On September 09 2013 06:49 Pantagruel wrote: I personally think EU is weaker then NA at the moment so I don't really understand all the hate. I feel like NA has one truly high quality team in c9 and EU has none. I'd rate Vulcun and Lemondogs pretty similarly as solid teams but with no hope of actually competing at worlds after the group stage. Gambit/Fnatic/TSM I'd also rate relatively similarly and even though they are experienced LAN teams I don't think they will accomplish much at worlds ( I'd only give Fnatic an outside shot of beating a team after the group stage). As for all the middling teams from these regions that didn't make worlds, I don't rate one region any higher then the other. I don't think EG is any better then Dig/CLG or NiP any better then Curse. The only difference is that c9 is a genuinely good team, and the only one in both regions.
What makes you think that C9 is a genuinely good team and the only one in both regions, and not that the other NA teams are just a lot worse than C9 and EU? C9 had 3 losses in LCS, 2 Vulcun, 1 CLG.
I'm not saying this is necessarily true, it's just another possibility. C9 dominated the NA scene, which should indicate that either C9 is massively better than the rest of NA/EU, or the rest of NA is far worse than EU which would mean C9 is at the same level as high teams in EU.
This plus the history from the latest intercontinental clashes (IPL 5, S2) is heavily biased against NA. Yes, it's long ago. But it's the only data we have.
Anyway, for the NA teams I am rooting for C9 to do well. I really hope they can make a dent in the Asian domination. Meteos vs Diamond is a matchup I still really want to see.
We'll see in a week how things will go, first match of the tournament is TSM vs GamingGear, giving us a good indication of NA vs EU.
Just using the eye test I suppose. In c9 I see a team that has a cohesive strategy and draft in all of their games which cannot be said for the other teams in NA or EU. In game they efficiently play to the strengths of their draft and have dominated the NA scene. Furthermore, EU has never been vastly superior to NA anyways so I don't see why that would change now. Simply by looking at the games though, you can come to the conclusion that c9 is the best team out of both regions. We'll simply have to wait until worlds to get any empirical evidence.
I feel like C9 will really struggle though against a team like Royal Club or SKT. Those teams know that C9's glaring weakness is their lane phase and Meteos' lack of ganks. Teams that have crazy good lane players like Faker, Piglet, PoohManDu or a team like Royal which loves early game aggression will eat C9 alive during early game. Even if C9 is better than them at team work or cohesion (I don't think they are) it may not matter if SKT or MVPO or Royal or OMG gets a huge advantage in the first ten minutes or so.
I'm holding out hope that C9 will do well. But personally if the brackets allow it my money is that the semi-finals will be Najin Sword, MVP Ozone, SKT, and either Royal or OMG. Only teams I could see contesting that are C9, Fnatic, and maybe Gambit (but personally I think Gambit has almost no shot at making it into semis). Though who knows maybe Gamania Bears will pull a TPA this year too.
What's "stacked against NA"? EU's all-star team had a legitimate language issue that only they and TW/SEA had to deal with and a concession should be made to their performances at All-Stars based on this fact.
It's not anyone trying to disparage NA, it's a fucking fact based on the players that got picked for All-Stars. The other 3 regions were one-language regions that clearly did not have this problem and it's stupid to pretend that this did not affect the outcome.
What's "stacked against NA"? EU's all-star team had a legitimate language issue that only they and TW/SEA had to deal with and a concession should be made to their performances at All-Stars based on this fact.
It's not anyone trying to disparage NA, it's a fucking fact based on the players that got picked for All-Stars. The other 3 regions were one-language regions that clearly did not have this problem and it's stupid to pretend that this did not affect the outcome.
Well, of all things EU was "disadvantaged" in, language was pretty low on the list. Pretty sure Diamondprox said after all-stars that there was no communication issues. However, they did practice less than NA though, and had questionable voting from the fans lol.
What's "stacked against NA"? EU's all-star team had a legitimate language issue that only they and TW/SEA had to deal with and a concession should be made to their performances at All-Stars based on this fact.
It's not anyone trying to disparage NA, it's a fucking fact based on the players that got picked for All-Stars. The other 3 regions were one-language regions that clearly did not have this problem and it's stupid to pretend that this did not affect the outcome.
Well, of all things EU was "disadvantaged" in, language was pretty low on the list. Pretty sure Diamondprox said after all-stars that there was no communication issues. However, they did practice less than NA though, and had questionable voting from the fans lol.
Their all stars were fine. I mean, the voting would be different now, but it would be different for all regions too. I'd be willing to bet other regions would have more changes than the EU team. sOAZ, diamondprox, and yellowpete would likely stay and edward would only be replaced because he changed regions. Perhaps changing alex would make a significant impact seeing as how europe is heavily reliant on their mid laners.
NA, KR, and China would have the biggest changes if all stars would be held right now. Simply incorporating a few C9 players into NA would make them much stronger.
After the group stage at worlds, is there a loser's bracket or not? It seems rather unfortunate if a seeded team gets eliminated after one BO3, since that will be the only BO3 they play at worlds.
On September 09 2013 11:10 nikuniku wrote: Could anyone answer this question?
After the group stage at worlds, is there a loser's bracket or not? It seems rather unfortunate if a seeded team gets eliminated after one BO3, since that will be the only BO3 they play at worlds.
Welcome to RIOT's brilliant tournament planning. Build them up in the LCS over 6 months, have then lose in 2 games in the biggest tournament. Logical.
On September 09 2013 11:10 nikuniku wrote: Could anyone answer this question?
After the group stage at worlds, is there a loser's bracket or not? It seems rather unfortunate if a seeded team gets eliminated after one BO3, since that will be the only BO3 they play at worlds.
There is no loser bracket so yeah, a seeded team can be out after a single set in the quarters.
The logic behind having double round robin in groups and then having the seeded teams potentially play only 2 games is...baffling, to say the least. At the very least everything from quarterfinals on should have been BO5.
Well on the bright side, with this group stage format, you get to see faker crush Regi twice =)
More likely though, is that they'll try to 2v1 faker, because 1v1 for faker is no contest for a lot of the teams, and 2v2 isn't an inviting prospect either.
On September 09 2013 18:44 Amui wrote: Well on the bright side, with this group stage format, you get to see faker crush Regi twice =)
More likely though, is that they'll try to 2v1 faker, because 1v1 for faker is no contest for a lot of the teams, and 2v2 isn't an inviting prospect either.
Did OMG's support player actually fail to get a visa or are they just trying out their double support strategy. I'm getting contradicting answers on reddit.
On September 09 2013 09:19 overt wrote: I feel like C9 will really struggle though against a team like Royal Club or SKT. Those teams know that C9's glaring weakness is their lane phase and Meteos' lack of ganks. Teams that have crazy good lane players like Faker, Piglet, PoohManDu or a team like Royal which loves early game aggression will eat C9 alive during early game. Even if C9 is better than them at team work or cohesion (I don't think they are) it may not matter if SKT or MVPO or Royal or OMG gets a huge advantage in the first ten minutes or so.
I agree with this so much. Several NA teams absolutely shit on C9 during lane phase, but their mid/late games are so terrible that C9 just came back (I'm looking at you, Vulcun). The more polished teams are not going to give up huge leads, and certainly not throw at dragon against Rumble/Kennen/Zac/Ashe/Zyra type teams. They'll just shove every lane and not give C9 a chance to even take dragon, or split push them to death. Korean teams moved away from 5v5 team comps for a reason, and they are certainly well versed in facing them.
EPT
