This is the end...
hold your breath and count to ten...
After a split of exciting, and some not so exciting, League of Legends, the LCS comes to its climax this weekend. Though all participating teams have already secured a spot in the regional qualifiers for the S5 World Championship in October, everyone has their eyes on the automatic qualification that comes with first place. In addition, the way the circuit points are set up means the third/fourth place also has ramifications on the second automatic qualification spot, awarded to the team with the most points.
So brace yourselves for the single most important weekend of League of Legends of the 2015 LCS season, as the remaining teams unleash every trick left in the book.
For this is the end...
I've drowned and dreamt this moment...
Round of 4 Results
EU Bracket
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| | | | | | | | | | |
OR | 3 | |||||||||
H2k | 3 | |||||||||
H2k | 1 | |||||||||
Giants | 0 | |||||||||
Fnatic | ||||||||||
OR | ||||||||||
Fnatic | 3 | 3rd place match | ||||||||
UOL | 3 | H2k | ||||||||
UOL | 0 | |||||||||
ROCCAT | 2 | UOL | ||||||||
NA Bracket
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| | | | | | | | | | |
CLG | 3 | |||||||||
TiP | 3 | |||||||||
TiP | 0 | |||||||||
dignitas | 0 | |||||||||
CLG | ||||||||||
TSM | ||||||||||
TL | 1 | 3rd place match | ||||||||
GV | 1 | TL | ||||||||
TSM | 3 | |||||||||
TSM | 3 | TiP | ||||||||
Round of 2 Previews
H2k vs. UoL
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While the limelight will be taken by new-and-old Fnatic in the headline event, Europe’s third place match is where the real glory lies. For the better part of this season, Europe has been considered at best a three horse race, with the rest falling by the wayside. Now, H2K need to remind everyone that they are a finals threat and that they’re deserving of a World Championship berth.
Sitting Uneasily
After being dismantled with considerable ease, H2K bowed out of finals contention at the hands of Origen, allocating Origen a minimum of 90 circuit points — the amount H2K is currently sitting on. With the Unicorns of Love sitting ahead of the pack, with a better performance in the Spring, this third place match-up becomes do-or-die for the final seed into Worlds.
They do, however, have something to fall back on. H2K hold the Summer edge having gone 2-0 in the regular season when facing Unicorns of Love, after comfortable carries from Ryu in both games, leaving him with a KDA of 12.67 against UOL. In each game, H2K took control of the game and had far superior objective control, following their cookie-cutter playstyle and closing the games out methodically. Heading into the third place decider, H2K will be looking to replicate their earlier season victories in similar fashion.
H2K are somewhat known for their tutorial-esque playstyle — they’re somewhat symbolic of methodical, objective-based play. Overcoming some language barriers, they’ve proven that when they are able to secure an early lead, they can push their advantages to pave their way to victory. The Unicorns of Love, on the other hand, have been a mixed bag. Without subscribing to the nonsensical “Chaos” title, it is typical of UOL to play aggressively to a fault. They’re a team that seemingly thrives in extended teamfights and nitty gritty brawls, where some of their more unique champion picks pay off tenfold.
Unicorns of Love are the stylistical antithesis of H2K, which is what makes this matchup so interesting. Although they’ve gotten the better of them throughout the regular season, the bracket stage and playoff format has seemingly favoured UOL historically, potentially securing back-to-back podium positions in 2015. On the other hand, H2K’s coaching staff, namely Pr0lly, are commonly praised for their impact on the drafting phase — something that’ll surely prove critical for the success of either team.
So, where does this leave us? Both teams employ opposite styles of gameplay, and the clash will surely be one which favours whoever is playing better on the day — neither is inherently better than the other. Both teams have a claim to superiority in a best of series, but they’ll have to prove it.
For me, the key matchup in terms of players will be the battle of the midlaners. The Unicorns of Love have commonly relied on PowerOfEvil’s playmaking and carry potential — the beacon of hope in a disorganised mess. Having played eight different champions over the Summer split, POE sits with a 4.04 KDA and has put up good numbers on multiple picks, a definite carry threat for UOL. Conversely, Ryu is no stranger to a finals stage nor the notion of being his team’s hard carry. As aforementioned, he’s twice carried H2K to a victory over UOL this split alone. To POE’s eight champions, Ryu raises 12. To his 4.04 KDA, he raises 4.80. The byproduct of a stronger team — or the better player?
Both have shown cause for concern in their history, but each bringing even more to the table. Expect picks and bans to be centralised around getting an advantageous matchup for the midlaners, as well as their jungle picks to lock down the stronger 2v2.
If Ryu can lead his team to a successful early game, expect any hopes of Unicorns of Love to be shut down immediately. But, if PowerOfEvil gets his foot into the door — it’s anyone’s game.
TL vs. TiP
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Forgotten behind the overwhelming hype of TSM vs CLG is a rematch of the third place match from two consecutive splits, if we count LMQ to be the spiritual ancestor of Team Impulse. Much in the way that nothing has really changed in NA, these two teams are once again fighting for the third place spot with valuable circuit points being on the line. The both occasions that these two previous teams have met, their set has gone all five games. The teams have dead even records against each other in playoff series, and it will be interesting to see how they do in yet another third place match.
If this was the finals, this would have been a very different match. It would have been immensely entertaining to have two fresh new teams that have delivered good games against each other in the finals for the first time ever. However, in what seems almost scripted, we're going to see this match as the forgotten third place match for the third time in a row.
TIP: Outclassed
TIP's semifinal loss to CLG didn't look particularly terrible from them. They did a relatively good job of gettting advantages whenever they could. The only difference was that for every move TIP made, CLG would counter, and it would be here that they would sorely miss the presence of their now banned midlaner XiaoWeiXiao. Substitute mid laner Gate relied heavily on Lulu in the first two games, and as a result forced Apollo to a hyper carry position rather than top laner Impact. In the last game, where he picked Viktor, he proved very ineffective.
TIP were completely outclassed by CLG, much like how they outclassed Dignitas in the week before. TIP has not proven that they can do anything other than have their top/jungle Korean duo carry the game, with Gate not having the proven ability that XiaoWeiXiao has had. XiaoWeiXiao was a dangerous backup carry who could also step up and carry with his terrifying farm ability. Gate has yet to show that he can carry on an LCS stage. As a result, the more traditionally supportive Apollo has been forced to play more hard carry champions such as Vayne and Kog'Maw. While he hasn't been particularly bad on them, he hasn't had the impact that he had earlier when he picked more supportive champions like Sivir to aid his team.
Team Impulse is still terrifying if they can get rolling with their two Koreans Impact and Rush. However, Rush has seemed to forego his more terrifying carry ways from the regular season to fit more of a supportive role, as seen versus first Dignitas and then CLG. This hasn't proved to be the most successful fit for the team, and perhaps it is time for them to go back to what worked so well in the regular season. Impact also not being on a carry champion really hurt the team as well, but his relatively weak performance against CLG did him no favors either. Maybe on a carry-oriented champion like an Olaf or Rumble, the former world champion would have much more... impact than he would on tanks such as Maokai or Shen.
TL: Not Quite Ready
After Team Liquid finished first in the regular season upon beating out CLG in the tiebreaker match, the team's future looked brighter than ever. For the first time, they looked like they would have a decent shot at making the NA LCS finals, with both Gravity and TSM not looking to be in their top form. The team had expectations of winning their semifinal match and virtually locking their spot to worlds.
Instead, TL would fumble when it most mattered. Despite getting large leads off of laneswaps against TSM, bad fights in every game cost them a massive advantage and eventually led to TSM taking the series 3-1. They managed to sneak one game off of the back of Piglet's Vayne, but in the end they couldn't deliver at the point where it most mattered from them. Game 1 was lost after Wildturtle stole Baron with a Jinx Rocket, despite Dominate having his Smite combo on Elise up.
Possibly the biggest reason for TL's loss was the massive underperformance of Quas when it mattered most. His teleports were questionable at best, and he was frequently caught out in crucial dragon fights that led to TSM getting kills in games one through three. Although he did fine in Game four, IWDominate getting caught out on Gragas and letting TSM's bottom lane go far ahead of Piglet's Twitch ruined TL's chances of a strong midgame off the back of Piglet.
Piglet was probably the one shining hope of the team in all of their matches. Piglet played valiantly even when his team failed him at the most important points of the game. Piglet's performance showed why he should be considered a top AD carry in North America, especially with his Vayne turning around a nearly lost game 3. If he can keep up his performance it is very likely that he can lead his team to victory, but hopefully without the caveat of everything collapsing around him.
Last Chance:
Team Impulse has nothing to play for in this match. They are already locked into the regional gauntlet because they cannot take second place in points even if CLG loses to TSM. They have lost their midlaner, a key player for the team even though he didn't have the most pressure put onto him.
For Team Liquid, however, this is their last chance. Team Liquid desperately wants to win in order to keep their hopes at appearing at Worlds for the first time intact. Although they would also have to hope that TSM wins the split, TL can still give themselves a fighting shot for Worlds if they only place third. Thus, it is likely that TL will come out swinging in this match. TIP is not at full strength and aren't likely to be able to fill the massive hole that XiaoWeixiao has left in the team.
For these two teams with hopeful expectations coming into the playoffs, this result will likely be disappointing for them. But everything has meaning when it comes to the World Championship. And for both teams but especially TL, every little bit matters.
Fnatic vs. Origen
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Fnatic Orange vs Fnatic Black. A matchup filled with players from the old guard, and with newcomers looking to stamp their names into the history books. Fnatic are looking to complete the perfect season, and Origen attempting to secure their spot at Worlds. Whichever team comes out ahead, it's sure to provide sparks.
Undefeated?
Fnatic came into the season with a good deal of hype around them. After pushing SK Telecom to five games at the Mid Season Invitational, Fnatic took the European Summer split by storm. Eighteen straight victories followed by a convincing 3-0 of the Unicorns of Love. They’ve been pushed a couple of times in the season, but their ability to keep coming back thanks to intelligent team fighting and objective control has ensured that their undefeated streak remained intact.
In almost every aspect of the game, Fnatic is superior to opposition teams in Europe. Their ability to have multiple carry threats is something that they’ve developed over the course of the split, further cementing themselves as the best team in their region. With the addition of Rekkles they patched up one of their biggest weaknesses in the 2v2 matchup, which was an area where they were punished in when they had Steeelback on the roster.
Their playstyle expanded beyond ganking for Huni, and expanded to a multi-pronged attack with several styles of play. The players themselves also matured, with Huni and Febiven becoming more consistent players, and Reignover and YellowStar’s synergy improving.
Despite their improvements, Fnatic is still flawed. While they have strong laners, their transition from the early game to the mid game has been found out a few times, and teams with strong early games have troubled Fnatic.
Started from the bottom, now we here
Built off of strong laners, and an early game focused jungler, Origen could perhaps be compared to Team Liquid in their playstyle. With a veterans in every lane, it's perhaps surprising that Elements play most around their rookie ADC Niels. Xpeke and Soaz have taken a back seat, with Xpeke especially being left to fend for himself in the 1v1 with little to no jungle pressure.
Amazing has flourished with this freedom as he attempts far more aggressive ganks. The bottom lane has been the crown jewel in the Origen attack. The duo of Niels and Mithy has been a revelation in Europe matching up well against any bottom lane. Mithy's understanding of matchups and the laning phase hasn't gotten worse since his ban, and he uses this knowledge to control the early game and provide intelligent initiations.
Where Origen has struggled most is in closing out games. If they don't pick up a lead off of their early game, they find it difficult to keep up with other teams and even with a lead, they're prone to sloppy engages and misguided team fights.
Matchup to watch
Reignover vs Amazing
Reignover came from Korea with a lot to prove. His unfortunate tag of 'Gameover' from Korea has been cast aside as he's been given a clear task on Fnatic and fulfilled it. He isn't the busiest early game jungler, instead preferring to farm and focus on vision and counter ganking with a strong synergy with YellowStar. In team fights it's a clear "Go! Go! Go!" attitude, especially on his signature champion Olaf. Providing the main engage for his team, leaving YellowStar to peel for his carries. While teams have tried to target ban him out of the game, he always appears to have something up his sleeve to ensure he remains influential throughout the game.
Amazing's early game is all about ganking lanes. He was never a vision oriented jungler on TSM, and he hasn't become one now. With Elise back in the meta, this is a prime patch for Amazing to take over a game. For Origen to take down Fnatic, Amazing will need to be on top of his game to ensure they go out of the early game with a lead, and keep that lead and transition it into a win.
Conclusion
Ultimately, these are the top two teams in the region and as such the best possible final you could ask for. However, you can't question Fnatic's dominance of the European scene and it doesn't look like this best of 5 will prove any different. At best, Origen could sneak a game and at worst, Fnatic will run away with the match.
Prediction: Fnatic 3-0
CLG vs. TSM
+ Show Spoiler +
On June 10th 2012, Team SoloMid prevailed over arch-nemesis Counter Logic Gaming Prime in a long double elimination bracket in a 1-2, 2-1 slugfest in the finals of the 2012 MLG Pro Circuit Spring Championship. It's been a long time since then, exactly 1169 days, and finally the two most famous and popular North American teams will meet in another finals, that is being billed as an epic showdown between the two titans of North America.
On the surface, this match seems exciting. It's a match between the two teams that helped make League of Legends popular and two of the teams with the biggest fan followings in the world. CLG and TSM share a historied rivalry that no two other teams in the LCS regions share. Everything points to what should be a historic showdown, and viewer numbers for the two teams with the largest fanbase should be absolutely massive.
I am not hyped for this match. In fact, the finals ending up this way strikes me as incredibly depressing. It has nothing to do with the fact that my personal opinion of these two teams is merely lukewarm, or me trying to be hipster and hating on both teams. I will readily admit that I would have been more hyped for a Team Impulse-Team Liquid finals, for reasons that I will talk about in their matchup on Saturday.
This split was supposed to be the end of a ruling dynasty in North America. The two old grizzled titans in Cloud 9 and TSM had ruled over four of the five finals series in NA, with C9's nonexistence in Spring of 2013 being the only flaw on the spotless record. Since the beginning of LCS, North America has only known two top tier teams, Cloud 9 and TSM. Despite looking invincible regionally, the top teams of North America would always falter to other regions when it came to international play. TSM, after winning IEM Katowice this year, began to act and look like they were going to be a legitimate threat in the Mid Season Invitational. The hype for TSM at MSI was extreme, especially with the fan favorites being on their home turf in Tallahassee. Four embarrassing matches later, TSM was sent home, wondering where they went so wrong.
Despite this apparent setback, LCS trudged on for another split, with hopes being at an all-time low when C9's mid lane roster swap proved disastrous for the team and TSM looked to be weaker than before MSI. All of the sudden, however, the teams that had been behind the two top titans looked to be stronger than ever. TIP, TL, GV and CLG looked stronger than ever before, eventually managing to bump down TSM to a mere fifth place in the regular season, an all-time low for them. You began to hear whispers of a completely new team getting the chance to win NA, of a finals between two unexpected teams, of TSM breaking their streak of finals attended.
Yet somehow, the finals went from one predictable matchup of the past to another, more historied, predictable matchup of the past. It just so happens that the particular permutation of the NA playoffs resulted in possibly the most unimaginative finals that could have arisen. But it's not just that the matchup ended up as it is. Rather, it's the way the teams got there.
CLG: The New Hope
CLG's playoff woes have gone so far as to be ridiculous. CLG has choked in virtually every season of the NA LCS since its inception. Prior to this split, the team had only made the semifinals once in Spring of 2014, but followed that result up with back-to-back crushing 3-0 losses to Curse/Team Liquid. CLG doing well in playoffs seemed to like a fantastic joke.
And thus, once CLG got their solid start to the season, people naturally didn't assume they were going to keep up their form. After a consecutive four loss slide to the other teams in the top five happened in Weeks 5 and 6, CLG looked as if their brief regaining of form had once again run out.
Surprisingly, it didn't end up that way. CLG managed to steady the ship afterwards, closing the season with a solid 6-0, only dropping a tiebreak game to TL for the first seed. CLG looked to be in a strong position for the finals this season, but their opponent, Team Impulse had been one of the stronger teams in the Summer Split so far. They also looked dangerous in the regular season, and for a team with a history of playoff woes in CLG, looked to be a formidable matchup for them.
Instead, CLG absolutely dominated Impulse in one of the most surprising 3-0s of the season. CLG looked crisp and had answers to everything Impulse attempted to do. Whenever Rush attempted to make a play, CLG countered with crisp objective control. They had answers for everything Impulse threw at them. CLG looked, for once, fantastic in a playoff series.
CLG's play against Impulse was inspring. The team has, for the first time in years, made it to a final looking incredibly solid. If they can keep their good form up they'll be very threatening to any team in North America that plays against them. CLG's showing in the finals isn't really a problem, and they are well-deserved of their finals spot.
TSM: Repeat into Infinity
TSM, on the other hand, almost seemed to waltz into the finals where everything in the regular season seemed to stop mattering. They had to face first Gravity in the quarterfinals, followed by Team Liquid. The two teams had flashes of brilliance during the regular season, and looked to be very threatening for the North American Titan. First up was Gravity, a fresh team that was dangerous with their off-kilter style, with a mid laner who deviated far from the standard and a jungler who could take over the map with his impressive ward control. The team had at one point held sole first in the regular season and had a massive winning streak against every other team in the league. There was a clear possibility of TSM being in a world where they wouldn't make the semifinals for the first time ever.
Instead, Gravity fell very nonchalantly to TSM. TSM would laneswap and get massive advantages over Gravity, causing the team to lose very one-sidedly to the veteran squad. Gravity took one game off of winning a laneswap, but they looked very out of it in the other three games. Move in particular was terrible during the series, looking very uncharacteristically out of form. TSM would make the semifinals without showing much of anything.
Team Liquid were not the team that Gravity was. They had a strong finish to the regular season, the point where TSM struggled the hardest, and looked like a dangerous foe that could contend for the title. They had talent across all of their positions and were not an easy matchup for TSM. Once again, it looked dangerous for the defending titlists.
Almost identically to Gravity earlier, TL fell easily by the wayside. Although TL gave TSM a challenge in the early game for the first three games, careless teamfighting cost TL big advantages that they would have had based off of laneswaps. In game 1, Piglet's Kog'maw managed to get a 1k gold lead over Wildturle's Jinx only in the laning phase. However, several careless teamfights later and Turtle's Jinx ended with a score of 10/0/5. A highlight of the game was Turtle's blind stealing of Baron with a Jinx rocket after IWDominate failed the smite combo on Elise, which almost certainly sealed the game in TSM's favor. The next game went similarly, with Bjergsen's Azir cleaning up TL in every teamfight. Although Piglet's Vayne had managed to steal game three away from TSM, they still fell quickly in a one-sided Game 4.
The surprising thing about TSM's run is they haven't needed to do much. Unlike CLG, who won by outplaying TIP, they seemingly drifted into the finals, with both Gravity and TL playing very substandard compared to their form in the regular season. This is the problem with TSM's run for me. Their run seems almost scripted, as if destiny only allows for TSM to make an NA LCS final.
Matchup to Watch: Bjergsen (Mid) vs Doublelift (ADC)
There's a lot in common with these two players, besides playing two different positions. They are the primary carries of their teams, the two most famous players in NA currently, and the best players in their role in the league. In many ways, although they don't face off in lane, this matchup of TSM vs CLG is embodied in these two players. Bjergsen is the star-studded all-star of NA, winning ever since he first stepped foot into the region. Doublelift, however, is an embittered veteran. Despite being the best player in his region for years, he has yet to win a single title. Which all-star shows up is a heavy influence on how the match will go for both teams.
When I look at the regional finals, I look beyond the finals themselves. I prefer to look at how the teams, and their region as a result, stand in comparison to that of the world. In the other four major regions, there are one or two teams that stand out as deadly competitors for the World Championship. Korea has SKT T1, China has both LGD and EDG, Europe Fnatic, and the perpetually underrated LMS has ahq.
NA doesn't have one of those teams. TSM showed their relative level to the best teams in the other regions when they got stomped at MSI. The worse part is that TSM hasn't shown any evidence of having significantly improved. They still look to be playing at the same form that got them to MSI in the first place, while the other regions all look significantly stronger. If TSM wins this finals, and don't display a much higher caliber of performance than they did earlier, North America's hopes at the World Championship will be even dimmer than ever before.
CLG, on the other hand, could be NA's last hope. CLG's semifinal series against TIP is the best that an NA team has looked all year long. If there is one team that can give hope for NA, it's CLG, not TSM. If they can win, maybe they can make some waves in the World Championship.
In many ways, this Finals is the last chance for North America. CLG carries the region's international hopes with them, and their last obstacle is the one enemy they haven't beaten all year. If they can prove themselves, then their struggles will all be over, finally being the best team in North America. Otherwise, TSM will once again carry the banner, and they already look weak compared to the other confirmed and potential First seeds from the other four major regions.
Staff Picks
Not much to say here. This is basically a battle betweeen oo_Wonderful_oo and JonGalt. Everyone else has been left in the dust. oo_Wonderful_oo made some risky bets with the UoL and TiP belief, JonGalt kept it safe.
Team JonGalt, or Team oo_Wonderful_oo - this is the hard hitting question that you should be contemplating while you watch the western premier regions SLUG IT OUT.
Good luck and have fun my friends.
Staff Rankings
+ Show Spoiler +
The Great Exposers (7-1) | JonGalt oo_Wonderful_oo |
Could've Just Flipped a Coin (4-4) | CSheep 739 keithasante DrPuppet |
Uhhhh... I just went with my heart? (3-5) | AdsMoFro thejuju Zess |
Ro2 Predictions
739 (3-2) JonGalt (3-1) Zess (3-1) Fusilero (3-2) AdsMoFro (3-2) Jish (3-1) thejuju (3-1) CSheep (3-1) | oo_Wonderful_oo (3-2) | ||
739 (3-2) JonGalt (3-1) Zess (3-1) Fusilero (3-1) AdsMoFro (3-1) thejuju (3-2) CSheep (3-2) | oo_Wonderful_oo (3-2) Jish (3-1) | ||
739 (3-1) JonGalt (3-1) Zess (3-0) Fusilero (3-0) oo_Wonderful_oo (3-1) AdsMoFro (3-0) Jish (3-0) thejuju (3-0) CSheep (3-2) | |||
739 (3-2) Zess (3-0) Fusilero (3-1) oo_Wonderful_oo (3-1) thejuju (3-2) | JonGalt (3-2) AdsMoFro (3-1) Jish (3-2) CSheep (3-2) |
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