Someone doesn't need to be the "weakest link" to be the most practical person to replace.

Your statement has the implication that a team is sum of the individual skill of the 5 players involved, which isn't really how this game works. It doesn't matter how good he is "individually" if they can't find someone that works with him.

wei2coolman

United States60033 Posts

May 04 2014 17:20 GMT

#2325

On May 05 2014 02:17 cLutZ wrote:
Then again, if NA teams keep focusing on replacing their "weak links" instead of acquiring elite talent, they will never catch up.

Curse's line up was fine, until LMQ joined, and Dig got ShiphSpartan.
Xpecial is a really nice pick up though, I would consider him an "elite talent"
Quas and Xpecial probably the only pieces on Curse worth keeping, everyone else needs to be tossed.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

May 04 2014 17:24 GMT

#2326

I just played a ranked game with 3 Heal plus Soraka + Nidalee. Much heal. Much much heal.

Cancer comp is fun.

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

May 04 2014 17:28 GMT

#2327

On May 05 2014 02:17 cLutZ wrote:
Then again, if NA teams keep focusing on replacing their "weak links" instead of acquiring elite talent, they will never catch up.

Disagree.

League of Legends has started to become an actual sport, one in which if you don't perform, you get replaced by someone better. No longer are people playing with old friends and buddies, but rather to form the best team possible to win. With TheOddOne and Alexich essentially being the longstanding faces of TSM and Gambit Gaming (ex-Moscow 5), the scene has moved away from embracing old legends of the past and is moving towards a performance based structure, similar to how Korea works. If you don't play well, regardless of who you are, you'll be replaced.

If NA keeps on focusing on replacing their weak links, this moves them slowly into the mindset of "Once I finish purging out my weak links, I'll look to buy out elite talent if they're stuck on shit teams". No longer will you see teams like MYM or Complexity Black succeed, because just being a friendly group of 5 won't cut it when teams are stacking rosters with talent. No longer will you see old legends such as Chaox, Ocelote, or Chauster succeed in the scene as well. Their time has come, their time has past, it's now a more competitive scene, one in which your job security is all dependent upon your performance.

This means better teams, more competitive scenes (Maybe not for EU l0l), but it means for a lot of long time viewers, we lose the nostalgia factor. It won't be the same chanting TSM TSM TSM when OddOne's not there anymore. With the loss of OddOne, the old NA teams CLG and TSM look completely different now. The legends we used to watch, worship, and admire are no longer with us. From Kobe, Elementz, Saint, Chauster, Bigfat, Hotshot on CLG to Chaox, Rainman, Reginald, OddOne, and Xpecial, they're all gone. It's a sad day to be honest for long time viewers.

Fusilero

United Kingdom50293 Posts

May 04 2014 17:29 GMT

#2328

On May 05 2014 02:24 Sufficiency wrote:
I just played a ranked game with 3 Heal plus Soraka + Nidalee. Much heal. Much much heal.

Cancer comp is fun.

At least there wasn't a kayle

Badboyrune

Sweden2247 Posts

May 04 2014 17:29 GMT

#2329

Xpecial, bunnyfufu, zekent, Edward, rhux, elements, did sheep ever play support for curse? He's listed on leaguepedia but I can't remember if he was actually on the main roster at any point. Either way its a fairly impressive list

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

May 04 2014 17:30 GMT

#2330

On May 05 2014 02:29 Fusilero wrote:

Show nested quote +

At least there wasn't a kayle

That would have been very nice. Will try next game.

Fusilero

United Kingdom50293 Posts

May 04 2014 17:32 GMT

#2331

On May 05 2014 02:29 Badboyrune wrote:
Xpecial, bunnyfufu, zekent, Edward, rhux, elements, did sheep ever play support for curse? He's listed on leaguepedia but I can't remember if he was actually on the main roster at any point. Either way its a fairly impressive list

Sheep was on curse academy which made him a support sub for crs

cLutZ

United States19574 Posts

May 04 2014 17:36 GMT

#2332

On May 05 2014 02:20 wei2coolman wrote:

Show nested quote +

Fine for what? Getting not last? Losing 9/10 games to the Jin Air Falcons?

wei2coolman

United States60033 Posts

May 04 2014 17:36 GMT

#2333

sheep played for Curse Academy, not main roster iirc.

On May 05 2014 02:36 cLutZ wrote:

Show nested quote +

Fine for what? Getting not last? Losing 9/10 games to the Jin Air Falcons?

Fine for staying in LCS without going into relegation.

cLutZ

United States19574 Posts

May 04 2014 17:42 GMT

#2334

But that isn't even true because they were fairly close to losing to Dig in the Quarters, and anything can happen in a BO3 against Coast (plus I doubt EG will get worse, and they were bizarrely 1-3 against EG).

Unless you get Top 2 in the regular season, or are CLG this split (where its nearly impossible for you to lose back to back BO3s against inferior competition), you are always at risk of relegation.

ticklishmusic

United States15977 Posts

May 04 2014 17:45 GMT

#2335

TOO as a second coach.

I actually really, really like the idea. He's got a pretty informative and entertaining stream, and I think having a jungler analyzing the games will help TSM with their rotations.