League Rundown - Episode 556: Breaking records (the bad ones)

[00:00:12] Speaker A: Gets hit. Kimi gets a little too far here. He's gonna have to try and get himself out Living O Tillery and the rest of the shots of fire Zion is just killing the next Zion can eat single handedly win the game by game by game by game by should be oh my God. Stupid marches through and manages to the table with Messiah tanking it up. I do not believe he just believe. [00:00:42] Speaker B: I cannot understand this game. [00:00:46] Speaker A: Unicorns of love it wasn't a mutant they Nexus hello and welcome to episode 556 of the League Rundown. This is your 2025 LEC Spring Split Week 2 review and LTA Split 2 Week 1 review. This episode is lovingly entitled Breaking records the bad ones. I am your host kangas joined by three esteemed co hosts. Up first we have Mr. Mazelpl. [00:01:29] Speaker C: Hello. It's been a while since I've been back. I'm excited to be here. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Happy to have you. Happy to have you. We also have joining us fresh off of the two host podcast both of our first time ever. We got Bickle. Maybe we don't have Bickle. Maybe Bickle has left the building. [00:01:49] Speaker B: Oh no. [00:01:50] Speaker C: Your imagination. [00:01:51] Speaker A: There's a good chance that we're just have to redo that. [00:01:53] Speaker B: That's okay. Perhaps. Perhaps we should have ready checked. [00:01:58] Speaker A: Dude, that's Perhaps we should have ready check. I guess. [00:02:00] Speaker B: You know I did hear just good Patreon content. [00:02:03] Speaker A: This. You know, this is the best Patreon content. Let's just wait in silence until he gets back and then he'll think that he's crazy. I like that. Oh wow. [00:02:14] Speaker D: A whisper. [00:02:18] Speaker A: All right. Well I don't actually want to wait in silence. [00:02:21] Speaker B: No, I don't either. You know that whisper too. It would have maybe tipped him off. You could call it a careless whisper. There it is. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Okay. Unironically. I was listening to that song in the shower shower yesterday just like full blast. Was. [00:02:36] Speaker B: Was the light on in the shower? [00:02:38] Speaker A: It was. [00:02:39] Speaker B: That feels like a light off shower kind of song in darkness. I mean depending on what time you're taking a shower like or okay. Or if your shower has like a window that brings in some weirdly. [00:02:50] Speaker A: It doesn't. My shower does not have a window damper. [00:02:54] Speaker B: You shower in jail if sometimes. [00:02:57] Speaker A: Do you shower? [00:02:59] Speaker B: I don't. I don't like the direction that actually went. Yeah, I was going to say, you know I don't like the direction that one actually went. You know sometimes I just be saying shit. You know. [00:03:08] Speaker C: Did you drop the soap or what? [00:03:10] Speaker A: That's what we get paid to do, actually. [00:03:12] Speaker B: True. [00:03:13] Speaker A: Mm. So mazel. I guess since we're waiting on Bickle to get back first off, let me shoot a message in case it's like an audio issue on his end, just to make sure. But for the LPL update, do you want to pre update us on anything? It's been like three weeks or something, so it's gonna be like a. It's a while. What. What are the big narratives? [00:03:35] Speaker C: Well, sorry, I was following something. We're in the primary stage of LPL right now. The funniest thing is that top esports still look omega dominant. Literally just last night, they beat FBX in 23 and a half minutes. [00:03:54] Speaker A: Holy. [00:03:55] Speaker C: One of their games. Literally pre Baron, which is wild. They still look really good. Bilibili still look really good. JDG actually look pretty good. Anyone's legend look okay. But still top four material. But we are in the double round robin group Ascend. Like eight weeks of games straight for the both sides of things, but a little bit more on the dark side for Nirvana. Okay, two teams are from. [00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And they're gonna be done for the year, right? [00:04:31] Speaker C: Yep. And I think it was Cubby talked about last night. I think is April 26th would be their last game played this entire year. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Yep. [00:04:40] Speaker C: Which is just absolutely, like, absolutely insane. [00:04:46] Speaker B: You saw LNG versus edg. They deserve it. [00:04:50] Speaker C: Oh, it was a game of all time. [00:04:51] Speaker B: It was so bad. [00:04:54] Speaker C: Oh, my God. [00:04:56] Speaker A: I heard about it. We can talk about more on the pod, though, because. Bickle, you're back. [00:05:01] Speaker D: Yes. I wasn't sure if that was you guys already jumping into the episode with the LPL rundown, so I was just gonna shut up for a little bit. [00:05:07] Speaker A: We did an intro, and then I got nothing on your end. I was like, you know, we're just gonna redo that intro. [00:05:13] Speaker B: And then it was just like crickets. [00:05:14] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. [00:05:16] Speaker B: I should have played a cricket sound in Discord. Damn. [00:05:18] Speaker A: Oh, damn. That would have been good. Although only Craig would have gotten it. You need, like, an actual soundboard for it to pick up on Audacity. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:27] Speaker B: I mean, that would have just been fun for us. [00:05:29] Speaker A: True. All right, but since we're all here, let's get into the episode. And going live in 5, 4, 3. Hello and welcome to episode 556 of the League Rundown. This is your 2025 LEC spring split week two review and LTA north split two week one review. I am Kangas, and this episode is lovingly entitled Breaking Records. The bad Ones. And I'm joined by three esteemed co hosts. Up first, we have Fresh back at his computer and definitely here for our first recorded intro. Bickle. [00:06:11] Speaker D: I'm here. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Did he leave again? [00:06:13] Speaker D: No, I'm here. [00:06:16] Speaker C: Incredible. [00:06:18] Speaker A: He got me again. He got me again. Happy to have Bigelon, but we also have. Joining us, Mr. Mazelpio. [00:06:24] Speaker C: Hello. I'm super excited to be here again. I know it's been a little bit so I've been on the show, but I'm very happy to be back alongside you guys. [00:06:33] Speaker A: And also recently, joining the unofficial English coverage of the lpl, we have a special guest, a caster who's been around the. The Tier 2, Tier 3 scene for a while now on the LPL unofficial broadcast covering some of those games this past split, we have special guest Yanni. Welcome to the show, Yanni. Happy to have you on. For our community to get to know a little bit more of you. But I want to give you the opportunity to highlight some of the fun stuff that you do because I know that you're not just a league guy, you're also like a magic guy. You got other interests and hobbies. So what do you want the audience to know? Like, what are your, like, top three things they should know about you before they listen to you this episode? [00:07:13] Speaker B: Top three things. All right, so number one, a fairly accomplished magic player. Now, if you know anything about magic, I'm not like, oh, my God, this guy's insane. But I was at one point, one of the best Burn players in the world. You know, an easy deck to play. [00:07:26] Speaker A: I don't. [00:07:27] Speaker B: But everybody. [00:07:27] Speaker A: Oh, you're off the episode. I don't even. [00:07:29] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:07:29] Speaker A: Come on. [00:07:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, no. Listen, bro, Burn and magic, we ain't casting ukazi like they do over in Yu Gi. Oh, man. No, we. We cast better cards. Second thing, I want people to know unapologetically, four for four, Philadelphia sports fan. So if you immediately don't like anything that have to do with Philadelphia, well, you know what? I'm so glad that you only get to listen to me and I don't have to listen to you. [00:07:56] Speaker A: Jesus. [00:07:58] Speaker C: The ultimate mindset. [00:07:59] Speaker D: See, I already knew this about Yanni and now I just like him even more. [00:08:03] Speaker A: Let's go, my goat. Pickle that. Wait, Pickle, Are you a Philly guy? [00:08:08] Speaker D: Oh, born and raised. [00:08:10] Speaker A: Wait, I actually didn't know that connection. [00:08:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I had no idea. [00:08:14] Speaker D: Yeah, my dad was born right outside of Philly, so grew up with all the Philly sports teams and hell, yeah, love them ever since. [00:08:22] Speaker A: That's awesome. All right, Yanni, do you have a third thing or are you happy with the two? Because those are honestly two bangers already. [00:08:29] Speaker B: Yeah, you know what? I'm happy with the two actually. Hold on, wait, give me one second. [00:08:33] Speaker A: That could be your third thing. I'm happy with my. [00:08:36] Speaker B: I'm happy with the two we don't have anything to do with. I don't have anything to do with the the cursed word in league esports here, so I won't mention it because I work for a place that does the curse thing in LOL East. [00:08:47] Speaker A: Cursed word. What? Tariffs. [00:08:49] Speaker B: The B word. [00:08:51] Speaker A: Best. Best of three. [00:08:54] Speaker B: No, that's the good word. Best of one is the bad word. [00:08:58] Speaker A: Best one is the bad word. True. Speaking of, we did have a couple of those happen in our league in the north here this past weekend as we are still in that placement phase. But we also had best of three is the good word over in the lec. We're going to talk about all of that today, but before that we got some global news to hop into. Up first, Bickle, we talked about it week. We gave the rumors and I will not lie to you, by the time of like yesterday morning I woke up, remembered we talked about the rumors, laughed to myself like wow, those were probably way off and there's no way they're true. And then the news broke and it's like, wait a minute, they were True. Fly quest 6 man roster for summer split looks to be confirmed. But Bickle, who is that rumored top laner that they're bringing on to bolster the ranks? [00:09:49] Speaker D: Yeah. So as what happens with most rumored roster changes? This originally came out of the Sheep Esports but was instantly confirmed by FlyQuest themselves and Bwipo saying, yeah, we're going with a six man roster. They are bringing in the Turkish top laner, Gakgos I believe. Don't quote me on that pronunciation, but he is currently a top laner in the second division of the lfl. So that means he's kind of a tier three player right now. The reason they're bringing him over for summer is and not spring right now is they need to get his visa all set, they need to get him transitioned over and they're still going to have him play with his current team Project conquerors in the LFL Division 2 right now and kind of get some more experience. But it's really going to be interesting to see what FlyQuest does with a six man roster. I think we saw the theory of this Put to the test at not just first strike, but also first stand. Not first strike, damn it. [00:10:54] Speaker A: First stand. There we go. [00:10:55] Speaker D: But also over in the LCP with CTBC Flying Oysters running their six man roster using driver and rest and they found real success with it. So FlyQuest is a looking for a similar style, but also prepping for the inevitable Bwipo retirement that will come as he transitions to the coaching realm as they sign geckos to a three year contract. [00:11:21] Speaker A: That's a long contract. I hear he's a young player. I heard 17. I'm pretty sure. I'm not sure if you're looking as Leaguepedia or if anybody can confirm that for me, but signing a player that young for that long of a contract would be huge for an organization. You are 17 in January, 17 this last January. So he's young. Young. Mazal, I want to get your thoughts on this because I know that, you know, followed the league for a while. We both have seen Bwipo like be kind of a player coach for the Academy team back on Team Liquid when he wasn't even like playing fully. What are your thoughts on like Bipo sharing time and then maybe get a little predictive of like, do you think this is his last year? Because it kind of feels like that could be the. Where the signs are pointing. [00:12:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I think he knows that inevitably his career is going to come to an end. He wants to like leave a legacy. I know he's like in a lot of interviews he's gotten emotional for like what his mark will be on. On League of Legends, I guess. And I still think that like he. It's going to push him. It's. I hate to put it like this because it's going to sound awful, but when you have an old dog, you get, you get a young dog and it adds like multiple years of life to those. Those older dogs. And I have also just renews energy in them and it's a lot like that. I wouldn't say it's exactly like that, but I think it's a situation where it motivates Bipo, but it also gives him a project. Right. And something kind of leave a mark. And I think that's exactly what Bwipo wants as a player. [00:12:48] Speaker A: And I think it's a unique thing. Yanni, I want other players. Yeah. Not every player would do that. And it's such a unique environment for a new young player to enter into. You're basically being told we're going to give you the keys to the car, but first you have, you know, you got your permit. You're going to drive with an adult in the vehicle first and like share time with Bwipo. Learn from Bwipo before Bwipo. Who knows if he sticks with FlyQuest as a coach for Flyquest or if he goes to another Org. But if. Let's imagine he sticks around coaching, but he also got to be part of the roster building as the player side and really fully mold the play style of this team. That's something I've never seen before. But Yanni, I want to get your thoughts here before we move on to other global news events because this is kind of like the biggest big headline story that we have so far. [00:13:35] Speaker B: Without a doubt. I really like the move on paper because listen, whenever you get a really talented young player, it's like, oh man, it's so exciting, right? It adds a little bit of. A little bit of juice whenever you're watching and like whenever the first time you see him play is. The question I have is when is the first time he's going to play actually going to be? Because I think that if you're willing to play him because of the way the format can be sometimes and how an individual game can really hurt a lot if you get like a performance out of him. Because don't imagine he's just gonna hit the ground running, right? So already if he plays games in split two could potentially affect you qualifying for msi. And then if he plays games in split three, it could have a either negative or positive effect of you trying to qualify for Worlds. So I don't know if this is like a he's gonna play any games in 2025, he's gonna play meaningless games after FlyQuest has already locked a spot or if they're gonna, you know, roll with him and Bwipo and split depending on matchups or anything like that. [00:14:43] Speaker A: I think a little bit of all of those could happen or at least, sorry, like when I think of like the strength of schedule and then also the fact is best of threes for summer, from what we're hearing, it's not going to be spring, it's only going to be summer split that he' being best of threes, you can play him for a game even if he does a poor performance. You can just put Bwipo back in for that best of three series, right? Or like get the win game one with Bwipo, then throw in geckos, see how things go then, right? So, so I think that like it's going to be variable. I imagine that BWIPO is going to be the better chance of them making worlds right now. So you. You raise an interesting question. But I think there are pretty like obvious times when you would play geckos like a best of three versus Dignitas. Like sure, throw them in there, right? [00:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah, without a doubt I am. You know I think that the problem that I have and the reason why I'm skeptical immediately is just because I think this Flag Quest roster is so good. I think that you know they. I wanted to see them in the semi finals last year obviously like every NA fan did. I think that this team still has a very real chance to make some magic like that happen and I'd really hesitate to kind of change the formula that they currently have. It feels like it's hard to get it to work playing a six man roster with players that aren't already like pretty well established and actually develop a player properly from start to finish that way. [00:16:13] Speaker A: Wait, hear me out first off, I hear what you're saying. I understand the concerns. But the narrative says otherwise. What year did BWIPO make World's Finals? [00:16:25] Speaker B: Okay, okay. [00:16:27] Speaker A: Freaking rookie. [00:16:28] Speaker B: All right. [00:16:29] Speaker A: What if. What if Fly Quest come in? If they do it all summer six man roster get everyone comfortable to get goes get to World's Finals WHIPO there but this time also with another rookie top later. [00:16:44] Speaker B: Oh, history does repeat itself. [00:16:48] Speaker D: You list the fanatic example of when a six man roster works. You're ignoring the more recent six man roster that had two top laners that absolutely did not work. That was back in the LCS 2022 lock in when 100 Thieves said they were going to run a six man roster with SSUMday and Tenacity. Tenacity played about two games and then never saw the rift again. [00:17:10] Speaker A: Yeah, but that didn't have the BWIPO narrative. Okay Bickle. So okay, okay. It doesn't always work. I'm excited to see if this one will because it specifically in a fearless system. Fearless drafting has added an extra layer and an extra reason why a six man roster makes more sense than it did before. Because champion pools if they are distinct enough in a fearless draft. It is just a buff I think to have multiple players as long as they're of similar caliber and the team can play with the same with both. [00:17:44] Speaker D: FlyQuest even mentioned they wanted to do something like this earlier coming into the season. Whippo mentioned that they wanted to run a six man roster with him and Serti but Serdi wanted a full on starting spot which is why he ended up leaving for Dignitas. [00:17:57] Speaker A: Oh, I actually missed that. I didn't realize. Interesting. Okay, cool. The more you know. Well, that was the big roster news that happened this past week. The news dropped right before, like the day before recording this episode. But we do have other leagues to talk about, so mazel. Give us the rundown. We've had a few weeks of lpl so this is your moment. What's going on over in the league? [00:18:20] Speaker C: We I've never the the second phase of the split. We're in the split of the group Ascend and Group nirvana. It is 10 teams in group Ascend. They get to play double round robins, best of three fearless games for the next eight weeks. And group Nirvana gets to play single round robin best of threes. And if you're looking at the Nirvana group, the bottom two teams will be eliminated for split three as well. And they would play their last game on the 26th if that's going to be the case. Or at least around the 26. [00:18:57] Speaker A: Can you imagine your entire year's competitive schedule ending in April? [00:19:02] Speaker C: That's just wild, man. The likely candidates. What's up? [00:19:08] Speaker B: It's a mercy for some. [00:19:11] Speaker C: Maybe, maybe, maybe for the viewers. The likely candidates are at the top of group Ascend. Top Esports has looked like the dominant domestic team that they always do. Even if they crap the bed at internationals over and over again. BLG looks really dominant. They have not lost a game so far in this group. It is a group of 10 of the best of the best. Besides maybe we and FPX who are kind of the odd men out. But JDG is looking okay. Anyone's legend is looking a little bit more rocky by looking pretty decent. It looks like the top four will be pretty much the same names we saw in spring or at least in split one. And top four teams of Group Ascend immediately go into the playoffs. All the other teams go into like this mismatch of Ascend and Nirvana teams to get into playoffs. Like a pre playoffs. [00:20:03] Speaker A: Interesting. [00:20:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So a lot of games left to go, a lot of time left to give. And if you love LPL English, please drop us a follow and subscribe. It's been awesome. [00:20:12] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. [00:20:14] Speaker C: But it's been a lot of fun. We've had some really banger games. That's the thing about the group Ascend is it's literally the best teams versus the best teams all the time. And it's double round robin so we get to see it twice. [00:20:25] Speaker A: That's cool. So how Much time do the top four teams have off before they have to play in playoffs? Is like one weekend to determine or. [00:20:34] Speaker C: Yeah, it's not very long. I mean the crazy part is, is like the teams in group ascend. Each one of them has one week out of these eight, seven, eight weeks that they have to play four best of threes in. So like the schedule is jam packed. Like Top Esports is playing for best of threes this week after also playing three out of the four first days in week one as well. So it's just, it's just a jam packed schedule. [00:21:01] Speaker A: Dude, LPL is wild. Every time I hear like what the schedule looks like, I'm just shocked. Yeah. All right, well, Yanni, I know that you're also on the show and you've done a couple of casts as well. What's that experience been like for you and what are your favorite storylines so far in the LPL that you've been following? [00:21:19] Speaker B: Oh, dude, it's been such a great experience. Mazel. Have to give my thanks to you, of course. Bigger reason why I'm there. It's been so awesome. I do not care that I have to wake up at like, you know, absurd hours because I'm on the east coast and in order to do this, it's great. I don't care if I have to go into work, you know, a couple hours afterward. Again, I would do it so many times over and over and over again. I think that, I think that my favorite storyline and really team to be watching right now is Invictus Gaming. Mostly because this roster is like really, really good from top to bottom. This is the shy and rookie roster with Gala. [00:21:57] Speaker A: It's the run back roster, right? [00:21:58] Speaker B: Yeah. And like they. A couple like before this week, they were actually looking like, hey, they were starting to hit their stride again. Their solo laners are solo laning. You know, like everybody's doing well and then this week they just like fallen on their face. They're currently one and two and it's just like not looking so great. So that's like my, my favorite team to watch because I want to. I'm pulling for them so badly because I just want to see these names at Worlds again and they just continue to disappoint me. [00:22:28] Speaker D: Come on, you got the niddly top. What more could you want? [00:22:33] Speaker C: A lot more. There's a lot more. [00:22:36] Speaker A: That was the shot I heard about the, the 80 niddly top lane. I didn't realize that was the shy playing it. [00:22:40] Speaker B: He didn't play bad he did not play bad. [00:22:43] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. [00:22:44] Speaker C: Now they won that game. [00:22:45] Speaker D: They did win that. [00:22:46] Speaker B: They did. It was absolute fiesta, wasn't it? [00:22:50] Speaker C: Yep. [00:22:51] Speaker D: It's ig. I feel like that's a fiesta. [00:22:54] Speaker A: That's also most LPL games. From my very limited understanding, whenever I hear. [00:22:58] Speaker C: Dude, the. The couple of the big series we've had recently have just been absolute giga bangers. [00:23:06] Speaker A: Nice. That's good. It's good to have good quality games in your league, let me tell you. It helps with entertainment and enjoyment. Speaking of, if you. [00:23:15] Speaker C: Just a little shout. Just a little shout. Sorry if you didn't go watch the BLG IG series. It was a 2.0. It was way better than a 2.0 and you should go watch it. It was. It was 40 minute games with over a kilomet. Like it was wild. [00:23:30] Speaker A: Anyway, kill a minute that I'm off my soapbox. All right. Sweet. I love it though. I love it. LCK also has been going on Bickle. Do you have any fun updates or any cool stories narratives going on in LCK or at least just standings? Kind of like who's doing well, who's doing poorly. [00:23:47] Speaker D: So over in the lck, they're just starting up. They are playing a bunch of best of threes. They play two rounds of best of threes before they get to their mini MSI tournament which also seeds into rounds three through five. Their format's complicated as hell right now. All you need to know is that for MSI it's double round robin best of threes. The only team left that's teams have played either one series or every team has played two series. Only one team hasn't lost a game so far and it's Nongshim Red Force. [00:24:19] Speaker A: What? Yep, that's the name that I usually hear mentioned when. When I hear good teams in lck. [00:24:25] Speaker D: Have they played the best opponents? No. Are they the only 4. 0 team in game score? Yes. You do have the likes of D plus and Gen G. Also 2.0in series. Just having dropped the game. Gen G versus T1 classic series was as phenomenal as you can remember and as phenomenal as it always will be. T1 is currently running with Guma Ushi at AD carry after that whole off season kerfuffle. [00:24:53] Speaker A: Is he worth the sponsorship bucks? [00:24:55] Speaker D: He's worth the sponsorship bucks. He's okay. He's Guma Yu. [00:24:59] Speaker C: She. [00:24:59] Speaker D: What do you expect? [00:25:00] Speaker A: True. True. But yeah, I do remember going around socials it was like oh, Smash would have won this playmate. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:25:09] Speaker A: When. [00:25:09] Speaker D: When all cameras on you. Everything you do is going to be nitpicked to hell and back. But yeah, of the series that happened in week one, T1, Gen G is absolutely the one to watch. Also to open up the season was Hana Life vs Gen G. It was kind of a stomp for Gen G. But this week Hanwhole Life T1 is going to be great. DK Gen G is going to be great. Basically the four teams to watch. The four teams you expect. It's D plus, Gen G, T1 and Hana Life. [00:25:36] Speaker A: Okay, love to hear it. Well, we'll keep our eyes on Aung Shim Red Force as well. They might be the Lions of lck, but you know, still technically undefeated. We'll give it to them. That's it for global news though. Unless we missed anything and if we did, you know where to tell us. We have a community discord. You can find the link in the description wherever you are listening. Also, if you want to help support the pod, we have a Patreon, we have a merch shop league-rundown-shop.fourth wall.com but before we get into the news proper, we also have a new community segment here. Not just the plugs but also a shout out because Fantasy was back this past weekend for lta only for the north and South. You can draft players from either region to build your team to try and get as many points as you can. And I have a rundown of our community and how everyone did. I am 10th place in the community so breaking into the top 10. Happy about that. But shout out to first place BRN7 with 98.73 points. Then we have Light Team and Apollo pretty close behind. It's only like a four point differential basically between third place and first place. So shout out to the top three and I wanted to compare that to the all time leader right now. I don't know how the hell V Games got this, but apparent there's a gamer named V Games. If you just go to all of LTA, fantasy has 153.98 points so they smoked everybody. But for our community, shout out to BRN7 for leading the charge. Right now with that being said, it's time to hop into some league of legends that happened this past weekend around the globe. First off, starting in North America with ltan, we had our opening weekend. It was a fun debut. I got to cast half of the games and thankfully I got a lot of bangers. I think I only had like one dud basically and for the most part these games Were pretty entertaining across the board and we have two teams that are technically as of week one undefeated. Up first Fly Quest. Mazel despite the rumors are now confirmed rumors that they're gonna go for a six man roster. Started off their spring split pretty well with a 2 0. [00:27:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I think they. That that first game against Team Liquid was. Was very nice to see from them. I think we still get to see some of that like kind of budding rivalry between the two. But I will say like the best parts of Fly Quest were on display even though maybe we didn't get to see it as often last split towards the end. So I'm actually really excited and I'm wondering what. Even with all this news that we were talking about kind of changes for FlyQuest moving forward, but it was a good first weekend. I think they could be pretty proud. [00:28:23] Speaker A: I agree. I think that like for the rivalry going into this we had tracked for the past two years Fly Quest, Team Liquid have faced off against each other in multiple best of threes, best of five series and playoffs. And they. I believe FlyQuest is like 14 wins to Team Liquid's 13 in games, not, not series, in. In game score. So this was a chance for Team Liquid to actually even that out. But FlyQuest still won it. So they're. They're actually winning the rivalry with a two point lead right now. Which I don't know Yanni, actually want to get your thoughts on this. Do you think that Team Liquid Fly Quest is like the number one rivalry in. In LTA that exists at this point? Because it kind of feels like they are from my perspective. But I want to know if everyone el I think so and I think. [00:29:10] Speaker B: A big reason why is because both of these teams have had really sustained success against each other pretty similarly. Right. Like there are times where in the past when you took a look at like TSM and Cloud 9 back in the days that like the pendulum would swing at times. I mean for a long time Cloud 9 was just beating up on TSM even though TSM were still good. Right. Like they were just the team that was dominating absolutely everybody. But this time around for this particular rivalry, it's like a metronome. Right. These teams are like trading games back and forth pretty regularly. So that's why I think it is definitely the greatest one. Of course it's nice when you have some players that are. That are willing to jaw around a little bit too, you know, inspired is. Is also a known talker. [00:29:52] Speaker A: True. They got a lot of shot callers on the team Inspired Bwipo. I Even when you listen to the comms. Busio talks a lot too even on camera. I think he's. He's really good at underutilized on the broadcast. But I do want to bring up because we've been talking high on FlyQuest good first weekend. Yes. Two zero. That disguised game was closer than I expected. So I. I want to give props. We'll talk about disguised as well just here because you know it's coming up Scary Jerry finally had a good game. We had not seen a like a really stellar performance from Scary Jerry individually I don't think until this moment. He only had two weekends to play last split so we didn't see a lot of him. But he actually kind of made FlyQuest sweat. And it came down to FlyQuest in a late game. Really good macro setup in FlyQuest tradition of like weapons in a side lane playing the Yorick of all things. It got nerfed in the jungle but buffed in lane and he was able to split push and basically win the game by forcing DSG into a rough spot of like do we fight for Dragon Soul or do we deal with the Yorick? They lost everything and then the game was over. But Flyquez, they had to work really hard for it and we're actually losing a couple of fights. So Bickle, I'm going to throw it to you here to close out the FlyQuest part. Is there a reason to be concerned about FlyQuest 2? Oh, like do you think that they are the best team in the league with this start or do you think that there are still teams that can contest with them based on how kind of shaky their wins looked? [00:31:26] Speaker D: I would still call them the best team in the league right now, but it would not surprise me to see the likes of Cloud 9 and 100 Thieves put up a fight and possibly take the game against them. And you mentioned the Yorick from Bwipo. This wasn't his first odd pick of the weekend. He also picked Vladimir Game one. [00:31:44] Speaker A: Yep. [00:31:45] Speaker D: Which honestly I think with them bringing in the six man roster, it'll allow Bwipo to dive even deeper into his crazy pool. Pick potentials like okay, standard ish characters go with the rookie wild wacky chaotic drafts. It's Bwipo time. [00:32:04] Speaker A: Agreed. Agreed. But okay, I do want to bring up Mizel. Vladimir has been picked a lot in lpl. Right. From my understanding it's like at least a mid lane pick over there. [00:32:14] Speaker C: Not a lot. [00:32:14] Speaker A: No, not a lot. Okay, okay. But it has been picked. [00:32:18] Speaker C: It has Been picked? Yeah. [00:32:19] Speaker A: Has it been picked top lane yet? From recollection, there's a lot of games. [00:32:25] Speaker B: I think once, maybe. [00:32:28] Speaker A: Okay, well I think it is still. [00:32:30] Speaker C: I don't know off the top of my head. [00:32:31] Speaker B: It's definitely been a mid lane pick. I think it's on top one time. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Because I'm mostly curious on like how popular it was. It's still sounding like it's not a popular pick, but it will pop up occasionally. [00:32:43] Speaker D: It was top, but it was picked up by Flandre against RNG who had Xiaoju playing the Gwen. So the exact same matchup that Pueblo had. However, they lost with that Vlad. [00:32:59] Speaker A: Interesting to note and I will say Bwipo, despite still having a good end performance, this was a game that he made like one pretty tough mistake where he just like tries to do the Bipo thing where he's like, oh, I'm gonna 1v4 buy space for my team and then just dies quicker than you expect. It's like, oh well, he wasn't able to actually do it, but he's still a good game overall. But yeah, I think that that matchup we'll have to keep our eyes on then. So Vladimir and De Gwen seems to be one of the answers. Cool, cool. Fly quest with the 2Zero still fantastic opening weekend for them. The only other team that went 2 and 0 might surprise you, but then you look back at the strength of schedule and maybe it's not as big of a surprise, but it is. Lion 2 and 0. After not picking up a series win last split, they only had a single game win. They were one in four, I believe, total record and they, they got two in a row. I this does it kind of shocked me. But then again, you look at the strength of schedule and I'll read it off to you. It was DSG and it was Dignitas. So like arguably the two like worst teams in the league. So at least they're showing that they're better than them. But hey, wins are wins, right Mizel? [00:34:17] Speaker C: Very true. I think it's been, it's nice to see a little bit. I mean we were obviously wondering what, what happens with this team once, you know, it comes back together for this next split. And I would say I'm still hesitant to like be like, oh my God, they're absolutely better than dsg. But hey, if you're living in the moment, the Hopium's high. All right. The Hopium's high. [00:34:42] Speaker A: Hell yeah. [00:34:43] Speaker C: And they're actually putting together like some contents that would have been Kind of cool. [00:34:46] Speaker A: They are. So a lot of notable things coming out of it too. Number one is that Lions, the support for team Lion. I know it's confusing, but Lions is here. He's actually playing. He was all remote. If you remember, they had a cardboard cutout of him last split. But now he is actually here and performing in person with the rest of the team, which is really cool to see. He definitely looks better in person. Specifically his Nico game. He had like a really, really good engagement. And then also the fact that Saint is just popping the off. Dude, I actually don't remember. I didn't catch this on the broadcast. Does anybody remember who got player of the week? [00:35:24] Speaker C: Wasn't it saying it might have been Saint? [00:35:28] Speaker A: So I, I just checked the socials and for some reason they didn't post it on socials. All I remember is that. Oh, wait, no, it is. Yes, Player of the week is Saint. That was post. I just missed the tweet. [00:35:38] Speaker C: I'm pretty sure it was Saint only. [00:35:40] Speaker A: Died once all weekend. And stream just really, really good individual performances. When you just watch the games, just the eye test, you're like, yeah, Saint was the bright light on this team last split and now he's looking like the freaking spotlight for the team in this split. Like he is just commanding the stage while he's playing and was very fun to watch. So, Bickle, what do we think about lion overall? Is this, you know, a reason to get excited about them with the 20 or are you still thinking strength of schedule? Because I keep thinking strength of schedule. I keep coming back to that. [00:36:18] Speaker D: It's strength of schedule, unfortunately. I think it's very exciting, but they still have a long way to go to crack into the top four. [00:36:28] Speaker A: I agree, it does feel like a top four heavy league and I still don't have lion in the top four right now. You look at how they won. Slow, slow, slow. Took both games. They had all three inhibitors both games. I felt like they could have ended the first push into the base. Then they stop and then they reset. They push again, stop, reset, push again and end the game. It's like, yeah, they are really taking their time to close these games out, but in a way, some credit where it's due. You're, you know, you're playing, you're trying to play clean, but then you're giving your opponent more opportunities to find these hail Marys. So we'll see if they can keep that going. Now talking about the other teams that would crack into that top 400, Thieves, Cloud 9 Shopify and Team Liquid are all tied at one and one. Yanni, you know I'm gonna let you pick out of those four teams. Who do you want to hop on and talk about how their weekend went? [00:37:22] Speaker B: Oh, I want to talk about Team Liquid, man. [00:37:25] Speaker A: Let's go. [00:37:26] Speaker B: Because I'm a big Team Liquid fan, you know, so obviously we touched upon it a little bit. They lost their first game to Fly Quest. You know, honestly didn't look great. Apa not looking so hot. Impact. Yeah, dying an awful lot. I mean there, there are reasons why there are many rumors swirling about with this team now and, and potentially having their own six man roster. Something is clearly not working here. And I think that with some of the personalities that they have on the team, I am actually worried for them a lot. Like in the coming weeks, like I think like not to just jump too far ahead or anything like that, but they play up against lion this upcoming week. I think, I think it'll run into a buzz saw. This is a trap game for Team Liquid. So that's, that's. I'm, I am actually a little worried about them now. They did beat hundred thieves. They seem to just always beat hundred thieves though. I just don't know what it is. Yeah, seem to always get the better of hundred thieves and eventually we gotta stop saying like oh, 100 Thieves young team. Like, like I don't know man, like. [00:38:37] Speaker A: Apa finally showed up. [00:38:39] Speaker B: Yeah, Apa finally showed up on his ear. Like if, if Apa shows up on a zero against you, that's a you problem. That's not, that's not an Apa played great problem. That's a you problem. You let him do this. [00:38:51] Speaker A: No, I, I agree somewhat but look at the comp that golden glue gave 100. [00:38:57] Speaker B: Oh my God, it's so important. [00:38:59] Speaker A: Aatrox Nafiri rise.0 range on any of those. Well, I guess rise a little bit but like low range. What are they playing into? Lethality Jace Top Azir and Lethality Varus Bot. They were dying. They were half health before any place started because they just. And like Ayla's the only primary engage on Alistair. But then Core has poppy support so you can't even like realistically get on top of them. I actually think this was a draft gap. I, I think that 100 thieves made it competitive. This was not a free win for tl. They had to fight hard for it. But their draft won them. Impact was just Turbo griefing in the side lanes, just getting caught every chance he could. But it didn't matter because APA did have a really good Azure game. So I, yeah I, I agree somewhat but I also do think that a big part of its draft. Any other points for Team Liquid though? Yanni, sorry to shut you down fully. [00:39:57] Speaker B: No, you didn't shut me down at all. [00:39:59] Speaker A: I have words for him too. [00:40:00] Speaker B: You're right. This, this draft was, was pretty bad. You know I don't really have any extra points right now especially because it is still quite early. You know they've played two games like the sky is not falling for this team yet even though again you know potential six man roster incoming but they do have a lot of problems they need to clean up that they haven't. And I actually one more point. I'm really disappointed in how impacts looked since we've gone back to solo lane. Stop lane. I was, I think he played pretty poorly at at first stand like in the solo lane. Oh my God dude. It looked like he had never played a solo lane before. It was that bad. And he has continued to just not play up to snuff and it is really worrisome because this is a guy who has been a rock for every team that he's been on right now and, and he's not acting like it so far in 2025. [00:40:52] Speaker A: That has been the brand, right? The, the rock, the solid player. Yeah. Mizel, sound like you might have some points on that though. So what are your thoughts on team look at overall? [00:41:00] Speaker C: No, I, I, I, I'm actually kind of agreeing. I think, I think there's been some interesting choices in terms of how they've been approaching gameplay and stuff like that, but I don't know. I still want to believe in this team. I get more excited. I, I hate to say it, I love you Umpty, but I get more excited if there's a different prospect there and see like what can happen if you change things up on this team and maybe add a little bit more hunger. Because I do agree like at least I do think that like yon and Apa are still very hungry and very, very I guess driven and it still probably has a lot of effect on impact in core jj but I think just supplementing something new would be really, really nice for them because it just feels like it. We're not seeing the ceiling that we I guess feel like this team can potentially get to. [00:41:51] Speaker A: We have expectations for Team Liquid, especially this core and when they don't reach that it's, it hurts in a way as like a fan. So yeah, seeing the areas that they can improve. You want to root for them and like making those changes and making those choices. So we'll see if they do. But that's Team Liquid. There's a big clump of teams at 1 and 1. So here I'm gonna throw it to Bickle. Bickle. The remaining one on one teams, 100 Thieves, C9 and Shopify. Rebell 1. Do you want to hop in? [00:42:18] Speaker D: I will grab Cloud 9. [00:42:21] Speaker A: Hell yeah. All right. Had Cloud 9's weekend look. [00:42:24] Speaker D: So it started off against 100 Thieves looking pretty rocky. Like they did not seem to know exactly what was going on. And they kind of got smacked. Like, yes. 100 Thieves played that game very well. River put on a VI clinic, but it was a interesting choice by the side of Cloud 9, all things considered. When you look at what they kind of put together in their draft against 100 Thieves, as I pull it up, they had the Gwen Top with the lease in Rise, Ezreal and Alistar. It's just interesting, all things put together. [00:43:14] Speaker A: We haven't seen a comp like that in a while. Yeah, yeah. [00:43:17] Speaker D: And then you just go against something kind of pretty standard, like the VY for River, the AZIR for Quid. You saw Sniper's Riven come out. It was kind of fun to see. But after that play in the river where they try. Not in the river, in the jungle where they try and catch Quid and he just turns it around, the game's kind of just done. [00:43:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So, so basically the. This game was. It was close, but it felt like C9 the best credit I can give them. And this applies to last split as well. They're really adaptive in game. Like, they'll set up an objective and you feel like, oh, I know what the game plan is here. But then somebody will see that one angle, pull the trigger, and everybody follows up and it's like, wow, this is how a professional elite team should perform. Like, you know, you never know what opportunities your opponent's going to give you if they overstep, if they one mistake, punish it as hard as you can. C9 was really good at that. But then it almost went against them because they pick Sniper in the side lane the first time they kill Sniper on Riven. His signature pick, by the way, which is really cool to see. Talk more about that when we talk about 100 thieves. But they pick him. And then you're right, they. They go back into the jungle and then 100 Thieves Psychopathic Engage 4v5 takes C9 by surprise and Quid outplays the hell out of Blabber on the azir and then they're able to basically win the game from that position. Like that wasn't the end of the game, but that got them the goal lead and then they were able to snowball that and then close it out. So C9, I think that they are still one of the scariest teams to play against, but sometimes I think it's to their detriment how hard they commit to plays. Because I agree that everyone being on the same page and making a bad play together is probably going to be better than individuals having different ideas of what the correct play is. But. But every now and then, you know you still will get punished even if everybody makes the same play together. So. [00:45:14] Speaker D: Yeah. And then in their game against Shopify, it was really concerning for a while. Like, oh God, is Cloud nine just not good or something? Because like for the first 20, 25 minutes, Shopify is keeping it close, getting leads, getting picks for contracts on the Nefarian. Like, okay, they're going to get this rolling. Then 25 to 30 minutes happens and Cloud 9 just blows the game open and then runs it over and it doesn't matter anymore. And like, there's mine. Took you long enough. [00:45:45] Speaker A: Shopify should have won this game. I actually forgot about this one until you brought this up. Contracts had such a good early game, he just literally takes his fist, shoves it down Blabber's throat. In the early game, it's like vi's got the gauntlets, but Contracts is wearing them. You know, he Blabber could not. Jungle Gondrex early invades and pushes him away from Krugs, takes the red buff. Like it was disgusting. But then it's a tale of two contracts. That moment that C9 get back into the game, it's because Contracts greedily goes for the Raptors steal while the team is setting up Baron. Then he gets picked off away from the rest of the team. And then it's a 5v4 fight with no jungler to smite steel Baron and Cloud 9 are able to transition that into a win. That was actually so painful, man. Yeah, Contracts almost had it. But if you played a little, a little cleaner. [00:46:36] Speaker B: Hey, hey, hey, hold on. That's not fair to Contracts. His solo laners were dog water that. [00:46:42] Speaker A: Game, you know, okay, it wasn't this game. But so fun fact about Shopify, since we're on the topic, let's just transition to that. They. They ran back the same draft twice. They. They played the same five champions in both of their games. It was Ambesa Nafiri with the Aurora, Ezreal and Leona and. Oh, my God, Palafox is Aurora. Dude, do you want to talk about Iachi or should I? [00:47:11] Speaker B: I don't. I don't want to talk about it, bro. It was maybe, maybe not his champion. [00:47:19] Speaker A: Okay, so game one versus Dignitas. They win this game, but there is a moment that Palafox in a fight. This was also the longest game of the split, by the way. Or, sorry, longest game of lta. Palafox on Aurora pops ultimate and then. Oh, actually now I'm trying to remember exactly how it went down. He pops ultimate, flashes over a wall, but then hits the edge of the ultimate. So then he teleports to the other side and then immediately after laying down the other side clicks on the hex gate that like takes you to the other jungle, cancels it thankfully. But like that series for a pro player, you're like, oh, no, what are you doing? Oh, it's funny. That was. [00:48:11] Speaker B: I've seen a couple players do that across the globe with this champion on a couple of times. This is. This is not the champion of some players. Looking at you Tonguan over in the lpl, that was. [00:48:22] Speaker A: You know what? I played my first ever Aurora game in an Aram last night. [00:48:26] Speaker B: So are you better than Christian Palafox? [00:48:29] Speaker A: No, no, not even close. But not even I say that to say I understand the pain of not realizing exactly how the ultimate works. Although I don't think it was that. I think it's just he flashed over the wall and it was. He just clipped the edge of it. [00:48:41] Speaker B: But yeah, still, maybe, maybe Shopify will sub you in later in the season. You'll go the oh, procaster to Pro. [00:48:48] Speaker A: Player Pipeline 100 should not do that. But you know what, Shopify, if you need somebody, let me know. Let me know. Maybe I'll color cast for LPL into play for Shop. That would be my. My character. [00:49:02] Speaker C: That's a hell of an arc. [00:49:03] Speaker A: That would be a hell of an arc. Their other game at Versus Clyde, now we already kind of talked about, but this one, it felt like Shopify should have been able to go 20 this weekend. I actually think that they're stepping up to that dark horse status that I gave them last split where you just look at this roster. Fudge contracts, Palafox, B voice. Now it's SEOs instead of Zazel from last play because they got him as well. If all these players, you just take them at their peak ever performance. God, this team is terrifying to play against. But the problem is a lot of these players are really like flip floppy and so you need them all to flip heads at the same time. Very, very hard to do. I actually ran the numbers last split. I think it's like a 2% chance or some, some small of like five heads in a row. Hard to do. Hard to do. But yeah, that's Shopify's weekend as well. There's one other team here at Hundred Thieves. Mazel. Talk to me about the Hundred Thieves because they had a pretty good weekend. I've been high on them and they almost pulled it off. Man, they were so close. [00:50:06] Speaker C: Yeah, I, I still think that the, the TL game is gonna, is gonna be a tough one. I, I, I think we got to see maybe a little bit of that rust getting knocked off on the first weekend. I still think the, the biggest thing about this team that people have to remember is they were so momentum based last split and that's what thrived for them. Right? Like that's what literally led to that, that HU name placement for them. And going into this split, I think the expectations are definitely a lot higher, but I think they need time to ramp up and I think that's why we saw this, this weekend performance. I think it was close. It was close. [00:50:43] Speaker A: It was. They, they had a lead and I still think it was a bad draft into what Team Liquid had and they still got a lead with it regardless, but then we're not able to maintain, so still have faith in 100 Thieves to bring it back. I'm still rooting for them going forward. The only teams we haven't really talked about are Dignitas and Disguised. I'll give quick rundowns. Dignitas. Oh my God. I want to root for them, but they looked probably like the weakest team. Disguise didn't look great, but at least they made Fly Quest sweat of all teams, which is kind of shocking. But Dignitas didn't really do anything, man. Like the, the whole weekend I just, I kept looking at them thinking, okay, when is Shade and Sturdy gonna like step up and actually like pull off these plays? When are Tomo Isles gonna be able to like actually transition a bot lane lead into something bigger? And we just never really saw it. So I don't really know what to say about Dignitas at this point other than they got to figure their out disguise. At least they showed signs of life. Scary. Jerry had a good game, a very good game versus Masu of all opponents. Yes, they still Lost, but you know where it's due. [00:51:52] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we're seeing. I know Cubby preaches it a lot, but Scary Jerry plays up to the level that he's practiced to. Right? Or that he's at least the competition that he's playing in. And I think that we obviously saw some growing pains in the first split, but it's a thing where the longer that Scare Jerry stays in the system, the better this guy's gonna be. [00:52:13] Speaker A: Agreed. I agree, too. That's it for lta, though. For the past weekend, that's how all the games shook out my games to watch. If you only have time to catch one or two, I got FlyQuest DSG did not expect that to be one of them, but that was actually a banger of a game. Scary Jerry has, like, an insane ezreal team fight about halfway through. And even, like, throughout the whole thing, it was just good content. The Yorick narrative was really cool to see, too. But then I also put 100 Thieves versus Cloud 9. I thought that in terms of, like, competitiveness for top teams, that one was really good as well. Does anybody else have notes and anyone that they want to add? This is a test, because if you do, that means that you think I'm incorrect. [00:52:57] Speaker C: Well, no, I think. I mean, there's more. I think there's multiple. [00:53:01] Speaker A: All right, what's on your list? What would you recommend people check out? [00:53:07] Speaker C: I. I don't know. I mean, I'm just a big fan of the new New Age rivalry. I think the Fly Quest TL game, even though, like, Fly Quest definitely won that one, I. I still think it's. [00:53:16] Speaker A: Worth it, I think, for the narrative. Yes. And that was the start of the weekend, which was great. [00:53:22] Speaker C: Yeah, that's cool. [00:53:23] Speaker B: All right, hold on real quick. I'm sorry. [00:53:25] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:53:25] Speaker B: If you're going to recommend one, you know, recommend one or two. If people only got time, well, why not monopolize all of their time and tell them to go watch Shopify vs. [00:53:33] Speaker A: Dig toss for the 55. [00:53:37] Speaker B: They really get their money's worth. [00:53:40] Speaker A: True, true. Oh, I didn't think about it that way. [00:53:44] Speaker B: Don't. Don't do that. It's okay if you missed that one. [00:53:46] Speaker A: That game was so sloppy, man. That was crazy. All right, next up here, we have this coming weekend's game. So let's get into predictions here. Oh, my God. I'm gonna call you out. We don't have them in yet, so we'll just go through what me have, and Mizelle will throw his in as we go up first kicking things off on Saturday it will be disguised versus C9. C9 splitting their games last weekend looking still like a good team but not like the best versus the team that really punched up the Fly Quest. But we also think it's gonna be C9 taking this one. I don't have a reason to fully back DSG yet but credit where it's due, they at least had a good game. But next up is a banger. 100 Thieves versus Fly Quest. This is the undefeated Fly Quest versus Hundred Thieves who I still agree or still think is my number one team in terms of power rankings right now. So I have Hundred thieves taking it. Yanni, you agree with me. But Bickle and Mazel both disagree with Flyque was Bickle. I'm going to give it to you. Why do you think FlyQuest takes us over 100 thieves? [00:54:51] Speaker D: I think Fly Quest is just the best team right now all around. They have a lot of versatility. They have strength in every lane. I think this mid lane is going to be fun as always with quid versus quad. But Fly Quest can just bring so much different diversity to champ select. Honestly, who has red side here? [00:55:15] Speaker A: I am unsure. [00:55:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it might be a red side toss up. Yeah. [00:55:19] Speaker D: If Fly Quest gets red side I can see them bringing out another random Bwippo counter pick. The sniper maybe not be as experienced with. And Bwippo has a very strong record against sniper all things considered. [00:55:32] Speaker A: True. [00:55:33] Speaker B: If the league pedia is accurate. By the way, 100 thieves should be on blue side. [00:55:40] Speaker A: All right. I don't know if that means blue side. If that means they get side select. I actually don't know. [00:55:45] Speaker B: 100 thieves should probably be on blue. [00:55:47] Speaker C: Let's just be real. Equals blue side. [00:55:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And blue side had a pretty high win rate in week one. [00:55:56] Speaker A: But I think Pickles got a point. Bwippo on red side kind of changes that algorithm. Agreed. [00:56:03] Speaker B: That's valid. [00:56:05] Speaker C: Maybe. [00:56:06] Speaker A: I think Flat Quest played. Yeah, they played red side both of their games this past weekend and won both of them. [00:56:10] Speaker C: So I know the leagues are completely different but even teams that have like very strong counter pick top laners are still choosing blue side because you can just get a free pick on whatever you want. A B1. [00:56:22] Speaker A: Yeah, true. [00:56:23] Speaker B: Who needs a counter pick when you pick a strong champ. [00:56:25] Speaker C: But it. It depends, right? It depends how much how much confidence there is. [00:56:29] Speaker D: This past week five teams chose blue side, three teams chose red side. [00:56:36] Speaker A: And I want to say the most popular blue one pick was like VI and Varys, I think those were the top two premier picks in LTA North. It just off of memory, like, I don't know if that's true, but just thinking back and like what I remember seeing a lot of. [00:56:50] Speaker C: Feels true. [00:56:51] Speaker A: Feels true. But I'm sure somebody can correct me if I'm wrong there. All right, well, we have that split. I think hundred thieves can still take it because I have a lot of faith in Quid just being the best mid laner in the league. I don't think quad is bad, but I think Quid is better. And if you give this guy the tools to carry, he will carry you games. And I actually think that FBI pound for pound versus Jan, he doesn't have to carry his team as much as Jan has to carry his team. And because of that, I actually think I favor FBI because like yon kind of has to carry. FBI does carry, but he doesn't have to. But I still think that he is like just right there with yawn in terms of number one, number two, 80 carries in the league. I still edge on out a little bit, but I think it's very close between those two. So there we go. Next up, Dignitas versus TL. We all think it's TL2. Dignitas did not look good and TL look at least competent enough to to take down a team much below them. Then Shopify Rebellion versus Lion. Oh, my God. I did not think we would be in agreement on this one. We all have lion taking it. [00:58:04] Speaker C: Magic of mystery. [00:58:06] Speaker A: Oh, man. I kind of. [00:58:10] Speaker C: Thought you were being a little spicy. Huh? You thought you were being a little spicy? [00:58:14] Speaker A: Well, I. I was. I thought I should pick Shopify Rebellion. I was like, I'm gonna go with the heart though, not the brain. And pick lion. And I. [00:58:23] Speaker B: No, you're going with it. You're going with the brain by picking lion, bro. [00:58:26] Speaker A: You mean defend it. Why do you think lion takes it? [00:58:28] Speaker B: You mean to tell me that you're gonna stake your claim behind 53 minute and 26 second champion Shopify Rebellion. [00:58:38] Speaker A: They almost beat Cloud 9. [00:58:40] Speaker B: Okay, okay, sure. Like. All right. And like. [00:58:46] Speaker A: And so funnily enough, the bottom four teams from last split were in order. DSG in line at the bottom, then Digniton Shopify Lions. First three opponents this split are dsg, Dignitas, and Shopify. [00:59:05] Speaker B: They are farming the week. [00:59:07] Speaker A: Literally. They could be 3, 0. [00:59:10] Speaker B: I think they're gonna. I think you're doing a little bit better. [00:59:12] Speaker D: They are going to go 3 into 04. [00:59:16] Speaker A: I do see the rest of that but we'll cover it in a bit here. So we all have lion taking that one. I'm a little shocked. I think that one's gonna be very close, but definitely or hopefully will be a banger. Now Sunday, kicking things off. We have hundred thieves versus disguised. And I have hundred thieves. Bickle has hundred thieves. Yanni has 100 thieves. Clearly you heard my rant about why hundred thieves are the number one team and we need to stop disrespecting them and we need to stop downplaying their skills and abilities and oh my God. Nazelle picked dsg. What the dude? [00:59:47] Speaker C: Dsg. [00:59:48] Speaker B: Dsg. [00:59:49] Speaker A: All right, I gotta hear the thoughts. What's the process buying the is I, I, I. [00:59:54] Speaker C: The thing about the lta you see is that teams can lose at any moment. [00:59:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:59] Speaker C: Still again, I still again think that it's taking a little bit of time for 100 thieves to knock the rust off. I think we saw it this last weekend. I, I'm not like, I'm still a little 5050 on if one week is good enough to like change that and if that's a wake up call for them. But I'm leaning on the side that on day two dsg, you're getting it. It's going to be a bot lane diff. It's going to be the scary Jerry show over. [01:00:27] Speaker A: That's a bold prediction. [01:00:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I love it. [01:00:30] Speaker B: Jump scare, Jeremiah. [01:00:31] Speaker C: It's how people make their fortunes. [01:00:34] Speaker A: Could be. Could be. All right, that's the spicy one. We'll have to keep our eyes on that going into next week. Then we have FlyQuest Shopify. It's FlyQuest across the board. Team Liquid versus Lion. Team Liquid across the board. Nothing to talk about here. Yanni, what the is wrong with you? Why do you have lion beating to you? [01:00:49] Speaker B: All right, all. So a couple things. So a couple things. Number one and Pickle will know this very well. So I am a Team Liquid fan and as is Philadelphia tradition, at least before the last couple of years we had a lot of doubt in our teams. Right. I actually have a lot of basis of doubt for Team Liquid right now. So number one, if we think lion is going to win, they're going to be coming into this match three zero. And we know that we've seen over the course of many, many years that momentum is a very real thing in League of Legends. Some teams are momentum based, but just momentum as a whole like can really elevate your play. And from what I've seen out of Team Liquid, man, this team is exposable. Right? Everybody knows Umpty Dumpty is having a very great fall in 2025. Again, we talked about earlier, Impact is not playing the way we expect him to play. And for everything, all the good things we've said about Apa since he's come into the league, APA has been one of the more inconsistent top midsummer. Like mid laners you consider a top mid laner in the league. He's got his champions that he's really good on. And then off of those champions, he is really, really inconsistent. The only consistent force on Team Liquid right now is Yawn and Core jj. And I don't know if that'll be enough against a team that's going to have a full head of steam coming into this match. [01:02:08] Speaker A: Dude, I hate that that makes sense. And I also hate that I don't even think core JJ's been consistent. God damn. Am I changing my. [01:02:17] Speaker B: That's why I said they've been the most consistent. It's mostly. Dude, did I flip you? [01:02:23] Speaker A: Lion. The. The. The number one glaring weakness of lion is Licorice. Right now. Even in their two wins, Licorice looked bad. [01:02:32] Speaker B: I don't know if Impact can punish him. [01:02:34] Speaker C: He didn't like the Nafiri, bro. [01:02:36] Speaker A: He got a solo kill on Gwen, but he also got solo killed by the Gwen after getting first blood on the Gwen. So it's like. [01:02:46] Speaker B: Brother, brother. [01:02:48] Speaker D: Damn it. You're right. [01:02:50] Speaker A: Because the only way I'm changing it. [01:02:51] Speaker D: The only way I'm changing Licorice is with a good carry performance. [01:02:55] Speaker B: Top. [01:02:55] Speaker D: And you don't want to put Impact on carries. [01:02:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:02:58] Speaker B: All right. So. [01:03:01] Speaker A: Not exploitable by Team Liquid. I don't think I leave the floor. [01:03:04] Speaker B: Open to you guys. Would you guys like to swap? [01:03:06] Speaker A: Mazelle. It seems like you're still on Team Liquid, so I want to hear your offensive. Team Liquid. [01:03:11] Speaker C: I'm still on team. [01:03:12] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Right. Do. Do you want to defend it or do you think that we're crazy for even considering? [01:03:16] Speaker C: No. Yeah. I think y'all are batshit crazy. You're. [01:03:19] Speaker B: I think you're batshit crazy. You're insane. [01:03:21] Speaker A: It's fine, all right? [01:03:22] Speaker C: Everybody can have their own opinions. [01:03:24] Speaker A: I changed it. 2. 2. [01:03:26] Speaker B: Lying card game solidarity, you know? [01:03:30] Speaker A: No, no. What you'll actually learn if you're on more episodes in the future is that I. I am the most wishy washy as well with my. [01:03:36] Speaker B: That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. [01:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:03:41] Speaker C: I'm gonna tell Yawn. You said that I'm going to Liquid tomorrow. [01:03:47] Speaker D: I was considering it, but then I remembered what happened last time I swapped off of team Liquid because somebody on this podcast convinced me. [01:03:57] Speaker A: They did beat hundred thieves. Yes, they did, actually. Thank you. Wait. You're goddamn right. Wait, what am I doing? Teamwork is gonna have to beat the best team in the league. Yeah. They should win this, right, bro? [01:04:08] Speaker C: The flip flop. [01:04:09] Speaker B: Go back. [01:04:10] Speaker C: Go back to see Liquid then. [01:04:12] Speaker A: I already flipped. I already. I can't flip twice. [01:04:15] Speaker B: Listen, it's not. It's not flip flopping. It's just reacting to new information. [01:04:19] Speaker A: I said a flip flop. A Philippi. A Philippi. Okay. C9 versus Diggy's the last game of the weekend, and God, wow. We have to talk about all these because we have C9 for me, Bickel and Yanni Mazzell this time coming in with a hot Dignitas prediction. Why do you think Dignitas stays? Take it. [01:04:35] Speaker C: I need. I just want them to win a game. [01:04:38] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [01:04:39] Speaker C: Funny to be against C9. [01:04:41] Speaker A: Fair enough. [01:04:41] Speaker C: Unfortunately, I don't think Shaden's gonna gap blabber, but maybe. Maybe Serdy just has a balls of the wall game. Maybe. Maybe it works. [01:04:49] Speaker B: I was gonna have to drop a caster quote on you. [01:04:52] Speaker A: What's the caster quote? [01:04:54] Speaker B: You're batshit crazy, Mizell. 2025. Literally 30 seconds ago. [01:04:58] Speaker C: Oh, he got me. [01:05:00] Speaker A: He got him. I want Dig to do well as well, but I just. I. I didn't see enough. [01:05:06] Speaker C: I want certain parts of Dig to do well. [01:05:09] Speaker A: True, true. All right. Well, that is lta north. What happened last weekend? Our predictions for this coming weekend let us know how crazy you think we all are in the community. Discord. But now it's time to hop across the pond to e you and the LEC because we had games happen this past weekend as well as games coming up ahead of us, but in this region, it's all best of threes. So again, in same fashion, we're going to go through the standings. Up first, the only undefeated team, Pickle. Who is it? [01:05:45] Speaker D: To the shock and awe of absolutely no one. G2 is at the top of the LEC standings. [01:05:52] Speaker B: GASP. [01:05:54] Speaker A: What? Okay, but how it shook out in split one. So, you know, maybe, maybe not to the as everybody, but it feels like return to normalcy. [01:06:05] Speaker D: It is absolutely the return to normalcy that everyone expected. In their defense, they had one game this week, and it was against team Heretics. [01:06:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:06:16] Speaker D: So I don't know. I don't know how much more free. [01:06:20] Speaker A: You can get like, dude, team Heretics suck right now. Holy. I can't believe they picked up a series win. Like, they look so, so bad. [01:06:30] Speaker D: Like, they just smacked the out of them. And it wasn't close. We got to see some fun things like the Mundo jungle. We got to see Skon pull out the Ivern, but none of these g. Neither of these games were close. It was ugly. [01:06:49] Speaker A: Yep. And the sad thing is we only got the 1G2 game, so there's not even, like, a lot to talk about for the first place. [01:06:54] Speaker D: Honestly, got nothing. And Kangas, your prediction of Lebrov still having an interesting game once every series is looking pretty good so far. But like I said, but they still want it. Can't capitalize on that. [01:07:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, that was funny. That was the only reason I had them losing a game. And your literal defense was. I agree with you. But it won't matter. It did not. But I also did see that Labrov typically has worst games when Skuban is having worse games. So I think that. That it's not like a guaranteed trend, but it's an interesting trend to keep track of. All right, so that's G2 in a nutshell. We'll keep our eyes on them going forward if they can maintain this undefeated streak. They have not better competition this coming week. So, yes, they should be able to keep that up. But other teams at the top of the standings in lec, we got a tie for second place. Well, actually, technically not in series score, it's a tie. But controlling it in number of game wins is carmine core. They're 2 and 1 in series, but 5 and 3 KC series go the distance every single time. Yanni, I want to throw this one over to you. This is your first time chatting about LEC teams here on the podcast. How did KC's weekend look? [01:08:12] Speaker B: Honestly, not too bad. I think that. So talking about their match against BDS first. [01:08:20] Speaker A: Yep. [01:08:20] Speaker B: I think that. Yeah, I think that I would have liked to see them just to end a little sooner, because I think Carmine Core is, like, an incredibly strong team. Maybe I'm just sipping on first stand juice. Right. But, like, this is a team that we're expecting. [01:08:40] Speaker D: Whoa. [01:08:41] Speaker B: Like, this team will go to worlds later on this year. This team will be a. A second G2 for the. The. The league, essentially, where it's like, you can trust this team to do things internationally, which means I want to see them take care of business domestically. And then, of course, you know, they got my Greek goat in the mid lane. Vladi, it's my Greek goat right there. I don't have anything more to say. That's my guy. [01:09:07] Speaker A: That's all you need to say. Yeah. [01:09:08] Speaker B: Big fan. Big, big fan. If you couldn't tell, their first series. [01:09:14] Speaker A: Looked really good against bds. Game one especially. I don't know what the Nuke was doing picking Lucian Mid. We've kind return 80 carries. Midland. We saw a couple Tristanas as well between LTA north and LEC. Is that something that like LPL's playing? You two have covered a lot of that league. Mizel, do we still like Tristana or Lucian mid lane for them? [01:09:33] Speaker C: We've been seeing a lot more Tristana. [01:09:35] Speaker A: Okay. [01:09:36] Speaker C: Across the top teams, especially, like even last night. [01:09:39] Speaker A: Interesting. All right, so I was not aware of that. That was a surprise for me. But the Lucian didn't really convince me. From BDS's side at least, KC side. Vladdy was making quick work of Nuke. Game 2 looked better for BDS, but still Casey were able to kind of control the small leads that BDS was finding and then close it out. But then Yanni, that fanatic series, man. Holy, that one delivered. [01:10:05] Speaker B: It was such a good series. Exactly what I expected of two of the top teams in the region. Right. And you know what this is? This is the. That was the litmus test to be like, okay, okay, Carmine Core, let's prove that what you did in the first split was not a mirage. Right? You go out there, you play against a very, very strong team, and, you know, ultimately you didn't. Didn't get there. But it's okay. It's okay. It was not fake. [01:10:38] Speaker A: It is Fnatic who are looking like one of the best teams still in eu. Like, probably closer to the top than we've seen them in a while. Even though last year they did make, you know, a couple of big runs in. In upper brackets. But game one, yeah, Yike Popping off on the Nafiri. Everything kind of going according to plan. Game two was closer. I think Kalist had a really good performance. Everybody else struggled. But then game three, that's when it's like, oh, man, Yike. Pulling out the Maokai Jungle. That was a little weird to me. I haven't seen that in a while. Like, there's a little. [01:11:15] Speaker C: Played a bunch in lpl. [01:11:16] Speaker A: Oh, it has. What's the build? An lpl. Because this was leandre's into the Bloodletters torment. [01:11:23] Speaker C: You still see, like the variation of AP versus Tank, huh? [01:11:29] Speaker A: Well, he died a lot, so. Damn. [01:11:32] Speaker B: And Vladi. Vladi for being My goat did not make very much impact on this game. [01:11:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:38] Speaker B: When your re has two kill participation, something has gone horribly wrong. [01:11:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:42] Speaker B: Basically that is bad. [01:11:45] Speaker A: And I think a lot of this was razork on Fnatic just being all over the freaking map. This was games from Humanoid as well. And they just controlled everything in that game three. That game three was not close. I think the rest of the series was a banger and definitely worth the watch. So Casey, overall, Yanni, are they delivering to the level that you wanted them too? [01:12:05] Speaker B: Absolutely. They are even. Even. This is a loss. It's okay, right? Because you know, we don't talk about this enough. But any given match when you play against top teams in your league, you can lose them. It's been a very long time since we've seen a team just absolute dominate that. Even when they play against the supposed second best or even third best team in the region like that. It's a foregone conclusion that, you know, you're gonna, you're gonna see your expected one seed win. It doesn't happen as much anymore. [01:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:12:37] Speaker B: So, you know, this, this further solidified that why Casey didn't split one is, is good enough that they're, they are a real team. Doesn't mean that they're going to be second. No. Doesn't mean that they're going to be first. No. But it definitely means that they're, they're definitely here to stay. And it's also very nice for Fnatic too. You know, not obviously the point wasn't about them, but you know, this is a very, very good win for. [01:13:01] Speaker A: I think so. Yeah. And I think that because EU gets two MSI seeds, Carmine Core is still firmly in that conversation. Like it's G2KC Fanatic seems to be the three way competition for those two spots, which is good. I think it's good for a region to have competition for international representation and if they can maintain that that's their world's teams, that would not be a bad triple threat at Worlds. Let's just keep it going with Fnatic here because they are at that kind of two in one series clust. They got that win versus kc which felt fantastic for them. And that was. Yeah, that was actually their only game this past weekend. Yeah. Because they were, they were one and one coming into the weekend. So I think Fnatic, it's good to see them pick that up. I'm happy that they're expanding their champion pools, especially Humanoid, pulling out things like that. Tristana Mid and the fact that they're able to kind of blow out games from the jungle position from Razork's role. So. So also Oscar Renan, God is Rumble is. He had a really good Rumble game in that game three, so credit where it's due. But Bickel, another team is sitting at 2 and 1 in series score and I'm not gonna lie to you, it's not one of the ones I would necessarily would have expected. Talk to me about team BDS and how their weekend looked. [01:14:19] Speaker D: You say it's not as expected, but I think it's not too big a surprise all things considered. We already talked about their series versus K Corp where they got smacked and then choked a little bit and then they went against up. Went up against SK where they kind of showed us who SK really is. [01:14:40] Speaker A: I'm so sad. I had so much faith in sk. [01:14:43] Speaker D: SK is bad. I'm sorry Kangs, they're. They're not good bds. [01:14:47] Speaker A: Lucada and Kedui had such a good debut though. They did. [01:14:51] Speaker D: And then they got their teeth kicked in by bds. [01:14:55] Speaker A: It was not pretty. Oh man. [01:14:58] Speaker D: I showed that he has ice in his veins and yep, honestly there's not much to talk about. They just Cleanly ran over SK. [01:15:08] Speaker A: Dude. Ice and Nuke are a really solid like 2 carry core for a team as long as like 113 and perus don't troll they the carries can absolutely step up and win them games. Oh my God, Yanni, I'm just seeing the freaking chat you just threw in the discord you. [01:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah, dude, I wanted to say. I wanted to say it. I should have asked earlier because it didn't really know what, what the content of this podcast was. But the only thing I thought when you were like, oh, they kind of got smacked and choked a little bit. I'm like, dude, just call them bdsm, bro. Like it's okay. [01:15:46] Speaker A: And we do, we do occasionally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think bds, they are a surprise additional threat in the league. It still feels like a top heavy league pretty much with like G2KC and now Fnatic. But who knows, maybe BDS can still do some damage or at least like be the barrier for the. The, the worst teams to try and punch above. Maybe Koi can punch up with them too. I think that would be the team that I would have potentially still above bds. They've just had a really tough strength to schedule. [01:16:17] Speaker D: This is going to sound really depressing in regards to fnatic, but I do not care what they do until they Hit playoffs. I will not trust them until then. [01:16:26] Speaker A: That's always a good rule to follow. It's always a good rule to follow. Two teams sit at one and one with SK gaming and Vitality. We already talked a little bit about sk. Their debut was awesome. Their follow up was trash. They fell apart from the get go in both of the games and really show that yes, rookie talent can be a big surge, but sometimes they just don't have the ability to hang. [01:16:52] Speaker D: And I think your description of great debut, terrible follow up can apply to both these teams. [01:16:58] Speaker A: Oh, you know, that's a good point. So that was SK Vice. What do you think about Niski man? Actually more Knack Naco. I guess that's the. That's the bigger one. I want to put the. The magnified glass on. [01:17:13] Speaker D: I mean they lost to Rogue Kangas. [01:17:17] Speaker A: You don't lose to Rogue man. Like they lost Rose to Rogue and badly too. Like Yasuo game. He played Yasuo into the gnar and got giga stomped. He didn't hit the 10 death power spike. That's why it wasn't even into the gnar. [01:17:35] Speaker D: It was into the Jace. He got demolished. [01:17:38] Speaker A: It's not even like oh, it was Jace. [01:17:39] Speaker D: Oh, I thought it was normal gnar counter pick that you see, he's like I'm in the Jace. Let's go for this. Why not, right? [01:17:46] Speaker A: I'm thinking range matchup. I'm taking the counter pick. Yeah. [01:17:49] Speaker D: Adam got 13 kills that game. Nine of them were off of Knack Naco. I don't think that's a more useless Yasua in my solo queue games. [01:18:00] Speaker A: And I think that. So they started with Helang. He set the tone of we're gonna die a lot. And then Niski showed up and was like bet, but we're still gonna win. Win. And then nag. Naco never really like found the balance between those two and I think he's leaning where the hell saying line. That was a really bad showing from Team Vitality. So them and sk. I've only played one series or sorry, two series a piece. One win, one loss. But both of their losses have looked really rough. So we'll see what looks continue for them. But now let's talk about a team that's sitting at the 1 and 2 clump that I actually think is still good. Good. Movie Star Koi. Their strength of schedule was pretty tough all things considered. They week one lost both of their games. I'm blanking on what their opponents were. I want to say it was G2 and Fanatic or was it G2 and KC? [01:18:54] Speaker D: I think, I think it was G2 KC. [01:18:57] Speaker A: So like the top two teams lost both of those, but still went to three games in each one. And then this time around now picked up a pretty clean victory over Team Heretics. So I think Koi are legit. I think Jojo Pyun is still like an upper middle of the pack mid laner compared to eu. There's like two, maybe three names I put ahead of him in the league right now. So I guess that'd be like lower upper pack somewhere nebulously in there. [01:19:28] Speaker B: Middle of the pack. [01:19:29] Speaker A: Okay, sure. [01:19:30] Speaker D: The way I see it is G2, KC and Fnatic are all hanging out the bar and currently Koi is getting their ID checked by the bouncer to see if they get let in. [01:19:40] Speaker A: I like that analogy. I think that Merwin's champion pool is still always going to be something that they can play around with. He played more traditional this week, but that is always a threat if JoJo is able to play stable, which he absolutely did. I know he's against. Camillo was like probably the worst mid laner in the league, but he, he stepped up and he made Camillo look like one of the worst mid laners in the league. So yeah, I think that Koi can still do a lot of damage. So mazel chin up man. Our boys doing all right. JoJo had a rough hanging in there. He's hanging in there. He's hanging in there. Now the rest of the teams I think are all kind of bad gx, I guess. Bickle, you, you were right. They did beat Rogue. They got the whip. [01:20:25] Speaker D: Dear God, do not remind me of that series. [01:20:28] Speaker A: Holy Game one. What the hell happened man? [01:20:32] Speaker D: Nothing good. Well, I can tell you exactly, I can tell you exactly what happened. Rogue time happened, dude. [01:20:39] Speaker A: Rogue got all four Dragons in a row. They lose the Baron fight. But when the elder win, the next Baron cannot end the game. And then GX have to get elders. This game there were four Elders, four Barons. GX had to get three Elders and two more Barons before the game ended. Oh my God. [01:21:07] Speaker D: Dude, I may need to double check this. I think this is almost the second time a Rogue game has hit an hour this year. Year. I think they did it in spring too. [01:21:19] Speaker A: I, I, I, I would believe that. So something I looked up here. Let me just make sure I have it correct. I was looking at the average game times. So the fastest average team is actually SK 31 minutes 47 seconds. Second fastest is G2. But the longest, a full six minutes ahead of SK is Rogue. And they've played the most games this split. They played the most games with the highest average game done. [01:21:46] Speaker D: So I just checked this. The longest game in spring right now is just that rogue versus giant X game at 55 minutes and 39 seconds. But it's not the longest game of the year for LEC. LEC had another game go 59 minutes and 18 seconds back in winter. [01:22:05] Speaker A: God. [01:22:06] Speaker D: And it was Rogue versus Giant X. [01:22:10] Speaker A: Dude, never let these teams play each other again. At least GGX won the second game fast. That that one was much faster and a bit of a stomp. But GX Rogue both being at the bottom makes sense. Team Heretics being down there with them also makes sense. They got bodied by G2 and Koi in both of their series. So I think that the bottom teams in lec, there's not really much to talk about with them, but the top is very interesting in that region. So with that that in mind, let's get into next week and expectations for it because we have. I think this is the last week. I want to say this is the last week where we have seven series and then it's going to go to six series for the rest of the the split. That's just how the schedule worked out. So Saturday we will still have three and we kick things off with BDS versus Team Heretics. Wow, we are unanimous here. BDS beating Team Heretics. I think, yeah, Team Heretics 6 is pretty sloppy. They're not looking good. BDS at least show signs of life and the ability to kind of hold that line of beating the teams below them. Then G2, Rogue. This is going to be the biggest schlack and we've probably ever seen in the LEC this year. SK versus kc. This one has the potential to be interesting, but we still think it's all KC favored. It just depends on if SK can try and get some of that week one magic back. But overall the the first day should be stops right? Like we're expecting heavy favorites. Things get a little more interesting later in the weekend. So hitting Sunday we have Vitality versus Fnatic. That one's all Fnatic but Koi bds, this one we all have Koi but I think could be close because Bickle technically BDS are ahead of coin the standings right now. I think Koi, like this is going to be the decider of can Koi hang with the other top teams or is BDS still going to play kind of that, that gatekeeper right now. [01:23:59] Speaker D: These are the white teams that are fighting for the fourth place spot. In a sense it feels like like there's a top three and they both want to be the number four. [01:24:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. You have Coy two zero though. I want to get your thoughts and then Yanni, I'm going to tee you up afterwards because you have coy 2:1. I want to get both your thoughts as to why Coy is taking this one and why you think in the different fashion. So bickle. Why, why the sweep two zero despite. [01:24:24] Speaker D: Looking, despite having a one and two record, I think Koi's looked really solid. They take, they've taken games off of both G2 and K Corp. The only reason they're down at 1 and 2 is they had an awful strength of schedule going on so far. They've had really tough matchups and they just smacked the hell out of team heretics. And I'm still not convinced by bds. So I think Koi is just the better team. [01:24:48] Speaker A: Okay, you know that's fair. If we just look at last strength of schedule. BDS did get smacked by Casey, see. Whereas Coy was at least able to take a game off of them. So I guess that's further defensive your argument. But Yanni, we're in agreement that case or sorry, BDS will get a game win. Why do you still think that Koi wins it regardless? [01:25:08] Speaker B: Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I think all of Pickle's points are, are quite correct. [01:25:13] Speaker A: Okay. [01:25:13] Speaker B: I just think that it comes down to consistency. Right. Coy, obviously, you know, you mentioned strength of schedule. Bright obviously very big thing. But we're still worried about the team's like overall consistency as a whole. Sure, they definitely showed they were a, a top half team in the winter split, but I think that they are liable to drop a game here just because of, you know, the, the random like hey, the other team is actually not terrible at League of Legends. We're not playing against the bottom, bottom of the team teams. We're playing against a team that we expect to contend for this fourth spot for. So that's why I think BDS will at least take a game off them. I don't think these two teams are that far apart. Pound for pound to the point where it will be the cleanest two zero or anything like that. It'll be a two one. [01:26:02] Speaker A: Okay, I, I think pound for pound overall Koi is better. But bds, I think mid and bot are better. A Nuke and Ice are a Better carry combo than JoJo. Super Deepa a Nukes one of the mid laners that I have ranked higher than JoJo in terms of just individual like eye test performance. But I think that Merwin and Elio are significantly better than irrelevant and 113 so that's why I have quite taken it. But I think BDS is good for a game because I think Ice Nuke, either of them or both of them stepping up can at least carry one of those games. Mizell, what, what are your thoughts though? Because you're still a JoJo believer. You still have them. Do you think that JoJo can bring it back and, and reach the top of eu? [01:26:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. I, I still believe in my statement that at one point in this year he's gonna be the best mid. Still hanging on. [01:26:58] Speaker A: He's, he's close. He's not that far. I, I have him below Nuke, I have him below Caps and I have him close to Vladdy but still below Laddie. So he's, he doesn't have many names in front of him, but there's still a couple to overcome. Okay, GX versus SK is going to kick things off on Monday, the last day of games for LEC. Okay, everyone has GX21 except for me who has SK21. Either way, we expect. I expect this to be a sloppy series. I just want to still believe in sk, man. Like, I don't think they can beat kc, but I, I think that they can at least be gx. They had such an exciting debut for Bukata and Kadui that I want them to find that magic again. Most of this is just my heart telling me that maybe they can do it. Do you have a big reason or Sorry, Yanni. I guess if you want to hop in, do you have a big reason why he's gonna take it? [01:27:51] Speaker B: I just said I respect your your call. I mean, I don't know. I think this is a toss up. I, I don't actually feel too strongly about this matchup going one way or the other. [01:28:00] Speaker A: Right. [01:28:00] Speaker B: I think that either of these teams could really win. There are some things to like. Right? I, I, for some odd reason, I like Jackie's. I think he's pretty good. I think that he can absolutely carry a singular game and that can put Giant X over the top. [01:28:22] Speaker A: See, the problem is that they have Yzma on their team. That's a downside for gx. But you know, he had a couple good scarner olds this past weekend. So, you know, maybe it'll work out. Anyways, weekend ends, or rather weekday, I suppose, because will be the Monday games with Team Heretics versus kc and we all have Casey smacking the hell out of Team Heretics with two O's across the board. So LEC predictions in the book. There we go. That's last week's LEC reviewed with next week LEC previewed. I realized we didn't do the series to watch though. I listed FNAT versus KC because it's a banger. I did also list Rogue versus GX for the memes just because, oh my God, that game one was so ridiculous. Does anybody else have other series that they think people should check out if they only have time to check out a couple? [01:29:17] Speaker C: I mean, I think it's fun to see G2 back in dominance. I think that game is going to be some fun for G2, so maybe it's worth watching. Watching. [01:29:26] Speaker A: So coming up this next weekend, watch G2 smack the hell out of Rogue. Like, we just watched them smack the hell out of Demeritix. Love to see it. Righty. That is it for another week of the league rundown. It's been a while since you had like an hour and a half episode, but that's just because both leagues are full in swing now. So thank you so much, everybody for coming on. Thank you, Yanni, for coming on. First time we've had you on the show. Hopefully we can have you on at many more times. But I want to give you the chance to first off review us of of how much fun you had on the show. But then also plug, where can people follow you if they want to come support you and your future endeavors. [01:30:05] Speaker B: Yeah. So in terms of fun, this is very, very fun. I thought about, you know, like, I was like, man, I kind of want to play Solo queue tonight. I'm like, oh yeah, tonight is the night that I get to go on this podcast. I'm like, okay, this is much better than Solo Queue. Even though I had a nice solo queue run yesterday. [01:30:20] Speaker C: That's a dub. [01:30:21] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:30:21] Speaker A: I went. [01:30:22] Speaker B: I didn't know in solo queue yesterday. So, like, I'm feeling myself. And I was like, nope, I'm more than happy to be on here instead of playing Solo Queue. It was really, really fun time. I mean, you guys are great. You know, look, I got a lot of love for you all, but if the people have a little bit of love for me, you can go follow me on Twitter because we're still calling it Twitter. I ain't calling anywhere else. You can follow Me there at Yannicast Casts. You could follow me on Twitch if you're weird at. Yeah, Twitch tv Anicast. I don't. I don't stream that often, but you could do that if you wanted to. I would appreciate it. But. [01:30:55] Speaker A: And it's Yanni with two N's. Y, A N, N I casts. [01:31:00] Speaker B: It didn't really dawn on me that, like, that's something that I. That I probably needed to. I needed to specify. Yeah. Why a N? Well, cast. [01:31:08] Speaker A: I did. Because in my head, I was like, wait, is it one or two? And then I looked at Discord. I was like, oh, everyone listening can't do that. [01:31:14] Speaker B: It's like the guy. It's like the piano guy. You know, the Greek piano guy. [01:31:18] Speaker A: I do not. You got a lot of Greek references, man. That's something new that I'm learning about you. [01:31:23] Speaker B: Yachty's like an international superstar. [01:31:26] Speaker A: Does anybody else know who this is? Bickle Mazal? [01:31:29] Speaker C: Nope. [01:31:31] Speaker B: What? [01:31:31] Speaker A: You should feel bad, Yanni. [01:31:33] Speaker B: I do feel bad. [01:31:35] Speaker A: No, no, we. We love. [01:31:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [01:31:38] Speaker A: This is on us, not on you. Well, thank you for coming on, though. It was awesome having you on. Everyone, go follow Yanni. Also go follow LPL unofficial. It's lpl underscore English on Twitter and then just LPL English on Twitch. Did I get that right, Miselle? [01:31:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, go follow. [01:31:56] Speaker A: So, Mizelle, you know, he's been a mainstay on the podcast for over a year now. Going on two years, I think. So shout out to Mizel 3. It might be. Holy crap. Well, mazel shout out to you. But also, Yanni is on the LPL unofficial broadcast as well, so we're just bringing in all the fun folks that are passionate about League of Legends globally onto the podcast. Here to talk about League of Legends, Bickle, as always, though, thank you for coming on as well. And Bickle, if somebody had to relieve a review for this podcast that had us a number of stars, what number comes to mind for. [01:32:33] Speaker D: I think that would be the number of lives that were lost while we watched that wonderful game between GX and Rogue. And I think five people died. Absolutely. Because all of us died. And I know that I died at least twice watching that. So five times. Five of us died. [01:32:57] Speaker A: Five times the number of or one times the number of deaths, which is five, which would mean five stars. I love it if you leave a. [01:33:03] Speaker C: Five star review that my. My time away has gotten the pressure off of me to come up with things that are five. [01:33:09] Speaker A: Oh, I like to throw it around. Yeah. This is a recurring bit, by the way. [01:33:13] Speaker B: At some point, don't multiply it. Don't multiply it. By Larson's deaths in game one. [01:33:20] Speaker A: Okay, Yanni, that means that you're getting the next one since you just came up with that one. [01:33:23] Speaker B: Let's go. [01:33:24] Speaker D: I mean, Kangas, nothing I had was going to be able to make it as easy as last week when it was just the episode number. [01:33:29] Speaker A: Episode 555 was very nice. [01:33:32] Speaker C: Okay. Sick, sick love. [01:33:33] Speaker A: But if you can leave a five star review or thumbs up or whatever, wherever you are listening, it really does help us get noticed. Also, if you want to support the Pod, we have the Patreon, we have the Merge store. We appreciate everybody that does help support us. But again, as always, a reminder that no matter what we say about League of Legends, no matter if you agree or disagree, we just want you to leave this episode with one message. And that is we love you and we'll see you next time. Bye bye, everybody. [01:34:01] Speaker C: Bye. Bye. [01:34:02] Speaker B: See you. [01:34:05] Speaker C: You have to do it in person. You can't do that anymore. [01:34:08] Speaker A: No, I have the soundboard. Bye.