Oct 24, 2021 3:47 pm LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Worlds 2021 hits new peak viewership during MAD Lions’ quarterfinals series against DWG KIA
The last hope of Europe brought in a ton of fans.
Tyler Esguerra
Photo via Riot Games/Getty Images
The hopes and dreams of Europe at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship rested on the capable shoulders of MAD Lions today when they faced off against DWG KIA in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Even though they couldn’t best the Korean powerhouse, they still brought in the highest peak viewership count of the event so far.
During MAD’s series against DK, the two teams brought in a whopping 2,293,140 viewers at its highest point, making it the most-watched series of Worlds, according to Esports Charts. Previously, the record belonged to the group stage match between T1 and the LJL’s DetonatioN FocusMe, where they boasted a peak viewership count of 2,232,979 spectators.
In that match, people from across the globe tuned in to watch the return of Faker to the Worlds stage when T1 faced off against Japanese League sensation, DFM. The Japanese League scene hasn’t looked strong in international play for many years now, so seeing this team rise to the occasion and qualify for the knockout stage for the first time in its history was something to celebrate.
Today, however, every LEC fan clicked onto the League Esports broadcast to watch the pride of the region take on the best team in the world. The challenge that MAD had to face probably seemed impossible to most, but those five European representatives tried their hardest to make the fans proud.
Looking ahead, there will probably be a few more matches that will exceed this current viewership peak. Besides the obvious boost in viewers during the event’s finals, tomorrow’s clash between Cloud9 and Gen.G will feature some must-watch League. The boys in blue stand as North America’s last representative at Worlds, which should cause the LCS fanbase to jump in with their support.
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Oct 22, 2021 3:02 pm LEAGUE OF LEGENDS SPONSORED
I got trained by a professional League of Legends coach—and here’s what I learned
Former Fnatic and current Gamer Sensei coach Nicholas Korsgård learned about me as a player and person to improve my in-game performance.
Dot Esports Staff
Image via Riot Games
This article is brought to you by Gamer Sensei.
Even though League of Legends is a team game, solo queue can be isolating, to put it mildly. Bad habits can form unexpectedly, especially when—like many casual players—I’d been playing this game for years without any semblance of an authoritative voice to point out my stumbling blocks. If I don’t even know what my bad tendencies are, let alone if they exist, I have no shot at doing anything about them.
To fix this, I received two one-hour coaching sessions from former Fnatic head coach Nicholas “NicoThePico” Korsgård. I’m a support main who peaked in low Silver but also never really gave the ranked grind my all as many players do.
In modern esports, coaching a player beyond just their mechanical skill and game knowledge, including their mental and emotional approach to different phases of the game, has become more and more important. I appreciate that a lot as someone who feels like my hands can only do so much after almost 10 years of playing League on and off. Clearly, there was something I was missing. While I had no notions above my station, I felt like I knew too much about the game to be this low on the ladder.
Despite the gaps in my self-awareness (and self-improvement), one thing I did feel strongly about was that something relating to the way I thought about the game needed to change. To start, Nico got a feel for my history with the game as well as who I am as a person and as a player. Those facts are important in their own right, but what I personally appreciated about his coaching was that as much as I learned things that I didn’t know before and was challenged in my understandings of certain things, I also felt validated (even as someone in my low rank) in what I did look at “correctly” about League.
Getting into the weeds pretty quickly into the coaching session, I appreciated the simplicity of the principles that Nico broke the game down into.
For example, he called the grounding principle for assessing game state and centering your goals at said game state the “Holy Trinity” of League of Legends: pressure, vision control, and time management. As a support player who’s much more responsible for the macro than the micro, this became the new framework through which I assessed my games.
In contrast, mechanical execution is purely based on experience and feel. My micro wasn’t fixed in a session and I’m glad it wasn’t focused on because it indeed comes with experience. But without the things I learned on the macro side, the foundation on which to build my mechanics wouldn’t have been nearly as effective.
“I can’t help you hit every Thresh hook, but I can hopefully help you be in a better mindset before you throw the first hook,” Nico said.
While valuable, these were things I knew I would have to implement over the course of many games and likely through a good amount of trial and error. But there were also more immediate “fixes” that Nico recommended to my approach and game.
When I’m faced with indecision or a fork in the road of my decision-making, I can jog my brain by flipping my thinking and looking at the state of the game from the enemy team’s perspective. It’s easy to follow the roadmap of priorities and decisions if everything is going to plan, but what about when it’s not and I’m playing from behind? It’s all about patience and being picky with the fights I choose while avoiding taking poke if the enemy comp can dish that out. No freebies.
Shifting over to advice for outside the game, to avoid “tilting” or making bad decisions out of frustration, if I’m on a losing streak of three or more games, I need to take at least an hour break from not just playing the game but consuming any game-related content. Finally, I need to be sure that my champion pool is broad enough that I can neither be banned out of a comfort pick nor can all of my favorite champions be rendered useless by one set of buffs or nerfs. This last piece of advice emphatically underscored the importance of comfort and, by extension, confidence in solo queue.
Personally, this last point was my biggest takeaway. Confidence trumps all. End the article right here.
All jokes aside, this made so much sense. As a traditional sports fan as well, I could sit here and wax poetic about how important the mental side of the game is and really believe it. But sometimes, all it takes is a slight reframing of something, another set of eyes, or another more experienced perspective to take a concept from something you know to something you understand. If nothing else, my coach gave me that. For that alone, it was worth the time for me.
In hindsight, I can look back on examples of games that have gone drastically differently and draw a correlation (not necessarily a causation) between how I felt going into it and the end result, or at minimum how I felt about the game looking back on it.
To finish off the session, Nico live-coached me through a game. This was where the rubber was to meet the road. And boy, did it ever.
I quickly learned just how much Nico saw and thought of seemingly at once while my brain simply didn’t. That was clearly a difference in experience. Everything he pointed out lasted just long enough for me to process before another aspect of the game had to be balanced out with it.
Live-coaching a League game has its limitations, of course, and is far from the most efficient use of anyone’s time, especially given the skill disparity between myself and my coach. But Nico said the main reason that was included in the session was for me to appreciate just how difficult and complex a video game can be to those at the highest level.
“This is how fast the game can be,” he told me once I slumped down into my chair, breathing a little too hard given the circumstances.
Given how overwhelmed I felt when trying to juggle the seemingly endless checklist of things that someone at the highest level would, the previously distilled principles imparted on me, such as the Holy Trinity, became even more important in my mind. In the panic of indecision, it felt like drowning but having a life raft to mentally reset on. I don’t have to think about 10,000 things. In fact, I likely only ever have to think about three.
In closing, Nico shared the “full scope” of the coaching he gives players if they want to reach Challenger or higher—and it’s truly comprehensive. Diet, exercise, and more are included, and in esports, that’s only becoming more and more common as teams like MAD Lions rise to the top of the esport while championing the importance of coaching the whole player, especially with such young talents.
It was apparent to me that he took his job very seriously and that I had his full attention for the time I was with him. I felt genuinely invested in and also felt I now had a reason to work hard because I didn’t want to let him down. In just two hours, that’s saying something.
Nico closed with this: His hope was that, like with any of his students, he could help them establish enough of a base that they wouldn’t be reliant on him. Instead, they could just message him on Discord if they ever did need anything—an offer he also made me.
Oct 24, 2021 2:44 pm LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Cloud9 aim to carry NA’s final flag to Worlds 2021 semifinals in tomorrow’s match against Gen.G
There’s a clear favorite, but this year’s Worlds is anything but predictable.
Dylan Ladd
Photo via Riot Games/Getty Images
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship has produced multiple exciting storylines so far, including the LJL’s historic group stage qualification and the LCK’s stranglehold over the competition. Cloud9, the LCS’ third seed, are looking to continue their tumultuous tale as the North American region’s last hope at Worlds 2021 when they face Gen.G in tomorrow’s quarterfinal match.
Many doubted C9’s chances of escaping the tournament’s group stage after landing in a group with two previous world champions. Despite the odds, the North American roster locked in a quarterfinals spot after punishing a FunPlus Phoenix that failed to piece together a victory in the second half of the round-robin and winning a coveted tiebreaker against Rogue.
On the other side of the bracket, Gen.G ended their group stage with a four-way tie during the round-robin, a first in Worlds history. Similarly, Gen.G had to secure a No. 1 seed through a series of intense tiebreakers against Team Liquid and MAD Lions.
Tomorrow’s quarterfinal match between C9 and Gen.G has a healthy chance to continue the Worlds 2021 trend of exciting upsets.
Here’s what to expect from this playoff showdown between C9 and Gen.G.
Cloud9’s win conditions and how to best achieve them
Most of C9’s blunders have been through needlessly risky early-game pathing going awry. In their defeats, a risky invade critically fails or an objective is challenged when C9 members haven’t reached notable power spikes. Within C9’s victories, the team transitioned a smooth-sailing early game into a solid mid game. While the initial solution may point towards “don’t take risks and play safe,” C9 cannot afford this luxury against Gen.G. Passive play and hoping for a mistake from their enemies will lead towards a slow loss.
Photo via Riot Games/Getty Images
C9 have garnered a majority of their advantages through high-risk and high-reward gameplay off of the backs of Perkz and Blaber. Of the remaining teams at Worlds, Blaber has the fourth-highest kill participation stat among junglers. If he can apply pressure to the right sides of the map and enable key members, C9 can secure a sizable lead at their own pace.
While risky and high-tempo plays are vital to C9’s success, care and mindfulness are just as important. The same players that have created leads have also been caught out.
Aside from C9’s mid and jungle, Fudge has also been a solid rock of the team in the top lane. Whether he receives assistance from his team or draws attention from the opponents, Fudge still puts in a ton of work with high-impact teamfighting champions like Wukong and Kennen.
Gen.G’s win conditions, and how to not throw away the victory
Since the greatest assets of C9 include leaning on the top half of the map, Gen.G should look towards attacking premier early-game picks in the draft phase like LeBlanc, Olaf, Irelia, and Jarvan. If Gen.G do not prioritize banning specific problem champions, they need to make sure to have a proper vision set up to prevent surprise lines of play from C9.
Photo via Riot Games/Getty Images
In their victories against LNG Esports, MAD, and Liquid, Gen.G had incredible early skirmishes due to their potent vision control and knowledge of how to force fights to start on their terms. Gen. G’s mid laner Bdd also exerted a ton of pressure with mage picks like Zoe and Syndra. The ability to spread his influence across the map and potentially dissuade Perkz from taking risky plays can seal C9’s fate.
If Gen. G’s top half of the map can hold their own and go even, accruing a lead through the bottom side of the map with Ruler and Life can pay immense dividends. While Zven and Vulcan are capable and efficient players in their own right, Ruler has shown effectiveness with Miss Fortune and Aphelios, the meta picks of the tournament. He’s also shown willingness to go outside of those with picks like Kalista, despite his loss with the champion against MAD.
Prediction: C9 3-2
This series will either be an expected stomp of Gen.G 3-0’ing C9 or an exasperated battle between teams fighting tooth and nail for the coveted semifinal spot in a five-game series—no in-between. Even with Gen.G as the clear favorites going into the series, this World Championship has already shattered fans’ expectations. Any previously believed norms can easily falter if C9 overperform or if Gen.G have shaky play the day of their match.
You can watch this knockout stage match between C9 and Gen.G on Monday, Oct. 25, at 7am CT.
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Oct 24, 2021 1:51 pm LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Kennen has a 71 percent win rate at Worlds 2021 after 17 games played
The Heart of the Tempest has thundered through the World Championship.
Tyler Esguerra
Image via Riot Games
Many champions have come in and out of the meta throughout the League of Legends 2021 World Championship. There is, however, one specific top lane yordle that has popped off in the hands of multiple stars across the tournament: Kennen.
With some of the most electric plays of the event so far, Kennen has the second-highest win rate of any champion with at least 10 games played at Worlds, according to Oracle’s Elixir. At just over 70 percent, Kennen trails only Syndra in the category, while also boasting fifth place on most kills of any champion played. 먹튀검증
The Heart of the Tempest has been a go-to pick for multiple top laners this month due to his ability to turn teamfights with his massive area-of-effect ultimate ability, Slicing Maelstrom. He can also get through most early laning phases because of his ranged capabilities, and he can escape some dire situations with the bonus movement speed featured on his Lightning Rush ability.
In the later stages of the game, Kennen’s outright burst and teamfighting skills are deadly in the hands of a star player, especially when combined with the coordinated efforts of a professional team. Kennen flanks have decided matches throughout this tournament and have provided spectators with plenty of moments to cheer about.
With 17 games under his belt and only five losses, you can expect to see more of Kennen in the coming days. Players like DWG KIA’s Khan, T1’s Canna, Gen.G’s Rascal, and Cloud9’s Fudge have all picked him in their run to the Summoner’s Cup, and in many games, we’ve seen highlight reel-level plays in those games.
For example, Khan took Kennen into his team’s second game against MAD Lions during their quarterfinals series, and he was instrumental in mounting a comeback for the victory.