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On August 23 2013 03:50 Kiett wrote:
aww man... I really want to cheer for SKT, but according to people on reddit, even if SKT wins first, they still won't make it to worlds, because NJBS will :c
so go ozone i guess... then SKT can make it through the regionals?
What really?! Wow, that's rough as fuck. Whatever man, I WANT an SKT vs KT finals at every price this season. It would just be the best thing ever.
Are Sword through now? Haven't followed NLB as much
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On August 23 2013 04:07 UmberBane wrote:Show nested quote +On August 23 2013 03:50 Kiett wrote:
aww man... I really want to cheer for SKT, but according to people on reddit, even if SKT wins first, they still won't make it to worlds, because NJBS will :c
so go ozone i guess... then SKT can make it through the regionals? What really?! Wow, that's rough as fuck. Whatever man, I WANT an SKT vs KT finals at every price this season. It would just be the best thing ever. Are Sword through now? Haven't followed NLB as much
Sword is in NLB finals.
If sword loses NLB finals, the only way they don't get a guaranteed spot is if KTB wins OGN and Ozone gets at least 2nd. If Ozone gets 3rd, they tie. Not sure what happens in light of a tie.
If Sword wins NLB, KTB has to win OGN and Ozone gets 2nd. Then Sword and KT tie.
An SKT OGN win can not stop Sword from getting a spot. If you want Sword to go through regionals, KTB has to at least win finals. SKT is guaranteed a spot in regionals.
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Oh boy, I just want to root for SKT and be happy! But at the same time I, like everyone else probably, really don't want Sword to take a guaranteed spot in their current form. The upcoming OGN matches will have so many mixed feelings for me, haha.
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Yep, they seem more into shape than before, but if I had the choice I'd say they kinda need to prove their strenght in the KR regionals again to truly deserve the spot for Worlds in my mind. If they'd manage to qualify through that, by all means they deserve to go without any complaints, but otherwise it would still leave a somewhat bad taste in my mouth, if one of the top teams like KT, SKT, MVP Ozone can't go in exchange. :-/
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Touching on couple points.
1. For those people who say Frost should've banned Zac (at least when they were on purple side), then they would be giving Shen to KTB without a good answer. That means if they want to ban Zac, they have to ban Shen as well, which has pretty dire consequences. It means it will give Kakao either Lee Sin or Elise, which will make laning phase much harder due to how good he is on those two champs. Also, it leaves Shy to play non-OP champs and limits his carry capacity. They decided to play Shen vs Zac (Frost for some reason thinks Shen is better than Zac) and limit Kakao's ability instead.
2. Here are possibilities for Korean Circuit Points after this season (with me sort of translating).
Source: PGR21
Original Link: http://pgr21.com/pb/pb.php?id=free2&no=52004
Each table has on far left Champions Summer Results (1st ~ 4th), Sword's NLB result in the middle (1st or 2nd), and Circuit Point Total Result (1st ~ 6th) on the far right. Didn't feel like translating every table. Also fyi, 1st and 2nd directly goes to Worlds with 1st place team getting a bye, and 3rd ~ 6th plays in a playoff (5th vs 6th followed by 4th vs winner, then 3rd vs winner).
-If KTB wins the Champions Summer
![[image loading]](http://cfile236.uf.daum.net/image/27204B375214BF0F1BAF5E)
High Possibility of tie between KTB and Sword
-If Ozone wins the Champions Summer
![[image loading]](http://cfile216.uf.daum.net/image/2161A43B5214B9641FFA81)
Very simple. If Ozone wins, Ozone 1st, Sword 2nd, Frost/Bullets 3rd/4th, Blaze 5th, SKT 6th.
-If SKT wins the Champions Summer
![[image loading]](http://cfile203.uf.daum.net/image/2530803B5214B965263A84)
Even better scenario for Sword than if Ozone wins (WTF????). SKT must win the whole thing AND Frost must beat Ozone in the 3rd place match for SKT to get 2nd.
-Both Ozone and Sword has many situations where they both directly go to the Worlds.
-Ozone only needs to make it to finals to get the 1st seed and get a bye in the Worlds.
-Blaze must play from 5th vs 6th match in the playoff.
-Frost is pretty much locked into 4th.
-If SKT doesn't win the Summer, they must play from 5th vs 6th match (downside of having no points from Winter last year).
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On August 23 2013 03:50 Kiett wrote:
aww man... I really want to cheer for SKT, but according to people on reddit, even if SKT wins first, they still won't make it to worlds, because NJBS will :c
so go ozone i guess... then SKT can make it through the regionals?
what heretic take that line out of your sig
Everyone wants to see SKT > KT finals anyways once again proving the greatest esports telecom franchise ever
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They should have decreased the number of points you get in tourneys further from world. Seeing sword so high when they didn't even pass group stage is stupid...
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Super hyped for the Locodoco casting, if he wears the suit I'm gonna lose it
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On August 23 2013 09:02 GhandiEAGLE wrote:
Super hyped for the Locodoco casting, if he wears the suit I'm gonna lose it
oh god i don't know if i can handle all that sexiness
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On August 23 2013 04:07 UmberBane wrote:Show nested quote +On August 23 2013 03:50 Kiett wrote:
aww man... I really want to cheer for SKT, but according to people on reddit, even if SKT wins first, they still won't make it to worlds, because NJBS will :c
so go ozone i guess... then SKT can make it through the regionals? What really?! Wow, that's rough as fuck. Whatever man, I WANT an SKT vs KT finals at every price this season. It would just be the best thing ever. Are Sword through now? Haven't followed NLB as much
Well, SKT will have a good shot at winning the 3rd Korean spot at worlds, so I guess don't give up hope yet 
btw: http://lol.gamepedia.com/Season_3/Circuit_Points_Korea
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United States23455 Posts
While I didn't write the TL Preview for this semifinal, my thoughts are as follows:
These two teams, in my opinion, are the best two in the world right now. The current meta turns these two teams who most would already consider two of the best in the world to, in my mind, unquestionably the strongest in any region right now. While you have teams like the Bullets, Frost, Blaze and Sword that heavily rely on their Top Laner to be a #1 or #2 carry option, both Ozone and SKT have utility Top Laners that are used primarily to tank damage, do the dirty work form the team, and do whatever is necessary to win. With how powerful Spirit Visage is and the emphasis on Zac/Shen, you have two players in Impact/Homme that are now going to even be more powerful on champions they've been playing constantly.
Outside of that, these two teams are very much like mirror images of each other. They both have play making, gank heavy Junglers who are world class at what they do. With Insec moving to Top Lane, the last three teams in the tournament all have one of the best Junglers in Korea: Bengi, Dandy and Kakao. We saw how well Kakao/Insec's chemistry was able to lead them over victories against Flame/Helios and Shy/CloudTemplar, but while Homme and Impact aren't up to the level of a Shy or Flame, their chemistry with their Jungler is where their strength lies and why they're perfect for the teams they play on.
Dade and Faker are pretty much the top Mid Laners in Korea, with Ambition jumping off a cliff this season and all. These two have gigantic champion pools and while the rest of the team have their stable two or three champions, both these two can pretty much play anything and change their team's composition on what champion they choose. For Dade, his Zed is of course his most valuable weapon, coming in with an insane 9-1 record in pro play and those three straight wins in last season's finals to get him the championship and MVP award. Faker, well, while he has made Orianna his main champion this season and his career, playing her seven times, he can pretty much pull anything out. In 35 professional games, he has played 18 champions and has not played any other champion besides Orianna more than five times. If Orianna is banned out (and it should be with his 7.1 KDA all-time on her), then your guess is good as mine on who he will pick up.
The bottom lane is a match between the two best ADC's and Vayne players in Korea.
Piglet: 8-1 (70 Kills, 14 Deaths, 40 Assists - 7.9 KDA)
Imp: 13-2 (93 Kills, 23 Deaths, 107 Assists - 8.7 KDA)
So, for the first time probably ever, someone can actually take the Best Vayne KR title from Imp if Piglet can take him out tonight. The biggest question will be if Vayne is banned out or if the two are forced to play something else. If this occurs, Piglet would seemly have the advantage, Imp and Piglet both preferring to play Caitlyn when not on Vayne, but Piglet having a much better record:
Imp: 16-11 (168 Kills, 71 Deaths, 205 Assists - 5.3 KDA)
Piglet: 12-1 (75 Kills, 15 Deaths, 110 Assists - 12.3 KDA)
While their stats on Vayne are similar, Piglet is firmly Best Caitlyn KR and has proven it throughout his short pro career, going 12-1 on the champion and dominating with an over 12 KDA. The two have only played Caitlyn and Vayne this tournament, so it'll be interesting to see if Ozone will feel confident enough in Imp's Caitlyn to take on SKT if Piglet takes Vayne away from him, or if he'll revert back to some more Ezreal play. While Twitch has been insanely popular this season with ADC's, neither Piglet or Imp play him very often, Imp 1-2 all-time and Piglet 0-1 on the rat.
When it comes to Supports, with all due to respect to Madlife, I have to give the best Support player in Korea title currently to Mata. He's been nothing but outstanding since coming onto the Ozone squad, and he has been able to do it with a variety of champions like Zyra, Thresh, and Sona. While Madlife is the flashiest Support and probably mechanically the strongest, the Bullets showed us that if you take away his hook champions, he can struggle. With Mandu, it's simple: he is the best Nami player in Korea. He's 10-1, has a 6.6 KDA with her and has been a monster on the mermaid all season. While his Fiddlesticks was his main talking point last season, Ozone might have their hands full if they let him continually have Nami.
If I was forced to make a prediction, I'd probably say 3-2 SKT, but these two teams are insanely mirrored. For Top Lane, expect Shen/Zac shenanigans. For Jungle, except Nunu for Bengi and Lee Sin for Dandy, but Elise for either if they're left open. For ADC, Vayne will be the priority, but Piglet is the best Caitlyn in Korea (and probably the world), so don't be surprised if those two champions are what we see a lot of tonight. When it comes to Supports, Mandu is going to play Nami (if not banned) and Mata is a strong Thresh, but can play pretty much anything -- same with Mandu if his Nami is banned. When it comes to the Mid Lane, all bets are off and you can and probably will see anything from the best two Mid Lanes in Korea.
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Nice write-up Fionn.
Definitely looking forward to tonights games. God I hope they go to Blind Pick. Hoping for some epicness.
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United States7639 Posts
On August 23 2013 08:28 xes wrote:Show nested quote +On August 23 2013 03:50 Kiett wrote:
aww man... I really want to cheer for SKT, but according to people on reddit, even if SKT wins first, they still won't make it to worlds, because NJBS will :c
so go ozone i guess... then SKT can make it through the regionals? what heretic take that line out of your sig Everyone wants to see SKT > KT finals anyways once again proving the greatest esports telecom franchise ever
Um. That's nice and all, but I would rather have SKT go to worlds (and not at the expense of either KTB or Ozone who both deserve to go as well). OGN is several times a year, and worlds is only once. Oh, and there's that one little minor detail where I can actually attend worlds and see them live, so it matters far more. There is no scenario where SKT can win The Champions and all 3 top teams get to go to worlds.
and I don't see why I have to take anything out of my sig. SK Telecom T1 Starcraft team is, has always been, and always will be supreme. That's what it means, and I said nothing to the contrary.
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United States37500 Posts
dis xes, where are your priorities.
SKT to Worlds, first and foremost imo.
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Well I for one will be rooting for Ozone tonight and in the finals when they get there (even if it means a weak NJBS at worlds). Never much cared for SKT or KT during the Broodwar days either.
Thanks for the write up Fionn, pretty hyped for these games now.
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Same, Oz, KTB and SKT for worlds pls.
Fionn's writeup should be in preview. It's spot-on, besides Faker's Ori, which isn't ban-worthy.
I be excited to see Piglet's Cait vs Imp's Vayne in a lane, but I doubt I will see it.
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Anyone else feel like Faker has been playing a lot of Orianna just to bluff stronger teams (i.e. Ozone) into banning her? His Orianna is very good and all, but like most people, I feel he's at his best when playing mobile roaming champs that allow him to carry. Wouldn't surprise me if Ozone banned out Orianna, only to get slapped in the face by something much more aggressive. It would be similar to the way Ambition baited out a Kennen ban at the AS game so he could play Twisted Fate.
Should be a cracking game though; KTB vs Frost always had the potential to be a bit of a stomp as long as KTB didn't do anything stupid, but these two teams are almost at equal strength, at least based on recent form. It's been a long time since we've seen a real tightly-contested series in OGN, and I don't even really count Blaze vs Bullets because I felt that Bullets let Blaze into the game through sloppy play, rather than Blaze competing evenly with them. The best thing is that regardless of who wins today, the final also has the potential to be a really great series.
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I like MVP Ozone a lot and hope they repeat. I also like Najin Sword and wouldn't be upset if they made worlds. They disappointed this season obviously, but they still have a beast of a roster and a knack for turning things on at the right time.
I don't think its a shame for any of : KT B, SKT 1, NJBS, CJ Blaze, CJ Frost, MVP Ozone, to make worlds, they are all great teams capable of winning worlds on their day.
My prediction for this morning is MVP Ozone 3-1 SKT 1
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SOO hyped for the matches, wow. I really, really like both teams but I'm still rooting for SKT today,
So who is Loco filling in for? Monte or Doa?
Btw does anyone know if Chobra is still there for today's matches? Since he is translating at Gamescom for SC2, which is starting very soon, isn't it?
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EPT
