Practice/effort/making the attempt tends to fall under the category of things within your own control. It taps into something that's relatively universal and instinctive; people generally will respect trying all you can, while utterly loathe (the appearance of?) lack of effort.
There's also the added layer of the relative rarity of the position teams at a tournament like this are in. You get here by beating out a lot of others. You get this opportunity that others were pouring these past months of their lives into chasing. By besting them, you effectively inherit their pride and hopes coming into this sort of tournament. And, with the effect on worlds group draw, in some ways, 'uneasy lies the head that wears a crown' applies. Now, by admitting going on vacation right before, losses will look terrible. By not making the attempt to do all you can in preparation, it looks like a lack of respect for others (be it your past opponents, your opponents here, or your fans).

Dan HH

Romania9111 Posts

May 04 2016 18:08 GMT

#282

It's a glorified friendly tournament so I can't blame them, since the start of S3 only the summer playoffs and worlds matter thanks to Rito's ingenious format.

Though I don't think G2 are capable of much more anyway, they didn't make it to MSI due to being exceptional but due to the other EU teams being much worse than last year.

Bladeorade

United States1898 Posts

May 04 2016 18:26 GMT

#283

On May 04 2016 20:54 iCanada wrote:
Supermassive actually looks pretty good here.

Stomage is real outclassed though. Man he farms slow.

And Naru hasn't played well. That is pretty much the difference. Dumbledoge and Fabfab impress me.

That Fizz top surprisingly performed well. Maybe a good counter pick to Ekko?

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

May 04 2016 19:27 GMT

#284

I don't know the match up top but ap Ekko vs ap fizz is pretty bad for Fizz, that said Tank Fizz, if thats what he built isn't as cool down reliant so I can see where it would be completely different.

TitusVI

Germany8319 Posts

May 04 2016 19:47 GMT

#285

Well was a bad day today for the west. But at least I liked watching stixxay.

Sent.

Poland9165 Posts

May 04 2016 22:56 GMT

#286

Oh god why does NA vs EU game start at 7 30? Wtf rito give us some sleep

iCanada

Canada10660 Posts

May 04 2016 23:21 GMT

#287

On May 04 2016 23:33 739 wrote:
LOL CLG with Aurelion Sol -_-;

I acutally think Huhi executed the Aurelion Sol quite well.

That stun star is a sick zoning tool. Multiple times it gave them 30 seconds to do whatever the hell they wanted.

I mean, Royal Teamfought really poorly (although, you could probably pin some of that on CLG pushing strong plays), if CLG knew how to just siege a tower and take it safely (you know, with Braum + Moakai zoning and blocking skillshots, using Aurelion Sol & Graves to punish the zone as they try to engage) they probably won that game pretty handily.

It seemed Darshan and Aphro had really no idea how to block for Stixxay, kind of hung him out to dry. When you have what is basically a protect the Cait comp it is kind of a strange idea. They basically lost because Darshan had no idea conceptually how to zone from a tower as a tank without diving.

cLutZ

United States19573 Posts

May 04 2016 23:43 GMT

#288

On May 05 2016 03:08 Dan HH wrote:
It's a glorified friendly tournament so I can't blame them, since the start of S3 only the summer playoffs and worlds matter thanks to Rito's ingenious format.

Though I don't think G2 are capable of much more anyway, they didn't make it to MSI due to being exceptional but due to the other EU teams being much worse than last year.

Glorified friendly? I'd think one would not want to be in the group of death at worlds.

I mean, if MSI is a friendly, there is literally only 1 tournament.

Itsmedudeman

United States19229 Posts

May 05 2016 03:20 GMT

#289

Why does this tournament not matter? If SKT loses, it's a big fucking deal and people would treat it as such. It's a competition just like Worlds where teams are supposed to be playing at the height of their skill level.