This year, Worlds is back in NA with events in San Francisco, Atlanta, New York and Mexico City. The Play-In stage will be from September 29th - October 4th. Group Stage from October 7th to 16th. Knockout stage from October 20th to November 5th. For more info, check out the Liquipedia page.
If CN and KR don't slaughter everyone this year, I'll be shocked. I'm expecting at least one team to crash and burn like always (my money is on DRX or EDG), but with 4 teams each, it isn't unlikely to have a full Asian quarter finals without lucky drawings.
I'm hoping for no 'teamkills' in quarters this year. As usual, I haven't seen anything of lpl, but other than that GenG looks the strongest. NA was hilarious to watch few games of.
In the play-ins you have 2 LEC and 1 LCK and LPL. I'm wondering if we'll see even one minor region in group stages this year (outside the ones seeded). I wouldn't mind if they would return to max 3 seeds, and give extra play-in spots to minor regions to increase their chances. Rooting for Detonation Focusme to go through!
Top half of the LPL was very strong this year, I think JDG and TES are on the same level as GenG.
To quote the Reddit hivemind, current World's format is garbage. Play ins is basically gatekeeping minor regions out of a real tournament format, we've reached the point where even the weakest LPL and LCK seeds shouldn't struggle anymore. So half the minor regions never even get a chance to play a BO5 series against each other. Meanwhile in the proper tournament we only get 7 BO5, and since there are now so many good LCK and LPL seeds we get 'teamkills' no matter what. Bonus points if two tournament favorites meet early and one of them gets eliminated.
Well, to be fair, the format is kindof trash. I really like double elim format, except for the grand final, where for longer games (like LOL as opposed to fe Tekken 7) I think it becomes a bit of a drag. Maybe just make in BO7 with 1-0 for the winner's bracket team. My investment in LOL is just too little to actually care about it though.
Yes, double elimination is what LPL does, and it is vastly superior imo.Teams that finished high in the regular split don't get eliminated as soon as they play each other. Loser's bracket isn't some easy cheat either, the schedule and number of games is insane if you drop down early.
But Riot doesn't believe in concurrently streaming series/games, hence play ins and groups takes forever. A 6 weeks event with so few games is the real drag.
Oh yeah, definitely agree on the ridiculousness of everything taking forever. I was just talking about the grand final's drag regarding double elim. If you have a short game like T7, a reset means 30 minutes extra. For LOL it could mean 5 hours extra. You could plan in an extra day, but that would have practical complications. (extra venue days, ticket sale etc.)
Btw, i was just looking at earlier worlds hype videos from 2014 and 2016, and had to wipe away a manly tear. Incredible how hyped I used to be for this game. (Still think that the animation of 2016 suck, haha) I don't have that much time for esports anymore. Now i just use the JP broadcast to increase my Japanese proficiency, the weeb I am.
Just for fun I wanted to tune in for the first few games. I've been waiting more than 2 hours, and the second game hasn't even stated yet. Seeing the level of the first game, I'm not even sure why I'm even watching this.
On the English cast they're even talking about fnatic being first worlds champions (or not) during a pause. FML.
On September 30 2022 07:07 Yorbon wrote: Just for fun I wanted to tune in for the first few games. I've been waiting more than 2 hours, and the second game hasn't even stated yet. Seeing the level of the first game, I'm not even sure why I'm even watching this.
On the English cast they're even talking about fnatic being first worlds champions (or not) during a pause. FML.
I've managed to stay awake for the FNC match. EG got stomped, not a good start when you're playing vs a substitute. And as the casters pointed out, you really want to be first seed in this group otherwise you're likely to play vs RNG or DRX.
On October 02 2022 05:58 DarkCore wrote: Sad FNC game, Upset and Humanoid are really clean but the rest of the team sometimes runs it down really bad.
Very sad. Loud (or whatever the name is) played some teamfights pretty well wrt the akali. Humanoid at 20:30 and 23:00ish twice engaged into both Maokai with W up and Amumu with R up. Saving those CDs was nice by Loud. With a MF that fed, that's just death. And Hyli was picked of constantly and got one of the few shutdowns on MF with caitlyn and akali nearby. Hilarious. I didn't really understand Fnatic at all in terms of decisions. (which doesn't say much, but w/e)
eg lost that game with the most amateur play i’ve ever seen. just sac vulcan and everyone else can easily back for free. instead they get a free baron and instantly get aced. tragic.
On October 03 2022 07:49 brian wrote: spoilers for eg day 4 game + Show Spoiler +
eg lost that game with the most amateur play i’ve ever seen. just sac vulcan and everyone else can easily back for free. instead they get a free baron and instantly get aced. tragic.
Legit couldn't help but laugh when I watched the game, it's so like NA to squander their chances when they are given to them (1st seed in this group was much easier to achieve than the other).
That being said, I think the Soraka pick was not the entirely correct answer to Yuumi. On paper, an Aatrox who cannot die bc kekw heals looks really strong, in reality DFM basically had a pick comp that could kill anyone before Soraka could do anything, and then Yuumi on Gnar would clean up. EG did well with their own picks or stalling botched DFM engages, but DFM had more room to make mistakes because the only way EG would seriously win a fight is if they blow up Sivir/Ahri instantly or get an insane MF ult. Both unlikely with Sivir Yuumi Ahri ults, spellshield and Zhonyas.
yea impact worlds buff is fully online. and aside from the start of game 1 jojo continues living up to the hype. didn’t look like he even needed to try during that sett game. looked like he was just playing soloq
Not too surprised that EG took it. Impact has been looking really strong, while Armut looked pretty weak even in MAD's wins.
Didn't expect the 3-0 though. MAD just didn't look like they had too much of a chance past 15 minutes in any of the games.
I was one of those who fell for the Armut hype when we saw his performance that one Worlds, and then he came over to EU. One of the worst champion pools in competitive league, and even on Gnar he can't make up for his fundamental weaknesses (uncalculated aggression, trying to skill check players of equal skill, few high impact teleports).
He looked totally out of it in those last couple of games. Even when they won the rest of the team is popping off and he's just there ashen-faced, at best looking kinda relieved. I don't think he took a mental health break because he played below his standard for a few weeks. I think this mental health thing cropped up, and it was also the reason he played subpar in those last few games he did play.
On October 09 2022 03:43 Uldridge wrote: T1 look great and RNG look great. Havn't really checked G2 vs DK, but know it was a stomp; can't say anything about players' form though
DWK went in looking for blood, G2 decided to run a support mid. 10 minutes of Canyon running the show opened up a gold lead that G2 couldn't stop, they still tried and got wasted. Really sad game, hopefully next time G2 makes use of their mid laner, I heard he's kind of good.
I feel like NA's biggest weakness is how to approach fights. More specifically: when to leave someone behind and salvage as much as you can or fight with no man left behind. EG has made several of these errors already. China seem the best at this.
Loads of players are contracting Covid, this might have a big impact on results. Idk how ill Scout is, but playing remotely from his team sucks, could give FNC the edge they need. T1 players are ironically lucky to have gotten it during the season.
Sorry, I'll need to clarify. Almost best quarters in terms of matchup variety. To have 4 LCK and 3 chinese, there's only 1 region mirror. I think that's great (and possibly even rigged, but who cares). RGE might be able to pull it off, but they'll need to become battlegods once more. Trymbi/Malrang have to step it again in order to do it.
JDG is flimsy, but they can also fight back from literally any gold deficit, which makes them, imo, the scariest team as you can never seem to close out cleanly against them. They'll always surprise you one way or another. RGE will have to play inhumanly clean. RNG is rock solid. Hoping for a T1 win, but it's going to be tough. The entire squad seems to be on form though. DK - GenG, let's go GenG. DRX - EDG: we might see DRX actually make it to semis. I'm pleasantly surprised by how clean they've been the entire way through. EDG... is just solid? Idk what to say about them. Looking forward to Deft vs Viper though.
didnt realise when watching game highlights but tes seemingly lost because of a huge bug. i would be fucking fuming that my team got knocked out of worlds because of this.
On October 18 2022 21:17 evilfatsh1t wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2h4cJmCLY didnt realise when watching game highlights but tes seemingly lost because of a huge bug. i would be fucking fuming that my team got knocked out of worlds because of this.
Yeah it's a shitty situation all around, mostly caused by Riot not caring/assigning manpower to investigate/fix the dozens of reported bugs that occur every patch.
It's unfair to RGE/DRX to have chronobreak go through because they may have drafted/played differently with their lives on the line, it's unfair to TES because they were so close, and it's unfair to GAM because they absolutely played their hearts out that game(and the whole tournament really)
That being said, I'm not sure if it's just a spectator bug, but level 3 Sett ult should do 200 damage to a 100 armor Lucian, not 121. Sett does have both DMP and Frostfire, so no damage only really applies after he gets off his first 2 autos, which he will 100% get off after casting the E on a no CD lucian.
Lucian conveniently has 100 of each resist, so we can just sum the damage and divide by 2 at the end.
My math has 85 frostfire auto proc ~50 frostfire passive proc 160 - Dead man's plate. 250 - Not 100% sure on masteries, but he should have ballpark that amount even in a full tank build for 2 autos at level 16 100 - Q bonus damage (2 hits) 46 - 2% of Lucian's max health (assuming Sett has basically no bonus AD) 80 - Right fist damage _______________________________ 771 damage/2 because of 100 resist.
385.5 damage.
Add in W (~100 mitigated or ~200 true), which if Lucian partially dodges requires going 90 degrees from the nexus, which doesn't help him get closer to the nexus and he's critical HP even with a maw proc.
Also there's the Liandry's proc from Karthus, which has a couple ticks remaining at ~35 damage a second after mitigation.
I'm not entirely convinced that Lucian kills the Nexus even with it working properly, but it would've been damn close.
not sure about the math but assuming your calculations are right, the conclusion is that lucian still survives setts full combo. if we want to really nitpick and theorycraft then i would say theres 2 more variables that would work in tes' favour. 1. lucian rfc at time of death was at about 80, so its possible that had he survived he could just w-aa-aa the nexus. if not he could w-auto-auto sett, refresh e cd, e towards nexus and aa-aa. 2. the fact that lucian survives means he peels for the rest of his team for at least a split second. karthus q on renekton would probably have been aimed at lucian first, then you have nami and renekton with enough time to possibly get in 2 more autos each at least.
it is very close but i think the situation is doable for tes. more importantly, i believe the decision to go for the nexus in the first place would have been made exactly because jackeylove knew his maw was up. if his maw wasnt up then tes may have played the situation completely differently altogether. in the heat of the moment jackeylove probably thought that sett just did an insane amount of damage, but if anyone on tes was analysing this in real time they should have rioted for a chronobreak.
Based on this post, Maw should've provided 510 shielding.
Aery is still on lucian which is why Sett ulti did 121 damage.
I think at that point if he W auto sett and then Es with the reset out of sett W(That auto reset 100% gets him killed if he gets hit, mitigated or true) he might get to auto the nexus. Nami doesn't do remotely close to enough damage to the nexus(like I think it'd be ~10 autos to win from there for Nami), and Renekton is cc'd by Renata, and also autos for about 2/3 of what lucian does.
There's a window in there if everything goes right for TES to win, and also still room for GAM to win I think without the bug. Like you give the players 100 chances at that from a resume at the Sett ulti, and I still don't think there's a 100% winning strategy for either side.
On October 21 2022 15:02 Uldridge wrote: Yeah I should've known better than think the west could power up into the second week of groups. It's almost like a logical fallacy at this point..
If anything, the eastern teams power up the second week once they have a better read on the meta and figure out how to abuse the western teams.
The west sometimes takes a game here or there if they can coinflip some volatile matchups, but they are so rarely able to identify and play to lanes that can win (well, in a lot of cases they get gapped in all 3 lanes and the jungle). Hard to make plays when every lane is behind by 3 minutes.
I saw Odo on Renekton on G1 and kind of knew the game was over. They can't leverage that pick into a hard snowball into a Chinese team (especially JDG). Gragas just neutralizes and he just becomes a minion.
On October 22 2022 05:56 Yorbon wrote: Hoping for a T1 win today, but I'm not confident. RNG is a little bit of an angstgegner for me.
It all depends on how big Xiaohu and Gala go today imo. I expect jungle and top to go in favour of T1 naturally, but Xiaohu can definitely have better map impact than Faker, and Gala has a tendency to show up in critical matches.
Interestingly, RNG has a very good track record against JDG this year: they beat them in both regular splits, and also beat them in Spring Playoffs. I suppose if there's one LPL team who can beat JDG (thanks to TES eliminating themselves), it's Xiaohu and the gang.
It was a tight game 1. Gold was largely irrelevant, as long as T1 could zone RNG away. Overall I'm pleasantly surprised with how T1 played this from the macro perspective. It takes a lot of maturity as a team to perform it at this level. I figured this T1 was better at skirmishing, but it seems they've grown.
That said RNG shows that full concentration will be necessary to beat them. I was impressed by Xiaohu, even though he was pushed in the entire game, he was very effective. Ming missed a probably essential hook in the early game.
I didn't believe during game 2. I was proven wrong.
In game 2, T1 stalled the game out greatly. RNG also misplayed by bluffing the top t3 turret and inhib. T1 calls it and has optimum positioning, that was the play that basically won it. Faker's movement was absolutely nuts by the way.
I'm usually quite negative on balance and the state of lol, but the diversity of champions this worlds has really been better than I've seen before. Ryze mid vs Kayne jungle? I did not quite expect that.
ShowMaker and Chovy want to win so badly. So many insanely clean mechanics in this game, with a mix of terrible decision making. Last sequence of events by DK was kind of a let down though.
On October 23 2022 07:59 DarkCore wrote: ShowMaker and Chovy want to win so badly. So many insanely clean mechanics in this game, with a mix of terrible decision making. Last sequence of events by DK was kind of a let down though.
Both of them are undoubtedly superstars. So many big plays to try and get their team into the lead.
Very good run from DWK, despite the LCK teamkill curse. They did not really look good coming into the tournament, but have really stepped up. I hope they can keep the team together.
Today another team that has really stepped up since summer in DRX. Beforehand I would say EDG are the clear favourites to go through, but I'm not so sure seeing their games against T1 and the improved form of DRX.
I'm always curious how much the meta change due to patching causes teams to suddenly improve.
Final game! You have to feel bad as EDG. In the back of their minds must be that they would've already been out of the tournament if not for that 0.5 seconds.
I have to wipe away a small tear for Deft. The first ever pro game of lol I saw was the samsung white vs blue match in 2014. Although becoming a white fan back then, over the years I've grown more fond of Deft and his struggles to find a good team (especially after his return to Korea). That this would be the year is simply incredible.
After being spoiled in the 2013-2017 era, LCK have had a terrible 2018-2020 period, where the region's teams even lost against western teams, with which the region had no experience at all. At the end of 2020 things started looking better again. This year, the LCK definitely performs better than last year. After all, last year all the LPL teams were on one side of the bracket, and now 2 have been defeated in a direct confrontation with LCK (last year only 1, hasn't happened since 2016).
So I can understand the optimism/hype. Even if JDG wins, I'll take solace in the fact that, including this year, in the last 10 years there has not been a world champion without Korean players. Until now, you've always needed at least 2.
KR has the ability to surpress volatility by playing safer and more coordinated than both LPL and LEC/LCS. They understand win/loss conditions very well and have the macro and mechanics down to press them forward. LPL still excels at pushing the go button, which catches teams off guard, as well as with their unpredictability, but as I said, LCK seems to have a better grasp on it this time around. JDG is the ultimate go button team though. If you can stifle their engages, you have a good chance of winning.
Also, mechanical prowess in KR/CN was showing this time around. All those attempts by US and EU to catch a Chinese carry and they just wiggle out of there like it was no biggie. Insane how good these players are individually.
On October 25 2022 17:59 Uldridge wrote: KR has the ability to surpress volatility by playing safer and more coordinated than both LPL and LEC/LCS. They understand win/loss conditions very well and have the macro and mechanics down to press them forward. LPL still excels at pushing the go button, which catches teams off guard, as well as with their unpredictability, but as I said, LCK seems to have a better grasp on it this time around. JDG is the ultimate go button team though. If you can stifle their engages, you have a good chance of winning.
Also, mechanical prowess in KR/CN was showing this time around. All those attempts by US and EU to catch a Chinese carry and they just wiggle out of there like it was no biggie. Insane how good these players are individually.
Yeah, its fairly obvious to me that the KR/CN split is willingness to just force a 50/50 play with shitty vision. The more those things work out the more LPL teams win, the more they don't (either laners escaping the gank or them getting counterganked) the more the LPL looks like it is engaging in a clown fiesta.
T1 back where they belong. In the finals of worlds. Keria imo is making a case for being one of the best supports in a very very long time. For the first time since 2017, no LCK team has been eliminated by a non-LCK opponent; and that's harder to pull off with 4 teams than 3.
Faker really showed why he's not to be underestimated in game 4. He doesn't get the kills, but wins you the game...
The Faker Ryze pick working out when Ryze is basically a dead champion competitively really shows the value of a true pocket. I mean, freaking getting a Ryze ban? A Champ with literally only 3 picks the entire competition? In the Semis. That is work.
Here's my impression (that I hope at least one other person here enjoys) of Faker when asked about Ryze's viability before the tournament.
On October 30 2022 09:44 Yorbon wrote: T1 back where they belong. In the finals of worlds. Keria imo is making a case for being one of the best supports in a very very long time. For the first time since 2017, no LCK team has been eliminated by a non-LCK opponent; and that's harder to pull off with 4 teams than 3.
Faker really showed why he's not to be underestimated in game 4. He doesn't get the kills, but wins you the game...
Keria has been in discussions for best player in the world, not just support. He is basically SSW Mata, does everything a support should do perfectly AND also has insane mechanics.
Game 1 I thought JDG could do it, but then Faker wokeup and decided he wanted to be a champion again. The question is if GenG player's want to win as badly as he does, because Faker wants to end the discussion for GOAT once and for all. If DRX wins today I will eat a shoe
On October 30 2022 09:44 Yorbon wrote: T1 back where they belong. In the finals of worlds. Keria imo is making a case for being one of the best supports in a very very long time. For the first time since 2017, no LCK team has been eliminated by a non-LCK opponent; and that's harder to pull off with 4 teams than 3.
Faker really showed why he's not to be underestimated in game 4. He doesn't get the kills, but wins you the game...
Yeah he had some nasty emperors divides. He makes no mistakes AND makes big plays. Bjerg, for example rarely makes mistakes but also basically makes zero big plays. Its amazing how faker can seem so safe but then also be explosive.
faker makes mistakes a fair bit now actually. even in this series he had a couple of mistakes, its just his average level and his clutch plays always makes up for it. he was insane across all 4 games this series even with a handful of misplays. if he cleans up on the misplays then i think he will honestly mid diff chovy in the mid-late game.
Doran and Peanut crumbled. Maybe a bit of a metashift in disfavor? I don't know.. DRX has leveled up immensly. I like the finals narrative though. Deft vs Faker, supported by young blood. Cool.
Great series - huge step up from Kingen, and great shot calling and draft pressure from Beryl. So happy Deft got a worlds title, and Pyosik gets his Kindred skin.
Biggest dark horse of LoL history, doubt we'll ever see a Cinderella story like this again. DRX basically beat every team that was a World's contender by the skin of their teeth.
Finally got to watch. Amazing series. Feel good for Deft, even though I 51-49 preferred a Faker win.
That said, goddam so many of the newer champions are so visually unclear, its much worse when you aren't playing, particularly if a skin is involved. Everyone always knows about Aphelios being a shit watch, but its impossible to tell what Renata is doing, and the skins make it even more confusing. Same with Viego after he transforms. Its too much. Bel Veth is also just inscrutable 80% of the time while watching. Playing is more palatable.
On November 07 2022 13:55 cLutZ wrote: Finally got to watch. Amazing series. Feel good for Deft, even though I 51-49 preferred a Faker win.
That said, goddam so many of the newer champions are so visually unclear, its much worse when you aren't playing, particularly if a skin is involved. Everyone always knows about Aphelios being a shit watch, but its impossible to tell what Renata is doing, and the skins make it even more confusing. Same with Viego after he transforms. Its too much. Bel Veth is also just inscrutable 80% of the time while watching. Playing is more palatable.
This is such a problem honestly for a lot of competitive games right now... like, sure you're playing and the person you're laning against has a skillshot, you're gonna learn to visually recognize it in a few uses, but that doesn't mean shit when you get ashe arrowed from fog by an ashe arrow you've never seen before and have 0.8 seconds to figure out the fuck the skillshot is before you need to flash it. Sure it isn't a problem over time, but it makes games that are already a slog to learn even worse, because your visual library doesn't mean as much as it should.
ive wanted a no skin option in video controls since forever. i personally dont play with any skins because of the same problem and i wish i could turn everyone elses skins off too
On November 11 2022 15:10 evilfatsh1t wrote: ive wanted a no skin option in video controls since forever. i personally dont play with any skins because of the same problem and i wish i could turn everyone elses skins off too
TBH, if you don't play with skins, you are gimping yourself. Some of these make you think a a totally different champion is bounding out of the fog of war. I bought the TPA pack way back when, and the Mundo trophy has always fucked with people.
But the disable enemy skins feature is needed for sure.
if all the skins were free then i might have tried them, but if i have to purchase all the skins myself (either with real money or in game currency), fuck that.