League Of Legends

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

Enzee

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Wow. That looks amazing, from a concept/flavor stand point.

I remember over a year ago they mentioned they didnt feel they were delivering on her 'archetype' well. Meaning, the idea of telekinetic blades was not being expressed well enough. This definitely does that.
 

Lasch

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NALCS starts tomorrow. Prediction time for Spring!
And bloody hell this season seem like a crapshoot with the roster churn and now best of 1.
Almost every team has some promising features, but they also have some glaring question marks that may or may not actually be an issue.



TSM - I always hated that their support and jungler were basically mutes. Apparently so did Andy. I don't care that DL was hit in the crossfire. I might have if he didn't abandon the team for a split to stream.

Echo Fox - Hard to understand why they would spend that money for Huni, but then go frugal with Fenix. But, assuming they don't get on a losing streak, they should be able to steamroll a got of games.

Liquid - I see too many protect the doublelift comps in the future for me to think this roster will be better than IMT from last year.

Counter Logic Gaming - Increased mechanical skill at the cost of shotcalling, but I think they'll have a great regular season with an extra dose of cheese from Ziks working in best of 1's.

100 Thieves - I'm happy Levi is in NA. I'm sad he's on the bench with a team alreading having 2 imports already in other spots. Bonus, let's see how long Meteos wants to play this time!

Cloud 9 - I think Sven is a wash on Contractz, but I don't see Licorice being as good as Impact. Despite worlds success in group A, they were 4th in regular season last year and bombed in playoffs.

Clutch Gaming - I love their roster, except for Solo. But if he's able to just turtle up on a tank and wave clear like a bitch, the team should be really good.

Flyquest - I like Fly's playstyle of roam, roam, roam. That with Flame or Wildturtle randomly going off maybe can win enough games to make playoffs.

Optic - Arrow, Akaadian, Power of Evil: promising start! Zig and Lemonnation. Oh... ok.

Golden Guardians - The bad parts of Team Liquid married the C9 Academy Team + a rookie ADC. The last time Hai was able to surprise on a shitty team before the wheels finally fell off, but I don't see it happening again.

I don't hate my preseason ranking compared to how it actually played out!

(Current standings to save a google search)
100T
Echo Fox
TSM
TL
C9
CG
CLG
FQ
Optic
GGS
 

Enzee

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Went back to see if I had written a prediction, couldn't remember if I did, and found this gem..
Hard to say it, because it's TL... but TSM/TL are my 2 top dogs right now. IMO TSM actually improved their 3 slots and TL certainly has upgraded. But it's TL... they have to be 4th, right?
Lol!


I didn't make an actual prediction this time, just thoughts about each team. I had a feeling Sven would look better on C9 then the previous season with TSM, happy about that, but I didn't really 'call' who would be the top teams. It was so chaotic, I didn't feel strongly about any of the top 7 teams being significantly better then any others. Considering 1 game separates most of the top 6 teams, seems about right.
I over estimated CLG, looks like Huni may have just been carrying Reignover back in the day and he's really not that great. Aphro's shot calling was what made them get more out of players then other teams, not the coaching staff, it seems.
I under estimated 100T and EF, but who didn't?
 

Ravishing

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We'll see how playoffs go, still a chance TSM get #1

I watched a little of the final day, TSM had to go 4-0 (win 2 tiebreakers). Definitely good to end on a high note, they finally had it together that final day. They are the team to beat going into playoffs.
 

Ravishing

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CG played so good, TSM shoulda banned Swain. That last game TSM caught out someone to get first blood but then CG turned it around and took 3 kills to 2. At that point i knew they had no chance.
 

Lasch

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Yeah, leaving Swain up twice didn't make a lot of sense. But the big story was Apollo and Hakuho just demolishing Zven and Mithy, while Doublelift got player of the series against C9.
 

Enzee

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Zven looked bad in all their losses. Not even talking about lane, he was always getting caught near the start of every team fight. I dunno if he was just off his game cause they got wrecked in laning, or what. I just watched the highlights, so it didnt show lane phase. A couple of the times weren't totally his fault, as the tanks weren't positioned well to protect him, but he's supposed to be one of the best adcs in the world. He should know to not be risky in those situations.
I also don't understand why TSM didn't try to ban thresh once they had lost to it twice. Take hakuho off his comfort pick for a game, at least, even if that opens up some power pick for someone else. Make CG show you they can beat you with one of the other picks, they've already shown he'll wreck you with Thresh. Swain as well, but thresh seemed like the bigger deal.

After those games, I think it's still anyone's championship to win. I really don't feel strongly about EF, 100t, CG or TL winning. I'd prolly put TL at the bottom of that list, but only barely. Would not be surprised if they won it all, either. It's TL vs EF and 100T vs CG. If I had to make a prediction, whoever wins 100T/CG is gonna win finals, and I'm leaning towards CG right now.
 

Lasch

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I still have CG as worst team in the playoffs remaining. TL or 100T are the two favorites for me at this point.
Yeah, I forgot to mention the disappearing act Hauntzer played. There were a couple times he either just didn't bother TP'ing to a fight, cancelled his TP midfight, or ported to the most god awful location.
And when he was in a sidelane vs. Solo, he was completely neutralized despite being the one that received more assistance from his team.
 

Enzee

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I think that's a bias from the split. Hakuho is playing like the best support in the league, and some pros have been saying he is for most of the split. Febiven might be the best mid laner in NA right now, and he was in the conversation all year. Lira slumped a little this year, but he seems back on form now. The other 2 are playing around those 3 very well. TSM was looking like the best team, finally, going into playoffs. While they certainly looked bad in that match, a lot of that is how well CG played.

Again, though, I think it's very close between all 4 teams left.

edit: Oh, also, TL is gonna get 4th, of course. :D
 

Lasch

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Bias from the split? Well, yeah. That's mostly what I'm basing my opinion off of. How they played this last weekend didn't seem particularly different.

Solo is left alone and tries to go as even as possible.
Lira ganks bot lane and counterganks midlane.
Febiven sets up a camp under tower to scale for late.
Botlane plays aggressive.
Macro = light up top or botside jungle with vision for dragon or baron and play for picks for the next half hour.

Yes, Hakuo played great and/or sven and mithy couldn't dodge a skillshot all series.
 

Enzee

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Well, I wouldn't count the first half of the split in evaluating any of these teams. They've all changed considerably. The further away the games were, the less relevant they are.
Yes, I'm putting a lot on that match, but it was a bo5, not a bo1. We should put more emphasis into how they played most recently, especially in the first non-bo1 match of the split. It shows they can adapt between games, for one. Something we had no information on prior to the playoffs for basically any team. If it was bo1, I'd be willing to chalk it up more to luck.

Also, just because they tend to execute a similar gameplan doesn't mean that's a bad thing. If febiven can consistently play for late game, where he then plays like a god, I don't see an issue with that. He's great at defending against ganks, so it's not like you can just camp him to disrupt that plan. It's risky, and Lira is often close enough to counter gank you. If you gank top, they make plays mid/bot to punish. Doing the same thing isn't a weakness unless it's exploitable, and I don't see an easy way for teams to exploit them at the moment.

It's also why I think EF is slightly less likely to take it home as well. Sure, they were trying out subs in the last weeks, but that's two weeks that the starters didn't play with the team. It might hurt their teamwork and cohesion. Plus, Huni has a habit of underperforming in playoffs/big games, which is a large part of their success this split.
TL still seems a bit uneven, they only won game 1 on a pretty risky play, and then turned that into momentum for games 2 and 3. While 100T has been on a steady upswing for the 2nd half of split (didn't they go 9-1 to end?) and has been very consistent. That's why I think whoever wins 100T/CG is more likely to beat the winner of EF/TL. Either CG continues this level of play or 100T does. In either scenario, I would favor that team over either EF/TL, but only barely.
 

Enzee

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oh, that's what happened.. I heard them talking about a 'personal tragedy' in his life, but they were respecting his privacy and not talking about it. Damn.. that's really fucked up. I was just guessing one of his parents died due to an illness or something.

but he won LCS at least? idk if that even makes him feel much better or not in this situation. Can you really enjoy it for long, having to go back to dealing with the arrangements and such afterwards?

Grats to TL though. After their match against EF, and then seeing EF crush CG in 3rd place match, I realized TL were actually firing on all cylinders again. Would have updated my prediction to 3-2 TL instead of 100T, but no way would I have said 3-0. They just crushed them.
 
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Vimeseh

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So got back to plat after not really playing the game seriously for a year. Competition really went up from a mechanical stand point in silver/gold but they are still making the same dumb mistakes. If anyone is still playing that jungles in the plat to diamond range I wouldn't mind duoing to make the climb to Diamond quicker. I play top or mid so a nice pocket jungler would be awesome.
 

Enzee

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LCS starts back up today.. thought I'd bump this thread, but I have a feeling almost no one cares.

I made a prediction about a year or so ago to a friend, that it would be League's peak and they'd slowly die off from there. Starting to look like I was right, especially on the twitch end. Fortnite de-throned them officially as most viewed. Even if Fortnite falls off, the armor is showing cracks now. So many long time streamers have moved on from it, and I don't see how they can bring people back.

Riot needs to make a new game, or League of Legends 2, to start over fresh. The steep learning curve from such a huge champion pool prevents new players from getting into the game.

I'm still gonna watch highlights of LCS games here and there, but not nearly as much as I used to. I haven't even logged in to play in a month or two.
 

Ravishing

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LCS starts back up today.. thought I'd bump this thread, but I have a feeling almost no one cares.

I made a prediction about a year or so ago to a friend, that it would be League's peak and they'd slowly die off from there. Starting to look like I was right, especially on the twitch end. Fortnite de-throned them officially as most viewed. Even if Fortnite falls off, the armor is showing cracks now. So many long time streamers have moved on from it, and I don't see how they can bring people back.

Riot needs to make a new game, or League of Legends 2, to start over fresh. The steep learning curve from such a huge champion pool prevents new players from getting into the game.

I'm still gonna watch highlights of LCS games here and there, but not nearly as much as I used to. I haven't even logged in to play in a month or two.

Yep, LOL is still popular but isn't #1.
I also think it's about time they make a new game.

League of Legends Battle Royale !

Seriously though, a LoL 2 would probably bring back a lot of interest. Even if it's still the same top-down gameplay. But they'd need to find a way to add some innovative stuff. Redesign the entire map, re-envision the jungle, shake up lanes somehow. Reconfigure progression/item/level system (in game) somehow, etc.

Make it faster paced to keep up with the current generation. FortNite games last 15-25 mins. LoL games are 2x+ in length.
Faster games means squeezing in more matches in competitive. Bo3/Bo5 etc .
 

Enzee

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Yea, the genre needs some innovation. I was sorta surprised HotS didn't catch on more, but then I realized the things I liked about it is why it didn't. What I mean is, they made killing enemy champions not as important, by making map objectives stronger and having some champs better at those things while being horrible at dueling. I thought it was a good change, but people enjoy just killing each other in games.

I've had this idea of a game that's sorta like Smite/LoL combined. 4 of the people on the team don't have a mini map, but the 5th person does. The first 4 control their champs from a first person pov, while the 5th person doesn't have a champion, instead they have global abilities, play from a top down view and can see the minimap. They warn the other 4 of incoming ganks, cast support/buff spells, get vision, etc.. It would remove the 'support' champion that everyone hates and make a strategic commander position instead. That position also would have a lower apm/twitch reaction requirement by it's nature, while the other 4 would be have higher skill ceiling from a mechanical standpoint. Sorta how Overwatch made some characters that don't need amazing aim to be played decent.