Quarter Finals Fan Poll

Murdercap·Aug 25, 2017·2 votes·406 views

Answer the poll and then leave a comment describing your choice. Im interested to see what everyone thinks and who people pick to make the finals! Edit: i forgot to add DIG vs IMT on the poll

12 Comments

Miror BAug 25, 20172 votes

Forgot what would be my second choice of dig vs IMT, as I don't see clg making the finals at all and consider the tsm/dig matchup ridiculously close.

III BAKURYU III Aug 25, 20172 votes

Out of context with the post here but going to talk about the teams/worlds participation :

TSM have already punched their ticket to Worlds, and while I do think they will be better this year, oppose from last year, the thought of TSM failing isn't a method/shit-talk as it is actual truth and predictable outcome each and every year/INT tournament.

CLG - Ever since they beat TSM 3-2 in the spring finals, came in 2nd place only losing to SKT 3-0(no shame honestly) and actually beating SKT at the group stage of the tournament, participated at Worlds 2016 and had the same score in groups as TSM and C9 3-3, once could say I'v fallen in love with CLG. I personally want CLG to be apart of Worlds again, however, the teams are stacked in NA currently and only 2 out of the remaining powerhouses are elgiable to go(CLG/C9/DIG/IMT)

DIG - Are they smoke and mirrors; who knows but at the moment they're looking strong and I wouldn't mind if DIG would represent NA at Worlds, I just don't know if DIG are real yet, ever since Adrian joined they've been great but at the same time..... it's DIG and everyone talks about TSM and that team as the International failures, DIG are pretty much the NA failures and have been for some time now.

IMT - This team is good but I still have doubts about Pobelter and Cody Sun, mainly Pobelter. We've seen this guy fold under-pressure many times, one reason on why CLG let him go in the first place, because he would tilt, he's gotten better since then tho.

CLG vs IMT Omar/CLG can't rely on stalling out games against IMT, who are very methodical in their style, can't lose 3-5 towers and expect to win against them like CLG did against NV, they need to go hard and often to beat IMT. Pressure IMT's Mid lane/tower and we could see an upset in the series. Stixxay/Aphromoo need to improve, they've looked like s$it against NV...... NV(Apollo and Hauk) two players that people don't think of when it comes to NA 1st-3rd teams, yet alone facing a team that has better talent across the board like Immortals do.
I want CLG to win the series but Immortals are looking too strong at the moment tho ( Becoming a rivalry maybe not from total meetings but it was CLG that gave Immortals the team first ever lost, and Immortals and CLG did play in the 3rd place match-up a while back too. )

TSM vs DIG Really close honestly, this series might be compressed on a few things,

Keane - We've seen this guy become a wet sponge when it comes to playoffs in the past and he died against C9 multiple times in some weird/dumb ways, backing while not paying attention to the map and almost dying, among other times.
Ssumday - Tends to over-reach, DIG tho have capitalize on Ssumday's mistakes with advantages around the map so that's good.
Pretty much DIG vs TSM on paper looks tight, but DIG tends to shoot themselves in the foot multiple times. ( Anyone remember the Reginald DIG trash talk ? )

Sagan ForeverAug 25, 20171 votes

How are Dig smoke and mirrors? I think they win with solid Marco play. I still think that the matchup is TSM favored, becasue TSM have had time to adapt to the meta.

III BAKURYU III Aug 25, 20171 votes

I'm saying are the same ol' DIG or has the leaf finally turned, sort of speak. We've seen many splits were DIG looks like a good team and we've seen them fall within 1-2 rounds of the playoffs on multiple occasions.
They beat C9, and while C9 aren't no push-overs and were on like a 6-7 series winning streak, they still had the same problems from the start to the mid range of the season all the way till the end; playing as 5 individuals instead oas a team and showing/having a personal vendetta personally(Jensen) of showing that HE'S the MVP and he can carry HIS team.
Back to DIG, "smoke and mirros" within DIG, goes like this for ME personally (OPINIONS) - cause opinions are more toxic than holy water in hell it appears.
I'v seen Altec play for about 3-4 years now, and not once have I thought he was a top tier team-fighting ADC, add in Keane who's a good MID but isn't that great either, he's like that arcade fighting character that has 1-2 good moves but that's about it, isn't the worst but isn't considered one of the best. We've seen him pick champions that could be viewed as "meta breaking" to down right dumb sometimes, that on paper again is "meta breaking" but fails to actually pull it off, typically against TSM/Bjergsen(Urgot)?

Their macro play is fine, I'm honestly speaking from the past, tendencies, styles, past results etc as I didn't/don't have the time to actually watch and take notes as I once did in the past. The series between TSM and DIG is really close and my heart is telling me DIG but it's the players on that team and their history that's making me want to pick TSM instead.

"smoke and mirrors" - Wasn't an insult to DIG, but more of a ? for me personally, too smoky to see - You know what I mean ?

Miror BAug 25, 20172 votes

See, I too would like to see CLG at worlds but not in this iteration. The "old guard" of CLG has seemingly run its course, to the point in which aside from name recognition I fail to see why they haven't just retired/moved to "streamer retirement" (let's not forget that in the 2-3 splits prior to this one darshan looked quite terrible and aphro had middle of the pack stats). While I will admit that I never really followed or cared about clg since I started watching LCS, if they were to become a new up and coming team a la 2016 spring G2, something entirely possible with them already having a sister team, that is something people could have a ton of interest in.

III BAKURYU III Aug 25, 20171 votes

See, I like CLG and they might be my favorite team but at the same time I view them as I view football teams, I like them all honestly.
I like CLG's coaching staff mainly Zikz who kinda has that Erik Spoelstra feel to him, was the video guy or something, went through and payed his due to be the coach but never gets the proper respect because he coached "superstars" D-Lift/Aphromoo etc.
The team has "ahead of the curve" about them too, that makes me excited about the future of the NA LCS. With their Madison Square Garden deal, their motto of "Fear none, respect all" and when the chips are down and believe me against IMT the chips are down to the ground, the always tend to either put up a good fight and lose with dignity or they win.

Yeah, Darshan/Aphromoo are on borrowed time as far as being top tier talents in NA, but so are so many other NA players(Bjergsen has been around since S1 or so, D-Lift, Sneaky who turned 25 a few months ago, Lemon who's older than Sneaky, Sven, Wildturtle these too are players that are nearing "retirements" doorstep, and while that doesn't solve the whole talent/skill objective, maybe CLG's plan is to keep Darshan/Aphromoo until most of the NA competition retires and once that happens it's CLG's old guard vs the new fresh and in most cases NA's poor skilled rookies to possibly feast on.

CLG also tend to get a pretty good hand at developing talent(Stixxay, Huhi, Omar) developing under the team's methods instead of previous player team banners.
TSM - I don't see much growth as far as NA talent and developing it, same goes for C9 who's really just been sitting on Sneaky and has Jensen to rely on to carry. FQ will most likely be done-zo seeing their full of ol' farts, DIG/P1 are really just mercenaries for hire with their talents that will come and go with the right offer $.
Win or lose for CLG, this will most likely be Darshan's and Aphromoo's last Worlds if they do go and love them or hate them or the team, you gotta respect them and in the ORG.

Miror BAug 25, 20171 votes

While I do kinda agree that the rest of the players are getting older, many of them (C9's especially) are remaining at a top-level which should give them more playing opportunities. In the case of Darshan/Aphro, their play-level is dropping off quite noticably making me think that once CLG decides their rookies are better they'll probably be out of jobs. Your point about CLG's amazing coaching staff is one of the other reasons why I can't wait to see the "future rookie-based clg", as much like the patriots once Brady retires or once the Saints when Brees retires you kinda can't help but get giddy watching one of the best coaches of this generation craft a team from scratch.

III BAKURYU III Aug 25, 20171 votes

That's true about the other top tier players most likely staying at top tier level, but even so they need a team around them to stay afloat(C9 especially, who always relied on an aggressive lane dominant top, Jensen at times looks like he might become the first ever week X - week X suspended league player with his hot temper)

I too am pretty "giddy" about the possibilities and potential stars that CLG could get or really craft from scratch also, especially when you think that most of the ingredients aren't really that original(NA) to begin with but instead more imported 1-2 time recipes in hope that it works out.
You said it yourself about most teams and their possibilities of most likely not staying together, I thought you said DIG could break-up and Cop as a coach would be in the same boat as Zikz and CLG once Aphromoo and Darshan retires.

Miror BAug 26, 20171 votes

Dig can, and they probably will after the split (as I can't imagine a world in which ssumday will want to remain in NA after having such a better record in LCK). You're also slightly off on the idea that they need to "stay afloat", as with franchising starting next split they could theoretically tank for 1-2 splits just to get the "correct players" and not worry about relegation or anything (potentially crafting 20-man rosters assuming the rules on academy teams are relaxed a bit). If I had to take a guess, I'd say about half the teams next split will attempt this strategy (TL and EF being two obvious ones as I highly doubt they'll spend any $ on top-end korean talent and will want to wait about a year so they can push for the s-tier UFA class consisting of bjerg/contractz/caps/perkz), potentially creating an LCS in which we see multiple teams go like 17-1 or 16-2.

III BAKURYU III Aug 26, 20171 votes

Possibly, but I also see having more players on such rosters/sister teams/etc could also be a negative. For example, Apex Gaming had like a 11 man roster and really didn't do much in the long-run of things, TL swapped players in n out of the lineup and didn't really do much overall and same for EF, but barring them from the argument. Cloud 9 couldn't choose between Impact or Ray and that hesitation cost them decent ground in the standings and now they're eliminated from playoffs, when ideally they would still be in the playoffs if not a favorite for Finals, and that was a top tier team with a decision of just 1 player, imagine a C - or C+ team with multiple players in out of lineups.

Teams tanking 1-2 splits is also ? for me especially when teams will most likely just try to do so, and that would most likely be during the Spring Split alone, no team(real teams//EF/TL) tanks or try out their B-Squad players during the Summer, unless the starting talents are underachieving and or swapped out(P1 support - Adrian for an example).
Too much gold and an easier path for Worlds as at stake, for the thought of tanking.

Unless, some sort of "Draft" is introduced in some way, seeing teams "tank" or really try out certain players for X amount of splits is again ? for me because it really only takes teams like 1-2 weeks or 5-10 games of scrims/solo Q to really find out if X player is good anyways at the game.

I also don't see teams going 17-1 or 16-2 anytime soon, mainly because teams are too balanced at the current moment, add in NA's franchising, in which IDK if EU are doing the same thing, the lower tier teams will most likely get 2X stronger by next year, especially if anymore LCK/EU players leave their current regions for the franchising, more league/no real punishment/more $ we could see an over-stacked region in which a more likely 11-7 being a top tier record instead of 17-1 or 16-2 in the near future(2018 Spring/Summer)