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Sharing an Opinion on how the competitive scene really is.

Paraxis··14 votes·1,336 views

Im just going to start this off with a simple delcarative sentence: This is an opinion, i dont expect you to take it to heart. Hate if you want.

Im sure some realize this when they play or watch competitive tournaments. NA teams do good in NA, but when they head over for national competitions like Worlds or All Stars, they hardly make it out of group stages. I started thinking about this, and being silver i see a lot of it especially when i watch North America media. NA teams have the mentality to do good with what they are placed at, and we only try to excel as an individual. However Eastern teams like Europe and Koreans play with the mindset that will get them to victory: They work and cooperate together as a team rather than just playing to their role.

Sure there are the people who think Koreans or asians are good at everything to "Bring honor to their family." which is sometimes the case, but i bet all the money i got (even though its only about 50$) that they play it wanting to achieve total victory over others. They drive to win rather than just win at their lane. And this is the same with so many games. Counter Strike, Dota, Starcraft, etc. I wish people would play like they do, understanding its a team game and that you cant carry it alone. When people say "Go hyper carries." Or "Play a role that can carry." Im going to say something, and i know im at Silver/Gold but that doesnt work 80% of the time. Carrying in my honest opinion would be 1v5 penta's across the board almost every fight. Sure you can get the good player who can make a flashy play and we hype them for it, but really they arent carrying the whole weight of the team.

This game is team based, not individual based. I have yet to see a team go into a national competition and start prioritizing one player and that player only. The only one i can think of is Uzi, because of their "Raise the puppy" strategy. But teams like TSM who dominate the NA side arent meant for world titles or of any high achievement. Yes its true for players to have dreams but really they dont even last like they do in NA. They are so used to playing in that mindset of just playing to win their lanes rather than focusing on the objectives towards the end game where the teamfights mattered.

Like i said, this is just my opinion and i know im not that known AT ALL in the community to express this more. But i have a feeling if NA teams start playing better and learn that its how well you do as a team and not focusing on just their role then we would be getting up there in the Semi-Finals or even the World Championship game. Dont stereotype the asians for their ability to excell at "everything". They just do it to win, same with European teams.

Lustboy from TSM is probably one of the only few who i see can make a difference in this community, saying he wants NA to be the top region and he drives to help the team get there.

But those videos you see of Bjergsen and Gosu, please realize that they are fed and that really anybody can pull that off. Its not hard to learn a champion like LB or zed, its really not. Just takes practice and im sure everybody can become experienced in champions like that.

Like i said, this is my opinion and i hope people start to change the way they play. Dont think you are going to carry just by yourself, work with the team and help them succeed because in the end you wont get anywhere doing it alone. Its a team based game, start cooperating with the random players and
you will rise through the ranks. Id take notes from Bronze players who have the mentality to just win and move up, rather than the gold, silver, or plat players that just do whatever knowing they arent bronze and will get the border and the skin and dont care for losing.

5 Comments

JRobin312 votes

Great comment: I really like that you are just putting your opinion out there for the rest of us to either agree or disagree.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree.

If NA could consistently win lane against international competition it would be incredible. But it seems to me that NA teams weren't winning lane all that often against their opposition. This means that NA players were more often getting outplayed on an individual basis. You say Bjergsen can make plays because he's fed and it's true that many videos show him being fed and making plays. But the thing about this is Bjergsen is consistently doing what it takes to get fed. Bjergsen not only gets the cs he needs he is known for straight up 1v1ing his opponents in lane (without jungler help). And while you might say that too much emphasis is put on Bjergsen's individual play making, you should also realize that TSM actually succeeded in defeating a Korean team internationally for the first time ever with Bjergsen on their team.

I do agree that defining your skill as a player into a single role is questionable. We have seen players change roles and perform just as well or even better. This seems to indicate that skill as a player really isn't confined to playing a single role in the game. It could be that thinking with the mentality that you are only capable of playing a single role in the game is self-limiting. It could be that that closes your mind to being able to make plays or even just to understand a team fight on a deep level.

I disagree that NA undervalues the team fight compared to other regions. There may be other factors that have led to a lack of NA dominance on the international stage.

JAGMAG2 votes

From watching msi and other regions leagues I think it comes down to na playstyle. N.a. likes to play a very objective oriented and rotation oriented game which this usaly leads to games with very slow starts and long drawn out games to were other regions also play for objectives there way more team fight oriented then na it's non stop fighting like in China or the top eu teams and na simply does not know how to deal with it at msi TSM lost most their games before 10 mins because they simply did not know how to react to such early aggressive play in eu fanatic and uol are brawl heavy teams and they were 1 and 2 in eu I'm China they are all brawl heavy and edg won msi Korea isn't as brawl heavy but their lanes tend to have allot more fighting then na lanes so basically I think if everyone would play the game like na does then n.a. would be one of the best regions but no one else plays like na so until na changes how they play they will continue to perform poorly on the international stage

Paraxis2 votes

{quoted}

Great comment: I really like that you are just putting your opinion out there for the rest of us to either agree or disagree.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree.

If NA could consistently win lane against international competition it would be incredible. But it seems to me that NA teams weren't winning lane all that often against their opposition. This means that NA players were more often getting outplayed on an individual basis. You say Bjergsen can make plays because he's fed and it's true that many videos show him being fed and making plays. But the thing about this is Bjergsen is consistently doing what it takes to get fed. Bjergsen not only gets the cs he needs he is known for straight up 1v1ing his opponents in lane (without jungler help). And while you might say that too much emphasis is put on Bjergsen's individual play making, you should also realize that TSM actually succeeded in defeating a Korean team internationally for the first time ever with Bjergsen on their team.

I do agree that defining your skill as a player into a single role is questionable. We have seen players change roles and perform just as well or even better. This seems to indicate that skill as a player really isn't confined to playing a single role in the game. It could be that thinking with the mentality that you are only capable of playing a single role in the game is self-limiting. It could be that that closes your mind to being able to make plays or even just to understand a team fight on a deep level.

I disagree that NA undervalues the team fight compared to other regions. There may be other factors that have led to a lack of NA dominance on the international stage.

About TSM beating a Korean team. If you do think about it, CJ Entus isnt REALLY that top of a team as opposed to some of the chinese/korean teams like SHR, SSW (Last season that is) and SKT. Mistakes happen in the competitive scene as well. Thats exactly how SSW was beaten by TSM and was their only mistake. They played bad. Maybe CJ Entus just wasnt on game. Yes, they have wonderful moments (And no im not going to single Madlife out for those) but maybe NA just got lucky at that. Maybe my opinion is false, but its a consistent pattern when it comes to NA facing eastern teams. Like at MSI, TSM went into that after winning NA LCS and went 1/2 and didnt move on at MSI.

Spacesuit Spiff1 votes

There's more to carrying in soloq than 1v5ing. You just need to be enough of a problem for the enemy team that they find themselves going "ok how the hell are we supposed to win with this guy on the enemy team?" which you can do from any role. Getting fed as hell and using that pressure is the most straightforward way, but consistently playing well and enabling your team works too.

Hyrum Graff1 votes

One person can solo carry, the way people solo carry in solo queue: with leadership.

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