearing it from a few places, including here, that TSM focuses so much on worlds all year that it puts too much pressure on them.. and I think that's spot on. I know it's regi's dream (and doublelift's) to win worlds. They say how nothing else matters, etc.. which sounds great on paper. But, it affects their mindset when they actually get there. They put so much pressure on themselves to perform, that they get exposed every year. It's the one constant between each year. They have rotated players, coaches, whatever, and it's always the same thing. The only thing that's remained the same throughout their entire history is Reginald's desire to win Worlds. It's been this way since before Bjerg even joined the team, so it's not on Bjerg. It's got to be Reginald. It's really telling that C9 always does better at worlds, despite different rosters/coaches/playstyles/metas/etc.., year after year.

I'm sure they will make some roster changes, I'm personally thinking doublelift may retire and they'll put MrRallez in or something, as well as potentially giving Bjerg a new jungler to suck the life force out of (Maybe reignover?). I doubt hauntzer or bio leave, they both still do 'okay' even when they aren't playing well. You can rarely pin a loss on either of them, and when they ARE playing well they are amazing.

In any case, rooting for C9 now, though I don't give them much of a shot.
The order of non-korean teams I WANT to win worlds is almost directly inverse of how much of a shot I think they have.. lol
Rooting for
1)C9
2) FNC
3) MSF
4) RNG
5) WE

but chance to win goes more like
1) RNG
2) WE
3) C9
4) FNC
5) MSF (cause they play SKT in quarters)

Whatever.. let's just skip to the finals between SKT and LZ, aka the REAL LCK championship finals.
 
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Yea it was really telling of the different mindset when watching C9 last night. After getting shit on by caitlyn you have Sneaky giving an interview talking about how Cailtyn fucked his butthole and laughing it off. Then they come back, adapt the same draft and use it to win the game that they needed to.
 
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Amzin

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I thought, for the most part, groups was pretty fun this year. LZ was the only team that made me go "holy shit they're good", every other team that made it to quarters had good back-and-forth games with their opponents. Also GAM was super entertaining as well as random Yasuo and Vayne and pocket picks throughout for people.

Amusingly enough, 3 play in teams made it to quarters, and only 1 first seed did. That's pretty fucking crazy and speaks to how important it is to get "weaker" teams up on the stage. LZ had a perfect game with the Rift Herald dancing on the ruins of the nexus against another team that made it to quarters, and I wouldn't even call it an outlier game for LZ, so that's a statement. SKT looked shakier than I've seen but now they're going into Bo5 and you'd be mad to bet against them making it to semis, and probably even finals, but RNG and LZ are both looking super dangerous this year and as much as FNC went berserker week 2 I don't see them stopping SKT in an actual series. I'm a C9 fanboy for sure but I really can't even hope they win, I mostly just hope they make semis if they can hold it together against WE.

EDG probably permanently removed the J4 + Galio combo from falling into anyone's hands after that game vs. C9

Honestly, I just don't want more SKT skins, we need some variety :p
 
Lasch

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WTF
P1 and NV were both supposedly denied. This ontop of the Dignitas rumored rejection means there is a ton of fucking talent that will be available. (In particular in the jungle.)
 
Enzee

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I'm kind of shocked. I figured we'd lose a few recognizable names, but I thought DIG was a shoe in assuming they had enough financial backing. With the 76ers being involved, seemed like that wasn't an issue.
I mean, who exactly had a better application that they got rejected? P1 and NV I can kind of understand, NV has never gotten it together for league. P1 has been shaky. I figured we are getting at least a few of the EU orgs that applied (G2, SPY, FNC and MSF from what I heard) but still thought that left plenty of room for DIG to be in. I'm curious who we are getting instead. Maybe some kind of mega sports brand came into the picture, similar to PSG but maybe even bigger.
 
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Music video finally released:

Not as good as previous years imo.
Doesn't focus on esports at all (except begin/ending).
Story doesn't match the song (It's telling how 3 heroes became legends in the first place, quite different then "legends never die" imo)

The art style is unique, either you like it, or hate it, personally I like it. But it distracted me from the story 1st viewing. I had to watch a 2nd time to get the message.

The climatic moments didn't have as big an impact as you would expect. I feel like the song is pretty decent and lends itself to some great climatic moments, but the video doesn't hit them fully.

Lee Sin felt the most awesome.
 
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Immortals out, Echo Fox in for the NA LCS, sources say - ESPN • r/leagueoflegends

IMT reported out because they are investing heavily in OW... ouch

Every IMT player went vocal at Twitter • r/leagueoflegends

First reddit post in 2nd link:
[17:13] Jacob Wolf: So just so people know

[17:13] Jacob Wolf: All of this is strictly NDA’d

[17:14] Jacob Wolf: So I’d doubt staff was told

[17:14] Jacob Wolf: Or players

[17:14] Jacob Wolf: That’s why you see them reacting as they are

[17:14] Jacob Wolf: Executive management & investors

[17:14] Jacob Wolf: And Riot

[17:14] Jacob Wolf: + whoever those people tell

This was on the IMT Discord.
Click to expand...
 
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Enzee

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what in the god damned fuck is riot thinking. NV/P1? Sure. Dig? Questionable, but at least understandable to an extent. IMT? One of the 3 NA teams at worlds?!? While you keep Liquid in?!
How the hell does their overwatch team have anything to do with League, except to be petty? They say IMT is operating at a loss, and I fail to see how that is possible unless they are just spending way more on salaries then any other team (cept maybe TSM). Like.. Echo Fox and Liquid are generating more profits for the league then IMT is? I don't see how that's even remotely possible.
Plus, a team's expenses is their own business and shouldn't count into the revenue sharing they are talking about. That has to be calculated based off profits of the LEAGUE, not each individual team, that is then split to each team, or it doesn't make sense. Otherwise, every team would just spend all their money to get a larger portion of the profits, proportionally. "Oh, yea we made zero profit after our weekly trips to Vegas, but TSM made $5mil, so we are gonna split that, right?" is ludicrous obviously.

From that standpoint, I don't see how TL possibly contributes more to the league's revenue then a team that has been consistently competitive throughout their entire history, and is willing to spend the money to stay competitive. I guess Steve's business and financial contacts really are that amazing.

At least the players and coaches will have no trouble finding a home. Especially with the 10 man rosters. EF could just snap them all up and instantly have a better team. Or, TSM signs them as their bench and permanent scrim partners, worse case scenario. Rotate in whoever is playing best, light a fire under Doublelift and Sven's asses.

whatever.. I'm just pissed off. I didn't even like IMT all that much, but they had a fan base and were competitive every year. For the good of the league itself, and the competition level, this seems like a shit decision. I think in 5 years, we might just look back at franchising as the beginning of the end for league. Not that franchising is a bad idea, and I think 'esports' are going to flourish as a result of it, just that league itself will lose it's place as one of the big games because of how they mishandle it.
 
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Enzee said:
what in the god damned fuck is riot thinking. NV/P1? Sure. Dig? Questionable, but at least understandable to an extent. IMT? One of the 3 NA teams at worlds?!? While you keep Liquid in?!
How the hell does their overwatch team have anything to do with League, except to be petty? They say IMT is operating at a loss, and I fail to see how that is possible unless they are just spending way more on salaries then any other team (cept maybe TSM). Like.. Echo Fox and Liquid are generating more profits for the league then IMT is? I don't see how that's even remotely possible.
Plus, a team's expenses is their own business and shouldn't count into the revenue sharing they are talking about. That has to be calculated based off profits of the LEAGUE, not each individual team, that is then split to each team, or it doesn't make sense. Otherwise, every team would just spend all their money to get a larger portion of the profits, proportionally. "Oh, yea we made zero profit after our weekly trips to Vegas, but TSM made $5mil, so we are gonna split that, right?" is ludicrous obviously.

From that standpoint, I don't see how TL possibly contributes more to the league's revenue then a team that has been consistently competitive throughout their entire history, and is willing to spend the money to stay competitive. I guess Steve's business and financial contacts really are that amazing.

At least the players and coaches will have no trouble finding a home. Especially with the 10 man rosters. EF could just snap them all up and instantly have a better team. Or, TSM signs them as their bench and permanent scrim partners, worse case scenario. Rotate in whoever is playing best, light a fire under Doublelift and Sven's asses.

whatever.. I'm just pissed off. I didn't even like IMT all that much, but they had a fan base and were competitive every year. For the good of the league itself, and the competition level, this seems like a shit decision. I think in 5 years, we might just look back at franchising as the beginning of the end for league. Not that franchising is a bad idea, and I think 'esports' are going to flourish as a result of it, just that league itself will lose it's place as one of the big games because of how they mishandle it.
Click to expand...

Meh.. I don't really care about IMT.

Just cause they made it to Worlds this year shouldn't give them an advantage. Plenty of teams made worlds years past and got dicked on/dissolved/etc.

IMT has good players, they'll end up somewhere. Franchising should make things better overall. Focus 100% on improving and not stressing about getting booted. All talent funneling to 10 teams rather then a 11th/12th cropping up to "take" an LCS spot.

Sucks for IMT. They get some compensation and we don't know any discussions on the backend. Were IMT warned this could happen if their finances didn't improve? Or if they decided to pursue OW too heavily? We dont know.



SSG vs LZ:

LOL.
LZ so hyped, looked like trash.

Starting game 1 and all the casters predicting a 3-1 victory for LZ, I was wondering if they remembered this team almost lost to GAM and had the weakest group? They went 6-0 but didn't particularly look great in groups.

These games weren't even close really. Game 1 was the best to watch overall. Games 2 and 3 were stomps.

Things that WILL happen, but I don't want to happen:

All Korean Final
SKT vs SSG rematch from last year
SKT Win*

(SSG could win, 50/50 imo)

If SKT or SSG can get knocked out before finals I'll be thrilled.

We will have 1 less Korean team in Semis this year. Last year 3 of 4 were Korean... Only 2 max possible now.
 
Amzin

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I disagree that LZ didn't look good in groups, they were the only team that really impressed me. GAM put up a fight against every team. SSG I would argue looked way worse in groups but they either went to full power or LZ just fucking dropped the ball. Honestly, it looked like LZ just... didn't feel like playing. They had one impressive play across 3 games. Hopefully the other group matches are more interesting.

I don't care who wins as long as it's not SKT. Tired of SKT skins. LZ skins would have been sweet looking at least :p

There's only 1 person that has perfect brackets now and we're only in quarters. SSG winning was an upset by almost everyone's view.
 
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Amzin said:
I disagree that LZ didn't look good in groups, they were the only team that really impressed me. GAM put up a fight against every team. SSG I would argue looked way worse in groups but they either went to full power or LZ just fucking dropped the ball. Honestly, it looked like LZ just... didn't feel like playing. They had one impressive play across 3 games. Hopefully the other group matches are more interesting.

I don't care who wins as long as it's not SKT. Tired of SKT skins. LZ skins would have been sweet looking at least :p

There's only 1 person that has perfect brackets now and we're only in quarters. SSG winning was an upset by almost everyone's view.
Click to expand...

Not spoilering anymore, beware!

LZ looked good in Groups? LOL, no..

Sure, they did stomp a few games, but IMT did well against them both matches, even taking the 2nd game to 51mins.
GAM got dicked on week 1 but then had a huge lead week 2, and still lost, which should never happen if they were a good team
FNC sucked both games but whatever

It was a group with NA/EU and GPL. Clearly the weakest considering the NA and EU teams weren't even tier 1 for their regions. Even though TSM shit the bed, I'd rate LZ's group weaker than D still. FNC should never have advanced, the fact they did tells so much.

Only reason LZ were propped up is cause they were #1 from Korean and everyone is like "OMFG Korean gods!"
Watching the games didn't show them to be all that great except for the 1 game where Nashor danced at fountain. But it was FNC.

17% of pick'ems went for SSG, so almost 1 in 5. It was an upset, but not completely out of the blue.

SSG on the otherhand had a hard group.

RNG are good and G2 are good. G2 got fucked so hard. #1 seed gets a massively harder group then their region's 3rd seed.
 
Lasch

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RIP IMT. Never would have guessed they would be excluded.
Pretty funny all the original VC teams got denied.
And wtf, the rockets just got accepted? Alrighty.

So, I guess these are the final 10 teams and their sugar mommas.
Rockets
Cavs
Warriors
Echo Fox (Yankees)
Flyquest (Bucks) Biggest head scratcher
TSM (no backers yet)
C9 (assorted VC)
CLG (Knicks)
TL (assorted VC)
Optic (Rangers)
 
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SKT vs MSF:

So happy TSM died for this. Taking SKT to 5 games, they performed well, much better than TSM would have. They stayed aggressive, pulled out some interesting picks, looked good overall. Game 1 sucked but the rest of the series was great.

Just wish they could have closed it out, but nobody really expected it. I claimed they'd do better than TSM and had a slim chance, well, they certainly made it a game.

Love how the analysts predicted 3-0 for SKT across the board. The Korean love is blinding.

Now that SKT made it out, I'm hoping they lose in Semis. Would have to be RNG taking them out. FNC wouldn't have a chance. I can't see FNC beating RNG anyway. Maybe they pull out some miracles, idk.


Damn MSF... So close!!!
 
Enzee

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Ravishing said:
Meh.. I don't really care about IMT.

Just cause they made it to Worlds this year shouldn't give them an advantage. Plenty of teams made worlds years past and got dicked on/dissolved/etc.
Click to expand...
It's more that they've been competitive, and STAYED competitive, from day 1. They've been in contention for the top spots in almost every split since they joined. That's hard to do, and speaks to the quality of the organization itself. Especially since it's with an almost entirely new roster from their first one. If it was still just Huni/reignover on the team, you could make an argument that the org just got lucky in getting both of them. That they re-did almost their entire lineup (4 out of 5) and are back at worlds within a year of that happening is impressive.
Plus, NA fans are bandwagoners. Their constant performance has created a large fan base for them. I'd estimate they are roughly 4th/5th, behind TSM, CLG, C9 and maybe EF due to everyone loving Froggen and Rick Fox. idk, but I guarantee IMT is in the top half at least.
If the goal is health of the overall league; then an organization that obviously wants to win, takes care of it's players, and has a large enough fan base on their own.. should have been an inclusion I would think.
Instead, they are taking a chance on a few NBA sports organizations being able to do the whole thing as well. I think Riot might be over valuing the backing of a large sports organization in some of these apps. I get the appeal of their money and connections, but they don't know the intricacies and differences of esports from regular sports. I don't know how the rules work, but I wonder if one of those NBA teams could just partner up with IMT and 'absorb' them as their league team. i.e. The Immortal Cavaliers! That would be fine with me. It's just a shame to see their talent at fostering a competitive league team go to waste.
 
Amzin

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I do like Froggen well enough but my support for Echo Fox is 99% because they have a fox in their logo. Still a C9 fan first though.
 
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Enzee said:
but I wonder if one of those NBA teams could just partner up with IMT and 'absorb' them as their league team. i.e. The Immortal Cavaliers! That would be fine with me. It's just a shame to see their talent at fostering a competitive league team go to waste.
Click to expand...

Yea, could happen, but im betting most of the players will be hot commodities and probably end up on various teams. Everyone mainly feels sorry for Noah whom is the CEO and promoted Franchising, now he's on a team getting the boot. Maybe he ends up elsewhere... most of the LoL Reddit credits Noah for keeping the team competitive, as you say.

IMT's contracts dissolve and basically everyone will be free agents.
 
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