Hello all,
This is an opinion piece I wrote on how professionals influence on the scene and how it negatively affects players and regions alike (specifically from a NA standpoint). I would like to get some feedback on what the community thinks about what I view as a major issue. Please discuss.
ValyrianBlade2 votesI think your point is valid, but it's not at all what I expected to read based on the title.
In my opinion, imitation inhibits innovation because it's too easy to see exactly what someone else is picking/building/using for combos/etc... That there is no advantage to innovation.
In the real world, if you innovate you take on a lot of risk, but if you're successful you enjoy all of the rewards for a designated (significant) period of time (thanks to copyrights, etc).
In league, if you innovate you still take on lots of risk; you'll lose many games by playing non meta champions without predefined kill combos or other such advantages. Simultaneously, your incentive of reward is completely taken away (especially at the competitive level). If one of your innovations works out and beats/breaks the meta, you get what, 1 game with that advantage? Then everyone sees it and starts banning that champion saying it's OP until riot has no choice but to nerf it since no one gets to play it anyways. An innovation at lower levels of play probably won't work at higher levels. So that 1 win you get from an innovation better come at an important time - and overall it's just not worth the effort to innovate when you can be copied so easily, the effort is better spent on mastering mechanics created elsewhere (I.e. copying them).
I mean, in typical sports athletes don't advertise how they're training, they hide the competitive advantage. You can't really hide anything in league though, the whole scene is advertising everything pro players try in their games.
To your point though: I think using an Eastern created meta isn't the reason the west loses to them. The West loses because the east work harder, have better support, and probably have a significantly larger playing population to draw talent from. If I were to come up with a 'meta' that could beat the current meta hands down, I would be able to sell it to a pro team for more than they value one win though. Which is because as soon as they use it once in competition to crush their opponents, they'll either have the champs banned or the other teams will switch to that meta too. Maybe if it was now and the team could keep it a secret until world's next year so they have a year of practice in a meta no other team has seen, then it might be enough of an advantage to win, but it's a huge investment of time to take on the risk that riot doesn't release a patch which breaks the meta they've been practicing. Even if it lasts until world's, it's not like the other teams have never played the champions being used - they'll likely adopt the meta or try a new way to counter it and it may not even work.
The only way innovation will ever really happen is if there's reward proportional to the risk of failure, and with the way league is set up there's really no reward for innovating.
enfilade1011 votesFirst, thanks for taking the time to comment. I am genuinely interested in this topic and really want the community to discuss this or at least think about it.
You make a lot of points and I will try to stick to topic. I should start by re-stating that Meta picks are each there for a reason, this point I do not disagree with. Basically, this is mainly about the adoption of regional meta differences vs maintaining what works for us.
Going into worlds, Western regions abandoned a lot of what they were playing throughout LCS after they boot camped in Korea. They played into many of the Eastern regional meta picks rather than sticking to what they had been playing all season. There was no patched power-shift as seen in many meta shifts, it was strict adoption of Eastern flavor. I think this attributes to why we don't win, it's not the primary reason, but it still matters. You touched on supporting cast and practice schedules which, among so much more, are huge issues for Western teams too.
My opinion is obviously that innovative picks offer huge advantages if done properly. The risk you define as losing games, isn't really a long-term risk or a risk at all if you play normal/custom games. Once you do understand your kill combos, power spikes, damage potential, etc. the champion becomes that much stronger. The point about the longevity of the advantage and the possibility of just banning out any pick is very valid, but this should still be considered an advantage. If you are drawing bans on obscure things, then you open doors for other picks to fall throughout your team.
What I believe needs to happen is players need to make picks their own. Examples: Froggen's Anivia, Wickd's Irelia, Ball's Rumble, HotshotGG's Nidalee/LeBlanc, etc. These picks were/are feared even when they aren't in the meta. Additionally, when they aren't meta, you won't regularly encounter them and become less practiced against them or even worse don't even know how to play against them, which is the advantage. I think this is an under utilized strategy. Players seem content just playing what everyone else plays but it has been proven by so many that mastery of ANY champion can be useful. See players like DaBox, Annie Bot, Loli Lancer, Last Skarner NA, XoXXoX.
It can be seen in a few examples from this past season with Overpow on Morde or Keane on Hecarim Mid. Picks like these change the overall dynamic of the game. Things can happen that the players are no longer accustom to which again, is the advantage.
Disregarding other issues, I think this is a way for us to potentially win worlds but it will likely take community commitment to the idea of innovation.
ValyrianBlade1 votesWell said and I largely agree.
There still exists risk though, if you're practicing these ideas in custom Games you're not practicing as much on the play style you're using in competitive Games throughout the season and This can hurt you. If you try something new in challenger, odds are it will be steamed and copied.
I really agree that the player base needs to be much more accepting of off meta picks in order to allow improvement though.
enfilade1011 votesAgreed the practice should eventually be vetted through ranked matches. And if it is copied from our challenger scene(internally or externally), that is perfect, because we are then setting the trend and theoretically will have the most practice on it.