Without the same infrastructure and synergy that the Korean imports once had, I expect most of them to perform poorly. I think it's safe to say that Korea's going to just keep on pumping out talent like they always do and will stay on top throughout season five.

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

January 07 2015 06:34 GMT

#22

i'm more optimistic about these fusion chinese teams, particularly iG and EDG.

the general optimism is that, they've imported so many koreans that they've probably also imported the korean scrim environment. if they only had a few koreans, then the scene would still be the chinese meta. but the korean coaches and players could achieve some critical threshold where the chinese teams actually develop an imported korean meta.

royal club last year only had 2 korean players, but the newer chinese hybrid teams often have sister teams to stash their extra koreans, or straight up trainee/scrim partners.

the specific optimism about iG is that rookie is the best mid after faker in a year's time. very creative player. and they have kakao. EDG will be strong as well.

1lluma

Canada5 Posts

January 07 2015 06:44 GMT

#23

Also, VG could very well show us if the communication heavy game that SSW used to demolish everyone will survive the language barrier with Dandy and Mata in that team. Meanwhile, we will actually see if the Samsung org can really recreate a strong team like they said or it was actually the players and Homme as the coach that made SSB and SSW the best teams in the world and not the korean organisation infrastructure that create strong team.

Schnake

Germany2819 Posts

January 07 2015 07:32 GMT

#24

I am wondering whether all the Korean guys will be comfortable in China and actually stay there. In the past, homesickness was mentioned a lot with Korean players in foreign teams and the cultural adaptation should not be underestimated.

Kalent

Canada253 Posts

January 07 2015 08:13 GMT

#25

I'm more skeptical than others when it comes to the performance of these Korean/Chinese hybrid teams. SHRC performed very well, but many commentators and professional players have commented that SHRC is a rather extraordinary exception from the norm. It's absolutely amazing that the players in SHRC were able to trust each other to the extent where they were able to play at a world-class level with limited communication, but the flaws in their communications were brutally revealed and exploited by Samsung White in the Season 4 World Championship finals

I can see these hybrid teams performing well, but in my opinion, no team will ever be able to reach the near-perfect performance seen by SKT in Champions Winter or by Samsung White in Season 4 Worlds due to the issues that will inevitably arise in communication. Individual performance is vastly overrated while communication and teamwork are relatively underrated. People always talk about stand-out performances by individuals or amazing outplays, but rarely comment on aspects of the game such as vision, map movements, team-fighting, or mind-games that are all achieved through communication.

There's a video on Youtube of Mata playing ranked 5's with some KR challengers and a famous streamer.

If you're able to understand Korean, you will be absolutely blown away by the amount of information and quality shot-calling that comes from Mata. There's a wealth of information and calls on the littlest details of the game, including where and when to ward, when to show yourself in lane, when laners should move to certain parts of the map, and so much more. It's mind-blowing how Mata is able to read the game and provide detailed, relevant information to ALL of his teammates. What's even more interesting is how his teammates also contribute bits of information that they have, allowing Mata to make calls very quickly and effectively. Keep in mind that this isn't even a professional game - but the quality of communication, and the benefits of this communication is seen clearly here. (I'm working on creating subtitles for this video for those who cannot understand Korean BTW)

The point I'm trying to make with my example above is that the level of communication required to achieve excellence or the highest performance possible in League of Legends is not something that can be done when there's a language barrier involved. The level of detail and complexity seen in a lot of Mata's calls isn't something that can be communicated through pings or short, simple phrases. These calls are very detailed and specific. Furthermore, there's not only concerns regarding the clarity of calls in these hybrid teams, but also regarding the efficiency. Professional League of Legends is quick and fast-paced from the onset, and players need to be able to communicate with each other quickly and effectively for clarity and to make sure that everybody's on the same page.

This is why I think Korea will still be the strongest region regardless of the exodus; the hybrid Chinese/Korean teams may perform very well in the first half of 2015 before the Korean teams' synergy kicks in. However, Korea with its wealth of talented players and excellent coaches, will eventually perform better than the hybrid teams due to their advantage in communication. Hell, I'd venture to say that SKT will outperform all of the ChinaKorea teams right from the onset.

Baadbeat

France203 Posts

January 07 2015 09:10 GMT

#26

I think that the abolition of sister teams will hurt a bit korean teams since secrets strats will be harder to pull of/conceive but I find it hard to believe that other scenes will catch up even with the korean exodus. The practice regiment in Korea and the mentality of team is so different from foreign team (don't know about China though?).
If you look at the SC2 exodus where many Koreans switched to foreign teams, you can see that most of the koreans that switched lost skill compared to the ones that stayed in Korea. The structure of Korean teams employ more people to analyse the games, players train longer and harder, each team is analysed before the game in more depth and this is what gives korean teams the edge. Their overall knowledge of the games is superior to foreign teams in my opinion.

Shatterfront

Australia77 Posts

January 07 2015 09:32 GMT

#27

On January 07 2015 16:32 Schnake wrote:
I am wondering whether all the Korean guys will be comfortable in China and actually stay there. In the past, homesickness was mentioned a lot with Korean players in foreign teams and the cultural adaptation should not be underestimated.

It's relatively easy to go back for a weekend visit or something similar to Korea, due to the short flight from China. Wouldn't be as easy if they all went to North America.

Zdrastochye

Ivory Coast6262 Posts

January 07 2015 13:56 GMT

#28

On January 07 2015 18:10 Baadbeat wrote:
I think that the abolition of sister teams will hurt a bit korean teams since secrets strats will be harder to pull of/conceive but I find it hard to believe that other scenes will catch up even with the korean exodus. The practice regiment in Korea and the mentality of team is so different from foreign team (don't know about China though?).
If you look at the SC2 exodus where many Koreans switched to foreign teams, you can see that most of the koreans that switched lost skill compared to the ones that stayed in Korea. The structure of Korean teams employ more people to analyse the games, players train longer and harder, each team is analysed before the game in more depth and this is what gives korean teams the edge. Their overall knowledge of the games is superior to foreign teams in my opinion.

I think you're right but for the wrong reasons.

I think sister teams no longer being allowed DOES hurt their practice regimes as team's dedicated strategy and scrimming partners will be no longer able to be two teams with their own goals trying to make things work. Having a larger team to have "in house" scrims is way less helpful than two teams who have starting lineups of players who are motivated to win to stay relevant in the scene.

I do agree with you though that I don't think this "exodus" will result in any of the regions catching Korea in terms of skill, because right now even if regions are trying to stay as competitive as Korea is right now, they have to catch up first. It's like a reverse situation when the game first came out and competitive League wasn't nearly as figured out. The first regions to play the game (NA and EU) got a heads up on the competition, but when Korea joined into the competitive scene their growth was exponentially more than any region in terms of developing talent at a new game. Right now even if the regions besides Korea adopt their mentality when it comes to developing of talent and formation of new strategies based on the current meta, they'll need to increase their pace if they want to catch up to where Korea is right now.

Blind loves you

Canada13 Posts

January 07 2015 16:57 GMT

#29

I really think that the only way we're going to ever have a Chinese team on top again is if they can constantly practice against the Koreans. I wonder if the Korean presence in china might encourage that?