League of Legends World Championship 2015

[Fat Hippo]

If you follow professional League of Legends, you probably already know that the first game of the World Championship starts today. Who else here is excited? It's so rare to see teams from different regions playing against each other, that the WC is a real treat. And I hadn't seen any mention of it on these forums, so I thought it would be good to have a dedicated thread. Unless I'm the only E-Sports fan here that is...

Which games will you be watching? Who are you rooting for? Who will make it out of the group stage? Who do you think will win? Discuss!

A few useful links:
Twitch [http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames]
Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvqRdlKsE5Q8mf8YXbdIJLw]
Brackets [http://worlds.lolesports.com/en_US/worlds/standings/default]
Replays [http://worlds.lolesports.com/en_US/vods/worlds/world_championship_2015]

Out of consideration for people who cannot watch live matches and plan to watch the replay, I would ask everyone:[HEADING=3] Please use spoilers when discussing the results of a specific match.[/HEADING]

Update 1: For anyone just opening this thread, the WC of this year has been crazy so far. The first half of the group stages is over, and there have been a lot of victories and losses nobody had predicted. Riot made a nice little video about it:


Update 2: Group stages are over and the Riot Analysts take a look at how things have developed.


Update 3: The Quarterfinals begin today, and continue until October 18.


That video was pretty cheesy...but I still kinda loved it!

 

[Legion]

I do not really follow pro play so don't have a huge interest in Worlds overall. I do occasionally enjoy watching the best players in the world have matches though, just to see how they play.

I am more interested in the prize for getting all of the placements correct. Those who get 100% earn Championship Riven which hasn't been on sale since 2012 or something. I do not think I am likely to get it, but so far my predictions are all looking good. It's annoying that they won't put the skin on sale really, as it's only "special" because they decided to make it limited for no real reason (all championship skins since then have been available yearly).

 

[Fat Hippo]

I do not really follow pro play so don't have a huge interest in Worlds overall. I do occasionally enjoy watching the best players in the world have matches though, just to see how they play.

I am more interested in the prize for getting all of the placements correct. Those who get 100% earn Championship Riven which hasn't been on sale since 2012 or something. I do not think I am likely to get it, but so far my predictions are all looking good. It's annoying that they won't put the skin on sale really, as it's only "special" because they decided to make it limited for no real reason (all championship skins since then have been available yearly).

Ahh, damn, I actually missed that! Oh well, probably wouldn't have won anything anyway.

 

[Legion]

I do not really follow pro play so don't have a huge interest in Worlds overall. I do occasionally enjoy watching the best players in the world have matches though, just to see how they play.

I am more interested in the prize for getting all of the placements correct. Those who get 100% earn Championship Riven which hasn't been on sale since 2012 or something. I do not think I am likely to get it, but so far my predictions are all looking good. It's annoying that they won't put the skin on sale really, as it's only "special" because they decided to make it limited for no real reason (all championship skins since then have been available yearly).

Ahh, damn, I actually missed that! Oh well, probably wouldn't have won anything anyway.

The other rewards are icons so you won't have missed out on anything if you don't collect them. Apparently only ten people in the world got them all correct last year, so it's a long shot really!

 

[Fat Hippo]

The other rewards are icons so you won't have missed out on anything if you don't collect them. Apparently only ten people in the world got them all correct last year, so it's a long shot really!

Hah, yeah, my prediction skills are not on that level.

As for the games so far, I found the opening match between Fnatic and Invictus quite entertaining.

Watching EDG play vs the Bangkok Titans was cool too, if only to...

Spoiler

watch EDG perform like absolute machines! The Bangkok Titans are among the worse teams in this tournament, but still, anyone facing EDG should be well prepared. If they get to execute their playstyle, they can crush opponents like few others.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Oh I wonder what antics this will bring into my beloved Yolo Q this year...

I could never get into watching competitive League much, I probably will try to but I tend to get 30 minutes into a game then get really bored and just start my own game. Still it lasts longer than when I try to watch any physical sport.

I'll watch all the funny highlights though, it would be remiss of me to not keep up on my League memes.


"0-6 C9"

 

[Rednog]

Oh I wonder what antics this will bring into my beloved Yolo Q this year...

I could never get into watching competitive League much, I probably will try to but I tend to get 30 minutes into a game then get really bored and just start my own game. Still it lasts longer than when I try to watch any physical sport.

I'll watch all the funny highlights though, it would be remiss of me to not keep up on my League memes.


"0-6 C9"

I'm so happy I did my 10 promos and got gold, granted I'm sure I'll be kicking myself when they announce the skin will have chromas for plat+.
I tried to play a few games on my alt account, oh my lord, solo que is filled with people who haven't played league in months if not a year hankering to scratch that league itch. I pretty much just threw my hands up in the air when I got a match with a MF running ghost barrier and rushed rage blade; nope gonna boot up smite for the next month.

Can you really blame the casters for saying 0-6 C9, their performance has been all over the board for quite a while. C9 was this magical team who rocked everyone when they came in at season 3 and had really absurd tactics and lane comps. Then the meta shifted and they've been kind of stuck, sure they have good players, but they're the underdogs. And with Meteos retiring and having Hai come out of retirement, no one really knows where C9 stands.

 

[Legion]

Oh I wonder what antics this will bring into my beloved Yolo Q this year...

Olaf Mid.

Olaf... Mid... somehow.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Oh I wonder what antics this will bring into my beloved Yolo Q this year...

I could never get into watching competitive League much, I probably will try to but I tend to get 30 minutes into a game then get really bored and just start my own game. Still it lasts longer than when I try to watch any physical sport.

I'll watch all the funny highlights though, it would be remiss of me to not keep up on my League memes.


"0-6 C9"

I'm so happy I did my 10 promos and got gold, granted I'm sure I'll be kicking myself when they announce the skin will have chromas for plat+.
I tried to play a few games on my alt account, oh my lord, solo que is filled with people who haven't played league in months if not a year hankering to scratch that league itch. I pretty much just threw my hands up in the air when I got a match with a MF running ghost barrier and rushed rage blade; nope gonna boot up smite for the next month.

Can you really blame the casters for saying 0-6 C9, their performance has been all over the board for quite a while. C9 was this magical team who rocked everyone when they came in at season 3 and had really absurd tactics and lane comps. Then the meta shifted and they've been kind of stuck, sure they have good players, but they're the underdogs. And with Meteos retiring and having Hai come out of retirement, no one really knows where C9 stands.

I'm not one to keep up to date with esports really, I just find it weird that out of 6 games, a pro team could manage to get no wins with 6 chances, you know games can suddenly snowball for a free win cuz of a bad early game and such. I hope they actually come in just behind all of the Korean teams win Worlds now just for anime comeback points.

Oh I wonder what antics this will bring into my beloved Yolo Q this year...

Olaf Mid.

Olaf... Mid... somehow.

Yo' give him access to that Blue Buff and the Q spam would be insane

Also seeing Olaf in pro play again feels like bad luck. Remember what happened last time someone did well on him in competitive play? He got, well, Olaf'd for about a year.

I might check on what's being played mid right now in Worlds and just counterpick it in Team Builder for fun. Though if people are picking Azir (I bet they will, good Azirs can be freaking devastating and he's safe enough to blind pick it) i'm probably not going to have fun with League for awhile as a Yasuo player.

[sub]I still have the nightmares...[/sub]

 

[Fat Hippo]

I've played ranked, and seen better performance from Gold members or even Silver than these folks. They take too many risks, on both ends. That isn't to say they aren't skilled- far from it. They're VERY skilled but the risks make their chance of winning drop dramatically. They should be more cautious, and try to play sharp rather than so aggressive without a backup plan.

But that's just me. It's a win / win regardless because the winning team has their best champions get NEW SKINS

I think there are many teams that rely on the mechanical skill of their players to carry them through their respective leagues and into worlds, but strategically, they're complete idiots. If not to say, they don't have a strategy at all. And what sets the Korean teams apart isn't their ability to land skill shots, but their understanding of the game, and not letting enemies walk all over them thanks to a temporary gold lead.

Looking at the TSM vs KT Rolster match of today...

Spoiler

Bjergsen was absolutely divine in mid, and he's a fantastic player, but it doesn't matter when KT is outplaying them in almost every instance. My impression was that even when they were behind, they were always in control. They just had to ride it out, take a team fight when it was in their favor, and from that point onward, TSM needed a miracle.

And that's why Fnatic is the only western team with any real potential. Even when they fall behind, they play intelligently, and don't simply tilt when they fall behind. Just because you're in a deficit, that doesn't mean you need to take shitty fights and lose even harder.

At the same time, the extremely cautious style of play can be SOOOO boring to watch. I honestly found the European and American leagues far more dynamic than the Korean leagues. The way LoL is currently set up, if both teams are playing intelligently, it can also be very boring, which is unfortunate, and one area where I think LoL still has potential to grow as a spectator sport.

 

[Fat Hippo]

So I just watched the LGD vs OG match:

Spoiler

The first two thirds of the game were kind of boring to be honest, but it got pretty crazy following a big teamfight. Start from 1:06:00 to see the slowed-down replay.
That Orianna+Annie combo is just downright mean. The way soaz finished off the nexus was fun as well. I was so scared OG was gonna fuck it up the entire time though. It was looking pretty bad in the mid-game with that Kog'maw. Things could have gone very differently. But the way things are going, my beloved EU still has a shot in this Worlds Championship!

 

[RJ 17]

At the same time, the extremely cautious style of play can be SOOOO boring to watch. I honestly found the European and American leagues far more dynamic than the Korean leagues. The way LoL is currently set up, if both teams are playing intelligently, it can also be very boring, which is unfortunate, and one area where I think LoL still has potential to grow as a spectator sport.

I literally dozed off for about 15 minutes of the CLG v FW game day one (granted I was watching it at about 9:00 at night after a long day at work) and when I woke up: fuck-all had changed. Boring games of LoL are...well...boring. That's why I fell in love with TDK after they had been auto-relegated with (I think) 3 games to go in the split. At that point they literally had nothing to lose so they played non-meta champs...AND WON! I loved those crazy bastards and their crazy picks!

BREAK THE META!!!!

I'd love to see some teams get goofy once they know they've been mathematically eliminated from the group phase. Just play a completely troll team...like Teemo up top, Sticks in the jungle, Dinger down mid, Urgot for ADC, and Tahm or Bard for support.

Also: I wanna see Karthus. :3

But seriously, that's one of the things I don't like about the professional scene: it's always the same handful of champs getting banned and the same handful of champs getting picked. But that's just the nature of the game, it's the same with professional Magic the Gathering. Sure, you can go into a tournament with any deck you want...but unless you're using one of the top 3 decks in the meta there's no point in even trying. For crying out loud, how many champs does LoL have now? And how many of them are completely irrelevant on the professional scene?

If you ask me, Rito just uses the professional competitions as their primary beta-testers for which champs need to get nerfed next.

Regarding C9:

Spoiler: Spoiler for anyone who does not know the outcome of C9s Day 1 match

A lot of people think the curb-stomping they laid on AHQ was a sign of their grand Second Coming. Seriously, the youtube comments, riot forums, and reddit were ablaze with "C9 TAKE MY ENERGY!" "STEP 6: WORLD DOMINATION!" I'd just like to remind everyone that it was just game one on day one. Sure, they made AHQ look absolutely stupid, crushing them in 24 minutes...but there's still a lot of League left to go. If they can scrub-smack FNatic, THEN we can all get some super-boners. Until then, let's just chill out a bit and see what unfolds in the days to come.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I literally dozed off for about 15 minutes of the CLG v FW game day one (granted I was watching it at about 9:00 at night after a long day at work) and when I woke up: fuck-all had changed. Boring games of LoL are...well...boring.

Well I already know which game to avoid in that case. I won't be watching all of them anyway. And sometimes, when a game is just going absolutely nowhere, I skip ahead towards the end. This is definitely a problem with LoL. Occasionally you get matches that are just god-awful.

But seriously, that's one of the things I don't like about the professional scene: it's always the same handful of champs getting banned and the same handful of champs getting picked. But that's just the nature of the game, it's the same with professional Magic the Gathering. Sure, you can go into a tournament with any deck you want...but unless you're using one of the top 3 decks in the meta there's no point in even trying. For crying out loud, how many champs does LoL have now? And how many of them are completely irrelevant on the professional scene?

The champion pools have actually been fairly diverse so far, and in season 5 overall. And sometimes, those non-meta picks have really paid off. I think it was season 3 that top-lane consisted exclusively of Mundo, Shyvana and Renekton. Now THAT was boring. But the last 2 splits have been far better in this regard.

Regarding C9:

Spoiler: Spoiler for anyone who does not know the outcome of C9s Day 1 match

A lot of people think the curb-stomping they laid on AHQ was a sign of their grand Second Coming. Seriously, the youtube comments, riot forums, and reddit were ablaze with "C9 TAKE MY ENERGY!" "STEP 6: WORLD DOMINATION!" I'd just like to remind everyone that it was just game one on day one. Sure, they made AHQ look absolutely stupid, crushing them in 24 minutes...but there's still a lot of League left to go. If they can scrub-smack FNatic, THEN we can all get some super-boners. Until then, let's just chill out a bit and see what unfolds in the days to come.

Spoiler: My take on C9

Yeah, I agree. Watching C9 pulverize AHQ was fun, but they would never be able to pull something like that off versus a team like SKT T1K, since they would react far more appropriately if they started losing the early game. Still, I would be happy to see C9 make it out of group stages, considering what a tumultuous split they had before the championship.

 

[RJ 17]

Well I already know which game to avoid in that case. I won't be watching all of them anyway. And sometimes, when a game is just going absolutely nowhere, I skip ahead towards the end. This is definitely a problem with LoL. Occasionally you get matches that are just god-awful.

This is definitely one of those games. Watch the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes, the rest is just filler. The ending did get pretty exciting though, so I'm glad I woke up in time for it.

And sometimes, those non-meta picks have really paid off.

That's why I absolutely loved it when Incarnation went Veigar for mid. I've only started watching professional LoL since the Spring Split, but it was always the same: Azir, Victor, Ahri, or Ori in the mid...this is the fist time I've seen Veigar, and I was not disappointed.

Really hoping to see more non-meta picks just to shake things up.

*coughcough*karthusjg*coughcough*

 

[Fat Hippo]

That's why I absolutely loved it when Incarnation went Veigar for mid. I've only started watching professional LoL since the Spring Split, but it was always the same: Azir, Victor, Ahri, or Ori in the mid...this is the fist time I've seen Veigar, and I was not disappointed.

Really hoping to see more non-meta picks just to shake things up.

*coughcough*karthusjg*coughcough*

Oh yeah, the Veigar pick was beautiful. I've actually wondered why he doesn't see more professional play. Is he too easy to pick on in the early game? Because he becomes an absolute bursting beast in the late game quite reliably, it seems to me. And his huge AoE crowd control is so valuable for closing off entrances when fighting for objectives.

 

[RJ 17]

Oh yeah, the Veigar pick was beautiful. I've actually wondered why he doesn't see more professional play. Is he too easy to pick on in the early game? Because he becomes an absolute bursting beast in the late game quite reliably, it seems to me. And his huge AoE crowd control is so valuable for closing off entrances when fighting for objectives.

Yeah, I am by no means an expert at breaking down the meta, but my understanding is the reason Veigar isn't picked more often is because of his low mobility. Event Horizon's a nice wall for a get-away, but it won't matter much if you're getting flanked by the jg. You really need vision support AND good instincts to "smell" the ganks coming in order to survive as him, something which Incarnation did very well after getting chomped on that first gank.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Honestly, I kind of gave up on the LCS and WCS from Riot, because they hyper-focus on it to the detriment of the rest of the overall game, and because its simply not fun to watch especially with League's snowballing and how dominant Korea is.

The International 2015 was way more interesting to watch - especially when the US upset the whole thing and won it all.

 

[Skin]

Honestly, I kind of gave up on the LCS and WCS from Riot, because they hyper-focus on it to the detriment of the rest of the overall game, and because its simply not fun to watch especially with League's snowballing and how dominant Korea is.

The International 2015 was way more interesting to watch - especially when the US upset the whole thing and won it all.

I have played Dota since before it even had any of the heroes it currently does today, I have been a big follower of Dota 2 competitive scene, and I have played LoL for a grand total of maybe 5 hours total - BUT, I can safely say that I am more excited and interested in watching these years Worlds than I was for TI5. Not only are the story lines far more interesting, but LoL seems to revolve around the idea that teams have to adapt to patches constantly, so when a new patch is dropped, there is no excuse for teams - whereas in Dota, 6.84 was such a terrible fucking patch with awful balance that it never really felt like the teams were actually playing to the best of their potential and it ended up being a bore.

The best thing Riot did was get rid of that disgusting old graphics style which made it impossible to spectate the game unless you played it.

Also, EDG is the team to watch out for IMO. By far the most aggressive and impressive team in the tournament. They are so much fun to watch.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Honestly, I kind of gave up on the LCS and WCS from Riot, because they hyper-focus on it to the detriment of the rest of the overall game, and because its simply not fun to watch especially with League's snowballing and how dominant Korea is.

The International 2015 was way more interesting to watch - especially when the US upset the whole thing and won it all.

I have played Dota since before it even had any of the heroes it currently does today, I have been a big follower of Dota 2 competitive scene, and I have played LoL for a grand total of maybe 5 hours total - BUT, I can safely say that I am more excited and interested in watching these years Worlds than I was for TI5. Not only are the story lines far more interesting, but LoL seems to revolve around the idea that teams have to adapt to patches constantly, so when a new patch is dropped, there is no excuse for teams - whereas in Dota, 6.84 was such a terrible fucking patch with awful balance that it never really felt like the teams were actually playing to the best of their potential and it ended up being a bore.

The best thing Riot did was get rid of that disgusting old graphics style which made it impossible to spectate the game unless you played it.

Also, EDG is the team to watch out for IMO. By far the most aggressive and impressive team in the tournament. They are so much fun to watch.

Can't really comment on the Dota 2 vs LoL debate, as I decided to pick one MOBA, and stick with it. Learning all of those champions and items once was enough for me. But this also means that Dota 2 is kind of hard to understand, since I don't know what the champions do, and the commentary isn't really focused on explaining these kinds of things while the game is going on.

From what I understand, the American Team Evil Geniuses mostly won the International because their jungler abused the hell out of a champion, Tekkies, and their opponents didn't know how to deal with it? And after TI, Tekkies got nerfed of course.

EDG is definitely a scary team, but from what I've heard a bit volatile. Sometimes, they are absolute beasts, and sometimes they flounder. They will definitely get out of their group, but it will be interesting to see which side of EDG is shown afterwards, and whether they can challenge the top Korean teams.

 

[Skin]

Can't really comment on the Dota 2 vs LoL debate, as I decided to pick one MOBA, and stick with it. Learning all of those champions and items once was enough for me. But this also means that Dota 2 is kind of hard to understand, since I don't know what the champions do, and the commentary isn't really focused on explaining these kinds of things while the game is going on.

From what I understand, the American Team Evil Geniuses mostly won the International because their jungler abused the hell out of a champion, Tekkies, and their opponents didn't know how to deal with it? And after TI, Tekkies got nerfed of course.

EDG is definitely a scary team, but from what I've heard a bit volatile. Sometimes, they are absolute beasts, and sometimes they flounder. They will definitely get out of their group, but it will be interesting to see which side of EDG is shown afterwards, and whether they can challenge the top Korean teams.

Actually Evil Geniuses were one of the favorites to win the tournament along with European team "Secret". They won the other major tournament in the year (DAC) fairly convincingly, and just looked a little bit shaky on the new patch whereas Secret were thriving on the new patch until they got smashed at TI.

A big reason Western teams have become dominant this year is simply because the Chinese have not shown up, despite having the top 3/4 teams after IG. They are definitely not as threatening as they are known to be and in my opinion it is because they are struggling with the gold changes implemented after TI4 which has essentially turned the game into -em (easy mode). The chinese were known for their farming and teamfighting, but now seem to struggle with prioritizing grand strategy into their games whereas the west just go yolo and drafts well and wins.

Spoiler

SKT just took a game off EDG but I got to agree with the analyst desk in that by doing so, SKT just showed their hand EDG and EDG are probably playing for the long game. Very hard to judge who is stronger in a Bo1, I definitely think if SKT and EDG did a Bo5, all 5 games would be played out.