LMQ steal the show in Singapore Day One

Riot·Sep 25, 2014·1 votes·17,634 views

After spending a week in the heart of Taipei, the World Championship moved south to the city-state of Singapore where the two harder groups began with a flurry of activity. Among the headline games were LMQ vs OMG, Samsung Blue vs OMG and Cloud9 vs Alliance. As LMQ embraces its adopted North American roots, Cloud9 held up their end of the bargain as well - North America leads after Day 1 in Singapore.

LMQ vs OMG

While fans and critics couldn't figure out if this match was a China grudge match or the great North American hope against the Eastern giants, this match was incredibly entertaining. Though most analysts and fans thought that OMG won picks and bans, including XiaoWeiXiao giving away Yasuo to Cool, LMQ's team fight composition came together better with great initiations by NoName and XiaoWeiXiao. The game was cracked wide open after a great Thresh hook by Mor, ending in a 4:0 for LMQ where they took an inhibitor and started the advantage that would give them the game.

Samsung Blue vs OMG

<--Embed fight at 29:00 minutes --> While OMG kept the match close for a while, it was clear that they weren't on the same level as Samsung Blue in regards to team synergy and map control. Constant mechanical lapses lead to OMG's pick composition getting behind in gold before a fight at 29:00 minutes ended their hopes. Acorn baited OMG into a bad team fight leading to a Baron for Samsung Blue, who ended the game shortly thereafter.

Cloud9 vs Alliance

While the unrefined may have thought this game boring, it was some of the most beautiful League of Legends that's been played at Worlds. Cloud9 was a level above Alliance and went into every fight with clear purpose and intent. Everything they did was to hit a goal minutes down the road, and their slow stranglehold was broken open with their engage into a Baron and a kill on Froggen.

North America's ascension

This leaves us in a spot where North American teams went 4-0 in the opening day at Singapore, while Europe and China both struggled. LMQ had a comeback win against Fnatic, while Cloud9 dominated KaBuM. With TSM getting out of their group, and Royal Club and SK faltering to differing degrees, could North America be the de facto second strongest region? Here is where we stand after Singapore Day 1: Group C

LMQ: 2-0
Samsung Blue: 1-0
Fnatic: 0-1
OMG: 0-2 Group D
1. Cloud9: 2-0
2. Najin White Shield: 1-0
3. Alliance: 0-1
4. KaBuM Esports: 0-2
Group C & D continue tomorrow with Najin White Shield vs Alliance at 2:00 am Pacific Time or 11:00 am Central European Time. Frank 'Riot Mirhi' Fields is a Senior Web Content Coordinator for Riot Games. You'll find him in solo queue on Ahri trying to DFG charm his way up the Diamond ladder, or on Twitter where he'd love to talk to you about esports.
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39 Comments

ShockforceSep 25, 201416 votes

Well if you really think about it. The concept that NA has improved heavily is not very far-fetched considering the diversity of the game-play styles among the teams.

So there was the Classic EU stall game Curse(Push aggression only with a clear lead) Chinese aggression LMQ(Fight everything) Korean rotational aggression game CLG(Attack every opening) Korean objective strangulation C9(Snowball objectives through better trades) Unformed EG, Complexity Classic NA lane to teamfight dominance DIG, TSM(win lane, win game)

And that was a brutal pool to play in because the same tactics would not work against all the teams. This resulted in a large amount of parity between the teams as one team's style could catch another unprepared.

Most of the Na teams had very distinct game styles and although the styles did converge more near the end there was a huge amount of diversity that were not present in EU and China. And diversity is in this case is good, because it is a hell of a way to wrack up experience as it constantly forced a large number of adaptions.

Remember that in the Qualifiers TSM went 3-2 vs both LMQ and C9 which is ridiculously close, as soon as TSM took a game off of SHRC it put out a large possibility that the other NA teams would be able to take games off of Chinese teams.

NothingnessSep 25, 20147 votes

wtf fnatic didn t win ?

im CrisSep 25, 20146 votes

Is it really that surprising?

Some ADCSep 25, 201414 votes

NA > EU and China

MG LogicSep 25, 20146 votes

kids please just cause lmq won doesnt mean NA>EU and china, the rankings are still korea>china>>>EU&EU

JathielSep 25, 20149 votes

Your name has the word "logic" in it. That is clearly inaccurate.

AliphatiSep 25, 20144 votes

I think his/her point is, that EU and NA are pretty similar... and that LMQ is essentially a Chinese team.

v CaBooSe vSep 26, 20144 votes

If NA teams continue to beat chinese teams then its Korea #1 NA #2 and while lmq is a Chinese team the fact that they finished 3rd in NA shows how strong NA has gotten, not to mention LMQ has learnt alot from playing in NA LCS.

Chris the humanSep 26, 20143 votes

just because they're from china and speak chinese (and may or may not still have their chinese citizenship [haven't looked into it]) doesn't mean they're notl a NA team. why? because NA is who they're representing. they pull off the world's biggest miracle and win it all? a chinese team won. LPL doesn't win. NA wins.

Bramble BerrySep 26, 20141 votes

"Continue to beat" our first seed split with their second, and our 3rd beat their 3rd in a best of 1. hardly that big of an upset. hardly consequential evidence towards na being better than china

amardil94Sep 26, 20141 votes

Regardless of whether LMQ is considered NA or Chinese, there's still the fact that China's #1 team dropped a game to the GPL #2. I doubt any NA team would have done the same

Some ADCSep 25, 20145 votes

NA putting on a show. Inb4 C9 top of group D

ˉNASAˉSep 25, 20145 votes

Was expecting more people from EU to be whining and trying to explain how EU is still better. For once LoL community no disappoint.

JathielSep 25, 20144 votes

Admittedly, as a NA fan, worlds is not over yet. I do not expect much from EU, but the potential does exist.

amardil94Sep 26, 20142 votes

I wouldn't count EU out yet. Fnatic also dropped their first game at Worlds last year to the NA #3 but won every subsequent game including a stomp of Samsung White (then Samsung Ozone). I'd say they still have a decent chance, I'm not so sure about Alliance though.

JathielSep 26, 20142 votes

I am the opposite. I am not discount Alliance, as they did not look to be quite on form. They had a similar play style to the way they usually play, but it seemed to be carried out in a less effective manner. That could be Alliance playing poorly, or the team they are playing has a higher level of skill, the coming games will tell.

I am not expecting much from Fnatic at all. They did show up last year, that is very true. But people also expected them to show up at regionals, which they did not. I would not be surprised to see them finish last in their group....

AliphatiSep 25, 20145 votes

Having seen LMQ's performance in the NA LCS, I'm not surprised by their success at worlds... I consider them to be the strongest team in NA despite their third place coming to worlds. They may even be the reason why C9 and TSM have done better than the EU teams... I think, they brought some serious competition (that relentless Chinese aggression) to the NA LCS, thus forcing the other NA teams to improve to keep up... It's something the EU teams didn't have to face. They need to wake up and learn to play less passively, learn to switch on the aggression more decisively here at Worlds... and they need to do so quickly, otherwise their chances are slim.

Most of the Asian teams know, that a good offense makes for a good defense... whereas a good defense will not get you much of anything, unless your opponents make a mistake. At Worlds, victory will not be handed to you on a silver platter. You need to take a risk and seize it, if an opportunity presents itself. With only a few exceptions, every team at Worlds is a powerhouse of precision, coordination and skill. If you don't force your opponents to make mistakes, they're just not very likely to make them.

GG PKaygeSep 25, 20143 votes

For the most part I agree with you, however Alliance is the KING of late game team comps. They have consistently been running hyper carries all season and if there was an EU team to make it out of group stages my money would be on alliance. Great analysis on the NA scene.

AliphatiSep 26, 20142 votes

I think Alliance performed poorly against C9... I didn't really see any of Alliance's strengths being brought to bear. The only explanation, I have for this, is either overestimating their opponents or underestimating them.... Either they were scared or they didn't expect C9 to dominate the bottom jungle so effectively.

Whatever the case may be, I bet they're doing their best to adapt to the competition now. Someone is going to be saying some harsh words and pointing out their errors... and their going to train like mad.... Froggen said, his team was made to win.... He's not the kind of guy, who will eat his words, without putting in every effort to prevent that from happening.

amardil94Sep 26, 20142 votes

As the casters said yesterday, LMQ is one of the best NA teams when it comes to best of 1 matches. Their weakness is in best of 5s as the other teams have a chance to adapt to LMQ's play over the 5 games. This was shown in their loss to TSM even though TSM never took a game off them during the season.

I'd put my money on LMQ making it out of the group stage but I don't think they'll make it past the quarterfinals. I'd like to be proven wrong though

AliphatiSep 26, 20141 votes

Thank you for pointing out that considerably important aspect.... I hadn't taken that into account. Still, I think, LMQ has two monstrous carries (XiaoWeiXiao and Vasilii) and a strong style, honed (admittedly) by the diverse tactics of the NA LCS. I think, we haven't seen their full potential yet.... but that's just a gut feeling.

On another note...

I really like Vasilii's Tristana (being a Trist-Player myself)... I haven't seen anyone else combine clever positioning and sudden ferocious aggression like he does... His build is perfect for this kind of explosive play-making and while there are quite a few other players, who do well on Trist, Vasilii is just scary.

PowerVangerSep 25, 20144 votes

Ahaha Fnatic loss "Error" LMQ!

WerbieSep 25, 20143 votes

Small mistake in the article, shows Fnatic with one win when they lost to LMQ.

RaiynSep 26, 20143 votes

I think NA is doing well but at the same time it appears as though EU teams are slumping or have no idea how to play as a "team" they consistently want to make one person on their team a "Superstar". If you look at SK, the one game where freddy wasn't turned into a "superstar" for SK was the one game they looked strong vs. TSM despite imo having a worse team comp. OMG is obviously slumping watch the SSB vs OMG game you can see Cool miss spells constantly (#2 player in worlds? My ass what a horrible article that was as a side note). Anyways back to my point --> LMQ, C9, SSB, White Shield. These teams don't make one person their "super star" they try to have an overall good team (Arguably SSB have all godlike players but still). Do you hear people call out Vasili the same way they call out Uzi as being an amazing ADC? No. Do you see C9 call out Meteos as being an amazing jungler like alliance call out Shook? No. How about Hai vs Froggen? That Alliance vs C9 game was a perfect example that it is a team game. You can't 1v9 in League of Legends anymore. Froggen and Alliance will never beat the team-oriented teams if they keep trying to make Froggen their "superstar". Same for FNC, I will enjoy watching FNC crumble as they constantly try to make Reckless their "Superstar". Again. Its a TEAM GAME. 1v9ing doesn't work anymore. Sorry FNC, Sorry EU. Sorry China. <Namei got shit on by AHQ because he thought he could 1v9. He couldn't. Enjoy that black mark of NEARLY losing to AHQ, the 3rd seed. Lmao.

jdizzlSep 25, 20142 votes

if this holds up basically EU is out and it could be 3 koren and 1 chinese team in the semi finals and possibly all korean final... how lame. though technically the US teams could sweep thatd be so awesome

Evil Jungle YetiSep 26, 20141 votes

Blame TSM, after the amazing second game against Royal Club it looked like they might take first seed, but huge let down when they placed second and face white instead of EDG. Also I'm really curious to see how this weekend goes. There is a chance (not a good one but it's possible) that Shield is less consistent or goes on tilt and C9 comes out with first place, and LMQ holds on to take second in their group. Then we would have a quarters that had 3 regional rematches. It would mean regional diversity in the semis but I would be sad to not see teams match up against people they haven't every played in a Bo5 against before (or at least not for a while).

amardil94Sep 26, 20141 votes

I know it probably won't happen, but I'd like to see LMQ beat Samsung Blue and take first in their group. But to be realistic yeah C9 is probably the only team with a chance of taking down the Koreans in their group

ShockforceSep 26, 20141 votes

TBH, Blue showed blood in their game vs OMG. And it was most definitely red.

So it actually looks very possible for Fnatic or LMQ to take a game off of Blue.

White Shield is a to be determined match-up. From talk and C9's performance is a small but believable possibility of C9 and Alliance locking WS out. There is definitely a much higher chance of either Alliance or C9(C9 matches up better) taking a game off of WS than the other groups.

VãlørSep 26, 20142 votes

Remember when LMQ went 4-0 at the beginning of summer split and ended third overall? Being good straight out the gate is good but only if you can keep that lead...

DarkNegimaSep 26, 20141 votes

Royal Club and SK faltering to differing degrees

I'm not sure how the 5-1 Royal Club is faltering in their group.. I think you were referring to TPA?

Evil Jungle YetiSep 26, 20141 votes

I think they meant that Royal Club's first game against TPA showed some weakness that wasn't expected during lane, and the second game they played against TSM was surprisingly one sided in a direction that was not predicted by most people. Their record was great, but they had some shaky wins and a bad loss. I think they will certainly be the weakest number 1 seed going through.

ShockforceSep 26, 20141 votes

Hah, even though their play showed weakness it is hard to dislike them. Royal's games are so bloodthirsty; they are fun to watch.

Kind of happy they reached round quarter-finals, should make for some exciting games.

milzhawaiiSep 26, 20141 votes

i agree, with the coming of LMQ coming to the NA LCS, they have forced all other NA teams to catch up to the international play style that they bring to the rift. LMQ really brought out the potential of the top NA teams such as Cloud 9 and TSM. LMQ really brought the NA out of its shell of being destroyed by international teams. I think this might be the year that NA shows up at worlds and give the koreans a run for their money. GO NA!!! thought from a silver 5..

HubristicSep 26, 20141 votes

NoName and ackerman look like two of the calmest players at worlds. They came in knowing they weren't favored in either game today. Though everyone knows they are an aggressive team, I think they were able to catch their opponents off guard with such decisive play coming from an underdog. Interested in how they will perform now that they are "on the radar" of sorts. Mor is finding ways to make plays, Vasili looks great as always and XWX is cackling maniacally at cristo's mid lane rankings. Go LMQ. Go NA.