Battle of the Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic wrapped up this weekend after pitting the five LCS teams who avoided relegation from both NA and EU against each other. The first two matches, Dignitas vs Alliance and Team Solo Mid (TSM) vs Lemondogs (LD), took place the weekend before in conjunction with the EU LCS Spring Tournament. The other three matches, Counter Logic Gaming (CLG) vs Alternate (ATN), XDGG vs Gambit Gaming (GMB), and Cloud 9 (C9) vs Fnatic, were held alongside the NA LCS Spring Promotion Tournament.

Up first the matches in EU saw the Alliance roster absolutely crush Dignitas in a 2-0 sweep. Alliance was a complete unknown going into the tournament due to roster swaps, retaining only 2 members of the former EG squad that had held the spot in the last split of the LCS. The new roster clearly worked out however, as the new jungler Shook had commanding presence throughout both games and was clearly in sync with the Alliance laners. Dignitas on the other hand were clearly still struggling with the problems that had caused them to end the summer split in 4^th place. Crumbzz was simply never a factor for Dig and their new top laner Cruzer lost favorable lanes both games. While Alliance did look good in the games their true strength is hard to see due to the utter failure of Dignitas. What is clear is that Dignitas has a mountain of work to do in order to be competitive in the NA LCS in the coming split.

The TSM vs Lemondogs showdown was much the same story. TSM’s addition of Bjergsen to the lineup looked strong, but it’s difficult to be sure how strong when the new LD roster’s mistakes were apparent all across the map. Similar to Dignitas in NA, the Lemondogs have their work cut out for them to be competitive in the coming EU LCS split.

The first BotA matchup in NA was CLG vs ATN. Neither game looked very clean cut, especially game 1 which went on a full 20 minutes longer than it should have due to some silly mistakes on Alternate’s part. On the whole Alternate looked okay and could easily be a top team if they iron out the mid game mistakes. Kerp and Creaton were absolute monsters for the team, and Kerp would eventually seal game 1 with an out of nowhere double kill. Where Alternate soared CLG floundered, falling back into bad habits like Doublelift attempting to split push. Nien clearly got over his slump winning lane both games, but seemingly transferred it to Link in mid. The poor performance by Link was even more disappointing when compared to the godlike display he’d put on only a month prior at IEM Cologne. The much hyped return of the “Rush Hour” botlane for CLG was similarly disappointing as Doublelift fell into his old ways and Aphromoo made several key mechanical mistakes that would cost CLG more than one team fight. Alternate’s problems are relatively small and with a little work they should be a force to be reckoned with in the EU LCS. The problems for CLG however remain as mysterious as always, on paper the team should be able to iron things out quickly and be a top 3 contender but CLG has always run a bit counter to logic. It’s impossible to predict how CLG will do in the NA LCS, but keeping expectations low is probably a good idea for fans.

The early game of XDGG vs Gambit seemed to go well for XDGG, picking up early victories around the map and even having Mancloud straight out duel Alex Ich in mid. Unfortunately for XDGG the name change from Vulcun didn’t leave behind the problems they’ve always had in the mid game. Gambit on the other hand continued on their dominant spree since  the return of Edward. Both games Gambit never hesitated to punish mistakes from XDGG, which allowed Gambit to sweep the series 2-0. There’s little doubt in anyone’s mind after both BotA and IEM Cologne that Gambit is going to be a top contender in the EU LCS this spring. XDGG is less clear cut, the problems that plagued them from the start of the LCS remain and XDGG took the longest vacation of any of the teams only returning to practice a week before BotA. Last split XDGG did well enough to make it to worlds in 3^rd place, but it’s hard to tell if they can replicate those results with a far more competitive NA scene this split.

The final match of the EU vs NA showdown was the first place Cloud 9 vs Fnatic rematch from worlds. Game one offered fans a bit of extra excitement as C9 dared Fnatic to let Kassadin through, and then picking it for themselves. Fnatic attempted to counter the Kassadin with some interesting picks aimed at the laning phase, but while it generated an early farm lead Cloud 9’s superior team fighting would seal the deal. Despite better picks from Fnatic in game two the result would be the same resulting in a Cloud 9 sweep. Though they got swept Fnatic did not look bad in the games, they were simply unprepared for the new Cloud 9 strategies. Fnatic will likely be a top contender yet again in EU LCS. Similarly C9 delivered a clear message in their matches, They’ll likely not have another insane 25-3 split but Cloud 9 is a surefire pick for top 2 NA.

At the end of the two weeks Battle of the Atlantic ended in probably the best way anyone could hope for. NA won on points, EU won on total matches, and the rivalry between regions can continue. Most of the teams looked good which should prove exciting when the LCS returns in just under 3 weeks. For now though we’ll just have to speculate while we enjoy the holidays and the New Year. 

Surprising results from EU promotion.

Last weekend we got our first taste of the LCS that will return to regular season January with the European Spring Split Qualifiers, and some of the Battle of the Atlantic which I’ll talk about after it wraps up next weekend, from the new Riot studio in Cologne. The three relegated LCS teams Meet Your Makers (MYM), SK Gaming, and Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) faced off against their choices of the three Challenger teams Copenhagen Wolves (CW), Supa Hot Crew (SHC), and Kiedyś Miałem Team (KMT) respectively for their spots in the EU LCS. 

Much of the weekend was rather unsurprising. Going in most were calling the first two matches to result in CW beating MYM and SK defeating SHC, and though SK looked shaky for a bit the predictions eventually held true. The real surprise was KMT’s systematic dismantling of the heavily favored NiP. No one called the match going to KMT much less in such a convincing manner as their impressive 3-0 sweep.

Before the weekend NiP was a heavy favorite, heralded as one of the strongest European teams on the 3.14 patch due to their performance in scrims against other teams. Also helping that line of thought was the fact that the NiP organization, in an effort to requalify, had scrapped their original roster and brought in members from several of the top teams in Europe, including three players from the summer split 1st place finishers Lemondogs.

Despite NiP’s best efforts they were simply outmatched at every turn by KMT. From Overpow’s amazing display of skill on Kayle, to Jankos’ ability to keep gank pressure high while still out farming the farm focused Hyrqbot in the jungle. Even the one “losing” lane for KMT, Xaxus top lane, was still doing his job, keeping the turret alive and occupying Zorozero despite a heavy CS deficit.

KMT’s willingness to play patiently and carefully take a lead led them to a victory that surprised and thrilled viewers, as well as earned KMT a spot in the 2014 spring split of the EU LCS. We can only hope things are as exciting when the NA Spring qualifiers play out next weekend from Riot’s new studio in LA.

NA LCS Promotion Tournament Recape & Post Mortem

The NA LCS promotion tournament round robin hosted by Wellplayed.org took place this weekend with Quantic Gaming, compLexity, vVv Gaming, To Be Determined (TBD), COGnitive Gaming, and The Walking Zed (TWZ) all facing off to see which three teams would move on to LA and get to play against LCS teams for a shot at esports glory and a stable paycheck. Predictions were abundant leading up to the event thanks in part to ample exposure for the teams from amateur events like the ALCS and Wellplayed's own NACL. Chief among the popular predictions was that Quantic, after showing significant improvement of late, was going to slice through the competition like a hot knife through butter.

Day one of the tournament seemed to be on track with most people's predictions for the event. Quantic set up shop in a LANcenter to avoid internet troubles that had plagued some of their games and made short work of the competition striding out to an impressive 2-0 on the day. Just as Quantic followed predictions, so too did compLexity who dropped both their games as most people predicted after the rather recent loss of Lautemortis and the removal of Pr0lly. Though the results ended predictably compLexity did show signs of life in their game against COGnitive, nearly taking the game before some poor calls resulted in the very definition of a throw. All in all day one is best described as predictable.

After the predictable day one there was no one prepared for what day two had in store. The dominant Quantic from day one, that had looked so much like Cloud 9's second coming, was nowhere to be found. Instead a very shaky game one would crumble under Quantic's failure to bring a front line tanky-bruiser in the face of a tank heavy, late game focused, compLexity team comp. After game one's loss Quantic's desire to play all their games back to back to save on LANcenter fees would come back to haunt them. Quantic was clearly on tilt from their abysmal first game and things only cascaded down hill from there. Quantic would end day two at a sorry 0 for 3 making their overall record 2-3 in the tournament and all but dashing any hopes of them entering the LCS this split. Meanwhile COGnitive had a much better day ending the day at 3-1 on the whole with only a single game between them and a guaranteed trip to LA. 

Going into the final day there were still some people holding out hope for Quantic, a few Reddit threads popped up detailing the exact results required to force a tie that could see Quantic playing tie-breaker games. Those hopes would all be for naught though as TBD's victory over vVv in game one sealed both TBD and COGnitive their tickets to LA to face the relegated LCS teams. Game two of the day would similarly wrap things up as The Walking Zed would beat compLexity to secure the final spot. 

Just like that it was over, COGnitive, TBD, and TWZ move on to face the relegated LCS teams while Quantic, compLexity, and vVv will have to decide their next move in the coming days. It's difficult to pick a clear leader out of the qualifying teams, before the tournament everyone expected Quantic to clean house and get defaulted to facing whatever team ends up filling Velocity's shoes in relegation, but now things are not so clear. The qualifying teams being so close make it difficult but if I have to make predictions I expect Curse, who have top seed, will likely chose COGnitive as their opponent for relegation primarily because Zamphira looked the least threatening mid of the tournament and Curse needs to shore up Voyboy's shortcomings in his new role. COG also looks a prime target for Curse thanks to their overall lack of standout stars, the team played well but no one on COG really stood out with a fear inducing performance. Curse likely takes the matchup 3-0 or 3-1. With COG off the table 2nd pick Coast would likely take TBD as their opponents. Coast's top and mid lanes are strong enough to hold even or possibly out right beat TBD's fearsome solo laners and Coast's jungler NintendudeX would have an easy time capitalizing on the somewhat shaky performance of Brokenshard in the jungle. Similar to the last match up I just don't think TBD has what it takes to dethrone Coast, the match will likely go to Coast 3-1.  That would leave TWZ to face whatever team is stapled together to make up the new Velocity roster. TWZ's weak point is definitely their top laner Yazuki who struggled throughout the weekend during 1v1s, clearly outclassed by the likes of Apple and Westrice. Despite that TWZ's jungler KOR Kez, and mid Bischu both put in terrifying performances. Whatever beast occupies Velocity's spot will need strong solo laners to capitalize on Yazuki's weaknesses and hold off Bischu's strength, as well as an absolutely dominating jungler to avoid the map pressure KOR Kez demonstrated over the weekend. It's hard to call this one when we still don't know the exact makeup of the new Velocity lineup but if it's the rumored partial EG team suggested on Reddit I think this would go to TWZ in a very close 3-2 series. 

As for the teams who didn't qualify, Quantic, vVv, and compLexity, we'll no doubt learn their fate in the coming days as they figure things out. MeyeA from compLexity has already said in his Reddit AMA that he, Chuuper, and Megazero might be in the challenger scene to some degree though MeyeA and Megazero will focus more on school for the coming months. The team most people wonder about though is Quantic, having brought their entire team over from Korea it's hard to judge what the organization will do moving forward. Prime had claimed in an interview for LoLesports.com that the team would have plenty of time to think about their next move on the flight back to Korea, though that move seems like a poor choice the Quantic organization. Having spent so much money to migrate a team from Korea, house, supply, and pay them for months the Quantic organization would almost be better off playing the long game and retaining the team if possible to participate in the amateur scene before making another run at the LCS in the summer promotion tournament. It's quite possible Quantic sends the team back to Korea but doing so would mean accept a hefty amount of money was wasted in an attempt to enter the less meaningful of the two LCS splits. 

The next event is the combined Battle of the Atlantic and relegation tournament in only a few short days where we will be able to see how bad I am at predictions, the top NA&EU LCS teams face off, and which, if any, of the qualified teams can secure themselves a spot in the LCS. 

Average Summoner's Guide to Pink Wards in 3.14

I've seen a lot of people lately complaining about the Vision (pink) ward changes that launched with patch 3.14, chiefly the concern that they're ineffective due to not having stealth gets repeated ad nauseam. Personally I've had very positive experiences with vision wards in the preseason and have come to absolutely love them, so I thought I'd create a helpful little guide.
Now this is not a god tier guide to warding. it's not DoubleBjergsenMoo's guide to warding. This is not guaranteed to work at high elo, nor is it indicative of what we'll see in competitive play when the Battle of the Atlantic erupts later this month. This is purely some preseason helpful tips from an average player, to help all my fellow painfully average players get a leg up. With that said cue the map Phil!

The first thing you'll notice is that there are numbers on this map, I'll get to those in a second, the other thing you'll notice is that it's a map from 3.13 but that's okay as the relevant bushes were not changed in the 3.14 patch.

1. The bush beyond the enemy's red buff. If you can get it without being noticed this is probably the most efficient vision ward placement possible. Dropping it on the edge of the bush gives you sight of the enemy jungler doing their red buff as well as enemy laners transitioning through their jungle. This bush is rarely walked through and combined with the fact that vision wards no longer time out you can sometimes get over 20 minutes of knowledge for the price of 100g and a lvl 1 red invade. 
2. Bottom side tribush. This spot is an excellent place to drop a pink ward for the blue side duo-lane. I've had pink wards in this bush last upwards of 10 minutes. This spot is easily defended and does wonders to prevent ganks. Best part, the 5 hit vision ward takes so long to clear that you force the enemy jungle into a no win situation. He can clear the ward and sacrifice any chance of his gank succeeding, or he can leave the ward and go for the gank that will still likely fail due to his presence being seen, potentially allowing the ward to be defended and prevent subsequent gank attempts. Without prior knowledge and concentrated effort this ward is hard for the enemy team to clear making it well worth the 100g.
3. Top side tribush. Much like it's bottom lane counter part this ward goes a long way towards preventing ganks and giving high reward for the cost. It deserves it's own separate place to denote however that due to the nature of a solo lane the ward is slightly harder to defend than the blue side version. 
4. Bottom lane Purple tribush. Not a particularly efficient spot but worth an early placement if you've decided to (or been forced to) 1v2. Placing the ward here will give you warning that the enemy jungle is setting up for a 3v1 dive and give you time to back out. Bonus points if the jungler stops to clear your ward it means your tower stays up an instant longer and your team gets that extra bit to make plays elsewhere on the map. 
5. See 4, I have no idea why I didn't just combine these two spots when I was drawing on the map. I guess take a break, sit back, relax. Good? Okay lets get back to it. 
6. Dragon/Baron control. Not a particularly good use of the new vision wards. It is good to deny vision of Dragon/Baron and if you have no other option a pink ward will do the job, but the Sweeping Lens (red) trinket will do the same job without using up your 1 pink ward per map and possibly forcing you to lose vision elsewhere. 
7. Lane bush control. Much like number six this is a vision ward placement you only want to do if you really have to. Clearing enemy wards to create a path for your jungler is worth the extra 25g for sure, but you'd get much more benefit out of sweeping the wards with a red trinket and using your pink elsewhere. 

These placements have helped me get the absolute most out of my vision wards so far this preseason, hopefully others find them useful as well. If you happen to find any other spots that give you good value from your vision wards let me know, I'm always looking to improve. 

IEM Cologne afterthoughts

The Intel Extreme Masters from Cologne played out over the weekend with CLG, Cloud 9, Gambit, and Fnatic giving a bit of a preview of what's in store for the Battle of the Atlantic matches. Despite competing with MLG and Redbull events for CoD, DotA 2, and SC2, the IEM stream still pulled in over 230k viewers eager to watch the LCS regions duke it out. It also showcased the new rosters for SK and NIP in the amateur tournament, but I was unable to convince myself to get up early enough to catch much of it so this will be sticking to the teams in the pro tournament, namely CLG, C9, Fnatic, & Gambit.

Though they only switched 1 member of their roster, bringing back the much hyped Rekkles now that he's old enough for the LCS, Fnatic did not look much like the team who went 7-1 in groups and finished 3rd at Worlds. The typical Fnatic flair for teleport ganks and assassin mids was utterly missing. They played the games well but never seemed to be outplaying their opponents so much as just failing to make major mistakes. This was never more evident than game 2 against CLG where despite no major mistakes from Fnatic they would slowly and steadily lose the game against a flawless performance from CLG. Though Fnatic did take the series against CLG 2-1, their reliance on enemy mistakes made it a very close series and would see Fnatic utterly destroyed in the finals against Gambit Gaming. Whether the problems with Fnatic's team was simply the result of a break in training time, lack of experience with the new roster, or a slump is unclear, but they will certainly need to sort some things if they want to defeat Cloud 9 in their December 22nd showdown.

Gambit Gaming similarly swapped only a single member of their roster, bringing back Edward to support after his split in the NA LCS, but the team looked like a whole new frightening lineup. The problems that had plagued Gambit throughout season 3 seem to have disappeared completely and the team once again looks like the much feared M5 of old. Most startling of all was the turnaround performed by Genja who had been infamous, even as recently as the world championships, for building unusual builds and playing very passively. Instead the Genja on display at IEM was an aggressive force to be reckoned with, a true AD carry playing like a man possessed. The reinvigorated Gambit crushed every opponent 2-0 this weekend and their unwavering stomp of Fnatic made it difficult to remember that the two teams were even in the same league.

Last but not least Counter Logic Gaming displayed the roster they would likely be bringing to the Battle of the Atlantic. The roster featured the return of "Rush Hour" botlane as Aphromoo returned to supporting Doublelift, as well as Trickz taking over jungling duties. The new CLG roster is still obviously struggling with some of the problems that plagued them all season 3, and the slump Nien claimed to be in on twitter was evident in his play. Despite all of that the team was clearly a stronger one than their LCS incarnation. Gone was the willingness to sacrifice dragons for farm. Gone was the tendency to lose focus and allow their lead to turn around mid game. The team still looked shaky, and it was obvious that Trickz was unused to LAN events, but overall they seemed to have improved significantly with their new roster. Link was in top form, simply out playing Xpeke at every turn and running rampant over the mid lane in the first 2 games. He did so well that CLG likely could have taken the series victory if Link opted to play something more capable of carrying instead of the Orianna he ran in game 3. The CLG botlane also performed well, quickly eliminating the misplays that cost them game 1, and crushing in game 2. Even Nien and Trickz seemed to be shaking off the jitters as the series progressed. Though hesitation at Dragon would cost CLG both game 3 and the series against Fnatic, it was clear that like the other roster swaps this CLG lineup is a very different beast from their previous incarnation.

Personally I found the preview provided by IEM to be enticing, and a fitting way to send off Season 3. The Battle of the Atlantic will be played on 3.14 though, so while we got a small preview of the possibilities, anything could happen come December.

A little Hearthstone to get things rolling

Dusting off my old blog I never did anything with and shaking out the cobwebs to talk about my experiences in Hearthstone, so I figured starting simple would be a good idea. So how about one of the counter intuitive things I've had to learn to do: Eating damage to clear a minion with my weapon (or druid hero power).

The typical line of thinking myself and a lot of other players I’ve fought against everywhere from unranked, to arenas, to diamond ranked play, is to avoid eating the counter attack damage and simply kill the offending minion with one of our own the next turn. On the surface that plan is completely reasonable, you damage the enemy champion (or just save durability on your weapon), you avoid taking the minion’s damage in return, and you can deal with it next turn with one of your minions. Your HP stays high, the other player’s HP drops, therefor you come out ahead in the exchange, it all makes sense on the surface level.

The problem comes from the fact that you have no control over your opponent’s turn. Leaving that minion up prevents the damage to you once but also allows plenty of opportunity to keep that minion alive and repeatedly dealing its damage. Without a full deck list for your opponent there’s no way to guarantee that your opponent does not have a buff or taunt or heal up his sleeve to prevent you eliminating that minion on your next turn.  I cannot count the number of times I’ve lost from allowing a minion to live in order to avoid a few points of damage, only to have that minion survive all game dealing its damage to me over and over. The mistake is only thinking of the damage a minion can deal as a onetime event, instead of its potential to deal that damage every turn.

So remember, if it won’t bring you dangerously low on HP (assume around 20hp means you’re safe to take the counter attack damage from almost any minion), take the damage and remove that minion from the board. It would have saved several games for me and it just might save a few for you too!