Last night I was excited, and surprised, to see my favorite title to a thread on Reddit: “Competitive Ruling”. This thread came up not once, but twice. Riot laid down some serious punishment to two LCS teams, Renegades and Team Impulse.
Like I said, I was excited to see these threads, but one i got deep into them, the punishments were insane. Renegades owners were banned, and forced to sell their team. And Team Impulse was also forced to sell their LCS spot.
We wont get into the allegations, because Riot gave no evidence to prove they were true (at least in the case of Renegades), and I have no evidence whether or not they weren’t true either. But the punishments seem rather extreme. It’s one thing to force ownership to sell their teams, it’s another to mandate this to happen within 10 days. This short amount of time is its own punishment, as it will surely heavily lower the price of the potential sale. We’re in a buyers market for LCS teams right now. (So if anyone wants to pool their money together and buy one with me, I’ve got like 100 bucks.)
The problem with these rulings, is that there’s no third party investigations, and no appeal process. It’s basically just the word of a game developer, against the word of an alleged “wrong doer”. I can understand these rulings being blind justice when someone is cheating or affecting the actual game negatively. But when something this big happens, there needs to be some checks and balances, or else esports will never truly be as legitimate as traditional sports.
After this Sunday’s NALCS finals between TSM and CLG, reddits was ablaze with opinions on the Doublelift vs. Stixxay argument.
Here are the facts:
CLG parted ways with Doublelift before this split, citing it was best for team dynamic.
Less than 24 hours later, TSM signed the star ad carry.
CLG beat TSM 3-2 in the finals with Doublelifts replacement, Stixxay, out damaging his predecessor.
Now Reddit is in uproar. Saying Stixxay doesn’t deserve any credit for the victory, and how he didn’t contribute anything, save for the final team fight of the final game. (And yes apparently Reddit believes that sealing the deal for a finals victory, isn’t a big deal)
The fact of the matter is, you can frame anything anyway you want to. (Trust me, it’s how I’m able to convince people that I’m an asset to their lives.)
If TSM wins this series, you can bet that the hot topic would be how CLG was wrong for letting Doublelift go. Or, even better yet, they’d still be bashing Stixxay for not being better than who he replaced.
Yes, everyone is entititled to their opinions, but they shouldn’t let teenage fangirlisms blind them from the truth.
The Reddit world has been abuzz these past couple of days, with allegations that Riot Games is showing bias against one of their LCS teams, Counter Logic Gaming.
For one thing, many feel the pre-match hype video for Sunday’s “game of the week,” was incredibly focused on CLG’s opponent Cloud 9. Cloud 9 and CLG are on relatively even footing in the standings, so the fact that one team was showcased more, is a bit odd.
Another odd circumstance, is after the game (CLG won) the customary post-match interview with a member of the winning team, in this case CLG’s Aphromoo, was cut short for an interview with a member of the losing team (C9’s Hai). Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with getting a fresh take from the losing team (albeit might be a little awkward). But just know that the losing team rarely gets interviewed after LCS matches.
CLG is one of the biggest and most historic teams in professional League of Legends history, so this perceived bias may just be one really unfortunate coincidence. However, if it’s not, it’s really bad for everyone involved. If this bias is real, and proven, it’ll be an absolute PR nightmare for the company that produces the biggest video game in the world. It also hurts CLG, because of the simple fact that publicity and personality equal more sponsors. With less notoriety comes less social media buzz, and even less fans. If Riot is intentionally snubbing CLG for whatever reason, they’re hurting them from a monetary perspective, which is completely unprofessional and unacceptable.
Social media in eSports, is quite similar to social media in regular sports. You’ll see players interacting with fans, players promoting their brand, and even the occasional trash talk. Much like the NFL, you’ll see the League of Legends eSports account tweet roster moves, and recaps of recent matches
The main difference between social media in sports versus social media in eSports, is the fact the rise of eSports came during/after the birth and success of social media. Where as this was not the case with traditional sports. Michael Jordan didn’t have a twitter account where he would put Magic Johnson on blast. And Reggie Jackson didn’t have an Instagram where he would highlight the fashion trends of the 70’s, much like Russel Westbrook does today.
Obviously eSports aren’t as big yet as traditonal sports, no one argues that. It is a fact though that they are on the rise. And the benefit highly from social media platforms. If someone tweets a link to a match, you can just click it and you’re watching. This isn’t the case with with football or basketball (of course you can click a link and watch an illegal stream of one of those sports, but that’s frowned upon). The fact of the matter is, eSports and social media go hand in hand. Without a platform like reddit, eSports may have not even have gotten off the ground.
Well so far in 2016 there’s been two blogs, and now two basketball references! NRG come to be when Team Coast’s LCS spot was bought by the Sacramento Kings.
Furthermore, I’m a big fan of plays on words, and if you spell NRG out instead of pronouncing it Ehnerguh, it sounds like energy! I bet you didn’t pick up on that!
This team has the potential to be top 3, or they could totally crash and burn. Impact was great on Impulse last year, and Altec had the potential to be NA’s number one ADC if Gravity didn’t plummet last split.
I think Moon definitely has potential to be a top tier jungler, but we’ll see how his dominance of the challenger series transitions into playing on stage.
As far as mid laner GBM goes, I am a big fan of people who wear bow ties, especially when it’s on stage during a competitive LoL match. What? Bow ties have absolutely nothing to do with someones skill? That’s ludicrous! On a serious note, GBM was once a great Korean mid laner, but has since been on the decline. However, you don’t need to be a great Korean mid laner to be a good NA mid laner, so he’ll likely have success this split.
6. LA Renegades
Woah! There’s a girl on this team! This team is like the Bad News Bears, once the really good dude with the motorcycle (Freeze) joins the team. This metaphor might not make any sense, because of the fact they qualified for LCS before Freeze joined, but just picture Montecristo in Billy Bob Thornton’s role and its absolutely hilarious.
Freeze was one of, if not the best ADC in Europe last year. He definitely was at least top 3. And if you add the fact he did all this while playing for last place team Copenhagen Wolves, and he could be the best player who’s ever set foot on the rift.
The two established veterans on this team, Alex Ich and Crumbzz were both top players on two storied franchises in their careers. M5 may have blew Dignitas out of the water, but still if you were looking to build a team around two knowledgeable pros, these two were a good choice.
As far as the rest of the team goes, Remilia has proven she can make plays in the Challenger Series, and with an ADC like Freeze, she’ll just continue to improve. RF might be a little shaky at first, but this kid uses his elo to try and get chicks, so he’s already a legend in my book.
I’m definitely rooting for them, and this could be huge crowd favorite.
7. Echo Fox
Rick Fox bought a League of Legends team, and he put his name in the team name! He also got Froggen!
Froggen showed at all-stars that he is definitely still a force to be reckoned with. And I’d like to remind you all that KEITHMCBRIEF has a higher winning percentage on Liquid than Piglet did/does.
But this team is basically Rick Fox when played basketball. It might be good, but there’s just too many Lakers/teams better than him/this team, for Echo Fox to go anywhere.
Hard was good on C9T, but C9T never went anywhere and always collapsed when it came to qualifying for the LCS.
Kfo has never been on a pro team before, and is just a Korean Soloq star. That being said the last Korean Soloq star that signed to an NA team was Rush, and he become league MVP. Furthermore, I know for a fact kfo isn’t Keane, but for some reason I always think kfo is Keane. I don’t know man, that’s going to bother me.
Lastly, why is Baby on this team when Xpecial was available?
8. Team Liquid
Yeah, this team is going to finish 4th by some miracle, solely because it’s their destiny.
I don’t know if I like the idea of a ten man roster. On one hand, it’s good to keep your starters on their toes to keep them playing at their best. On the other hand, it could absolutely kill their confidence. However, if this leads to Piglet being benched for Fabbbyyy, it’ll all be worth it. Just for the analysis/reddit reactions of Fabbbyyy replacing a world champion.
I do think FeniX and Piglet are good, but to me Piglet just has too many negative qualities that outweigh the good. He has the potential to hard carry, or tilt this team into the bottom three.
I’m glad they’re giving Lourlo a chance, by picking him up to be their starting top laner. I just don’t know how well he is going to do. But you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and I hope Lourlo dunks his.
Maybe Smoothie will be good? Maybe IWDominate isn’t on the decline? Who knows. I just think this whole thing is way too convoluted.
But I do want Fabbbyyy.
9. Dignitas
Dignitas looked good in their first game at IEM Cologne. Then they proceeded to ruin that, and throw the whole series at Baron. But what was anyone expecting, it is Dignitas.
I don’t think this team is good! Apollo lucked out when he was on TIP, because he didn’t have to play AD carry. He was playing “AD Rush, XwX, or Impact will carry, no one pay attention to me please.” Which there’s nothing wrong with that! But on this dig team, they’re going to need something out of him. And I don’t think he’s going to deliver.
Shiphtur has his moments, sure, but there’s just so many better mid laners than him this split.
Kirei has the most promise on this team, but the addition of him and SmittyJ don’t have the same wow factor as many of the other newcomers to NA.
KiWiKiD is fun, I guess.
10. Team Impact
This team is like the Bad News Bears before the cool kid with the motorcycle joins the team. Bad.
After following up a loss to CLG in the summer split final with a poor performance at worlds, TSM dumped their League roster (RIP Dyrus I still love you) almost as hard as they did with their CS:GO squad. The lone survivor of the team, Bjergsen, had a lot of help brought in.
Obviously, the biggest addition to the team was Doublelift, who made a Yankees-Red Sox type move joining CLG’s longtime rival. He is a clear upgrade over WildTurtle, but how will he co-exist with another alpha dog like Bjergsen.
Hauntzer and Svenskeren are both solid pickups. Hauntzer was arguably a top 3 top laner last year, and when Svenskeren isn’t serving a ban, he’s an absolute monster carry jungler.
The most intriguing pick up is YellOwStaR. It was shocking that Fnatic’s longtime support would leave the team he helped create, but the best support in the west teaming with best ADC in the west is going to give the rest of the leagues bot lanes nightmares.
TSM obviously looks like the favorite to win the split. They just need to coexist, and not have Doublelift tilt them off the face of the earth.
2. Immortals
Immortals might not have existed last year, but the members of the team were making an impact in both NA and EU.
Huni and Reignover were the backbone of that dominant Fnatic team. The two Korean imports were relatively unknown to Western LoL fans, but now they’re two of the most respected players at their positions.
Pobelter might not have shown up during worlds, but he had some games last split where he absolutely carried the summer champs. He also gets bonus points for doing the most basketball-ish roster move, in which he didn’t want to share playing time with HuHi on CLG.
WildTurtle might have gotten the boot from TSM, but if he performs like he did in his prime, he might make TSM regret dropping him. Paired up with Adrian, this could be one of the most aggressive bot lanes in NA.
This is definitely a case of a team signing the five best free agents available. We’ve seen super teams under perform and blow up before, but I don’t think this will be the case. Immortals is a real threat to make a deep run this split.
3. Cloud 9
If you asked me who my top five is at each role, I would have to throw Hai in each and every single one of those by default. His shot calling is just too good. He’s on his third role now, and looks to get C9 back on track after a disappointing summer split.
With Hai at support, the reigning MVP, Rush, looks to carry things from the jungle. Rush doesn’t have the burden of shot calling that Meteos did last split, and is going to have a better time settling in his role.
Sneaky and Jensen are both really good at League of Legends, and barring a massive setback, should both continue to perform at the top level.
I really like the 6 man roster Cloud 9 has. I think Hai teaching new pickup, BunnyFuFu, how to shot call, while Bunny teaches Hai how to support, is going to lead to great things. It might be shaky at first, but this will ultimately lead to a new long-term shot caller for C9.
Top this all off with LemonNation taking his genius into the head coaching role, and this has potential to be more like the Season 3 C9, than the 2015 C9.
4.* Team Liquid
Alright, you all know that Liquid is just going to finish 4th like they always do.
4.(Actually) Counter Logic Gaming
At first glance this may seem way too high for CLG, but stick with me here for a second.
I think Doublelift is still a top 2 ADC in NA. That being said, I think Aphromoo could carry me in lane. (at least up until I panic and do something stupid and run off stage) Stixxay might be unproven, but I think he’s going to settle in quickly and become a decent ADC in NA. He didn’t do terrible at IEM, and with time he’ll show why he was chosen over someone like FORG1VEN.
Losing ZionSpartan was an absolute tragedy. Zion was undoubtedly the player most likely to carry out of the top lane last season, and therefore will be greatly missed. However, some people claim that this new guy, “Darshan”, will be just as good, if not better. We’ll see.
Xmithie has looked extremely shaky at times, but the fact that Sejuani is out of the meta is an absolute godsend. If he can expand his champion pool he’ll be solid. He’s never going to be Season 3 Xmithie, but hey he’s the last remaining player from that Vulcun team. (RIP Bloodwater, you didn’t deserve what happened)
HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET INTERESTING.
Pobelter was great last split. Yeah CLG crashed and burned at worlds, but Pob finally proved he wasn’t just a good player on a bad team. (inb4 LOL XDDDD CLG AND NA = BAD) That being said, he didn’t just get put in a situation where he was going to split time with HuHi because that was the plan last year and they needed to make things fair. No. Fair doesn’t happen in sports/esports.
CLG is hiding something from everyone.
HuHi is actually a God. Formed from the genes of Faker, Bigfatlp, and Annie Bot, HuHi has been put on this earth for one purpose. That purpose is to finally win a World Championship for NA. He will destroy the opposition with no remorse.
Yes that is definitely a bold prediction. But hey, maybe there’s more bold predictions in part 2! (Hint: Impulse being above relegation is not, I repeat, NOT, one of those potential bold predictions)
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