League of Legends XXXVIII: Featuring Mumble, The Giant Halibut

[Chess435]

And the GD server explodes.

Edit: Stream seems to be working again.

[Chess435]

And it's all over. TPA comes out of nowhere, shocks everyone, and goes home with a million dollars and the championship.

[Forrestfire]

Aaaand it's over. That was an amazing display of perfect initations by the Taipei Assassins.

That was just a privilege to watch.

[NineThePuma]

Want the icon code to woooooorrrrrk

[Forrestfire]

Want the icon code to woooooorrrrrk

You and me both

Sometimes it loads, sometimes it doesn't, and every time it's made it to the entry page, it dies after I submit.

[Chess435]

We have 24 hours, so I'll just put it in after I wake up.

[toasty]

So I just wanna say something:

TPA came out of the weakest server. There really isn't any arguing about this. Despite that, they won Season 2.

I'm gonna call out the NA teams complaining about a lack of infrastructure and stuff and just say that they were lazy and/or bad. At least no one in Europe used that excuse. Even SK, who preformed pretty terribly.

[Psyborg]

So I just wanna say something:

TPA came out of the weakest server. There really isn't any arguing about this. Despite that, they won Season 2.

I'm gonna call out the NA teams complaining about a lack of infrastructure and stuff and just say that they were lazy and/or bad. At least no one in Europe used that excuse. Even SK, who preformed pretty terribly.

It's not "infrastructure and stuff" that's lacking; it's the quality of the opposition that's available to practice against. TPA, despite coming from a weak region, is physically close enough to Korea that they could and did scrim against Korean teams without a massive lag disparity.

That quote earlier on in the stream from the TPA player about "playing against stronger players has made us stronger"...TSM hasn't really had any stronger players to practice against in a long time. The few other top-tier teams in NA were all either recovering from roster and role changes, or were never really quite as good in the first place. They got strong enough to beat the rest of NA fairly consistently, and stopped improving there.

[Leona]

For that people that need the icon now... https://woobox.com/dwmvfy :P

[Forrestfire]

The awesome stick-figure video.

My favorite parts are Leblanc's passive and the subtitles at each introduction screen

[Godskook]

Wow.....so after playing Skarner a few times, I'm starting to see something. Skarner is basically Udyr, but with a bona-fide ult and scarier chasing potential. Like literally, decisions for how to play him are basically how'd I choose for Udyr, except MS is more useful due to his ult.

I duo-queued with a friend who's not quite to my Elo, and my second back consisted of Sheen+Phage+Zeal+2 Wards. Yeah....I was ahead that game.

[Mephit]

It's not "infrastructure and stuff" that's lacking; it's the quality of the opposition that's available to practice against. TPA, despite coming from a weak region, is physically close enough to Korea that they could and did scrim against Korean teams without a massive lag disparity.

The reason the opposistion is stronger is because of infrastructure and the gaming culture in Korea, though - I can't speak for the rest of Asia.

[sonofzeal]

The reason the opposistion is stronger is because of infrastructure and the gaming culture in Korea, though - I can't speak for the rest of Asia.

Well, seeing as how I've been living in Korea for a year...

"Infrastructure" is such a vague word, and I don't think it really means much here, but I think one of the big differences is what type of gaming happens here. In NA it's a lot of console games at home with one or two casual friends, or solitary games on your computer. In Korea it's groups going to the PC Rooms together, playing top-line machines while all within arms reach of eachother, for hour after hour because the rates are so low. NA likes casual console games, and 80-gameplay-hour RPGs on the computer. But in Korea, cheap and omnipresent PC Rooms shift a lot of that to the hyper-competitive PC games. Is it any wonder, then, that they produce a lot of really intense PC gamers?

[Mephit]

''Infrastructure'' refers to Korea having hobby leagues that flow over into the pro scene and that there's a lot more money and sponsoring for Esports that makes being a full-time professional player possible. As a result, the skill gap between the pro teams and hobby teams and between the top teams themselves is a lot smaller and makes for much better practice and time for scrimmage.

I usually compare Korean Esports and Esports anywhere else to European and American Soccer.

[sonofzeal]

''Infrastructure'' refers to Korea having hobby leagues that flow over into the pro scene and that there's a lot more money and sponsoring for Esports that makes being a full-time professional player possible. As a result, the skill gap between the pro teams and hobby teams and between the top teams themselves is a lot smaller and makes for much better practice and time for scrimmage.

I usually compare Korean Esports and Esports anywhere else to European and American Soccer.

I do think you're overstating the disparity. Korea's got a strong international reputation for e-sports, but they're still pretty far from the mainstream. Most Koreans I know don't know or care that much about it. It's bigger than in NA, but that's not saying much at all.

Really, I do think the difference comes more just from how Korea favors these sorts of competitive group games much more heavily as compared to NA's bigger taste for sports simulations, racing games, and RPGs. I wouldn't expect a Korean to have the world record speedrun for Skyrim, or win Madden championship, because those games are a much smaller demographic here. But the LoL/Starcraft scene is relatively bigger, and hence a lot more competitive. If that's what all the college-age gamers are socializing over, then at least within that peer group there's a lot of cred in being good at it, and that's IMO a much more immediate motivator to get really friggin' good at the game. Potential sponsorships and whatnot come in later, but it all starts from people sitting around trying to impress their buddies. And Korea has that scene going more than NA does, so it only makes sense they'd do well.

[Miscast_Mage]

The awesome stick-figure video.

My favorite parts are Leblanc's passive and the subtitles at each introduction screen

Loving the Leblanc Distort-return and laugh the most, here; they even used her best laugh for it(Dat noble-woman squeal!).

And about Sona; Yeah, I guess I was under-estimating the health that HoG gives and was just thinking of the Gp5. Also, out of curiousity, how is Locket of the Iron Solari? Seems a good thing to build HoG into for team fights, as I don't really like Randuins on a back/mid-liner like Sona. I tried out chalice, and it really does help with her mana issues; many thanks for that suggestion!

[Forrestfire]

Loving the Leblanc Distort-return and laugh the most, here; they even used her best laugh for it(Dat noble-woman squeal!).

And about Sona; Yeah, I guess I was under-estimating the health that HoG gives and was just thinking of the Gp5. Also, out of curiousity, how is Locket of the Iron Solari? Seems a good thing to build HoG into for team fights, as I don't really like Randuins on a back/mid-liner like Sona. I tried out chalice, and it really does help with her mana issues; many thanks for that suggestion!

I like Randuins, but I think it's a playstyle difference. I play sona as a secondary initiator/front-liner, trying to shield my carries and get a good ult in. Randuins is perfect for that.

In a perfect game, I go Philo -> Heart of Gold -> Aegis -> Frozen Heart -> Shurelia's -> Randuins.

[toasty]

I'm gonna side with Sonofzeal here: I lived in Bangladesh for several years and spent a LOT of time in LAN centers playing DotA. That kind of enviroment is better for creating teams.

HSGG pointed out that many of the Korean pro teams are made up of "1900 elo players." What he's saying here is that the top Koreans are not mechanically the best are not individually the best, but because they practice all day with their team they preform well at the pro-level.

The gaming culture of Korea is there. Its a culture of non-stop gaming, of competitive gaming, and of LAN gaming, of PC gaming. These are three things that the US doesn't have. US gaming is casual, mostly focused on FPS games like CoD or BF3, played on consoles, at home, over the internet.

Having said that: Korea is also helped because there is money in Esports. Scarra pointed out how there were many, many, teams that literally can play all-day, every-day, in Korea for scrims and things. There are about 4 teams that can do that in the US, and two of them were unscrimmable before Season 2 (CLG and Curse) for various reasons.

[NineThePuma]

Got poppy in an ARAM.

Trolling their entire team by slapping their brand with Diplomatic immunity and beating the crap out of Darius was awesome.

[Forrestfire]

So, I'm not sure if what I did was a fun or just cruel. My friend's cousin challenged me and my friend to a game. The two of us vs him and four bots.

I chose jax.

I ended 52/3/8...

[Woodzyowl]

So, I'm not sure if what I did was a fun or just cruel. My friend's cousin challenged me and my friend to a game. The two of us vs him and four bots.

I chose jax.

I ended 52/3/8...

I'm pretty sure having 4 bots is more of a disadvantage than an advantage...

Also, I'm working on making team Ash (The Pokemon trainer, not the archer). What suggestions would you all have for Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, and, of course, Pikachu? The AD Carry will be Ashe, but I still need people for the other roles while still being a viable team.

[NotAEvilToaster]

Charmander: Shyvana jungle.

Bulbasaur: Zyra, Mid

Pikachu: Kennen Top.

I got no clue for the other.

[Lix Lorn]

Support rammus.

[sonofzeal]

Support rammus.

...

...

...

.................okay.

Darn you for stealing my suggestion!

[Forrestfire]

I'm pretty sure having 4 bots is more of a disadvantage than an advantage...

Also, I'm working on making team Ash (The Pokemon trainer, not the archer). What suggestions would you all have for Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, and, of course, Pikachu? The AD Carry will be Ashe, but I still need people for the other roles while still being a viable team.

I think I might have pointed that out. It sunk in around the point when I was a 10/0 jax with a ten minute triforce.

Also, you can't have a pokemon trainer team without Yorick: the trainer himself.

Omen of famine! I choose you!

[Woodzyowl]

I think I might have pointed that out. It sunk in around the point when I was a 10/0 jax with a ten minute triforce.

Also, you can't have a pokemon trainer team without Yorick: the trainer himself.

Omen of famine! I choose you!

Well, the trainer was going to be Ashe, seeing as it is team Ash

Charmander: Shyvana jungle.

Bulbasaur: Zyra, Mid

Pikachu: Kennen Top.

I got no clue for the other.

I hear Zyra support is a thing, so we could have Zyra supporting and Fizz mid. Anyone else going to weigh in on this?

[Forum Explorer]

ugh. Just had a game with two jerks. Game was 11-11 and I think they had one more turret then us and our team asks for a surrender. Me and my friend say no and immediately the other three just stop playing and just hanging around in base. One of them started playing again pretty soon but the other two just sat there and did nothing.

[Silverraptor]

Well, its that time again. I have 3199 IP and now I need you guys to decide which should be my next champion. I'm wanting to get all the 3150 and 4800 IP champions before I start moving on to the 6300 IP block again. So the list is:

-Kassadin
-Nidalee
-Gragas
-Heimerdinger
-Olaf
-Corki
-Shaco

Which one of these should be my next purchase (And my next main play focus for the next couple of weeks). Each person will get 1 vote and I will tally it up later. Probably tomorrow. So, suggest to me my next champion everyone!

[Neoseanster]

In case anyone missed it, link for the orchestral opening for the World Championship finals. I'd like the music without the random clips they were showing, the chorus parts are apparently Latin describing a battle between Demacia and Noxus.

[Temotei]

-Kassadin
-Nidalee
-Gragas
-Heimerdinger
-Olaf
-Corki
-Shaco

Gragas is my vote. For the next time, Olaf and then Nidalee.