The LCS Season 5 Thread

[Deleted]

What the actual fuck? Riot please nerf runeglaive that shit is redicilous.

[4KhazModan]

Runeglaive Ez is balanced wtf O.o

[Deleted]

If anyone missed it, watch that FNC vs Giants game, one of the best games this split in Europe. By far.

Keith is starting for TSM on Saturday. As Turtle has been my favorite player since season 3, it hurts. I like Keith a lot, he is an epic memer and I think fits in really well with TSM, and if he was replacing any other ADC, I'd be rooting for him, but not Young Turtle....

I wonder if using keith will actually improve TSM, it's not really WildTurtle's fault that they're shitting the bed the early game, last few games he's been great.
I think Keith will perform well though, if his stats of playing with TL is any indication.

[Yvaelle]

Runeglaive Ez is balanced wtf O.o

I haven't even seen it yet - but from what I have heard - it sounds like free Diamond 1 for ranked queue.

Unfortunate too because I was just coming around to liking it for Elise - though I still think she's not great this season - and now without that she'll be even worse.

[4KhazModan]

If anyone missed it, watch that FNC vs Giants game, one of the best games this split in Europe. By far.
I wonder if using keith will actually improve TSM, it's not really WildTurtle's fault that they're shitting the bed the early game, last few games he's been great.
I think Keith will perform well though, if his stats of playing with TL is any indication.

Agreed, Turtle has been doing decently I think. I don't see putting Keith in this week as an indication they are done with Turtle so much as they want to take this opportunity, with them in sole possession of 1st place and playing against a 1-9 team, to see how Keith meshes with the team onstate without risking too much in terms of their place in the standings.

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I haven't even seen it yet - but from what I have heard - it sounds like free Diamond 1 for ranked queue.

Unfortunate too because I was just coming around to liking it for Elise - though I still think she's not great this season - and now without that she'll be even worse.

It isn't getting hugely nerfed, on the PBE they just changed it to not proc Ludens, which I don't think Elise even looked at before.

[Deleted]

Agreed, Turtle has been doing decently I think. I don't see putting Keith in this week as an indication they are done with Turtle so much as they want to take this opportunity, with them in sole possession of 1st place and playing against a 1-9 team, to see how Keith meshes with the team onstate without risking too much in terms of their place in the standings.

To be fair TDK is a much different and better team now compared to the first half of the split. I honestly can see this TDK winning from TSM.

[Duilliath]

If anyone missed it, watch that FNC vs Giants game, one of the best games this split in Europe. By far.
I wonder if using keith will actually improve TSM, it's not really WildTurtle's fault that they're shitting the bed the early game, last few games he's been great.
I think Keith will perform well though, if his stats of playing with TL is any indication.

Turtle has been throwing a lot. His positioning late game wasn't quite on Woolite levels, but it wasn't too far off. His play improved since the announcement of Keith, but can easily see why they'd want to give Keith a test run.

BTW, apparently Hai will be jungling for C9 this week, rather than Meteos.

[4KhazModan]

You have a Kalista on your team, how do you not secure the objective with rend + smite?

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BTW, apparently Hai will be jungling for C9 this week, rather than Meteos.

http://cloud9.gg/news/thank-you-meteos

Yup, such a strange decision honestly...

I guess Meteos can go back to follow his dream of being a trombone instructor.

[Deleted]

Agreed, Turtle has been doing decently I think. I don't see putting Keith in this week as an indication they are done with Turtle so much as they want to take this opportunity, with them in sole possession of 1st place and playing against a 1-9 team, to see how Keith meshes with the team onstate without risking too much in terms of their place in the standings.

I personally hope they play Keith in both matches, just to see how he does in both instances: Versus a high ranking team (TL) and the lowest ranked team (TDK). That way they could see if he doesn't underestimate his opponents, and if he can stand up to his Korean lane opponents.

To be fair TDK is a much different and better team now compared to the first half of the split. I honestly can see this TDK winning from TSM.

Well, to be fair, it was against Dignitas. They might be turning into their mid-season switcheroo where they suddenly start losing everything.
Emperor did look much better than he did on KEYD, but I'm still not sure about Ninja. Ninja used to be the flat-out worst mid laner in the LPL, but it's not all that surprising for him to perform decently, since XiaoWeiXiao used to be on a low ranked Chinese team as well... I guess time will tell how well he performs.

Turtle has been throwing a lot. His positioning late game wasn't quite on Woolite levels, but it wasn't too far off. His play improved since the announcement of Keith, but can easily see why they'd want to give Keith a test run.

BTW, apparently Hai will be jungling for C9 this week, rather than Meteos.

True, I never really liked Turtle that much anyway.
I'm an advocate of aggressive play, but the decisions Turtle makes are just... weird. I think it's a better trait to have on a top laner than an adc (Top Turtle confirmed???).

I'm not sure what to think about Hai jungling, but I'm sure he'll help them make proper calls at least, and it's not like Meteos has been putting up a stellar performance either. I'm guessing he'll play Lee Sin or Gragas.

[4KhazModan]

What people fail to take into account is the shot-calling Turtle does in the games. If you listen to the mic check last week for the TSM v T8 game, during the Baron fight, Turtle was constantly saying could Kalista ult Lustboy and they could turn. Lo and behold, he ulted Lustboy and they turned, winning the fight. Also last split, during their 2nd game against CLG, they made a great call to Baron when Double just recalled. According to Bjerg in the post-game interview, that decisive call which arguably let TSM win the game was all Turtle. He had been keeping track of Double's CS and knew when he had enough gold for another item. He saw him recall and made the call for Baron.

[Duilliath]

For one, Runeglaive Ez will go the way of the dodo come next patch.

[4KhazModan]

Turtle will be starting today against Gravity.

[Deleted]

As long as they nerf the BS that is Runeglaive Ezreal. I honestly don't care how they nerf it. I just want it gone.

I'm surprised about Gravity this split. The way they beat TSM just made me smile. It's probably how they destroyed a Runeglaive Ezreal comp what made me so happy plus they beat TSM which is always a good thing. Yes, not the biggest TSM fan here.

[Nilinor]

As long as they nerf the BS that is Runeglaive Ezreal. I honestly don't care how they nerf it. I just want it gone.

I'm surprised about Gravity this split. The way they beat TSM just made me smile. It's probably how they destroyed a Runeglaive Ezreal comp what made me so happy plus they beat TSM which is always a good thing. Yes, not the biggest TSM fan here.

There were a few factors I seen in this for that match.

#1 Gravity played extremely well, I have to say probably their best game this split.
#2 Gravity as a team standpoint seems to be "anti-TSM" They always played well against them, I figure it was designed that way. Their whole motto is to be able to counter whatever TSM does.
#3 I have NO FREAKIN IDEA what was up with TSM today, I swear they looked like an intermediate bot team today. I may like the team, they are my favorite LCS team for a while now, but I am not above calling them out on stuff. They played bad, everything they did was bad, and it honestly felt like they had no motivation to play today. It almost seems like they threw the game on purpose, especially after the picture.. I think on dyrus' twitter of their "preparation" for the Gravity game, it sure as hell seems like it.

If they did throw, it actually makes sense, because they would still be #1 and it would separate Gravity and TL from Dig and CLG even further, as we get to the back half of the split, games will be tougher and positions in the standing would be harder. Manipulating through win/loss how the tournament bracket would look like is not a bad thing, and I think Gravity is currently the hardest team for TSM to face, so having them on the other half of the bracket and facing them in the finals (if they get there) would be the best course of action. If TSM gets in the finals, win or lose they will be the #2 seed for NA, actually the way things are going, if they place in the top 4 they get that distinction.

That being said, I really hope they didn't do that, I don't like manipulating stuff, I don't want to think they threw, but nothing can excuse how they played so bad, unless Santorin's illness spread to the entire team and they were all doped on valium or something.

[Deleted]

Right now NA LCS is just so weird, I can't seem to understand what's even going on...

• TSM almost loses to Cloud 9th, and loses to Gravity. They're pretty much playing terrible but most teams don't punish it at all.
• Dig stomps some games extremely hard where they finish the game super clean and the next day they just don't do anything.
• Gravity seems consistent but some day Keane pulls out his <insert pocket pick> and does nothing the whole game.
• TL seems quite strong but when scrim-Fenix doesn't show up, they start losing pretty badly.
• CLG is reaching the halfway-point tilt where they suddenly forget how to play League of Legends. (i.e. vs TSM).
• TDK dismantles Dig, but then loses every game the next week, even versus Enemy. I just have no clue how strong they are.
• TiP seems to either dominate the game or play like they're a team full of bronze players, there is no in-between.
• Team 8 is terrible right now, but at least they're beating other lower tier teams.
• Cloud 9 is pretty much dead right now. Incarnati0n gets put on control mages and does nothing, then picks an assassin vs a team that can easily deal with it. Hai's jungling isn't terrible, but it's not like he's an actual jungler. Their shotcalling at least got better again, but it's not enough to pick up the slack, really.
• NME is like pulling out a random number generator to decide which members will actually show up.

I'm not saying EU LCS is any better, but at least the top 3 are pretty consistent in beating the lower ranked teams. (Especially Fnatic).
H2K has been going through a slump after their loss to Fnatic though, but I'm pretty sure they'll recover from it.

Predictions for Worlds:
EU
#1 spot qualifier: Fnatic
Points qualifier: H2K
Gauntlet qualifier: Origen/UOL (only if UoL gets their shit together).

NA
#1 spot qualifier: TSM
Points qualifier: TL
Gauntlet qualifier: Gravity/TiP/Dig (all 3 have a shot at winning this, really).

[Deleted]

I'm not saying EU LCS is any better, but at least the top 3 are pretty consistent in beating the lower ranked teams. (Especially Fnatic).
H2K has been going through a slump after their loss to Fnatic though, but I'm pretty sure they'll recover from it.

Predictions for Worlds:
EU
#1 spot qualifier: Fnatic
Points qualifier: H2K
Gauntlet qualifier: Origen/UOL (only if UoL gets their shit together).

NA
#1 spot qualifier: TSM
Points qualifier: TL
Gauntlet qualifier: Gravity/TiP/Dig (all 3 have a shot at winning this, really).

I don't know man. The top three in EU. Fnatic, H2K and Origen could easily compete in NA for the number one spot. This is of course my opinion. Last year NA LCS was better but right now the EU LCS is just stacked with really good teams. Besides the CW shitters. Elements and SK are infact decent teams but they just play like shit. I was expecting SK to actually compete this year.

UOL is a victim off having more organised and better teams in the league. See: Origen and Giants. The chaotic games worked last split because nobody knew how to play against it and there were several teams who would go along with it and lose themselfs in it. It is why we see UOL drop off a little bit.

As for your predictions. Prety much spot on. Although I think there is a high chance the NA teams might face another MSI fiasco at worlds simply because they are not punished enough in their own league and play alot against teams that either choke, throw or just straight up lose. See CLG, Dignitas and C9. But I have to be fair, this also goes for Fnatic and to a lesser extend H2k and Origen. Atleast the last two have Fnatic to put them in their place. .

The best chance of a western team winning worlds is Fnatic right now. I don't think anyone is close in either the NA or EU LCS.

[Duilliath]

With the current form of SKT I don´t see any Western team winning. At best it´ll be a 3-1.

I'm pegging Gravity as the dark horse to take the gauntlet. Their last couple games were just so clean and well executed with a fantastic pick-ban. Might even just straight up take the points.

[Deleted]

With the current form of SKT I don´t see any Western team winning. At best it´ll be a 3-1.

I'm pegging Gravity as the dark horse to take the gauntlet. Their last couple games were just so clean and well executed with a fantastic pick-ban. Might even just straight up take the points.

Not saying Fnatic has a big chance. Just the best chance, how low that might be. To be fair a western team reaching the finals would be a big win for me

[Boii64]

TSM all the way!!

[Immunize]

TSM all the way!!

All the way down to getting stomped again you mean