Under pressure: The NA LCS teams prep for Playoffs
Riot·4/4/2015, 1:28:13 AM·0 votes·16,004 views
It's time for the NA LCS Playoffs once again, and Team Liquid top laner Diego "Quas" Ruiz is confident. "If we just make sure that we have everything in check, I think we can beat any team," he says. If there's one thing that all the teams in the NA LCS are going to need coming into the Playoffs, it's that confidence. Any missteps now could mean the end of the Split for them and a kiss goodbye to the Mid-Season Invitational or even Worlds 2015.
As the Playoffs start Saturday, you can bet that all six of the squads headed to the postseason are making sure they're ready. The thing that sets them apart is just how they go about that. We chatted with members of each of the Playoff squads after their Week 9 matches to find out exactly what they're doing to make sure they reach the top of the NA LCS.
When we spoke, TSM had just secured a bye past the first round of the Playoffs, something Dyrus has mixed feelings about considering the results of the 2015 Summer Split Playoffs. "I think it's extremely important [to get the bye], because it gives us a lot of breathing room and more practice time," he says. "But at the same time, it's not as important if our goal is really to be the best, because whether if we have a bye or not, we should be able to beat every single team we play against."
"Last year, even though we didn't get the bye, I felt like our games against Team Dignitas prepared us for the upcoming games. For example, we had a lot of problems in that Dignitas series that, if we had that bye, we wouldn't have had the chance to fix them."
Meanwhile, Counter Logic Gaming veteran ADC Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng is firm in his opinion that the bye doesn't matter, saying, "There's no point to really consider whether or not we get the bye. For CLG, it's never been a matter of needing the bye or the extra boost. It's just if we're going to choke at Playoffs or not, if we can show up and be the best team. In the end, getting first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or whatever, isn't in our goal sheet. We just want to go to MSI. We need to go to Tallahassee and win. 1st place is our goal [at Playoffs]. And to do that, you have to beat every team anyways."
Cloud9's Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi believes in the bye. "If we're not first or second seed, we're a lot less safe, in the fact that it's harder to get further in the playoffs," he says. "You have to play an extra match, and you have to play immediately. Like, next week. That's a lot closer than being first or second seed. You get an entire week break to sit there and prepare. That's been really nice when we got that first or second seed in past splits." And now, thanks to a tiebreaker win over CLG, he'll get that opportunity to take a week to prepare for the victor of the Quarterfinal Best of 5 between Team Liquid and CLG.
Says Sneaky, "You have to have more than one strategy available. If you only have one, and use it the first game, the next time that side comes up, they're going to ban out your strat. If you don't have anything else, you're going to lose the game. You have to have more strats prepared than normal."
He says that improvisational style comes as a result of their experience in the 2014 NA LCS Summer Split Playoffs. "The last Best of 5 we had against LMQ, we went for a lot of comfort picks and didn't really change our strategy much. We ended up losing games that we could have won if we changed our drafting. I think it was a mistake to go for comfort picks, because a lot of other picks were better in the situation. We allowed the other team to beat us with these picks instead of mixing it up. I think it's really important to adapt, and sometimes be uncomfortable with what you're doing, as long as it's better for the team comp or just stronger overall."
Gravity jungler Brandon "Saintvicious" DiMarco, in his perpetually relaxed state, doesn't seem quite as worried about planning for the Best of 5. "I don't think the Best of 5 is going to affect us that much. We have a lot of off the wall cheese picks and that kind of stuff. I think everyone's champ pools are so deep that we can pull out anything at any time."
He'll be relaxed, that is, until they start losing. "By the second and third game, it's like, 'Okay, we need to ban this and this because it was giving us trouble.' We'll try to play around that."
Doublelift takes a bit more of an analytical approach to the lengthy series. "In Best of 5s, it's all about identifying consistent habits that somebody has," he says. "It's just identifying patterns... In the end, I think a Best of 5 is just trying to figure out who has a better style. You might take a game or two off the enemy team by snowballing whatever lane, but a team identity is what wins you the whole series."
"If you fail the Best of 5, what was the point of being first or second the entire split?" he says.
Listening to the advice -- and criticism -- of those analytical minds can be tough, says Dyrus, but when it comes down to the wire, players just have to take it and move on. "In practice, it's difficult, because people take criticism heavily. But in the playoffs, when we're in the middle of it, people take the criticism a lot easier, because all they want to do is win."
Adds Quas, "Coaches are there to make sure that everything is in check. They make sure you have a good team comp, make sure you have good laning, good synergy with the champions, make sure they don't get two good picks without getting anything yourself…The coaches are really important to the teams, and add a lot of strategy. There's a lot more in-depth picking and counterpicking."
The coach's job isn't just to make sure the teams are playing to the best of their abilities, however. Each player Lolesports talked to stated that it's equally important for a coach to be able to keep their players sane.
Says Team Impulse's Adrian "Adrian" Ma of their much-touted coach Sang Chul "fly" Kim, "He's really good at breaking down why people are nervous. He really helps with nerves. He's been a pro gamer too, so he knows what we're thinking and how we feel. [laughs] He brings that Korean mentality to the team."
Doublelift echos the emotional support sentiment about his coach, former Team Dignitas mid laner William "Scarra" Li. "I think a coach does so much," he says. "Most of it doesn't have actually as much gameplay impact as people would think. It's more just [working with] five kids who have never played in a team environment before. Most of us were pro gamers because we played too long inside, alone, not interacting with other people, not socializing, and just focusing on ourselves only [laughs]. If you put those people in a team environment, especially a competitive team environment, it's really hard to interact properly and get your point across…The coach is there to make sure everyone is emotionally on the same page."
Prepping to play off
"We've been preparing [for Playoffs] since IEM [Katowice]," says Team SoloMid top laner Marcus "Dyrus" Hill. "We really need to be as ready as possible, because even though we won IEM, the thing that really, really matters the most is going to Playoffs, and then going to Worlds."
When we spoke, TSM had just secured a bye past the first round of the Playoffs, something Dyrus has mixed feelings about considering the results of the 2015 Summer Split Playoffs. "I think it's extremely important [to get the bye], because it gives us a lot of breathing room and more practice time," he says. "But at the same time, it's not as important if our goal is really to be the best, because whether if we have a bye or not, we should be able to beat every single team we play against."
"Last year, even though we didn't get the bye, I felt like our games against Team Dignitas prepared us for the upcoming games. For example, we had a lot of problems in that Dignitas series that, if we had that bye, we wouldn't have had the chance to fix them."
Meanwhile, Counter Logic Gaming veteran ADC Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng is firm in his opinion that the bye doesn't matter, saying, "There's no point to really consider whether or not we get the bye. For CLG, it's never been a matter of needing the bye or the extra boost. It's just if we're going to choke at Playoffs or not, if we can show up and be the best team. In the end, getting first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or whatever, isn't in our goal sheet. We just want to go to MSI. We need to go to Tallahassee and win. 1st place is our goal [at Playoffs]. And to do that, you have to beat every team anyways."
Cloud9's Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi believes in the bye. "If we're not first or second seed, we're a lot less safe, in the fact that it's harder to get further in the playoffs," he says. "You have to play an extra match, and you have to play immediately. Like, next week. That's a lot closer than being first or second seed. You get an entire week break to sit there and prepare. That's been really nice when we got that first or second seed in past splits." And now, thanks to a tiebreaker win over CLG, he'll get that opportunity to take a week to prepare for the victor of the Quarterfinal Best of 5 between Team Liquid and CLG.
To be the Best of 5
That Best of 5 series will be the biggest shift in play for the NA LCS teams to deal with. After a full split of Best of 1s, they'll have to adapt their play styles to their opponents over the course of the series, always trying to stay one step ahead. "Sometimes you have to improvise and play champions that we haven't practiced much, just because it's better for the situation," says Quas. "We have experience doing that. The most important thing to keep in mind is what champs are influencing the games the most…We usually go for things that will hurt them and take away from them."
Says Sneaky, "You have to have more than one strategy available. If you only have one, and use it the first game, the next time that side comes up, they're going to ban out your strat. If you don't have anything else, you're going to lose the game. You have to have more strats prepared than normal."
He says that improvisational style comes as a result of their experience in the 2014 NA LCS Summer Split Playoffs. "The last Best of 5 we had against LMQ, we went for a lot of comfort picks and didn't really change our strategy much. We ended up losing games that we could have won if we changed our drafting. I think it was a mistake to go for comfort picks, because a lot of other picks were better in the situation. We allowed the other team to beat us with these picks instead of mixing it up. I think it's really important to adapt, and sometimes be uncomfortable with what you're doing, as long as it's better for the team comp or just stronger overall."
Gravity jungler Brandon "Saintvicious" DiMarco, in his perpetually relaxed state, doesn't seem quite as worried about planning for the Best of 5. "I don't think the Best of 5 is going to affect us that much. We have a lot of off the wall cheese picks and that kind of stuff. I think everyone's champ pools are so deep that we can pull out anything at any time."
He'll be relaxed, that is, until they start losing. "By the second and third game, it's like, 'Okay, we need to ban this and this because it was giving us trouble.' We'll try to play around that."
Doublelift takes a bit more of an analytical approach to the lengthy series. "In Best of 5s, it's all about identifying consistent habits that somebody has," he says. "It's just identifying patterns... In the end, I think a Best of 5 is just trying to figure out who has a better style. You might take a game or two off the enemy team by snowballing whatever lane, but a team identity is what wins you the whole series."
"If you fail the Best of 5, what was the point of being first or second the entire split?" he says.
The big picture: The coach's domain
Of course, the players don't have to learn to adapt all by themselves. That's where coaches come in. Says Dyrus, "Since we got Loco as a coach and have a couple of analysts, it's been really, really easy to play in Best of 5s, because we're so experienced as an organization, when it comes to adapting, we have everything we need."
Listening to the advice -- and criticism -- of those analytical minds can be tough, says Dyrus, but when it comes down to the wire, players just have to take it and move on. "In practice, it's difficult, because people take criticism heavily. But in the playoffs, when we're in the middle of it, people take the criticism a lot easier, because all they want to do is win."
Adds Quas, "Coaches are there to make sure that everything is in check. They make sure you have a good team comp, make sure you have good laning, good synergy with the champions, make sure they don't get two good picks without getting anything yourself…The coaches are really important to the teams, and add a lot of strategy. There's a lot more in-depth picking and counterpicking."
The coach's job isn't just to make sure the teams are playing to the best of their abilities, however. Each player Lolesports talked to stated that it's equally important for a coach to be able to keep their players sane.
Says Team Impulse's Adrian "Adrian" Ma of their much-touted coach Sang Chul "fly" Kim, "He's really good at breaking down why people are nervous. He really helps with nerves. He's been a pro gamer too, so he knows what we're thinking and how we feel. [laughs] He brings that Korean mentality to the team."
Doublelift echos the emotional support sentiment about his coach, former Team Dignitas mid laner William "Scarra" Li. "I think a coach does so much," he says. "Most of it doesn't have actually as much gameplay impact as people would think. It's more just [working with] five kids who have never played in a team environment before. Most of us were pro gamers because we played too long inside, alone, not interacting with other people, not socializing, and just focusing on ourselves only [laughs]. If you put those people in a team environment, especially a competitive team environment, it's really hard to interact properly and get your point across…The coach is there to make sure everyone is emotionally on the same page."
BRING BACK
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