[00:00:31] Speaker A: At the table with Messiah tanking it up.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I do not believe he just leaves.
I cannot understand this game.
Unicorns of love. It wasn't you against the nexus.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode 531 of the league rundown. This is the world's preview, aka minor regions and play ins teams logo review episode. And this episode is lovingly entitled Lions and logos and whatnot. I am Kangas. I am your host for today's episode, and we got a lean cast to bring you all of your minor region teams. We got up first, mister Bickle.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: It sounds more like lions and logos and Warhammer.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Okay, you're just gonna out half the members of the cast for why they're not here right now. You just could do it like that.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: No comment.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: All right, well, shout out to any Warhammer fans out there. We had difficulty. Also, world schedule is gonna be crazy, so don't expect the regular voices every single week just because the times that we record are gonna have to be very flexible in worlds. That's part of the fun.
But we do have a special guest joining us today. Longtime friend of the podcast. He's been on episodes like this in the past. We have returning english official caster for CB Lowell, RMC, aka random Minion Caster. Welcome to the podcast. You had to get RMC.
[00:02:18] Speaker C: Thank you, Kangask. You've missed my most important title, the recent lcs champion. Yes, that was me taking the loss hit on that nexus.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Oh, you're the random minion. Oh, I get. Oh, yeah.
Wait a minute. Congratulations, Flyquest. Just not want to fly you to worlds or. Wait, what's happening? I feel like you should have gotten a check.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: It was more a grudge against TL, you know, more than it was Flyquest.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: You did it out of spite. Not for the not for the world spot. Okay, I like that. All right, well, we got a fun cast today because it's always fun for this episode. We get to judge the minor region logos, because that is most of the information we're going to be able to give about them outside of just what their regular season record looked like, what their tournament playoff looked like, at least, except for cb low, because we do have RMC to cover that. But at first, it's always global news. So let's get into it, Bickle. We had a couple of different international events going on at the tier two level leading into worlds, and both have wrapped up.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Indeed we did. With worlds around the corner, it was tier two's time to shine with the Asia Star challengers and America's challengers, both taking place over the past week. Both of you actually had the pleasure of casting the America's challengers event. So shout out to you.
[00:03:37] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
And in the end, it wraps up. A lot of trash talk came out of na challengers saying how they're gonna run through the tournament.
But on their home soil. Down in Brazil, pain Gaming Academy takes down fear x Star Forge to take home the title. And the number one seed out of America's challengers to Dragon steel doesn't even make it out of groups.
[00:04:05] Speaker C: I don't know what you're talking about. Kangasai covered day one. Last I checked, they won 50% of their games. You know, true. That's all that happened. I didn't.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Yeah, they crushed Wap.
Which, fun fact, there was a team literally called WAP W a P. And no, the Latin Americans did not understand why we were laughing so much.
But I. Okay, so, yes, North Americans talked a lot of smack. They were expecting to win. But I want to give some. Some. Some kind of context for this. This was a team with ex. You ablaze Olive. Even, like, instinct, winsome Philip, have all gotten LCS playtime. Like, the experience on this fear X Darforge roster. It's a tier two team, but a lot of these players have been at LCS level and competed at the LCS level. It just shows how impressive this pain gaming academy roster was. Marvin, in particular, the ad carry Varys in order to win the series. That game five was close to win the series. He steals in Infernal Soul with the Varus Q, and then later, he steals elder dragon with a Varus Q. Like, this guy is just. He literally won them the entire series. Cause that game five, I think that fear exterforge, especially the elder fight, like, they would have just swept that fight if they get that dragon. And it sucks. Cause Xu had such an insane series until those two moments. And that's all he's gonna be remembered for.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Losing a spite fight to averros twice.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: And though he's not here.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Comments I was seeing on Twitter. Sorry, not Twitter. On blue sky, because at that time, yes, our Twitter was still nuked in Brazil at the time. So it was on blue sky. People like Guma, Marvin, Marvin Yushi all the way.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: It's moments like this that I wish Twitter wasn't nuked down there, because, you know, it would have just exploded.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: I have a theory. I actually think that Elon Musk had our back as Na fans. He did the numbers. He's got the algorithm. He's got some AI in, like, a closet that was like, oh, na's not gonna win the tier two eternity. We gotta shut down brazilian Twitter now so that people don't think it's because of this. And that way we don't get shit on so much.
That's my cope shout outs.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: A go to Mizzelle for the fact that he was actually casting that finals there. Got to see all five games of that fearless draft. And what was really nice is we got to see a lot of parody across this tournament. The final three were split across the three regions with Brazil, Na and Latam. All having a representative parody, though cannot be said about the Asia Star tournament where they had representatives from the LCK Challengers, the LDL, the PCL, which is apex academy system, and an invitation to team whales academy from the VC's academy system. The top four. There were just the four LCK Challenger teams.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And in the end, KT Challengers took the tournament convincingly. I want to say they dropped one game across the entire tournament.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: That's insane for a development. Are they. Do you know anything about the roster? Like, is the roster including, like, actual players that have played in tier one?
[00:07:20] Speaker A: No. All a bunch of young kids. They got casting, casing, handbank, Xenay hype and way. The oldest player on that team was born in 2002.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Oh, that's after the GameCube came out. What?
[00:07:38] Speaker C: That is truly development. BUt Rekkles was playing that tournament too. Right on t one.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: YeS.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Rekkles is playing on that tournament for Elsa. For t one. The Challengers, how did they end? They finished fourth in the tournament.
[00:07:52] Speaker C: Oh, okay.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: That guy's going to worlds.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: Yeah, he's going to t one.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: ThAt's wild. Well, it's awesome to see some international competition because that's all on the WOrld's patch. Was. It was the asian tournament also.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: Don't believe it was. Let me double check. I want to say, okay, because that.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Was the CooL thing about America's. Is that we got a preview of 1418, which is going to be the WOrld's patch. I will say Rmc day one we got to cast together. Was not impressed with the adaptation of the tier two players. But throughout the tournament, I think we learned a couple of things about picks. Specifically yone. Fricking Busted right now, dude. Yone is a problem and he's going to be very high prior at worlds. I think poppy is also pretty flexible and will then, because it counters ione, be very high priority as well.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm still expecting to see more changes on the actual world's tournament. I do feel like the tier two players didn't necessarily focus on adapting to new patches much, so. And to be fair, I think the patch dropped three days before the tournament started, so they also didn't really have much time to get any practical experience in.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: True, add in the fact that bracket stage was fearless and you're not going to see that repetition of major picks coming through, so there's bound to be a lot more diversity.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Can you imagine a worlds it's fearless draft? That'd be kind of crazy.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: That's a dream.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Maybe one day. Maybe one day. Speaking of worlds, though, we do have some roster news confirmation. I believe this is official confirmation that we talked about this last week's episode. You go, is he going to make it? Is he not? Do they have to bring in or I guess no. Is scout going to make it or is you gonna be the ringer? But it's looking like scout actually might make it to worlds for LNG, which is fantastic news for this team because this was the superstar mid laner that got them there.
And it would have been a big bummer in the final moments right before the biggest term of the year to get your spot taken away from you. Also, a lot of competitive integrity issues with for all the other teams to complain about, like, hey, why do they get this opportunity to bring this other player? And I don't think we covered that as much on last week's episode because we were more focused on like the player side of what scouts feeling. But I think this is the best possible outcome. Just scout gets to go. That would be great. So is this official though, Bigel? Do we know? Because I saw that the report saying it's likely, but I didn't see anything confirming it.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: So we got the right official announcement that you, Gao has been approved as an emergency sub in the case that scout cannot attend, but a scout can attend. Ygao is no longer eligible. After that occurred, there's been a lot of postings that scout is going to be able to go, that he put some money down to basically say, hey, if I don't come back, here's this money to pay out the lawsuit. There's been a lot of rumors around where that money came from. Some even saying ruler paid it out, which is kind of funny. But the big thing was apparently Jdehdenhe, not JDG's.
Yes, JDG's. JDG's met. And GM came on whatever live streaming service either. I think it was Billy Billy and had mentioned that scout got approved. So ya go is no longer going. So it's not official yet, but all signs point to the fact that it will be scout attending the tournament.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Well, again, that is the outcome that we're all rooting for because that removes all the drama. Unless you're a fan of drama, in which case, I suppose send a package to scouts Place. Please don't. Actually, I should not have made that joke.
Yeah, we stan rosters actually getting their entire team there. C nine, though, has officially announced that Berserker is leaving RMC. I want to get your thoughts on this one here because I know that you also do pay attention to lcs, what goes on in North America. What do you think about Berserker getting dropped from cloud nine?
[00:11:45] Speaker C: Honestly, a little bit surprised. I mean, even the Jojo drop in the first place was already a bit of a surprise coming in. But I did hear and I think these are just rumors. I don't know if it's confirmed, but like, Berserker was not never meant to be like a long term lcs sort of pickup. I heard some people saying that he had plans already to go back to Korea at some point. Again, rumors not confirmed that he just came out for some experience. So maybe with what had happened, he just decided to move back a little bit sooner. I do think it will hurt a a lot. As much as c nine did struggle towards the end of the split, I still think Berserker was one of the best ad carries in the region. So definitely sucks for c nine. And I'm very curious what direction c nine is going to take for the rebuild now that they've lost Jojo and berserker.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: I think budget all signs from what I'm hearing is pointing to budget. And it's interesting because typically in like a format change, we haven't seen many format changes. But when format changes have happened in the league, team spend more to try and be the most competitive team and win. Like right, like the big change. This doesn't feel like as exciting of a change of say like franchising or when the LCS was first established. Like both of those were like the two other big changes where suddenly more money was put towards brands and players salaries and such.
But this would kind of be a new precedent set by cloud nine if they are going budget at the start of the Americas kind of era of this esport.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: So if they do end up going budget. Kangas, you obviously know the tier two scene and you also RMC know that better? A lot more than I do. Are there any names that stick out that you could see is kind of making that jump to the next level?
[00:13:28] Speaker C: Sajed.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Yeah, Sajed is, like, the top one that really comes to mind. That's Flyquest Academy's ad carrier flag with challengers. Ad carry.
He won his rookie split in challengers, got a pentakill in that finals. And even though their end of summer wasn't as, like, ideal as they would have wanted, they still got top three. They still, like, had a pretty good run. And honestly, that whole FlyQuest roster, like, Serdi's on there, Shadin's on there. Like a lot of those guys, we should expect to see making jumps to the lcs next year or whatever.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Again, it's called, or hear me out, Brazil with the mergers. Why not Marvin?
[00:14:08] Speaker B: I mean, legitimately, he just had an insane America Challengers international tournament. He's also a rookie. This was his rookie year, right?
[00:14:16] Speaker C: Yeah, it was. He won his rookie split as well in split one, or the brazilian equivalent of spring. And sure, he didn't win split two, but he won America's challengers. So that means he's the best ad carry in both America and Brazil. And la dam, for that matter, right now. Right?
[00:14:31] Speaker B: And na teams, northern region teams, can have a brazilian player that does not count against their import slots. So that's actually an interesting not. And then c nine gets the brazilian fans backing them up, so they get the brazilian buff, too. Wait, you might be cooking right there.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: Plus, normally, you may look at them wanting to promote from within for the side of Brazil for pain, but pain already has a really strong ad carrying Teton, so they're likely not going to go with that. So it could be an even better option that way. And also, jumping back to the mentioned, the flyquest guys, all of them are officially free agents now. So no buyouts, nothing like that. They're all on the market. They got some big names that should see the lcs next season. Yeah, if sir t doesn't see the lcs, it's a crime.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: It's ridiculous.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: It's already a crime that he was here. This split, like.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Or this, right? Yeah.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: What else can you do?
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Also, quick note there, that budget for c nine in the northern region theoretically could still be more than what Payne Gaiman would be able to offer Marvin, even if they were interested. So it could come down to a bid war. But that's all hypothetical. We don't know, but that'd be kind of a cool future to think about. Because the fact brazilian players do not take up, or at least you get one brazilian player that does not take up an import spot. I believe you could get a second, but the second one would then, like, your roster has to be, like, two na players, a brazilian, and then two imports. So I assume you could still have a second brazilian, but, you know, you get diminishing returns then.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: I mean, with berserker going, they still have the import spot available.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: True. Oh, God, please don't just grab another korean challenger player.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: Korean challenger.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: They're probably just gonna do that, aren't they? Oh, my God. Cloud nine is just gonna grab. Who's t one's third string ad carry right now? They're just gonna grab.
We mean below reckless.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: No, reckless is the support.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: Oh, right, he did. I forgot. He roll swapped.
Just bring over that.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Just bring over the t one. Challengers. Bot Lane import reckless, imported Brazil and mid leader.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Man. There's no way. There's no way. All right, we're moving on. We're moving on because that is it, actually, for global news, and I'm ready to hop into the episode proper. So shout out to everybody who supports the podcast if you want to give your thoughts on the brazilian superstar rookie ad carry bot. Laner Marvin, if you got any of those games or if you are just learning about it for the first time and are excited about the prospect of brazilian players coming to North America, make sure to join the community discord and start the conversation in there. Also, shout out to anybody who supports the pod on Patreon, as well as through our merch store league rundown dash shop dot forthwall.com, dot RMC. There's no way that you knew that we had a merch store, right? This is your first time being on in quite a while. I want you to click on the link and then just scroll through. And then at some point in the episode, I'll hopefully remember this time to ask you what your favorite piece is. I totally forgot to do that for Leo, who was on a couple weeks back, and he called me out for it in the discord.
[00:17:40] Speaker C: Oh, I already have it already.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: All right, all right. Let's just have you do it now so that way I don't forget later on. What's your favorite thing?
[00:17:46] Speaker C: How could it be anything but the Giga Kangas tank?
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: At least it's not the mouse padded.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Your option are the Giga Kangas tank or the Kangas pad.
[00:17:58] Speaker C: The prompt the Kangas pad is, I feel like you should put just, like, one picture of like a zelle freak, like, or disorux in there and see.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Somebody can spot, like the non sneak of Mister clean. Yeah.
[00:18:10] Speaker C: Or mystically or Braun or something, like.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Sneak a John Travolta in there. Like a modern John Travolta. Google John Travolta. If you think of John Travolta as having a full head of hair, Google him right now. And it's shocking the resemblance now that I just outed myself there. Oh, did he just do it?
[00:18:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I did.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: If you dyed your. Your hair a little bit more brown, reddish brown.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: I can totally see that.
[00:18:34] Speaker C: Genuinely.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Yeah, a little bit. All right, well, now that we've all had fun with that, let's talk about the play ins teams, specifically focusing on the minor regions. We haven't covered them yet. Last week we did lck and Lpl episode. So this time it's time to talk about the teams that will be duking it out for the remaining four spots in the swiss stage of worlds. I freaking love playance, man. I'll say that till the end of my life. This is some of the most scrappy and fun games that happen at worlds. I know everyone's like, no, it's the top eight. That's when, like, you get the good teams against each other. I'm like, yeah, but I don't. I watch lcs. You think I watch league for the good teams, man?
So I always have fun with this one. And thankfully, we do have a subject matter expert. I'm going to call you that RMC, because you were the english broadcaster for CB Low. So you can take it away and start us off. What is pain gaming's deal? How did they qualify into worlds and how did they look on their journey to get there?
[00:19:34] Speaker C: So even better still, we had to drop hawk for this because hawk also expert on subject matter. But I am the biggest pain seti, the biggest pain fan. I've been supporting them since 2021. I've been hunting for the jersey. They don't export it outside Brazil, so I can't even do it.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:19:47] Speaker C: I've been trying for years to get these.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: All right. If I ever get a chance to get my hands on one, I'll let you know.
[00:19:51] Speaker C: Yes, please. Okay. So pain gaming, they are the oldest organization in Brazil. Their owners like the Tiger king of Brazil. That guy's rich. He literally owns tigers in a mansion. So the has just been very, very stable from the get go. It's always been around. They are known as the traditional. So most of the teams in Brazil have a nickname, so BKs are the second place team was the Warriors Payne, the traditionals, because they've been around forever. And more recently they were known as eternal second because since franchising in 2021, they won the first split. In 2021, they made top four and got knocked out in the semi finals in the second split. And since then, they've been second. Since 2022 to now, every single split, they just keep making second. And so people were saying they were cursed. They just could not beat loud. Every time they met against Loud, did lose. Finally, this split, it's finally changed in the very last split of CB Lol, as we know it. The traditionals, the oldest, finally gets.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:20:50] Speaker C: It's been so painful, but it's kind of a mixed reception for a lot of the brazilian fans because loud at their peak was probably the best team Brazil has ever produced. But the world has never seen loud's peak because they kind of choke every time at worlds. What you guys see at Worlds or MSI, that's not the loud we see in Brazil. So they're out and fans are happy for that. The two teams left that were fighting for it was pain and vivo. Kade stars. Vivo Cade Stars had coach CL coming in from team heritage last year. They're supposed to be a five year project. They won both the regular seasons, and people are excited for them because they are younger, they've got a high ceiling, but they didn't win. Payne won and pain beat them three one both in the winners finals and the grand finals. So pain is undoubtedly the best team in Brazil, but we don't know if they're good enough for worlds. They are very stable team. They're very, in a way, meta, like, you know exactly what's coming from them every single time. They're not the explosive like, hey, mister bot Gapdehdeh that we saw.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: Oh, no brtt story that we like to follow.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: Unfortunately not. Well, their bot lane, Titan, who Bichol kind of mentioned earlier, Titan is that kind of guy. He's very explosive, he's very passionate.
I think it was 2022 split split one or 21 21 split two. Like either worlds 2022 or MSI. Sorry, MSI 2022 or worlds 2021. I remember Titan got up to yell at somebody across the stage because that's what they do in Brazil all the time. And the rep actually kind of put, put their arm on him and push him back down because that's not, apparently, a lot of the international stage, he's that kind of guy, but he's mellowed a little bit. So that's the brazilian sentiment, is that we're a little bit worried. Payne doesn't have the flair, the excitement that it takes to beat better teams. But on the other hand, they are still the best team coming up Brazil, and they're very, very solid, so we're hoping they don't choke and that, hey, they at least show what Brazil is capable of. Other problem is the bracket for Brazil this year is not good. We've had two very, very good brackets at MSI and Rhodes last year loved both of them, and now pain got the bracket that we feared you'd get where they have to face PSG, potentially the best team.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a also a bit of extra historical context, just that you can grab from Leaguepedia because that's what I can provide to this conversation. This is gonna be their second international appearance from this organization. They were at worlds 2015, or at least like the riot official circuits worlds 2015 and then MSI 2021. One, it looks like, but obviously very different rosters that pain gaming had at those different times. So talk to me about the rest of this roster, then. Wiser, karaoke, dyne, Dinkwaito. How do I say that?
Dinkato, Teton and curry. Is it Teton or Titan? I've heard it said both ways, so.
[00:23:40] Speaker C: In Portuguese it's pronounced Chiton, but Chitan. He has been on record saying he prefers the english pronunciation of Titan I.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Okay, okay, we'll just go by Titan then.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: And then curry. So are any of these other players kind of story players? I don't recognize any names other than Titan.
[00:23:56] Speaker C: That's fair because. Okay, so we'll start with the Koreans in the roster. Wiser and curry. So they've never won in Brazil. Unfortunately, wiser's been around for a while. Wiser's actually just the split. Become a domestic brazilian player because he's been there long enough. Yeah, he's got a brazilian fiance. He is here to stay, though.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: That's cool.
[00:24:14] Speaker C: I do believe he has to serve the korean national service at some point, but I know you can defer it for a while, so I don't know when he's going back.
So wise is very, very solid.
That's kind of the name of the game for pain. Solid, but not necessarily the most inspired. He had a great playoffs, though. He absolutely stomped a lot of the competition. He had huge gaps in GDF 15 during the playoffs, so hopefully he has that performance. Curie's another interesting one. He's a true import and he takes up an import slot. He was handpicked by Titan as his laning support, and he's very good mechanically. His engage sense is off the wall. There was a lot of controversy when he got picked up because last year Payne gaming had b boy who's now playing at Shopify. Shopify, pardon me. And his support was a player called Pro Delta who won rookie of the year.
And this split he's on Kadestars and a lot of people during the regular season were saying that Poe Delta might be the mvp of the entire split. And so when pain let him go for Curry being handpicked by Titan, there was a lot of kerfuffle. Fans weren't super happy that we let go one of the best supports the region has produced. But hey, Curry is absolutely cracked. And he beat pro Delta in grand finals and winners finals. So those are two Koreans. Denquero is a name that sadly, you've probably not heard too much of. He has some international experience. He's won, I believe it was three times and all three times with Titan as his ad carry. So Denkido has been on this roster for a while. You wouldn't have heard of him much because he always loses to tenons. He's the second best mid laner in the region, but you only ever hear about the best.
Yeah, he's been living in Tenons shadow. This split he popped off and he beat tenons pretty comprehensively, though Tenons also kind of fell off. So he's the best we've got to offer again. He's won every time of time. In fact, this year there was talks that he was going to leave pain. He was actually fielding offers from other teams and he was talking to Titan, and Titan said, hey, I'm leaving red. And Titan used to make the heart and soul of red, but him and his jungler ages had a difference in opinion. So Titan decided, hey, I'll look at other teams. And then Kato said, come to pain. If you come to pain, I'll stay. So yeah, they're back together again. And now for the fourth or third time, pardon me, he's won cb low the titan again. Karaoke was the whipping boy of pain. Unfortunately, he's been around the longest. He was here the last time. Pain wonde back in 2021. And when everything that was a roster with BrTT, with Tinno and Smith, Robo, by the way, in 2021. So a lot of big names. He was not the shot call of that team. But when they all left, Karaoke was supposed to become the shot call of the team and he struggled with it. His mechanical performance fell off. He used to be known for things like Lee sin and graves. He could not play those and shot call at the same time. So he started playing things like Sichuani and Maokai. And now he gets like, maokai almost permabanned against him. So when things were bad, everybody was kind of saying, oh, it's karaoke's fault, you know, like, he's, he's the problem, he's not. And I'm really, really glad that he finally won and that he can shed all of those sort of aspersions on his skill. In fact, he's such a nice guy too, because during the times the fans were like accusing him of being the problem, he was like, no, it's fine, you know. And then when he won, he's just like, I'm so glad that we won, so I can finally give this to the fans. Despite the fact that the fans basically crucified him during the second place round, that they had a. Yeah, and his name as well. Karaoke is.
Yeah, so it's. Karaoke is how it's written, but it's pronounced karaoke because that's what they call the karaoke. But that's right. We did that at the beginning too. And then thankfully 404, who's our resident Brazilian when we started, told us that apparently karaoke are what you call people from Rio de Janeiro and that's where he's from. So that's where his name comes from. Yeah. So, yeah, very karaoke is very supportive jungler. But this split, he was playing a lot of AP junglers. I'm liking the carry look that we got from him. He was the first guy to play Zyra in Brazil after I think was LPO and LCK started playing at first. He was the first one to bring it to Brazil. So, yeah, nice. Very forward looking meta jungler.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: How likely is it for CV Lol's pain gaming to make it out of play ins? If you had to give your honest opinion, you already said they got a tough bracket and I have to agree, their bracket out is difficult for anybody who's not aware pain gaming has their first round against PSG, who's actually kind of considered by a lot to be the boogeyman of that side of the bracket. And then if they lose that, which they are expected to, they have to play most likely mad lions.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: Koi or Vikings.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Or Vikings. One or the other.
[00:28:51] Speaker C: Yeah. But the fact that we're thinking it might be mad Lions court tells you a lot about Vikings and the overall strength of that was that eight group a or that side of the bracket.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: Side a, Group A, whatever you want to call it.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: Yeah. So it is really, really tough. I'm going to be honest. Okay. My honest, genuine opinion is I think pain is stronger than a lot of people are giving them credit for. I think it's understandable because loud has consistently crapped the bid on the international stage, but pain is better than them, at least this split, and they are more consistent teams, so I actually think they could be competitive. Getting out of the group, I think, depends a lot. Okay. I don't think they're being paid at all. So I think we're playing single location for pay, basically because we're gonna get wiped out first stage, though. Hey, we have surprised we beat EDG back in 2016. An INTC roster did that, so there's still a chance, but realistically, probably not against mad. I'm hoping we get mad because from what I've heard from people I've spoken to about the OEC, they say mad is Beatle. 40% win rate. They cheese if you prep for the cheese.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Dear. Beatable.
[00:29:54] Speaker C: But then they still have to play the other side of the bracket at that point, whether it be a gam shg or, you know, 100 thieves. Probably not 100 thieves.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: If you lose the first round, you have to play two more best of threes in order to make it out because you have to play the other loser of the first round and then the loser of the qualification match, all of which are best of threes. We don't have any best of fives in the play ins, unfortunately. Would love to have that schedule, I guess just didn't allow. But for anybody curious about the format for it.
[00:30:22] Speaker C: Yeah. So I would give cBDol maybe like 40% chance to get it. And I know I'm being, oh, a lot of people think I'm very optimistic for this, but like I said, I think besides PSG Talon, I think they can. Besides PSG talent and 100 thieves, I think they could actually go toe to toe with any team. I personally really want to see them go up against Gam because of the humiliation we've been suffering at gam's hands because Lau just had issues and, you know, Kroc apparently wanted a new father. So.
Yeah, okay, so in Brazil. In Brazil, that's the thing. Like people say, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like so and so is their father, or so and so. Like, if you're much better than them. So that's why sorry, context.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Yeah. We say daddy in America, you say daddy.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: Jesus, Kangas.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: All right, cool. So 40% for pain gaming to get out. Pretty high, I would say. But you are the resident expert, aka biased Caster, so no surprise right there.
Yeah, biggest pain fan. I think that's a great way to cap that one off right there, because it's time to cover the other regions. Now, we're not going to go nearly as in depth on these next couple because obviously we don't have a caster that was literally covering those regions and paying attention to those regions. But I think let's just keep things going with the South American representatives, or what will be the Americas eventually here with ll a stepping up now, Loa, unless, big love, you really want to hop in? I was just going to kind of COVID over what the leakpedia says.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I can give a brief rundown as to them. LlA's representative this year is the same rep we've seen before. It is movie star Rainbow seven, or movie star seven, whatever you want to call it. They were the representative for the LLA the last time we saw them, I believe, back at worlds. Let me double check that. But yeah, back in worlds, 2023, they were the rep there. They kept a majority of the same roster with Audi in the jungle. Absolute LLA legend, been around for quite a while, the man you always see. And then SEO and Lions is still the same bot duo. The thing that they've changed is their solo lanes. Last time we saw them, it was with Miru mid Lane and the one and only Bongdev, top lane. But things have changed in the mid lane. Now they have kiney kine. I don't know pronunciations that well, who not a lot of people are going to be familiar with, but top Lane is a name a lot of people will know. Korean export, played some time in the LCS. It's summit. Summit finally gets his first title in any region. He's known to be a strong side top player. Push waves a lot, play around laning phase. He had some issues last time we saw him on team liquid, but it seems like he was able to take a minor region title. Now, round one, we get to see Summit versus sniper, and that's just going to be exciting.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: I can't believe that they made that big of a downgrade, though. They had bong. Why would they do this?
[00:33:29] Speaker C: Well, we called it a downgrade because Bong was an awesome name, but they're. The LA Casters are hailing summit as the best top laner that ll ever had. So, yeah, I don't know if he found his magic down there or something.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: But he always had the individual skill and the ability to get leads to crush lanes. It was in linking up with the rest of the team and actually playing League of Legends. The way that team liquid wanted to play League of Legends, that made him look rough in North America as well as even on cloud nine. So, like, the summit experiments just never quite worked out for LCS teams.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: But.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: But I think that it's no surprise he's the type of player that could get an LLA team. Two worlds, they split a lot of series. In the regular season, they were four, six, and zero. So that means that they won four 20 s. They had six one ones and then zero zero two. So they didn't drop a series, essentially, but it was best of twos, I believe, over there, so.
But also in playoffs, they kind of crushed. Like, they just ran through the upper bracket. They had one close series first round, but then they three zeroed the finals. So, yeah. Cool to see that they are back. Um, but it really is the summit show that we're expecting. Summit versus sniper. Real quick thoughts on that one, Bickel, who do you. Who do you think takes it?
[00:34:44] Speaker A: I think it'll be tough to see Sniper's first time going international could be difficult, but you always do have that little bit of expectation coming in for any team from a major region. I think it'll be exciting. In all honesty, I may have to give the lane to summit, though, even.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: If I gave a.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: Give the game.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I don't think it's enough to make me concerned that 100 thieves are going to lose this series. But I would not be surprised if Sniper has two rough games on their way to picking up a win in this best of three series.
[00:35:20] Speaker C: Yep, that's fair. But imagine if sniper wins.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Oh, my.
[00:35:26] Speaker C: God.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: That would be great. That'd be great. All right, cool. Again, we're going to go a little faster on these next ones because we just have less information in general, we've covered the Americas team, so let's move over to the VC s, everybody.
The last time that we're going to have them actually represented at the world stage. So this is kind of the last hurrah. First seed game esports. Second seed, Viking esports, aka Skoal. Shout out to any football fans out there. I don't watch football, but I'm from Minnesota, undefeated somehow.
I know that. I didn't know that they were defeated, actually, but that's three and oh, somehow.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Behind Sam Darnold of all people.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that's my boy Sam. He's, he's, he's our guy, you know.
But anyway, talk about guys, let's talk about VC's up first with the second seed. I mean we can kind of talk about in general how this season went and then playoffs for both of these. Let's start off with Viking esports because playoffs, this was another 30 in the finals. But they did have a very close semifinals match or upper bracket finals match against Gam that they pushed them to. And they also looked like they were just kind of head and shoulders above whatever third place was. They three owed team Wales twice in a row in the bracket stage of playoffs. So Vikings still looked solid for VC's terms, but they just couldn't really tackle gamdae. Did anybody catch any of the VC's games here or like any of that footage?
[00:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah, so I did get invited to their grand finals as a guest just to kind of wish them farewell. So I did get to watch their games and I was actually a little bit surprised. So Vikings is a newer.org but the players are not. So Katy actually used to play for Gam. In fact last year at Worlds Katy was the mid laner with Kiaya and Levi on that roster. So some familiarity there. And Shogun and beer, that's Saigon Buffaloes. And that bot Lane was like one of the strongest parts of that roster. So Vikings getting to the grand finals was not a surprise. Vikings did won the regular season too. And as you mentioned, the winners finals, they were close against Gam. I don't know what happened. The grand finals, they just bent and folded for Gam. And the big concern for the Vikings esports roster for me is their topside. I believe Nana is pretty much brand new, very little experience. This is I think his first split. He's playing at the VC's level and when you have to put that up against Kia and Levi, it's not a surprise that kind of got like run over.
So yeah, Vikings, I think a lot of people are looking at this bot side, at this mid lane and bot lane saying like, okay, this is still a threat of a team and if you can't shut them down fast enough, Shogun will step up and carry anyways.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah. And I mean, even like easy love I think has looked pretty good in the region itself from what I can see in tournament results that he's been playing.
So game esports were that head and shoulders above, but do we think that either of these teams because VC's has been a bit of a dark horse in the past, a bit of a wild card in the past. Sometimes they do punch above their weight class to show that there is, you know, an argument that this is a, you know, region to take seriously and is a serious threat. Are either of these teams though going to be a threat at this year's worlds?
[00:38:46] Speaker A: So either of these teams can definitely bring a bit of spice to the table and maybe punch around a little bit, maybe throw some hands with the upper tier teams. I think there is kind of that expectation that PSG is the final boss of plans. They are above. Honestly, even Mad Lions and hundred thieves is like this is the best team in play ins full stop. But you can see potentially Vikings and gam thrown hands with maybe 100 thieves and Mad Lions also fighting with a fukuoka. We'll get to them later.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Fuquoca soft Bang Hawks gaming thank you Kangas.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: Alongside with the likes of Rainbow seven and pain gaming, they are fighting for those last couple seeds likely through the lower bracket to get out. Minor thing about Vikings, they were actually the first seed coming in from the regular season, kind of seen as the favorites and coached, co owned and their former support player Sofm.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah, shout out to sofm.
Yeah, I think and again, looking at the bracket that they have games up against, I just said Fu Cuoca Softbank Hawks gaming I'm going to say it every time in the first round and they're on the side in the bracket with hundred thieves r seven I think in general we could consider this one the group where like if any team is going to surprise us and get out, probably this group just because of how tight the other side could be. PSG is basically a shoe in and then vikings are facing off against MDK and Payne Gaming, who RMC has bet his life savings is going to get out of this group 40% of the time, which I don't know how you bet a 40%. That doesn't really make sense. Jokes still landed. I got to chuckle out of it anyway. But yeah, so I think that honestly Gam have the higher chance of making it out of the play and stage, but it's still, they got a little bit of their work cut out for them. But I actually, I mean, we have gotten into predictions yet, but I do have them making it out so we'll cover those later on. But RMC, any thoughts on if either of these teams can do any damage at worlds?
[00:41:07] Speaker C: Gammas Gam right. They've got that protagonist buff. That's why they keep winning the vc's. I think they've won it ever since 2022. They just keep on winning.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: I think they lost one split in there, if I'm thinking right.
[00:41:19] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah, it might be. It's just like, they always make it so in my head, it's like, just. It's gam. And when it comes to the play ins, they make magic happen. It's so hard for me to bet against them, and that's why I hesitate with pain. I think, technically speaking, pain can match up against Gam, but gam's got magic when it. When pressure comes down. So, yeah, I'm kind of with you in that. Like, I do think gam can kind of maybe get some surprises rolling again, as per usual. But, yeah, the other teams in there, I think when we talk about them.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: The last time didn't win the VC's was in winter of 2021. One.
[00:41:52] Speaker C: Yeah. So they literally have just won since 2022.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah. That's crazy. That's. That's all. Hey, that's better than g two. Better than g two. I actually don't know. Yeah, I think that's better than g two.
Okay, confirm gam better than g two. They're gonna make top eight at worlds.
Narratives on their head.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Well, again, that is gonna do it for VC's because, of course, everyone's waiting for us to get into the logo review, but we have one more region to cover before then, and that is the PCs. We've already hinted one of these teams is kind of the boogeyman of the play ins, and that is, of course, their first seed in PSG talent. Second seed, though, this is, I think, where also, there's a very fun story here because this is, I believe, the first full year of, like, the combination now where it's the Pacific Championship series, but they added the LCO, which is Oceania, and LGL, which is Japan, all into the PCs. And wouldn't you know, the second seed coming out of this region, qualifying, is actually a japanese team. It's from the LJL side of that merger, which I think is a really cool story.
[00:43:01] Speaker C: Yeah. And with the LGL merging, too, like, we've known the LJL for DFM for the longest time, and I know Nymera's been, like, dying because every. Oh, it's a one team region, but, yeah, it's not DFM anymore. DFM loss to the Hawks in the regular season. Season, and then they're in the LGL side of things, right? When they come in. So DFM was actually second seed coming in from the LGL. And if you look at this Softbank Hawks roster, there's a name that stands out. He used to be a former DFM player.
Evie in the top lane. That man was an absolute monster. He carried TFM all those years, even with the whole church of Aria thing. Evie went over to EU, he's back and he's carrying and he's popping off. He's absolutely nothing. And he's letting the rest of the team kind of do their magic as well. So this softback long roster, not only did they surprise on the PCs, but they also took a game off PSG. And I know it's just one game, but PSG is really good guys. Look, I cannot emphasize how good they are if you can take a game off them. That actually makes me. That's why I kind of look at Saltbank Hawks as maybe the dark horses of the players right now.
[00:44:03] Speaker B: Ooh, interesting to think about. Yeah. Evie coming in. Of course. He like, screw team heretics. I'm going to get to world's back on the home team team.
And they do have like that group of life. It feels like any of the teams in this other side of the bracket, this b side bracket, could make it out. Gam the Fuqua soft Bangkok's gaming 100 thieves and r seven. There's arguments and there's reasons to get excited about any of these teams being able to make it out. And I think that this one is one that I have the least information about for sure. But, yeah, you never know what's going to happen in the play ins. But that means that we got to talk about the first seed here because the first seed is the one that we have to give the explanation as to why so many people think that they're so good and that even MDK is not going to be able to topple them as the first team to qualify out of the first bracket side RMC. I want to get your thoughts first, then we'll get pickles thoughts afterwards. But PSG talent, talk to me about him.
[00:45:07] Speaker C: Before Levi adopted loudcrock, Junja adopted loud croc. Back in the day, Junji, absolutely stunning. Maple. I think Maple said either on Twitter or something on some social media that this is probably going to be his last split.
[00:45:22] Speaker B: Oh, so, yeah, this is a shout out to Maple. That guy's been playing for over a decade now.
[00:45:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Was it Flash Wolves and whatnot?
Yeah, I remember CSM days, of course. Yeah. Flash wolves into TSM and then back to the PSG again. Yeah, he's. He's been rocks. He's been rock solid. He can play whatever is needed in this current meta. He was great on marksman. He was good at mages. In a meta where mages really weren't the thing, their bot lane is super solid as well. And that's the biggest threat because PSG traditionally plays off their bot lane. And Betty's been here for a while, right? So that's perfectly fine, too. Great skill in late game topside. Ozzy has had a great split, except on when he tries to play like range carry. If he doesn't play ranged carries, he is rock solid, immovable, and an absolute lane bully. And because of that, they've got carries in every single lane. Their fundamentals are really, really sound and they're just a ticking time bomb. They put the pressure on every other team to beat them within a certain amount of time, and that's just not the matter right now.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: I think that this team is definitely scared. You just look at the names that are on this. Like, even Betty has had experience playing, like, RNG back in the LPL. He played for Rogue wars, anyone's legend. Like, he had a long stint at the LPL level and then coming down here to play for PSG. Tal, this is looking like the team that not only could make it out, but could legitimately do a bit of damage in the swiss stage as well, with like, kind of how people are power ranking them. There might be like a couple of teams that you would actually rank below them in swiss stage. But bickle, I want to hear your thoughts now on PSG talent and how they looked.
[00:46:52] Speaker A: RMC hit the nail on the head. This is a terrifying team in plans and could make some noise in Swiss if they. Well, we say if they make it there. In reality, we are very confident that they will make it there. They can even make some noise there.
Just to remind people, this is the team that two owed Flyquest back at MSI and took Blg to five games.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:47:19] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: This team is scary. That trip you mentioned, Ozzy and Woody is kind of the supportive, not supportive, but kind of the two members that are kind of known to the side a little bit. Junjia, Maple and Betty are terrifying as that three prongs of the trident.
It's absurd what that team is able to accomplish. And to see Maple kind of on this last ride, if this truly is when he decides to hang it up after such a storied career, it'd be great to see him have one last great run at worlds.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: I got a very hot take. I think that this team current form how t one have looked. I think the PSG actually takes t one if they match up round one of swizz.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: Damn.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: The career matchup to see. That'd be a fun matchup to see. We can cover that later though, if we want to get real spice with predictions. Of course, going into the later stages of worlds, we will be able to cover those predictions, but that will do it. Now for our team preview here. Best we could for the minor regions, of course, having watched at least some of the finals potentially, but not all of the seasons themselves, save for, of course, CB Lowell. But now it is time for the important part of the episode, the part that everybody tunes in for. It's in the title after all. And that is, of course, the logo review for the minor regions. It's tradition that we do this, so we're going to keep going forward now. We're going to do it a little bit differently. We did this for MSI and I had fun with it, so we're going to do it again. Now for worlds, we are making a tier list of the logos and how we do it is we will start and go around in a circular draft, taking turns to pick a team that we want to place on the tier list. RMC will go first as our guest. RMC can pick any of the players teams, but only one of them, and then tell me where he wants it on the tier list. I will then put it on the tier list and then after that pickle will go pick another team that is remaining and we will continue that order with me going third until all teams are placed. Once all the teams are placed, we're going to keep going in the same order, but everyone gets the opportunity to move a team up or down one tier. If you disagree with where a team was placed, you can try and correct that by moving them appropriately if you think somebody's just egregiously wrong with their take, or you can just choose to like, no, I agree with everything. You don't have to move something if you don't want to, but we all get a chance to move to correct biased takes or just incorrect takes if we want to. This is all an attempt to hive mine. I'm going to make this to your list and then publish it on our socials accounts as well as in the discord. So you might even see this before you hear the pod, but either way, you can join in on the fun. Any questions before we get started, gentlemen.
[00:50:08] Speaker C: Okay. Top tier is s tier, yeah.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: Yes. S tier.
[00:50:11] Speaker B: S plus, actually, on this tier list maker that I have. And in fact, I'm gonna stream. I think I can stream this to you guys on the discord, so you should be able to see this. Let me know when you do.
It is taking its time. Do you see that? Now, is this the right mozilla? There it is. Cool. There we go.
[00:50:29] Speaker A: All good.
Perfect.
[00:50:31] Speaker B: So you can even see the tier list and go along with us. There's s plus, s, a, b, c, D, e. You know what? There might be too many. There might be too many lists. I can just delete rows, right? We're gonna delete. I don't know. And we're gonna delete s plus. S plus is unnecessary, right? We all know what s means.
[00:50:46] Speaker C: Okay?
[00:50:47] Speaker B: Sabcd. And then we're changing e to f, because f is way more fun.
[00:50:51] Speaker C: Okay, you know what? Let's have fun. Let's start with FDA, Fukuoka Softbank Hawks gaming, right down to that.
[00:50:59] Speaker B: No, you ain't said the full name, but honestly, probably deserved. It's just three letters, man.
[00:51:05] Speaker A: But here, if you look in between the s and the h, it's actually a hawk. Oh, wait, there is.
[00:51:13] Speaker B: And the g has, like, these wings on it to signify speed of the direction the hawk's going. Wait a minute. You're onto something.
[00:51:21] Speaker C: They're not even the best bird logo here.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: Okay, sure. But at least it is more than just three letters. But f tier.
[00:51:31] Speaker A: I thought it was f tier. Then I noticed the hawk. I'm like, okay, maybe it's, like, c tier at best.
[00:51:37] Speaker B: Maybe that one moves. Maybe that one moves later. But RMC, at least getting the hot one in early. Odd with the f tier. Take. Bickle, you're up next. Then you can pick any of the remaining teams anywhere you want.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: I'm going the complete opposite. I think this is the best logo there is. It's gotta be gam.
[00:51:54] Speaker B: It's s tier game is classic.
[00:51:58] Speaker C: Every. Every tournament goes up there.
[00:52:01] Speaker B: Every single tournament, dude. The revolvers with the wings and, like, the little helmet, and they still put gang. Like, they still fit the letters in. This is chef's kiss.
[00:52:11] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:52:11] Speaker C: Fair enough. Fair enough.
[00:52:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I got to agree. I gotta agree with you. I'm not gonna go into an s tier, because, honestly, I don't think another team deserves s tier. We'll see if anybody disagrees with that, but I do think there's a team that can go into a tier.
[00:52:28] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:52:29] Speaker B: And I think it's got a very solid logo, and that is PSG. I love the bird around the classic Paris Saint Germain logo. They're kind of incorporating the, like, traditional sports with this, you know, esports take on it. I think it's really cool. The only thing I have against it is that it has esports written as, like, just a word hovering underneath what should just be the logo. Or they should put esports, like, on the bottom circle, like, kind of hovering around, kind of like how Paris is positioned. So that's the only points I have, but I think otherwise, it's a solid logo. I think a tier is good.
[00:53:07] Speaker C: You know what? That might be a tear breaker issue because leaked PDF doesn't have the esports under it.
[00:53:12] Speaker B: Oh, well, there we go. Still solid a, then. Fair enough than a risky a. It's a solid a. We'll call it that. But RMC, that means that you're up next. What do you want to go for?
[00:53:24] Speaker C: Okay. Actually, my favorite logo of the bunch was the mad Lions logo, but it's was because now they're not mad lions. They're mad lions. Koi and I don't see no coy on that, so I can't s tier them. I'm still hesitating between a or b.
[00:53:41] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:53:41] Speaker C: You know, I'll put them a behind PSG, Talon.
[00:53:45] Speaker B: A behind PSG. Left to right does matter on this tier list. I do like that. So a tier, but behind PSG. Why do you think behind PSG? What's holding it back?
[00:53:54] Speaker C: No coy. Put it. Put a fish or something.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: Actually, that would be perfect. Just lying, eating a little fish.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Little fish in the mouth.
[00:54:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:05] Speaker B: Koi might. The koi side of that merger might be upset about that.
[00:54:08] Speaker C: You know what? You can make it a merlione. That's Singapore's logo was a merlion.
[00:54:13] Speaker B: Oh, you know, all these great RMC. Do you want to plug your email, like, business email, in case any teams want to hire you for graphic design? Thoughts?
[00:54:24] Speaker C: Yeah. Matt goy, if you all want.
[email protected] nice and simple. Forget the fact that I love the pain gaming logo. That that doesn't affect anything here, you know?
[00:54:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:35] Speaker B: Fair enough. All right, bigel, that means that you are up next. There are. We're already halfway through. It's a small list of teams here.
[00:54:43] Speaker A: I hate to do it, but I think the Hawks are gonna have some company down in f tier.
[00:54:49] Speaker C: No, I love the team.
[00:54:54] Speaker A: I gotta put the thieves down there.
[00:54:56] Speaker C: Oh, thieves? Oh, that's a surprise. I was expecting a different team.
[00:55:03] Speaker A: The logo that they're shown on the tier list is different, but if you just look at the one on leakedia, it's really just the words hundred thieves.
[00:55:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:55:12] Speaker B: I like the 100 t with the circle logo, though. This is the image that we're going to talk about.
[00:55:18] Speaker A: Okay. If we're doing that, then I guess give it d. It's better than just the words.
[00:55:23] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. You can bump it here for hundred thieves logo. Wow. I mean, the team's called hundred thieves. What else do you want for I guess maybe a thief.
[00:55:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:55:36] Speaker B: Just words.
[00:55:37] Speaker C: Yeah. The thieves font doesn't even scream thieves. I mean, if it. It's more like, I don't know, graffiti or like, you know, some sort of.
[00:55:45] Speaker B: Take what's not given, you know?
I don't know. All right. Yeah, I'm not gonna fight you too much on that one. I think that. Yeah, I would probably would put a. But it's c tier, d tier doesn't seem like egregious. I think f tier was a little low, but yeah. All right. 100 thieves down there. That means I'm up next. Ooh, what do I want to do here? Well, I gotta go. God, just the fact that vikings are. They just had the audacity just give such an angry face and thick eyebrows to this guy means that I'm putting that up in a tier, baby. I might. I don't think it's better than Maddox logo, though. I want to put it above mad, but it's like. I think it's. It's up there. It's. It's like on the mad tier.
So, vikings, congratulations. I'm giving you a tier. What do we think about that, guys?
[00:56:34] Speaker A: I like it now. It's solid.
[00:56:37] Speaker C: That's all. My only gripe with it is that looks like orn and they didn't play Orin.
[00:56:42] Speaker B: Well, that's nothing to do with the logo, though.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: That's the two I was between. I was either gonna go with the low 100 thieves or the high vikings.
[00:56:55] Speaker B: Okay, well, I'm happy that we at least melded on this one together. RMC, that means that you are up next. There are currently, what, two remaining. We got pain gaming and r seven.
[00:57:06] Speaker C: Okay. You know, to. To remain unbiased. I won't touch pain. Okay, I'll pick r seven and I'll put them as a salt. B. I think their logo hits all the things. Like, it's gone words. It's got imagery. They got the rainbow kind of in there, though. There's only five out of seven. Well, technically, iron seven, I guess, are the other two colors. So, yeah, they kind of hit the whole thing. I think it's really, really solid. My only gripe is it doesn't pop out the same way the other logos have, but it's a solid b. It covers all its bases, but doesn't really excel.
[00:57:37] Speaker B: It's unique. I think that the shield behind it is almost what I have against it. I kind of wish that it was just like the. The seven reals with like the little triangle that's five colors and then the r and the seven are the other two colors. Adds up to seven colors. Really cool and clever. Why? Why do we need the shield? Like, what is the shield adding to this? I almost feel like it makes it clunky. But I do agree that it's solid. It's still like a solid logo. I don't. I don't, like, have a major gripe with it other than just. I think that may be a little busy now. Pickle, thoughts?
[00:58:15] Speaker A: Pretty on point there. I think it's definitely below what we've had so far. In terms of that top four.
[00:58:25] Speaker B: I think so. But that means that there's one left. And you are so bickle. Pain gaming. How bad do you want to hurt RMC right now is the question.
[00:58:35] Speaker C: Look at the simplicity of it. It's so clean. And here's the real secret about that logo.
Here's why it's so brilliant. It is the most on brand thing they could do. They could have made it look good. They could have made it look fancy. But no, they went with plain and simple because it hurt you. And that's on brand for pain.
[00:58:54] Speaker B: Lot of good points.
[00:58:55] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:58:56] Speaker C: But by the way, fun fact, the sponsor for pain gaming is a company called Doorflex. They're a pain medication.
[00:59:02] Speaker B: That's amazing. Actually.
[00:59:04] Speaker C: The funniest thing.
[00:59:05] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:59:06] Speaker A: They get bonus points for that alone.
[00:59:09] Speaker B: All right, what are the bonus points put them to then, bickle?
[00:59:12] Speaker A: I think they're going to end up.
I'm gonna put them b tier, but behind Rainbow seven.
[00:59:25] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:59:28] Speaker C: I was just hoping for a c, but I'll take this.
[00:59:31] Speaker B: I was overseeing because we don't have anybody in c. I was gonna go.
[00:59:34] Speaker A: See what the pain medication sponsor bumped him to be.
[00:59:38] Speaker B: Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. For the simplicity of it, hashtag not.
[00:59:43] Speaker C: Sponsored by door flex. If you want a north american spot.
[00:59:47] Speaker B: Yeah, we're in pain a lot on this podcast. We could use your help for sure.
Okay. So for anybody listening along, let me give the recap here, before we adjust. We have gam in s tier all alone. A tier with three teams. We got PSG, mad and vikings.
And then in b tier, we have r seven with pain gaming. Nobody's in c tier, d tier. 100 thieves, f tier all alone. Fukuoka softbank hogs gaming.
Bummer. But now we all get an opportunity to move a team up or down one position if we so choose. I am next in order. So I will go. Then it'll be RMC and then bickle to close us out. Do I disagree with any. You know what? I'm. I know you put pain behind our seven.
I still just feel like our seven is like, I. It's a little too busy, man. I gotta move our seven down to c also. I hate not having a team in the c tier, so I gotta put it there.
But there we go. That's gonna be my move. R seven down from the head of bhidden to alone in C RMC. You can still move that one if you want, move it back up. You can move it back up if you want. Or you can move anything else you're feeling. The only rules is that you cannot move one that you placed on there, so. Or rather, like, if somebody moves one that you place down, you can't move it back up to where you'd wanted it before.
[01:01:17] Speaker C: I'm just trying to decide how much annoy you can. I guess if I push Payton down.
[01:01:21] Speaker B: This so that we've got an I. Oh, you can.
[01:01:32] Speaker C: The most pain thing to do that would be.
[01:01:35] Speaker B: I thought you were supposed to be their fan, but I guess, sure, go for it.
[01:01:40] Speaker C: They would understand it and respect it.
No, honestly, I think things are pretty good for the most part. I might have been a bit unfairly harsh on the SA Ondez, Fukuoka soft Bangkok's gaming, but I can't touch my own thing and I'm not gonna bump 100 thieves down to f. So I think I'll leave it as is.
[01:02:00] Speaker B: Okay. I like that bickle, then. What do you think?
[01:02:04] Speaker A: Let's think on that list. Kangas, can you pull it up? I think he changed screens.
[01:02:10] Speaker B: Oh, did I?
[01:02:11] Speaker A: Yes.
There you go.
I'm not going to move a team up or down a tier. I'm going to move within the tier.
[01:02:22] Speaker C: Oh.
[01:02:23] Speaker B: Oh.
[01:02:24] Speaker A: I'm.
I'm between going two different ways here.
[01:02:31] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:02:32] Speaker A: Because the issue is I'm a bump Vikings up to the top of a. Oh.
[01:02:42] Speaker B: Not what I expected.
I kind of like it.
[01:02:47] Speaker A: I really did. The logo, it just fits so well with the name. Like, you can see the anger in that Viking within it, and it fits that team really well. If I could have done both, I would have actually just swapped Viking and PSG. Cause I think mad lions is still in the center there. But I could only do one. So I'm gonna stick with the Vikings.
[01:03:09] Speaker B: I gotta say, vikings, out of every logo on here is the one that you. There's no words. You look at it, you know the name of this team.
[01:03:17] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[01:03:18] Speaker B: You know exactly what the steam is just by the logo.
Okay, so that means that the final standings are gam and s tier. Vikings now atop of a with PSG and then mad alone and b tier spade gaming, somehow.
C tier is R 7D. Tier is 100 thieves. F tier is fuquoka soft bank hawks gaming. There you go, everybody. That is our league rundown, official podcast, minor region, or rather, play in team logo review.
If anybody could make any other adjustments, what would you do? It sounded like RMC. You might have moved fukuoka up.
[01:04:02] Speaker C: Yeah. That still be the dead last for me, but I might take them out of f because. Yeah, you know pickles, right. I didn't notice the bird thing. And the more I look at it, okay. It is vast improvement over their previous logo.
[01:04:14] Speaker B: All right. You know, Bickle, I made the rules, but I'm down to amend them. Do you think we should move them up? Does I. Do they deserve d tier?
[01:04:22] Speaker A: I think they deserve d tier just because of that bird in the SHG.
[01:04:26] Speaker B: I think so. I think so. I. You know what? I'm not gonna be a stickler on the rules. And whenever we ever take a rule seriously, so that means no f tier. We don't think anybody's f tier. I'm okay with that.
[01:04:35] Speaker C: Yeah. No old Softbank hawks logo. That was after, if you all remember that one. That was just straight words.
[01:04:40] Speaker A: I think this is solid.
[01:04:42] Speaker B: I think solid. I like it, too. And now, it's not just perfect distribution across everybody, but it's still weighted, you know, two and d tier, three and a tier. Like, it's. It's balanced, it's even. It feels right.
But thank you so much for coming on, guys. That's gonna do it for tonight's episode. RMc, you've been on a couple of times, but remind us, where can people find you if they wanna give you support? And then, Bickel, I see you want to hop in afterwards. But first, RMC, take the podium.
[01:05:10] Speaker C: Surprisingly, you can't find me in Brazil. I'm not actually from there, but you can find me on twitterandomcaster. I'm probably actually, during this break, gonna be streaming on my twitch a bit more, so. Twitch tv randomminioncaster I don't. Don't question my choice of games because I already question it enough. But, yeah, I'll probably be playing a little bit more there. Yeah, and that's probably it. I'll be doing some collegiate casts, but just look around, support all the collegiate things. If you find me, great. If you don't, it's still great. Games all over.
[01:05:37] Speaker B: Awesome stuff. Yeah. Go give RMC some support. It was awesome. We got our first ever cast together. We've known each other five years. Four or five years, something like that. Yeah, in the online sphere. But we've never actually gotten to work directly together as casters. You've been on, like, desks and stuff together, but never just two guys talking about League of Legends during the game. So that was awesome to have that experience with. It was a great time. But, Bickle, you wanted to hop in and say something earlier.
[01:06:03] Speaker A: I don't think we actually ever said who we think gets out of play.
[01:06:08] Speaker B: Oh, wait, you're right. Oh, this is not the end of the episode. Okay, real quick predictions then.
[01:06:12] Speaker C: Well, it is the end of the episode, and if you want to see who makes it out of play.
[01:06:18] Speaker B: You gotta subscribe to the Patreon.
[01:06:20] Speaker A: All right.
[01:06:21] Speaker B: Okay, so we have group a or playing side a with MDK, vkey, aka Vikings esports PSG PNg, and then on the other side, Gam, fukuoka Hawk gaming.
[01:06:33] Speaker C: Hawk, fukuoka Softbank Hawks gaming.
[01:06:35] Speaker B: There we go. And hundred thieves and our seven. So on side a, myself, Bickle, and RMC all have PSG. No surprise, as the team that's going to two o the series on the way out, that is two, of course, winning two series in a row, not dropping the series. The team that's going to lose first, but then win out through the remainder of the bracket.
This one we actually do. We all have different teams.
[01:07:02] Speaker A: We all have different opinions.
[01:07:04] Speaker B: We all have a different team. So I have vikings because I still, first off, skull. Second of all, I don't know, I just. I feel like I have to vote against Matt. It's just on brand at this point to shit on MDK.
But Bickle does have MDK, and RMZ says contractually obligated for pain gaming. I think it's important to note that that was included in parentheses. So, RMC, I feel like that's a little self explanatory. Bickel. Why do you think MDK makes it out, though?
[01:07:35] Speaker A: I mean, it's the boring answer, but it's statistically the most likely answer. MDK, despite not showing the best performances, is coming out of a major region as a top three team despite having a 40% win rate, but has shown some highs with some interesting picks, especially coming into a new meta. If they've been given some time to adapt and kind of come up with some more funky picks, they could throw some teams off and just get themselves out and to play into swiss stage before swiftly getting zero three by every team in there.
[01:08:10] Speaker C: Sorry.
[01:08:10] Speaker B: All right. Like the addendum at the end. Yeah.
[01:08:12] Speaker C: Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there.
Can't we have three teams make it out of the b group?
[01:08:20] Speaker B: Technically, is there cross like qualification matches? I didn't know if they receded for the. For the final qualification.
[01:08:28] Speaker A: Yes. So the loser of the qualification of a will play the winners of the losers bracket and b. So basically, yes, it's possible for three from the same group to come out.
[01:08:41] Speaker C: So does that change anything for you, Kangas and Pickle?
[01:08:43] Speaker B: I did not know. First off, this. Do mine make any sense now?
[01:08:47] Speaker A: I double check that yours makes sense.
[01:08:54] Speaker B: I don't know.
[01:08:55] Speaker C: Yeah, no, no, it's possible.
[01:08:56] Speaker B: That confused me.
[01:08:57] Speaker C: Yeah. Because basically any teams can make it up.
[01:09:01] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:09:02] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. True, I guess. Yeah. Theoretically, you just went out through the lower bracket, then they're going to go to the other side. So it's basically, do I think that vikings, rather than. Are they better than mad and pain? It's do I think they're better than Gamma Rainbow seven and then. Yeah, like seven reals or gam? Fukuoka. One of those.
Oh, interesting. But wait, I have 100 thieves gam making it out. How the hell is this going to work?
[01:09:34] Speaker A: So basically, you know what?
[01:09:35] Speaker B: Sure. I'm just going to say it makes sense. Vikings are still making it out. I don't want to put my brainpower into that one. There we go. Now, let's talk about b side.
We all have hundred thieves waiting out, which means they will inevitably disappoint us and hurt us and not make it out. And that's a big disappointment that we all jinxed North America there. So let's talk about who we think else is making it out from group b. We got Gamdae and two. That's for me. I think game's making it out. And both of you say Softbank Hawks gaming. All right, let's start with Bickle here, and then we'll get RMC's thoughts.
[01:10:09] Speaker A: I think despite being considered one of the minor regions, AIPAC has shown they are a tier above kind of everything else in terms of the minor regions as strength of teams.
Softbank Hawks took a game off of piece off of PSG.
Not many teams in this play ins can do that. I think that alone shows they're a very strong contending team and have the ability to get out when compared to the likes of Vikings, Gam Pain and Rainbow Seven.
[01:10:42] Speaker B: Okay, well, there you have it.
Well, thank you Bakel for reminding us that we did not actually cover who we think is making it out of this group. So I'm happy that there's a lot of discussion and a lot of actually disagreements other than the favorites to make it out of each side. There's a lot of pressure and expectation on both PSG and 100 thieves to deliver and actually be able to make it out. But thank you so much for listening along everybody. This was a very fun episode. Went longer than I actually expected it to. I think we had more to talk about than I initially gave us credit. But once again, thank you so much RMC for coming on and chatting with us here. Always pleasure to have you. Hopefully we can have you on more either throughout the rest of worlds or even into off season going into next year. Who knows what your schedule looks like and if it can align. But thank you especially to everybody who supports us again on the Patreon through the store, whoever just leaves us a review of five stars that even helps us out also get noticed. So you're the real ones. We love you and we'll see you next time.
[01:11:41] Speaker A: Peace.
[01:11:47] Speaker C: Do I stop the audacity recording as well? Okay.
