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NA LCS... Parity good or bad?

lasreveR·2/24/2020, 9:36:16 AM·1 votes·2,638 views

Ok, hear me out:

Competition in sports is great, that's the whole point of sports as it is an organized competition. But how much competition, or more accurately, PARITY BETWEEN TEAMS is helpful before it becomes a bad thing?

So in the NA LCS, we've had a complete hierarchy change with TL having a very real chance of missing the playoffs. 4-6 100T looks like they can beat a team on any given day. A Crown-Stixxay-Smoothie lead CLG has just one win. An upset seems almost as likely as a stomp whenever Cloud 9 isn't involved. But is this really a good thing?

One way this can be looked at is that the talent in NA is spread really evenly, and that's a good thing. But at the same time, the only team that looks clearly head and shoulders above everyone is C9. That would be a great thing if the middle of the pack was a good team, but 2-10 looks/have looked like they have major kinks they need to work out at some point in the year. Combined with the fact that none of our guys made it out of groups last worlds, its alarming to not see more clear frontrunners OR better play across the board.

So my question is, what's the right amount of parity? At what point does competition stop progressing the sport and it turns into a crapshoot depending on who messes up on a given day?

9 Comments

WTBeGirl100EUhr2/24/2020, 10:55:19 AM3 votes

I mean, if you want parity the LEC has a 4 way tie for first. All of those teams look competitive.

GeminiRune2/24/2020, 11:52:22 AM2 votes

Parity has always been a more exciting trend as the split progresses. Whether it is good or bad tends to often come down to opinion of it mattering to the region or the regions international expectation as well as record in the past.

I've seen opinions go both ways. That one split in the EU LCS where every single team still had a chance to make playoffs: most hyped split yet. Even threading LCK into the mix where 7 teams were vying for playoff position and there was a 4 way tie for 1st: "this is why LCK is the best" or "all these teams will dumpster everyone." But NA LCS had a similar case with something like a potential 6 way tie for I believe 2nd: opinions varied between hype split and doomed internationally.

To answer the question however, for LCS case, good parity is the kind of teeter totter going on from 2nd to 8th, especially for the spring split. While it doesn't make multiple worlds contenders, it's still the spring split. The ideal passionate bandwagoner fan only needs one standout for MSI.

Bastilean2/24/2020, 2:08:54 PM2 votes

My biggest problem with the current LCS is that a lot of games don't feel worth watching. It doesn't look pro. Many if not most of the games are lost by the initiating team or in draft. Players are failing to deliver skill expression. Many of the drafts are just bad regardless of player champion pool. Nobody wants to watch a joke, and right now many LCS games look like a big joke. Honestly, one of the best games this weekend was CLG vs. FlyQuest. Vyper's teleport bot lane was massive on top of a great lay by Styxxay. Sadly, it looked like Styxxay's mojo was popped for the rest of the game. Wiggly continues to show signs of life on a team that has suffered many losses.

III BAKURYU III 2/24/2020, 5:34:58 PM2 votes

I think the NA LCS hasn't been this competitive since maybe 2016 Spring Split( maybe 2018 Spring only because of large amount of star value and 5 tie-breakers)

Cloud 9 are playing with a purpose not seen since CLG 2016. " I want to go to MSI and actually make a convincing statement" - Darshan

Every split it seems there's 1 really good team that wins everything and middle of the pack like teams that follow. It's good to have a Final Boss(Cloud 9) that makes other teams take notice. 2016 Spring Immortals were stomping teams left and right until CLG beat them and ever since, Immortals looked average in the 2nd half of the split - while CLG looked really good in the second half. All while TSM went through tough spots in the split all split long and still managed to beat the 3rd Seed Cloud 9 3-1, swept Immortals 3-0 and have in my opinion the Greatest LCS Finals ever against CLG 2-3

Even tho C9 are 10-0 they're playing like ashamed school boys that got their butts busted at Worlds and playing with a purpose. That purpose is putting respect on the NA LCS name. I just hope other teams take notice.

I just hope NA can actually live up to it's Major region status... I mean I still have my NA2k19 1 semifinals in 9 years jersey as a constant reminder that da$n it! ~the average ~ is possible for North America