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I hazard to suggest, however, that this is a poor way of looking at these international tournaments. Indeed, keener minds have long since been aware of this – League of Legends is not a competition between regions, but rather a competition between separate teams and individual players. This time last year, Riot framed the All-Stars tournament as a cross-region battle royale, offering a coveted extra spot at World’s for the winning region. National and regional pride was on the line, and the rosters were comprised of players from different teams. The shift in how we think about tournaments is reflected in how Riot chose to format the All-Stars tournament this time around: we have the complete opposite of last year’s format. No longer is it Team Korea vs. Team China and Team Europe vs. Team North America, but rather five separate teams competing nominally for their region but really for themselves. The story is certainly tied to regional pride, but at the most basic level, it’s a showdown between teams: OMG and SKT finally get a chance to continue their 1-1 series from World’s to see who’s on top; Cloud 9 will have the opportunity to avenge themselves of the multiple losses to Fnatic; TPA would like to see if they can still compete at the apex of the world stage. These storylines, in my opinion, overshadow that of a cross-region showdown.
I confess the way I’ve set up the region-team dichotomy is simplified, but the full scope of that discussion is not within this article. For now, I will simply content myself to an overview of the five teams that will be present at the 2014 All-Star’s. The unfortunate side-effect of regional tournament is that it’s quite difficult for someone to follow most of the five major leagues through time zone differences and work/life schedules. Fortunately for you, I’m here to offer up my humble opinion after following these teams over the course of the spring 2014 season.
For those who are unaware, the All-Stars format will be a five team round robin, with each team facing off against every other team. The lowest scoring team will be eliminated, and the remaining four teams will be placed in a single elimination bracket. We are guaranteed to see every match-up at least once.
The first section will be a simple review of the background and recent performances of these teams, and the second section will be my not-at-all-controversial rankings. The first section will be a bore for those of you who already follow these teams, but hopefully it gives some context to teams from regions that you have not followed. Presented in alphabetical order...
Cloud 9
Cloud 9 is, by far, the strongest team in North America. The 3-0 dismantling of their closest competitor, TSM, in the 2014 NA LCS Spring Playoffs has shown their S3 performance was not a fluke. Their reign as the kings of NA is closing on the one year mark, but they have met with very little of that same success on the world stage.
The first time we saw C9 in an international tournament was at the S3 World Championships. Riot’s disappointing tournament format also meant we saw very little of them as they were dispatched by Fnatic in 3 games of the Ro8 Bo3. C9 avenged themselves by claiming a 2-0 victory over Fnatic in the Battle of the Atlantic, but as what was essentially a showmatch, that victory did little to convince me of C9’s resilience to international opposition, especially in light of their early exit from IEM Cologne in a 0-2 defeat to Gambit the previous month. Their fourth and most recent foray onto the international stage was met once again with a defeat at the hands of Fnatic, spelling out a troubling trend of falling to European competition.
It is surprising to realize that these are the only times we saw Cloud 9 compete on a world stage. Even more astonishingly, C9 has faced only Gambit and Fnatic in series play. A pair of one game sets against clueless WE and outclassed TPA at IEM Katowice notwithstanding, C9 has been exposed to only a single region outside of NA. Compared to the rest of the teams at this All-Star tournament, it is safe to say C9 holds the least international experience. OMG and SKT, who have played in similarly few international tournaments, have the benefit of group stage play experience at S3 World’s, and Fnatic and TPA are no strangers to large international tournaments in their ancient histories.
For C9 more than any other team, this will be a chance to test themselves for the first time against the best that the rest of the world has to offer. In interviews and social media communications following the NA LCS Playoffs, C9 expressed their commitment to making a good showing at All-Stars, and definitely had their sights on being a top contender.
Unfortunately for both C9 and the audience, C9 will be unable to demonstrate their full strength with Hai suffering a collapsed lung at the most inopportune time for the team. Though Link is a very capable player in his own right, Hai’s central position as the leading playmaker and shotcaller for C9 means that we will be unable to see C9 perform at their top potential. With international tournaments so few and far in-between, it would appear that we might have to wait until the S4 World Championships before we can see C9 with their full roster.
Fnatic
Fnatic is a magical team. They started the Spring 2014 EU LCS season 7-0, and immediately followed it up with a 0-8. A question mark until the very end of regular season, Fnatic somehow managed to finish second and proceeded to bring home the Playoffs, taking out regular season 1st place finisher SK. Rational minds have long since abandoned hope of making sense of the EU scene, where any team is capable of beating any other team until the very end, with Fnatic’s eventual victory through a twisted and bumpy road being the only certainty. It is unclear to this observer whether it speaks to Fnatic’s inanity or to their capability.
In the end, it is yet again Fnatic rising as the champions of EU. In terms of international performance, Fnatic fell to Royal 1-3 in the Ro4 at S3 World’s, took second at IEM Cologne after a 0-2 against Gambit a couple months later, collapsed unspectacularly to C9 in the aforementioned Battle of the Atlantic, and took home a second IEM silver at Katowice with a 0-3 to KT Bullets. For Fnatic, the downside of showing up to so many international tournaments is the equal number of eventual defeats.
Fnatic’s core advantage will be that of a strong, stable roster with considerable international experience behind them. As they have demonstrated time and time again, league style regular seasons are not their forte, but rather their ability to analyze and prepare against specific matchups in bracket tournaments. Though this strength will be somewhat mitigated by the need to play a round robin stage before the playoff bracket, Fnatic has historically been able to make it to, and be a contender in, the playoff brackets.
OMG
In addition to having by far the best team name, OMG (yes it really does stand for Oh My God) comes in as one of the few teams to have come out even against SKT K. Continuing their S3 dominance of LPL, OMG sits once again on top of the regular season, with a clear score differential separating them from 2nd place EDG and 3rd place WE. At the beginning of the season, Cool’s departure from the main roster due to health issues was met with great concern, and replacement Xiyang had very large shoes to fill. To the pleasant surprise of OMG fans, Xiyang proved more than capable, quickly asserting himself as one of the most gifted players in the league, often creating solo kills or exerting roam pressure in the laning phase and helping propel the rest of OMG to victory. His position on top of the LPL MVP rankings reflects his impact.
OMG has been absent from international competition after S3 World’s, with the exception of the little covered (at least in the west) showing at WCG, where they dispatched amateur teams with ease, beat down countrymen WE in the semifinals, but fell to CJ Blaze in the finals. Worth noting is that they were at the time playing with a substitute bot lane, Namei/Sicca on loan from PE, replacing the San/pomelo combination. After WCG, OMG did a slight roster adjustment, moving Lovelin back to support (where he was originally before switching to jungle and leaving a good impression at S3 World’s) and bigpomelo to the jungle again.
In lieu of international tournaments, OMG occasionally plays in Chinese LAN tournaments that supplement LPL in the Chinese professional scene. The most recent of these, concluded earlier this week, was IET, which saw OMG advance past WE in a close 2-1 series, 2-0 iG, and end up defeated in an upset 0-2, giving the victory to EDG in the finals. While not the biggest issue in the grand schemes of things, OMG has shown that despite their 4-0 record over EDG in regular season, bracket play is another beast altogether. In this sense, their performance is a mirror of Fnatic’s in terms of comfort with different formats, since they have dropped bracket stage tournaments after dominating regular season play before as well.
**Update: It would appear that Xiyang’s Paris visa was approved, so he will most likely be the one playing after all.
SKT T1 K
SKT K arrives at the All-Stars off the back of the circuit point system in Korea, where teams accumulate points for their placements in the OGN Champions and NLB tournaments. Whereas all four of the other teams qualified through being the victors of the spring regular season (OMG) or spring playoffs (C9, Fnatic, TPA), SKT K’s entrance is actually quite far removed from their current performance.
I will presume that if you cared to enough to read this article, you are familiar with SKT K’s S3 performance. They haven’t participated in any international tournaments since, so results over the past months are limited to OGN Winter 2013 – 2014, OGN Spring 2014, and OGN Master’s. OGN Winter saw them settle into their role as world champions, going through the entire tournament without losing a single game. With back-to-back Champions victories sandwiching S3 World’s, SKT was by far the most successful team in the history of League of Legends up to that point. There was no reason to doubt their strong performance coming into Champions 2014.
The impossible, of course, finds a way to become reality. Mandu, due to health issues, stepped down from the main roster at the beginning of the season, and was replaced by Casper. Though SKT K took a win against Prime Optimus and a tie against SKT S with Casper, they switched back Mandu prior to their match against KT Arrows. Following a stunning 0-2 defeat, SKT K was on the verge of elimination. Prime Optimus’ miraculous 2-0 victory over SKT S gave SKT K a tie breaker opportunity against their sister team, and SKT K managed to squeeze through to the Ro8. There, Pawn, leading Samsung Ozone, avenged himself against Faker, and a 1-3 defeat signaled SKT K’s exit from Champions Spring 2014. Their woes did not end there, as they were immediately eliminated from the NLB as well by CJ Frost in another 1-3 defeat. Over the course of two weeks, SKT K dropped two Bo5s in convincing fashion, with Mandu looking rusty, Bengi and Impact regressing, Piglet powerless, and Faker the only one to show a semblance of competence.
SKT K competes against some of the strongest teams in the world on a regular basis, and it is quite possible that their lackluster performance in OGN and NLB will not transfer to the All-Stars, but their opponents will certainly be looking at this as a chance for them to finally unseat SKT K from their thrones. Though uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, SKT K is certainly not looking to pass off said crown any time soon, and will of course be looking to assert themselves against the competition.
Taipei Assassins
The S2 World Champions are a far cry from their 2012 selves, with only a single member (Bebe) remaining of the championship winning squad. Absent from S3 World’s, we’ve only seen TPA play in the GPL for most of the past year, though they’ve managed to do decently for themselves there. The 2014 GPL Spring Playoffs ended with a nail-biter 3-2 victory for TPA over Ahq in five long games. TPA was not at the top of the regular season, and many viewed their eventual victory as an upset over the stronger-on-paper Ahq squad.
Though doubtless a top GPL team, TPA has been quite absent from the international scene for most of the past year. IEM Singapore saw them make an early exit with a 0-2 defeat to the Saigon Jokers in the first round, and IEM Katowice saw them fail to advance past the group stage. It is accurate to say that they have long since fallen off the radar as a serious world contender.
In the GPL off season, TPA made a roster adjustment, benching Dinter and bringing in Winds from their sister squad, Taipei Snipers, who were eliminated in the GPL Summer 2014 Taiwan qualifiers. Prior to his run with the Taipei Snipers, you may remember Winds as the jungler of the Gamania Bears, the SEA representative at S3 World’s who had the misfortune of meeting SKT K in their only series of the tournament, losing 0-2. Dinter has long been identified as an underperforming member of TPA, and it will be interesting to see if Winds can help TPA recapture some of their former glory. It will no doubt be a difficult test for Winds, who will face his first tournament with a new team at All-Stars, which in a world with few international tournaments, is shaping up to be one of the most important titles of the year.
On another note, TPA also brought in Chawy, star player of the Singapore Sentinels, to be part of a rotating 6-man roster as a mid/support sub. Chawy will not, however, be playing with TPA at All-Stars, and will have to wait for GPL Summer 2014 before he makes his TPA debut. His acquisition does signal that TPA is still serious about trying to improve their team and becoming a world contender again, and no matter how irrelevant they may seem right now, it will be unwise to completely overlook them going into All-Stars.
Predictions:
5. Fnatic
Fnatic managed to make it out of EU LCS, but there are many glaring weaknesses in their roster. Rekkles has shown that he is the only one who can be counted on for a stable performance, aided by Yellowstar’s aggressive playmaking, though that sometimes backfires. Xpeke, despite being a fan favorite, has consistently shown himself to be a tier below world-class competition, often forced to sacrifice farm or map presence and providing poor teamfight control. Soaz’s unwillingness to master meta top laners, preferring instead picks such as Leblanc and Lulu, severely limits his team’s drafting options, and Cyanide’s passable but not stellar jungling is not enough to carry two ailing solo lanes.
Yes, Fnatic is an ancient name, and yes, Fnatic has often managed to perform in LANs against all expectations. My personal opinion, however, is that Fnatic will falter at All-Star’s, losing to SKT,OMG C9, and possibly getting upset by TPA, giving Europe a repeat 5th place finish.
4. TPA
TPA has been a strong but not dominating performer in GPL, and though they are on paper weaker than the other teams in this tournament, I believe that they have what it takes to take some upset victories.
GPL is a very isolated region, which has allowed some peculiar picks and strategies to evolve. Though top GPL teams tend to mimic OGN drafting and strategies with some slight variations, their penchant for not lane swapping + exploiting lane advantages can catch teams offguard. Their less-than-perfect rotations and objective control is offset by their strong experience in laning, something that many other regions have abandoned almost completely. With the addition of Winds, which should be an upgrade compared to Dinter, TPA has a strong chance of establishing a dominating advantage in the laning phase, especially since teams like Fnatic and C9 are not traditionally known for strong laning phases. Bebe is dependable as ever, and has shown himself to be more capable than ever before at exploiting small advantages into insurmountable snowballs.
Ultimately, I do not believe they are, as a changing roster from a weaker isolated region, able to become a serious contender for the top spot. I do, however, believe it is very possible that they can make it into the bracket stage over a more popular team.
3. Cloud 9
If you are already outraged by how I placed Fnatic, you might be even more outraged to realize that this means I value C9, a team without even their main roster, over the stable and experienced Fnatic roster and above TPA as well, especially when considering C9’s track record against Fnatic.
Hai was C9’s main shotcaller and a strong playmaker, but many would also identify him as a weaker player in terms of individual mechanics when compared to the rest of his team, often opting to roam and support side lanes rather than attempting to build up a solo advantage in mid. His replacement is Link, who has some shotcalling responsibilities on CLG in addition to being a consistent player that can be counted on to not crumble. Link is in a good position to set up the rest of C9 into carry positions not unlike how Hai was, simply by providing the assurance of a stable mid lane that does not require special care or attention. If an enterprising opponent thinks to exploit the new mid laner by placing extra attention there, it opens up the threat of either a Meteos countergank (something he is very good at) or an unhindered Meteos farming away into a monstrous teamfight presence. Balls has established himself a force to be reckoned with top, and the Sneaky/Lemonation bot lane has improved from being a lower tier bot lane whose goal was to not lose into a carry threat in their own right. Critics might point out that C9’s main strength, their immaculate teamfighting, could be jeopardized by the addition of a new mid laner, but I simply think that Link just feels right as a part of C9.
All of the roster analysis aside, however, my main explanation, ridiculous as it may sound, is that C9 wants it more. As I mentioned in the background section, C9 has shown a strong desire to prove themselves on the world stage and shake off their reputation as merely an NA regional power. Perhaps I’m being unfair to Fnatic, but the European scene has had a history of a dismissive attitude towards showmatches, with many players choosing not to participate in similar events in the past. Indeed, Fnatic is currently away on vacation in the weeks leading up to All-Stars, as opposed to Cloud 9 who is devoting great time and energy, first to immediately finding a suitable replacement for Hai and moving him in, and subsequently practicing as a team. Ultimately, this drive to win will be what gives C9 a solid edge over their rivals Fnatic and ushers them into the playoffs.
2. SKT K and 1. OMG
After three teams are accounted for, it will leave the remaining two for the finals. I don’t think predicting an OMG vs. SKT K final is much of a novelty, as these two are the undeniable favorites coming into the tournament.
Predictions are no fun without controversy, and I might as well just predict more upsets. I pick OMG to take it all, but it will be close. SKT K, despite their recent slump and lackluster performance in the Korean scene, is without a doubt still a favorite in many people’s minds. Indeed, I hesitated in placing them second, because the world saw what a slumping KT Bullets managed to do to the rest of the field at IEM Katowice.
Faker, as mentioned, did perform adequately in SKT K’s OGN run. Still the monstrous individual force that we all know and fear, he will however be hindered by the shortened laning phase and early grouping. In addition, OMG comes from LPL, where swapping the duo lane mid occurs much more frequently than in other regions, which is something that SKT K and Faker will have to be wary of. Piglet showed sparks of his usual brilliance this season, but playing with new support Casper and then adjusting back to a rusty Mandu has taken its toll on him, and Piglet has been seen to falter. Bengi and Impact have been unable to provide the amount of support that the rest of SKT K have gotten used to getting. Bengi in particular has shown a very weak grasp of junglers not named Lee Sin, falling back to the low impact Nunu when Lee Sin is unavailable, and his overreliance on these junglers is a glaring weak point.
Unused to coming out of the early laning phase without a strong advantage, SKT K has looked quite clueless when trying to farm back and stall out their disadvantage, which is something that is quite deadly in the current state of the game. They remain individually strong, but OMG are no slouches, and this is their shot to take home the grand prize.
For Xiyang, the main question that has been floating around the Chinese community is whether or not he has been able to successfully expand his champion pool. As a result of being multiple patches behind for most of the past season, Xiyang’s LPL picks have been comprised almost entirely of Syndra, Leblanc, Nidalee, and Lulu. OMG has been limited by the lack of Ziggs, Yasuo, and to a lesser extent, Orianna, as valid mid picks, and with Lulu falling slightly out of favor, Xiyang’s limited champion pool might be a concern. Of course, OMG has been training on the Korean servers the past few weeks and it’s quite possible Xiyang has been training new picks in time for the tournament.
I had also stressed the importance of the drive to win in the C9 section, but it bears repeating here because OMG is, in my regards, quite similar to C9 – a regional powerhouse that has been unable to secure a large international victory. With the scarcity of chances for these big wins to begin with, OMG will treasure this opportunity all the more, and they have been very proactive in their preparations for the tournament, including practicing on the Korean servers to avoid the WE and iG fiasco at IEM Katowice where they were completely unfamiliar with the new patch.
Don’t get me wrong, it will be a very close series, and I predict OMG by only the narrowest of margins. A 3-2 victory for OMG is how I imagine the tournament plays out.
TL;DR version:
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Fnatic is shit, the only thing Sexpeke can backdoor is Sjokz these days, worst mid lane world. Pretty sure Soaz doesn’t know how to play, Yolostar just wants to die, and Rekkless is losing his will to live. RIP
TPA broke their backs trying to carry Dinter, and though Winds is lighter, their backs are probably still recovering from a season of hard labor and the 10 hour series with Ahq. GPL Struggler Chawy won’t even be on the roster, and we all remember how Morning got roflstomped by C9. Bebe is losing his will to live. RIP
C9 are kings of a trash region, but winning against FreeSM is hardly indicative of how good you are. Hai preemptively lost his will to live and is hiding in the hospital while moemoelinklink is the scapegoat. Meteos is losing his will to live. RIP
SKT K woke up one day and realized that they don’t have a support, their top laner is MIA, and their jungler has downs. Piglet lost his will to live long before, and Faker-senpai is scrawny Asian boy who is strong but not strong enough to carry a team of feeders. Collectively lost their wills to live. RIP
OMG are choke artists, but this tournament is gonna be handed to them on a silver platter as long as they don’t choke, which granted might be hard. But bigpomelo’s favorite champion is Veigar so I pick OMG.
+ Show Spoiler +
lomo
Feel free to upvote on Reddit but this is a 5k word wall of text with zero pictures so I doubt it will go anywhere. BUT DAMMIT I WANT EFAME http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/search?q=All-Star's 2014 Thoughts + Predictions Csheep&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all
Don't worry I am too.
