Spyice qualifies for LCS

Spyice qualifies for LCS

Splyce Beats GIA gaming and re-enters the LCS.
It was a back and forth series both teams looked on edge and played extremely well. However in the end splyce takes the series 3-2 and comes back home to the EU LCS. Wanderware was named MVP of the series playing really well on carries and with a amazing performance on Poppy in game 3 to tie up the series. With such a defeat GIA has to face the loser of ROC VS HUM to see if they can get back into the LCS once and for all.

NA LCS relegation's

The Death of a LCS team

Renegades

Current record: 5-13

The bottom three NA LCS teams have had significant roster changes, but none were as remarkable as Renegades’ Week 8 with the grab of top laner Shin “Seraph” Woo-yeong and mid laner Noh “Ninja” Geon-woo from Team Dragon Knights in exchange for struggling top laner Oleksii “RF Legendary”Kuziuta, top laner Cuong "Flaresz" Ta, and mid laner Alexey “Alex Ich”Ichetovkin. This was well after the team had gone without starting AD carry Aleš "Freeze" Kněžínek for three games in Weeks 2 and 3, along with the resignation of starting support Maria “Remi” Creveling between Weeks 3 and 4. With all of these changes, the Renegades have started 11 members in the 17 games they've played this split — the most of any North American team. Naturally, this has made it difficult for them to find any kind of stride or synergy, although their fortunes have looked brighter since Ninja and Seraph became starters. The new line up has been able to find some dire wins on TIP and TSM puting them in a firm 8th place.

Team Impulse

Current record: 5-13

Prior to the season’s start, Team Impulse’s chances at anything but tenth place were widely disregarded due to their seemingly slapped-together roster. Top laner Wang “Feng” Xiaofeng and Korean solo queue mid laner Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik were unknown entities, while jungler Kim “Procxin”Se-young had most recently left Japanese team DetonatioN FocusMe after only two games. Support Austin “Gate” Yu was known for stepping into TIP's mid lane when Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian was banned last summer, while AD carry Brandon “Mash” Phan had bounced around the North American scene since 2011.

This roster didn’t play together until Week 4, although both Pirean and Procxin appeared late in Week 2 for a surprising victory with Gate the support filling in for Top. Even with their subsequent 5-13 record, TiP remain one of the bloodier teams in North America with 0.71 combined kills per minute thanks to their insistence on choosing fights and skirmishes often to their detriment. Going into relegation's they will face the winner of DIG vs TDK. I think they will make it back into the LCS along side APEX and REN.

Team Dignitas

Current record: 4-14

The last place team in the NA lcs Dig would have to win 2 best of 5's in a row in order to re-qualify for the NA LCS. Thats a hard goal to reach and its doubtful they can reach it. Dignitas has the longest average game time of any North American team being tied for first at 37.7 minutes with Echo Fox.Even with Aspect of the Dragon, multiple Zz’rot Portals, and Baron, Dignitas finds it hard just to sit back and win a game instead they throw throw and throw some more. Dignitas has the most difficult road of all three bottom teams to avoid the dreaded Challenger series. Will DiG a long standing LCS team finally be relegated or will they rise from the ashes of shame? Only time will tell.

NA lCS end of season round up p1

                NA LCS roundup end of spring split 

                          

                       Its been a crazy season with new teams high expectations and high level play however some of those expectations haven't been meet. This split has seen new top teams that dominate the LCS but not in convencing fashion any team can beat any other team. Ill now rank the teams where they satnd at the end of the season and my pick for champion.

Top 3

                         Top team immortals: Immortals the team that bought coast and brought Hunni and Reignover to NA. At the start i projected they would be in the top five since they were untested and had some lack luster players (wildturrtle). However they have shattered that expectation having a near perfect run of the LC with only one lose. This is not to say they were perfect they have shown they are arrogant and cocky to the point of almost losing to several teams (REN). This has lead to them being over hyped as some god level team when in reality there about mid tier of a team internationally but top in NA. They would be on the level of LCK'S Afreca.

                                   

    

                          Second place CLG: A team that has definitely shocked me with their placement with a sub-par adc in sticksay i expected him to choke on stage and the team to be a bottom feeder team. However with Darshan and HUHI carrying Clg has split pushed their way to a top tier spot in the LCS. Do i think their good? no but what they do works and wins them games so take that as you will

                             

                              That other second place team cloud hai: O wait i mean c9 a c9 with a new jungle and the same trash players being carried by hai and mid lane. Now while some of the players are clearly good (Rush,sneaky,hai) Some other players have been...... pretty trash as usual(Balls) will they win spring split? hell no lol are you jokeing? the reign of c9 ended a year ago and i dont think they can take back that crown not with teams like immortals CLG TSM etc. They can will in best of ones it remains to be seen if hai can use his ass pulls to carry them to a championship. doubtful.

The other bottom 3 will be covered later.

I respect for the king xspecial

Xspecial former TSM TL support will not be joining a lcs team this year. As the start of the season approached it looked like xspecial was done. And it turns out those fears were justified. My fanboy glasses blinded me from the truth xspecial wasn't good anymore. At least not like the early days. Xspecial is prone to lots of problems and issues a lot of older players have they can't adapt. Knowing xspecial hes gonna say it's all his fault in a ton that makes him seem humble and honorable. However his consistent passive aggressive bitch behavior was "toxic" to his team. Even with a former world champion ADC piglet xspecial still failed. Xspecial was a great player and should always be remembered as such however don't forget his play declined and it's his fault he isn't on a team this year.

Finding the echo fox roster

The Echo Fox roster rumors.

The new kids on the LCS block Echo Fox have yet to formally release a roster but there are rumors of what the team would look like. Echo Fox founded by Rick Fox, after gaining gravity gaming's  spot in December for roughly $1 million. The rumors suggest a strong roster for the spring split.

According to the Daily Dot Froggen will serve as the starting mid laner for echo fox. Their sources are contacts close to the team and have confirmed he is in the final stages of negotiations. Froggen was in negotiations with many teams across North America, Europe, and even China, this offseason after Elements disbanded  due to management disputes.

According to sources close to the team, Echo Fox is likely to add former MeetYourMakers mid laner Kori as a sub to Froggen. The rest of the team according to Daily Dot include C9T jungler Hard,Former CLGB ADC Keith and TDK support Baby. The final player in the top lane is yet to be known probably some challenger player again. Some say hes Korean which would make the team good so lets hope thats the case LoL.

Echo Fox’s coach is former Gravity Gaming coach and AD carry  "COP” . They will also be retaining Gravity manager Jake “Ginko” Fyfe as their general manager.

Liquid announces 10 man roster and new head coach!

12/30/15
TL owner Steve announces new roster ideas and changes in the team. This includes the change to a 10 man roster and a new head coach.Now lets tackle this ten man roster change this basically means the challenger players will act as subs to the LCS players. This is similar to LSPL teams and LPL teams where the benched players play in the lower league. Is this a good idea? I think so since TL has had some performance slumps from time to time and benching a player for a game or two could help out the team a lot. We still dont know who the new TL top laner is or what happened with quas probably never will TBH.

The next huge piece of news is that of all people LOCO is now the new head coach of TL.......Now dont get me wrong great guy not so great coach. After TSM i cant see Loco coaching again he seemed pretty done by the end of worlds. On top of all that hes gonna be the head coach of my favorite team a team and i really want them to do well. Can Loco deliver? or will TL be mid teir trash this year? Find that out and more here at the critical zone!! TL BEST TEAM NA 2016!!! HYPE(hopefully)!

G2 Esports fills out roster with Emperor, Trick

G2 Esports has announced their roster for the 2016 European LCS Spring Split.

The team has recently lost Jesiz  and SmittyJ to Team Dignitas, and has replaced then with Emperor and Trick. Additionally, with the signing of Trick as their new jungler, G2 has moved Kikis to the top lane. Red flags all over the place here first why would you move Kikis to top lane? A underwhelming jungler wont make a super star top lane thats for sure. Second I always get chills thinking about TDK players after the end of the summer split and maybe Emperor will shake that stink off,but for now its still on. 

Emperor is coming to G2 from Team Dragon Knights, though due to visa issues, he only played nine games for TDK during the summer split. A team that got auto-relegated at the end of summer winning a whooping one game the whole split. I hope he can perform better this year and not have visa issues again!!

G2 Esports full roster is as follows:

• Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek
• Kim "Trick" Kang Yoon
• Luka "PerkZ" Perkovic
• Kim "Emperor" Jin-hyun
• Glenn "Hybrid" Doornenbal

Incredible Miracle sign Flame, Cpt Jack

Incredible Miracle complete their Spring 2016 roster with Lee "Flame" Ho-jong and Kang "Cpt Jack" Hyung-woo. The org reported on facebook

Flame is coming to IM after spending a year in China with LGD Gaming. Before that he played for Azubu Blaze, which later became CJ Entus Blaze. While he was with LGD, the team placed first in the 2015 LPL Summer Playoffs and second in the 2015 LPL Spring Playoffs. Flame himself is best known for the "Flame Horizon," the ability at his peak to consistently outfarm his lane opponent by 100 CS complete and total domination by far a great player.

Flame announced his departure from LGD Gaming and his search for a new team early this month. Arguably the best top lane carry in the world Flame was a great pick up for IM.

Cpt Jack previously played for the Jin Air Green Wings, he finished the 2015 LCK summer season in sixth place. Cpt Jack did not play in any of Jin Air's Regional Finals games, nor did he play for Jin Air at the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup. He finished the summer season with a 5.14 average KDA, mostly playing Sivir. Mostly a clean up ADC not gonna be the star player like flame but should be able to hold his own and help his team. The team completes their roster with these pick ups and look to compete in the LCK spring split.

TSM 2016 roster

The new TSM 2016 roster has been confirmed with the addition of yellowstar.  The team's full roster is as follows
Top Hauntzer
Jungler Svenskeren
Mid Bjergsen
Adc Doublelift
Support YellOwStaR
With this roster the team looks more than ready to be a strong contender for the LCS. This is the year of the import in NA and will determine the regional strength of NA.

New immortals line up

Remember immortals and how everyone was speculating who would be on it? Well ask no longer for the line up is confirmed today.

Top: Heo "Huni" Seunghoon

Jungle: Kim "Reignover" Yeujin

Mid: Eugene "Pobelter" Park

ADC: Jason "WildTurtle" Tran

Support: Adrian "Adrian" Ma

According to Thescore e sports this is the new immortals line up. This year is gonna be very competitive i can't wait.

The new NA LCS powerhouse

I know what your thinking and no its not TSM. While TSM seems pretty stacked I don't think they will top LCS next spring. The team that will is a little team called NRG or energy gaming. Why you may ask? Well here's why NRG will dominate the 2016 landscape.
NRG ROSTER 

Top: Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong
Former world champion impact joins the team. A dominant top lane powerhouse that can adjust to any meta. He plays carries and tanks and offers a super threat in the top lane.

Jungle: Galen “Moon” Holgate

While I don't know much about moon however he is the previous team imagine jungle and should be a solid pick for the team.

Mid: Lee “GBM” Chang-seok
Former jinair mid GBM is arguably a super star. Now some my say he's just some middle row mid laner but you have to remember this is in a region leagues better than NA. Middle row is super in NA and with impact at top their synergy should be great. This will make or break the team.

AD Carry: Johnny “Altec” Ru
Former gravity adc altec should offer a consistent performance like he did on gravity. He might not be much but as long as he does its job then the teamade a great adc pick.

Support: Kevin “KonKwon” Kwon
Rookie support player not much here but there's potential so well have to see how this works.

So get ready for NRG to be a great power in the NA LCS 2016 spring.

Yellowstar leaves FNATIC

A legend is leaving Fnatic, as Bora "YellOwStaR" Kim has left the roster, the organization announced this morning.

The announcement is as follows

"On behalf of everyone in Fnatic, I would like to begin by thanking and congratulating Bora for his phenomenal performance and achievements over these past three years," "When we understood that YellOwStaR had sincere interest in pursuing a new journey and chapter of his already successful career, we did everything in our power to provide him with an offer and path within our organisation that would make him reconsider. However, we soon realized what we probably already knew: that someone as determined and curious like Bora thrives from trying new things - the very same traits that made him to the player and person he is today."

YellOwStaR gave his own take expressing a desire to play in the NA Lcs giving support to the yellowstar TSM theory.
And with that FNC has lost 3 players Hunni reignover and now yellowstar. This is a grave blow to the team and opens the gates to a OG dominant EU LCS.

Easyhoon signs with vici gaming

Former SK Telecom T1 mid laner Lee "Easyhoon" Jihoon has signed with Vici Gaming. After a Threeway bid war vici gaming signed easyhoon with a with a 850k salary. This in the wake of marin and Toms departure leads to some shaky foundations for skt1 as a team. Without their star top and mid lane sup easyhoon how will skt1 shape up this spring?  Time will tell.

IEM San Jose match ups and predictions

Well its that time of year folks its time for IEM San Jose where the B C teams of every region come to battle for middle of the road champ. Now the first rounds are a best of 1 so it will be do or die for some of these teams. Others like Jinair and OG have gotten a bye so they will be in the semis and will face the winners of round one in a best of 3.

Round 1 match ups

Match one Team Solo mid and LGD gaming
With TSM i cant say my usual insults since they have a new roster with some pretty great players from all across the LCS. Replacing every member besides mid lane Birg taking out all the trash and bringing in some fresh faces. At ADC doublelift, In the Top lane "Hauntzer",jungle  "Svensekeren" and at support "kaSing". This line up looks not only to take all of NA but looks to even compete on the world stage on par with the likes of KOO or FNC. Now LGD is a different story while they have the same line up im not sure how they will perform after that despicable performance at worlds this year. It clearly showed some horrid weakness in the team that i hope get fixed real quick. Before LGD and all its members become the joke of china.

vs

CLG vs UOL 

well this is easy CLG has a 5 man team while UOL has....2 whole members so unless they can sign 3 players in 3 days i dont think they can 2v5 CLG.

2015 league of legends world finals

Well well what a worlds it been i haven't really wrote much on worlds since it seems kinda straight forward but ill give a brief recap if you've been to busy to enjoy worlds this year.

Group winners
Group A: 1.flash wolfs
                 2. Koo tigers
Group B: 1.FNC
                 2.AHQ
Group C: 1.SKT
                 2.EDG
Group D: 1.KT
                2. OG

Quater finals

FW vs OG
OG wins 3-1

SKT VS AHQ
SKT win 3-0

FNC vs EDG
FNC win 3-0

KT vs KOO
KOO win 3-1

now that the run down is over lets talk about those semi final matches.
OG vs SKT (3-0)

Now this was set in stone from the moment OG stepped on stage they knew they were facing the greatest LOL team in the world. Now they played valiantly and did their best but come on who really thought honestly OG would beat SKT? Easy mode didnt even start faker and from easyhoons performance they clearly dont need to.

FNC vs KOO tigers(3-0)

Now unlike the OG SKT match this one was appaerntly a 50/50 match up both these teams seemed about equal and EU had a shot at the finals. Then everything changed when hunni tilted no but really FNC was outclassed across the board. Top mid and bot owned in this match up and hojin was able to make up for his fuck ups and play with his team well. FNC looked pretty good in game one they got first blood and had a pretty good lead early but slowly but surly KOO started to step up. When this happened FNC's chances took a nose dive. After game one they feel apart barely hanging on and went into full desperation mode and KOO exploited every mistake.  Gameover and tilt master Hunni came in full force making it impossible for them to win this is evident in game 3. In game 3 it looked like they just wanted to go home hunni was 0-9 for god sakes and smeb had a feild day top fevbin at least held his own with a solid performance but that all the good you can say about FNC. EU fans over hyped them and when they crashed and burned at the hands of KOO tigers the dream collapsed.Imagine if they performed like that vs KOO the utter stompfest SKT would have brought if they faced them in the finals. I think its good FNC lost so handily because it shows a sad fact about LCS even if you go undefeated all split your nothing in a best of 5 against teams who understand how to play game after game without tilt. It highlights a big weakness of the west best of 1s dont show how well they perform in best of 5s. FNC was untouchable when they had a week to until themselves and play 100% but as soon and they play more than one and start fucking up it all falls apart. The only hope for the west is to change the silly LCS format and start being big  boys and playing best of 3s or something. If not hen the same thing will happen year after year season after season well think a team is really good and then they get bent over by the Koreans and well complain about the all Korean finals. FNC deserved every loss and i look forward to the best teams in the world SKT and KOO facing off in the finals.

LCS 2015 summer playoffs SF EU and NA

This weekend is gonna be fire boys we got some super hot matches that im super hyped to talk about so lets start off with EU.

ORG vs H2K
Well this would be H2k's second match of the playoffs and now they take on the number 2 seat of ORG. ORG has held the number 2 spot for sometime not near the level of FNC however they have performed extremely well this split. Their games are blood baths and they turn on the heat on the dime on anyteam in some cases even FNC. H2k on the other hand have showed some promise being a clear 3rd place towards the end of the split and with there destruction of GIA they look to go to the finals with a hard won match with ORG.

FNC vs UOL
Well this brings back memories from the spring split when UOL could actually contend with FNC as equals. Those were the days but those days are long gone thanks to FNC becoming a force of fucking nature, They went 18-0 this summer and before the playoffs beat UOL with trundle support it was super sad tbh the level of outplay was like watching faker lane with a bronze five riven main.  So yeah hopefully UOL wont get manhandled again and for the pride and the pride of their fans give FNC at least one lose. #thedream

Moving on the NA where the match ups are beyond hype levels and where the real games begin.

TIP vs CLG
TIP is looking good with there decisive win over DIG with a 3-0 sweep however that wont happen to CLG. The reason being CLG unlike DIG plays a certain way that TIP can relate to and its unlikely without xio that they can take CLG without some epic Impact/Rush carries. CLG wants worlds bad and wont let TIP walk all over them so this should be a interesting series might go to 5 games that means tons of points.

Match of the week TL vs TSM(HYPE!!!!)
What is hype you say this match is the answer with the rising stars of TL taking on the reigning kings of NA TSM hype will be born boys! TSM had a interesting win over GRV by passing the carry baton to Dyrus instead of Big B witch was definitely a new approach but it wont be enough to beat liquid. Liquid has risien to the very top of NA beating all that stood in their way even TSM the raw talent and teamwork of liquid alone should give TSM pause. I think if anyone can stop TSM its TL with now that just be my bias speaking but god dammit its justified bias if there ever was such a thing. It might be close but TL should kill and i mean kill TSM and go on to the finals.

Dont agree well tell me what you think in the comments or put your money where your mouth is and play Alphadraft..... what to scared.....pussy!! lol but no really Alphadraft is super fun guys go play it like now!!

LCS 2015 summer playoff QF results

Well it was one hell of a weekend boys and girls as the 2015 summer playoffs in both NA and EU raged on. I will admit some teams definitely surprised me in the end and i offer my congrats to the winning teams here are the teams and standings in the summer playoffs starting with NA.

TIP VS DIG (winner TIP) 3-0
Well this was definitely expected the games were by no means boring DIG tried in all 3 games but TIP just outplayed them in every way as expected. I hoped TIP would be able to defeat them cleaner than they did but they still win and move on to take on CLG in the semis.

TSM VS GRV(winner TSM) 3-1
This match up had some surprises Dyrus a player most would say is the weakest on TSM carried not one but two of the four games. It was entertaining to watch him be the carry it highlights TSM's growth since it wasnt just a protect our mid lane game as per usual with TSM. They definitely came to the playoffs better than they ended the split but will this growth be enough to take on the number one seat in TL or will TL end TSM's playoff hope well see this weekend wont we.

While NA had a few good games it pales in comparison to the EU playoffs and the explosive games played there.

H2K vs GIA(winner H2K) 3-0
This was hard to watch with a land slide victory in game 1 H2K really showed just how large the gap in skill really was. That was a 16-0 game not a single kill on the side of GIA just sad but they performed a tad bit better in games 2 and 3 but it didnt stop H2K from 3-0 sweeping them off the playoff bracket. H2K moves on to face ORG witch looks to be a great match to find out whos gonna take on FNC in the finals.

Series of the week
UOL VS ROC(winner UOL) 3-2
Wow this was a back and forth match up it all began with UOL showing not only ROC but all of EU they were not a washed up team like we expected them to be. This was shown in a great 2-0 run in the first games of the series. It all looked like a sweep for UOL when out of nowhere ROC turned the tables with a 2-0 blaze on UOL. This took the series to a great 5th game 49 mins long of great back and forth play but ultimately UOL came out on top and now claim the honor of getting sweeped by FNC in the semis lol. No but really a great series and i hope UOL don't just get man handled by FNC at least win a game and ill be happy.

A great start to playoffs lots of ups lots of downs but all in all i look forward to seeing how things develop in the semis and the finals in both NA and EU.

LCS summer playoffs 2015 picks and predictions

LCS 2015 summer Playoff thoughts and ideas


Hey guys its Ben here and the time has come for summer playoffs arguably the most important playoff for LCS teams by a mile. I'll focus on NA and EU LCS for this article so its not 7 pages long both have some really interesting brackets where ill break them down and I will say who I think will win. Well without further padding(lol) lets get into the main course of NA and EU LCS summer playoffs.



I'll start off with NA since its by far the most competitive and has a lot of intense match ups.

Play off quarter finals best of 3(TIP vs DIG)
This should in theory be a total sweep TIP was in the running for a 1st place spot in NA but fell short of that mark. That being said TIP is an amazing team that turns on the heat in every match they play and while Xio might be suspended Gate has been a decent sub and plays safe not throwing like you would expect a support turned mid to. TIP has show repeatedly that they can take any team in NA and DIG hasn't had the greatest split. In fact DIG has had an epic fall from glory from the start of the split where they were a first place team but recent can only seem to pull of a win against a relegation squad NME. DIG makes tons of mistakes and are a bad match up to TIP who plays fast lose and hard if DIG gives them even a small opening it will snowball into a stomp real quick. I would say 70/30 for a TIP will probably DIG can take a game maybe two but i don't see them going any further than the quarters this split. TIP will go on to face CLG in the semis and look for a final run where I believe there rivals TL will be waiting.

Playoff Quarter Finals best of 3 match 2(Gravity vs TSM)
Both of these teams have huge potential both are fan favorites by most standards and both play the same safe objective control play style but only one can advance to the semis. This will most likely go to 5 games and I see TSM coming out on top due to the fact that gravity is not the unbeatable giant we once believed they were. I think NA teams have cracked the gravity code and I don't think they can hold on to the best of three with TSM unless we see the team from the middle of the split. If that team isn't playing TSM then I'm not sure they can even hope to win. It will be a huge battle both teams will be pushing it but I think TSM can push farther than Gravity and win the series. The winner of this match will play TL and TSM remembers that loss well im sure cant wait to see them in the best of three.

Bold prediction Summer playoff winner(TL)
TL has blazed an inhuman like trail across the split and look in peak form while they are far from perfect they have what it takes to win Playoffs in NA

Now lets get into EU the less fun of the two since you know FNC will win but Let's look at the other matches shall we.

Match 1 quarter finals (H2K vs GIA)
EU is an odd league all of its power is on the top and at the base power is almost split evenly anyone can beat anyone and the teams throw games so often you have to wonder why you even watch this at times. H2k finished third in the summer split this year at 11-7 while GIA took a close 6th place spot at 8-11. H2K will probably win since there a better team overall and actually play team comps that work and don't revolve around greed. There aggressive but not too aggressive play style should handily defeat the way to aggressive for their own good GIA play style so I see them sweeping this. They might lose a game but won't lose 2. AND H2K can finally get that game with OG and well see if they can stop the OG FNC finals that everyone is calling now.

EU Q finals 2 (UOL vs ROC)
I think that UOL will beat itself and ROC will get the credit people see them as a good team but there basically a solo queue team who can make some plays. ROC on the other hand while they may be lower on the standings by like one game they play the game well and sure make some huge mistakes here or there but are a great team all thing considered. If they do win FNC will sweep them so its no biggie  it really doesn't matter if they win but they most likely will they will face the undefeated FNC and just lose sweep style.

Not so bold prediction Winner FNC

This is a no brainer they haven't lost a single game in an entire season and I don't see them losing to any team so far.

I didn't talk about Orign because they are a toss up team and its hard for me to discuss them since this is practically do or die for them. Since they joined this split they have no championship points meaning they have to win the summer split to go to worlds which seems to be there goal for sure. So the finals will be OR vs FNC for the title of summer split king and world's first seat.

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