Curious as to see what the current favorite team is for the North American LoL Comunity, I'd imagine CLG- or at least this is my favorite at the moment. They did very well at MSI and put North America back on the map as far as expectations go. If you favor another team over CLG I'd like to know who and why (other than that you believe its better than all the other teams).
OurLordBison3 votesCloud 9 is my favorite but my close second is echo fox
crabface52 votesSince spring Season 5, I've been a really big fan of TL. Since then, I've remained a big fan of them, but I'm also loving CLG and C9, for their players, strategy, and anti-TSM, and giving mad respect to Echo Fox and NRG, for their organizational promise to giving the players the most security they can have (IE payments, gaming space, adequate living quarters, legal help etc.). TL has a combination of both, and each year, they get so close to worlds, so when they do go, eventually, it will be all the more victorious, being a top-tier underdog of sorts. That, and TL was the first team I watched for esports ever and they won. To each his own, tho.
dakm1021 votesPersonally I love C9 as a team. Been watching them since late season 4 and I loved them even back then. Every personality is great on them since even the new players adapt the c9 persona which is honestly awesome to see. I also love how they are so dedicated to having NA represented well. If you pay attention to twitter and what not you will see that they are easily the most hyped when stuff happens like CLG do well at MSI. I also just think the organization is great and those are my main reasons for supporting C9
DREADN0UGHT1 votesI'm a TSM fan, but CLG won my heart at MSI.
So I pretty much support both teams at this point.
TokenBlackGuy11 votesHow is that possible to support both? Especially when against each other? That's like cheering for the yankees and red sox or duke and chapel hill. I do respect clg for what they did at msi but TSM till I die.
DREADN0UGHT1 votesi don't see why it could be impossible to support 2 teams of a same sport, or esport in this case.
TokenBlackGuy11 votesI don't think it is impossible just rare to see someone like two rivals. Kappa
Smart Kitty1 votesCLG until the end.
lccarus1 votesImmortals forever. Huni and Reignover won my loyalty when they were on Fanatic and I followed them over to IMT
III BAKURYU III 1 votesI like to see TSM win so I suppose I root for them but truthful I don't have a favorite team to be honest.
I don't care what team it is if its TSM-CLG-NRG-ECHO I just want to see great games from either teams facing each other. I give mad props to the team that wins their games but bigger props to the team that just goes out into the fray and gives it their all; win or lose I don't care as long as they fight to their last breath.
No shame in losing to a better team !
Shadowatom1 votesI've been enjoying IMT, CLG, and NV so far, mainly NV but I think it's because I've become a fan of Seraph. IMT because they seem to enjoy experimenting around with a variety of champions (at least top lane), which is always a breath of fresh air compared to the same 20 champions that show up every other game. And CLG just because of their MSI run and their show of team work, plus Zikz is a pretty cool guy and I think he's a good coach.
Cupsake1 votesThe MSI is the first time I actually watched LoL teams going against each other, so I guess that is why as of now my current favorite is CLG for NA. I'll watch the Summer games that way I can familiarize myself more with the other NA teams. :)
Nice input from everyone. And I get you Galactic!- I was supporting both Flashwolves and CLG at MSI. I was supporting G@ as well, but they let me down a bit, I'm sure Europe will make a comeback at the Summer splits or whatever its called though.
Shadowatom1 votesThe World Championship is the next international tournament where EU can make their comeback ^-^. (Do you know the Worlds format out of curiosity? I'd explain it, but I don't want to tell you something you already know. If not, probably will be good to know before it comes around and so you can understand a bit of what's going on later on in the split).
Cupsake1 votesWell it's to my understanding that the Summer Splits only apply to the teams in the regions and they don't internationally compete. The winners of the splits will be the ones to compete at the World Championships. In terms of how they decide which teams go against which teams within their regions, I can't say I do. I thought it was at random until they get to a certain point (specifically a knock-out phase per say) and the top 4 scoring teams will go against each other, then the winners of those matches go against one another in Summer Split Finals, and the winner goes to Worlds.
Am I correct?
Shadowatom1 votesMostly. Each region is slightly different in how they operate, but they all have a regular season consisting of teams going against each other in an attempt to get high placements (higher placement = higher seeding in playoffs). Once the regular season is done, the region goes into their playoffs which varies greatly from region to region. In EU and NA, it's a 6 team single elimination bracket with a third place match, in Korea it's a 5 man gauntlet run with a Bo3 wildcard match, in the LMS it's a 4 man gauntlet run*, in China they turn everything on it's head and do a slanted double gauntlet run (two teams in the first round get a free win for higher seeding, then proceed to continue a normal gauntlet until the finals) with a third place match.
The winners of the region's playoffs continue on to the World Championships, but wait! There's more! Worlds isn't just MSI, it includes 2nd and 3rd seeds for most regions (except from the LMS and IWC). The second seed is usually determined through champion points which are rewarded at the end of the Spring and Summer Splits based on how a team ended (this also varies from region to region), the team with the most that didn't win the Summer playoffs becomes the region's second seed.
Now you may be wondering, what about the third seed? Well, the remaining teams are seeded into a 4 man gauntlet(based on how many champion points they've earned**) with the winner proceeding as the third seed to Worlds.
The IWC seeds are decided at IWCQ which will be inviting the top teams from each of the wildcard regions (Turkey, Brazil, Latin America North & South, Japan, Eastern Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia), this is the first year they've done the IWCQ (before they had two different tournaments with the regions split up between the two), so I can only assume it'll be similar to the IWCI with a double round robin with the top 4 teams moving on to a Knockout stage with the winner taking the 1st IWC seed, and the runner-up taking the 2nd IWC seed.
Then we have the Pools for Worlds and the drawing. The top 4 seeds are placed in Pool 1 (There are technically 6 top seeds though, but the regions that made it into the knockout stage at MSI secured the top 4, so NA, KR, CN, and TW). Pool 2 consists of 8 teams also slightly varying on MSI performance (since EU failed to place in the top 4, they have their 1st and second seed in Pool 2, NA has their 2nd seed, CN and KR have their 2nd and 3rd seeds, and TW has their 2nd seed). Pool 3 is made up of NA's 3rd seed, EU's 3rd seed, and the 2 IWC seeds (usually). These Pools are then drawn from into 4 groups with teams from the same regions unable to be placed in the same group.
The group stage consists of a double round robin of Bo1s with the top 2 teams from each group moving on to the Knockout Stage. Here's where I'm a little hazy myself: The knockout stage is I think semi-randomly seeded with #1 teams from the group stage facing only #2 teams from the group stage. It then proceeds as a normal 8 man bracket usually does with the winner being crowned the Champions.
*- A 4 man gauntlet consists of 3 rounds, with the 3rd place and 4th place facing each other at the bottom, the winner faces 2nd place in round 2, the winner of that faces 1st place in round 3, with the winner of that being the winner of the playoffs. Korea uses a wild card match where 4th and 5th place face each other in a Bo3 in the first round, then it's Bo5 through the rest of the tournament with the expected seeding for each round. The Chinese slanted gauntlet is basically two gauntlets with the winner of each facing each other in the finals, and the second place of each gauntlet facing each other in a third place match.
**- TW might be slightly different in how they decide their seeds with them only earning champion points in Spring and Summer playoffs to decide seeding for their regional qualifiers, the winner then receives the 1st seed for Worlds, with the second place team getting the 2nd seed.
Cupsake1 votesholy shallots, that's complicated!
Shadowatom1 votesYeah, it becomes easier to understand if you see some visual representations of the tournaments and such. You can look at lolesports for how each region handles their playoffs (by checking the spring split results), and if you go to the 2015 site (there's a link to it at lolesports), you can get an idea for how Worlds works once all the teams have qualified and such (maybe even each regional qualifier). Just be careful about looking at the 2015 site since some things have changed (the LPL has changed their playoffs since the 2015 season, their playoff format before was... pretty confusing from the looks of it). You can also find a few images of the Pools for Worlds online, they just won't have the right seedings for this year of course (before this year, EU, NA, CN, and KR were always the Pool 1 teams, this year gave a chance for TW and the IWC a chance to steal those spots).
RIP Resonance1 votesMy team was TSM back in S5. Dyrus and Lustboy were my only reason for watching. Now I watch C9 for Sneaky and Meteos.
Cupsake1 votesI just watched one of their games earlier today and yeah man, that Meteos can make some plays- he knows how to jungle!
Myz1 votesI have multiple favorite teams so here's each of mine for each regions I follow :)
NA: NRG ( GBM fan reporting for duty ) and CLG ( hotshotgg fan since S1 ) EU : Roccat, I used to like G2, but after what they did to Emperor I can't like them anymore, I really like Blaze with Emperor in S2 LMS : Taipei Assassin and Flash Wolves ( even if steak isn't a player anymore, I liked him ) KR : Tigers ( PraY and Kuro fan ) and Samsung I guess ? I also like CJ entus China : RNG ( really like Uzi, maybe 3rd time will be the charm for the world cup ? )
Shadowatom1 votesJ Team* (Taipei renamed after someone bought them).
LuxannaVeritas1 votesI'm actually rooting for NV this season. They acquired some players from Renegades and TDK, and Renegades looked really good at the end of the spring split. I also think Seraph and Ninja are top players in their respective roles.
I also like rooting for the underdogs.
Fowus1 votesC9 without a doubt