Rift Rivals Recap: "Expectations vs Realities"
Heed to the title as that is what this week of League eSports action has brought us chalk full of thrills, excitement, drama, bragging, lots of bragging, so much bragging it might not matter in 3 months, upsets, and more! Rift Rivals: an event in the middle of the summer split that brings the best from the spring split who may or may not be rolling in their graves because their present form is not even close to adding up to the past. This post is being made to recap and express some opinions I had on the 5 Rift Rivals events held To me the big summary of the entire week was as it says in the title: Expectation vs Reality, or as I like to word it: "How wrong were you?" Normally in my posts I don't start with the popular one. But I will this time as this was my personal most interested Rift:
#Blue Rift: NA vs EU# Winner: NA Expectation: EU destroys NA off the basis mixed of MSI and Summer Split form between both regions Reality: NA played their style and thus styled on EU...it was sometimes close
Say what you want. I know I was wrong. I know a lot of people were wrong. I look back at my prediction comment on the boards a week ago and see just how wrong I got it. Self scolding aside, this competition and format really drew out the intensity and passion that was long lost from the Battle of the Atlantic days. And this time, we have a definitive conclusion that makes sense and cannot be denied. The North American representatives made a statement this week and while it was only against one region it breathed a new life in the fans who stay behind the region through thick and thin.
Flip the coin to Europe where it's a lot of disappointment and disheartening feeling. While they fought a good fight, what really happened? One dimensional play styles? Able to be read by their opponents? It's as if they bothered to not do their own homework on who they would be up against regardless of placement in their standings. I do a power ranking from time to time and it won't be the first I'll mention that in this thread. On the last one I did, I had weaker standards for NA and stronger than normal standards for EU. I said before this tournament I didn't want to let Rift Rivals strongly influence the next time I revise the rankings. But this one event has very likely changed my mind; maybe not strong influence but a moderate effect.
#Red Rift: LPL vs LMS vs LCK# Winner: LPL Expectation: Korea dominates the competition per usual and should it come to it, SKT carries the squad to victory Reality: Everyone except SKT (until the end) either over or under performed their general standards
Now this is one where I want to personally say...I was right in my prediction:
"I would play the "Korea dominates everything" card but I'm actually not seeing anything that's truly intimidating of the teams that have been running among the top of the table. Of course there's the never counting out SKT part. But then you get to the never expecting KT or SSG to remain this super consistent force of power. Those feelings on top of the fact that SKT will be running their "5-Powers" roster which has looked exploitable as of late, while I still see them able to win, I don't see it as clean or dominant. I put them on level to the LMS representatives honestly for this event given FW, JT, and AHQ have looked or stayed to their form in their region (exception to FW however with their early split punishments and roster swaps)
I like this final however. If I read it right, it's a Bo5 in which no team can play twice. So what world could it be that SKT nets 2-0 vs either China or Taiwan, only to have the other Korean teams fail to show up and lose it all out in the end. Personally I just want to see the variety in competition.
Winner: Team China
Ego stroking aside, of course the end is a little wrong as I didn't get the finals format at the time. But I don't think I've ever been or felt that right about a prediction. As I said in my reality: the teams over or under performed based off of their general standards. Meaning if they looked good going in, they didn't look as great and vice versa. While it felt relatively short for the number of teams and the amount of games they played, it did draw a few conclusions and open my eyes a bit to the joy and unpredictability of single matches or just showing up on a given hour. In the end, no region's teams looked like they had an overall edge over one another, except SKT who kind of ran over their two opponents in the group stage; this...only applies for single game records unfortunately. Quite an obvious take away.
#Purple Rift: OPL vs GPL vs LJL (Aka: The story of the GPL's shortcomings)# Winner: LJL Expectation: GIGABYTE Marines would carry the GPL team to total victory. Reality: They kind of did...until the end...
This is the tournament in which format really bit the GPL. The format started with a group stage in which every team would play 2 games. Semifinals was a King of the Hill showdown starting with the 3rd place teams and last team standing would send their team into the finals. And the Finals was a Fixed Relay which is similar to that of the Red Rift. Long story short: GAM dragged their team as far as they could. A 1-5 record for the GPL in group stage - their only win being GAM, followed by a reverse sweep of all three OPL teams - once again by GAM, only to be in the finals where they're down 2 games and it's up to GAM to carry the load. Sadly they could only have 2 games. Unfortunately they fell short of leading it to a Game 5.
TLDW: Ascension Gaming and Mineski failed to pick up a single win. And this will be the region that has earned an extra spot for Worlds. Criticizing aside, this is now, the future may be different.
As for the LJL and OPL, they actually showed up quite well for themselves even if the tournament was one of the Wildcard Rift Rivals. Both regions looked hungrier for a better reputation and that's something I can get behind more when the road to Worlds counts down.
#Green Rift: TCL vs LCL# Winner: TCL Expectation: A heated clash between two revered high table Wildcard regions despite Virtus Pro's MSI run Reality: Turkey was loaned the Schalke Tank in a gunfight
Green Rift was the closest format to that of the NA vs EU Blue Rift format; group stage round robin then best team in a Bo5 final. So it would be something along the lines of a good fight, right? How about no. The group stage was a collective 13-3 result. And I watched a few of the games. They were not that close half the time. Only Vega Squadron of the LCL was able to draw together wins for the region until the final day of groups. And then they still lost to 1907 Fenerbahçe and their sort of loaded roster. To be real, any Turkish team could have taken on Vega and won. That's how sad it felt to me.
So where do we go from here? Only one team from each region gets that Worlds Play In spot. I feel like the TCL is going to take this win and put some attention their way once Worlds comes around the corner. Meanwhile on the LCL side, there should be a bit of lesser criticism over their results here (kind of). The regional competition is in somewhat disarray as their representatives are scattered across the standings looming over the leading and sort of dominating Gambit Gaming. Chances we see them later in the year if they keep it up.
#Yellow Rift: LNN vs CLS vs CBLOL# Winner: CBLOL Expctation: Brazil wins it no problem. Reality: There were problems. But they won. Barely.
I personally watched the semis and finals of the Yellow Rift. And I remember saying at the very end that this was Latam South's time. The summer standings between the regions really played a vital part in the unpredictability of this tournament. LNN had a key player down for the tournament on one of their teams. And CBLOL was fielding somewhat struggling teams compared to their spring split form. In the end, you just can't count out Brazil among the wildcard regions. And that where I took a hit because I was absolutely on the CLS train after seeing their group stage result.
And that's my list. The tournaments all together entertained me for the week and while it wasn't the best time to pull an international event, at least it's something to lean toward going into the coming months. What did you think of the other Rift Rivals events that you may have watched? Anything you think I'm discrediting or not giving enough credit to? Does this really matter for expectations of Worlds?
