Group Stage Double Round Robin Each team plays 18 matches All matches are Bo1 1st to 6th place will play the Playoffs 1st to 4th place are seeded into Semifinals 5h and 6th place are seeded into Losers' Round 1
Playoffs Double Elimination All matches are Bo5 Winner qualifies for Mid-Season Invitational 2021
Finally its starting. Pretty optimistic for LEC. My gut feeling is that it has improved. Player losses to NA were probably not too bad this year. The better teams have kept most of their rosters with 1-2 changes. I just hope that the bottom teams with new rosters can keep up and we dont get NA levels of inequality.
Good to see the decision tree for LEC teams they force themselves into in the lategame keep resulting in ultimatums like that. I love the no compromise approach to abruptly end games, do they happen in any other region as often in the LEC?
On January 24 2021 06:54 Uldridge wrote: Bwipo does not feel convincing at all on the picks he's been put on so far. He's in a slump?
Might be communication issues. If Hylissang is the only player in the team he's on the same page with, it's possible he's playing the games with the soloQ mentality of "I'm going to build what I think I can carry with", completely ignoring what Selfmade, Galio and Upset are trying to do. That's even more likely if Selfmade is the type of a player who rarely communicates his thoughts and can randomly decide to build Infinity Edge on Rek'sai. I would still blame Bwipo for this one but in general I'm not ready to say he's the one who's dragging the team down.
Selfmade is just so useless on Eve, I feel bad for the rest of Fnatic. First 10 minutes they have to play 4v5 so he could level up undisturbed and then there was so little payoff. Maybe 2 picks in midgame and then again non-factor in late game apart from a bit of clean up after a 4v5 team fight..
That was one useless Evelynn. They even saved their last pick for her! Eve's only lasting impact was forcing Taliyah to buy Zhonya's. Mad Lions did a very good job neutralizing her, but they had so many tools to do that Fnatic shouldn't even consider last picking her.
I do think regardless of that they still win if they coordinate that one fight around Mad's wolves. If upset doesn't have to ult behind them all to have any impact they probably clean it up. But yeah, Eve didn't really do anything but int. Reminds me of the game on Hecarim versus G2? I think last season where they had an insurmountable advantage then Selfmade dove 2 towers and everything fell apart
On January 31 2021 05:32 chipmonklord17 wrote: This game looks like what everyone who doesn't watch LPL thinks the LPL is
that was pretty awful, upset is pushing and everyone dives in without their adc
That is a good comparison, LPL is messy but you rarely see suicidal aces like FNC was pulling off today. The way FNC plays right now feels awfully similar to iG, they are talented and have smart players, but they make reckless engages and gamble for big leads. Sometimes it works, but against better teams they look like headless chickens. The macro is there, but they neglect it whenever somebody wants to set up a play.
I regret choosing to skip Fnatic vs Asstralis. Expected a stomp but the highlights of the game show I've missed a great circus.
On February 06 2021 07:57 Uldridge wrote: And why is that exactly?
As a fan you can't tell if they're being overaggressive because that's just what the team is right now, or because they're uhhh "limit testing" at the start of the season.
I think Yamato also avtively promotes this style. He was very big on the precision vs explosiveness (I forget the exact term he used) And I think he's curently trying to find the goldie locks zone for FNC while they still feel like having fun in the game (seems like Selfmade is actively BM'ing more in game - don't know how appreciated/allowed that was before).
Yamato may allow for every personality to exist in a constructive environment. Maybe I'm too positive towards him though, I don't know..
There was a season (I think 2019?) where FNC's playstyle shifted towards aggressive playmaking, imo as a response to G2, who had just acquired Caps. G2 would make multi-pronged macro plays across the map to pull teams apart (like SKT), and FNC figured they could beat it by forcing the play first. As we know now, that didn't work, but the playstyle remains.
It's not a bad plan per say, when FNC gets ahead they can finish games incredibly quickly. But it's a playstyle which requires perfection, and they are just too messy right now.
Honestly Fnatic looking more like an LPL team than an LEC team and that is just mind blowing. Last week it looked like they were a shitty imitation LPL team.
On February 06 2021 20:18 DarkCore wrote: FNC isn't just limit testing, they are simply too messy right now to compete with G2. They force a lot of bad plays and get punished for it.
On February 06 2021 20:18 DarkCore wrote: FNC isn't just limit testing, they are simply too messy right now to compete with G2. They force a lot of bad plays and get punished for it.
Kobbe with the next level 5000k stopwatch play. I would have died laughing my ass off if he had managed to somehow kill everyone by baiting the fountain dive.
Despite Riven stealing the show this game, seeing FNC draft 4 of the 6 newest champs and run Moonstone is the pinnacle of power creep and tilting to watch.
I wonder if the early demonic embrace is because you spike slightly faster because its cheaper than liandries, you're going to build both anyway so you aren't diverting your build path and 400 gold might take too long to get relative to game state
Bwipo with awful engages all game long, Upset and Nisqy cleaning up his mess. This is what I mean when I say FNC forces rough engages even if they have no real reason. Like why can't Bwipo be happy with his team getting 3rd dragon,why does he have to TP in to try and kill the support???
On February 28 2021 04:07 chipmonklord17 wrote: How does any team get Udyr, Kaisa, AND Rell on red side while the blue side team has zero OPs
Better question why does any team get Rell in pro play?
In a world where she's not S+++++ tier its okay to first pick an OP on B1 and trade for an OP on R1/R2 given with Blue side you'll be able to counter pick said OP. Somehow in this draft Rogue didn't just get 1 OP, they got 3 and traded absolutely nothing for it. Like sure you could make the argument that they should have just banned Rell from the start, but I'd argue that leaving it up and trading is a correct decision (not the only one, for example you could ban it like you're suggesting), doing what AST did is objectively bad
It feels like RGE has gotten pretty sweet drafts multiple times this split. Are they really good at drafting or are their opponents just running it down in PB already?
Rell is dumb champ, her kit is so overloaded once you read through it thoroughly and play her a bit. She's in so many LCK, LEC and LPL games and her winrate is great in LPL and LEC, casters haven't really mentioned it though.
Hah, Aatrox healed for 1164 + 398 hp while Ori's shockwave was breaking lions' ankles. And he didn't even have Goredrinker or Spirit Visage there. Hard to believe how fast this game went from "there's no way Rogue wins this" to "there's no way Rogue loses this".
Seraphine carry is good answer to Senna Tahm, she gets a free lane and basically outscales Senna except in super late game. Hyli also didn't understand how squishy he was.
Seeing stride breaker Urgot reach Senna in the back line is disgusting though, item really a nerf.
With LEC playoffs being in studio instead of online G2 wins 99.999% I think online other teams might be able to challenge them but offline is just impossible
If Fnatic doesn't finish top 3 YamatoCannon will probably be the first to go. I still believe they'll go far in the playoffs, but if they won't, I would blame the coach.
Their performance is very coin flip, but it's FNC so who knows. Outside of RGE and G2 the EU competition doesn't look too scary for them, so 3rd place seems feasible.
I think Bwipo is falling off (mostly because of his style) and Selfmade is having a rough split. Upset and Hyli are pretty good, they win lane a lot, Hyli ints sometimes but it's not that bad this season. Sadly, they are only the 3rd best EU botlane at best so it's not enough. Nisqy is performing better than I expected (my NA bias put him pretty low), but he is 4th best tops too. If Selfmade and Bwipo clean up their game, they could give RGE a challenge, but their current performance doesn't suggest it.
On March 15 2021 23:21 JimmiC wrote: Do you guys think Fnatic players are that great that they are really under preforming? I don't really see it, they seem like where they should be where they are based on the skills of their players. I think the other teams have caught up.
I think they should be way better than Schalke and Lions both as a sum of units and as a team. They should be slightly better than Rogue, but their fixable issues make them play on a similar level to Schalke and Lions, which is extra bad because both Schalke and Lions aren't as good as they were at the end of 2020.
To be clear I don't think Rogue is overperforming or anything like that. I think that they're a good team and Fnatic should be expected to catch up to them.
I don't really think that its that they're even under performing (other than selfmade I guess). I think they're pretty solidly 3rd even if the standings don't reflect that and that's weird contextually because we're using to them being decidedly top 2 all the time.
I still think Bwipo is the third best top laner in the region, which is pretty par for the course for him so I wouldn't say he's slumping or anything. I think he just needs to go a little less "widebwipoHappy" mode and more "shut up and play sion/ornn" mode. Like I get he's super fucking good but sometimes you just need to tank duty a win. I think Selfmade is having a really bad split for a meta that should be good for him which is concerning. Nisqy has been doing fine, should probably try and take the Rekkles role of toning the team down every now and again. Upset and Hyli are a really good duo and a good fit for each other.
They just swap between playing like a cheap imitation of an LPL team fighting for fucking nothing and an actual LPL team that fights for every objective and outplays. Also multiple people in their facility have COVID
If you don't go too much into the detail, current FNC is very similar to current iG: they try to outmuscle their opponents and force plays that let them dominate weak teams, but get shafted versus stronger teams who can answer back. They both lost their star ADC, their midlane is slumping/only average, and Bwipo/TheShy either carry hard or solo lose the game with their aggressive playstyle. Nevertheless, both teams are still hoping for at least a 3rd place finish.
Nah, LCK has shown that you actually need to draft an engage comp with Kai'sa, otherwise Xayah will outdamage. Upset plays her well, actually uses his ult offensively. Heca is brain dead champ, you just have to stare menacingly at enemy champs to zone them, and if they dare to show up on your screen you ult them.
Ok so I just wanted to talk about the teamfight in game 1(I think) where Nisqy gets dove under T1 turret, he turns it, FNC chase the fight all the way to their T2 mid turret, which then loops around all the way back the FNC's T1 turret. Was one of the more ridiculous (but suspenseful) sequences I can remember, but when they happen, I know why League is such a great Esport to watch.
I have been noticing more of these long drawn out clownfiesta teamfights lately though.. meta related or pro mindset related?
It was a clownfiesta, better teams would know when to pull out. FNC had a big lead after that failed tower dive, they should've just played the macro game. Instead they TP in and throw it all away.
If G2 lose, they will meet Fnatic in Round 3 because they are the higher seed. But honestly, I expect G2 to take this last game, if they don't pick Sion and/or ban this pocket Darius counter, and play a clean early macro game. But SO4 deserve it if they get the win.
On March 28 2021 05:49 DarkCore wrote: It is so weird seeing a Jinx Azir comp getting out scaled.
If BB have had Serpent's Fang, Limit and Abbedage both had their grevious wounds items of GA and DCap buys I think they would have won pretty onesidedly. This is how you counter Seraphine+tanks in ARAM and G2 basically ran an ARAM comp. The counter items indirectly add a million times more damage than anything else save the penetration%.
I thought Fnatic would at least take that 3rd game, but nah.
Yeah, Bwipo playing super poorly. Honestly, with a better top lane Fnatic might've won. Nisqy playing better every week, Upset always solid, Selfmade on an upswing, it could've worked.
I really hate this G2 draft, I think this is just a weaker version of the game 1 draft because Trist is much worse than Lucian late game and he's their only damage. If Wunder/Jankos are going to build damage why pick Gragas/Trundle in the first place? Definitely think a Miky Karma with Rekkles on an adc would have made this draft insanely good.
But if its going to give us another banger like game 1 I'm all for bangers
G2 trying the same comp twice with different champs was a big wtf for sure. But MAD look really strong, with this win they go into the finals having beaten the two top teams.
Honestly, seeing Armut and BrokenBlade smash the old EU top laners is refreshing. G2 struggling with the fact that neither Wunder nor Jankos are top players in their respective positions, and that leads to holes in their macro. Also, Mikyx had a surprising number of mechanical errors today, but I think he's in the same position as Hyli and feels forced to make 50/50 plays.
Honestly, Wunder and Jankos look so outclassed this season, and it seeps to the rest of the map. Think Perkz leadership covered a lot of this stuff up.
I'm mostly disappointed with Wunder and Miky because they played way below of what we could expect from them earlier. Jankos was indeed outjungled by a better player, but I think his role in important matches is more about getting his laners ahead than creating his own leads. This time the whole team played like a bunch of headless chickens so he rarely got to do what he's best at. I mean I still think he played poorly but I'm not sure if he should get the most of the blame for the loss.
I said it before, but it really feels like Mikyx is trying to force plays because he thinks his team needs it. It's a bit like watching Hyli, and looks like int vs good teams. But I can see where its coming from, Jankos and Wunder are not making plays on the map: Jankos doesn't seem to very good at Udyr and Chemtank junglers, and they have tried to run Karma top way too much. Even on other champs, Wunder looked better but not world class.
Once Chemtank junglers get nerfed we might see Jankos improve, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if retired. The new generation of EU junglers are starting to leave him in the dust.
On the one hand I completely agree that I want Odo to get a title, but on the other I feel like MAD might be able to pull something off at MSI, while I feel like Rogue is too vanilla to make a dent
I don't think either can make a dent at MSI, Damwon will tear them apart 100%, and the LPL team probably as well. That Odo interview was heart warming, guess I'm rooting for RGE. But MSI would be a great growth experience for MAD,which Elyoya and Armut need.
EPT
