I don't feel like NA teams theory craft at all

i cant move wtf·Oct 12, 2018·1 votes·1,929 views

From my admittedly casual perspective, it seems like every NA team just analyze what Korea or China do, instead of trying to craft a unique playstyle and champion pool for themselves.

I get there are always some stronger picks but are they really that much stronger in competitive? Like are they even more than 5% stronger?

In competitive you have the huge advantage that you have 4 teammates that are all good players that can follow a specific plan and playstyle. There are no doubt tons of undiscovered "op" comps that can be difficult for other teams to adapt to if they're not used to playing against it.

I bring this up because I've never seen a unique comp come out of NA. It's like NA teams just accept that they're bad and relegate to being a cheap imitation of the "way better" teams in the east. There's not even an attempt to do something bold and different. It's a let down to be honest.

7 Comments

Azca33Oct 12, 20181 votes

That is the problem. You have the Korean teams which are heavily funded with game analyst working out every scenario and team comp possible. That is why people look to Korea for everything because they spend the most money to determine the absolute best way to win in gaming. Gaming is life in Korea. It is a little different in the west.

i cant move wtfOct 12, 20181 votes

NA has franchising now though. If you know the actual numbers about how much each team spends I'd love to see that. Honestly I wouldn't doubt if NA spent more when you think about the amount of imports they bring in. Either way I don't think this a problem that can be solved by throwing more money at it. Great things can be done even on shoestring budgets, and NA is well beyond that.

III BAKURYU III Oct 12, 20181 votes

It's the NA style to just copy paste what Korea does. 8 or so years and it's not getting old anytime soon.

EyesOfTheFoxOct 12, 20181 votes

Korean teams aren't even the innovators anymore. China has been a force for the last couple of years and will probably win worlds this year.

III BAKURYU III Oct 12, 20181 votes

My money is on KT Rolster winning it all this year. RNG we've seen the Uzi show multiple times come close to winning it but the Mata v uzi rematch will go in Mata's favor.

GeminiRuneOct 13, 20181 votes

Cloud9 and CLG were the theory-crafter teams from NA as far as this season went. Even though the latter didn't bank on things well enough to ake waves however...plus the whole demolition of Funnel strats kinda killed a lot of the variety that made some teams successful.

I mean just looking back on the start of summer, you had your teams that were stubborn to the meta shift in the likes of Gen.G and TSM, teams that were mixed to the concept like CLG and RNG (I still remember the Karsa/MLXG jungle-mid games), and then those who were fully immersed to it or tried to be in Afreeca, G2, and 100 Thieves.

Taking glimpse to the NA representatives, TL never had that sense of innovation, 100 Thieves somewhat had it taken away, and C9 has often expended options.

i cant move wtfOct 13, 20181 votes

Riot killing off the funnel strats was a bummer, those games were really novel and interesting. I feel like they should have let the meta settle before immediately labeling it toxic and making it unviable.

Even if the funnel strat was determined to be significantly better than every other strat known in the game, I would have preferred it to the very bland and predictable meta we're stuck with this worlds.