After 11 weeks of intense fighting, the top six European teams are just a couple of games away from determining the winner of the EU LCS Spring split. Just as in the last edition, we witnessed many comebacks, slumps, winning streaks, cries of joy and sighs of disappointment, the only difference being the lack of tie-breakers. We have a lot to look forward to coming into this week's final clashes.
For starters, pros will unveil what they have come up with in patch 4.5. The shift in rune set-ups, swaps of summoner spells and different champions on bot lane and the notorious Feral Flame are just some of the changes which the patch brought onto the pro scene. Since then, the competitive community has been split in two, with one side claiming that such a drastic change can prove disastrous during the playoffs while the other argued that creativity is a part of being a competitor.
The other very interesting aspect is the rather unexpected match-ups. At the beginning of the split, many argued that Gambit Gaming, Alliance and Fnatic will cruise through the season and achieve high placings with ease. While the latter did those predictions justice, the third and fifth place finish of Alliance and Gambit, respectively, did put them in an uncomfortable position. Now, they have to face the Copenhagen Wolves and Team ROCCAT in order to advance further where the surprise of the split, SK Gaming and the evergreen Fnatic await.
Alliance versus Copenhagen Wolves
After the last two weeks, the Wolves cemented themselves in sixth place and were hoping to avoid playoff monsters such as Gambit or Alliance which were fresh of a hot streak. Unfortunately, ROCCAT snatched the fourth spot and consequently, Amazing's team now has to face the well-oiled machine of Alliance.
Taking a good look at the stats, we can observe that Froggen's team outclasses their counterpart in almost every single aspect with a few minor exceptions. However, this is nothing new for the Wolves, a team that has faced an uphill battle throughout the split. The squad had a period full of mixed results and plays, but that was more than enough to put them ahead of Supa Hot Crew and Millenium, teams which could not adapt or display a level of execution required to stay among the best.
While numbers do tell a good story, the Wolves pack a punch like no other team. With an experienced leader like YoungBuck and two ever-present threats in the faces of Amazing and Forg1ven, the team cannot simply be written off in this match. Obviously, the Wolves will be looking to keep the bot lane safe, while providing cover for one of the two solo lanes, a task which only a jungler of Amazing's caliber can fulfill. Never willing to back down, the Copenhagen Wolves will do all in their power to avoid the possibility of relegation and hopefully, upset a confident Alliance.
Player to watch: Maurice 'Amazing' Stückenschneider
The MVP of weeks 6 and 7 will be looking to spearhead his team into the lead early in the match. Known for his excellent execution and precision in ganking, Maurice has to hit all the right timings in order to throw the enemy off balance. A quick blow to Shook's confidence could prove vital once those timings are hit. Given that in most cases, the bot lane is the primary target, the German Lee Sin maestro has a clue where to start. The second part of his task is to dedicate the spare time that he has to helping one of the two solo lanes. With Froggen and Wickd as opponents, CowTard and YoungBuck could definitely use a hand.
Speaking of Alliance, the team that was once bottom 4 has now fulfilled its destiny and entered the playoffs with a thirst for blood. After barely missing on a ticket to the Season 3 World Finals, Froggen and Wickd are now back with a vengeance. Aided by three excellent teammates, the Danes are looking to reclaim what was lost during Season 3.
What is interesting to note is how much playoff experience every member of Alliance has with Shook being a minor exception. Both Tabzz and Nyph have had their fair share of international tournaments and best-of-three matches, in Nyph's case even dating back to the Season 1 Championship in Stockholm, Sweden. The high-caliber bunch is now not only fully functioning, but also knows what to expect and how to prepare for it.
Having a strong laning presence is an immense plus and Alliance will seek to establish their dominance as early as possible. Should all go right, Shook will be landing blow after blow and making Amazing's task a living nightmare. On the other hand, Alliance should be wary of any incoming "cheese" as they have demonstrated in the past that mind games do affect even seasoned players. Without a doubt the favourites in this clash, Froggen's men will seek to prove that their high placing in the last couple of weeks was no fluke, but a sign of things that are yet to come.
Player to watch: Henrik 'Froggen' Hansen
The Danish dynamo behind the line-up of stars, Henrik is undoubtedly the best mid laner in Europe at the moment. Solid in every aspect of his play, the ace is confident in his ability to inspire and carry his squad to victory tomorrow. Criticized last Season for sticking to traditional mage champions, now he has expanded his champion pool and has demonstrated his abilities with assassin champions, much to the delight of the viewers and fans.
Team ROCCAT versus Gambit Gaming
Poland versus Russia. The disappointing last week performance of Gambit led them to a fifth place finish, something which many did not expect. Following a split of ups and downs, visa problems and questionable in-game decisions, the bright side is that they made it to this stage after all. Alex Ich's men have been on a rough patch and this is a perfect time to return to their roots as beasts of the best-of-X format.
The LCS is a familiar playground for the Russians. Twice runner-up to Fnatic, they continue to impress and add more top 4 finishes to their records. However, this time their task is a bit tougher. The Polish threat that looms over the Russians is real and their fourth place finish in the regular season serves as proof to their good adaptation to the LCS and cohesion as a team.
The bootcamp in Ukraine has historically helped the team once again regain their momentum and confidence once they are faced with important matches. Their head-to-head record, on the other hand, is in favour of the Poles. In order to establish control over the match, the Russians will have to shut down both Overpow and Jankos. Luckily the only player that can gladly accept the task is already on their team!
Player to watch: Danil 'Diamondprox' Reshetnikov
The beast that is Diamond has never fallen out of favour and his ability to read the game and execute ganks out of nowhere still holds him on his throne as Europe's best jungler. The aggressive, but calculated style of the Russian is just what the team needs against a solid line-up such as ROCCAT. With the introduction of patch 4.5 and the brilliant minds at work in the Gambit corner, we can be sure that surprises are coming and hopefully, they can once again leave us breathless.
On the other hand, we have team ROCCAT who despite having a mid-season "crisis", managed to get their act together and finish in fourth place, leaving both Gambit and Alliance behind them. The newcomers to the LCS surprised everyone and silenced the critics who claimed that their victory against NiP was nothing short of luck or bad play from the opposition.
Possessing an excellent mix of players from top to bottom, Overpow and his crew will be looking to make history in their debut season. Should they win, the giants of Fnatic await as the last challenge prior to the finals. However, as the Poles have fulfilled their task of staying in the LCS, there is no clear indication of what they will bring to the table. Statistically, they do hold a better record against Gambit and just as the Russians, they are not afraid of a playoff match be it best-of-three or best-of-five.
Finally, the Poles are known to bring interesting and new concepts to the Summoner's Rift. This makes patch 4.5 an excellent playground for them and a chance to surprise the Russian overlords and take them out of the tournament. Should this happen, Gambit will have to add an unsuccessful top 4 campaign, something which they do not have the habit of doing.
Player to watch: Remigiusz 'Overpow' Pusch
The mid laner and arguably the strongest individual player in the ROCCAT line-up will prove to be the biggest problem for the Russians. Versed in both traditional mages and assassins, his deep champion pool and excellent execution make Overpow deadly and unpredictable. Being a key player during the regular season for his team and even winning an MVP award in week 2, Remigiusz will be looking to land an alarming defeat to Gambit and continue marching towards the EU LCS Final in his debut season in Europe's most competitive league.
A tale of winners and losers
The winners of both matches will go on to face SK Gaming and Fnatic respectively, in the semi-finals of the tournament. The losers will have to play a match for 5th and 6th place which will decide who gets to stay in the EU LCS and who goes to relegation along with Supa Hot Crew and Millenium. The only glimmer of hope for the 6th place team is the fact that he is presented with a choice of opponent form the Challenger scene, a factor which brings at least some convenience.
The playoffs of the European LCS begin tomorrow, Tuesday 15 April at 16:00 CET. Tune in to lolesports.com to find out who will be crowned as champion of Europe.
Images copyright of lolesports.com
Data collected with help by the onGamers Stats team: Daniel 'Spellsy' Biery, Derek 'Kathix' Adams, Steven 'whedgehead' Falgout, Kent 'Traepoint' Frasure, Jake Morales, and James 'PelkaSupaFresh' Pelkey. Design by Ben 'Sarcasmappreciated' Li.
The struggle with League of Legend analytics has been that LoL at its heart is a team game, and it is different than typical sports because of the snowball factor inherent in these types of games. When looking at sports analytics, Lebron or Kobe could score 50 points any given night, win or lose. This is completely different in LoL, as winning teams, by clearing out base towers, securing objectives, and getting more powerful as the game goes on, naturally get more gold and kills. In fact, the winning side averages over 5 times more KDA, and somewhere between 25% and 35% more GPM when winning vs losing. The full breakdown is in this chart:
So, this winning-bias can often invalidate common analysis of raw KDA and GPM. Instead of a player getting a better kda because they are "performing better", instead they are just getting it because they are winning more. That in combination with the fact that we know this game is a team game, so a player can play "well" in a game, but still lose, made me want to create a winning-bias free model to compare players and see where players underperformed or overperformed over the season.
The Methodology:
To properly see which players are overperforming vs underperforming , I took into account a player's win-loss ratio and weighted their kda/gpm/minion kills against a "dummy" player with equal wins and losses. So, for example, if we look at Shiphtur, one of the people seen as out-performing his team. Right now, his KDA ratio is on average 5.56, with a win-loss record of 10-18. So this means that a "standard" mid player with 10 wins and 18 losses would have 10 games with 8.169 KDA (as seen above), and 18 games with 1.787 KDA, leading to a weighted average of: (10*8.169 + 18*1.787)/28= 4.067. When comparing to Shiphtur's actual kda of 5.56, he has an improvement of 30% over his expected KDA of 4.067, which means he is supremely exceeding expectations.
As follows is the breakdown of each stat, KDA, GPM, and Minion Kill per Minute, as following the methodology above. A note, the fluxuation for something like GPM is less because as we saw in the above chart, GPM fluxuates less compared to Minion Kills or KDA, so a 5% above-average rating is very high, compared to KDA where a very-high rating is something like 20-30%.
Thorin will go on here to break down who is overrated vs underrated:
Breakdown by Thorin - Top laners
Nientonsoh's dreadful KDA leaps off the page at you. On a CLG team that is so improved, with all the other four members receiving their share of praise, rightfully, as the season has gone on, Nientonsoh has been highlighted as the weak spot of the line-up. When one considers how drastically below the dummy he is and considers how unlikely names like InnoX and Benny are outperforming him in KDA, it is somewhat telling of his problems at Top lane. It's not as though he's just been off farming like a monster either, as his GPM is fairly underwhelming. Anyone considering him one of the best Top laners in NA is overrating him, as these numbers and our eyes would suggest.
The aforementioned Benny has a very impressive KDA, but his GPM and CSPM are pretty bad. When XDG were at their peak mancloud, Xmithie and BloodWater were all killing it at their roles, I considered Zuna and Benny to be their weak points. Others would mention him as being a good Top laner and had optimism for his future in the team, which this graph would suggest has been shown to be misguided. We see here that despite doing very well in kills, he is struggling in the other areas of the game.
Dyrus' KDA is worth speaking about, as so much of the focus in TSM is Bjergsen and WildTurtle that if this were just a flat KDA graph one could argue his numbers away with the fact he is winning. Since this is weighted and we're looking at how much he is outperforming what would be expected of someone winning so many games, we can see that Dyrus is having a great season all around and is really outperforming what one would expect of him in terms of kill contribution. In a team that wins as much as TSM does, it's hard to be underrated, but I think these numbers suggest that we can rightfully say Dyrus isn't held in high enough regard.
ZionSpartan has been so highly touted thanks to his big games this season, but a look at his overall numbers show that he remains inconsistent, so that he overall is actually doing worse for kills, despite being thought of as a carry in their line-up. This KDA would suggest we should probably reconsider his overall level, not simply look at his great games and ignore the others. Likewise, Quas was so often talked about a potentially one of the best Top laners this season, but his numbers are bad in every respect. This is not a star player, the numbers simply aren't there.
Balls has good numbers everywhere, he is particularly going ham in farm. With that said, he is now frequently listed as the best NA Top laner and often put ahead of Dyrus. In terms of kills, that's simply not the case, according to these graphs. So that aspect of Balls' game is overrated, even if he is having an excellent season all in all. The next best for CSPM is Innox, who has quietly put together a tidy season, from an individual standpoint. The star power of the EU players will always push him out of the spotlight and then the occasional good game from Pobelter sends eyes to the Mid lane of EG, but Innox's numbers tell their own story here and suggests he is likely underrated.
Cruzer is about where you would expect him to be overall, many have pointed to him as a weak spot on Dignitas and the overall trend here says that is on the money. He has outperformed in KDA, but not enough to make him some flawed gem.
Junglers
Meteos is not overrated as the best Jungler in NA and we didn't need these numbers to know that. What the numbers do tell us though, is just how incredible his performance has been. The guy is a complete stud and rightfully should be considered the star of his team, blowing the expectation for every stat out of the water. Speaking domestically, it's almost impossible to overrate him, he's the best and by a long margin in NA. In fact, his KDA almost skews every other jungler because he is so far above-average. Someone who is overrated though, is TheOddOne. People want to say that every player of TSM is having an amazing season and is one of the best at their role, but OddOne's numbers aren't there overall on this graph and we can see that he is underperforming, in fact, he is the only TSM member who placed significantly under expectations for KDA.
Just as Meteos can't domestically be overrated, NintendudeX can't be underrated in any sense of the word. These are appalling bad numbers, especially when one considers that every other player at the position has at least one stat that they outperform the expected in. Since it's no shock that Nintendude's numbers are so bad, I should mention that is a huge shock how bad Xmithie's KDA is here. After S3 Worlds, a legitimate debate could be had about whether the best Jungler in NA was Meteos or Xmithie, with the decision largely coming down to considerations of which style of play one prefers and hypotheticals of who would fit best into other teams. After this split that debate is long since dead in the water, though I'm not sure people have leveled as much criticism toward's Xmithie as his KDA number here would suggest he should have coming his way.
It's always been the way in team esports titles that the last addition to a team is often overvalued if the team drastically steps up a level in performance. These numbers would suggest that is the case with Dexter, who is actually doing very badly in KDA for a player who everyone would cite as having had such a large impact on his team and creating a winning culture there. Consider the praise for Dexter as we move over to looking at Crumbzz' numbers. Here's a player who hasn't seen a legitimate wealth of praise in a year, yet has put together a very tidy resume of stats here, on a troubled team.
It's difficult to call Snoopeh underrated, since his legion of fans seem to inhabit a bubble in which they all pretend it's still the middle of season two and he's still one of the elite at his position in Europe, but his KDA shows there is an element to his play that has gone undervalued by those who, accurately, consider him a player who is no longer near the top of his position.
Mid Laners
The most overrated Mid in NA is Hai, this is something I would have said before and this graph suggests a solid statistical ground from which to say it again. On a team battling to be the best in their region, quite successfully, his KDA is shocking even to a skeptic like me. To be in the negative for all three stats is really eye-opening too. Considering he was lifted into the conversation for best Mid in NA before the season began, with people telling fans not to get ahead of themselves saying Bjergsen would go unchallenged due to Hai's existence, the public must now acknowledge that they have gassed up the C9 man too much.
Shiphtur has been the revelation of the entire LCS NA split and the numbers confirm as much, playing absolutely out of his mind. With his team doing so badly, compared to how well their best matches suggest they could be doing, it's nice to see that the numbers back-up that the buzz around this Mid player isn't just hype based on their wins, he's legitimately performing at an elite level in his region. As long as people want to compare Bjergsen to Faker, then he will be overrated, but in NA these numbers show that he is rightfully entrenched as the king of the Mid lane.
Link is an interesting case, since he gets so much credit from his own team and whenever CLG win, but his KDA is backing up that this is a new and improved Link this split. mancloud has had a nightmare season in terms of where his team began and have finished, but he has persevered and these stats would actually suggest he is probably a little underrated, in as much as his reputation has fallen heavily from the best Mid in NA, post-Worlds, to people not even talking about him in those conversations. In his Grilled interview with me, he mentioned that playing Froggen at an MLG in S2 showed him the importance of focusing on simply farming up and winning through CS, but we can see here that that mentality still lives on in his mind and he continues vacuum up every creep that crosses his path.
scarra and Voyboy are the two star names at Mid who haven't played like stars at all this split and so we can say that their fans overrate them, even if I think the general community has accurately labeled them as hype-only stars. Considering how mad people were at Curse removing Pobelter, claiming it would cost them, his KDA suggests he gets a little overrated after his good games and is struggling to approach carry status on EG. Compared side-by-side with mancloud, we can see that both guys are on terrible teams, in terms of performance, and yet mancloud grinds out decent numbers, while Pobelter's KDA completely drops off a cliff.
AD Carries
Wow at Cop's KDA. For a player who has so often been heavily scrutinised on his teams, with good reason, his KDA is really worth noting and a mental note being made that he is underrated in that element of his game. Consider instead that Doublelift, who is always spoken of highly, is actually a decent margin below where his KDA would be expected to be, yet has still gotten a lot of credit this season in terms of being a carry in CLG. Wizfujin, yellowpete and Zuna don't need too much said about them, I think most would consider them the three worst LCS NA ADCs and the numbers show as much. I will just take a moment to suggest that Zuna's occasionally abrasive persona in fact masks a beautifully calm pacifist, who wouldn't hurt a fly and just wishes to end the division caused by the typical pro mindset that considers those in the server from the other team as "enemies".
WildTurtle quickly gained reputation as an ADC thanks to the success of his tenure in TSM, but his KDA performance here really isn't anything of note. He may still be the best ADC in NA, though the debate with Doublelift is now back and raging at full force, but he's not really performing at any exceptional level that one could look at as underrated in any sense. A man who has gone under the radar is Imaqtpie. He may come off as a goofball who isn't as invested in winning, but after a troubling Dig season he has solid numbers in every single regard here and is firmly placed as Dig's carry player. I think many realise that, but he is likely underrated in terms of never being put near the conversation of who the best ADC in NA is.
Due to playing what is traditionally a carry role, Sneaky has often been thought of as one of the weaker spots on C9, but his KDA tells a different story here. In NA, the man is more than doing his job at ADC, meaning that "WildTurtle could have been the ADC for C9 in LCS" hypothetical gets brought up less often that it otherwise might.
Supports
Obviously I'm going to ignore the CSPM for Supports, as the context is likely too wacky and subjective in each case. XDG Support Sheep made a strong case for being the worst at his position in LCS NA. In a meta where Supports are living the dream, running around and killing opponents in team-fights, he's missing so many kills one has to wonder if Zuna has had a discussion with him about the needlessness of killing in the the modern world. I don't think anyone overrates him, it was mainly just people who wanted to support a new player in the LCS and boost his confidence.
Xpecial is still thought of by some as the best Support in NA, but I don't think the entire community gives him enough credit for his impact on TSM and their wins. The man who engages in seemingly all their fights is posting ludicrous numbers in terms of kills from his position. This the meta in which we truly get to see the power of Xpecial and his mechanics in action. Despite being on a team winning all the time, I think Xpecial has managed to be underrated a little. Speaking of mechanics, a move to NA and a period of refocusing seemed to have put Krepo back on the path to showing himself to be a top Support, but he is much further below the KDA line than I think most would have expected, putting him into the overrated category.
Aphromoo has been one of the reasons Xpecial's name is not mentioned as much, as everyone has been looking at the new name dominating at the position. It's true that Aphromoo has performed above expectations from those who saw his last spell at Support in CLG, one year ago, but I think he is now accurately considered one of the top two at his position in NA now, which the numbers confirm. Lemonnation just does his job in C9 and they win, the graphs tells the same upon inspection. He's right where he should be, and despite all C9's wins I don't think anyone considers him an elite Support, except in terms of his strategical thinking and the more brain-focused side of the game.
With NintendudeX spending most of his LCS games looking at a grey screen, and ZionSpartan forgetting his spinach so often, I don't think many bring up Daydreamin's role in Coast's losses. His KDA really is pretty bad here, obviously not Sheep levels of bad, but bad nonetheless. Nobody particularly every speaks of the Support though, so I don't think anything need be said about him being underrated or overrated.
In conversations I've had with MonteCristo, he always tells me that the Support position is very shallow in NA, in terms of the talent pool. Looking at this graph it's easy to see how accurate that analysis is, as it's basically Xpecial and Aphromoo far out in front, Lemonnation performing a workman-like role and then everyone else being different shades of underwhelming.
Conclusion
To pick out a few names to put as the most overrated and underrated seems a worthwhile task, since we can bring them out of merely the context of their role and teams. I think the most overrated have to be Hai, Nientonsoh and TheOddOne. When you consider that they play for the three best teams in NA, their numbers really are lacking in key areas. The most underrated are Cop, Imaqtpie and Crumbzz. All are on teams a tier below the top three, but all have performed well outside of the context of wins or losses, in terms of their statistics. And finally there have been some confirmed opinions, that Zuna is really underperforming, Meteos is still a stud, and Shiphtur needs a new team.
Data collected with help by the onGamers Stats team: Derek 'Kathix' Adams, Steven 'whedgehead' Falgout, Kent 'Traepoint' Frasure, Jake Morales, and James 'PelkaSupaFresh' Pelkey. Design by Ben 'Sarcasmappreciated' Li.
Amaury 'Moopz' Minguerche, former Mid laner of Supa Hot Crew, is the star of the 26th episode of 'Reflections'.
How good was Moopz back when he played in Team Sypher in late 2011 and early 2012? What was Froggen like prior to becoming famous? How did Sypher beat CLG.EU at Gamers Assembly in early 2012? Who is harder for him to play: Alex Ich or xPeke? Was nukeduck only good on assassins?
Time line of topics discussed:
00:10 Playing in Team Sypher in late 2011
01:00 How good was he at the time?
01:18 Who were the hardest players to play at Mid back then?
01:42 Froggen prior to becoming famous
02:26 Beating CLG.EU at that team's first offline event, Gamers Assembly.
03:46 Did he know he'd return to a pro team again after Sypher?
05:46 Was he at the level of the top EU Mids in late 2012?
05:20 What is the ideal Mid lane meta for him?
05:44 Was S3 bad for him in terms of the meta?
06:02 Was nukeduck only good on assassins?
07:03 Comparing nukeduck and Bjergsen.
07:32 Would the best EU Mids dominate NA Mid laners like Bjergsen has?
08:31 Overpow
09:51 Froggen in Alliance
11:31 Who is harder to play for him: xPeke or Alex Ich?
12:07 Expectations for the split.
12:57 The promotion series vs. SK
14:03 Would SHC have stuck together if they hadn't gotten into LCS?
We'd like to ask BurNIng to summarize just what exactly happened in the last game to cause you to lose? Was it a problem with your picks or something else?
BurNIng: The majority of the reason stems from ourselves.
Next I want to ask Captain Duck (MMY), in selecting Meepo in the second game, was this something that was decided on beforehand or a spur of the moment decision? Watching pubs a few days ago, I did see MMY playing Meepo.
MMY: Spur of the moment, we thought of it so we used it.
Ember Spirit, since being introduced, has had a very high ban/pick rate. We want to ask Mushi your thoughts on countering Ember Spirit? And also describe to us a bit in what happened with the Rapiers?
Mushi: Sheepstick, Orchid and such types of controlling items. The Rapiers came after discussing things with teammates.
Iceiceice has just returned from Ukraine. Any fun things to share? Are things still pretty tense over there?
Iceiceice: I had an argument with Bulldog in Ukraine. The weather there is great, better than Shanghai, Shanghai's smog is too much la.
Lastly let's ask LaNm, your visa issues have been sorted out. Has the whole ordeal affected your mindsest at all?
LaNm: Thank you for asking, the visa has been resolved. It's alright, not much effect. (iceiceice interjects: Losing money not happy!)
We saw that after the match ended just now, iceiceice was handing money out to LaNm. Could it be that since LaNm lost his, iceiceice is giving out bonuses to help?!
iceiceice: No la, blah blah......
Thank you to DK for accepting our interview very cheerfully even though they lost a game, we hope you have good form in facing iG and NewBee in upcoming matches.
Counter Logic Gaming, Fnatic and now Curse have joined the Azubu streaming lineup. This comes after a recent investment by Sapinda group of $34.5 million dollars. Azubu has plans to relaunch the site this month, named "Azubu 2.0"
“We feel the Azubu and Curse Gaming work well together,” said Curse Gaming owner Steve Arhancet. “We want to give our fans top quality content and entertainment. We feel Azubu has the same goals.”
Tricia Sugita, Azubu’s Senior eSports Manager went on to say:
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with Curse Gaming, a household name in the eSports community."“Their recent expansion into Oceania and Hearthstone creates a fantastic opportunity to bring the viewer premier eSports content. We can't wait to start working with Curse Gaming to entertain and evolve the eSports medium."
Having helped the struggling team to a nail bitingly close grand final showing in the recent StarLadder XI America qualifiers, Ho has been standing in for Liquid a number of times in the past weeks, making today's announcement somewhat expected as the team's form has been on the uprise following his period as a stand-in for the squad in multiple online tournaments.
Whilst it might have seemed obvious that DeMoN would band up with Liquid, there was still a lot of speculation surrounding where the North American Dota veteran would actually end up. Many expected that he'd join up with Steven 'Korok' Ashworth and Ioannis 'Fogged' Loucas newest endeavour North American Rejects, given Ho's current position in the American Dota community. In the end however, Team Liquid became the team of choice for the former EG player.
DeMoN on joining Team Liquid:
I would like to thank Team Liquid for giving me this opportunity to play under such a prestigious organization. This team has been in a slump for the past few months now and I hope I'll be able to lift their spirits high and rebuild the confidence they need as a team. BuLba and myself go way back and have lots of chemistry together and I want to build that same relationship within the whole team. It's going to take a lot of #hardwork and #dedication but I know in the long run it'll all be worth it. "Suffer the PAIN of Discipline, or Suffer the PAIN of Regret" #LiquidRising
Welcome to the Season 4 Spring Split Coverage Center where you can find the standings, results. Check out all the previews and recaps made by our staff and don't forget to check out our Media Gallery where you can find pictures and video's done on site!
Livestream: Stream will be added once the Playoffs continue tomorrow at 16:00 CEST.
ESGN's Jason Atkins will start covering the title on a day-to-day basis with commentary of recent events from the ESGN studios in Germany. Along with this announcement, it was also revealed that the next season of their HearthStone Fight Night showmatch series will be starting up again for its sixth season later tonight.
Whether or not ESGN will create gameshows similar to those the company have created for their 1v1 counterparts for CS:GO is yet to be announced.
Blizzard have announced that they will be bringing out their new expansion pack for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft in the Summer of 2014, the Curse of Naxxramas. This expansion will see the release of the newest game mode, Adventure Mode, in which brave adventurers fight off the bosses of the necropolis Naxxramas in a single player raid-themed event. Each wing of the expansion will be revealed one week at a time, with the first wing being released the Arachnid Quarter. The wings will be released one after the other according to the order in which you encounter them within the World of Warcraft raid, with the last wing which includes final boss Kel'Thuzad being released last.
Curse of Naxxramas will open its gates over the course of 5 weeks, opening wing by wing. The first wing of Curse of Naxxramas, The Arachnid Quarter, will be available free for all Hearthstone players. If you wish to venture further into Naxxramas to collect all of the new cards for your collection, each wing besides the Arachnid Quarter can be purchased with in-game gold or real money, whichever you prefer. As each wing is released, the cards available in each wing will also show up in your Arena picks, even if you have not earned them for your personal collection yet.
Blizzard developers, "Beware the Curse of Naxxramas"
Along with adventure mode being released, Blizzard have stated that they will be releasing 30 Naxxramas themed cards to go along with the expansion. Most of these cards seem to be deathrattle-centric, and Blizzard have also stated that these cards will only be available from the wings of the Naxxramas adventure mode; in other words, start saving your gold for each wing! They have already revealed a few cards, involving one new legendary Baron Rivendare, but 4 more are planned state developers. Only time will tell how these new cards influence the metagame!
Going in to the last major online tournament before the LAN finals of SLTV IX commence in Kiev this Thursday, Na'Vi clobbered their opponents in Cloud 9 with a 3-1 score after several displays of power from the Ukranian powerhouse. One of which included a massive comeback in the initial game of the series, where they were down by a total of 9 kills in the early game but managed to claw their way back into the game and eventually win it.
The community funded event paid out a total of $124,000, of which a total of $60,000 was paid out to the winners, a hefty sum that will more than likely act as a motivator for the upcoming LAN in Kiev.
Yesterday, NewBee's Hao posted an introspective declaration of love and ambition for all the world to read. It's a reminder for us that behind every nickname and ID is a person with their own history, goals and ambitions. For the Chinese, these histories and goals are often miles apart from what we may be used to in the West, which makes this all the more interesting if you were interested in learning more about Hao.
I am unsure of where to begin, I am not well-read and my writing isn’t great, so please don’t laugh at me when reading this. My family was never very well off, from when I was little to now I’ve always liked playing games. Not because I don’t want to learn more, but because I had no way. I wanted to go to school, but our family conditions did not allow it. I remember when I was little, mom said before, if I can test into university, then no matter how hard, she would help me pay for it.
But, I’ve always had a thought inside me, a feeling that going to school wasn’t the future for me. If I wanted to make it somewhere and be someone, I must rely on myself, no one else would be able to help me. I wanted to make it to where I had what I wanted, I need not worry about what to eat, what to wear, what I needed. Yet I was born into the life, this was my life. I started playing professionally in March of 2011, and before this, I had been very lost as to my life. I didn’t know what I should do, but I knew I wasn’t satisfied with being just average. I hid my professional career from family.
I remember when I first came out. At that time my mom was telling me to go to Guizhou for a job, but I secretly bought a ticket to Wuhan and chose to join Nv to play professionally, because I felt that this was a chance for me, a chance for me to change my life. Only this way could I find success, and thus I secretly went to Wuhan without telling my family in order to compete. At first when they found out, they were not agreeable, but slowly they realized that this was my dream, and they no longer tried to stop me. They knew that they couldn’t help me much, and I could only rely on myself. Over three years of competing, I’ve been hopeless before, helpless before, and had even thought of giving up before.
But I did not, I persevered on. Only with perseverance comes success. And nowadays, my family all support me, agree with me and feel that my chosen path is not wrong. Let’s talk a bit more about my mom, who has been truly great to me. The things she’s undergone for me, I don’t want to speak too much about, but every time I think of it, I want to cry, my heart hurts for it. When I was little I couldn’t do anything, I could only watch as my beloved mother went and quietly suffered everything for me. When I was little I set myself a goal, if I was able to make money in the future, I would absolutely not let my mom suffer any longer. I hoped that I would make her proud as a son, someone she could be proud of talking about with others. I would give her the best. Mom, I love you, thank you for all the caring these years. Let me care for you now.
Lastly let’s talk about my own life. I had a girlfriend at first, two and a half years, but in the end she left me. At that time I couldn’t live on anymore, I even had thoughts of ending it right there. But every time I thought of my mom, I would rid myself of those impulses. She only has me, what would she do without me? Afterwards, I had many different girlfriends, but they all fell apart in the end, whether because of different personalities, or them leaving me, or because we were the right ones for each other but at the wrong time… Honestly trying to maintain a relationship whilst competing is the worst, I had discovered this last year, so prior to TI3 I did not have any. The result from this everyone was able to see, our results were amongst the best in China last year. But this year, it’s close to TI4, and I’ve got another love. Why would I do this even if I clearly know it affects my professional career? Because I truly love her, I cannot be without her. We met last October, through Weibo. Maybe many of you think this is ridiculous, meeting online, then being together, and now we can’t separate… I am not making this up, I truly love her and treat her well, I can give her the best, I can give up anything to be with her. I love her. But because of various reasons it’s hard for us to be together, yet I don’t want to give up, I truly don’t want to give up, I will be good to you. Please believe me, and I ask each of you to be my witnesses.
Episode 4 of 'Summoning Insight', a League of Legends talk show hosted by Duncan 'Thorin' Shields and Christopher 'MonteCristo' Mykles, discusses the playoff match-ups of LCS NA, LCS EU and OGN Champions Spring.
Time line of topics discussed:
00:05 Intro
01:10 Dignitas vs. Curse
04:43 Crumbzz as an underrated jungler
14:00 CLG vs. Coast
23:45 Which team of Dig and Crs matches up best against C9?
27:05 The potential match-up of CLG vs. TSM
33:45 The team who will lose the relegation match
35:20 LMQ
40:35 Roccat vs. Gambit
42:28 MonteCristo doesn't get Europe and thinks the top NA teams are better than the top EU teams, due to understanding macro strategy better
57:24 Alliance vs. Copenhagen Wolves
1:00:00 Hypothetical of Fnatic vs. Alliance in semis
1:06:15 Potential finals predictions for NA and EU
1:14:52 The potential EU relegation playoff match
1:16:10 MVP of the regular split of NA and EU
1:25:13 Predictions and casters not being willing to give real analysis all the time
1:33:40 Removing emotion from analysis
1:41:10 Did SKT K and SKT S rig OGN matches?
1:47:45 SKT vs. Ozone
2:03:00 Frost vs. Blue
2:04:00 KT A vs. Blaze
2:06:55 KT B vs. Shield
2:19:45 Q&A from chat: Were there patch teams?
2:27:40 Q&A from chat: Why does Riot stick to Bo3 instead of other tournament formats?
In a deal signed between Curse management and team owner Steve 'LiQuiD112' Arhancet on March 1st, onGamers has learned that all current esports activities under Curse will be spun off into its own independent organization. The League of Legends and Call of Duty teams, sales, content, talent, and admin departments are included in the transfer.
Ownership of the new organization, which is dubbed 'Competitive Esports', will be taken by Arhancet, who has been managing esports activities for Curse since its inception. Curse VP of Marketing Donovan Duncan says that Curse will continue to be the title sponsor for the new organization, and all teams will remain under the Curse name.
Arhancet and Duncan both speak to onGamers about why and how this transfer came about, the finances behind the deal, and what the future has in store for both organizations.
onGamers: Why have you each decided to go on this path?
Steve 'LiQuiD112' Arhancet: I think one of the main reasons for doing this is just to become a little bit more agile than we have been able to do previously, As you know, the esports market is ever changing with new games as they become competitive, and the players, teams are constantly changing. That creates a lot of decisions that need to be made really quickly and I need to be able to seize those opportunities as they come up. So being able to have the control and the quick decision making power to do things that are necessary to help extend the Curse brand and the areas within esports that we wanna be involved in, is definitely one of the main reasons why we did this. Or I did this.
Donovon Duncan (Curse): Yeah, and I’m totally agreeing. You know one of the examples you can use Rod is even when we make simple changes to rosters, for Curse as a company and the way that we operate, we’ve had to employ these guys, we’ve had to get insurance, we’ve had to put them on payroll. To move someone or to you know change their compensation in any way or let them go from the team is actually really hard to do when they’re full time employees. And as a company we’ve had to face challenges that have made it harder for us to react quickly - which is absolutely needed in a sports environment you know. So, it just wasn’t necessarily a scenario in which we were able to get things done quickly and allow Steve to operate in a way that, let him move people around quickly and have them kinda in a sports like environment. As a company we were not used to having to let somebody sit out for a week, for example, and so it’s more a change in just nature, we’re more agile and then we can have the best team out there and make sure that everything’s just as smooth as possible.
What is the structure of the new organization?
Arhancet: Day one, I have 60 contractors that are working for the company, so I have 60 contractors that will be moving over, so. No. No. They’re all contractors to me. Yes. I am the CEO and I also do have a cofounder I guess, who owns a minority stake in the company, Chris Blevins, nope, just the two of us. No, nothing like that. No. Uhm, we have more gaming houses coming. Hopefully an office at some point. I’ve tossed around the idea of rather than having gaming houses, of having an office with an apartment complex nearby where the gamers can live and come to the office and work and then go back home, I would honestly prefer to move to a model like that, so at some point maybe, but yeah we have another gaming house what’s gonna pop up here within the next month.
Did money exchange hands for this transfer of company assets?
Duncan: Yeah, I don’t wanna talk too much about numbers, but the takeaway is just that we, in my opinion, have really set Steve up on kinda the road to success, because again this was not a thing where we wanted to, you know, get rid of Steve or get rid of esports or anything like that - I think we’ve been very, very compelled to see the program still be successful, we’re still the title sponsor, we’re still paying every month to have Steve be able to run this successfully, open new teams, manage the best League of Legends team - so there was a lot of things that, you know, we’ve done to make sure that this will be successful in the future.
Arhancet: I set up the company, knowing that, this is not the kind of company where I’m on the corner and people are going to be coming into the door because of the name, or building a company that, the name of the company is needed to sell services or products - I’m of the belief that I will always have a title sponsor associated with the team, and that title sponsor will retain all of the naming rights associated with everything. And that’s the way that we’ve structured it. So the official company name is “Competitive Esports” but that name will not be used. Curse has granted licensing rights to “Competitive Esports” to continue using the Curse name in pretty much everything we do, so the community and the fans and all that will not see any kind of name change or anything like that. It will all continue to be Curse. “Competitive Esports”, it’s all kind of generic as you can get.
Steve 'LiQuiD112' Arhancet
Why did you name the new company 'Competitive Esports'?
Arhancet: The thing is that it’s kind of a throwaway, right? The name of the company doesn’t really matter too much, because in what use does the company name provide value? It’s going to be on our invoices, pretty much. The extent that the name will be used, it will not be used anywhere else. Everything else will still be named as Curse to everyone involved. It will be Curse Esports, Team Curse, Curse Gaming, all of that will continue as is. We usually go by Team Curse.
How is Curse organized at a company structure, and how did this make it difficult to make moves for the esports enviornment?
Duncan: Yeah, I mean we’re a media company and some of that is traditional, we do some things here that I think are pretty unique - we spend a lot of time on development, we’re building products and services. Esports from the beginning was really something we were incredibly passionate about and wanted to make sure that it fit quite well within the company and it did. Most of the executive team plays League of Legends, most of us are very involved in watching the games and knowing the players, and that part was super cool. But you know, again, kinda back to the last thing I was saying, is as far as structure we’re set up as a company. This unfortunately isn’t easy to operate when you’ve got things like employee insurance and healthcare and things that we have to do, because we operate a large business, you know? So, it was kind of a combination of us wanting the programmers until 2016, but then realizing that we couldn’t operate at the way that we operate Curse, because you know the way that we run things here is very much like a business, it’s very much a place where we have employees, and 401(k) programs, and things that just don’t necessarily fit into the environment of a sports team.
Arhancet: Yeah, absolutely, I mean in the realm of sports, there are instances where you need to be able to make changes pretty quickly based on performance, and just things that are going on within the community. So, if for example - if someone’s underperforming and you’ve brought them on and they’re an employee, and you’ve done all the kinda indoctrination to get them setup and on payroll and taken care of all the insurances that may be required to get that person setup, and then let’s just say they end up doing really bad at LCS, and they have a bad week - the cost associated with that on boarding process and getting them all setup is, it makes it difficult to then make business decisions on the esports side that may be needed in order to ensure that the team is operating at the peak of performance. So, within a smaller company environment, I’m able to do those things more quickly and be a little bit more agile than we were able to previously.
Duncan: Yeah, I think Curse just as a company, you know we to an extent we brought a lot of really good things to esports - I think the professionalism of our team in their ability to deliver just like a quality experience both for users, advertisers, other companies, people interested in esports, they kinda look out to our guys - and that’s really the professionalism that Curse brought in. But, outside of that, it’s very hard, or it was very hard for us, just because you know every other team we were competing with, they weren’t run like a company. So you know again, to the same point just to harp on at it again, and the same point that we’re making is that it’s just that it took us a long time to be able to make certain changes and to do things, and that was a hindrance for Steve and it was a hindrance for the performance of the team as a whole, as it relates to just being good at the game - which is, of course, super important.
Do you believe these high-end esports teams can be run on a corporate level, or is it just not feasible in the current climate of the esports business?
Duncan: Yeah, I think for us it’s just a matter of focus. If you’re the Dallas Cowboys and your whole job is running a sports team, then absolutely, that makes a lot of sense. But I don’t think esports is to a place yet where it can support a huge company, or a big company. And over the last couple of years, Curse has been really fortunate. We’ve made some good decisions, we work really hard, and we have about 100-150 people that we employ full time.
Last year on esports, we spent a million dollars out the door, and most of that didn’t come back in. It’s not something that we can use right now to develop and to grow our business to the extent that we want to. Now with that said, I mean there’s also a lot of stuff too that Curse kinda dragged on the esports team and you got the examples I gave were, you know we have people in multiple countries that we employ, we have to do legal contracts of course, insurance, healthcare, all of these things for those people, and that necessarily is not a one to one translation for the needs of the esports team. So, in a smaller team, a smaller environment, and a core group focused just on esports, Steve will be able to make different deals and do things more applicable to the in and out of players, and the shorter timeline turnarounds and those kinda things that make a lot more sense.
So, can big companies do it? Yeah, absolutely, you know, could we do it if it’s not our core focus and it’s not what we’ve really kinda built the company around it’s much harder - that’s kinda my view on it, I still think there’s space for a lot of companies but I just don’t know if there’s a single company right now that could have, you know 100 employees and be focused on esports. It’s just uh, it’s expensive and it would probably hinder things and slow things down more than anything.
Arhancet: I mimic Donovan’s feelings on this. In order to run a successful esports business, you have to be able to make decisions on talent and on all of the esports athletes to result in the best performance of the team, and sometimes those decisions need to be made quickly. You have one week where someone’s underperforming and you need to replace them with somebody else that’s sitting on the bench and eager and ready to take their place, you need to be agile, you need to be able to put that person in, you need to be able to react quickly. And some of those things are just that, and other esports specific business initiatives are things that are not to the kinda bread and butter of what Curse is doing. So allowing me to focus on making those decisions is great. Curse is 100% committed to the teeny men, the brand equity value that’s associated with everything we’ve been able to do in esports. I mean, Curse is one of the biggest names in one of the most played games in the world. That’s a huge value. Curse is still very committed to making sure that this all stays successful - it’s just now allowing me to make the decisions more quickly based on the needs of just a growing esports business.
Could you go into detail on how the current relationship is between Curse and the new organization?
Duncan: We want to move ourselves into more of a sponsorship role. We see the value, we know the team is strong, I think we’ve really worked with Steve quite a bit on some things over the past couple years. We feel now that the teams are at a point where we have the most professional team in the industry, with some of the best, hardest working, brightest guys I’ve ever met. So it's kind of a time for papa bear to let the team kind of go and do its thing. But we want to save all of them, and of course we still wanna reap some of the benefits for the investment we’ve made, so our new role is much more of a sponsorship. We’re still paying every month, in a sponsorship type role, to allow Steve to continue operations. He’s still going to be using the Curse brand, logos, those types of things, and you know he and I have kinda drawn up some agreements and things on how that’s gonna work, but it’s a much more simplified version and it really opens him up to allow him to run the company and run the team in a way he sees fit and I guess much more fluid to his needs.
Why keep it structured in this way? Why not just split away entirely?
Arhancet: The value that we’ve been able to create within the past few years with Curse and just the esports industry and all the communities that are associated within esports is significant; and we want to be able to retain that value that’s been associated, that we’ve invested into. So in order for us to continue that, the best way is to have the name of the team continue being the way it is, and have a title sponsorship that then flows down to everything that you would imagine a title sponsorship would include, and then it also allows for room to grow. One of the things that I want to accomplish over the next 6-12 months is to be able to introduce Curse and the brand, and build equity for them within new esports titles that are relevant, that Curse are also interested in being involved in. Whether that’s Hearthstone, or Heroes of The Storm, or whatever game may be coming up - there’s real value for there to be esports representation for Curse involved in that title, and for there to be relationships with the developer and other sponsors that are involved in that space. So it’s kind of like a no brainer that the way that we’ve set this up is by far the best scenario.
Duncan: Yeah and for us, we just, again, we’ve spent a lot of money on esports, and we believe in it, we’re all still huge fans of the team and the game, and it doesn’t make any sense to not invest now. We want to maintain and keep the reputation we’ve built. I think it’s a very good one, I think people know the players, they respect the team, they follow us and we get a lot of really good PR off the team. They’re almost world renowned at this point, so as Steve said it’s a no brainer.
Donovan you mentioned you put a million dollars into the team, and we've heard several stories from organizations on the difficulty in turning a profit in esports. Are you able to speak on how much ROI you were expecting with Curse coming into esports and how much you ended up getting? And, how much of an effect did that have on this decision overall?
Duncan: I mean, the ROI is what it is, I don’t think that’s gonna change from last year to next year. The structure is more of an organizational one and I think what we’re doing here is we’re giving Steve the tools and the ability to succeed even further than he’s been able to in the last year. So we see continued growth and excitement and everything good around the team, it’s going to be a great year for the team. In terms of just ROI from initial investment, I mean we definitely see this as a viable business for a lot of the companies that are doing it. I think there’s money to be made in esports - but we also knew that we got in early. We knew we’d spend some money, but for us the most important thing was branding and getting the community on our side. I mean, the community has been really adaptive and following what we’ve done in esports, super supportive, I read comments and posts on Reddit all the time where people are thankful. They think it’s really cool what we’ve done so our involvement hasn’t been unnoticed. Where that’s important is we have a few really big League of Legends sites, so those really benefit off the association with the team, and then in addition to that this year is a big year for Curse. We’re starting to talk a lot more about Curse Voice which is a product we’ve been building for the past couple of months, and that is, it is completely a tool which is built around League of Legends. So I think the ROI, even in relation to new products and services is really to be determined. We’re going to absolutely leverage the team and their big reach to help us push Curse Voice, get more signups, get more users, and those are things that are really important and core to our company right now. So 2014’s gonna really pay off for everything we’ve done in esports.
Riot and Blizzard have gone on record to say that they generally lose money on their esports ventures, but that they are happy to support the costs for their initiatives to promote their games and their players. With the way that Curse is currently structured, was it not worth it to continue those investments?
Donovan: No, I mean for us it was never really about the money. We want to reach people, we want to be able to work with them on new projects, and we want them to see the things that Curse is building. The team is an excellent PR tool for the things our company wants to accomplish, so it was never about 'Hey, we’re gonna put in a million and make about 1.2 and we’ll be happy' it was more like 'Hey, we really wanna do this, this is exciting for us, by the way we think there’s a huge audience here and a big reach'. We’re excited for that, but we didn’t go into this thinking that it’s going to be a grossly profitable venture with all kinds of big financial outcomes for us; it was more about what can it add to the value of the community’s perception of our company, which I think has been really positive, and what can we do if we want do more products and services for League; how can we establish a strong outlet there, and I think the team has really done that for us.
Arhancet: The best way to grow the esports business for Curse and also for me, is to: 1: Try to reach as many influential consumers in the gaming market, through a professional and personable brand experience that we provide through our esports teams. So that kind of brand equity and building that is really important. The second is to pay the bills, right? So, grow the revenue of the organization, and I think the best way to do that we’ve found is drive sponsors revenue for the teams. I have probably been one of the most successful at bringing in non-endemic sponsors along with endemic sponsors to help fund the team and bring in revenue, which has been great, and I want to continue to do that. We’ve had a great relationship developing with Nissan, we even have a deal that we’re working on for network television, we have a, another very large brand that is getting interested, that is starting to become interested and I’ve been able to secure multi-year deals with other endemic sponsors. So I think growing that and then being able to expand into new games based on that revenue and getting into new markets is something that I want to be able to do, which really just serves that first call which is building brand equity for Curse.
Has the cost of supporting Riot's LCS in terms of salaries, players, team houses, etc outweighed the return in terms of sponsorship, sales, and advertising?
Arhancet: For me, moving forward, the perceived, or assumptive, increased cost that you’re mentioning for the way that Riot has structured this; I mean I don’t see that. I think the reach that we’re able to get based on the improved marketability, leveraging, the YouTube and streaming and just the overall production of events that Riot is doing has lead to other opportunities that we may not have been able to achieve on our own. A great example, being able to stream an LCS match over the weekend, reach 400,000 concurrent viewers with X amount of total views and all the production associated with that, that creates a market for us that we can then use those numbers to talk to potential sponsors about - and that has resulted in improved revenue. In addition, Riot also provides some assistance - financial assistance associated with living, and some of the costs of getting set up and running the business.
Duncan: Yeah a couple of years ago I mean it was much harder, I think more advertisers had the opinion of like 'Oh yeah, esports, that probably won’t be big' and now, you know, they’re starting to see the numbers and really come around. We’ve been fortunate, again I think it has to do with the professionalism and the profound character of some of the members that we have on our team - but it’s paid off. We have really, really good sponsors, we work with some of the biggest and best brands in gaming, and every year that’s getting better and better due to the fact that Riot has made these investments in esports and they’re willing to pave the way for this outlet and it’s not going unnoticed. I mean we get more and more attention in the team and more and more attention on esports in general every couple months, it’s spiking. It’s exciting still, it’s a very exciting time.
Will this new independent team be the sole esports focus for Curse moving forward?
Duncan: In terms of teams, like this is it. You know, we believe in Steve, we know what he can do, and we’re excited and are going to keep working with him on a financial basis to make sure he has the funds he needs to expand into new games when it becomes necessary and continue to operate the League team - so Steve is really it, in that case. But you know, in terms of our “support for esports” - very much look for new tools, new services, I mean we talked about doing some really neat things with tournaments in the future, we’ll continue to operate websites that are focused on esports and it’s definitely something that’s very much on our radar and we want to make sure we’re front and centered for new games and new opportunities, even for League of Legends - which is still growing. I hope that answers your question. Simplified version, sports side, totally Steve, team side, totally Steve, outside of that tools and services is kinda what we do. If there’s a community and there’s an opportunity Curse will definitely be there.
Are there any opportunities that you think can be accomplished now that couldn't be done beforehand?
Duncan: Yeah, I don’t wanna speak for Steve but I think it’s gonna be easier for him to get into new games quicker; just in terms of finding the teams and hiring and getting them onboarded, we’ve removed a lot of the headaches that Steve used to have to work around when working with people in different countries, and multiple team members and moving across states and these things that were kinda a headache for a larger company - Steve’s gonna have a lot more flexibility. Not to speak directly for him, but I think those opportunities will be much more prevalent and easier for him to take advantage of.
Now that you're on your own, is there any worry about not having the funding from a larger organization?
Arhancet: I’m not at all worried, I’m actually optimistic, and based on some of the planning I’ve been able to do so far I’m in a great spot; I’ve been able to build out a number of really amazing sponsors that will provide proper funding for the business to be sustainable, and also provide opportunity for it to continue to grow - and to new esports titles, the last 5 or 6 I have been speaking with numerous esports athletes in different titles, and making offers, and negotiating sponsorship arrangements, so I’m out there and growing this thing, and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I was concerned or had any concerns regarding the profitability of the business or running it on my own. Personally, I’ve run businesses in the past, and I’m very familiar with operating and running something like this, so I’m very comfortable.
With your core values of player signings, this deal does seem to fit right in.
One of the biggest things is just being able to make quick decisions on bringing in new teams, new players, and signing sponsorship contracts associated with that; endorsement deals, booking, just overall growing the company into new directions that may be needed. I think that’s one of the things I’m most excited about.
Does your thinking on the value of players and how long contracts are signed for change with the new organization?
I like to have my players based on a contract that fits based on their value to the organisation and their performance - and so, everything just needs to fit based on that value. On a per case basis. No, I still value each and every one of the esports athletes we bring on, and all the teams and what they do for the organization, that’s staying the same.
Click here to read the Samsung Galaxy Ozone preview.
Samsung Galaxy Ozone versus SKT T1 K is hands down the most anticipated match so far in this season of OGN. This will be the first time these two Korean legends have faced off since SKT swept Ozone in the Grand Finals of Champions Winter 2013-2014. Despite entering this season as the undisputed best team in the world, T1 K scraped their way past the group stages. Meanwhile, Ozone has demolished their group, not dropping a single game. Ozone’s current performance is almost reminiscent of T1 K’s perfect season. It wouldn't be unreasonable to say whoever wins this match could win the entire season.
Unexpected Turbulence
After sweeping the World Championship finals and following up with a perfect season of Champions right after, SKT K had truly ascended to god status. SKT entered this season having not dropped a game in the past six months. But for the first time in the team’s history, they were forced to make a roster change. PoohManDu, the team’s captain and shotcaller, cited medical reasons for his departure from the team. It should be stressed that PoohManDu was much more than just a support player to the team, he was a leader and contributed towards the development of the team's strategy. This was apparent in the way the team played with their new support player, Casper. Not only did he fail to match the mechanical skill of PoohManDu, it was evident that an in-game leadership and shot-calling role was vacant for SKT K.
From the very first match, SKT K looked different. A 1:1 result versus their sister team wasn't expected, but it was not viewed as the downfall of K. Their next match went as expected, 2:0 to ametur team Prime Optimus. After that was the KT Arrows. The KT organization as a whole had been struggling with adapting to roster changes, and were failing to put up results akin to those in previous seasons of Champions. A 2:0 victory over the Arrow by K’s sister team help paint the picture of how weak KT A was, and how K should roll through them.
This match had surprises from the very start. PoohManDu had returned to the starting lineup of SKT K, seemingly out of nowhere. The SKT organization must have been confident in his ability, as losing this match 0:2 would almost likely mean failing to advance to the playoffs. In the first match, the team looked confused. Bengi’s Evelynn had an extremely negative impact on the team in the early phases. From there, the Arrows continued to snowball their enormous kill lead into towers and, eventually, the nexus. The second game was almost complete domination from the Arrows, ending the game 23-9 in kills and 10-:3 in towers. PhooManDu’s returned resulted in a combined score of 1/13/8 with Thresh and Morgana. Meanwhile, Bengi’s Evelynn had virtually no positive impact for K, ending with a collective score of 1/10/8.
SKT K just advanced to the playoffs after defeating their sister team in a best of one tiebreaker. For the first time in more than half a year, the reigning World Champions will be the clear underdog in this match-up versus Samsung Galaxy Ozone.
Players To Watch
PoohManDu
PoohManDu will need to catch up quickly if he intends of facing off versus Mata. His performance versus the KT Arrows begs the question of why the SKT organization added him back to the starting roster. The team dynamic may have changed significantly in Pooh’s absence, causing more than just mechanical problems in game.
Bengi
Of all the players on SKT K, Bengi has struggled the most this season. His major strength used to be his synergy with Faker and early-game pressure, but in recent games, his presence as a whole has been lacking. Especially in this matchup, where DanDy is the best in the world at distracting and causing problems for the other jungler, Bengi will need to perform at his best.
Faker
There are a few players in the world that can carry their entire team themselves, and Faker is one of them. If all else fails, you can almost always depend on Faker to go even or win his lane. But PawN is also one of the few to beat Faker one-on-one in lane. This match-up will be extremely important in who has mid-game pressure.
Things To Take Away
Samsung Galaxy Ozone is the only team in the world to have a winning record over SKT K. Overall, Ozone is at the best they've ever been and are clear contenders for the best team in the world. This will be one of the closest matches of competitive LoL we have seen so far this year. Don’t miss it.
Final Prediction: Samsung Galaxy Ozone 3:2 SK Telecom T1K
On Vici Gaming's official Weibo, they just now posted an announcement that former EHOME and DK veteran 357 (aka QQQ) is joining VG in the capacity of coach. The full announcement is translated below.
In 2014, VG Esports Club has been honing and preparing, all in the hopes that this year can bring further successes. For this goal, we hereby officially announce that Dota legend, the veteran player Yao '357' Yi will be joining VG as coach for the Dota 2 team.
As professional eSports continues to grow, the conditions provided to the teams develop with it. A team coach has become a role that is increasingly important for the big teams. A coach not only raises the overall professionalism a team displays, but it also brings the players' performance to another level. In terms of tactical development, statistical analysis and being able to help players make adjustment while competing, a coach plays an important role in various ways.
As a legendary Dota player, 357, from his time with EHOME, then DK, has seen a string of good results. He possesses an oceanic amount of large event experience and his cool-headed and intelligent style will combined with his unique understanding of Dota 2 elevate VG to a new level. Thus, we hope that as we welcome 357 into our fold, coach 357 will be able to lead VG.Dota 2 to further glories.
Some words from Coach VG.357:
"As a professional player I have fought for many years. Even though I've now retired from that line, I still love Dota 2 as a game, so I hope to be able to continue working within Dota 2. Today I'm very honored to be able to join VG, become a part of their big family. VG is a very strong team, and I hope that I can work hard with the players, and collectively create new successes!"
Looking to turn their fortunes around, Fnatic walked over Team Empire earlier today in the MLG TKO Europe grand finals, as they managed to defeat the Russians by a score of 3-1. This marks Fnatic's second first place finish within the span of a month, as they claimed the gold in the XMG Captain's Draft tournament at the start of April.
This concludes MLG's current Dota 2 efforts including top-tier teams for now, as the company will focus on bringing over the Collegiate Starleague and its Dota talents over to them for their next LAN tournament; MLG Anaheim.
Copenhagen Games, one of the longstanding staples of CS competition over the last half decade roughly, is set to start once again on its characteristic date in April. Some 60 competitors, both professional and amateur, will start early Thursday afternoon to fight for the $26,000 prize purse, with the grand final scheduled for Saturday evening.
The tournament will start off with a GSL-format group system, meaning a double elimination bracket system, in which each match is a best-of-three veto. The top two of each group will then advance into the play-off stage of the tournament, a single elimination best-of-three bracket.
You can expect more coverage such as match reports and bracket draws as the tournament gets underway.
Cheon 'Promise' Min-ki's suicide attempt rocked the Korean eSports world. His Facebook note levied accusations of manipulation and fraud against AHQ Korea's former coach – an unwelcomed ghost of the 2010 match-fixing scandal that rocked the Starcraft: Brood War scene. The clammy shadow cast by Promise and the ghost of Ma 'sAviOr' Jae Yoon's career is keenly felt by the Korean pro scene: even as the community has rallied to support Promise, currently hospitalized after his attempt, the professional games since have undergone harsher scrutiny – especially those with unexpected results.
KT Arrows KaKAO drafted both S and K into their OGN group.
Not long after, the OnGameNet Champions circuit was hit by a double-whammy. SKT T1 K dropped the ball against both sister team S as well as rivals KT Rolster Arrows – perhaps a moment of hubris, knocking low a team that secured an undefeated OGN season after winning the Season 3 World Championship. It seemed inevitable that they would be knocked out – after all, the only scenario in which they'd claw back into playoffs would be if sister team SKT T1 S lost their set against rookie newcomers Prime Optimus, then lost the tiebreaker against K.
To the disbelief of the audience at large, that was exactly what happened.
JC: Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way first: in light of the recent controversy with AHQ Promise, is there any justification at all to be suspicious of Prime Optimus's victory?
"Of course if I were asked to bring hard proof to the room, I don't have any on my hands seeing as how I don't live in either team house", said caster and OGN Global Advisor William 'Chobra' Cho. "I will say this though. For one, SKT T1 as an organization would never stand for this, and as a team sport with a micro-managed coaching staff, I don't really think it's realistic that this could even be set up without issue."
Commentator Christopher 'MonteCristo' Mykles was also dismissive of the accusations. "No, there's never been a KeSPA organization that has instigated match fixing. What happened with KeSPA players in Brood War was shady individuals contacting players directly."
JC: I've heard that while the teams might be well-off, the individual players aren't necessarily paid well. Especially in comparison to Western organizations and streamers. Are there any systems in place to check temptation or prevent player collusion? Other than the known illegality of the practice.
"Match-fixing is obviously extremely serious in Korea and the KeSPA teams don't need money", said MonteCristo. "I'm not on a team, so I wouldn't know, but there is no reason for the players to throw collectively. And the KeSPA players in Brood War were paid $500k at the top end: since we are nearing the end of contracts for many players in League's first big year in Korea, they will be paid FAR better than Western players soon."
Currently, Western LCS players are given a minimum of USD $12,500 per split, as per Riot Games' guidelines, on top of what they earn from sponsors and streaming. The specific numbers differ between teams and players; in the case of Dignitas and William 'Scarra' Li, he was expected to earn over $200,000 this year, though it is uncertain how his subsequent retirement from pro play will impact this prediction.
JC: How has the Korean community responded? If I recall correctly, sAviOr's actions from BW still cast a large shadow.
"It's had its toll on the image of SKT, but I'd say it's mostly people wondering", admitted Chobra. "There's a very small group that is strongly pushing the idea it was set up, but many respond with reason."
He personally finds it infeasible. "For one, there's the fact that even with the loss S and K had to play each other in a tiebreaker re-match. So as administration, if you wanted to secure this, you'd have to instruct them to throw 3 games in a row. That's just outside of the scope of things. Some will go as far to reason that if you were that obsessed with setting this up, why not just have them split 1-1 with the Arrows?"
There's also the matter of the individuals involved, especially that of SKT's head coach, Kim 'KkOma' Jung-gyun. "KkOma is known to have pride about how he created the world's strongest team, T1 K. Coming into the Spring Season, it was known that he shifted focus to T1 S as the coaching staff believed K had stabilized at the top level", said Chobra. "Clearly, that backfired a bit, but KkOma decided to put faith in K and attempted to bring S to the same level. As someone who has witnessed how much the players relied on Kkoma not just for analysis but as an adult figure, I'm willing to believe the K members were hit in more ways than one when Kkoma shifted his focus a bit."
SKT S's successes have notably depended on access to specific champions.
SKT S's capabilities are also in dispute. Prime Optimus had qualified for OGN in the first place by successfully taking on the likes of KT Arrows, while S has notably been reliant on an increasingly denied Ziggs pick. Did they truly have the advantage in such a match-up?
"I have been saying all season that I think SKT S was getting lucky and was not as good as their record appeared", said MonteCristo bluntly. "Prime Optimus showed up with a good strategy for picks/bans and the early game and SKT S failed to adapt. They seemed unprepared for the Jax pick, the four man push, the aggressive invades and their inability to get Ziggs or Renekton."
JC: Then was Prime Optimus unfairly discounted?
"Absolutely", said Chobra. "Did T1 S look weaker than expectations during the match? Yes, but my god Optimus came prepared. I was casting the match, and I remember just being in awe of how well Optimus was executing their strategy. It was gutsy, and that type of strategy is a double-edged sword, but you could tell they put everything they had on the line there."
Here are some of the full graphics and breakdowns for the stats used in the video above:.
Data collected with help of the onGamers Stats team: Derek 'Kathix' Adams, Steven 'whedgehead' Falgout, Kent 'Traepoint' Frasure, Jake Morales, and James 'PelkaSupaFresh' Pelkey. Design by Ben 'Sarcasmappreciated' Li.
