There’s been several posts like this before, and even though this one is probably the most tame, it all comes back to a shared TL;DR of: Riot focuses on publicizing NA too much, and should be giving equal attention to all regions.
And if this was a perfect world, they would. LoL from all regions would replace programming on ESPN2, people would work together in solo/dynamic q, and I’d actually be able to find the Baja Blast in stores this year.
The cold hard truth is all of this content is from NA producers and talent. Of course they’re going to focus on their home region.
/u/FrostyPoot brings some rationale to the conversation: “Yeah I’d like to see more content from the other regions, but it should be clear that the Riot staff in NA are going to have a much easier/cheaper time making content about NA, especially when they include film from the players (interviews and such).”
On top of all of this, it’s still likely the NA is Riot’s cash cow, providing more revenue than the other regions. This is still a business, and a company is going to do what makes them the most money.
I would love to see all regions of pro League of Legends receive equal attention. I’d love if the whole world operated on the same time schedule, so Asian LoL didn’t air live at 4AM. Unfortunately life ain’t perfect. Now someone please help me find the Baja Blast.
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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