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Deft: Easyhoon is more of a threat than Faker

Riot··0 votes·35,552 views
China's Edward Gaming (EDG) has sailed through the Mid-Season Invitational so far, taking down every opponent except for Korea's SKTelecom T1. For EDG's AD carry Hyuk-kyu "Deft" Kim, the loss was a big let down. "Before the tournament began, I thought we looked really good and there weren't any formidable bot duos," he said to Lolesports. "But losing to SKT really, really hurt my pride." According to Deft, they lost the game before even hitting the Rift. "I think the reason why we lost our game against SKT was because, from the get-go, all three lanes were countered by SKT's champions," he explains. "Next time around we're going to make sure to not lose in terms of champion matchups during picks and bans. Having that upper hand during the laning phase probably will help us win, I believe." Before Deft and EDG can face off against SKT, they need to defeat Ahq once more. And Deft doesn't seem too worried about the LMS team. "For me, Ahq is a team that EDG can beat," he says. "We've never lost a game against them during our scrims. So I feel pretty comfortable." He's also confident that EDG is better than Ahq in every lane during the laning phase. "I believe we can easily snowball our upper-hand from the laning phase on to the entire game." Of course, EDG already smashed Ahq once this tournament, taking down the Taiwanese team in 35 minutes. If EDG comes through against Ahq, they could face off against SKTelecom in the MSI Finals -- assuming the LCK team beats EU's Fnatic tomorrow. And surprisingly, he names Easyhoon as the more difficult mid lane opponent to face off against. "Currently I think Easyhoon's playing slightly better, so he's more of a threat," Deft says. "Faker is really good at making plays that change the game. But the current meta doesn't really allow that type of play to happen. Right now it's usually farm, farm, farm, and then team fight," he explains. "So at the moment, I think Easyhoon is more of a threat than Faker." Fighting words from the AD carry, indeed! Tune in to Lolesports tomorrow to see if Deft and EDG can manage to take down Ahq as convincingly as he thinks they will, or if the LMS team will be able to pull off an upset. If you've missed any of the matches of MSI so far, you can catch them all on our spoiler-free VODs page. Leah Jackson is a web content editor at Lolesports. Her favorite champion is currently Heimerdinger. Feel free to follow her on Twitter for esports banter and corgi pictures.

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53 Comments

HostageSituation17 votes

I have hope that AHQ can do something, maybe an upset, or put up a solid fight vs EDG. I have faith in AHQ

OutlawHunter5 votes

you think too much

CitrusLime1 votes

You talk too much.

OutlawHunter4 votes

Look like im right and you r wrong

HighLordJack4 votes

Yeah they've showed their competence against the first class teams. EDG may have a hard time with them.

Daedalus Rising3 votes

There's definitely a lot of circumstances that are strikingly similar to upsets we've seen in similar past venues (the dark horse team finding some unexpected wins, growing quickly & gaining confidence, while the favoured team is preoccupied with and looking towards the final instead of concentrating on what's in front of them). AHQ may not have beat EDG during scrims but does that mean they're just going to fold? Don't forget WE at IEM Katowice!

QiYi4 votes

AHQ is a really strong team. However, since top teams all plays so well, the competition between top teams really comes down to who makes the small mistakes. You can see that SKT came back from 10k deficits in two games just by capitalizing on one small mistake. Looking at the games that these two teams plays historically, I feel that EDG is better than AHQ at not making the mistakes.

HTFxZZ2 votes

you think too much

sIyveon4 votes

you think too much.

Lexilulu4 votes

much you too think.

sonsed10 votes

I really really love that before it started everyone from NA was like''TSM TSM TSM FNC sucks they won't even make it out of groups''. and even downvoting all comments believe in FNC got like -30 at least. and now they say nothing 'cos TSM couldn't make it out of groups and they still said that FNC where bad when they lost 2 SKT. Mad muricans confirmed

Dan Braum3 votes

Dude, are u really posted the same comment twice in two different articles? I am an EU, and more specifically a massive Fnatic fanboy, and I was really happy seeing the NA fanboys' salty comments, but damn, this is so not cool bro. Pls delete at least one of them. For the sake of EU.

Fiet4 votes

Agreed, this is really sad posting the same comment in 2 articles please have some dignity. Still I do love how fnatic just beat solomid in MSI and got out of groups where solomid didn't and fnatic even put up a great fight against SKT. They are a team full of rookies, they will only get better from here I believe they will make a great run at worlds.

Shadow Strider13 votes

As an American, I can honestly say that I never did any of that. Obviously it's hard to tell what team is better just from one game, but frankly TSM has not been looking good at all on an international stage during MSI. FNC showed that they deserve their top spot and TSM clearly has some work to do to compete with teams from regions outside NA.

P.S. I'm not a TSM fan and don't really get myself involved in the whole NA vs. EU thing, so I like to think I can look at this stuff from a fairly unbiased view.

AFK Sam6 votes

NA and EU is equally bad.But At least FNC had the right attitude and put up a fight. So we respect FNC. Where is your common sense to not laugh at the idea that "NA is better than EU". Does freedom means stupid?

ScareyCarey4 votes

...What?

AFK Sam4 votes

You can think TSM is cult. As an Asian, I pay my sincerely respect to FNC after watching their game against SKT. At least they are season 1 world championship, and in this game, FNC made SKT a run for their money.

TSM is nothing but a piece of stool. They never proved themself whatsoever. When they win against the last place team from LPL, they think good about themselves, now they get the chance to play against the best Chinese team, they got beat up like a school nerd. But you know, "it is not that they don't stand a chance against EDG, it is that they did not perform well."

Cadence13371 votes

How do I upvote more?

Klokateer2 votes

It is more of that TSM fans are a plague. I never liked TSM, and probably never will. TSM has this huge fan base because they sold the hell out of their name, and did well season one. Apart from that, people tend to latch to the current number one and then themselves become fair-weather fans.

Muricans don't really like TSM. We liked Curse and Cloud 9. Anyone that actually likes eSports here has a bit more to say than just "TSM! TSM! TSM!" You got baited by all of the kids with the spell checks that made themselves look a little more than 10 years old.

PoisonedTea3 votes

{quoted}

It is more of that TSM fans are a plague. I never liked TSM, and probably never will. TSM has this huge fan base because they sold the hell out of their name, and did well season one. Apart from that, people tend to latch to the current number one and then themselves become fair-weather fans.

Muricans don't really like TSM. We liked Curse and Cloud 9. Anyone that actually likes eSports here has more to say than TSM! TSM! TSM! You got baited by all of the kids with the spell checks that made themselves look a little more than 10 years old.

You should see CLG fans.

But fans do overreact and are even hard on the people they fanatic over.

Klokateer1 votes

I can't stand Doublelift, but I love Aphromoo. He's a lot better spirited. Doublelift is way too cocky for a team that doesn't get too far.

CLG fans are more of cultists than a plague. I don't know anyone that is a CLG fan, they seem to be an underground team.

Random Enough3 votes

Man why don't people get doublelift? He's not actually that cocky! He makes controversial statements on purpose to get hype going around matches and around CLG. In interviews afterwards and during no particular events he's really humble and down to earth, he just acts like that before an event to make things exciting. He's a personality and I personally think its a brilliant idea. Yea I'll agree that they don't back up what he says but that doesnt stop the hype train he starts beforehand every single time!

ScareyCarey5 votes

Honestly, I think the people that hate a team (whether it's TSM or C9 or Fnatic or whoever) are the plague. Yes, fans often love a team too much, it's just like with any sport, fans can go overboard. But read the articles written by lolesports as an example and you'll see somebody throw in a TSM insult almost every time regardless of what the article is even about (or the obligatory 'TSM!' comment). My theory is, the more people like a thing, the more other people will hate it for the sole purpose of opposing what's popular. It's human nature. So you get a wave of TSM fans that love their team...and then you get the colossal load of angry people who just spout TSM hate because, idk, their favorite teams aren't as loved or talked about as much or because they saw a few shitty fan comments and now they're just permanently jaded. Are all fans perfect? Nah, but you're gonna have to learn to live with that.

I mean, Americans obviously do really like TSM. What do you think those chants in the crowd are whenever they play, the equivalent to a laugh track? I have no problem admitting I love TSM. They've been my favorite team since season 1, and I think the way they sold their brand in the early days was extremely intelligent on a business level. I can also admit they played terribly at MSI and that Fnatic had every right to advance out of groups. They lost to SKT1 again, but it was a damn good set of games. Fnatic is looking fantastic internationally right now. Props to them. And I have no problem admitting that because I love League of Legends and I'm not about to get all pissy when my favorite team loses. So don't come on here with the supremacy, the "anyone who really likes esports" elitist crap. There's nothing wrong with liking a popular team. Sure, purely fair-weather fans suck, but for many new people coming into League who don't know all the team histories, sometimes there's nothing more to tie them to a team than its success. And after a while those people will find things about other teams they love and root for them. For us, it's often the players. I'm a TSM fan at heart, but I also love H2K to death because of Prolly as a coach and Odoamne, and I like Team Gravity...because they have heart! lol. Idk, anyway, those are just some of my long-winded thoughts. Take it however you'd like.

Tarkamacska7 votes

Great game between FNC and SKT!

LaJussi7 votes

Riven if faker play her everyone has lost already

Maitner4 votes

I personally disagree with Deft. OK I get that meta is that, but rly it is hard to overfarm yourself when you are camped all time, and in my humble opinion Faker so far has made a very impressive job of staying alive on lines and even outfarming his opponents what makes me say that Deft is completely wrong.

Thou reading this article I feel like "Demn I now want EDG to get so much crushed in match vs AHQ" I mean you cannot count down any team that made it so far. TSM did count down FNC and they got crushed. Probably SKT has counted FNC down as well, but maybe it was that bans, and this was I think extremely close match that made me sit on the edge of my chair. So I really feel like Deft's overconfidence should be punished and I hope AHQ can pull it off. And if not AHQ I hope that they will be crushed 3:0 in finals by SKT i hope but it can be FNC as well

AFK Sam10 votes

This much hate for EDG... WOW LPL won world 2nd place two years in a row already. Being 2nd best in the world with the fact that Korean teams are 1st does not make LPL bad at all.. As the regional champion from LPL, EDG is allowed to make a strong statement. It is OK that you might not like it, but this negative attitude........... Come on, man..

In addition, if you don't care LPL, then you don't care LPL, it is not my job to change your opinion. However, facts are still facts. Assuming there are averagely 3 team fights in 1 game, in the whole season of LPL, then EDG at least had to win over 100 team fights to get on top. When a team went through that much, we need to pay respect to them even though you might not like them personally

Traveller42 votes

in my opinion, this tournament not a single team can match up with this years edg. skt included. final wont be exciting, it will be one sided

QiYi4 votes

Deft isn't overconfident. He simply stated that he is comfortable going against AHQ based on the scrims that they've practiced in. Which is just using statistical analysis to forge a conclusion. Also, he did not say faker is weak by any means. He simply feels that Easyhoon may be better in the current meta. So please read the entire article next time before you start bashing. :P

mForce 4HaMmEr24 votes

DEFT: EASYHOON IS MORE OF A THREAT THAN FAKER Bullshit we saw easyhoon in first game versus CJ at semifinals ect. useless, also we saw tom in 1-st and 2-nd game worse than me, after that we saw Faker at game 3,4,5 (game 2 he pick xerath useless in current meta) carrying team with bang and deft claim easyhoon is better. At LCK finals GE tigers were so so bad looking like 5-th or 6-th team in Korea in current moment and you claim easyhoon is better. Easyhoon shall play farmville not LoL if he is under preasure he is more than 0, not even close to faker mechanics, vision of game and playmakeing skills.

PhoenixDXS8 votes

If you read the article, Deft said "more of a threat" means Easyhoon fits the meta better. Deft also admitted Faker is better at play making and has better mechanical skills Each player has strength and weakness. No one is God player

CuriousChameleon3 votes

i think its hilarious to read comments like this

1st: Who has better knowledge about this game and the meta, you or deft? If you have, why arent you playing for a pro team yet? 2nd: Who played against Easyhoon and Faker? You or Deft? It is out of your limit to say who is better if they are obviously so equally good

Mr 0ctober4 votes

It is funny for people to make fun of people but still be wrong. Do you know why Deft left Korea? He did it to have a huge salary bonus to play the game, since China pays a lot more than Korea does for the same game. Faker was offered Deft's job first, but declined since he appreciates/ loves SKT1. Deft doesn't like faker simply because he is better than him, and was offered the job 2nd.

ImNotINTzMayumi3 votes

But if u have seen LPL final this spring , u wil konw ,if EDG try their best , AHQ has 0 chance

Raistling3 votes

Easyhoon is a lot worse for a LPL team because he is a artillery mage/skirmisher. Almost all LPL teams are bad vs disengage because it's in the blood to go in! That's all deft was probably hinting at, not mechanics.

JuulHitter3 votes

Zed item 3153 really?

Spartakus II2 votes

GO FANATIC GO! I hope Fanatic will smash SKT1 and BUGS cann't stop us guyes!

T RexHasTinyArms2 votes

I can't believe no one has mentioned the biggest reason Easyhoon is such a big threat! HE IS A SUB!

Have any other teams used a sub this tournament? The fact that Easyhoon OR Faker can be thrown in and the team is still top tier competitive is the biggest threat Easyhoon brings. I mean he's a strong player, but if there were still two SKT teams, then opponents would only have to prepare to play against one of their opponent's play styles. Fnatic shut down TSM in part bc they had a good strategy and prepared well vs TSM. If TSM had two top laners and suddenly wanted to play a carry top, Fnatic would have had to revise pick and ban strategy on the spot. That is the real strength of Easyhoon. No one is letting LeBlanc get through when Faker is playing, but vs Easyhoon it is a different story. The different play style and champ preferences are something that at the pro level you have to be ready for, and Easyhoon doubles the level of game planning before a match that opponents have to do for mid lane. No matter who is the better player in the meta, or in clutch situations, or whatever, the advantage of having flexibility that no one else does is a HUGE benefit that Easyhoon brings to the team.

Rinqua2 votes

Fighting words? No, its just true. Assassin players have had to try to step outside their comfort zone for the past several patches. While its hurt faker less than a player like bjergsen, its still a big difference to a cassi master like easyhoon.

Hardstuck lron I1 votes

Honestly I hope EDG crushes AHQ and then gets crushed by SKT, if possible with FakerLeblanc

OutlawHunter3 votes

Faker is just an entertainment for the western audience, easyhoon is the real deal. However,based on today's performance from both edg and skt. tbh skt will be crushed by edg tmr. Mark my word.

Hardstuck lron I1 votes

I know im a little late to reply, But trust me, u do not know a single thing about SKT. SKT is a team where it does not depend on a single team member. SKT AND EDG are top tier teams that do not just rely on the quote on quote "faker" of the team. TSM is a prime example of a team like that. Nott to mention the entertainment has one of the highest KDA and best win rates for the champion he plays in LCK.

Mag1k1 votes

I think he's mostly right. Faker is one of the most mechanically gifted mid-laner's, but Easyhoon play's so patient and calculated. Easyhoon doesn't take risks, which is great for a meta where killing people quickly doesn't really happen (unless you're a Cho'Gath w/ your ult up). All of his best champions just want to scale, or are control type mid laners (and even then they just wanna scale). When you can't 0-100 people in mere moments, his type of champions are pretty prevalent. Zone Control has become or is close to more important than kill pressure come mid/late game, turning positioning into kill pressure.

Husb4nd Of Diana1 votes

I GIVE HIM RIGHT WHEN WE NEED THE HEROS BACK AND THE TF'S ARE NOT MORE IMPORTENT, THEN IS FAKER THE GOD OF GODS AGAIN THE BEST !!!

Husb4nd Of Diana1 votes

LET HAVE A TEAM 5 FAKERS U KNOW WHAT I MEAN 100 % PERFECT TEAM ON EACH LANE :D

ShadowFiend8121 votes

Why are there so many tsm hate comments on articles that don't relate to tsm?

Hardstuck lron I1 votes

I believe its because TSM is known to be the team with the most band wagoners

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