IEM Takeaways

TSM Is the Best Team in North America

Definitely not the best team in the world yet, but after being crowned Intel Extreme Masters Season 9 World champions TSM has proven to be the top dog in NA.  With Cloud 9 being in arguably the worst form they’ve ever been in since their formation, and CLG having some late-game team fighting issues, TSM’s consistency has put them ahead of the pack in NA. While Bjergsen may have been the MVP of the tournament, Lustboy put on a great showing.  His engages were spot on all tournament, and was able to almost solely turn game one of the finals around. Read More

Liquid Freezing

So last week I posted about how it was a no-brainer that Team Liquid should move forward with KEITH as their starting AD carry.

Welp. 

The decision to reinsert Piglet into the lineup, just proves the scientific law that no one listens to Brian.

This weeks 0-2 posting from Liquid earns them a big “I told you so,” from me.  The funny thing about this week, is that Piglet didn’t really play that bad.  But there’s something about him in the lineup that just makes the team shut down as a whole.  Quas, IWDominate, and Fenix played terrible this week.  Not only that, but on Saturday’s game against Team 8, Liquid inexcusably did not contest Team 8’s 5th dragon attempt.  I don’t know what they were doing in that situation, but they completely froze.

These two loses put Team Liquid at 7-7 and in a 3 way tie for 5th. This also means that with Piglet in the lineup, the team is 2-6.

On the flip side, anybody who thinks that IWDominate was purposely playing poorly to get Piglet benched, is stupid. Purposely throwing games to get your coach fired is OK if you’re the Washington Wizards, because of the fact they play in the miserable East and will still make the playoffs.  Purposely throwing games if you’re Liquid is not, because it drags you out of the playoffs and close to the relegation zone.

There’s something out of whack in the Liquid camp.  Whether or not it’s Piglets doing is up for question, but the facts show that with him in the lineup, they tend to lose more.

Forget About Piglet

You can’t bench KEITH.  It’s as simple as that.

In 2001, the New England Patriots re-signed All-Pro quarterback Drew Bledsoe to a $103 million contract.  Two games into the season, Bledsoe got injured, and the Patriots went with Tom Brady as the starter. The rest is history. The patriots stuck with Brady even when Bledsoe recovered, and Brady started a dynasty in New England.

Fast forward to the present: Team Liquid signs former world champion Piglet to be their new ADC.  Piglet has visa issues the opening weekend, and KEITH fills in for him. To everyone’s surprise, KEITH pulls out two respectable performances and Liquid starts the season 2-0.

If Liquid could go 2-0 with a sub, they’ll be unstoppable with their season 3 world champion, right?

Uh, not quite. Read More