Ugh

OHminus·Oct 22, 2016·2 votes·623 views

That's my reaction to all the people groaning about SKT winning. Is it really their fault that they keep on winning on the big stage when it matters most? SKT vs ROX was an incredible series, and ROX has been great all season, but I dunno why people are hating on SKT going to the finals for the 3rd time in 4 seasons.

Is it because of skins? The three reasons that Riot probably introduced the concept of the winning team getting skins is

extra motivation for teams and players to win and improve
a way of saying "here ya go" to fans of these teams
money. More skins. Thus, complaining about having more SKT skins is just stupid. You don't have to buy the skins - that's entirely your choice. If you don't like the skins Riot gave you, just don't buy them!!! Simple as that.

Is it because SKT has garnered a monopoly on winning international tournaments? If so, how can you blame a team for consistently beating out the competition? They work hard, and the players have no incentive to lose. Honestly, if you look at it that way, wouldn't it be the rest of the world's fault for not catching up, whether it's in mechanical skill, macro, pick/ban, or overall strategy?

Is it because you like ROX and were a fan? If so, you're almost as bad (if not as bad) as the C9/NA fans that booed SSG in the quarterfinals. That's just disrespectful - SKT beat ROX and played better in more games than ROX did, SKT deserved the series win. Deal with it.

I can understand why people are sad about ROX losing, but honestly, its not the end of the world. If anything, the only people that should actually be disheartened by this loss are the Tigers themselves, as they came this close to winning the entire thing. In the end, they put up a great series (probably one of the best we'll ever see in the league e-sports scene) and provided us with highlight level plays, insane plays, and a level of proactive play that we may never see again.

P.S Shoutout to Gorilla for the MF supp.

5 Comments

III BAKURYU III Oct 22, 20161 votes

Yeah the other regions need to catch up to Korea but mainly NA. So tired seeing NA get bent over each and every year but I suppose 6 years and counting so not much will probably change anyways.

OHminusOct 22, 20161 votes

The only way I see NA winning a tournament is if the SKT organization decides to come to NA and NA vastly improves server quality so the Koreans don't complaing about the increase in 30-50 ping (they have an average of 6-8 ping over there).

But seriously, I would like to see an NA team go far at worlds, preferably with some fresher faces (not TSM, C9, or CLG - nothing against them, but wouldn't it be hype if a completely new team like S5 Origen or S6 ANX pops up in NA and proceeds to make semifinals/finals at worlds?)

III BAKURYU III Oct 22, 20161 votes

Honestly TSM-C9-CLG and IMT are the only good NA teams the rest are non existent. I see NA getting any better in a few ways.

A. STOP with the LCS relegation tournaments. Not every team can be the best of the best but given some time say(1 split ) they can be just as good but they need time to grow and shape up as a respected team.

B. Divisions and conferences. I'm a huge fan of teams competing against each other more than once or twice a split. Similar to the LPL where teams are split up in 2 divisions; but teams from opposite divisions face each other 1-2 times instead. Lets say TSM and IMT face each other four times because they're in the same division they will have a better feel for each other. Two or four of NA's best teams only facing each other twice a year just isn't enough considering 80% of the NA LCS is really filled with C- teams like( TL-P1-EF-APEX etc).

GROUP ONE( TSM-IMT-DIG-TIP-ECHO-APEX) GROUP TWO(CLG-C9-TL-ENVY-NRG-P1) Are just examples.

C. Set up the Spring split similar to Worlds. NA has decent amount of players in the PRO scene so why not just use them instead of having a Challenger scene( The D-League) similar to the NBA. Get 16 NA teams right now NA has 10 plus 1-2 relegated teams so NA can easily get 12 teams so add just 4 more and have the Spring split similar to Worlds.
4 groups of 4 and same rules apply to Worlds; 2 teams from each Group advances to Playoffs or instead of Spring playoffs/points just set up the NA LCS to only have 1 playoffs in the Summer Split instead and have the Spring Split more so as a battle of nutrition. The 8 Teams that advances from Spring Split gets to compete in the Summer Split

D. Only 2/3 foreign players per team is another limitation for NA. It's pretty obvious that foreign players are the only reason NA is "good" so eliminating the foreign player rule will help NA.

OHminusOct 23, 20161 votes

A. Meh. While relegations do filter out talent, they also filter it in. Teams like H2K, G2, Splyce, Giants, and UOL all have become relatively successful in EU. The same doesn't happen in NA. Why? Because there is a dearth of talent in NA that is willing to join LCS (note: there is a difference between this and no talent at all). NA's challenger scene is comprised largely of streamers, one-tricks, and players who simply don't wish to join LCS. In contrast, almost the entirety of UOL/Splyce/S4 Giants/H2K were comprised of fresh, young talent who were intent on improving. Korea also has fresh new talent (Ruler of SSG, Blank -i firmly believe he's not as people make him out to be, but he's rather a scapegoat - S5 Crown, Peanut). In this aspect, NA is at a disadvantage - the only notable talent we had recently are Dardoch, Biofrost, and Stixxay.

B. I would actually like this. If we reduce the amount of relegated teams, this system could be good. With this system, we could have the last place team in each conference go into the relegation tournament, where they have a chance to come back into LCS. (Except your system includes Dig and TIP, which are no longer existent)

C. I don't think this would be that good. Challenger scene exists so new talent can get used to pro play. If this were to happen, there would be a dilution of the talent pool and there would be 4 top tier teams that make it out of groups for sure and 6 ish other teams that would outclass the other teams (TL, NV, APEX come to mind here).

D. This is pretty counterintuitive, but I think we should actually NOT bring foreign talent. Look what Piglet/GBM/Ohq/Fenix etc are doing in NA. For them, its basically a vacation. Also, foreign talent can look good in other regions but that's because they had better coaching staff - EU has pretty good coaching staffs and so does KR. NA should improve its infrastructure before anything else, really.

NA doesn't need a superteam - what it needs is an advancement in macro strategy and pick/ban. Having a superteam can only get you so far, as China has showed us in the past 2 seasons.

III BAKURYU III Oct 23, 20161 votes

I was thinking about the newer teams to be apart of the LCS mainly because looking at the older and most established teams like TSM-C9-CLG they're not going to really change "much" they're not going to pick "un-meta" picks but maybe some of these newer teams that are fresh from SOLO Q will try out new "meta" shifts that the older players/teams didn't really think about. That is why I was thinking about just getting rid of the challenger scene all together players/pros have the solo Q to play and what better way to learn how to play as a team than to do so on the big stages of the LCS.

This is my thought on how the NA coaching staff works Coach " ok guys we need to talk about X play and champion Y and... Player " STFU we are pros, we are gODS, we know what to do, we are FAKER JR's.

That is my thought process when it comes to NA coach/player relationships in my opinion, sure they might listen some but do you really think they care or are really listening ? I don't. Look at one of those C9 videos where Reaper was talking to the team aka through a translator but he asked the players to come to his office one by one so he can get their perspective without anyone else possibly judging their opinions or answers and all the players thought it was "weird" and silly???? Looks like they never had a job interview but anyways that's NA coaching staff and player relationship.
Monte one of the best analysts and Korean thinkers in the world and CLG had him as a coach back in 2014(summer) and yes for the most part he would be on Skype because(He had other things) but really the players has stated and it was even in Link's "farewell Letter" that he and the other CLG players wouldn't be listening but instead be listening to music or be on facebook instead.
That pretty much sums up the Coach- Player relationship where he listen to the coaches but nothing clicks and they don't really "listen" they kinda just put up with them; I don't know.

I do agree that NA needs Hard nosed Coaches who tells the players How things are going to go and how they want things to go period end of story; questions can be asked but strict answers will be told but NA just isn't like that sadly.
NA is a region spoiled from over hyping everything, and lazy players who think they're the best players in the World and skill is matched from just copying off Korea instead of practicing and learning a new "meta" themselves.
In reality NA sucks.