eSports Weekly 12/20/15

This week’s hottest eSports news and highlights for LoL, CS:GO, and Dota 2. Expect spoilers!

Contents (Click to Jump to Section) League of Legends Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Dota 2

 League of Legends

• All-Stars 2015: a hit with 1v1 tournament, regional matches, and crazy fun matches.
• IEM Cologne: A test of Cloud9, H2k, and Fnatic’s new rosters against the surging Korean challenger team ESC Ever. C9 and Fnatic have issues while H2k looks strong but not strong enough for Ever. Ever wins against QG 3-2 in the finals.
• Offseason Roster Madness: The European Exodus to NA and SKT 1’s Roster Changes. Rick Fox buys Gravity’s NA LCS spot for $1 million USD.
• Upcoming NA and EU LCS format changes: Best of 2s in EU and Best of 3s in NA starting Summer Split.

All-Stars 2015

In the midst of the turbulent times that is the offseason, last weekend featured the festive 2015 All-Star Event in Los Angeles. If you’re going to watch it, the 1v1 tournament is a highlight with crazy outplays and mirror matchups. The regional matches were competitive and its always a pleasure watching Faker dominate. The tandem mode was also hilarious with two pros per computer—one on the mouse and one on the computer. My personal favorite was the one-for-all mode. You can imagine the chaos that occurs when you have 10 Blitzcranks being played at once.

Some serious takeaways for the League eSports scene is that Korea is still the best region, Europe possibly the second best, and TSM fans should be hopeful with the two of the best 1v1 players on their team.

 

IEM Cologne

History seems to repeat itself again with Korea looking the strongest, Europe and China with some contention, and North America disappointing once again. Team Dignitas and Cloud9 drop out in the quarterfinals to the Qiao Gu Reapers and H2k-Gaming respectively. QG gaming overcome Fnatic in the semifinals due to holes in the European squad’s shot-calling. ESC Ever demonstrated that they have top-tier carries in every role as they took down their opponents despite H2k’s strong performance. The finals between QG Reapers and Ever went all the way to the fifth game with both teams showing strong performances. In the end, Ever was victorious demonstrating the frightening depth of Korea. Strangely, this is the same team that failed to qualify in the LCK making it uncertain if we will see Ever again until the IEM Katowice World Championships.

Offseason Roster Madness

With every offseason, there are always shocking roster changes that lead fans to speculate wildly on the outlook of their favorite teams. This season’s might even overshadow last year’s big changes of Piglet’s move to NA, the Fnatic Breakup, and OMG’s acquisition of Uzi. Here are the most significant updated rosters:

REGION	TEAM	TOP	JUNGLE	MID	ADC	SUPPORT
North America	TSM	Hauntzer	Svenskeren	Bjergsen	Doublelift	YellOwStaR
	Cloud9	Balls	Rush	Jensen	Sneaky	Hai/ BunnyFuFuu
	Immortals	Huni	Reignover	Pobelter	WildTurtle	Adrian
	NRG	Impact	Moon	GBM	Altec	KonKwon
	Renegades	RF Legendary	Crumbzz	Alex Ich	Freeze	Remi
Europe	Fnatic	Gamsu	Spirit	Febivan	Rekkles	Noxiak
	Origin	Soaz	Amazing	PowerOfEvil	Niels	Mithy
	H2k	Odoamme	Jankos	Ryu	FORG1VEN	VandeR
	Vitality	Cabochard	Shook	Nukeduck	Hjarnan	KaSing
	Unicorns of Love	Vizicsacsi	Diamondprox	Fox	Steeelback	Hyllissang

These are the most notable rosters in EU and NA LCS.

• North America is looking particularly interesting with the TSM Super Team. While ex-CLG Doublelift will bring his mechanical prowess, the biggest pick-up is ex-Fnatic Yellowstar who brings invaluable shot-calling and veteran experience to this team.
• C9’s new line-up is exciting as well with Rush, last year’s Summer Split MVP, and BunnyFuFuu joining.
• Lastly, three new teams of Immortals, NRG, and Renegades join the NA LCS with many tested imports. `
  • Worlds semi-finalists Huni and Reignover join a cocktail of other NA pros to make the Immortals.
  • NRG is an exciting new team with top-level Korean pros like Impact and GBM from Jin Air Green Wings.
  • Lastly, Renegades has the legendary Alex Ich and Freeze.
• In Europe, the broken apart Fnatic gain Spirit, formally of Samsung Blue and Team WE. After single handedly carrying a last-seed Team WE in IEM Katowice, many are excited to see what he can do with Febivan and Rekkles.
• Origin is the team to beat with an upgrade from Xpeke to PowerOfEvil shown by their victory at IEM San Jose.
• H2k seems strong given their impressive performance at IEM Cologne despite only a few days of practice. FORG1VEN and Jankos stand out in particular.

 

Rick Fox, a three-time NBA champion with the LA Lakers, bought Gravity’s NA LCS spot for an estimated $1 million USD to make Echo Fox. Rick Fox’s involvement with LoL started with his attendance to the NA Summer Split Finals at Madison Square Garden and this high profile buy-out has been reported by major news organizations. While there have been no announcements of the roster, legendary midlaner Froggen has expressed interest.

Mainstream interest in eSports is clearly on the rise as Rick Fox joins new NA LCS team owners Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive Venture and Games, Steven Kaplan, co-owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, Linken Park, and the Sacramento Kings.

In LCK, the most notable roster swaps are the departures of MaRin and Easyhoon from reigning Worlds champions SKT 1 and CoCo and Chaser joining Incredible Miracle.

Upcoming LCS Changes

Every year, the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) refines its format. Last year, we saw the introduction of two new teams and a new way that Worlds seeding is decided. This year, the focus is on expanding from the previous best of ones into best of twos and threes. The logic behind best of ones was to be able to feature every team and have predictable broadcast timelines. However, this was at the cost of competitive integrity as teams would easily be upset making the true strength of teams ambiguous. Therefore, the LCS will be changed into best of twos in Europe and best of threes in NA starting the Summer Split. With pros and cons with each format, we can expect that LCS will be standardized to one format in Season 7 after this trial split.

2015 All-Star Event All-For-One mode: Every Blitz Hook

10 Blitzcranks and 10 pros with deadly skillshot accuracy makes for an exciting highlight reel.

2015 All - Star Event: Moments and Memories

The best moments of the 2015 All-Star event.

ELISE WITH THE OUTPLAYS - IEM COLOGNE 2015 Qualifiers

Dignitas Kirei makes the sick outplay to get his team three kills in the IEM Cologne 2015 Quarterfinals.

Forg1ven pentakill against EVER - IEM COLOGNE 2015 QUALIFIERS

The time Forg1ven goes 1v9 and wins H2k the game over EVER in the IEM Cologne 2015 Semifinals.

 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

News

CS:GO Update:

• New weapon, the R8 Revolver.
• Matchmaking times adjusted to 1:55 per round and 0:40 for C4.
• Changes to pistol and rifle accuracy. (Reverted    12/17/15)

View all updates here: http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/category/updates/

ESL ESEA Pro League:

Fnatic defeat Natus Vincere 3-2 and become ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Champions. Despite being a close series, Fnatic prevailed and won $100,000 USD making this their third title in a row with dennis in their roster.

Highlights Fnatic vs Navi - ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals

The sickest plays of the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals.

Dota 2

News

Patch 6.86 – The Balance of Power Update:

• New Hero – Arc Warden, The Fractured Guardian.
• Map Change – new paths around river.
• Arcane Rune – a new objective that gives a buff reducing cooldowns and mana costs.
• 4 New Items – Faerie Fire, Dragon Lance, Aether Lens, and Iron Talon.
• New Neutral Camps – one near the Radiant’s Secret Shop and one near the Dire’s.
• Hero Updates – Death Prophet, Faceless Void, Riki, Lone Druid, and Doom have new abilities.

Read all about the update at https://www.dota2.com/balanceofpower

Summit 4:

$114,857 USD was on the line as the Evil Geniuses and Virtus.pro battled in the grand finals for the Summit 4. Despite an early two game lead by Virtus.pro, the Evil Geniuses reverse swept their opponents and became the winners of the Summit title for the second time.

"GG" Combo! - Virtus.Pro vs EG @ The Summit 4

Virtus.pro orchestrate a beautiful wombo combo to decimate EG.

Arteezy Makes RAMPAGE - EG vs VP Final Summit 4

Arteezy on Gyrocopter goes on a rampage to help EG take the win.

Sources:
LoL eSports-  All-Star Event
GosuGamers- Dota 2 News: Evil Geniuses are your Summit 4 winners
The Score eSports- Fnatic defeat Natus Vincere 3-2; win ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 Finals