NA and EU LCS Playoffs: Finals

Today is the day that we've been waiting for.  Who will be going on to represent their respective areas at the Mid Season Invitational, and who will relax back at home knowing they'll probably secure enough points to go to Worlds in the Fall?

Full Schedule and Predictions:

8:00 AM PST - Fnatic vs Unicorns of Love
Regular Season: 2 - 0 Unicorns of Love
Prediction: 3 - 2 Unicorns of Love.  No doubt Fnatic will have planned for this match inside and out, and will have a game sometime in the series that will convince people that they deserve to go on to MSI--but there's just something about the Unicorns of Love and their unprecedented rise to the top.  In the regular season, Fnatic has never taken a victory off of UOL.  Granted, both victories were really close, but the mere fact that the Unicorns were able to pull off two victories from behind shows they have what it takes to bring down the European heavyweight.  What remains to be seen are the exciting games that will lead to that victory.

12:00 PM PST - Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9
Regular Season: 1 - 1
Prediction: 3 - 2 Cloud 9.  This is a rough prediction.  Team SoloMid took the IEM Worlds trophy, and has played excellently all season long.  However, until today we haven't seen TSM up against a team that represented significant competition for them.  Although Cloud 9 isn't the flashiest of teams, if there is a team that will be able to pull off a victory in a best of five against TSM, it'll be C9.  Either way, it'll be a nail-biting close match.  A lot of the match comes down to how Cloud 9 plans their early game--will Dyrus be allowed to play League of Legends, or can C9 knock him out early on and win a 4v5?

As it stands:

EU LCS:

1st place - 8:00 AM PST - Fnatic vs Unicorns of Love
2nd place - TBD
3rd place - H2K
4th place - SK Gaming
5/6 place - Gambit Gaming and Copenhagen Wolves

NA LCS:

1st place - 12:00 PM PST - Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9
2nd place - TBD
3rd place - Team Liquid
4th place - Team Impulse
5/6 place - Counter Logic Gaming and Gravity

NA and EU LCS Playoffs: 3rd Place

Today should be quite interesting.  We haven't seen how H2K and SK Gaming really would do faced off against one another; likewise, the "new" Team Liquid that completely dominated CLG hasn't had a chance to play Impulse since the comeback.  Who will take 3rd place in their respective regions and square away points to Worlds?

Full Schedule and Predictions:

8:00 AM PST - H2K vs SK Gaming
Regular Season: 1 - 1
Prediction: SK Gaming 3 - 2.  Although H2K has been doing quite well as of late and it seems that SK's strategy has been laid bare, SK is still a really powerful team that is quite tough to interrupt.  With their chances to going to MSI gone, SK is going to do what it takes to make sure they can secure a spot to Worlds later in the year--which means they're going to prepare for this game much more than they did for UOL.  It'll be a close series, but SK will come out on top.

12:00 PM PST - Team Impulse vs Team Liquid
Regular Season: 1 - 1
Prediction: Team Liquid 3 - 1.  With their extraordinary performance against Counter Logic Gaming and solid game play against Cloud 9, Team Liquid has been looking much better in the playoffs than they did during the regular season.  Team Impulse, on the other hand, looks like they stepped up a bit for playoffs, but no where near the degree of Team Liquid.  Although no win will be an absolute blowout, Team Liquid should secure the 3rd place spot.

As it Stands:

EU LCS

1st Place Match: Sunday - 8:00 AM PST - Unicorns of Love vs Fnatic

3rd Place Match: Saturday - 8:00 AM PST - H2K vs SK Gaming

NA LCS

1st Place Match: Sunday - 12:00 PM PST - Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9

3rd Place Match: Saturday - 12:00 PM PST - Team Impulse vs Team Liquid

ADC Basic Builds: An LGS Guide

My wife recently has gotten into playing again, and made the astute observation that I'm absolutely horrible at recommending item choices mid game.

Wife (playing as an ADC): So, what should I buy?

Me (dodging skillshots): Um, I dunno.

Wife: That's not really an answer.

Me: What's on the recommended list?

Wife: Boots it is, then.

After the Game

Me: So, what did you think?

Wife: I was sort of squishy.  Like I died over and over and over . . .

Me: Well, what did you buy?

Wife: . . . and over and over . . .

Me (looks at items): You bought boots?

Wife: It was the only thing I could afford.

Me: Six pairs of Berserker's Greaves?

Wife: It was on the recommended list.

With that in mind, I decided that it'd be worth it to talk about the best item paths for AD carries.

Starting: Doran's Blade, Heath Potion, Warding Totem

(1) Standard: Infinity Edge (B.F. Sword first, sometime around 55 CS)

    Corki/Ezreal: Trinity Force (Phage, Sheen, then Zeal)

(2) Boots: Berserker's Greaves

(3) Attack Speed: Statikk Shiv (Corki/Ezreal build Infinity Edge)

    End Game: Phantom Dancer (As long as wave clear isn't a problem)

Trinket: Farsight Orb

(4) Lifesteal: The Bloodthirster

    Vayne/Twitch: Blade of the Ruined King

Boot Enchant: Furor

(5) Armor Penetration: Last Whisper

    Enemies not stacking armor: Youmuu's Ghostblade

(6) Defensive: Mercurial Scimitar

    Dying all the time: Guardian Angel

A Guide to League Lingo, Part 2: Advanced Terms

Yesterday's article we talked a bit about the basic League lingo that you'd expect to see in those first few games.  Today, we're going to talk about some more "advanced" terms that you might see thrown around games or by the shoutcasters for League of Legends matches.

NOTE: I have NOT included terms that refer to vulgar language unrelated to the game.

AA - Auto attack.  Sometimes referred to as a basic attack, this is what happens when you right click on an enemy.

Aggro - When an enemy (typically a neutral monster or minion) decides to focus on attacking you.

  

Backdoor - While the rest of the enemy team is occupied on one side of the map, sneaking into the enemy base and destroying their Nexus.

Broken - An ability, item, or champion that is considered disproportionately powerful.

Burst - A large amount of damage done by a single character in a short period of time.

CDR - Cooldown Reduction, a statistic that is valuable to champions who need to use multiple abilities in a short period of time.

Counter Jungle - Invading the enemy's jungle and killing the large monsters in camps while leaving a small monster behind to prevent the camp from respawning.  This can be used as a strategy to deny the enemy team of a buff.

Debuff - The opposite of a buff, something that has detrimental side effects (perhaps a slow, silence, stun, or blind).

Dodge - To leave during champion select because the player couldn't get the role they wanted, or was afraid that the team would not win.

DoT - Damage over time.  An ability that continues to do damage after it was initially applied.

DPS - Damage per second.  This refers to the effective amount of damage a character can do per second.

Drag (Drake) - The dragon near the bottom lane.

Elo - A number that signifies the skill level of a player.

Face Check - To go into a potentially dangerous bush without any knowledge of what could be there.

Freezing Lane - A technique to control where a wave of minion stops in a lane so that a player can deny the opposing player farm.

Focus - A technique that has everyone on the team focus their abilities and damage on a single target.

Gap Closer - An ability that allows a champion to close to the gap between himself and the enemy.

Hard CC - Crowd Control abilities that break channels.

Hook (Pull) - An ability like Thresh's Death Sentence or Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab that pulls an enemy closer.

Inc - Incoming--usually to draw the team's awareness to an enemy that needs to be dealt with.

Initiate - An ability that is threatening enough to draw the attention of the enemy team and start a teamfight.  An example would be Leona's Zenith Blade that pulls her into the middle of the enemy team.

Instalock - Someone who picks a champion and locks in before there is any discussion.

Juke - Dodging a skillshot ability.

Kill Lane - A lane where both champions (typically the bottom lane) focus on killing enemy champions rather than farming.

Kite - Maintaining distance between your champion and an enemy champion that allows you to continuously do damage while leaving them unable to do so.

Knockback - Abilities that knock a champion backwards, like Tristana's Buster Shot.

Knockup - Abilities that knock a champion into the air, like Blitzcrank's Power Fist.

Lane Swap - Where the top and AD carry champions switch lanes, sometimes with or without the support.

Laning Phase - The initial phase of the game.  It typically lasts until the first 1-2 towers are taken down.  Laning Phase is followed by the Mid Game.

Map Awareness - How aware a player is of the mini-map, both of the vision of other players and their movements, and the absences of players (especially junglers).

Map Control - The process of distributing wards throughout the map to gain vision of enemy champions.

Meta - The current popular setup for team compositions based on what types of champions are strong.

Mid Game - A nebulous time period that begins after the laning phase ends, and ends as champions start to hit their "late game power spike", or the last significant damage increase champions have.

Nuke - An ability or group of abilities that do a lot of damage.

Overextending - Straying too far ahead of team members without the benefit of wards to determine whether it is a safe move.

Pen (ArPen/MPen) - Items and abilities that pierce through a flat amount or a percentage of armor or magic resist.

Poke - Long range abilities used with the intention of catching enemies out of position.

Pot - Potions, bought for 35 gold at the shop.

Proc - When a passive ability either of a champion or an item they have activates.

Rito - A misspelling of Riot, usually accompanied with complaints.

Root (Snare) - Abilities that prevent an enemy champion from moving.

Skillshot - An ability that requires the player to aim it instead of clicking on opponents.

Snowball - When a player gets significantly ahead of their opponents, typically by killing many enemy champions, to the point that they are difficult to kill.

Spam - To use a skill repeatedly, often without thought of the strategic use of that skill.

Split Push - After the laning phase, when a champion pushes back a lane without opposition from the enemy team.

Sustain - Abilities or natural stats that allow a champion to stay in lane without support from other champions.

Team Comp - The composition of a team, typically taking into consideration the synergy of their abilities.

Throw - To become so comfortable with a lead that team members take risks where they shouldn't.

Toxic - Someone who refuses to help the rest of the team, and instead berates their teammates.

TP - Teleport, a Summoner Spell that allows an enemy to teleport to a location after a brief delay.

Trading - Doing moderate damage back and forth between champions, typically during the laning phase.  The champion who wins a trade either does more damage to the enemy champion or secures more control over the lane.

Tri-bush - Usually refers to the bush directly below the dragon, but can also refer to its mirror above baron.

Zoning - Using the threat of potential damage to prevent the enemy from farming effectively.

A Guide to League Lingo, Part 1: Positions and Noob Basics

I remember what it was like to jump into my first game, confident that I knew a champion or two well enough that I could hold my own in a fight.  As soon as I accepted the invite and stepped into champion select, the chat was a stream of terms that it seemed I was supposed to know--apparently I had instalocked an ADC (Ashe) when someone else already and called bot and they were threatening to ragequit unless I took her top (after all, you can get away with that stuff below level 10).

My experience didn't end there.

After being told that I needed to worry about last hitting and I was such a noob, I apparently fed the MF bot and made it nearly impossible for my team to win.  Perhaps if I'd duo-queued with one of my brothers, I could have been saved the embarrassment.

For those of you who are new to League, or maybe even some not-so-new, here is a guide to League Lingo, Part 1: Positions, Abilities, Lanes, and other Noob Basics.

NOTE: I have NOT included terms that refer to vulgar language unrelated to the game.

Abilities:

Frequently, your teammates will refer to your abilities by the keys you press to activate them.  Having a working knowledge of champions and their abilities is key to doing well in League of Legends.

Champion Types/Champions:

Assassin - These champions are known for their ability to do a massive amount of damage in a short period of time.  They capitalize most off of quick encounters, and will typically use a sort of "hit and run" method in fights.  Their primary stat depends on what their abilities use to calculate their damage.

Fighter (Bruiser) - These champions can take a little damage and aren't afraid to give plenty back.  They are known for their ability to do a decent amount of damage in an extended encounter.  Like assassins, their primary stat depends on what their abilities use to calculate their damage.

Mage - Mages rely on their abilities to do their damage, and often have skills that compliment each other.  Their primary stat is Ability Power.  While they tend to be able to do a lot of damage, they have a difficult time taking it.

Marksman (ADC) - ADC stands for Attack Damage Carry, which tells us their primary stat is Attack Damage.  They do most of their damage through basic attacking, and are easily killed by other types--however, the amount of damage they can put out can also quickly neutralize strong targets.

Support - Support champions have abilities that help out their allies in combat.  They can heal, shield, enhance, stun, or slow down targets.  They are typically most useful in supporting the marksman down in the bottom lane.

Tank - Tank champions can take a lot of damage, but also don't tend to do a lot back.  The job of a tank is to be the focal point of the enemy team so that your team can capitalize on their distraction and eliminate dangerous targets before they have a chance to turn on the rest of the team.

Positions:

Top - Top lane refers to the solo-lane along the top left side of the map.  Typical top laners are characters who have the ability to survive on their own without much help from other champions.

Mid (or Middle) - The center lane.  This is the shortest neutral area between two towers, so a champion can lane here with less fear that they will be ganked.  Typical mid laners are mage types, assassins, and occasionally ADCs.

Bot (or Bottom) - The bot lane is the duo-lane along the bottom right side of the map.  Typically, a support and an ADC lane here.

Jung (or Jungle) - This character starts in the forested areas between lanes, and kills neutral monsters to gain XP.  Junglers take the Smite summoner spell.

Noob Basics:

AD - Attack Damage, the basic stat for champions who scale off of Auto Attacks (the extra damage on the ability is colored orange).

AFK - Away From Keyboard, which means they are no longer participating actively in the match.

Back (Fountain/Recall) - To return to the base by pressing the "B" key and waiting until you get there.  Typically, if someone is encouraging you to back, they have a pretty good reason for it.

Blue Buff - One of the two single target buffs in the game.  This one reduces the time between casting abilities and helps recover mana (the blue bar) faster.

CC - Crowd Control.  This refers to abilities that slow down, stun, or move champions to their detriment.

Chase - Chasing after an opponent, usually to the disregard of one's surroundings.

Crit - A semi-random occurrence when an ability does a lot of damage.

CS (Farm) - Creep Score, also sometimes referred to as Farm.  This is measured by the number in the top right of your screen.  It's the number of minions and monsters that you personally have killed.

Def - Defend, usually said when one of your teammates is concerned for the safety of the base.

DC - Disconnect, or when a player loses connection to the match and must reconnect in order to participate.  Their characters will typically return to the base fountain.

Fed - A champion is considered fed if they have a significant gold lead over other champions.  This is apparent in one of three ways: they have a lot of kills, they have a high CS, or they do massive amounts of damage and there seems to be no apparent reason why they should be able to do that much.

Feed - How a champion gets fed--a champion "feeds", or dies repeatedly and that champion gets the credit.

FF - Forfeit, or surrender.  Despite the frequency at which your teammates may cry for a forfeit, it's really best used when there is no possible way for your team to win, but the enemy team is trying to stall out the game longer.

Flash - A summoner ability that lets them instantly teleport a short distance every five minutes.  It's typically used to escape a sticky situation.

Gank - When an enemy suddenly appears and tries to kill you, typically from the Fog of War.  Junglers operate mostly off of ganks to get kills and to help their teammates in their lanes.

Global - An ability that has the potential to cross or affect the entire map.

HP - Hit Points, or the green bar underneath your abilities.

Inhib - Inhibitor, or the circular structures behind the three towers at the edge of your base.  These inhibitors prevent the enemy team from sending very strong minions to attack your base.

KS - Kill Steal, or when a champion last hits an enemy that they apparently weren't supposed to.  Although kills best benefit champions who are responsible for doing a lot of damage, in the end a kill is a kill.

Lag - When there is a delay between your computer and the server, usually resulting in things suddenly speeding up or jumping around the screen.  If this is a frequent problem, consider turning off Netflix and Spotify while playing.

Lane - Lane refers to any one of the three lanes: top, mid, or bot.

Leash - A jungler asks for a leash if they need help killing their first monster.

MIA - Missing in Action, or the enemy has disappeared and is most likely heading to another lane.

MR - Magic Resist, a stat that reduces the amount of magical damage your champion can take.  Best for tanks and fighters.

Nexus - The building you are trying to protect, and your enemy's Nexus is the building you're trying to destroy.  Doing this wins the game.

Noob - New player.  Usually combined with complaints about the unskilled nature of other players.

OOM - Out of Mana, which means the character will be unable to do much to help you out if you decide to attack an enemy.

Push - To kill minions in a lane and push back toward their base.

Rage - To get very upset and succumb to immature behavior.

Red Buff - Like Blue Buff, a single target buff that can be obtained from killing a special minion in the jungle.  It increases the damage output of a champion.

Squishy - A champion who can't take much damage without dying.

Teamfight - A fight that usually involves all team members of both fights.  Team fights are usually the deciding factor in a match.

Tower Dive - Pursuing an enemy into the range of a tower, which guarantees that you'll take damage from the turret.  It's important to make sure you can take the damage and escape if you're going to tower dive.

Troll - Someone who has no intention to help out the team, and instead spends their time commenting on how "noob" everyone else is while they wait for the game to end.  They typically have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than play a game badly on purpose.

Ult (Ulti) - Ultimate ability, or your "R" ability.  Typically it has a longer cooldown than your other abilities, but it also does significantly more damage.  Knowing when and when not to use your ultimate can make the difference in a teamfight.

Unicorns of Love vs SK Gaming, Game 5: By the Numbers

38 minutes.

The first 38 minutes were an entirely one sided affair.  It looked as though SK had the last win in the bag--they had the set up for a good 1-3-1 composition (Shyvana and Zed could easily take the solo lanes for effective split pushing), they had the kills (they had 16 kills at 38 minutes, compared to UOL's 7 kills), they had the towers (5 to 3 at the time), and the gold lead (8k).  What led to the shift?  How did Europe's #5 team bring down SK in a best of 5?

If you've read the blog before, you might remember The Unicorn Effect--where we talked about what the Unicorns of Love brought to the table to shake up the LCS.  This was the Unicorns doing exactly what we said, point for point: proving that they deserve a shot at the World Championship.

SK applying a lot of pressure in the split lanes.

1.  The 1-3-1 split push.  A bright note of the first half the game for SK was the effective way in which they executed the 1-3-1 split push.  Before they lost momentum at the inhibitor towers, SK secured objectives and towers like clockwork--rotating and meeting UOL where they could press their advantage.  If it had been another team, another game, another time, perhaps that would have been enough to walk away with a victory.

The fight at dragon that sealed the deal.

2.  Relentless.  If there was one word that characterized the way UOL continued to press team fights, it was relentless.  At the beginning of the game, it could also be considered quite reckless--most of SK's kills were obtained by collapsing on UOL when they decided to commit to chasing down a low health target.  In light of that, that might be the extra step required outside of banning out FORG1VEN to take down SK--keep bugging them until eventually they throw a team fight.

Kikis stuns Fredy against the wall.

3.  Kikis might very well be the most versatile jungler in the world.  There is quite a bit of debate over who is the best jungler in the world (which in many ways would be an impossible question considering the different roles of junglers--whether it be initiators, tanks, assassins, brawlers, or any other role we need them in), but there's a good bit of evidence to prove that Kikis takes the cake for being the most versatile.  He's played over 10 different champions in LCS games, and has proven time and time again that the jungle pool is much deeper than professional players seem to think.  His Gnar jungle this game only further proves his expertise--it would be interesting to see what he could pull out should they head to the Mid Season Invitational.

SK decides to go for Baron and pays dearly for it.

4.  38 Minutes.  The turning point for the game.  All it took was one misplay, one thrown team fight, one Ace, and there was not much that SK could do.  Granted, SK was able to answer back with a heavy push up the bottom that secured an inhibitor, but the 37 minute mark narrowed the gold gap enough to bring UOL back into the game.  A number of factors contributed to the success of UOL in the fight.  Aside from the usual mechanics (positioning, front lines/back lines, how spread out the fight was and it's location), UOL had built up enough items and purchased a Quicksilver Sash for Vardags and a Locket of the Iron Solari for Hylissang that gave the team enough survivability to endure the initial damage spikes from SK.  Beyond that first wave of damage (Zed's Death Mark, Corki's Trinity Force-empowered shots) any further kills would take more investment as the team's damage fizzles out once the fight has moved beyond the explosive stage.  On the other hand, UOL's composition had the initial burst to push threat onto FORG1VEN and nRated (to push them off the back line), but also the sustainable damage that would make sure they'd win any extended trade (Caitlyn's passive, the constant threat that is Mega Gnar).

Hylissang comes in with a flash stun to save Kikis and get a 2 for 1.

5.  Hylissang and Annie.  As we saw last week, Hylissang is absolutely comfortable with skill-shot based champions that leave an enemy exposed (his Morgana and Thresh picks were absolutely on point).  Annie, though, does not have to rely on messy mechanics to secure a stun--all it takes is five abilities.  Perhaps SK thought that it would be safe to have Hylissang on Annie since she's fairly squishy without support items, and even then she can't take much punishment if she's caught out.  Maybe they even though that Lulu's Polymorph could come out faster than Tibbers.  Either way, giving a player who is known for his superb initiation skills a champion who has crazy initiation is asking for painful team fights.

That shockwave.

6.  PowerOfEvil's Shockwave.  All said and done, that shockwave baron steal was ridiculous.  PowerOfEvil's timing was perfect.  There was no way of knowing that Svenskeren would miss the Smite, but all the same that damage was all the contribution that the Unicorns of Love could offer for a steal.  This clutch steal extended the game so the Unicorns could work their way back into the match.

Semifinal Recap: Biggest Take-Aways

In a rather surprising turn of events, our predictions ended up being right on point for all semifinal matches this weekend.  You can find our predictions for Saturday's matches here, and our predictions for Sunday's matches here.

Fnatic vs H2K: Fnatic (3 - 2)

Despite the hype, it's tough to take down a fixture.  Fnatic has been going to tournament after tournament since League of Legends eSports started to become a thing (and back when the prize pool was a drop in the bucket compared to today).  Even though the roster has constantly changed, one fact has remained the same: no matter what incarnation of Fnatic you face, you can be sure they're a tough nut to crack.

Cloud 9 vs Team Liquid: Cloud 9 (3 - 2)

You can't ever afford to be comfortable.  Cloud 9 had the opportunity to learn this lesson throughout the season with a last minute secured 2nd place.  Team Liquid, on the other hand, comes across a mix of blind faith (Piglet will save us) and overconfidence (they did win their first five playoff games in a row).  Neither ended up paying back--in a rare feat, Cloud 9 pulled off three straight wins against Team Liquid to secure their trip to the finals.

SK Gaming vs Unicorns of Love:

Never underestimate the ability to improvise.  SK Gaming has been all about consistency this entire split.  While their signature 1-3-1 push and strategy to win every lane proved to be fairly successful in single matches, over a best of five it has shown to be their undoing.  On the other hand, it goes to show that a team that's always willing to roll with the punches and do what it takes to get back into the game will be a force to be reckoned with.

Team SoloMid vs Team Impulse:

Once the train starts, it's impossible to stop.  We saw a little of this back in IEM--when Team SoloMid starts getting on a roll, there's something about the way they play games that turns them into an unstoppable force.  It's downright impressive to watch as each successive game becomes a little crisper, a little more convincing that they deserve the hype they get.  Unfortunately, the opposite can be said about Team Impulse--they have a great start, but it sizzles out under the right sort of pressure.

What do you think will happen in next week's final matches?  Which teams will take the trip to Florida, and which will settle back with points toward the World Championship?  Share your predictions in the comments below!

NA and EU Spring Playoffs Semifinals: Day 2

Saturday we had the chance to see two very close sets decided over all five games.  Our predictions (which turned out more accurate than we could have hoped for) can be found here.

Sunday, we have a similar chance for full five game series.  Although SK's undisputed reign over Europe has been something we can come to rely on, they had a rocky loss to the Unicorns a few weeks ago.  Likewise, Team SoloMid has taken the lead over North America, but their last game against Team Impulse didn't go too smoothly.

Sunday, April 12th Schedule:

8:00 AM PST - SK Gaming vs Unicorns of Love
Regular Season: 1 - 1
Prediction: 3 - 2 Unicorns of Love.  Although the numbers are greatly in SK's favor to win the series, the difficultly with SK is their inability to improvise.  On the other hand, that is all Unicorns of Love ever play--improvisation based on however Champion Select went.  If Unicorns have done their research and watched those IEM matches, there are some glaring weaknesses to the SK format that a team like UOL could really capitalize on (not to mention UOL's own victory over SK back in February).  Unfortunately, it could also be a landslide the other way--UOL hasn't been known for the cleanest of games, and the statistics do point to a landslide SK victory.

12:00 PM PST - Team SoloMid vs Team Impulse
Regular Season: 1 - 1
Prediction: 3 - 1 Team SoloMid.  Team Impulse has been looking very good as of late--their victory over Gravity put into perspective their past (as LMQ) and their potential to blow this tournament wide open.  However, when it comes to best of 5s, Team SoloMid has the leg up for this tournament.  Team Impulse relies a great deal on a number of factors falling into place for a victory.  Not only does XiaoWeiXiao need a good game (farm isn't enough--he needs a few kills), but Rush has to be on the same page as everyone else, and the Adrian/Apollo bot lane needs to hold their own.  The most reliable team member by far is Impact up top--and he can only be as reliable as TSM allows him to be.  As long as they remember to ban the Karthus (who would have thought TSM would have a rough time with him?) and to punish Impact (and thereby get Dyrus rolling) TSM should take the series.

As it stands:

EU LCS:
Gambit and Copenhagen Wolves have been eliminated.

Sunday:
SK Gaming (1) vs Unicorns of Love (5)

Next Week:
Saturday, April 18th - 3rd Place Match (H2K vs the loser of this Sunday's game)

Sunday, April 19th - 1st Place Match (Fnatic vs the winner of this Sunday's game)


NA LCS:
Gravity and Counter Logic Gaming have been eliminated.

Sunday:
Team SoloMid (1) vs Team Impulse (4)

Next Week:
Saturday, April 18th - 3rd Place Match (Team Liquid vs the loser of this Sunday's game)

Sunday, April 19th - 1st Place Match (Cloud 9 vs the winner of this Sunday's game)

NA and EU Spring Playoffs Semifinals: Day 1

Tomorrow, we'll have our next round of the LCS playoffs in North America and Europe.  Tomorrow could result in a number of surprises--Team Liquid could continue their roll from last week and absolutely demolish Cloud 9 like they did CLG, or they could choke as they've been doing the rest of the season.  On the other hand, H2K in some circles is expected to smash Fnatic in a best of 5, but Fnatic did leave a pretty clear message that such an upset wouldn't fly this close to the playoffs.

Saturday, April 11th Schedule:

8:00 AM PST - Fnatic vs H2K
Regular Season: 2 - 0 Fnatic.
Prediction: 3 - 2 Fnatic.  There is a lot of H2K hype out there that they might be the best team in Europe, and there's a lot of statistics behind it to show that they've really been an exceptional team. However, H2K is far from flawless, and has never won a game against Fnatic previously.  It should be close--they are both good teams, and it would be a shame if it didn't go five games--but Fnatic should take the win at the end of the day.

12:00 PM PST - Cloud 9 vs Team Liquid
Regular Season: 2 - 0 Cloud 9.
Prediction: 3 - 2 Cloud 9.  After their matches against CLG last week, it's starting to look like Piglet is really coming into his element--however, is it really going to be enough to swamp Cloud 9?  The games last week looked a lot like CLG making consistent errors that Team Liquid could easily come back and punish.  Cloud 9, though, will come into this matchup with a better strategy for how to deal with Team Liquid's new play style.  It could be interesting to see if TL have completely prepared for the playoffs on the side with completely different team compositions, but they'll have to bring their A game to take down C9.

As it stands:

EU LCS:
Gambit Gaming and Copenhagen Wolves have been eliminated.

Saturday, April 11th:
Fnatic (2) vs H2K (3)

Sunday, April 12th:
SK Gaming (1) vs Unicorns of Love (5)

NA LCS:
Gravity and Counter Logic Gaming have been eliminated.

Saturday, April 11th:
Cloud 9 (2) vs Team Liquid (6)

Sunday, April 12th:
Team SoloMid (1) vs Team Impulse (3)

Cinderhulk: the Rise of the Tank Jungler

Tank Junglers have not been uncommon in Season 5.  Earlier in the year, we saw a lot of Jarvan IV against the likes of Rek'sai and Lee Sin--more traditional fighter types that were popular at the end of last season.  However, with the nerfs in Patch 5.4 taking a hit at the bonus armor gained from Demacian Standard, we've seen a lot less of the prince in the Jungle.

It didn't take Riot long to reintroduce the Tank Jungler back into the fold with the addition of Cinderhulk in Patch 5.5.  Why could one enchantment have such a profound effect on the game?  Let's break it down into some numbers.

Enchantment: Juggernaut.  Cinderhulk replaced the Juggernaut enchantment for Tank Junglers.  It provided 500 bonus health, 10% cooldown reduction, and Tenacity (35% reduction of crowd control abilities).  The health is always welcome on a Jungler who is expecting to take a fair bit of damage, but most standard tank items offer some amount of bonus health.  The cooldown reduction, although nice for Junglers who tended to spam abilities, was more commonly obtained through Frozen Heart for the increased armor component.  Tenacity--although useful for a tank in teamfights to mitigate crowd control and come to the aid of the carries--could also be found on Mercury's Treads (if you wanted to sacrifice the extra speed of Boots of Mobility), or Elixir of Iron (which only provides a 25% reduction, but stacks multiplicatively and grants slow reduction).  Although the components were definitely essential for a tank-style Jungler, more often than not Jungle tanks like Jarvan IV would favor other enchantments to ensure they could do a little more damage in addition to their initiation.

Enter Cinderhulk.

On the outset, Cinderhulk seems to be a significant nerf in the health department.  It only gives a flat rate of 300 health, but also provides the benefit of 25% extra bonus health.  That extra bonus health proves to pay itself off ten fold for the Jungle tank.  Initially--just with the enchantment--it grants 375 health (125 less than Juggernaut).  However, the passive effect stacks significantly with the addition of other items.  Many common jungle items offer significant bonus health--like Randuin's Omen (500 health = 125 bonus health), Locket of the Iron Solari (400 health = 100 bonus health), Warmog's Armor (800 health = 200 bonus health), Spirit Visage (400 health = 100 bonus health), Righteous Glory (650 health = 163 bonus health), or Banshee's Veil (450 health = 113 bonus health), which in the end gives more significant bonus health than the original Juggernaut enchantment.  It also scales off of Sion's Soul Furnace and Cho'gath's Feast for additional effect for these Junglers (although you might have to be Kikis to pull either off smoothly in the Jungle).

Immolate, though, has proven to be a significant improvement.  The difficulty of being a Jungle Tank is that your clear times are markedly slower than that of more aggressive junglers (especially the likes of a Rek'sai, Lee Sin, or Nidalee, who decimate jungle camps with relative ease), which means that you're inadvertently punished for choosing a tanky jungler--one you probably chose because you wanted the increased survivability.  Although Smiting Gromp gives a similar benefit (poisoning attackers for 10 + 5% bonus health), this only helps with jungle clear and combat for 90 seconds, which hardly acts as a significant deterrent unless you happened to Smite Gromp right before heading into a team fight.  Immolate brings to bear the same effect as Sunfire's Cape without the extra gold cost and discourages extended trades with tanks (which are the sort of trades that tanks want to be in anyway).

Although Tenacity and CD reduction are lost on a Jungle item, the passive damage and potentially out of control health proves to be much more useful in the long run.  The introduction of the Cinderhulk buff made a Tank Jungler much more viable in the current meta.  Perhaps in upcoming weeks we'll see the roster expand to include some tank junglers that we haven't seen for a while.

Champion Focus: Graves, the Outlaw

Why do we keep seeing Graves on the Rift?

The answer is actually more simple than you'd expect: he fits the ADC role perfectly in the current meta.  When considering which champions to play, teams look for a number of key characteristics that are extremely important to team compositions and popular strategies.  Let's analyze why Graves has become so popular in this role.

1.  Wave Clear.  Graves is a master of wave clear and harass with his Buckshot.  This ability allows him to control a lane--either pushing it out for a split push, or freezing a lane without losing CS.  Graves is not alone in his ability to wave clear effectively--in fact, most ADC champions have some form of area of effect ability that allows them to farm multiple minions.  However, the fact that the damage is not mitigated by the number of targets (like Caitlyn's Piltover Peacemaker) and has a fairly large area of effect (larger than Jinx's Switcheroo!, for example) allows the Graves player to reliably predict the effect of Buckshot on both minions and opponents.  This is also why champions like Vayne and Draven--although quite powerful--don't appear as often in LCS matches.

2.  Mobility.  Mobility is a must for ADCs, especially with the prevalence of high mobility champions in every position in the current meta.  Most ADC champions are equipped with some sort of ability that augments their movement--the ones who don't (Varus and Kog'Maw for example) rely on their support to make up for their lack of movement, and show up only rarely.  Dash abilities (like Lucian's Relentless Pursuit) especially are strong for their low cooldown flash-esque ability to both engage and disengage fairly easily.  Graves has one of these with his Quickdraw (albeit it only allows him to get over very thin walls, but it is enough to avoid skill shots and escape ganks--as well as a gap closer to give your enemies a full face of Buckshot.  And it comes with a perk: an attack speed boost that lasts for 4 seconds.

3.  Sustain.  Sustain is an essential part of any laning phase, but is especially challenging for squishy AD carries.  Because of their glass cannon builds, lack of scaling Magic Resist, and lack of abilities in their kits for health restoration, AD carries rely heavily on their support to provide the necessary tools to allow them to stay for an extended period of time in the long bottom lane.  However, Graves is one of the rare ADCs that has sustain incorporated into his kit with True Grit.  This passively increases his Armor and Magic Resist as long as he's doing damage or receiving it.  This makes him one of the more resilient ADCs, and can do well enough on his own while is Support wanders to place wards and assist other lanes.  Freeing up the Support to do other things is an essential component of lane pressure in the current meta.

4.  Crowd Control.  Most ADCs have some sort of ability that acts as a zoning tool to influence positioning and punish CSing--whether it comes in traps (like Caitlyn or Jinx), damage spikes (Tristana's Explosive Charge, both the passive and the active), or an AoE slow (Varus's Hail of Arrows).  Graves's Crowd Control comes in the form of an area of effect slow that also reduces vision dramatically.  Although anyone within the radius will be able to spot their attacker (should someone outside their vision take a shot at them), it can be used to greatly limit the ability of an ally to help out.  In addition, the slow can help contain and potentially zone away potential follow up should an attacker continue to follow.

5.  Burst Damage.  This is probably the reason we've seen the most of Graves.  Although his auto attack isn't the strongest (at least in base scaling stats--he only receives an 8/10 for attack on his profile), his potential for close quarters burst damage makes him a formidable laning foe.  With a combination of his Buckshot at close range to make sure the target is hit by all three bullets (max damage 108/171/234/297/360 + 144% bonus AD) and Collateral Damage (250/400/550 + 150% bonus AD) he can easily lay down a significant amount of hurt in a short window of time--not to mention the auto attacks he adds to the equation.

Graves has steadily risen to the top of the food chain because of his unique capability to lay down so much damage and keep himself relatively healthy in lane.  With his kit, he's the perfect strong primarily AD carry to bring to the plate.  With the way the meta is going, we'll most likely remain a constant unless the nerf hammer gives him a wallop over the head.

Incidentally, FORG1VEN tends to build Graves the exact same way every time, despite the different lane matchups, picks and bans, and anything else that would normally call for customization in the build pattern.

Build Order:

• Doran's Blade, Health Potion, Warding Totem
• B.F. Sword (boots if gold allows)
• Infinity Edge (Farsight Orb at level 9)
• Statikk Shiv
• Berserker's Greaves
• Last Whisper
• Bloodthirster
• Furor Enchantment for boots
• Quicksilver Sash
• Mercurial Scimitar

A Challenger Arises: the NA and EU Challenger Finals

Tomorrow, we'll have confirmed replacements for Team Coast (NA) and Meet Your Makers (EU).

The Challenger Series is the method that new teams use to make their way into the LCS.  It starts with high ranked Challenger teams that qualify based on region and their success on the Challenger Ranked Teams leader.  From the initial makeup of 16 teams, 4 teams are chosen to join 2 pre-qualified teams (from the expansion tournament), where they face off in a round robin style (not unlike what we've seen in the LCS) and battle for the chance to challenge low ranked LCS teams--and for one lucky team, a guaranteed spot into the next Split.

This has a dramatic effect on the Summer Split.  We could see as many as three teams come up through the ranks and earn their way into the regular 10 team LCS roster.  Although traditionally Challenger teams rarely beat out LCS teams, it isn't unheard of--in fact, Unicorns of Love (scheduled to go head to head with SK Gaming this weekend in the EU Semifinals) beat Millennium 3-2 in their promotional tournament to earn a spot in the LCS.

The implications of tomorrow's games looks something like this:

The winners will advance into the LCS (taking the spots of Team Coast for NA and Meet Your Makers for EU).

The 2nd and 3rd place teams will face off against the #8 and #9 spots for a chance to play their way into the LCS.  We already know the 3rd place spots for both NA (Team Fusion) and EU (Reason Gaming).  The teams that will need to defend their title in the NA LCS are Team Dignitas and Winterfox.  Likewise, in the EU ROCCAT and Giants will have to prove their mettle and defeat Challenger teams if they want to keep their place.

The tournament has been a best of 3 for the semifinals and best of 5 for the finals.

Full Schedule and Predictions:

9:00 AM PST - Origen vs Copenhagen Wolves Academy (formerally LowLandLions)
Prior Matchup: 1 - 1
Prediction: 3 - 0 Origen.  Origen is made up of a number of former LCS competitors under the direction of xPeke (formerly Fnatic's midlaner).  Although LowLandLions have proven to be quite a force through the Spring Season and the playoffs, Origen has the statistics behind them on paper going into this matchup.  Although Origen has a chance of conceding a game to LowLandLions, odds are pretty good that they'll sweep the series.

6:00 PM PST - Enemy eSports vs TDK
Prior Matchup: 2 - 0 (Enemy eSports)
Prediction: 3 - 0 Enemy eSports.  Like Origen, Enemy has members who are familiar with the LCS stage and have had a great season.  Although TDK had a good showing against Team Fusion in their Semifinals, Enemy is coming into this matchup looking like the significantly stronger team.  Like the EU Spring Playoffs, there's a good chance that we'll see Enemy sweep the series.

Who do you think will take the automatic promotion into the LCS?  Share your predictions in the comments below.

The Unicorn Effect

There's no shortage of Unicorns of Love fans in Europe.  It's well deserved attention too--they represent the pauper to prince meteoric rise of a couple of friends to the big time.  They are what most of us following the competitive League of Legends wish we could do, and they've shown that it's really possible.  However, what they've brought to the LCS is much more than a remarkable success story--they really stand to change the way the game is played on a competitive level.

1.  35.  So far, the Unicorns have played 35 different champions in the Spring Split and Playoffs combined, which means they have one of the largest champion pools in the either EU or NA (and represent a little under half of all champions played in either region).  They also specialize in off-the-wall picks, while proving that they have mastery of the standard laners.

Individually, we've seen 9 different champions in the top lane, 9 in the jungle, 9 in the mid lane and 5 in ADC and 4 in Support.  Typically, bans heavily favor top and mid lane (around 70% of bans are targeted to those two lanes), so top and mid lane players are typically forced to expand their comfortable champion pool to 5 champions (3 for bans, 1 for the potential counter pick, and 1 to play).  Not having a standard swath of champions to choose from leads to players being effectively banned out--for example, banning Lucian and Graves against FORG1VEN often forces him onto one of his weaker picks (Caitlyn, Corki), on which he only experiences moderate success and moderates his threat potential.  The Unicorns, however, can never be banned out because every player has at least 5 good picks (we haven't seen Hylissang's fifth, but let's be honest--there's no way on a team like this that he doesn't have a fifth pick).

UOL uses the Yorick + Cassiopeia strategy to the demise of Fnatic.

We get the sense from IEM San Jose (where Kikis ran a jungle Twisted Fate) that we haven't seen the limits of their champion pools, nor who has the ability to play which champions.  The Unicorns have proven they can switch standard picks to flex positions (Sion, Kog'Maw, Nautilus) and play a wide variety of team compositions (everything from siege comps to Yorick + Cassiopeia).  More experienced teams might argue that practicing so many different champions would lead to diminished overall game play, and in the standard meta they'd be correct.  However, the Unicorns show us that it isn't about picking the strongest pick for the meta, but choosing a specialized role and filling it with a champion that can do the role well--for example a tanky Jungle could just as easily be Jarvan IV as Sion, Udyr, Nautilus or Nunu.

This changes picks and bans.  Unfortunately for the opponents of UOL, there really aren't any good bans.  With the diversity of their compositions, typical bans are ineffective.  It also means that a team has to expect the unexpected--that Twisted Fate may not be the mid laner that you're expecting it to be.  If this spreads, we'll see dynamic picks and bans with varied team compositions that are truly unpredictable.

UOL collapses onto Fredy, marginalizing the latter's ability to participate in fights.

It also changes our expectation of individual players.  LCS players have their favorite picks that they're known for.  Giving Bjergsen Zed is akin to giving the game (at least, in most cases), or giving Freeze Draven means you'll have a looming threat that could explode at any time.  While UOL does have a fair share of unique picks (Yorick, Poppy, Twisted Fate, Shaco), we acknowledge their ability to play their role extremely well instead of the champions they often play in it.  If UOL catches on, we'll see a rise of people who master roles, not meta champions.  Is it truly an adequate representation of a player's capability to call them a "master of the mid lane" if they need to be on one of three champions to dominate?

2.  Playing from behind.  Another strength of the Unicorns is their ability to play with confidence from behind.  Over the course of the Spring Split, we've seen a number of wins when a team was trailing in gold but somehow managed to get that last minute Ace at Baron and push for the win.  The Unicorns seem to have made a habit of winning with a gold deficit--with only the rare occurrence of a fortunate Ace that paves the way for the win.

UOL vs Fnatic - While they lose in a trade in the top lane, they push in the mid.

This changes the idea of a team's advantage.  Now, we talk about early game leads, mid game leads, and late game leads.  These leads are typically measured in objectives accomplished (towers destroyed, dragons taken, barons taken, inhibitors destroyed) and gold.  Although we remember those games where a team was able to turn things around at the last minute, when a team cracks the enemy base and takes down inhibitors, the game is pretty much over in the current meta.  However, the Unicorns have shown how they can control a game despite playing from behind in either towers or gold.  If this catches on, we can expect to see more teams with strategies that can over power teams even when they're able to secure a substantial lead.

3.  The shared spotlight.  Individually, there's a lot to talk about when it comes to UOL.  Each of them has individual accomplishments that helps them keep pace with their peers.  The Unicorns, though, are quick to share the spotlight; probably because so much of their success relies on their synergy.  They have what Elements was supposed to have--solid players who do well on their own, but the sort of teamwork and unity that makes them menacing.  Quite often in interviews you'll see them defer to teammates or teamwork for their success rather than their own skill--not because it's the acceptable thing to do, but because they rely so much on their team.

UOL sneaks a baron while SK is occupied.

This changes the way we'll see LCS players.  This isn't a new concept--frequently Korean and Chinese teams have proven that everyone on the team is talented and no one person can be blamed for the success or failure of the team--but it goes against what we're used to in the Western mentality: we're prone to see heroes, not armies; we look for superstars, not super teams.  If this idea catches on, though, we might see less individual trading and more formations of teams that work to create fantastic teams.

4.  The consistency of inconsistent.  The Unicorns did not have the best win/loss record going into these playoffs.  In fact, they're well known for doing fantastically against better teams and losing to teams with worse records.  One could almost say that the Spring Split was sort of an experiment for UOL--they tried out a wide variety of compositions, strategies, and champions, and found what very well could work for them when they entered the playoffs.

UOL zones out Elements with their double tank strategy.

This changes the way we look at a regular season.  Right now, the Spring and Summer Splits are sort of a mini-playoff, with frequent rankings and general estimations of proficiency based solely on performance in LCS games.  However, the Unicorns bring a scrim style to the regular season that leaves them unfazed when they lose.  Recall the devastation of CLG when they lost to Cloud 9 in the tiebreaker game, or Fnatic when they lost for the second time to UOL.  Contrast that with UOL's own loss to Giants or MYM--the Unicorns were here to play and learn, not to walk the red carpet to a perfect season.  If this rubs off on other teams, we'll start to see more of what it takes to make a great team, and less comfort picks and the need to defend a legacy.

5.  Adaptability.  If something doesn't work, try something new.  By their own admonition, the Unicorns are best at Best of 5 scenarios.  Typically, a team goes into a Bo5 with a small handful of tailored strategies to defeat a specific team.  Although UOL no doubt has similar preparation with numerous strategies, they're also willing to throw out whatever needs to be thrown out and roll with the punches.  In the past, we would have expected Gambit to be the same way--but when it entered a tournament setting, Gambit picked basically the same composition with slight modifications.  On the other hand, the Unicorns were all over the place and still managed to pull off wins.

UOL fends Fnatic off the base.

This changes how teams approach playoffs.  There's already a sense of adapting to an opponent over a series of games--but what about adaptation that takes place at every step in the process, from preparation before hand, to picks and bans, to early game, to mid game, and to late game?  Despite falling behind, the Unicorns will often reinvent themselves mid game and try something new.  If other teams start taking this approach, we won't see so many 3-0 series; instead, we'll see more 3-1 and 3-2 sets as teams change their approach dynamically in game.

In the end, UOL success in the playoffs will only open more doors and offer more exciting addtions to eSports.  After all, we could use a little more of the Unicorn Effect in the LCS.

NA and EU Spring Playoffs Quarterfinals: Day 2

Today is our second day of quarterfinal matches for both the NA and EU LCS.  Like yesterday, the tournament style is best of 5, so we can be sure to see a wide variety of picks.

Sunday, April 5th Best of 5 Schedule:

8:00 AM PST - Gambit vs Unicorns of Love

Regular Season: 1 - 1 (Gambit won last)
Prediction: Unicorns of Love 3 - 2.  Like the regular season, this matchup should prove to produce some interesting combinations and out-of-the-box strategies.  Although Gambit is favored for the match up, in a best of 5 series Unicorns of Love has the advantage--but it will be close.  If it doesn't go 3 - 2, the stats will be fairly close.

12:00 PM PST - Team Impulse vs Gravity
Regular Season 2 - 0 (Team Impulse)
Prediction: Gravity 3 - 1.  Team Impulse has been an absolutely fantastic team over the last few weeks, but Gravity has taken some key wins over teams with better records while Team Impulse has lost some key games to teams with worse records.  Team Impulse will put up a good fight, but expect to see Keane have a great showing against XiaoWeiXiao.

Full Brackets:

NA LCS

Quarterfinals

Sunday, April 5th  12:00 PM PST

Team Impulse (4)

Gravity (5)

Bye

Team SoloMid (1)

Counter Logic Gaming (3)

Team Liquid (6)
TEAM LIQUID 3 - 0

Bye

Cloud 9 (2)

EU LCS

Quarterfinals

Sunday, April 5th 8:00 AM PST

Gambit (4)

Unicorns of Love (5)

Bye

SK Gaming (1)

H2K (3)

Copenhagen Wolves (6)

H2K 3 - 0

Bye

Fnatic (2)

NA and EU Spring Playoffs Quarterfinals: Day 1

Today, we have the first round of quarterfinal matches for both the NA LCS and the EU LCS.  Instead of the usual "Best of 1" format that is used in the group stage, this weekend we'll see best of 5s, which works to the benefit of some teams and the detriment of others.

Saturday, April 4th Best of 5 Schedule:

8:00 AM PST - H2K vs Copenhagen Wolves

Regular Season: 1 - 1 (Most Recent Win: H2K)

Prediction: 3 - 1 H2K.  Best of fives will give the Wolves a better chance at taking down H2K, but honestly the Wolves managed to lose their last regular season game to the #9 Giants by quite a margin--it would be a miracle for them to pull off a best of five against what could be one of the top two teams in Europe right now.

12:00 PM PST - Counter Logic Gaming vs Team Liquid

Regular Season: 0 - 2 (Team Liquid took both games)

Prediction: 3 - 1 Counter Logic Gaming.  Even though both encounters in the regular season ended in Team Liquid wins, both were done when KEITH was in the ADC position.  Although this time around they've had a few more wins with Piglet, TL had a better record in the 6 (of 18) games KEITH was ADC then in the 12 games Piglet has taken the position.  With Piglet, they've had wins against Team 8 (#7), Team Dignitas (#9), and Team Coast x2 (#10).  In contrast, the 5 wins with KEITH were against Team SoloMid (#1), Counter Logic Gaming x2 (#3), Team Impulse (#4). and Gravity (#5).  Because Counter Logic Gaming has a difficult time in the playoff stage in general (it's never been their strongest show of skill), Team Liquid will take a game off them, but Counter Logic Gaming will take the series.

Full Brackets:

NA LCS

Quarterfinals

Sunday, April 5th  12:00 PM PST

Team Impulse (4)

Gravity (5)

Bye

Team SoloMid (1)

Saturday, April 4th 12:00 PM PST

Counter Logic Gaming (3)

Team Liquid (6)

Bye

Cloud 9 (2)

EU LCS

Quarterfinals

Sunday, April 5th 8:00 AM PST

Gambit (4)

Unicorns of Love (5)

Bye

SK Gaming (1)

Saturday, April 4th 8:00 AM PST

H2K (3)

Copenhagen Wolves (6)

Bye

Fnatic (2)

Team Impulse: Champion Break Down

Today, we'll be looking at some interesting statistics about the #4 NA LCS team: Team Impulse.

Each game, Team Impulse had a different last pick--and 9 overall one shot wonders for their team.  Want to learn more?  Leave your questions in the comments below and we'll try to answer them!

Counter Logic Gaming: Champion Break Down

Today, we'll look at some interesting statistics about the #3 NA LCS team: Counter Logic Gaming.

Like the previous posts, there's a lot yet to be analyzed about the champions chosen by this and every other NA LCS team.  Want to know more?  Leave your questions in the comments below and we'll try to answer them!

Cloud 9: Champion Break Down

Today, we'll look at some interesting statistics about the #2 team: Cloud 9.

There's much more to be learned about the champions chosen by this and every other NA LCS team.  Curious about something in particular?  Want to know more?  Leave your question below in the comments and we'll try to answer them!  Thanks to Lysander for asking about the "One Play One Win" category--we'll include that from now on!

Team SoloMid: Champion Break Down

Here are some interesting statistics about the #1 NA LCS team: Team SoloMid.

We also have oodles of more information about champions chosen by this and every other team in the NA LCS.  Want to know a little more?  Leave your questions down in the comments!