Four days from now, the North American LCS may have up to four new teams as the LCS Summer Promotion draws to a close. CLG, Dignitas, MRN, and compLexity are fighting for their LCS lives as eight up-and-coming teams are taking off their Challenger’s gloves and looking to fight their way into the big-time. This article takes a look at the teams participating to provide some knowledge about the lesser-known challenger teams and insight into old favorites.

 

Group A

 

Quantic

Roster:
BalIs – Top
Hai – Mid
Meteos – Jungler
SneakyCastro – AD
LemonNation – Support

Who They Play: Team Astral Poke (Challenger), compLexity Gaming (LCS).

The Hype: Quantic is by far the most hyped of the NA Challenger teams, and like a valedictorian is considered “most likely to succeed.” They’ve taken first at the two Challenger LANs this year, MLG Dallas and the IPL6 Promotion Qualifier, and the word going around in regard to scrims, is that they are winning. The entire team is in Challenger, with five of the top ten spots in Solo Queue Challenger belonging to Quantic; two of the accounts belonging to support player LemonNation.

The Reality: Quantic is strong, there is no doubt about it. Their biggest internal strife was the replacement of WildTurtle with SneakyCastro (when WT joined TSM), but SneakyCastro has melded with the team well. The comps played by Quantic tend to be unique, with a strong focus on situational aggression and very reactive gameplay. This has the added benefit of allowing great recovery. They’re not unstoppable by any means though. At the finals of the IPL6 Promotion Qualifier, they very nearly lost 1-2 to Curse Academy. CA however grouped up in a way that let Quantic shred through them and then they were able to recover from having inhibitors down, no baron, and a massive gold disadvantage. If they are given a chance to shine, they will blind the opposition.

Chances of LCS: Likely, but by no means guaranteed.

 

Team Astral Poke

Roster:
Anxietylol – Top
Newbert – Mid
Remstars – Jungle
bobbyhankhill – AD
NydusHerMain – Support

Who They Play: Quantic (Challenger),  compLexity Gaming (LCS).

The Hype: Unfortunately for TAP, there’s a lot less hype coming their way than both Quantic and compLexity. The big names here are bobbyhankhill and NydusHerMain. bobby was formerly on Epik way back in season 1, and Nydus spent a decent amount of time on Curse Academy this season. There hasn’t been much talk about their performance in scrims and there aren’t many tournament results to look at either.

The Reality: Team Astral Poke is in a rough spot. Their only tournament results are from the Ranked 5s qualifiers, where they placed last among qualifying teams. The team itself hasn’t existed for a particularly long time, being one of the fresher Season 3 challenger teams. The players aren’t well known, which could be a boon to TAP and allow them to bust-out secret strategies that are hard to predict. If they’ve been practicing hard, scouting like crazy, and doing everything they possibly can to prepare, they might be able to beat Quantic. The question then becomes, how do they take down compLexity? Do they have the prowess and experience to defeat some of the zanier cheese that is likely to be used by coL? Their limited results say no, though the team may be underestimated and hopefully has some surprises in store.

Chances of LCS: “Anything Can Happen” is true of the LCS Promotion, and is TAP’s big hope.

 

compLexity Gaming

Roster:
NickWu – Top
Pr0lly – Mid
Lautemortis – Jungle
Chuuper – AD
M eye A – Support

Who They Play: Winner of Quantic vs Team Astral Poke.

The Hype: Pr0lly, NickWu, and Lautemortis – a deadly trio. NickWu has an extremely stable toplane which lets the aggressive Pr0lly and Lautemortis combo go crazy across the map. The hype for coL is in an odd place right now; many fans are excited for Pr0lly, but others are worried how the replacement of Brunch Ü with Chuuper will affect the team. Regardless, the framework for ridiculous strategies is there and it’s always a blast to watch.

The Reality: The truth about coL is something that is only going to be known to teams that scrim coL consistently and coL themselves. Chuuper’s replacement of Brunch Ü was an act of necessity more than preference. The replacement happened late in the season and coL had to use a substitute that’d been on the team before LCS’s roster lock. Their choices were Bischu (who doesn’t AD), Meteos (who jungles for Quantic, their main opposition), and Chuuper. The dynamics between coL and Chuuper may be strained as coL had already benched him from the AP Carry role of the team. The question really is: has coL gotten past uncomfortable feelings to focus on the games at hand? The good news is that coL’s innovative thinking and cheese will still be in effect, and that can help remedy their possibly scarred team. They’ve also never been as dependent on their botlane as other teams, meaning Chuuper can focus on playing safely and going even rather than winning his lane. Unfortunately Quantic’s reactive playstyle is very potent against cheese, but coL’s standard play can still work quite well. In a best of five that standard play will very likely see at least two games.

Chances of LCS: They’re favored a little less than Quantic, but it should be a close match one way or another.

 

Group B

 

Velocity eSports

Roster:
Cris – Top
Vileroze – Mid
nk inc – Jungle
Frommaplestreet – AD Carry
Evaniskus – Support

Who They Play: The Salad Bar (Challenger), MRN (LCS).

The Hype: Velocity Gaming (formerly Dirt Nap Gaming) has had a solid showing in the past, but with changing rosters up until the lockout date for the LCS Promotion, it’s hard to pinpoint what the buzz around them is. Former players include Pr0lly, now on compLexity, and Prophet, now on Fidelis. They took 6th at the LCS Spring Qualifiers, but the only player remaining from that tournament is Cris. They’ve had solid showings at CPS, TSM IPL6 Qualifiers, and MLG Dallas; but at the IPL6 Promotional Qualifier, Velocity went 0-2 versus Quantic. The former Velocity rosters have done well, but what about the new blood?

The Reality: Losing Pr0lly right before the IPL6 Promotional Qualifier hit Velocity hard. Pr0lly, as he is now on coL, was a major member of the team in regards to strategies and composition. Luckily, word is that Velocity has adapted well to their new midlaner, Vileroze. While they may be playing a bit more standard (not Pr0lly based comps), they’re playing consistently and playing well. There’s still a lot of raw talent on the team as NK Inc, Cris, Evaniskus, and VileRoze are all older players with varying amounts of Season 2 experience. FromMapleStreet, the brother of TheOddOne, has a lot less experience than others but the base skill that runs in his family makes him a very potent AD. There’s not a lot of competition between LCS teams and Challenger teams, so knowing if Velocity has the umph to take down MRN is tough, but they are definitely a sizeable threat.

Chances of LCS: Not favored, but a very real opponent for MRN.

 

The Salad Bar

Roster:
Hirishin – Top
Ehomda – Mid
Ghoztzero – Jungle
DkBnet – AD
ArcZSlash – Support

Who They Play: Velocity (Challenger), MRN (LCS).

The Hype: The Salad Bar will always be a hype team because of their origins. They’re a group of friends that play normal games instead of ranked games, and this gives them a different perspective and level of innovation compared to most ranked soloqueue players. Ehomda is big news among the pros (with a lot of pros referring to the team as Ehomda’s team), and DkBnet is no slouch himself as an AD Carry. The team itself isn’t new to LANs, having played in the LCS Spring Qualifier (though going 0-2).

The Reality: The Salad Bar is a very cool team to watch because of the strengths that stem from practicing in normal games. They have wide champion pools since they’re not limited by bans, play very aggressively and creatively since they’re less restricted by meta, and just do what they want because of the more relaxed play in normal games. The limited events they’ve played in, such as the NESL Premier Series and LCS Ranked 5s Online Qualifier, show that their early laning is bonkers and is their main strength. Ehomda was one of the early mids to go Elixir of Fortitude and AD Runes to dominate in lane, a strategy that has been picked up occasionally by other teams when playing for the early game (and has since been nerfed by Riot). However, their late game is lacking due to their limited experience versus organized high-end teams. Quite often they’ll gain a lead but lack the ability to close out the game before a mistake punishes them and quickly spirals them to a loss.

Chances of LCS: TSB is the weakest member of Group B, but not respecting TSB is a death sentence.

 

MRN

Roster:
MegaZero – Top
ecco – Mid
ClakeyD – Jungle
Nientonsoh – AD Carry
Heartbeat – Support

Who They Play: Winner of Velocity vs The Salad Bar.

The Hype: Half of MRN’s hype is a combination of MegaZero making big plays, ecco wrecking people with safe mids, and Nientonsoh going HAM on the farm and picking up kills as a hard AD Carry. The other half tends to come from the team’s manager, Marn, hyping for hypes sake- which is a great way to promote a team. Raw excitement aside, the team has shown some improvements throughout the course of the LCS, and the big-play montages come through for every player on the team.

The Reality: MRN didn’t do particularly well during the LCS spring season, ending with a score of 10-18. MRN’s bigger wins were also very specific: 3-1 versus coL, 3-1 versus CLG, and 2-2 versus GGU. coL, CLG, and GGU tended to run more unorthodox compositions, and this might mean MRN is not as well-suited for standard play. At the same time, the team has improved as Heartbeat has become a much stronger support after switching from AD, and with Nientonsoh, MRN’s botlane has stepped their game up. Their ability to deal with the unorthodox will help quite a bit versus The Salad Bar, but that strength wont be nearly as useful versus Velocity. Their experience and learning throughout the LCS is huge though, and while some of the numbers may not favor them, they have improved significantly. The big weakness of MRN may be endurance; they have played very few longer sets due to the format of the LCS and lack Season 2 experience. When a set will go to a minimum of three games, being able to stay focused for those games is a huge deal.

Chances of LCS: Favored, but not by a huge margin.

 

Group C

 

Team Summon

Roster:
Grim Samurai – Top
Captain Korea – Mid
Sickoscott- Jungle
otter – AD
L0cust – Support

Who They Play: Fidelis (Challenger), Dignitas (LCS).

The Hype: Formerly Square Ducks, Team Summon had a pretty explosive burst onto the challenger scene back in February, taking first in the SoloMid IPL6 (RIP) Qualifier with a crushing set of victories. The roster is a blast from the past as well; they have L0cust, the former Dignitas support, to come up with strategies and gameplans, and Captain Korea, who may not be well known but was one of the anchors of Spellsy and Friends (the team that GGU’s ZionSpartan originated from).

The Reality: TS is in a tough spot. When they arrived onto the scene in February, they had a different top laner and AD Carry, both of whom had to be replaced due to age restrictions in the LCS. Even with the past members, they did not win a single game versus Curse Academy at Riot’s IPL Promotion Qualifier in April. Team Summon still packs a lot of potential though. L0cust knows his former teammates, and he’s got a keen sense of picks and bans. otter is a great AD Carry and Grim Samurai’s smaller champ pool has grown. If everything goes well TS can certainly put Dignitas into the ground, but past experience has shown that they may not have the LAN nerves. By all means they’re a good team that can do well, but can they beat a great team in a long set?

Chances of LCS: Difficult. If they do qualify, it will be a tight series, most likely a 3-2.

 

 

Fidelis

Roster:
Niko44 – Top
Arthelon – Mid
Tsunamiiee – Jungler
Virus – AD
Prophet – Support

Who They Play: Team Summon (Challenger), Dignitas (LCS).

The Hype: Fidelis and Team Astral Poke fall into the category of more unknown LCS Qualifier Teams, and there’s a lot less info on Fidelis available. There is a bit of hype for Fidelis in the form of some of their individual players, but nothing as a team. Prophet is formerly from Dirt Nap Gaming, Arthelon played for Meat Playground during the spring LCS Qualifiers, and Virus is really good at Draven. Seriously, he’s really good at Draven.

The Reality: Vileroze left Fidelis to join Velocity before the trade lockout for the LCS Promotion, and the team has been in a recovery pattern since then. While Virus is a great Draven, everyone knows this. Both Team Summon and Dignitas will ban it, pick it, or form a plan around Virus’s Draven, and his other ADs are much weaker. They’re a team with very little LAN experience, very little time together, and very little achievements for the individual players.

Chances of LCS: Miracles do happen.

 

Dignitas

Roster:
KiWiKiD – Top
Scarra – Mid
Crumbzz – Jungler
Imaqtpie – AD
Patoy – Support

Who They Play: Winner of Team Summon v Fidelis.

The Hype: Dignitas was the 3rd placed LCS team prior to playoffs, and they’ve been a superstar team since Season 2 with hype orbiting around all of their players – from Scarra to the relatively new KiWiKiD. They’ve got the experience, the skills, the devilish good looks, and (with the dedication of Dignitas’ owner Odee) a very strong work ethic.

The Reality: They’re good, damn good, but they have had some recent turmoil. At the end of the LCS Spring Split, Dignitas was in a fairly big slump. This, timed with the improvement of other LCS teams, resulted in a less than impressive 3-7 record for the last few weeks. While by no means a stellar score, it is from LCS teams, and Dignitas has had weeks to crackdown and revitalize themselves. If Dignitas has been able to put the mariachi music aside for a bit and focus on gaming, they have a massive advantage in terms of experience and coordination that will be very difficult to beat. Even if L0cust predicts every pick from Dignitas, their comps tend to be aggressive and based off the entire team being a brickwall of team-fight potential, which is not necessarily something Team Summon can pick around. Even if Virus gets Draven, Dignitas will have a plan for him.

Chances of LCS: They’re in a phenomenal spot. The most likely to stay in LCS of all entrants in the qualifier.

 

Group D:

 

DoubleBuff

Roster:
InnoX – Top
nubbypoohbear – Mid
ScubaChris – Jungle
Flappy Bearfish – AD
Unstoppable – Support

Who They Play: Azure Cats (Challenger), CLG (LCS).

The Hype: DoubleBuff, formerly 1 Trick Ponies, has a lot of recognizable names from Season 2 and also placed well in the  “We Will Do It Ourselves Cup.” Unstoppable is the former jungler for TSM.Evo, nubbypoohbear was the former mid for Orbit, and ScubaChris jungled for 1TP at the last LCS Qualifier. Their skills aren’t super well known, but they perform well in scrims and while they lack tournament experience as a team, they still have a lot of old blood with decent LAN experience.

The Reality: They’re a lot less talked about than Azure Cats, but they’re still a very solid team. They do well in scrims, and while that isn’t the same as LAN experience, they could go far if nubbypoohbear, Unstoppable, and ScubaChris can keep the team confident. There are scraps of tournament footage from DoubleBuff, but it’s hard to research them from VoDs, instead having to go by word of mouth. This can be a huge advantage if CLG and Azure Cats are unable to do detailed research and be 100% ready when game time rolls around. Based off those whispers though, they’re good – really good. Azure Cats should fear them and CLG can’t pass them off either.

Chances of LCS: Betting on DB is risky, but payoff is certainly possible.

 

Azure Cats

Roster:
Cruzerthebruzer – Top
bigfatlp – Mid
xDragunerx – Jungle
Demunlul – AD
Obituarist – Support

Who They Play: DoubleBuff (Challenger), CLG (LCS).

The Hype: There’s big fat hype for bigfatlp’s return to the competitive scene versus CLG. CLG has said that Azure Cats is the team that will beat them and cause the team to disband. Azure Cats also has two former members of the great season 2 team Legion: Cruzerthebruzer and Demunlul. The old blood mixes well with the fresher players of xDragunerx and Obituarist. While it is really hard to beat the hype that is “The CLG Killer,” others that aren’t on the bandwagon have very vocally stated that Azure Cats are overhyped and CLG is trying to create hype for their matches.

The Reality: Like DoubleBuff, Azure Cats is a good team. A very good team. Their known elements are also similar to DoubleBuff’s. There are lots of whispers and lots of statements from players, but there haven’t been very many Challenger tournaments. As a result it’s hard to pinpoint how good the current roster is. Similar to DoubleBuff though, any team they face will need to respect Azure Cats or their chances for the LCS will get tossed out the window. The players are solid: bigfatlp has been steadily improving since his benching from CLG, Demunlul has returned after making a surprising splash on Azure at the last LCS Qualifiers, and Cruzerthebruzer’s team is no longer trying to ghost. On that note, there is going to be some personal blood between Cruzer, nubbypoohbear, and Unstoppable, as they were all members of Absolute Legends in December. Unstoppable and nubbypoohbear were caught ghosting during Spring LCS Promotion Qualifiers, costing aL.na (and specifically the innocent Cruzer) their chance at qualifying for Spring LCS.

Chances of LCS: About the same as DB.

 

CLG

Roster:
HotShotGG – Top
Link – Mid
Chauster – Jungler
Doublelift – AD
Aphromoo – Support

Who They Play: Winner of DoubleBuff vs Azure Cats.

The Hype: CLG is the oldest League team, and most of the hype isn’t around the team itself, but the fact that such a definitive team might be on the chopping block for mainstream competitive LoL. They have stated they’d disband if they’re eliminated, but what are the odds they won’t appear in the LCS Studio anytime soon?

The Reality: During the last weeks of the LCS, CLG went a middle-of-the-road 5-6 and 1-2 versus Vulcun in the playoffs. These are still good records considering it’s against LCS teams, in a high-pressure environment. CLG has had a lot of weaknesses though: inconsistent bot lane synergy, Hotshot dies quite a bit, Chauster sometimes fail to impact the game. While it’s easy to poke around CLG and say they won’t win, it’s because they’ve had so much practice and exposure at a high level that these flaws can be pointed out. The cards are in their favor, and even if they did average in the LCS, they still pose a major threat to both Azure Cats and DoubleBuff. Mechanically the team has quite a bit of potential, and a lot of the losses for CLG tend to be from teams with experience on how to beat CLG after playing them during the LCS. bigfatlp may have that knowledge, but CLG has gone through some winding roads since the LCS started in February, and the winning strategy has evolved to more than “Kill HotshotGG” (though that’s usually part of it).

Chances of LCS: Likely.

 

Wrap Up

It’s important to remember the golden rule of tournaments; anything can and will happen. It’s easy to look at past results (when available) and make an educated guess, but in the end outside factors can very easily change a game. A player could have a bad night’s rest, get caught up in the emotions of playing for salary, or have an epiphany on how to improve, moments before starting up the game. Old stars and young teams alike have a shot at making the LCS, just remember to tune in and support your favorite team. They’ll need it.

Christopher “Studio” Grant

@LeagueOfStudio

 

Keep your calendars clear for the 17th and 18th of May. TSM will be joined by other top teams from the LCS to clash on the Rift, for your entertainment. Even better than that, SoloMid will be donating $20,000 to the Boston One Fund:

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino have announced the formation of The One Fund Boston, Inc. to help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, 2013.

You can read more about the Boston One Fund: HERE

The other teams that are taking part will be announced closer to the date. We hope to see you all there to support your favourite teams as well as a great cause!

 

Enough time has passed that I feel this isn’t a spoiler; TSM finished out the LCS Spring Split in 1st place! GGU put up a good fight, pushing the series to a fifth game, but fell to TSM at the last. Watching the games, I wanted to put the spotlight onto TheOddOne (TOO). OddOne is beloved by the community, but often doesn’t receive a ton of in-game credit or make gigantic plays. His jungling style tends toward control style junglers that amplify his team, much like Snoopeh on Evil Geniuses. This usually results in obscurity in the game analysis, but in this series TOO really stepped up his game and absolutely wowed me with his Cho’Gath play.

The Games

The picks were almost identical each time. Dyrus was on Rumble or Renekton; WildTurtle was mostly on Cait and some MF or Varus; Xpecial ran mostly Sona, with some Thresh and Lulu; Reginald played either TF or Diana. GGU ended up picking mostly a Nocturne/Orianna/Thresh(/Blitz) core with ZionSpartan swapping his champions out and MashMe on Twitch or Cait. In games 1, 3 and 5 TOO picked Cho’Gath and TSM won. In games 2 and 4 TOO picked Nasus and they lost. Games 1, 3 and 5 also had Xpecial on Sona support, and there are no other relevant trends in the series. Honestly the Cho’Gath pick was what pushed these games into the ‘W’ category for TSM. This is due to the way the games played out and his distinct advantages over Nasus.

TOO lost two games on Nasus and won three on Cho’Gath. This obviously doesn’t mean that Nasus is bad or TOO’s Nasus is bad, but Cho’Gath brings a set of skills to the table that Nasus does not. Nasus is an extremely strong ganker and diver in the early levels, and post-6 with his wither and armor-shredding ability. This can be used for some incredibly aggressive play and strong counter-ganking opportunities. This is very much in Diamond’s style, who was one of the first people to roll out the jungle dog. However outside of the single-target wither utility and armor shred, Nasus isn’t effective in teamfights. He has an option to either peel with Wither or hit their ADC with Wither and cut their DPS. Looking at the matches, NintendudeX was usually ahead in kills early and ZionSpartan ran an in-your-face style champ 4/5 games. This means that Nasus would want to Wither Nocturne to peel, the ADC to cut DPS and any other snowball top that leapt onto WildTurtle. In the games, MashMe on Twitch or Caitlyn was too far away to Wither, forcing it onto either Nocturne or Kha’Zix. This leaves Twitch free to shred your team, and the jungler or top to pounce on WildTurtle.

Cho’Gath, on the other hand, has the ability to knock-up several enemies or silence them, both of which match or exceed the range of Wither. While this makes for weaker and more predictable ganking, the teamfighting is where this really shines. When Nocturne and Kha’Zix jumped into the fray, they were met with a Feast, silence and a knock-up. This extreme amount of peeling for his team resulted in so many successful teamfights. Typically the fights broke out surrounding TSM’s bottom lane. Nocturne would ult in with an Orianna ball, Kha’Zix would then jump in and Xpecial/Turtle had to fight reactively. When running Nasus the wither wasn’t enough to stop this combination, but a well timed silence onto Orianna, followed by an immediate Feast of Nocturne or Kha’Zix, and a knock-up on them into a Crescendo did the trick every time. This amount of extreme AoE peel kept the back-line-diving GGU out of luck.

Daydreamin was always running a hook-initiator, Thresh or Blitzcrank, and Cho’Gath provided a constant block of meat in front of his team. Nasus can do similar, but Cho is much scarier to have in your face looking to pick off a target. This allowed them to pressure objectives extremely well, and objectives are what won these games. TSM didn’t run off on a killing spree, these games were all relatively low-score games, won through taking multiple towers and dragons. The pressure that Cho’Gath offers in comparison to Nasus in that regard is clear; Feast is amazing for dragon control and stopping a team from taking a tower with a 950 range knock-up is quite effective. The changes to Spirit of the Ancient Golem also allows Cho’Gath some cooldown reduction. This means he can Rupture first the targets on his ADC and then their ADC as well, with over 200 more range than Nasus could possibly do. Cho’Gath is stronger in these areas and I’m not even mentioning the amazing 2 and 3 person Rupture into Crescendo combos that turned the game around.

Closing Thoughts

I hope to see TheOddOne and TSM continue running champions that fit their game style and flow. Teams typically have a playing style they work towards and a set of champions in that pool, and TOO embraced his peel/teamfight/support roots with Cho’Gath. I don’t feel Nasus (or Volibear for that matter) are strong choices for his, or his team’s, style and that’s ok. It’s ok for a team not to run a strong jungler because they don’t fit their style, and it’s ok for a jungler to play who they’d like even if they’re considered weak. Both Volibear and Nasus were considered bad, but fit Diamond’s playstyle, so he rolled them out to great success. The OGN Korean series definitely demonstrates this, and I hope to see more of it in the NA and EU scenes. Don’t watch the LCS and take from it “Cho’Gath is a great jungler”, but instead watch these games and think about why certain picks work. In a low score, teamfight and objective-oriented game, control junglers such as Cho’Gath and Nautilus will outshine the others. A player who enjoys playing a support and peel jungler should stick to those roots and find ways to make them work for his team. Take these things into consideration when evaluating picks, teams and yourself in your games.

It’s been a while since I’ve done A Look Back. As I mentioned in the last entry, this time I will not be covering a champion. This time around, we’re going to look at Riot eSports Shoutcaster David “Phreak” Turley.

Phreak has been around competitive gaming since before League of Legends existed. He was once a professional WarCraft 3 player (my Googling tells me he played Night Elf, but I am not 100% certain of this). He finished fifth place in the 2006 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, and played in two WC3L seasons, among other things.

Near the end of the League of Legends beta Phreak began climbing the ranks, barely squeaking into the top 500 and acquiring the Master Beta Tester (no snickering, please) title. He continued his climb all the way up until he reached the top spot on the Normal ladder. He usually referred to Fiddlesticks as his favorite or best champion.

Shortly after rising to the top of the ladder, Phreak was hired by Riot as an intern for their Community team. He was a very active voice on the forums and before becoming a full time Riot employee, began making videos for new champions, called Champion Spotlights. In each Spotlight, Phreak would go over the basics of a new champion to quickly introduce players to it and reduce the learning curve in-game. He would  often play non-conventional champions as Junglers. Fans of the Spotlights ribbed Phreak over his tendency to recommend Trinity Force in order to deal “tons of damage” sparking a meme that he has lovingly embraced.

After the success of the Champion Spotlights, Phreak and fellow Riot Community Manager Andrew “Tamat” Beegle began working on a series of videos to preview the upcoming major changes in patches, prior to the patch being released. These Patch Previews featured the two Community leaders interviewing one of the Riot design team (usually Morello) in a sort of Question and Answer format which would highlight why upcoming changes were being made from the designer’s point of view.

One particularly creative community member saw an opportunity for comedy in the videos and decided to turn random pause spots into a large exploitable comic. Community member Whist took the joke even further, expanding on the second Comic with a video of “Phreak” dancing to his favorite song, Britney Spears’ “Hold it Against Me.”

As League of Legends’ eSport side began to grow, Phreak, who had some experience commentating in WarCraft 3, began to work as a commentator for Riot. He began shoutcasting the high profile tournaments as the Spectator Mode client began to grow more and more robust. During this time the Patch Previews shifted from showing the developers to displaying the upcoming changes in-game, and Phreak has continued to put out a new Champion Spotlight for each new champion.

Phreak commentated at multiple MLG, IPL and IEM events, as well as the League of Legends Season 2 World Championships. Now he works full time as a Shoutcaster (Play-by-Play focus, though he does have some spillover into color commentary) covering Riot’s Season 3 League Championship Series. He is often paired with other NA casters such as Rivington the Third, Jatt, and Kobe24, though most recently he traded regions with Deman for two weeks.

So, if you’ve been seeing Phreak’s face a lot in LoL eSports and wondering, “How did this pun-spamming loony man make it to where he is today?” now you know a little more of the history of David “Phreak” Turley, Riot Games Shoutcaster. Again, I apologize for the long gap between my last Look Back and this one.  But hopefully it was worth the wait for you.  The next shall be a return to champions.  Stay tuned!

Travis sits down with Xpecial (and MissFortune’s breasts) to discuss WildTurtle’s performance, being at the studio without Chaox, and more.

The rest of GameSpot’s LCS Coverage
Travis on Twitter
Travis on Facebook

 

 

The following LCS suspensions were announced by bitingpig for NA and EU players:

 

Suspensions

 

North American Pro Players
European Pro Players

 

Region: North America
Date: March 19, 2013
Subject: Elo-Boosting
Players/Coach:

 

• Brandon “Dontmashme” Phan
• Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black
• Samuel “Chuuper” Chu
• William “Meteos” Hartman
• ChengLong “NyJacky” Wang
• Keith “Phranq” Hunter
• Kennen “Rhux” Santos
• Jake “Xmithie” Puchero

 

 

Region: Europe
Date: March 19, 2013
Subject: Elo-Boosting
Players:

• Viktor “Cowtard” Stymne
• Jon “Jimbz“ Mangas Cayetano
• Dan “NeeGodBro” Van Vo
• Rim-Ramon “Nono” Amanieu
• Jérémy “ViRtU4l “ Petit
• Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim

 

 

Facts:
An investigation has determined that seven LCS NA players as well as six LCS EU players (and one NA coach) have been engaging in Elo-boosting. These violations occurred as early as the middle of Season Two and some have continued until recently.

Relevant Rules:
The Summoner’s Code establishes the standards of conduct for all League of Legends players and establishes the importance of exercising good sportsmanship and upholding principles of good behavior.

The League of Legends Terms of Use prohibits players from sharing, transferring, selling or trading user accounts and/or login credentials.

Definition of Elo-Boosting:
“Elo-boosting” is the repetitive and intentional act of an individual playing on someone else’s account (a “client”) for the purpose of artificially improving the client’s Elo rating. There is no minimum number of games required to be played, nor a minimum amount of Elo gain necessary to qualify as Elo-boosting. An attempt to boost Elo need not be successful in order to qualify as a rule violation.

The following also constitutes Elo-boosting:

• Playing on a less-skilled player’s account while the less-skilled player accompanies you in duo-queue games.

The following does not constitute Elo-boosting:

• Permanently transferring a high-Elo account to a less-skilled player. This is illegal, but it’s in the nature of account-sharing and/or account-selling, not account-boosting.

Analysis:
Elo-boosting damages the interests of players of all skill levels because it cheats the internal matchmaking system of League of Legends. Boosting leads to less-skilled players confronting a far superior opponent (the booster) and also leads to less-skilled clients being placed onto higher-skilled teams after the boost has been completed.

The NA investigation identified seven pro players and a team manager who played repeatedly on the accounts of their clients and boosted their Elo ratings. The most severe cases involved players boosting hundreds of games for a client; one player boosted a client a total of nearly 900 points.

The EU investigation identified six pro players who played repeatedly on the accounts of their clients and boosted their Elo ratings. The most severe cases involved players boosting more than 100 games for individual clients. Two different EU pros each lifted the Elo ratings of an individual client more than 800 points each.

There is no way to know whether an Elo-booster performed a boost for money or other consideration, but all boosts are viewed as wrong.

The individuals who are subject to this ruling are:

Penalties:
With respect to the pro players/coach named above and all of their clients, the Player Support / Player Behavior division has:

1. Issued 14-day suspensions of their accounts, effective immediately;
2. Revoked all Season Two rewards (see http://na.leagueoflegends.com/news/season-2-rewards-and-ratings-changes).

In terms of LCS competition penalties, the pro players and coach named above are hereby given a final warning with regard to Elo-boosting. Any further infractions will result in a permanent account ban and corresponding penalties, as deemed appropriate by LCS.

 

Is Elo – Boosting bad practice?

 

Typically any method of progressing in a system by abusing some part of it is considered a violation and Riot has every right to pursue such players. Naturally, it allows players of a lesser skill level to reach a higher rating by paying for it, which some might view as a Pay-to-Win mechanic. However, being a MOBA game, League of Legends can hardly be considered such.

In games like Diablo III, for example, there is a clear line of progression and it’s possible that a person is boosted beyond his current skill level and stays there, due to how gear in that game works specifically. LoL, however, is pretty much safe in that regard. Since a boosted player gains no gameplay advantages by being placed in a rating he did not deserve, matchmaking will most likely punish him and return him to a division more fitting. In all strategy games skill is the primary factor; playing beyond your self- achieved rating is almost always temporary.

Elo-boosting is both a punishable offence and a somewhat understandable practice. Players who have achieved certain proficiency in the game will likely seek to turn this fact to profit and there will always be buyers for such favors. At the same time however, it devalues a system designed to put players in similar-skill environments. It’s only logical that the developing company won’t permit such exploits.

 

Hexo caught DDoS-ing

 

The manager of Good Game University, Hexo, was supposedly causing FXOpen e-Sports’s AD Carry ROBERTxLEE to be disconnected from his client, due to a DoS attack.

 

Date: March 19, 2013
Subject: Denial of Service Attacks
GM: Sam “Hexo” Bouchard

 

 

Facts:
In light of recent evidence regarding denial of service (DoS) attacks on players on the North American server, we investigated allegations that Good Game University (GGU) General Manager Sam “Hexo” Bouchard has engaged in this prohibited behavior.

An example:

• In a game last month, Hexo posted a message in all-chat implying that he was exploiting software to determine the IP address of a particular opponent, Robert “RobertXLee” Lee.
• Fourteen seconds later, a teammate of Hexo responded with the chat message, “Hit it.”
• A few seconds later, RobertXLee suffered a DoS attack which disconnected him from the game.
• After repeatedly attempting to reconnect to the game, RobertXLee eventually was able to rejoin the game in progress, where he was prejudiced by a noticeable disadvantage in creep score and experience.
• RobertXLee streamed the game live.
  • A video excerpt of the incident can be seen here; a longer excerpt can be seen here (at 9:07:28).
  • Screenshots are below.

For context on Hexo’s usual in-game behavior, his harassment rating is currently the worst of all LCS North American managers and players (including both starters and reserve players). No other North American pro player or manager has a higher harassment score.

Definition of “DoS Attack”:
A DoS attack (or a distributed denial-of-service (DDos) attack, which is a particular type of DoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer unavailable to its intended user. The tactics vary, but generally consist of the interruption of services of a host connected to the internet.

In general terms, DoS attacks are implemented by either forcing a targeted computer to reset, consuming its resources so that it can no longer provide its intended service, or obstructing the communication media between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately.

Relevant Rules:
The Summoner’s Code establishes the standards of behavior for all League of Legends players.

The League of Legends Terms of Use prohibits players from harassing, threatening or hacking/interfering with other players in the game.

Analysis:
There is very strong circumstantial evidence that Hexo has engaged in DoS activity against one or more LoL players. We will continue to monitor the situation and investigate allegations into this behavior, using all available internal and external data.

Any DoS activity represents a blatant and willful disregard of the letter and spirit of the Summoner’s Code and the League of Legends Terms of Use. Intentionally disconnecting a competitor from a game is the very definition of unsportsmanlike behavior and unfair play.

As an LCS team General Manager, Hexo has a responsibility to lead by example; the creation of even the appearance of being a DoS attacker is grossly inappropriate.

Ruling:
Hexo has violated the Summoner’s Code and the League of Legends Terms of Use by implicitly threatening to launch a DoS attack on another LoL player and may be guilty of the much more serious infraction of engaging in DoS attacks.

Penalties:
Hexo is hereby given a first and final warning regarding the issuance of threats of DoS attacks or the actual launching of DoS attacks. Any future such actions, or any confirmed past or future DoS attacks will result in a permanent account ban and corresponding competition penalties, as deemed appropriate by LCS.

Regarding DOS

As you understood from bitingpig‘s post, Hexo was caught using DoS to disconnect ROBERTxLEE, AD carry for FXOpen e-Sports. Such an action can only be punished and rightfully so. It’s worthy of mention, however, that the information surrounding this case is rather scarce. Having to rely on in-game chat as your main evidence seems like insufficient proof. Regardless, Hexo has been warned with a permanent ban should he attempt such a stunt again.

So what is a DoS (Denial of Service)? Typically this is a direct network attack from one IP to another and is aimed at halting the receiver’s access to the Internet, for all manner of reasons. Normally targets of DoS attacks are busy websites which prove more vulnerable. However it’s effective against hosts who have not defended their system from such intrusions. In Hexo’s alleged case it’s most likely a series of sent network packets that have led to ROBERTxLEE’s client to cease functioning.

 

What’s your opinion on Elo – boosting and DDOSing?

Travis sits down with Scarra in the third episode of Know Your Role to discuss the current status of the mid lane.

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Travis sits down with Chaox to discuss the current state of AD carries and get an update on Game Cribs. Afterwards, he and OddOne discuss losing to MRN and more.

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Riot have decided to shift the EU schedule around for the coming week:

 

This was a very good call. Previously the buffer between the EU Super Week Friday and the four NA games that are set to take place after was very small. The EU LCS has quite often run a little behind schedule and with twelve games in one day there was a real possibility of significant delays to the start of the NA LCS. Further, it also meant that for those who wanted to watch the whole show that they would have had to spend 16+ hours straight glued to their monitors. This change means that twelve games is the most that will get shown on one day (twelve for NA, starting later today, and then eight EU + four NA on Friday).

We’re all pretty excited for Super Week over here at NoL, you can check out Riot’s hype video below.

- Jaszon ‘Lightblind’ Alexzander – @Ravus

Travis talks to Doublelift in the second edition of Know Your Role. He shares his thoughts on Quinn, the current status of AD carries, and more.

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