Why wouldn't Valve allow a standin / substitute if there's a medical or otherwise "provable" emergency? They're strict, but they're not reasonable. A medical thing is entirely outside the team's control.
I always saw the lineup thing as a "well if you change players, we're not sure if your team can represent as well as your old lineup" kind of reasoning. Like LGD changed their lineup a year ago and dropped to qualifiers and had to prove themselves again.
This time you know EG is good with Mason, they achieved a lot of results with Mason, arguably more than they did with Fear. It makes complete sense in terms of TI4 quality and fairness to allow them to play with him if Fear can't because of medical reasons.
I mean, DK have to be thinking about WPC last year and what alliance did. So they are scrimming against the de-facto best western team in advance of WPC (and later TI etc) this year. Makes sense.
On May 23 2014 02:45 Sn0_Man wrote: I mean, DK have to be thinking about WPC last year and what alliance did. So they are scrimming against the de-facto best western team in advance of WPC (and later TI etc) this year. Makes sense.
To be honest personally i don't really think that western teams are up on par with chinese teams at the moment as much as i like western teams.
But good move that they did not do what most chinese did last year which was underestimate(maybe) the western teams.
On May 23 2014 03:00 Sn0_Man wrote: I mean pre-WPC last year most people thought "west sux" then alliance 8-0'd their way thru WPC on their way to the TI3 championship lol.
But yes things like Starladder paint a different picture this year.
I will say that C9 seem very confident against most chinese teams.
They did finish better than Tongfu.wanzhou and HGT the last time they played against Chinese teams, after all
On May 23 2014 03:00 Sn0_Man wrote: I mean pre-WPC last year most people thought "west sux" then alliance 8-0'd their way thru WPC on their way to the TI3 championship lol.
But yes things like Starladder paint a different picture this year.
I will say that C9 seem very confident against most chinese teams.
C9 is really strong but they keep you know "crumbling" at the right moments that it's so hard to believe that have a fighting chance to win a championship.
Also i know that most EG members have respect over C9 so they should be pretty good.
On May 23 2014 03:00 Sn0_Man wrote: I mean pre-WPC last year most people thought "west sux" then alliance 8-0'd their way thru WPC on their way to the TI3 championship lol.
But yes things like Starladder paint a different picture this year.
I will say that C9 seem very confident against most chinese teams.
They did finish better than Tongfu.wanzhou and HGT the last time they played against Chinese teams, after all
On May 24 2014 20:46 braincandy wrote: just a little disappointing they didn't clear about Fear's injury and his status about the coming LANS.
Also interesting how he says they don't scrim vs DK, but in Arteezy's recent Q&A I'm pretty sure he says they have been. Could just be a timing thing of the two interviews though
Arteezy's interview just says they're going to be scrimming with DK a lot, not that they have already.
edit: Actually, it's not clear from the interview, apparently that was just my interpretation since I don't think either team would want to deal with all the ping issues. My guess is they'll practice together when DK goes to the US.
Some nice videos up there, but I think the one that is really missing is that game where Fear went on a rampage with like 1 hit from a Vacuum -> Sven Crit. From Dreamhack I think..
EPT
