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Hauntzer is drastically overrated

Dadnekton·4/28/2017, 7:38:36 PM·9 votes·3,282 views

If you are below low plat, I am going to say you most likely do not have even a fundamental understanding of how each role is supposed to be played (I'm Diamond and only have a thorough understanding of top lane). The problem with the League community in terms of assessing player skill, is that statistically speaking, 92% of players are Gold I and below. This is why we are constantly seeing that good players get underrated and bad-slightly above average players (relative to other pros) get overrated on a consistent basis.

The most recent example of this phenomenon, is that most people that follow the NA LCS scene are grossly exaggerating how good Hauntzer is. Most people that make an assessment of Hauntzer's skill in a reddit post or Youtube comment praise him as though he were an NA god like Bjergsen or Jensen, and constantly, their calculation of his ability is completely unsubstantiated.

EXPLANATION:

The last we saw of Hauntzer, he participated in the NA LCS Finals, and he got HARD CAMPED by Sven is games 1, 3 and 5. Hauntzer had good performances where he outclassed his opposition in games 1 and 2 only. Now what does this tell us? It means Hauntzer outclassed his opposition a single time without being heavily camped by his jungler. Moreover, Hauntzer actually got destroyed in games 3 and 5 by Ray whilst TSM poured all their resources into Hauntzer's camille in hopes that he would carry them to victory. This has really just been the story of the season though... If Hauntzer does not get camped while he is on a carry, he will very rarely do anything note-worthy.

Even in game 1 where Hauntzer looked like he was playing like a beast, he kind of sucked... After he got a massive advantage on Ray because Sven had ganked top 4 times, Hauntzer somehow gave up a freeze on Ray's side of the lane, where Ray could play safely without his flash. We know by the way, that Hauntzer wanted to pull the wave, because when cloud 9 was prepping for drake Ray pushed the wave in and INSTANTLY Bjergsen ulted top on Taliyah to get the kill they had been waiting for. But again, this is something that most players do not recognize, because they don't understand wave manipulation. If you are below high plat, you probably do not know what it is, and it is fundamental to the top lane role. But further, even after Hauntzer had 5 kills, he still got mechanically outplayed in a 1vs1 where he almost died to Ray, who had hardly anything...

Sorry if this seems rushed and is not very well written. I just wanted to make sure I could post this in time before I get to work.

What do you guys think about Hauntzer as a player, and what rank do you feel a player has to hover around before they have a basic understanding of the roles they main?

21 Comments

xJLx MCHammer4/30/2017, 2:50:38 AM4 votes

Rank has little to do with analyzing. It is not rocket science

With that said, your entire analysis is based on 1 series.....NICE.

However, with that said, I do generally agree that he is not the top player of the top lane. I do believe he is in the top 2-3.

GeminiRune4/28/2017, 8:13:08 PM3 votes

First off, why bring rank into a factor of whether or not someone really knows the game through a role, lane, or player skill? You don't have to be some prodigy to make a fruitful claim. Those masses will draw to the hivemind no matter what rank they are as most (including myself) are not thorough analysts.

As for your claim to Hauntzer, you're not wrong. Sure he's received a lot of praise as of late, but it's nothing spectacular to me. The Hauntzer I remember from Gravity was pretty much this solid carry when needed player. Same exists here, only he's on TSM and anyone on TSM has a ton of infrared scopes on them by fans and bandwagoners ready to pull the trigger whenever possible. Most fans will only account for his stint in TSM and not his stint in GV or teams before that.

Do I think he went above and beyond in the finals? Not really; pretty much the same caliber I would expect of him. Was he deserving of MVP? As a kill participant and winning: probably yes. Overall: no. Hauntzer was basically that "Game 3 clutch" and that's what people hover upon and overrate him based off of that. He plays a vital role in securing the series wins but what about games 1 and 2?

So yeah. He's made a claim to be one of the best domestic talents in the top lane. But it's still his GV Hauntzer style for the most part, which wasn't praised as much as it is now. It's basically the fandom and bias that overrates him. That's my observation.

Psyrix4/28/2017, 8:19:14 PM2 votes

I would say that the finals arent really what makes me think Hauntzer is a top tier toplaner, sure he did well in games 1 and 2 and i honestly thought that svenskeren would get mvp or even bjerg tbh, and more preferably thoght it'd be sven since it was him that started the ball rolling for his other teammates. What made me think HAuntzer is a solid toplaner was his games leading up to the semifinals and finals. It was clear to see that this split he has stepped up his game and become a large part of tsm getting ahead, I would say that his (hauntzer's) previous showings is what convinced TSM to channel the resources of the jgler to makesure he gets ahead so he'd impact the map more

WhiperSnapers4/30/2017, 7:43:00 AM2 votes

Did your analysis take into account his specific role on the team and the overall success of said team?

archerno14/28/2017, 8:23:08 PM2 votes

Lets not forget that Ray is rank 1 challenger in NA. So Hauntzer was laning against best NA challenger player.

sentodestroy10/6/2017, 5:59:46 PM1 votes

Drastically overrated yeah?

Just stomped Flash Wolves.

GhostOfTsushima4/28/2017, 10:48:25 PM1 votes

The fact that I see so many Diamond boosted animal with a Diamond border from last season prove they don't know anything

Diamond or Challenger means nothing if you ain't top 10 according to what I learn from PRO and analyst

Ale non è male4/29/2017, 8:38:13 AM1 votes

Hauntzer is overall a very good player. And is very good not only related to NA level (like many of the top tier players in NA LCS), but he can legitimately compete to World level - excluding the top KR toplaners -

And despite the good opinion I have of him, I hate to say that he is overrated by most NA fans, because they think is flawless when he is not

Listen, he has top level skills in general, EXCEPT for the strict mechanical skills which are just average compared to the best international tops. Someone who can match his other skills and is superior mechanically can totally trash him (see Vizicsacsi in the TSM vs UOL IEM encounter, or SoAZ in OG vs TSM IEM encounter before OG became a trainwreck). He is smart so he can play from behind, or outsmart those international guys if they do even minor mistakes/are not in top form and can beat them hard even in lane 1vs1, but he is not some kind of player that you can think of (at international level) : "TSM is surely going to win top lane match-up"

Dadnekton4/28/2017, 8:08:19 PM1 votes

Bump