In almost every conversation that’s ever taken place about the esports industry, there has been one driving concept.
For those invested in the industry, one goal to push towards. For those who were a bit more skeptical, one point of contention. For both, one major focus. Legitimacy.
People in the esports industry, above all else, want their work to be seen as legitimate. Players want to be seen as professionals, skilled laborers with something to contribute to society. Managers and organizers, tech guys and sound guys, writers and content creators (like me!) all want to be seen as more than a bunch of nerds wasting their time on video games.
Many of those people (like me!) are in college. Oftentimes, that makes things even worse. If you’re trying to balance going pro with managing your grades, you’re usually gonna have a bad time. That might be changing soon, though.
Play to Pay
Today, more than ever, colleges are stepping up to support these “nerds” in pursuing their passion. With the rise of professional esports leagues and increased esports visibility, universities across the country have introduced scholarship programs for budding collegiate esports stars.
Photo Courtesy of UC Berkeley News
UC Berkeley, for instance, recently announcedthe development of an esports community center in partnership with local franchise NRG Esports. NRG’s Chairman and Founder Andy Miller also owns the Overwatch League’s San Francisco Shock.
In the same press release, Miller explained the logic behind these big moves. “By investing in this esports program, we’re investing in the future: technology, reinvented community, new learning models, and of course, the students.”
“Not only is UC Berkeley one of the most prestigious institutions for higher learning in the world, but it also runs the best collegiate esports program in the country. We look forward to the many things we can do together not just in our Northern California market, but hopefully throughout the esports community as well.”
Always an industry leader, Cal have also announced a partnership with League of Legends developer Riot Games. This agreement paves the way for Berkeley to launch the inaugural League of Legends Intramural Esports League this fall. More importantly, it gives Cal the chance to eventually provide scholarships for these new student-athletes, keeping them afloat as they balance academics and competition.
“We’re pleased to add another dimension through a new intramural league and scholarships,” Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Stephen Sutton said. “We’re looking forward to advancing the potential of our students and of collegiate esports with this partnership between Cal and an industry giant like Riot Games.”
Accent on the “U”
Berkeley aren’t the only ones getting in on the collegiate esports scene, though. Ashland University, a comparatively sleepy college of 5700 students in a 20,000 strong Ohio town, are stepping up to match the Golden Bears’ efforts
Graphic Courtesy of Ashland University Esports
They’re offering prospective students up to $4000 a year to play for the school’s Fortnite team, and have programs in other major franchises like Overwatch, CS:GO, and League of Legends. On top of the scholarship, all the players get a full peripheral kit, complete with keyboard, mouse, and headset. With coaches and training centers decked out with the latest equipment, it’s clear that Ashland are in for a penny, in for a pound.
Ashland’s all-in approach has clearly paid off. With articles written by journalistic giants this level of visibility is unprecedented for a school so small. Yet here we are, talking about a school that may very well change the face of collegiate esports forever.
Collegiate esports as a stepping stone
What’s special about these new programs is not their novelty. It’s what their adoption represents in the overall esports picture. Universities big and small see esports as a chance to make money and bring recognition to their own brand. More importantly, they are recognizing esports as a legitimate enterprise for their students to pursue alongside a degree.
Now more than ever, collegiate esports can be used as a stepping stone to greater careers in the industry. Ashland University’s Overwatch team could field the next Overwatch League star. Cal’s intramural leagues could show us the next big League of Legends team, or the next big pickup in CS:GO. With a degree in hand, these new players won’t have to worry about what to do when their esports career is over. Skeptics won’t be able to sneer about their lack of education or life skills, either. They’ll have everything they need to succeed, in and out of the esports industry. I can’t think of anyone who loses in that situation.
STAY UP TO DATE
Follow me on Twitter @thibbledork! Questions? Message me on Discord! (thibbledork#0282)
Featured photo Courtesy of Epic Games
Follow The Game Haus for more esports and sports stories!! Twitter: TGH Sports Facebook: The Game Haus
Leading into Sunday’s match versus 100 Thieves, Team Liquid rolled into The Fillmore Theatre for a red carpet treatment. When asked about facing Meteos, Xmithie commented “it’s going to be a really tight match-up. It’s whoever the better team is, to be honest.”
The series turned out to be almost completely one-sided, favoring Team Liquid. 100 Thieves drafted advantages for every lane over the course of the best-of-three, but Liquid responded with better execution overall. Each subsequent game looked worse and worse for 100 Thieves, with compounding mistakes spelling their downfall. Here is how it went down.
Image from LoL Esports Flickr
Game One
Impact’s pocket pick locked in for the first game seemed to trip up 100 Thieves. A couple of failed ganks top-side allowed Doublelift and Olleh to gain the early lead in bottom lane. Getting zoned from CS and losing significant trades, Cody Sun and Aphromoo rotated top and secured First Blood. A teamfight win for Team Liquid gained them enough of a lead to Rift Herald, the first three turrets, and all three Drakes. 100 Thieves did gain momentum by picking off Doublelift and Pobelter and pressuring Baron. Xmithie made a miracle steal, which Liquid used to end the game in 29:33.
Game Two
100 Thieves opted for a strange extended level one invade onto Xmithie’s red buff at the beginning of game two. Impact and Meteos both died in the top lane around five minutes, but the real action started around 14 minutes. With Cody Sun and Aphromoo fairly low health, Liquid 4-man dove the duo resulting in a Double Kill for Pobelter’s Azir. Pobelter came up huge again when 100 Thieves collapsed onto Xmithie near the Baron pit. He Shurima Shuffled four members into his team for another Double Kill and a four-for-one. Liquid easily took the Baron at 20 minutes and closed in 26 minutes.
Game Three
Pr0lly and 100 Thieves went into game three with a top lane focused game plan. They drafted Ssumday Gnar and sent Meteos top to help him secure a Double Kill. A few minutes later, Ryu and Meteos helped Ssumday dive Impact under turret in a one-for-one. Meteos returned a third time to dive Impact all the way near his tier two turret, but Xmithie Skarner ulted him for a one-for-one again. Team Liquid then won a skirmish bottom lane, punished Ssusmday’s over-extension top lane, and took an Infernal Drake to equalize the game. Around 20 minutes, Meteos opted to camp a bottom lane brush for an extended time to surprise Impact, but got dragged by Xmithie under turret again without securing the kill. Liquid rotated and took the Baron, then dominated the last five minutes to end.
Team Liquid’s win marked the second 3-0 victory of the weekend, with Echo Fox defeating Clutch Gaming one day earlier in a similar fashion. This is Liquid’s first ever LCS split win, making them the fourth organization to hang their banner. They will participate in Riot’s Mid-Season Invitational in Europe May 3 to May 20, representing North America. Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, and Echo Fox will also represent North America at Rift Rivals July 2-July 8, facing Europe’s best teams.
The Game Haus covered the NA LCS finals LIVE in Miami. You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for articles, videos, pictures, interviews, and more from Thomas and other contributors!
Hey guys, somehow, Meteos broke my camera again. It was fixed last week, and I go to interview him and it isn’t. I hope you enjoy the interview though. He is always extremely insightful and fun to talk to. Again, you can find the audio of our conversation below, and look out for other interviews on our YouTube Channel.
You went into the match giving TSM a power combo with Galio and Camille which they’ve proven to be really good at, so how were you prepared to shut TSM down like you did?
Well yesterday we played against Xayah + Rakan and it’s just really hard to play against. We had one of our worst games against Liquid. So we said “Let’s not play against Xayah + Rakan again,” and we ended up getting it which was sweet. It just seems like that combo is really strong right now, everybody is winning with it. That gave us a lot of options to make big plays bot lane. And of course their picks were really good too with the Camille and Galio which makes a strong comp. But it turned into a game of they need to dive on us, and we need to not let our carries die to their dive. And at some point in the game, Riot decided that carries should never die to a dive. So I think dive comps are really hard to successfully pull off, so after the draft I was feeling pretty good. I was Sejuani into a Zac which is pretty good for Sej. I think we played to our strengths pretty well – not a perfect game – but I like the way we played. It was a disciplined game, we tried to press our advantages, tried to not let them get anything for free, and it went pretty well.
Since our last conversation, 100 Thieves has gone 3-1 which means you are 4-1 in your last five games after your mid season losing streak. So how is the team doing now as we gear up towards playoffs?
Well I think we’ve been doing a lot better, obviously, but we are still not totally where we need to be. Yesterday against Liquid… not a good game at all. I think that it’s going to take some time to get used to the new patch because I think that vision control was definitely one of my strong points as far as junglers go. I think that I could generally get down lots of vision and figure out where the enemy jungler is going to be. So without trackers knife, the game is super different. So it’s not just that I have to relearn what I’m doing, but the whole team has to learn to play around less vision and less information… Gotta keep working on our macro and our communication. I think we’ve come a long way, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.
TSM is often thought of as a top performing team, even when they were losing this season. Other teams have ranked them very highly, and Cody Sun even said it on stage today. Where would you rank them, which team do you think is toughest for you and 100 Thieves to beat?
That’s a good question. I probably think that Echo Fox and C9 are the best teams. They just play really smart. They’ve got super good individual players. There are multiple levels of teams, and I hear this in other games and sports too. The bottom level – you don’t really know what’s going on. The middle level – you generally know what you’re supposed to do. And the top level – where you know when you’re not supposed to do what you’re supposed to do. So it’s a slightly less optimal play, but it works in this situation because it might not have been what the others were expecting. I think Echo Fox and C9 are really good at that part. They know how to play the game methodically, and they do a lot of surprises, like Lucian top. In my opinion, those are the hardest to play against.
Photo provided by LoL Esports Flickr
I’d love some insight on the meta on the new patch with the Tracker’s Knife change and Banner of Command.
Banner is really weird. I don’t necessarily hate it, because I like anything in the game that makes things happen and makes fights start. And Banner is pretty good at that because the tank minion will run over your whole base if you don’t do anything about it. I think it is probably over-tuned right now and I imagine it will get nerfed, but there are some counters to it. Like Tahm Kench can eat the siege minion, Syndra can just pick it up, Ezreal is good at killing it using Qs since it’s only immune to magic. But it can definitely be pretty troublesome. I think that the Banner itself is kind of a weak item stat wise, and you don’t want to rush it on everybody because you’ll just lose fights. I think it’s pretty cool, but just over-tuned right now.
I like the idea of a tank minion being able to take down a tower, because it actually opens up more comps. Like if you don’t have an adc that can hit the tower, it doesn’t matter because the siege minion can bring it down. And I really don’t like games where it comes to a point where it is stalemated, like you can never hit the turret or you will eat a bad engage or take really free damage. So I like that it basically forces the other team to engage on you unless they want to lose their whole base slowly. So I think that part is cool, but it does feel like the counters to it now are kind of gimmicky. You need these specific champions, or Minion Dematerializer into the late game. So I think they could rebalance it to just take reduced physical and magic damage but not be immune to one. So your tank minion will do damage to the tower, they can’t kill it for free, but it won’t be invincible. I think something like that would probably be a good change.
And what about your thoughts on the jungle champions and changes?
I’m not super happy with where jungle is, because it seems like the reason things are viable aren’t because you put so much time in it. Like “I want to play Elise, but this champion is just terrible, I can’t clear my jungle and I don’t scale whatsoever.” So a few changes I would like… I think it’s too hard to kill jungle camps, especially as the game goes on. Initially when they had Spirit Stone, the idea was that laners aren’t supposed to be poaching jungle camps. Junglers are supposed to farm the jungle camps and laners are supposed to farm the lane. And I thught that was pretty cool. But now it’s like my adc will kill a camp twice as fast as I can if I’m on a jungler.
And you still have to play tanks, because like I said earlier, dive champions really aren’t that viable. The only thing my champion can do is attempt to kill the adc and I can’t do it then I’m so useless. Like, if I pick Vi in a game, even though her early/mid is not terrible, what do you do when a teamfight rolls around? I’m going to try to ult their carry. They’re going to have Tabi, GA, I’ll get exhausted, they’ll have Heal and shields. They wait for Vi to ult and then instantly kill her. I think the meta is pretty inhibiting of what champions are actually playable, so you are going to see a lot of the same ones unless they get nerfed to the ground/unplayable… Unfortunately, it seems like all the balance changes just seem to look at what champions are played and just nerf them to the ground and then you have to play stuff like Nunu, and it sucks… But hopefully some good changes come.
Photo provided by LoL Esports Flickr
Lastly, we have seen a lot of 1-1 weeks from some of the top teams. Are these teams trying new things, or are we just seeing some of the weaknesses that maybe they’ve had all along?
Hmm, good question. I do think that as the season goes on, we’ve seen GGS winning a lot of their games, even against the top teams. CLG beat C9 recently. I think sometimes it can be the case that teams guaranteed into playoffs get kind of comfortable, but the teams that really want to make playoffs get super hungry. Generally in competitive League, what I’ve found is the team that wins generally just makes less mistakes. So if you really, really need to win, versus a team who is just kind of there – they don’t want to lose obviously, but they don’t need the win – they may be a little bit more relaxed, more careless with things. All these teams in the LCS are good even if they’re at the bottom of the standings, it’s not like they’re a bad team with bad players. If you give them enough opportunities, anyone can win.
Find Meteos on Twitter @MeteosLoL. Check back here for more content and our YouTube channel for my video interviews! If you’d like to contact me, go ahead and tweet @parkeso. For pictures and stories, follow my Insta @parqueso. If you’re not big into social media, email me at parkesotwo@gmail.com. =)
Hey guys, Meteos is a rock star jungler and a stellar interviewee. Unfortunately, my camera was still not functioning as intended this weekend, but I have done some troubleshooting and do not anticipate problems in the future. You can find the audio of our conversation below, and look out for other interviews on our YouTube Channel.
Image provided by LoL Esports Flickr
How important is this win for your morale on the team?
“For morale, this win is really important. There is a big difference between being 5-5 after a win and 4-6 after a five game losing streak. I’m more concerned with how we are playing as a team. We have had some struggles with that, but I think we are improving. It’s tough because each week there are only two games, and on the record it’s just a win or a loss. But yeah, I do think we are improving.”
How much of these recent losses to you attribute to the circumstance of the day in a best-of-one scenario, and how much is it indicative of larger issues on the team?
“I don’t think it’s too much the best-of-one since games are generally long enough that the strongest team comes out ahead – unless there were big mistakes in the draft. A lot of our losses are not being on the same page and having as good of teamwork as others.”
What are you as a team focusing on to put that back together to get back to how you started the split?
“There are a lot of things you have to juggle when coming together as a team and it’s hard to tackle it all at once. It’s almost cliche, but a big thing is communication. You have to know how to talk to your teammates, especially when giving feedback in scrims. Scrims have changed a lot in NA, whereas before we played more games, but had a lot less review. Now we play fewer games, but we sometimes have up to 30 minutes of review in between. But sometimes this extra review can be bad, we can sort of over-analyze what is going on. Like if we got behind making a certain play, we might have a conversation about the play and decide not to run it again, even though we shouldn’t expect to never do something similar in the future. There might be times when it’s good. So it’s a bit tough to figure out how to go through scrims.”
As a jungler, do you go in with a set gameplan and jungle route all very calculated, or do you try to stay flexible for whatever happens in the game?
“It really depends on each game. Some games have really volatile matchups like in C9 vs FOX with the Lucian vs. Gangplank. Controlling the top side of the map is obviously really important. What that means also varies player to player. Whatever it may be, it’s about accomplishing that goal and creating pressure. It isn’t super micro, though, like planning each camp and when you want to go for kills. There are just too many variables in the game and you need to be able to have a bit more flexibility in your play for when things change.”
Reignover talked about it being easier to play for the top side when on the blue side of the draft. Can you break that down a bit for me?
“Reignover likes to play Rengar on blue side a lot and Rengar is really really good at playing aggressively. So I imagine it is because he can go for early invades on the enemy red area and set up vision and force them out of their jungle. It isn’t necessarily better for everyone, partly just due to how Reignover likes to play.”
Why would someone pick red side when they have the choice?
“Well on Blue, you get first pick which is super valuable, but since the change in the draft phase, red side gets a lot of opportunity to gain an advantage as well. You can pick specific champions in your 3rd slot that have bad matchups and then ban two counters to it and then you get the next pick as well! You also always get the last pick, which can be useful for counters and mind games!”
William “Meteos” Hartman after defeating CLG – Week 5
Find Meteos on Twitter @MeteosLoL. Check back here for more content and our YouTube channel for my video interviews! If you’d like to contact me, go ahead and tweet @parkeso. For pictures and stories, follow my Insta @parqueso. If you’re not big into social media, email me at parkesotwo@gmail.com. =)
Going into week five of the 2018 EU LCS Spring Split, Giants Gaming sits tied for second place. Their 5-3 record puts them level with G2 and Fnatic, and above other perennial favorites, such as Misfits and H2K. Fans of the Spanish esports organization may be getting their hopes up for finally having Giants towards the top, but this hope may be misguided.
Giants Gaming has rarely found itself in this position in the past. Despite originally qualifying for the EU LCS five years ago, Giants has only qualified for LCS playoffs twice. The organization has been sent to the Promotion Tournament five times, and relegated out of the LCS twice. Anyone who follows Giants most likely subconsciously considers them a bottom-tier team. An overview of organization’s LCS history easily contextualizes this view.
From Spain to the Main Stage
Babeta, Exterminare, Morden, Samux and Motroco
In 2012, Giants Gaming created their first League of Legends team. The roster, consisting of Babeta, Exterminare, Morden, Samux, and Motroco, competed in Dreamhack Valencia and ESL’s Go4LoL. Motroco left in October, but was replaced by JimBownz, who competed with the team at The Siege. Giants finished top four at each event, and went on to Dreamhack Winter, but finished 0-3 in their group.
Due to their relative success, Riot Games invited Giants Gaming to compete for a slot in the premier season of EU LCS in 2013. Along with Fnatic, Copenhagen Wolves, Against All Authority, and Dragonborns, Giants finished in the top five. They instantly qualified for the LCS, making the organization one of the first teams to ever participate in the European league.
Once there, Giants’ momentum subsided. The Spaniards took their first week 1-1 to start in fourth place. They continued to have losing streaks over the 10-week split, finishing seventh place with eight wins and 20 losses. Giants was forced into the first ever Summer Promotion Tournament to defend its place in the league.
The First Worst Loss
Kerp, Araneae, ForellenLord, Creaton and Jree
The format of the Promotion Tournament was different in 2013. Teams from three different qualifier tournaments faced off against the bottom four LCS teams in one best-of-five, with the winner earning the LCS slot. Giants Gaming was set to battle Alternate Attax, a German esports organization made up of Kerp, Araneae, ForellenLord, Creaton, and Jree. By winning 3-2, Attax relegated Giants from the EU LCS for the first time.
The Challenger Series had not been developed yet, which meant Giants Gaming was back in the amateur scene. They entered Gfinity London, finishing third-fourth behind Copenhagen Wolves and Eternity Gaming. Gfinity London was the only contest in which they competed for the rest of the year.
Getting Back on the Horse
Throughout 2014, Giants Gaming continued to prove that it was worthy of competition. By April the organization put together an all-new roster, consisting of Reven, Naruterador, Pepiinero, Zigurath and Dave. These five competed in Gamegune in Spain, taking home fourth place.
Giants must not have been happy with that performance, because three months later they brought on Werlyb, Fr3deric, Adryh and Rydle. This was Giants’ second roster overhaul of 2014. This definitely worked out, as they rounded out the
Paris Games Week 2014
amateur scene with two gold medals. At Paris Games Week, they took down seven teams including Gamers2, a team Giants lost to at Gamegune. They also won the Liga de Videojuegos Professional, the Spanish regional league.
By becoming so competitive, Giants Gaming was able to move up the European solo queue ranked ladder. And since they were in the top five at the end of 2014, Riot Games once more invited Giants to fight to earn their spot in the EU LCS. They introduced an expansion tournament, which included competitors from the Promotion Tournament, the Challenger Series, and the five-versus-five ranked ladder. Through two stages of gameplay, Giants Gaming took down Reason Gaming to qualify for the 2015 Spring Split with H2K.
Deja Vu
In similar fashion to their first LCS split, Giants Gaming started 2015 with a bang. Pepii and crew had a 2-0 week one, placing them at the top of the standings. H2K and Unicorns of Love took Giants down a peg in week two, dropping the team to fourth. Another 0-2 in week three put Giants into a free fall, slipping down to seventh. Fast forward seven more weeks, and Giants Gaming finished the split with a 5-13 record, tying MeetYourMakers for last place. Luckily, Adryh’s late-game Sivir pick was able to come online and win Giants the game, saving them from auto-relegation.
Another Spring Split and Giants faced another Promotion Tournament. Coincidentally, they met Reason Gaming in a best-of-five to defend their slot. Just as they had in the expansion tournament, Giants took down Reason 3-1 and reclaimed their LCS spot. This qualification marked three times in three years.
A Glimmer of Hope
G0DFRED joined Giants Gaming in 2015
Leading into Summer Split marked the first off-season where Giants’ roster remained mostly intact. G0DFRED joined as a rookie support, but everyone else stayed. Together they were able to get through the regular season 8-10, tied for fifth. ROCCAT won the tie-breaker, but Giants still made it into playoffs for the first time since its inception.
H2K skunked Giants in the quarterfinals of the Summer Playoffs. They took the series 3-0, and the longest game was 30:19. Giants garnered enough Championship Points to qualify into the Regional World Qualifiers. ROCCAT shut them down 3-0 in the first round, as well. Nonetheless, Giants had a somewhat successful first split back. They avoided the Promotion Tournament and made it into their first playoffs ever. They even had a slim chance to go to Worlds. It seemed like a great place to start Giants’ new time in the LCS.
Another Spring, Another Let-down
Spring Split 2016 rolled around, and Giants Gaming looked a little bit different. Werlyb and Fr3deric changed teams, and Giants brought in Atom and K0u as replacements. After starting the season 0-4, K0u was benched in favor of BetongJocke, H2K’s substitute jungler. They followed up with another 0-4 streak for weeks three and four, before finally getting their first win in week five versus ROCCAT.
Giants floundered their way through the rest of the split. Smittyj, Wisdom and S0NSTAR moved onto the starting roster in week eight, and Hustlin came on in week nine. Despite all of these changes, Giants finished the 2016 Spring Split in dead last with a 3-15 record. They had to enter their third Promotion Tournament.
As fate would have it, Giants had to face two Challenger teams with former roster members: K0u on Copenhagen Wolves and Werlyb on Huma. After a 3-2 and a 3-1, Giants Gaming re-qualified for the EU LCS. This was their fourth time re-entering.
Giants’ Best Split to Date
Giants Gaming in the 2016 EU LCS
Before coming back into the LCS for Summer Split, Giants took a long look in the mirror. The final member of the original cast, Pepii, left, and NighT, a Korean player from Ever8 Winners, joined. They also brought on a rookie jungler, Maxlore, to replace Wisdom. Smittyj remained in the top lane, S0NSTAR and Hustlin composed the bottom lane.
Giants started the split 0-3, leading many to write them off yet again. But a couple of wins in weeks two and three kept them competitive. A 2-0 win over Fnatic in week five, and a 2-0 over H2K in week six elevated Giants to a new level. Through the 10 weeks, Giants compiled an 8-3-7 scoreline, placing them third overall.
For the first time in its history, Giants Gaming entered the Summer Playoffs quarterfinals as favorites. They also kept the same roster throughout the whole split, which was new for them. Unicorns of Love eliminated Giants from the playoffs by winning 3-1, putting Giants in a fifth-sixth finish for the season. Like the year before, they had enough Championship Points to try the Regional Qualifiers. However, they met Unicorns of Love, yet again, who took the 3-0 win to move on and knock Giants out.
Fool Me Twice, Fool Me Thrice, Fool Me Four Times
Flaxxish and Memento played for Giants Gaming last year
Despite their Summer Split success, Giants entered the 2017 Spring Split with three more new players. HeaQ and Flaxxish were rookies, while Maxlore traded to ROCCAT with Memento to Giants. NighT and Hustlin stayed as starters, and S0NSTAR moved to a coaching role.
Riot introduced the group system to the EU LCS in 2017, which turned out to be a death knell for Giants. They found themselves in Group A with G2, Misfits, Fnatic, and ROCCAT. Giants began with a pair of 2-1 losses to G2 and Misfits, then followed with a 2-1 win over ROCCAT. They would not get another series win until week seven versus Origen, heading into week eight 2-7, and finishing the regular season 2-11.
For the fourth time in four spring seasons, Giants faced relegation in the Summer Promotion tournament. Origen was the only team that split with a lower win rate, so Giants easily took that match-up 3-0. However, a hungry Fnatic Academy swept them back with a 3-0 of their own. And for the second time in history, Giants Gaming was knocked out of the EU LCS.
The Recent Past
Giants spent the 2017 Summer Season in the EU Challenger Series, playing against Origen, Schalke 04, Paris Saint-Germain, Red Bulls, and Wind and Rain. In the mid-season they decided to scrap their entire roster and rebuild. Jiizuke, Gilius, Minitroupax, Jactroll and Ruin joined the team with LCS ambitions.
Over five weeks, Giants won four of five games and lost once to Schalke. Their 4-0-1 record placed them first in the standings–Giants’ first first place since 2014. This new line-up looked poised to go into promotions, and they did. Giants took down WAR 3-0, which entered them into the 2018 Spring Promotion tournament with Schalke, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Mysterious Monkeys. By taking a 3-1 over NiP and a 3-2 over Schalke, Giants re-qualified into the LCS. The cycle of qualification-promotion-relegation came full circle for the second time.
In the Present
Giants Gaming is tied for second in the 2018 EU LCS
All of Giants’ members, except Ruin, moved to Team Vitality for the 2018 Spring Split. Giants brought on Djoko and Steeelback from Vitality, Betsy from ROCCAT, and Targamas, a rookie. Preseason predictions put Giants towards the bottom of the field, yet they currently find themselves tied for second. The first four weeks have been a success.
Right now there are analysts and audience members who may want to believe in Giants Gaming. They may think this is their year–that Giants can do better than ever before. But remember to keep this long history in mind. Giants have finished bottom seven every Spring Split in which they have ever competed. Two of those four splits resulted in relegation out of the LCS.
But twice they have come back and reclaimed their spot. Giants has successfully defended its spot two times, as well. This split could be the split to change minds. Giants will need to overcome its past shortcomings, and win the hearts of EU LCS fans by making it into playoffs and making a deep push in this split.
Looking for a podcast covering EU and NA LCS? Check out LCS Weekly on SoundCloud. You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Thomas!
To continue enjoying great content from your favorite writers, please contribute to our Patreon account! Every little bit counts. We greatly appreciate all of your amazing support! #TGHPatreon
Jake “Xmithie” Puchero – “I think the safest way people can have more consistency on it is having that mid/jungle synergy”
I talked to Doublelift last weekend and he said you guys have a very high ceiling and that all of you are very talented and understand the game well. He also said you as a team are not even close to your full potential. So I’m very curious what this means, if you’re already this good and you still have a lot of room to grow, how does that play out? And how can you improve to reach that ceiling?
“Individually everyone is very talented. Everyone can handle their own internationally against these players. I think what we need to improve on… well, since the meta is [changing] we have to adapt and find all these new things… We have to be ahead of the meta. We have to be five steps ahead of everyone.”
What is something you are personally doing to increase your strength in the jungle and overall presence in the game?
Image provided by LoL Esports Flickr
“I think it is just making my time spent really efficiently. Just finding the right things to focus on. So watching vods of the LCK or specific LPL games. Or even EU games that are really interesting. But we just don’t have time usually. We scrim 8 hours a day every week. And usually on breaks, I try to make it a break to refresh my mind and stuff like that. So normally during off time [between] scrims, I try to watch a vod and ask people why it’s good.”
On the new patch, it doesn’t seem like too much has changed from the jungle perspective… But is there something that you are looking forward to going into the next few games as people get more familiar with the patch? Is there something that you think is strong that people haven’t figured out yet?
“I think there will be a lot more champions in the bot lane and people will ban more in the bot lane. Since Ezreal got nerfed [and Targon’s too], that opens up a lot of champions. Like we were just against a Xayah and Rakan and we haven’t seen that in a long time. If people ban a lot of champions in one role, we are going to see a lot of nuance. I haven’t seen a lot of two teams banning 6 junglers yet, but maybe there will be a change back to carries or back to second rate bruisers. But we will see some change.”
Image provided by LoL Esports Flickr
What is the most important lane to be closely connected with for the jungle? In 8.1 it was mostly farm and heal bot lane, so the game was more top/mid centric. But what do you think now, will attention shift back to the bot lane?
“The safest way people can have more consistency on it is having that mid/jungle synergy. Since the game is really adaptable right now where top can either play Maokai or Jayce, it really depends on how people draft the comps around it. But when you have the mid-control set, you can go to top or bottom from there, and you can go to their jungle.”
What would you say your role is on the team outside of the game?
Image provided by LoL Esports Flickr
“It’s kind of funny, because I think I’m the opposite of what I am in game. Like I think I am the most vocal in game. And then outside, I’m pretty much the least talkative out of everyone. In post game review I pretty much observe. And even when we go out – sometimes I try to troll people, but usually I get in my own circle.”
Thanks for reading! Find Xmithie on Twitter @Xmithie (Liquid really has those handles on lock). Check back here for more interviews and content! If you’d like to contact me, go ahead and tweet @parkeso. For pictures and stories, follow my Insta @parqueso. If you’re not big into social media, email me at parkesotwo@gmail.com. =)
Zach “Sneaky” Scuderi – “I make up for it in other ways, like just screaming randomly.”
Parqueso – Are the changes to 8.2 going to be a buff to Cloud 9’s bot lane? Is this playing towards your strength? Are you more excited for the changes that are coming?
Image provided by Riot Games
Sneaky – “I’d say personally I always enjoy changes, basically no matter what they are. The only time they’re sad is if they nerf all ADCs, so I just lose power overall rather than compensation nerfs. I really enjoy those, where they hit something on a champion’s kit but then they buff something else to compensate. So it’s not like ‘Yeah your champion is just worse, no matter what.’
With any patch, changing up the starting items, it’s always fun to figure out what you’re supposed to do because it kind of feels like it opens up more picks. With Targon’s and triple pot it was so hard to push people out of lane, but now you can’t really buy it – I mean you can, but nobody buys it right now – you buy dorans blade or shield usually as the starter for ADCs. So it’s just a whole lot less sustain… You can get knocked out easier. It’s pretty fun to play.
I enjoy my time! I am not sure if I can say it’s beneficial for the C9 bot lane, because it’s always a learning experience for every patch, even if they don’t change anything [bot lane specific]. There’s always things changing around like new picks or small meta changes.”
P – Speaking of new picks, have you seen much change in the scrims? Are there any more interesting picks coming out in scrims that we haven’t seen yet?
Image provided by Riot Games
S – “It’s been a little bit different. I haven’t seen too much Ezreal because, you know, they nerfed Klepto AND Ez. I mean, Targon’s is removed too… Besides that, the pool has been pretty similar to last patch for ADCs. And supports too. I mean there are some things you could play. Like Brand got buffed, you could potentially play him support. Jinx got buffed too, she could be pretty good. I play her in solo queue, and she feels pretty nice. So there could be some people that will come out a bit more in this patch, but just not the first week. Usually in the first week people are still playing what they’re used to rather than ‘Oh, Jinx got a huge buff, she’s really good into this!’ That kinda takes a while to figure out.”
P – Smoothie said he was expecting to see a lot of range supports, but then it’s been mostly tanks still. Do you expect that to continue? Or is that something that is maybe just people continuing that playstyle from the last two weeks?
S – “I think that is for sure one of the things that was looked at when the patch notes came out, like those supports coming in. I think there is still a possibility of them coming in, but it’s just figuring out what you have to remove from the game to make those picks viable. Like say Alistar kills the ranged supports, no matter what… If you ban it, does that open up all the picks? And people will test that kind of thing. And maybe sometimes people just won’t pick the Alistar and then they’ll play into it and they’re like ‘Wow, that was really stupid.’ I don’t know about one week, because generally those things kind of take time… I think that stuff definitely comes out, but I think it might take a while.”
Image provided by Riot Games
P – So, just for a random switch up, who is the best singer on your team? Or who sings the most?
S – “Personally, I cringe when I hear people sing to songs. It’s not like it’s terrible but…”
P – What if they’re a really good singer?
S – “Yeah I still cringe. Like have you seen Darshan’s videos? He has made a few videos with CLG doing covers of songs. I just can’t watch them. There is something about them that makes me not able to listen to people just singing along to a song.”
P – What if they’re singing just lyrics, like not along to a song?
S – “It is not necessarily as much a cringe but… *laughs* Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t enjoy it that much so I don’t sing much myself, but I make up for it in other ways like just screaming randomly. Similar noise levels I guess.”
Thanks for reading! Find Sneaky on Twitter @Sneaky to sing him the prettiest of lullabies. Check in soon for more interviews and content! If you’d like to contact me, go ahead and tweet @parkeso. For pictures and stories, follow my Insta @parqueso. If you’re not big into social media, email me at parkesotwo@gmail.com. =)
While North America and Europe share a similar meta so far in 2018, the two regions do exhibit slightly different preferences in champion select. Differences in positional strengths and in-game strategies caused different champions to rise and fall in draft priority. These two regions mirror each other in certain shifts between patches 8.1 to 8.2, but they have diverged in certain respects, too.
By looking at the draft history of EU and NA, analysts can extrapolate information about these two regions. Does one region prioritize a certain position over the other? Are there any champions that appear frequently in one region, but not the other? Champion select can answer these questions, and more.
NA LCS from 8.1 to 8.2
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
At the start of the 2018 Spring Split, NA LCS teams spent most of their bans on Zoe, Kalista, Ornn and Tahm Kench. Pick-wise, Ezreal and Gangplank sat at the top, due to their synergy with the new Kleptomancy rune. Tanky protector supports, Braum and Taric, had top-10 presence, as well as Gnar, a generalist top laner.
Once 8.2 hit professional play, Ezreal, Kalista, Ornn, Tahm Kench and Taric drop from the top 10. Sejuani, Azir, Galio, Ryze and Zac took their places. Two extra mid lane champions jumped into the top 10 with two extra junglers. Priority on AD carries and supports dropped, in response. Most of the champions that fell in priority was due to direct nerfs, changes to support itemization and nerfs to Kleptomancy. Zoe remains the most perceived overpowered champion, with high ban rates and a low average ban turn.
EU LCS from 8.1 to 8.2
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Across the pond, EU LCS teams showed less priority on the Kleptomancy users (Ezreal and Gangplank) in patch 8.1. Instead, they banned Jarvan IV and Sejuani much more frequently, while leaving Tahm Kench, Ornn and Zoe available more often. EU teams drafted Ezreal, Tristana, Caitlyn and Varus with almost equal frequency to one another.
Transitioning into patch 8.2, Sejuani skyrocketed in priority, Jarvan IV dropped out of top-10 presence and Zac took his place. Azir and Gnar fall from grace, but Camille and Caitlyn jump to 90 percent presence. None of these champions had much changed on the patch update, so most of the prioritization changes are adaptations from the first two weeks of play. EU teams only had one top lane champion with top-10 presence in both patches, while the other roles had an even spread.
NA LCS and EU LCS top lane comparison
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Gnar and Ornn have been clear favorites over the first three weeks of gameplay between NA and EU LCS. North America is showing favoritism towards Gangplank and his interactions with Kleptomancy, while Europe has less than half as much priority. Instead, EU teams are happy to pick Camille as a counter to Gnar, and still draft Cho’Gath as a scaling AP tank.
Ban turn is another interesting regional difference. NA teams ban Gangplank and Ornn around turn four or five, while EU teams do not ban any top laners that early in the draft. The other prioritized top lane champions are banned around turns six and seven in NA. EU teams average one to two turns later to ban top laners. This could indicate that EU teams save counter picks for top lane more often than NA.
NA LCS AND EU LCS Jungle COMPARISON
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
It is obvious which champions have been dominating the jungle pool across both regions: Sejuani, Jarvan IV and Zac. These junglers provide early ganking, scaling tankiness and multiple forms of crowd control for teamfighting. Sejuani, Jarvan IV and Zac make up 60 to 90 percent of jungle picks in NA and EU.
Beyond those three, NA and EU show similar trends. Rengar, Kha’Zix and Evelynn represent the assassin class, which provides stealth, mobility and high early damage. NA junglers won three games of three games with Evelynn, while losing three of four with Kha’Zix. EU junglers have shown the reverse–winning four of seven with Kha’Zix and zero of two with Evelynn.
EU junglers have been experimenting with more jungler options than NA. Kold played Kayn, Xerxe played Ivern, Jankos played Skarner, Maxlore played Lee Sin and Memento even played Camille. Meanwhile, MikeYeung’s Shyvana has been NA’s only unique pick so far. Europe’s junglers may be willing to take more risks, but, unfortunately, only the Ivern pick resulted in a win.
NA LCS AND EU LCS mid COMPARISON
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Similar to the jungle pools, the mid lane pools for NA and EU have been very similar. Zoe, Ryze and Azir dominate the draft with the current scaling AP meta. Galio and Malzahar are high-engage options that follow the S-tier picks, but their presence really falls off.
As mentioned earlier, EU’s mid laners seem to prefer picking or banning Ryze over Azir or Zoe. NA teams ban Zoe earlier and more frequently, while EU teams ban Azir. Thirteen unique champions have been picked and banned in North America, while Europe only has seven. Huhi, PowerOfEvil and Jensen are well-known for having deep champion pools, which could explain the variance. Pocket pick fans will be happy to see Nisqy and Betsy win games with Veigar, who has not seen EU LCS play in over four years.
NA LCS AND EU LCS Bot lane COMPARISON
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
The AD Carry position has fewer options to begin with, so most regions will see play on the same champions. Kalista, Kog’Maw, and Tristana are currently the scaling options of choice, as they synergized with the Fleet Footwork-Relic Shield-Overheal meta. However, EU teams are much more likely to take Kalista off the table than NA.
Ezreal saw higher play rates before his nerfs in patch 8.2, with NA teams showing a higher preference than EU. NA also prioritized Varus just below the S-tier picks, while EU has gravitated towards Caitlyn. Xayah is really only picked when paired with Rakan, and Sivir is a last option for deep scaling compositions.
NA AD carries have been much more successful with Kalista than EU AD carries. She carries a 56 percent winrate, 4.8 KDA, and +12.7 CS difference at 15 minutes in the NA LCS. In the EU LCS, she is 0-4, carries a 0.7 KDA, and -10.8 CS difference. This could be reason for EU teams to lower their priority on her in the coming weeks.
NA LCS and EU LCS Support Comparison
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Bulky support champions with protective abilities and engage or disengage are the cream of the crop, currently. Tahm Kench reigns supreme in this “protect the AD carry” meta, and Braum is a close second. Both EU and NA prioritize these two champions far above any other supports. Alistar is the third option they share.
NA also has Taric just below the Kench-Braum tier, but he only has 17 percent presence in EU. Ornn support has also been played in NA, but not in EU, and all three games were wins. Thresh, Janna, and Shen have been pulled out a few times each, but the support pool has to be pinched first. Zilean is just under Rakan in EU’s prioritization, thanks to Kasing on Splyce. NA teams have played Zilean mid, instead.
Putting it all Together
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Image from GamesofLegends.com
Over the first three weeks of the NA and EU LCS, over both patches, most champions overlap. Kalista and Braum average the highest prioritization between the two regions. The other top 10, while the same champions, are in very different places relative to each region.
Zoe and Tahm Kench are the most obvious diverging champions. Zoe is NA’s highest-presence champion at 97 percent, banned 26 times, picked three times. In EU, Ryze, Azir and Zoe all sit around the same level in fourth through seventh. Tahm Kench, on the other hand, is at the bottom of NA’s top 10, while being 100 percent pick or ban in EU.
One defining difference between the regional priority lies with top lane. Gangplank and Gnar have been 90 to 93 percent present, while Gnar is all the way down at number 10 in EU and Gangplank is down around 43 percent presence. In EU, they have higher priority on the supports and jungle champions. Tahm and Braum are virtually pick or ban, while Sejuani and Jarvan IV sit 10 to 20 percent higher in EU than NA, and NA is prioritizing Zac over Jarvan IV altogether.
Finally, NA teams pick or ban Kog’Maw much more, relative to the rest of the top 10 in EU. Both regions show an 83 percent presence for the marksman, but he falls sixth highest presence for NA, while only ninth highest in EU. Overall, EU teams cycle through the same champions more frequently than NA, causing them to show six champions with 90 percent or more presence.
Looking for a podcast covering EU and NA LCS? Check out LCS Weekly on SoundCloud. You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Thomas!
To continue enjoying great content from your favorite writers, please contribute to our Patreon account! Every little bit counts. We greatly appreciate all of your amazing support! #TGHPatreon
On Friday, the Golden Guardians fired their Head Coach, Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-Seop after only two weeks of play. Following on from this, ESPN has reported today that his early termination came about after he made an inappropriate remark directed at a female member of Riot’s Esports staff.
According to ESPN’s report, Locodoco took part in an interview with Riot that was to be broadcast during an NA LCS live stream. Before the interview, he made a comment off camera which, both Riot and The Golden Guardians deemed unacceptable. This was in violation of The Golden Guardians parent company, The Golden State Warriors, strict zero-tolerance policy. The Warriors went onto fire Locodoco on Friday.
In his stead, the Guardians have promoted assistant coach Tyler Perron to Interim head coach. They are now actively looking for a replacement head coach. When found, Perron will return to his original position as assistant coach.
Golden Guardians are currently sitting at the bottom of the NA LCS standings at 0-5. They are the only team that has yet to win a game. The question now is will a change of coach help the Guardians position, or will they continue on their downward spiral.
CREDITS
Looking for a podcast covering EU and NA LCS? Check out LCS Weekly on SoundCloud. You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers along with Brandon!
To continue enjoying great content from your favourite writers, please contribute to our Patreon account! Every little bit counts. We greatly appreciate all of your amazing support! #TGHPatreon
Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng on the regular season – “Whether we win or lose, we will be the best in playoffs.”
Parqueso – How are you feeling about the new team?
Image provided by Riot Games
Doublelift – “I think our team has a really high ceiling, but we don’t often play to that ceiling. We all came from really different background – our team is an amalgamation of a lot of different players who had success in totally different ways. Like for me, I went from CLG in their prime and then I moved to TSM, and we were garbage and then we switched to having a rookie support and all of a sudden we were really good. In the end, we are just trying to figure out how to play with each other, because individually we usually win all the lanes. It actually really reminds me of playing on TSM, which is funny because I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect to play with three strong lanes and a jungler that… Well, I think the difference between Jake [“Xmithie”] and Dennis [“Svenskeren”], is Jake is a lot more cerebral about the game and he does everything really calculated, very efficiently, and communicates pretty much every possibility in the jungle. He is a really smart player and mechanically is also about the best if not THE best. No one actually will ever give him credit because I think he missed a Sejuani ult one time. *laughs* But honestly his mechanics are insane. But our team in general, we are trying to flesh out communication and trying to figure out how to play with each other because our strengths are different.”
P – So if you all play to the ceiling – and the team as a whole plays together to the ceiling – would you put yourselves first?
DL – “Yeah for sure, I would not have joined TL if I did not think we were going to be first! … Communication is the key to the good teams but sometimes you don’t need to communicate small things, and as soon as our instincts are clicking to look towards the same play or feel out the game in the same way then we’ll definitely be the best. I think we are the only team that can close out the game when we get ahead. Like, in NA and EU right now there are so many snooze fests, and it’s because the team that gets ahead doesn’t know how to win! They’re afraid of making plays and taking risks, and our team is definitely not. I’m a really aggressive player and I know how to snowball leads, and everyone on the team is really good at that too.”
P – I want to talk a little bit about Liquid. Obviously you were there last Spring, but how does it feel as an organization now compared to how it was back then?
Image provided by Riot Games
DL – “Back then I felt like I was just a mercenary that came in and the systems were already in place. The power dynamics between players, some players really vocal, some players said nothing – felt powerless – the way the coaches interacted with the players, it felt really unproductive. It just felt very bloated. People memed about how they had like 20 players, which is true, they had 15 or something. They had a lot of coaches, a lot of bloat, like too many cooks in the kitchen. I came in and I just tried to do my best – give advice here and there – I didn’t feel like I came in as a leader I feel like I came in to do a specific job. This new Liquid, when they picked me up, they wanted me to help create the culture of the team… I like to work hard and be very critical… I want Liquid to be a team that is really productive, so whether we win or lose, we will be the best in playoffs.”
P – Other than Targon’s what would you propose to change the meta away from these late game stall-outs?
DL – “I’m not a game designer by any means, but I really like when the game changes drastically. Like, I think the Runes change was cool, I really liked the new runes! But I think they should maybe equalize the scaling of the game. I think gathering storm is really, really bad. It’s just so dumb that one rune can make the difference of having 200 AD if the game goes to 70, 80 minutes like in the SKT game. It’s just toxic, because it’s just “well I’m playing gathering storm hard scaling and try to end the game before it happens.” *sighs* I wish they would equalize scaling across the board so you don’t see where one team’s mentality is just “stall for late,” like as late as possible. It doesn’t matter if it’s 40 minutes or 80 minutes, that’s the goal – as late as possible. I think that’s a really annoying way to play and to watch someone play. So I propose crazy changes across the board. No more hard scalers, no more only early game champions – like pantheon. You’ll see a lot more diversity, you’ll see a lot more strategies. You won’t see a team just turtling for 30 minutes. It’ll just be more interesting play.”
P – If you could choose, what champion would you want to see back in the bot lane?
DL – “Lucian! I want high skill champions, not hard afk, farm-for-late champions to be the meta, which is funny because people think of me as this player who plays scaling, but I love playing Kalista and Ezreal and Lucian and playmaking – Old Corki! Old Graves! I love playing those champions because they are skillful and fun, and watching Caitlyn and Ashe is just boring and Tristana and Kog’Maw… It’s not for me.”
P – So were asking Riot right now!
DL – “Yeah, this is my plea! Please make skillful champions the meta, and the game will be more fun to watch and play!”
Image provided by Riot Games
Thanks for reading! Find Doublelift on on Twitter @TLDoublelift to send him some love. Stay tuned here for more interviews and content! If you’d like to contact me, go ahead and tweet @parkeso. For pictures and stories, follow my Insta @parqueso. If you’re not big into social media, email me at parkesotwo@gmail.com. =)
