What do we learned from LCS?

Professional playstyles and picks can and will affect us - like they always did - so here goes my (not final but recent) conclusion about the current META.

STRATEGIES

To win a competitive game you need champions with multi-target hard CC, mobility and one or more spammable ability. If you find a champion that could fit at least two of the above listed criteria, you're good to go!

Well, almost my friend. Almost. Since the LCS is all about very high skill-based summoners who can easily 1v1 anyone with a Taric they need to think about viable late game compositions, since most of their games lasts for 4+ items in anyone's inventory. To fulfill the role their team needs they switch between two different paths:

• the TWO men army - alias two potentional carry (mid and bot) with offensive build and agressive-defensive playstyle. Their lives mostly depends on the rest of the party's decision making and positioning.

• the THREE men army - alias two potentional carry (mid and bot) with an exception of one more encounter (top or jungle) who can become a carry himself but has innate tankiness and/or ability to survive on his own. Since he has somewhat offensive-defensive build he can be an initializer and the last man standing (finisher) at the same time.

CHAMPION DIVERSITY

As I mentioned before it's a competition (concatenate with some serious money). You need to be the best, or at least better than your actual opponent if you want to win. One way to achieve that is to play better (as yourself, as a member of your team) or pick a champion which could drastically increase your chance of winning. Just kidding... It's slightly about "your chance". The composition is what matters in the end (and the amount of CC they can pull out).

• TOP LANE

The place where tanks naturally live. There are some exceptions (like Irelia, Shyvana...) but in general I could say the more CC is the best. This position coexists with the JUNGLER since one or both of them is/are tank/s. Teleport is an inevitable summoner spell in this matchup (cuz ya know, lane presence n shit...).

• JUNGLE

Nowadays the main tank role... or the third damage dealer in >>the THREE men army<< scenario. Not much to say: objective controller and the team's main decision maker. If your team needs a tank go for Sejuani, Gragas, Rek'Sai or Zac. Otherwise: prioritize damage and mobility over tankiness. Every other scenario chose Rek'Sai. Or Rek'Sai. I think Rek'Sai would be another honorable mention. Did I missed someone? Yeah, I knew! REK'SAI!!

• MID LANE

This is where everything rises or falls. To play as a midder you need to be skilled enough to know when to go in and when (as a final act) let one or more of your teammates die. Since dragon control is a must, supports are roaming everywhere and everytime, top lane has teleport (besides CC and tankiness), most fights will be concentrated on the lower half of the map. This means in an "average game" it's the mid laner's responsibility to be at least one level ahead of his team. Not to mention his potentional CS lead...

To play this role remember my criterias! If your champion isn't mobile enough chose one with a larger range (AP Kog'Maw) or one with more AOE CC (Cho'Gath).

• SUPPORT

You have basically a shit-ton of options. You either play: Annie, Morgana, Tresh, Leona... or Braum. (Keep in mind! Two words you probably never heard before: CROWD CONTROL.) You could try Nami, Lulu and Janna.. as well as Karma, Zilean, Bard etc... but in that case your pick would be considered too risky.. and overall who would want to play for fun?!

• MARKSMAN/ADC

Pure damage dealer. Together with the midder they are the first to be focused down in every (team)fight. Position is important so chose a mobile one, or simply ignore my previous statement and pick up Graves. Forget about Ashe, Urgot, AD Kog'Maw... they are easy pray in the early game and need to be well protected to became useful later on.