Unicorns of Love are the future of LCS

DeusVult··109 votes·10,660 views

its up to the balance team now

watching UoL is the most fun of all the LCS teams. Its not about banning 9 or so champs that they are strong on, they have 50 choices. Which is the way it should be. Its not about 10-15 champs that rule and every other champ that challenges them gets nerfed. It about watching diversity. The picks like Yorick and Cassiopeia make things interesting, rather than who gets Zed and is better on him. The UoL vs FNC was the best game in 3 years. If LoL and LCS want to continue, they will take a page from this and promote it rather than nerfcompetitors of the league of LeeSin

69 Comments

3tyson33 votes

I fucking agree They didnt seem to have anny korean players either

MrBuffington10 votes

They're actually just a bunch of friends that also happen to be really good at LoL, kind of like OMG in LPL.

3tyson7 votes

{quoted}

They're actually just a bunch of friends that also happen to be really good at LoL, kind of like OMG in LPL.

Not ment racist and i have nothing against korean people but being like hmmm my team needs a better player leta fins us a korean seems kind of cheap lol

i dunno how to explain it less racists lol

junglerboy165 votes

It's only racist if it is derogatory, and what you said is true. In South Korea, Esports is the national sport (I'm not kidding), so where America is the best at football, and UK is best at Cricket (or is it Australia?) Korea has the best video gamers. It's just how it is, and the other teams realize that and try to tap into that national talent base.

MrBuffington3 votes

It's only racist if it is derogatory

Not true, positive stereotypes are still stereotypes, and, strictly speaking, racism is a stereotype that's informed by race. Even if you said that "racism is only offensive/unwelcome if it's derogatory", it's not necessarily true. For example, I'm Asian, and I can certainly sympathize with other Asian people who say the stereotype of Asian people being more intelligent than peoples of other races leads to negative emotions when they don't feel as though they met that expectation (ie. "you got a B- on that test? wtf I thought you were Asian"). It's kind of like a backhanded compliment

In South Korea, Esports is the national sport (I'm not kidding), so where America is the best at football, and UK is best at Cricket (or is it Australia?) Korea has the best video gamers. It's just how it is, and the other teams realize that and try to tap into that national talent base.

This is also not true. Esports also struggles with recognition in South Korea; it does better than it does in other countries, but honestly that's not saying much. If you go listen to Piglet's story, his mom was actually not supportive of him going into esports the way a parent would be if, say, their child was a soccer prodigy or something. It's still a hugely risky career, even if it's slightly more recognized in South Korea than in other countries.

Also, South Korea's only really dominated in a few genres of games; IIRC North America is actually much better at fighting games, as an example.

Yormaughm2 votes

{quoted}

Also, South Korea's only really dominated in a few genres of games; IIRC North America is actually much better at fighting games, as an example.

Just wanted to point out that this isn't true. North America loses to Asia in fighting games constantly. South Korea owns Tekken and KOF, Japan is the king of Street Fighter. The only fighting games North America wins are the ones they don't play in Asia like Mortal Kombat, Injustice, and Marvel, the main reason being that those games are so garbage nobody in Asia wastes time playing them. You can hate, but it's true. The only time a North American won a fighting game at Evo that was a shocker was when Reynald won KOF XIII, and that only happened once. The current SF World Champion is French, but he's still of Asian descent. North Americans are huge underdogs in fighting games.

MrBuffington1 votes

Yea, I don't follow fighting games, just something I thought I heard from some people (hence why I said "IIRC"). Either way, you're still proving my point

MrBuffington2 votes

I didn't really take it as being racist, I was just saying it's cool and I respect that they have a steady roster, especially them all being friends (and just pointed to another example in OMG for the most part; C9 is also similar in that they stick with their roster through thick and thin).

There's definitely this stereotype in the pro scene that Korean players are better by virtue of being Korean players (not the fact that they're Korean, but because they're part of the "Korean ecosystem" or something. In truth though, that "Korean ecosystem" is only really present in like, the management of the top teams, in how they know how to use certain players talents and mold a team with those in mind. Prime example is SSW and SSB swapping mid laners Dade and PawN). The fact that so many teams seem willing to sell out to get even a low-tier Korean player is pretty annoying (and can probably be seen as racist), I agree, especially where there is still talent in their own region that might fit better in their team rather than just shelling out a bunch of money for a player from another region (KEITHMCBRIEF anyone? Yea I know that's a different situation since Keith can't play full time since he's in school, but still).

EDIT: These types of roster swaps are annoying to me, tbh, regardless of where the players are coming from. Look at Elements with Rekkles; I remember Rekkles did an AMA on the LoL subreddit where he was basically firing shots at YellowStar for not leaving Fnatic: now look where their teams are, lol. All the hype around Santorin and Bjergsen was obnoxious too, and I actually like Bjergsen as a player and person, he seems like a cool guy (I mean, this example was less clear since Amazing voluntarily left, supposedly, as did theoddone and Reginald before them, but it still smells like a sell-out to me).

I guess you can point out some inconsistencies with me as well, like I like OMG even though they brought in Uzi this year; maybe it's because I don't speak Mandarin or something, but it still felt less like a sell-out than say, Bjergsen/Amazing/Santorin -> TSM or Rekkles -> Elements to me. Maybe because I actually like Uzi and OMG separately where I'm not a huge fan of Rekkles/Elements/TSM's organization (I do like a lot of their players individually, though), lol. Or just because while every other Chinese team was importing Korean players, OMG still went with a full Chinese roster (plus OMG and Uzi are getting along well, I hear; they've played in the same league for a while and there's a lot of mutual respect/familiarity among them).

Wheatloaf14 votes

The Unicorns strategy for victory is to use what will work, instead of what has worked, so they're quicker to change than other teams. Don't blame other teams for not innovating, though; the LCS isn't all fun and games for them. They're playing for their jobs, and sticking with solid picks that you already know well gives you a decent bit of comfort and safety.

That is, until a team comes along that can consistently find ways to break through dominant strategies with unusual plans of their own. If the Unicorns of Love keep growing as quickly as they have been, they look to force a serious change in how Western teams approach League.

Zmuecat9 votes

I rarely watch LCS, but when I do, it's because of the Unicorns.

blueberrypancake1 votes

xD Made me lol, got the reference

Terff8 votes

Gravity as well, they picked urgot today xD And won

DynamiteGazelle4 votes

Against TSM no less, the top ranked team NA

aaronconlin2 votes

The world, according to IEM

IwfiKe3qjM1 votes

yes but IMO... now Urgot seems only useful on counterpick... dunno about first pick or blind one... since all of his abilities contain: damage reduction, shield that can slow enemies, enemy armor reduction, enemy surpression with self armor and MR increase...

against team with full AD/DPS like that absolutely Urgot counter all of them

triple Frozen Heart... double Randuin... 1 Glacial Shroud (probably will be built into forth Frozen Heart) priceless strategy...

SmknWdl3 votes

A lot of champs are only useful on counter pick... Fiora being an example. Enemy goes garen or darius? "FIORA!". Enemy goes jax or pantheon? "What's a fiora?"

Redskinsrock26892 votes

The fuck are you talking about, Fiora definitely does not counter garen or darius. Honestly I think I'd rather pick fiora into jax than either of those 2.

SmknWdl1 votes

Fiora's passive heal neutralizes darius's bleeding effects, and her passive heal out heals her in trades against garen... She out trades both of them... not all in but in short skirmishes. Then you wait till 6 and all in with ult

Redskinsrock26891 votes

Fiora's passive does not even nearly neutralize darius's bleed, like its not even close. Fiora can't attack garen consistently enough to negate his passive either, its absolutely not worth trading. I have played literally over 500 games with Fiora, and Darius is probably my second least favorite champion to go against, he can take 1/2 my health if I try to get one cs wrong. Garen isn't quite as bad, but I still view it as a bad matchup. Maybe I'm playing these matchups horribly wrong, but I consider both of them to be Fiora counters. Jax and Pantheon on the other hand I have played against so many times I can do fine in both matchups (although farming against Pantheon is almost impossible).

ThePlasticSpork12 votes

Urgot against Zed, or AD assassins in general, makes a lot of sense.

Urgot's passive, suppression, and bonus armor/mr are HUGE against champions that want to try to burst someone. Throw in his recently buffed shield on top of that, and yeah, he makes a good counterpick.

Unfortunately we're probably just gonna see people picking him willy nilly in solo queue now, but that's the nature of solo queue I guess.

MrBuffington2 votes

Keane's also been spamming Urgot in solo-q; it's one of his most played champions. He said in an interview he was going to pick it no matter what, it just happened that TSM picked perfectly into their comp.

Borbland2 votes

I guess Zed mains will ban Urgot now along with Lissandra.

Prepare the 50% banrate.

B1naryB0t7 votes

What typically happens, when I ban, is you ban things like Urgot after success in LCS simply because I don't want some idiot on MY team picking him willy nilly and ruining things.

MrBuffington2 votes

Yea, I'm kind of on hiatus from LoL right now just to focus down on school (still keeping track of patches/forums a tad just so I'm not totally lost if or when I come back), glad I'm not grinding in solo-q right now XD. I had no problems with new/off-meta picks, but post-LCS hype players seldom actually know how to play the champion, lol

Linna Excel1 votes

Well his win rate has gone up to like 48% the last time I checked so it's not like he's a terrible pick anymore. I'm partily surprised that riot is letting him stay as is because he can be a tanky champ or an ADC if he wants to be. Most other champs with that kind of diversity in roles Poppy Soraka tend to get nerfed hard back into one role only.

AquariusGine7 votes

I LOVE UOL, they are the most entertaining thing in LCS since forever

TotalJerk7 votes

People are understanding the importance of counterpicks over safe meta picks, along with how taking rare picks allows you to exploit the enemy's lack of matchup experience. Everyone deals with a Lee Sin on a regular basis, but how will they handle a well-practiced Urgot?

Example: My winrate in Tekken 6: ~35% My winrate against Law players specifically in Tekken 6: above 90%

RiotRiot Tiki21 votes

{quoted}

People are understanding the importance of counterpicks over safe meta picks, along with how taking rare picks allows you to exploit the enemy's lack of matchup experience. Everyone deals with a Lee Sin on a regular basis, but how will they handle a well-practiced Urgot?

This... very this! That UOL match was entertaining for lots of reasons, but seeing them exploit the potential lack of meta experience was amazing. Hope to see more of this from them and others :)

Archenz8 votes

There better not be any nerfs to nunu or yorick or class because they beat Leblanc...

Ariel the Cruel6 votes

Nah. Riot only does that when a champ beats them specifically. Or beats Lee Sin. Or is a support. Or is Irelia.

Thumpin2 votes

Irelia is getting her first nerf in 3 fucking years.

Ariel the Cruel5 votes

(the joke)

(your head)

ChaosThief2 votes

I gotchu

BeatzBoyFTW4 votes

UOL vs Gravity

Oh yiss.....

blueberrypancake1 votes

I will shit my pants if that's world's this year

straight4free3 votes

Besides the fact that Cassio is by now a staple LCS pick, I agree. It is very exciting to watch them play, and champion select with them is very suspenseful as you try to piece together what kind of comp they're going for.

Good stuff.

IwfiKe3qjM3 votes

LCS this week BY FAR: Zac picked Nautilus support Yorick picked Urgot mid

(wonder what will happen in NA Day 2)

Ltank1292 votes

While I did not watch the game live, I immediately looked it up when I heard Yorick had somehow made it into the LCS.

Nautilis support was of course a pleasant surprise as well.

Seeing the plays made with these champions, rather than just the same old zed assassinations, and watching Yorick hold his own against the much more popular Lissandra made me immediately love UOL. Right after the match my first desire was to go grab Yorick.

I feel like this is what the LCS should be like. Right now, even in normals, all I have ever played against are LCS picks. Leblanc, Zed, Lissandra, Graves, Annie, Rek Sai.

If Riot is supporting champion diversity, they should be supporting UOL, not any of the obnoxiously repetitive NA LCS teams.

AbiwonKenabi2 votes

Except just yesterday, NA had a Cho'Gath mid, Gragas jungle, Mundo top(twice), their own Nautilus support, Urgot mid, Zac jungle, and heck, we even saw a great Orianna yesterday, Slooshi is one of the only mid laners left who still plays her. And yeah these picks got varying amounts of success, but my point was they couldn't have just seen EU this week and be like "let's run this" they had to have also been practicing it on their own. They are making their own innovative picks and not just following other regions.

Although I agree the Yorick/Cass combo was very fun to watch, overall I think many teams, not just UoL, are picking up some cool champions. I'll be honest, I came into this split expecting UoL to have these cool picks every week, but most of the time they ended up going very meta and boring. I know expectations for variety were high (how could they not be, they got into LCS with Poppy top and TF jungle) but c'mon, I didn't see many variety in their picks at all until recently. DiamondProc of Gambit was experimenting more than UoL was, Diamond was the first to start using Sejuani jungle.

BLU Medic2 votes

Unicorns of Love actually kinda got me interested in the esports side of things.

Madman3572 votes

Honestly that was the first LCS match ive seen that was legitimately exciting to watch. Even beside the champions which were off-meta, the playstyle of the teams in that game were just crazy. Its was all offense all the time. They should try to promote that style of play in LoL instead of the passive Farmville games we usually see.

BastionKross2 votes

For the first time in a long time, I was excited about watching a pro match. I wanted to watch the replay of the match. I wanted to watch the commentary of someone watching the replay of the match. The game may not have showcased the best mechanics, but it was a thousand times more entertaining than any other game as far back as a few years.

If the other LCS games are fine wine, crafted and refined to smooth perfection, that match was moonshine; rough around the edges, potentially harmful to everyone involved, and a hell of a lot more fun to do with friends. After years of LCS being a wine-tasting competition, UoL brought moonshine, got drunk, and beat Fnatic over the head with their own wine cask. Now THAT'S a party I want to be invited to. Gragas

67chrome1 votes

Did you guys see the UoL game where they ran Poppy as their top-lane pick last year?

Phreak went crazy shoutcasting it, got to break out all his Poppy jokes. It was glorious.

Marinaras Trench2 votes

It was even more glorious when viktor starting being played. Phreaks puns when that happened were very inventive

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Double Rainbow1 votes

Someone picked Poppy this year too. Can't remember who sadly.

Kolinichu1 votes

Unicorns of Love themselves... it was in their promotion match to win a place in the EU LCS.

AbodyHUN6661 votes

I'm just wondering when they are going to use troll comps like blitz+thresh bot.

Tentacle Love2 votes

{quoted}

I'm just wondering when they are going to use troll comps like blitz+thresh bot.

Why stop there? Blitz Top Orianna Mid Kalista + Thresh Bottom Nautilus Jungle

Team We Move You More Than You Move You Or: Team Outer Limits "We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical."

MetalGearTeemu1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Love Tentacle,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=spixj3lg,comment-id=00100000,timestamp=2015-03-23T18:58:34.340+0000)

Why stop there? Blitz Top

Shhhhhhhhh! Quiet!

Don't give it away!

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