Own The Rift For Your Region

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You think RNG or SKT stopped preparing for the second biggest tourney of the year for fear of burning out? To me that doesn't cut it for an explanation for what has been the most ridiculous showing for EU in recent memory.

Yes, there's no perfect team this year, but as someone who primary watches the EU LCS, to see this showing from G2 and then hear the didn't practice for the Mid Season Invitational just seems like a very NAIVE thing to have happened to them at best, and an irresponsible disrespectful cocky move at worst, and neither fits a professional team. It's what they do for a living. There's no excuse for what happened. They costed EU's top seeding for Worlds groups for the first time in League of Legends history. I can't cut that some slack based on "Oh sorry, we didn't practice for fear of burnout".

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but I am saying that it is a legitimate reason; I don't think cocky would explain anyone on that roster except maybe Perkz's attitude. They've been playing for four months straight with practices every day from what I've been seeing on their social media. Apparently even during the week break for IEM Katowice and the lead-up to the EU Playoffs, they were practicing.

I would have done it different, but I'm not their coach/owner. I don't know these people on a personal level to make a judgment call about their professional careers. Sure, we can retroactively state that it was a poor choice, but we can't deny the reasoning for it. If they had done well because they were fresh in mind and eager to play, then we would have been singing about the brilliance of Ocelote and Youngbuck. However, since the gamble did not pay off, we berate them for something we deem as unacceptable.

I need to iterate it, again, though. We don't participate in the daily lives of these players. Sure, we watch their gameplay, but we don't truly understand them on a personal level...their habits, quirks, or tendencies from day-to-day life. Maybe they saw something we didn't; maybe they noticed one of their players starting to suffer already from mental fatigue in the weeks leading up to the EU Spring Playoffs (and I'm stating this if it was the case for Trick or Emperor especially, the imports...or perhaps even for Perkz, their star mid laner). It was G2's call to make, and they had their own reasoning for it. It may have back-fired, but we need to respect their decision. Players and teams make questionable decisions in-game, and, just like in this situation, they may not pay off.

And, yes, I watched the EU LCS, as well, and G2 was a team I was hoping to do well. Sure, they were rather brutish in their playstyle, but they weren't stupid. They're the professionals; we're not. They qualified for the EU LCS; we didn't. They won the EU LCS; we didn't. I may not agree with their decision, but I respect them enough as professionals to have faith in their decisions. Their decisions got them here in the first place.