Team Liquid

2016 NA LCS Spring Preview Power Rankings Pt. 2

Posted on by SonOfJan

5. NRG Esports

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.

This team is going to be bad.

Really Bad.

2016 NA LCS Spring Preview Power Rankings Pt.1

Posted on by SonOfJan

1. TSM

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)

NA LCS Playoff Preview/Predictions

Posted on by SonOfJan

COUNTER LOGIC GAMING VS. TEAM LIQUID

CLG wins 3-1

This is a battle between two trash talking AD carries. Liquid comes into this match-up holding a 2-0 record over CLG this split, but Piglet didn’t play in either of those two games. Both teams need to win this series, but Doublelift has the most to prove.  A CLG loss concludes another late season collapse, as well as another failed split.

The duel between the AD carries might be the most highlighted match-up in this series, but it may very well come down to the two top laners.  Quas is looking to get out of a stretch of poor form, while ZIonSpartan is proving to be the best top laner CLG has ever had play for them. Zion can carry this series, but Quas playing at his best can shut him down. If Quas isn’t a factor, Liquid is going to get run out of the building.

CLG is simply better than Piglet’s Team Liquid on paper. However, CLG certainly has the tendency to freeze in these situations.  In my opinion, the break tradition and advanced to the semi finals. But unless they’ve drastically improved, that’s as far as they’re going in these playoffs. C9 and TSM are too strong.

TEAM IMPULSE VS. GRAVITY 

Team Impulse wins 3-2

Team Impulse is a better team than Gravity. But in a best of five series, Gravity has way too many unpredictable champion picks to be slept on. This may very well be a trap series for impulse, as they’ve played like a top 3 team at the end split. If they overlook Gravity, they’re going to be brought down to Earth extremely fast.

While Gravity may have some secret strategies in their back pocket during picks and bans, what Impulse has is Rush. Rush is the second best jungler in NA right now, and would be the best if it wasn’t for the current meta.  Rush wants to play a high impact carry champion, hell the man is doing whatever it takes to keep Lee Sin alive and kicking. But this current meta of tank junglers does not suit him well. On PTL this week, Jatt said that Rush’s solo queue record with Sejuani is something along the lines of 1-9.  That’s bad. Very bad. If Gravity can force Rush onto one of these tanks he’s uncomfortable with, they may be able to steal this series.

While I do think Gravity has the potential to win this series, I don’t think they’re going to be able to pull of three wins via cheeky shenanigans. Impulse has been on fire lately (The dig game was a trap game so we’re not talking about that).I expect them to take this series, but I don’t think it’s going to be a clean sweep. Expect a fun, five game battle, that may be the most entertaining series of the playoffs.

Liquid Freezing

Posted on by SonOfJan

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

Posted on by SonOfJan

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