LoL eSports Discussion

[PJ.]

Gordon hayward?

[Voidedmafia]

Biofrost is a fucking

God

. After Immortals were 7-0 in kills I thought it was over, but he is pretty much the sole reason TSM came back thanks to his Rakan. Seems like Rakan is going to have to be a permaban against TSM short of heavy Worlds nerfs coming to render him irrelevant, which ain't gonna fucking happen.

TSM TSM TSM TSM TSM TSM!

P-edit: Who the fuck is Gordon Hayward and where is this going on, again?

[PJ.]

Gordon Hayward is a professional basketball player that plays league, also voyboy's friend.

[SensFan]

If it was Gordon Hayward (after game 2), then he's an NBA player who also plays league on the side. His game knowledge is probably worse than most in this thread.

[PJ.]

That's p dumb to say considering he's in the top like 13% of players on NA.

[SensFan]

He's Silver, and to my understanding was never above Plat. Not that that has anything to do with game knowledge.

[PJ.]

He's only silver when he's too busy being Gordon fucking Hayward to play solo queue. Also being good typically speaks to one's game knowledge. But anyway, pro play is pretty much not league of legends so I personally forgive a guy who probably has never watched a game played by professionals for not getting it. Also, it's not like Riot had him there for his overwhelming insight. It was for crossover value.

[SensFan]

Sooo...you agree that his game knowledge isn't fantastic and isn't the reason why he was on the desk?

[PJ.]

That's not what you said tho.

If it was Gordon Hayward (after game 2), then he's an NBA player who also plays league on the side.

His game knowledge is probably worse than most in this thread.

That's almost certainly false.

[dramonic]

I have no problem with Gordon, I'm just saying his comments were basically "They did worse than the other team, then they did better than the other team"

[zoraster]

okay i'm watching the draw show... it was NOT clear from their explanation that all the teams for play-ins would be seeded. It appears that they're assuring NA, LPL, etc. aren't in the same group as each other.

[SleepyKrew]

The article was good. Weird that they wouldn't go over it again on the show itself though.

[zoraster]

I read the article I think? I must have missed the part about seeding for play-in.

[zoraster]

NA and EU ended up with very favorable draws... other than poor Number 1 seed G2, but even that isn't undoable by any means. That said, keep in mind that these groups (barring upset) likely end up with one of WE, Fnatic and C9. Definitely could be different though if someone comes out cold in the Best of 1 single round robin play-in and it ends up with, for example, Fnatic and WE playing off or whatever. But still, the groups aren't finished off yet and the play-in teams that finish off a group makes a big difference.


Man I love World's time of year. And as I mentioned before I love the new play-in system. It provides high stakes games for lower teams with every chance of an upset.

--

One potentially big change about this is that unlike in previous years where sometimes NA did well early because they figured out a shift in meta first (only to fade later), the meta is going to start to get established before group stage even starts. That's a big deal.

[PJ.]

I read the article I think? I must have missed the part about seeding for play-in.

initial reports were definitely that play-in was random

[zoraster]

to be fair, this is definitely the better way to do it.

[PJ.]

eh, I don't like it. Mostly because I don't think those are the best four teams in the play-ins and the odds of 3 of those 4 teams getting in the same bracket would be low. All it does is lower the chance of them playign each other in the KO, which i think is p crappy. For example, I think Fnatic and c9 got groups that possess significantly less of a challenge then WE and especially HKA did, and by having this advantage they should both be 1 seeds and avoid playing the teams that prove to be best in the 2 significantly harder groups where as if Fnatic and c9 could of drawn each other they'd have a road more befitting their status in this playoff as I don't necessarily think they are top 4 teams in the opening bracket. WE, Gambit, Fenerbach are the top tier imo with c9, fnatic, Rampage, YG and HKA as kinda the second tier(i'm low on HK and c9, high on Rampage and I think YG has a solid pedigree basically only losing to GB Marines all year). With the Latin teams and Oceania picking up the rear by a fair margin.

I feel if WE or Gambit(to a lesser exten fenerbache) get into group D, they have a very real possibility of making it out of both group stages.

[zoraster]

I'm willing to bet that more Pool 1 teams make the group stages than any 4 teams you want to choose.

That's not to say that every Pool 1 team makes it out -- odds are at least one doesn't (particularly HKA). Gambit has a nice amount of world's experience and could pose a challenge to whoever gets them in the Bo5 match. The others are more or less unknown in terms of how they'll react at an international level of competition with a Best of 5.

I'm not talking C9 and Fnatic up as potential Worlds contenders or anything, but I think you underestimate both teams against wild card level teams.

[SensFan]

To Panzer's point, while a lot of people think Gambit got shafted by being drawn into the pool with WE, I think it virtually assures they make it through to the main event. Though I'm also not a fan of the format where one Bo5 decides the four teams, since in theory if the ranking of the Play-in Teams is WE>Gambit>X>Rest, then X could get screwed by being drawn into the B05 vs Gambit through no fault of their own.

As for NA, IMT and TSM both got favourable draws (though TSM's while still good becomes a lot less good in the 50%+ scenario where they get WE).

[zoraster]

well, if the implication is that Gambit will beat every team but WE, they should have been okay either way. Because they would have finished number 1 seed in their group and WE would have also been seed 1. But obviously things are messy, particularly in best of 1s. I also have my doubts at how strong Gambit really comes out.

Regardless, the way it's set up now the group portion of play-ins are really designed more to eliminate than to seed. With only 4 games per team played, there's every possibility that WE ends up 2nd in their group, etc. You might end up with a tough Bo5 match no matter what you do.

[PJ.]

I'm willing to bet that more Pool 1 teams make the group stages than any 4 teams you want to choose.

That's not to say that every Pool 1 team makes it out -- odds are at least one doesn't (particularly HKA). Gambit has a nice amount of world's experience and could pose a challenge to whoever gets them in the Bo5 match. The others are more or less unknown in terms of how they'll react at an international level of competition with a Best of 5.

I'm not talking C9 and Fnatic up as potential Worlds contenders or anything, but I think you underestimate both teams against wild card level teams.

Well Rampage dominated GB Marines at Rift Rivals. Fenerbache has also been absolutely dominant this split and at rift rivals(also have a couple key koreans). I think both the LCS squads fell ass backwards into worlds, received very generous pools, and will end up playing 2 seeds and getting the easy road.

[zoraster]

so is that a bet?

If more of WE, C9, Fnatic, HKA get through I win
If more of Rampage, Fenerbache, Gambit and ? get through you win?

[Venmar]

Actual analysts in the pro scene are predicting WE, Fnatic, and C9 to make it out of Play-Ins; that's not to say that certain teams like Gambit, etc, can't surprise and make it out, but there's no point being pessimistic against the EU and NA teams. I'm sure Panzerjager knows better than actual analysts though and has some kind of secret knowledge to say otherwise.

[PJ.]

no, it's definitely not. WE is gonna make, c9 and fnatic have the edge cause they will get 1 seeds and none of those teams are going to take each other out. Best odds I have in that is a tie at 2 due to the groups(my guys have a much higher chance to get paired with WE or each other, your guys get a free ride to most likely mediocre competition) and I don't believe in YG nearly enough to say they will for certain beat out an LCS team.

@Venmar: who are the "actual analyst"? Esports journalism can come from some real questionable sources.

[pickemgenius]

we/lcs teams get through.

one of rampage/lyon/gambit take the fourth slot.

group a stacked for the play-in though.