League Rundown - Episode 560: Shoutout the Pope

[00:00:12] Speaker A: Gets hit. Kimmy kids a little too far here. He's gonna have to try and get himself out. Let me go. Tillery and the rest of the shots of fire. Zion is just killing the next Zion can eat it single handedly win the game by game by game by game by should be. Oh my God. Stupid. Passes through and manages to the table with Messiah tanking it up. I do not believe he just believe. I cannot understand this game. Unicorns of Love. It wasn't a mutant. The Nexus hello and welcome to episode 560 of the League Rundown. This is your 2025 LEC spring split week six review and LTA north split two week five review. Man, that title's never gonna get easier to say. But this episode is lovingly entitled Shout out the Pope. I am your host gang, as I'm joined by two esteemed ghosts. Up first we have. Fresh out of the can, it's Badger. [00:01:32] Speaker B: I. You know I'm not gonna lie. I thought you were gonna go with Mizel first so I didn't have anything prepared. [00:01:37] Speaker A: Anything. I like to keep you on your toes. At this point I don't even think there's a rhyme or reason for who I interviews. [00:01:43] Speaker C: Nice. [00:01:44] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But there we go. Great. You know, five out of five introduction Badger. Well done, well done. You're really, you know, thinking on your feet there. [00:01:51] Speaker B: Appreciate it. [00:01:51] Speaker A: You already mentioned his name. We also have joining us Mr. Mazelpl. [00:01:55] Speaker C: Hello. I'm excited to talk about Lego Legos. [00:01:59] Speaker A: Yeah, there was a couple of games that happened this past weekend. [00:02:02] Speaker C: Some games, some games were played. [00:02:05] Speaker A: I wasn't actually there for them. I was at a Yu Gi. Oh over the weekend. So unfortunately I was not part of the LTA broadcast but I was able to catch up on the games post them happening and a couple bangers. Couple fun ones at least in nae. It was a bit of a snooze fest just because it was all too. Oh the original title for the episode until I remembered that the Pope was just announced today. It was going to be something along the lines of like three game. You know, if you're list draft Impossible Challenge because we just almost had all two O's but it was not the case. But before we get into everything that happened in NA and eu, let's cover global news. Up first we have the LPL update. Mazel. Talk to me. What's going on in a little league. [00:02:47] Speaker C: The lipples. Well OMG is out. They're done. They play their last series RIP three days ago. They will be done until 2026. So goodbye OMG forever legacy org of the LPL is done skis. Besides that Group Nirvana, things are still getting panned out. We saw we have three teams locked into that playoff play in that's going to be happening before the actual playoffs where the bottom six teams of Group Ascend will be facing the top four teams of Group Nirvana. One spot left between Ultra prime and rng. The one that doesn't get that spot will be relegated to not playing in 2025 anymore. So big stuff there in Group Ascend. Top Esports still the tippy. Top AL have dropped the ball a couple times now. We did see Top Esports lose another game, but they are 11 and 2 and the most dominant team in Group Ascend so far. We have had a lot of pickups. I mean Billy, Billy. They went from losing like four or five games in a Ro to subbing in Beituan and now going on a four win streak over top tier opponents Do. It's been pretty impressive. They've taken down Al last night 2 0. They took down TT, who's struggling. They took down FPX who was on a win streak until they faced off against BLG. They beat them 21 and then they took down Weibo 21 on a revenge match because they literally. There has been a lot of double matchups here because we're in the second round robin now. Literally. BLG faced Weibo twice in a row. The first time they lost 2:1. The second time they won 2:1. And they also faced FPX early in that. Their matchups in week five were fpx, Weibo, Weibo, fpx. [00:04:38] Speaker B: Every. Everything that I. Every time I like go through a week of LPL and I like go back through it and I'm just like, this is the. This is the weirdest shit in the world. Genuinely. I don't know how you keep up with it, but like how you can possibly keep track of shit because it's just like, oh, oh yeah, they played, they played. They played these teams back to back and then they played them in reverse order back to back again. Huh? [00:05:03] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. It's wild but pretty interesting. Middle of the packing and top four in Group Ascend will automatically make it to the playoffs. So I'm trying to see who the big four are going to be. Weibo has been on a little bit of a slide. Invictus has been pretty good. JDG has been pretty good. So still a lot of contention in the last. Only couple weeks left in the regular season. [00:05:25] Speaker A: I. I've also heard RNG is in danger of bottoming out of group nirvana also. Right. [00:05:31] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I was talking about before. [00:05:33] Speaker A: OMG. RNG2 legacy orgs could be done for the entire year. That is kind of wild. [00:05:40] Speaker C: I think RNG will probably like that for the way things have been going for them behind the scenes, but. [00:05:45] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:05:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:48] Speaker A: Do you think they come back next. [00:05:49] Speaker C: Year or do you think. And like, a bunch of other stuff, so. [00:05:53] Speaker A: Okay, well, I. I'm hearing that, like, there's a chance the LPL was one of the regions that was trying to expand a bunch of teams. A bunch of teams. A bunch of teams. Was it like 22 or something? Or 20? [00:06:04] Speaker C: No, it's supposed to be 20 originally, and then it was going to go to 18, and they got up to. [00:06:09] Speaker A: 17 at one point, and then now they're back to 16. [00:06:13] Speaker B: Do you. [00:06:14] Speaker A: How likely. And. And I don't want you to, like, give any inside information if you do have any. [00:06:17] Speaker C: But, like, oh, I don't have any ins. [00:06:20] Speaker A: Okay, fair enough. Well, do you think there's any likelihood of, like, next year? Only 14 teams? Like, is this kind of a. [00:06:26] Speaker C: No, I think somebody would be slot. There's already rumors of there being. [00:06:32] Speaker B: Well, TSM's gotta buy a team finally, right? [00:06:35] Speaker A: No, no, no. TSM. They're royal. Never give up. [00:06:40] Speaker C: Never give up. Yeah. [00:06:41] Speaker A: Royal never. Never tsm. Tsm. Never. [00:06:44] Speaker B: Team Solo RNG or something. [00:06:46] Speaker A: Team Solar. There we go. Oh, wait. That's actually pretty good. All right, cool. Well, that's stuff going on in the LPL Badger. Talk to me about lck. What's happening over in Korea. [00:06:56] Speaker B: Yeah, so we. We. We're seeing a couple pentacles. There's this kid. [00:07:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:07:03] Speaker A: Baker got one right. [00:07:04] Speaker B: Faker got his second one of his career. But the other one is there's a ad carry for Fear X named Diable, and he. This guy is just insane. He's like, on 2022, like, Prince levels of, like, trajectory right now, so he's. [00:07:24] Speaker A: Inevitably gonna get levels. [00:07:26] Speaker B: What's that? [00:07:27] Speaker A: 2022, Danny levels. Is he close to there? [00:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, he's just. He's just popping off like. He had a really good series against BRO the other day. But the big thing is, I mean, Genji is still top of the charts. Han was second place T1, third at 7 and 4 right now, and Nongshim is still holding fourth, and Dam1 has fallen to fifth place, tied with Fear X only one game ahead of KT. Rolster they are on a five series losing streak after being third place in the like the the I almost wanted to say Casper cup the Casper cup at the beginning of the year to determine who is going to be the team to represent at first strike Strike stand first whatever the first hand I always do baby dollar in the jar the first strike Jar so but they are on a five series losing streak include including getting two zeroed by KT yesterday so things aren't looking good for them and then they play T1 still showmakers team yeah that's still Showmaker's team. It's it's Cyru lucid showmaker aiming barrel so wow they are just he he he's going to punch the monitor for real at some point this week I swear. But Gen G still one of the best teams if not the best team in the world. Hanwha right on their tails. The Dom 1 or no DN I don't know what the sponsor is but DN freaks Berserker's team is 0 and 10 with a 4 and 20 game score on the Blaze it. Blaze it. So they're doing they're doing fantastic. Feel bad for 10 that is 0 and 10. They've benched pic. Pic is now playing in the Challengers league and they brought up their sub Jungler. I can't remember what his name is. [00:09:26] Speaker C: It it how far the mighty fall. [00:09:28] Speaker B: From 2022 world champion to coming to NA to LCK challengers. [00:09:35] Speaker A: So you know what Team Liquid has a habit of taking these Korean Junglers and not doing much with them as this next news bit is now confirmed. We talked about it last weekend on the podcast. Thank you for the LCK update Badger. But now it's time to talk about NA because Yuji it was heavily rumored if not like closely confirmed. Now Team Liquid has made a video. Yuji is coming to the roster and they will have a two jungle roster. The wording is very specifically calling it a six man roster. They very specifically said Yuji will see play. How much they flex around the two Junglers in fearless drafting is remaining to be seen. But there's actually a pretty in depth interview with Spawn that NA men did so shout out Naaman where he kind of gave a lot of the reasoning for it of the scrims. OMD kind of adds a volatility in unique decision making and playmaking that some teams aren't prepared for. But they wanted to try out where they let Impact and Core be the ones to do that and make the game plan as opposed to the Jungler. And Yuji fit that a little bit better because apparently according to Spawn, he just plays a more standard style of jungle. And they. They really like the results that they were getting when they were practicing scrims with Yuji. So they want to try out both junglers and see, you know, how. How a six man roster works. So I think it's cool. I think that arguably though, Jungle is the hardest role to have a six man roster because if your jungle is different, that really changes how the team plays. As opposed to like CFO that we saw with a top lane, which I think also arguably should be the easiest. Maybe like 80 carry would also be up there in terms of like potential ease of having two different. [00:11:17] Speaker B: I don't think there's a. There's enough differentiation in 80 carry pools. [00:11:20] Speaker A: That you could have between players mages or something. [00:11:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. I still think top lane, the. The sword and shield experiment that they did with Impact and rey back on C9 is the. The quintessential way to use that. So that was. That's my thinking in this is a double jungle. I mean like, what's the other examples that we've seen of this? What was it? The Swole Bros. C9 where it was Jensen Blabber on one and then Spence Garrett and Golden Blue on the other one. Like that's the most successful or you know, Bengi and what was his name? [00:12:01] Speaker A: Blank or blank? [00:12:02] Speaker B: Okay, it was blank in Bangi at 2016 Worlds, which was two junglers. [00:12:09] Speaker A: Right. So yeah, there is some precedent for it. [00:12:12] Speaker B: But why did I think of that first? Yeah, LCK guy. Am I right? [00:12:17] Speaker A: Yeah, you're getting too old, man. You're losing the data banks of a decade ago. Information that's crazy to think about. Well, we're not gonna get into that though. I think it's cool regardless. We'll see if it works out for them. But there was one other roster swap up that happened in N A. DSG officially said goodbye to MASH and officially welcomed Eido new head coach coming in. Mazel. You and I know Ido. I don't know if Badger how much you've heard of him, but he's been around the NA scene for quite a while. I want to say it was like six years ago that he first started coaching for like Tier three. He's. He's kind of moved up the pipeline and had some. Some decent success along the way. So he's pretty untested at the top level for like a Tier one team. But I think Cool to see the pipeline bringing up a coach. We don't see that that often. Typically it'd be like an ex player that's retired now gets hired. But mazel. This is like actually a coach kind of worked his way up the ladder. [00:13:09] Speaker C: And it's a coach that a lot of people respect. I mean, not only can you see all the shout outs from when he got announced, but I know behind the scenes puts in a lot of effort, a lot of work and finds a really good connection with players, which I think is super important, especially in this day and age where I feel like teams are just hiring coaches just to figure out if what they do for them. I think Eido clearly has a game plan when he comes into teams and I'm very excited to see what he can do in this kind of new iteration of dsg. [00:13:37] Speaker A: He's. From what I hear, I actually am going to be hanging out with DSG tomorrow, sitting in on scrims to get a kind of feel of what the coach situation's like, how the team's driving. But. So this might change by next week. But what I'm hearing is that IDO brings a lot of structure as opposed to mash, who brought a lot of expertise as a player level. Right. Like MASH was good at talking to players of like this is something you should have done differently in game, but that's more of like a positional coach, not like a head coach. EIDO brings a lot of structure for review and structure for drafting and structure for, you know, how the team interacts and like communicates in game, which I think is really good for a team like DSG like that that seems more important for. For them in the immediate kind of like right now. They got to defend their spot in a couple of months here. [00:14:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:22] Speaker A: So that's cool. That's all the news that we have right now. If we're missing anything, make sure that you let us know in the community Discord. You can find a link in the description wherever you are listening. Also, shout out to the community. We have the rundown Fantasy Point update. I have been dethroned and more than that, I've dropped out of the top three. I forgot to set my roster this last week so I still had. It shouldn't have been bad. Like on paper I had four, four C9 members and Busio, but C9 struggled a bit in their series so my points reflect that. Shout out to BRN though, for being in first place with 544.38, Apollo in second place with 542 and change and then Pacific with 541 and change. So a three point difference between first and third place. Very tight at the top. I'm now in fourth place with like 520 or something along those lines. So I've dipped quite a bit. But shout out to the people that are maintaining. Hopefully I can catch up soon. Also, thank you to everybody who supports the podcast. If you want to as well, you can check out the link to our patreon and the link to our merch shop in the description wherever you are listening. But with that being said, let's hop into the week and talk League of Legends. I got a bit of a timer here for this episode, so we might go through this one a little faster than usual, but luckily for us, I think we can also do spark notes for. For a lot of lec. I want to start off there just because Badger, we had all two O's, man. [00:15:47] Speaker B: Like, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. [00:15:48] Speaker A: None of these were even like that close. [00:15:50] Speaker B: No, there was. So we were talking about it before the show and I feel like we can just sum it up by saying 11 of these games were just the stop he's already dead meme from the Simpsons. And then there was one that was an actual. [00:16:04] Speaker C: Right. [00:16:04] Speaker B: Like bar fight that was enjoyable to watch. And that was game one of Giant X versus Dead bds. [00:16:10] Speaker A: Like, yeah, I think that was the most entertaining and for the weekend, just because like you said, bar fight, they were just bloody knuckles slobbing each other. That's not even a word. But. [00:16:22] Speaker B: Neither team heard a bell at any point during that ser. That. That. That game. They're just like, I didn't hear a bell. And then they just kept scrapping throughout the entire game. [00:16:32] Speaker C: Yeah, sometimes it's all you need, baby. [00:16:34] Speaker A: But the rest of it went basically exactly according to plan. I would say GX versus BDS was the only upset that we weekend I predicted for the memes. Vitality beating G2. But G2 bounced back from their slump in great fashion and everything else, it was literally just the higher seed beating the lower seed, which never freaking happens in eu. That was crazy, man. So Mizell, just give me the rundown of just positions right now for. For everybody listening along in case they don't know. Just top to bottom, what's the placing of each team currently? [00:17:04] Speaker C: All right, so we got Fnatic at 7 and 2 in first place. I know. They're locked in for those upper bracket, I believe. [00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:14] Speaker A: So Blue, there's Two teams locked up. Sorry, sorry. [00:17:18] Speaker C: No, no, you're good. Armand Core is also joining Fnatic right there. Locked into the upper bracket, 6 and 1 as going into that last week. It's going to be really important. Movie Star Koi are locked in, but not to the top bracket at 5 and 3. We have G2 at 4 and 3, which is a little bit of a shocker. One team region. I don't know, man. Are at fifth place at 4 and 4. You got Team Vitality at 6, 3 and 4, Giant X at 3 and 5 and seventh, eighth place, Team BDS 3 and 6, ninth place, SK Gaming 2 and 5 and Rogue rounding out the 10 spot at 2 and 6. [00:17:54] Speaker A: Yep. The BDS is the big surprise for me. They. That was the upset that we talked about already. GX taking them down, meaning that they are technically above bds. I think in my mind BDS was the best of the bottom teams. [00:18:06] Speaker B: But wait, BDS played all their games for the. Wait, what? I just. Wait. They've played all their series. They don't have games this weekend. [00:18:15] Speaker A: Oh my God. That's a good point. So we have one weekend left of games. The way the schedule worked was that we. We kind of like back end or backloaded a bunch of the games for specifically G2 because this next weekend is going to be another road shout out to the road trips. The last one was fantastic and this next one we're very excited for as well. But because of that, some teams actually have finished. You're right that Fnatic has also played all of their games as well as Team bds. I believe those are the only two that have played all nine games. But that does mean bds. Yeah, mathematically can. Maybe they still can make it. It just depends on like how Vitality, Giant X and bd. Or just specifically Giant X and Vitality. Because like do they own a head to head against any of them? They beat G2, they beat Rogue, they beat SK. [00:19:10] Speaker B: I don't even know. Yeah, I think they're. I think they're pretty much locked out at this point. [00:19:14] Speaker A: I think it could come down to game score. I'm pretty sure that if I remember the tiebreaker rules, it might be different in EU than N A. But if it is the same, then if they could have a better game record. Even if they lost the head to head, they're still. They still make it. So who knows? That's something I should have done my homework on ahead of time. A good catch right there. That's rough for bds. Oh, my God. That was an important match for that. [00:19:39] Speaker B: If you're a fanatic, you're chilling. You're staying in Berlin. You don't have to go to Paris. [00:19:42] Speaker A: Yep. [00:19:43] Speaker B: It's Paris, right? [00:19:44] Speaker A: It is, yeah. It's. It's hosted by Casey. [00:19:48] Speaker B: You would say they never forget. You'll never forget Paris, but they. They never will be there in the first place. So it's fine. [00:19:55] Speaker A: They'll never have a memory to begin with. But yeah, so we're keeping it spark notes for you just because again, some of the series just weren't all that inspiring this past weekend. But we do recommend checking out GX bds at least. Game one was really fun. And the rest of the series, we still got to see GX punch up and actually surprise us. But we talked about it. This coming weekend is going to be hosted by Casey in France. Really, really cool. The last one in Spain was popping off with the crowd. I hear that this venue is going to be smaller in terms of overall ticket sales. Mazel. Knowing the French, do you think that means it will be quieter? [00:20:32] Speaker C: No, no. I think, yeah. Especially cause Casey is going to be playing two series. I think absolutely. It's going to be wild. I just, I'm not going to lie. I'm going to take the moment to have a little personal soapbox. I'm jelly. I'm. I'm. I'm hella jealous. Why the hell does NA not get roadshows, bro? Like, come on, please. Like, I need it. [00:20:53] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. I think I, I agree with the sentiment. 100 love roadshows, please. I would love to do one. I think the, the question that also needs to be answered is can KC monetize? Because what I am hearing and this could be incorrect information. It's also stale information. This was two weeks ago that I heard this. I heard that mcoi, who hosted in Spain, did not make money off of hosting. They actually lost a little bit. It was close, but they did not go into the green hosting. So if KC can make money off of this, then I think, do they. Maybe that gives an argument. But it's also important to note that the teams are the ones hosting this. They're the ones fronting the bill. [00:21:36] Speaker C: But like, I don't know. I, I understand the whole profitability conversation across everything, but like, I don't know, have events in the past gone green? Like, I guess in a really reality, if it's cutting it close, is that not good enough? Right. Because like the entirety of esports right now is in the red like, getting close feels like a benefit and feels like a good thing. It feels like it makes it worth it because the amount of community sentiment, things that came out from just that one roadshow is so powerful. Yeah, like that conversation, I guess. Yeah, I understand, like the holistic esports being negative. We need to make profits. We need to make profit. Is this one of those things that you absolutely have to make profits when you have a roadshow? Like, I don't think so. [00:22:21] Speaker A: You know what? Since we didn't spend a lot of time talking about the game matchups, there is something that we could talk about with you instead, which is the. The report that came out about the profitability of the lec. Did either of you see that report. [00:22:33] Speaker B: The sheep one, where basically they're hemorrhaging money? [00:22:37] Speaker A: Essentially they were around like 55 million euros over budget. And I think it was like 150% over budget overall or so. I forgot exactly what it was. If somebody maybe wants to pull it up just so we have the numbers, but in general, they are over budget already. They're already losing money. So teams hosting this is a really cool opportunity for the LEC because then they confronted. But in the post, a lot of people like from the community are still commenting on it, like, well, yeah, it's just put under the marketing budget. Like, that much money for a marketing budget is actually not that crazy. It's when you're trying to make a broadcast and profitable that it becomes an issue. But the commissioner of the LEC actually voiced opinions on the thread and went against that sentiment, which has been Riot's focus over the last couple of years. Basically, like, right when franchising happened, they were like, okay, let's legitimize this and make it profitable and no longer have it be a marketing arm just to get people to play the game and then buy skins. But I, I think it's just. It's failed. I don't think it's like, it's possible to do that. So if we just bring it back to marketing and say, let's try to get people to play your game, then. Mizell, to your point, yes. Positive fan sentiment is, is really important because if people are talking positively about your game, they're probably going to be playing the game, probably spending money on the game. That's good. [00:23:58] Speaker C: I, I got to go back to the point about the guy. I, I think he contradicted a ton of what has happened in the last two years. I think it was one of the most ignorant and oblivious takes. I'VE ever seen on the matter. I think it's actually ridiculous how he posted about it. And I think, like, if you don't read into it, fine, it's whatever. But if you read into it and, like, see the choices that have been made over the last two years, there's no way that what he said in those tweets stands by what they've done in the last two years. So, like, I don't know, man. That. That guy is just full of. [00:24:32] Speaker A: Okay, I actually. I pulled up the tweet here from Sheep Esports. Shout out to him. Mag. Mag. Dymie from the uk, who was the one that actually did this investigative report. I quote, the LEC has recorded a deficit of 28.5 million euros, which is 155% increase from 2023. And the league sits at 53 million euros cumulative losses. But then they also included Riot Games as a company made 1.55 billion euros that same year. So if you look at, like, how much was earned compared to how much was lost for this, if you just consider it marketing, it's no longer even a loss. It's just a spend to get people to play your game. Yeah, but then, of course, Maximilian is. Is the commissioner, and he said, yeah, I mean, it's a long thread. Go check it out. I recommend. But he was basically saying that there's things in this article that are incorrect and he wanted to clear the air on a couple of them. But to mazel's point, did feel a little out of touch with the reality of the situation. So, Badger, do you have any thoughts on that, though? Because that. That really was, like, the big. [00:25:41] Speaker B: I feel like. I feel like the way that the game blew up back in, like, the early to mid 2010s was just because they were putting on these massive. I mean, worlds. So many people's first exposure to the game that I know was 2012, 2013 worlds, like, those two tournaments in particular. So, like, the idea that we could have these tournaments come in and just showcase the game at the highest level, get people interested, show it, like, hey, this is. This is our cool. This is our game. Like, this is all the stuff. These are the champions that you can play and everything. And people, like, get a prime example of watching it. I mean, they'll never. Most people will never play games at that level, of course, but it's just the idea of, like, getting the player base to expand. So I just think that like. Like we. Like we were saying, if it goes. If you're losing 53 million euros. But the company's making 1.5 billion. Like and I'm curious about the financials of the other league and other leagues. I know they had the LCS one in there and I said that was profitable or whatever to an extent. But like I'm curious more about the Eastern leagues. We'll never see those financial numbers, especially with like the lpl. But like it's just one of those that you just. It. It just feels more like a marketing thing more than anything else. Like hey, like how do you advertise the game? Like oh, we just show it off. Like people playing the game. Like that's the best way to do it. [00:27:09] Speaker A: I 100 agree. And it also gives a reason for the community to come together and celebrate stuff which a lot of, you know, other hobbies. There's third party ways to do that. Riot is so like at least as of right now, still so invested in like controlling that element that if they want to element, I think the logical solution is to just put it under marketing. [00:27:32] Speaker C: Boom. [00:27:33] Speaker A: Slap slap that approved budget on it. Otherwise give it up. You know, let. Let the community do what they want to do with it and find alternative ways to. To come together and celebrate. Yeah, that was cool. Cool story that dropped. Interesting that the conversation started around that. But hopefully with that conversation the KC Roadshow is profitable. I would love it for teams to find other venue or other ways to get revenue streams. And if this becomes a thing in Europe, which I think is easier in Europe because oh, Spain. Boom. All the Spanish fans are gonna show up. Oh, you're in France. All the French fans are gonna show up. I think in the US it's a little different but maybe we could find a way for it to work over here as well. I know people like David Shynock. If you don't know him, he's very vocal 100 Thieves fan who's very vocal on social media about kind of ways to increase revenue and creat road shows was part of that for. For his model as well. Yeah, we'll be watching very closely. With that said, we have games this next weekend. The last weekend of the regular season for LEC will be on the road. But then again we'll get back into playoffs. Can't believe playoffs are this close. Around the corner splits going by fast. Let's talk about our predictions up first on Saturday. Again, it's gonna be the same thing. We're just first six teams in total. Or is it four? I think it's four teams in total. Are there. So it's gonna be kind of like a mini round robin between all of them. It's G2 versus SK to kick things off. We all love G2, 2 0, Badger. It actually put G2O on his predictions. KC versus Vitality. And we all have Casey with a 2. 0 as well. Then it's Vitality versus SK. So that means we have all the teams represented. It's G2, SK, KC, Vitality, Vitality, SK. We have actually a bit of difference here. So Badger and Mazel both believe in Vitality. I believe in sk. I'll admit it's my bias. I still just think that Bukat is a fun jungler to watch. And I. I really like rooting for the. The rookies. Like a Dewey. But any big reason from either of you why you think Vitality takes it instead, Imagine. [00:29:40] Speaker B: Let me. Let me set this the scene for you. You're walking into an arena in Paris, France. I don't know what it is. You're excited to watch your team. The. The. What are. They're not the. What's the. The Beehive or whatever. That's the. Wait, that's the Beyonce fandom. Whatever. The. Whatever their version of the blue wall is. The Vitality fans, they walk in, they're so excited, they load up, and they see their team is playing SK gaming on home soil. If you lose this game, Vitality is never allowed back in the country of France. Genuinely speaking, if Vitality loses to sk, I think all of their, like, like, ability to travel into France is just dissipated. [00:30:29] Speaker A: Their pieces are revoked. [00:30:30] Speaker B: Their visas are like, yeah, you guys can't come here. Sorry. [00:30:34] Speaker A: It's gonna be one of those things. Things where it's like, if you were in, like, you know, one country, another country won't let you in. Instead, France is gonna be like, were you listed on Vitality? [00:30:45] Speaker B: Like, were you on. Were you on the tour? [00:30:49] Speaker A: Are you involved with Team Vitality? That's just gonna be like a visa question for everybody. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Now they're gonna add it. They're gonna add a question to the. The customs. Like, when they ask you those questions in customs, it's like, were you a member of 2025 Spring Vitality? [00:31:09] Speaker A: If you list, like, you work in. In broadcasting or, like, competitive video games as your job, they're gonna, like, pull you in a back room. Be like, what do you know about Vitality? [00:31:18] Speaker C: Where were you on these days? They're this split. [00:31:21] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I. I guess I'm rooting for SK with the upset then. Also partly because it makes. Makes the. The the race to the last playoff spots a little more interesting. If SK lose this, I believe they are just done. Unless they beat G2 somehow. But they can lose to G2, beat Vitality and then have a crazy like multiple tie situation going on, which Vitality would be sucked into as well, which would be very fun. So I'm doing it for the the world on fire right there. But the last game of the weekend in France. This is KC versus G2, baby. We saved the best for last. The finals rematch from last split. And they knew going into the split that the last week of regular season would be in France. They planned around it. They wanted this as the matchup and mazel. How. How likely is it that like there's any seats left in the building by the end of this? [00:32:22] Speaker C: Oh, no, there's no way. I mean, we all know the French fandom is like absolutely insane and especially in the home arena that Cometo built. Yeah. Be super, super quiet on if you anybody didn't watch it. He put out a really cool documentary about the whole process of going first of all, like his whole story of even coming up through the streets as a kid and like turning into one of the largest esports organization owners in the France that honestly the biggest that France has ever known. But the fact of transitioning that fandom into an actual sustainable place that they want to make as their home and like all the emotion, it's a place that he knew as a kid that he. When he was growing up, like, it's. It's super inspirational story. It's really, really cool. If you haven't checked it out, please go do so. It's on their YouTube, I believe. But there's no damn way. This place is not filled out. And there's gonna be people outside, there's gonna be people watching in the, in the bars nearby. Like, it's gonna be nuts. [00:33:18] Speaker A: Do you want to buy tickets? Do you think we can make it? [00:33:20] Speaker C: I would love. [00:33:22] Speaker B: I. I think from the moment that Casey walks into the arena to the Nexus exploding and them walking out, I don't think the French fans will be quiet at all. [00:33:35] Speaker A: Like, let's be honest, this is poised to be. And. And I know it might be wild to say that in the current landscape. I know. Like, oh, esports, winter. [00:33:45] Speaker B: Ooh. [00:33:45] Speaker A: Like all the budgets going down. Ooh. Like teams wanting out of leagues and st. This could be one of the top three all time best moments in League of Legends esports history. Just like with this crowd, if they bring the energy, even if it's it's just a regular season, right? But like the fact that it's the right location, the right setup, the right vibes, watching. Make sure to watch this series. If you're gonna watch any series this next weekend, make sure that you watch Casey vs. G2. Because I think that it's something. Even if you hate the KC fans, which I know a surprising amount of people do, you'll want to be part of this. Because either you're cheering for G2 against KC, cheering for KC, you're gonna be part of something special here. So that'll close out the weekend in France. Though we do still have one more day of games for lec. Overall, we have Team Heretics taking on gx. We all agree Team Heretics should win that series. And then MCOI versus Rogue. We all agree MCOI should win that series. By the end of the weekend, we will have four teams that we will bid a fond farewell to as they will not be qualifying into playoffs. There are still a couple. A lot of teams Technically, even G2 are not technically locked for playoffs. But the likely ones fighting for that last spot are going to be Team Vitality, Giant X bds. Those are the most likely three that are fighting for that last spot available. So we'll see if they can do it. All right, that's everything for lec. Now let's hop across the pond over to North America. The LTA north, as it were. El Tan party, baby. We have four more. [00:35:24] Speaker C: Party like an El Tan party? [00:35:26] Speaker A: No party like an Eltan party, baby. We got four more series ahead of us. Four more series to talk about. That just happened. And outside of some close series, it was still according to expectations. Mazel. I want to hear from you. To kick things off here, just run me through what were the matchups this past weekend and how close? All right. [00:35:44] Speaker C: So you want me the scores too? [00:35:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Let's give it to you. [00:35:47] Speaker B: All right. [00:35:47] Speaker C: We started off with a gigabyger. It was FlagQuest taking a 21 victory over Shopify Rebellion. [00:35:54] Speaker A: Yeah, they were close. [00:35:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it was. It was very fun. Then Team Liquid handled business against DSG with a 20 to round out Saturday. Then going into Sunday, 100 Thieves took a 20 over Dignitas. Feeling a little bit bad for Dignitas there. And then C9 versus Lion. The final game of the week. 2:1 victory for C9. But don't let that score fool you. [00:36:20] Speaker A: That that should have been a 20 from Lion. They win game one pretty. [00:36:24] Speaker C: They won all three games. [00:36:25] Speaker A: They're smashing and Then Saint with that Silas E under the Nexus turrets with Gnar ultimate goes a little too far past the team dies cascading failure. C9 close out the game. Like what the. [00:36:42] Speaker C: Yep, yep. [00:36:43] Speaker A: That one was insane. Also shout out to to riot. This was not like super public going into it, but Sven has talked about it in interviews since so I feel comfortable since the team has addressed it. At least Vulcan had a funeral to go to and only flew back in Sunday morning. So they actually changed the schedule. It was supposed to be seen online first and 100 dig second. They changed the schedule to allow Vulcan more time to get in. Also shout out to 100 Thieves and dig for being willing to do that. Like pretty much everybody came together and said yeah, we're. It's cool Vulcan. Like we, we understand. Like we'll make things work for you. I think that's really, really cool. A great thing to celebrate. I mean again Harko's at the Vulcan. That's a really tough position to be in. And then having to play it was such a close series as well. They almost lost that one two zero. But I, I did want to take a moment to celebrate everybody on the NA side being willing to move stuff around for him. But with that said, C9 were at least able to close it out. That was the exciting one from the weekend for sure. Because like man lion are so close. They're so close to being a good team. [00:37:51] Speaker B: Really competitive. I was genuinely surprised at how it is or how it was. [00:37:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And how much of that is Vulcan being like a little tired from traveling that morning? Who knows? I'm sure he was. Wasn't in like optimal mindset. [00:38:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:06] Speaker A: But it wasn't just Vulcan. [00:38:07] Speaker B: Right? [00:38:07] Speaker A: Like it was everybody on C9. We're kind of getting rattled by everyone on lion, especially Saint versus Loki. I thought was really fun that Saint was getting the better of that matchup more often than not. Audi Land looked much more in control of the game and Lions the support was not going for these kind of troll int engages until game three on the Nautilus. He is kind of the reason they lost the last fight and then lost that series. But yeah, I think overall lion for being O2 in their group are looking like a still that team that could punch up at any moment. They. They've been scaling. We'll talk about them more this coming broadcast weekend. But one of the points that I, I brought up in our story meeting, they are the most fearless team. Lion has the most unique champs picked as a team from anyone in the League, which is a little surprising because I like, like, I kind of would rather them not be. I'd rather them just like, hone in on one style. But they say, no, we're just gonna, like, play everything under the sun and. And like, kind of figure it out as we go. Which could be a huge buff come playoffs or come even summer split if they have, like, multiple styles defined. But for right now, still hasn't gotten a series win in their group. They're up against disguise coming up next. The other big one was FlyQuest versus Shopify Badger. That one was also pretty close. Shopify Rebellion are still that team that can punch up. They just can't close it out, man. God. [00:39:33] Speaker B: That's the thing, I think they. I don't know what it is with this team, but they. I just feel like after like 18 minutes, they just get a debuff where they. Yeah. Where they slowly, like, they like, bleed out over time. It's like Renata, like bailout. When you're in the fighter, you fight or die phase. Like, like that's where you're at at this point where they just keep scrambling. They. They. I mean, you look at the names on the team, like, they're supposed to be really good, but. [00:40:03] Speaker A: And then you look at reality and yeah. [00:40:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. You watch the games and you're like, yeah. Oh, oh, oh. [00:40:09] Speaker A: Okay. I'll say two things. One, Fudge, for how much I on him as. As like being the. One of the worst players in the league. Love you, Fudge as a person, but, like, as a player, it's just like, really struggling. He had a great series, dude. Fudge crushed really well. [00:40:27] Speaker C: True. [00:40:27] Speaker A: He played really well. And I think I. I absolutely deserves the flowers there because also Pueblo is the one that like on broadcast said my coach has a list of three of the worst players. Fudge is on that list. So I think it's really cool that Fudge was able to pull that out. But Palafox, man, this guy is leading the league in stats that you don't want to lead the league in. Yes. And has continued to struggle. I believe out of all mid laners, he's lowest in damage per minute, lowest in damage percentage, lowest in gold difference at like 14, lowest in kill participation, lowest in pretty much every stat. This guy's just like 8th place out of 8 mid laners. And yeah, sometimes stats don't tell the whole story of like, what you see in game. This is one of those instances. It kind of does. Like, you watch Shopify play and you're like, yeah, well, I don't know what Palafox is doing, man. Like, like he's usually dead before the play starts and then the team scrambling to figure out what to do afterwards. Or he's just like not present for the play. It feels like one of two extremes. So big pal Fox fan, hopefully he turns it around as well. This is a team that I want to root for, but they are the only Team 02 in their group. You know, I just realized I haven't even run through the groups here. We just started talking about the teams and how their weekends went. Group A is currently Team Liquid Cloud nine locked for the top two. So that means that they're, they're playing each other this weekend to see who's first seed, who's second seed. I'll go over kind of the seating for playoffs after this. Lion in disguise. They're fighting for the third or fourth seed position which I gave incorrect information a couple weeks ago. No teams knocked out of playoffs from the group stage. They're gonna have a cross group play on week seven. So neither of these teams is out after this weekend. They will get one more chance. It's just determining who they play next weekend. Then over to group B, It's FlyQuest at 2 and oh, they have not locked their place position because they could still lose to Dignitas coming up here and then have like a multi team tie situation. But currently they're in first with 100 Thieves. Dignitas tied at 1 and 1, Shopify at O and 2. There we go. Cool. The other fun series. I'm just gonna tell you right now, Team Liquid Disguise. Not a fun series. Don't watch that. That was just a beat. Beat down 100 Thieves. Dig though, Badger. I mean you kind of joked about it. Holy shit. 100 thieves should have gotten O2. [00:42:47] Speaker B: They should have genuinely Dignitas did the. Up until they lose the game. They're winning it. And I, there I was sitting there and I'm like, I was like watching it. I'm like, there's no way Dignitas. [00:43:03] Speaker C: Is this really happening? [00:43:04] Speaker B: Is this, is this happening right now? Like am I, am I watching Dignitas beating 100 Thieves in the year of our Lord 2025. [00:43:11] Speaker A: Like Unthrowable Games but they, they're that, they're that Doctor Strange man. They're finding that one. [00:43:18] Speaker B: The one reality where they. [00:43:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Where they can throw it. [00:43:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:43:22] Speaker A: So yeah, the, the mid laners were swapping. It was Serd in game one just getting dicked on. He like Dies with a dive. Top lane teleports, top dies immediately again. You're like, oh, no, this game's over. The team is still keeping it in, but then Serdy really struggles. Then game two, Serdy just smacks everybody around on Ambessa is like probably the best and besta game we've seen. All split. But then Kaney on mid lane. Jace is just getting picked every five seconds. It's like, no, we just need stable solo later so this team could win. Damn it. Yeah, that's the Dignitas rant. I also want this team to do better, honestly. [00:44:01] Speaker B: Shout out to Shaden because the Nafiri pick was so funny to watch. Just like that champion is just. I, I really, I. I don't think I've said this on the pod, but like, I think the Nafiri changes are so great because that Chevy is just so funny to watch right now. [00:44:18] Speaker A: Just like it's quite funny. [00:44:20] Speaker B: It genuinely is one of the better like, like reworks that they've done in recent years. Like, I'm just like, oh, this champion's great. Like, I mean, other than the fact that she can, you know, invulnerable under a turret, drop aggro on a dive and somehow spawn more dogs whilst. I don't know, it's just. That's my only. That's the only thing I don't like about it. But just like, it's just so fun to watch. [00:44:43] Speaker A: All right, Badger, what role do you play in League of Legends? [00:44:47] Speaker B: So currently I'm playing support right now. [00:44:50] Speaker A: Okay, that makes more sense if you were an AD carry. I don't think you would like Niff. [00:44:54] Speaker B: No. Oh, God, no. [00:44:55] Speaker A: Hell. [00:44:55] Speaker B: Hell no. I would. [00:44:57] Speaker A: Michelle, how do you feel about Nafiri? [00:44:59] Speaker C: She busted, bro. That's a busted dog. [00:45:03] Speaker A: Yep. [00:45:04] Speaker C: Though I gotta give her the benefit of the doubt. Whenever anybody plays the Hot Dog Skin, like, you just have to say, I accept the dog. [00:45:10] Speaker A: True. [00:45:10] Speaker C: It's fine. [00:45:11] Speaker A: I do like that hot dog skin. But yeah, that was not enough for Dignitas to get their win, but it was close. 100 thieves have not denied the allegations of being frauds. And I have looked very silly for backing them so heavily throughout the split because, man, they somehow managed to get wins against the teams below them. But they are still struggling to get those wins. So we'll see if they can maintain. Let's talk about this next weekend of games here for LTA North. We have two days of games with two series each day. C9 versus Team Liquid kicks it all off and oh, baby. This should be a banger series. Very excited for this one. [00:45:50] Speaker B: One. [00:45:51] Speaker C: It's. [00:45:51] Speaker A: It's the two top teams I think, in the league. FlyQuest have even looked a little shakier with a couple bad bipo performances. So at this point, I might even rank Team Liquid above them in power rankings. So very excited for this matchup. I have C9 with a 2.0-though, and I am in my own corner here because Badger and mazel both have a 2:1 for Team Liquid. Badger, I'll let you defend Team Liquid first and then Mazel can hop in and. And be your second. But I know that they're your boys. [00:46:20] Speaker B: You know, this is kind of a co Pick. I'm gonna be honest. Like, oh, I. I think that just, you know, there's a chance. There's. There's some stuff in like, the C9 game. I still think Thanatos is like. Thanatos has that same debuff that like the lower teams have or after, you know, 19 minutes, they don't know how to play the game. Like, I. I feel like Thanatos is like a strong debuff. What's that? [00:46:48] Speaker C: So it's a pretty strong debuff. [00:46:49] Speaker B: It is a very strong debuff. I feel like if you look at, like, Thanatos stats after, like, after like 20 minutes, it's just watch him. After, like, watch him in like 22 minutes when they're doing like atacon dance and he's playing like a side lane. He. I just feel like more often than not, he's costing his team, like in the mid to late game on those side lane objectives and everything like that. That's. He. I don't know. It feels weird to watch him play sometimes, but he. I still think he's like one of the most insane top lane laners that we've seen in a while. [00:47:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I think laning phase is his specialty. But you're right, that late game, he's still improving there. I just don't see Team Liquid and the way that Impact is playing currently to be able to survive laning phase enough that Impact will have any, you know, no pun intended, impact on this game. I actually think that top lane is going to be a pretty big black hole for Team Liquid, specifically because of Thanatos's ability to lane. And then. Yeah, I mean, Jan is still popping off. He. He got player of the week last week and is having a great resurgence. But Sven has also had a really solid split so far. So, like the usual win con for Team Liquid I think also doesn't like immediately win the game for them either. So C9 I still think are just a more well oiled machine. A Weller Oiler Oil. Yep. There we go. They're lubricated, man. They're lubricated. But yeah, so that's why I have them taking it. Mazel. Any other big insights is why you have TL201? [00:48:34] Speaker C: No, I think I believe in them. I think there's a new motivation in the building which I think is really interesting. True. We'll see what it does. [00:48:42] Speaker A: Shout out Omdi. Who's got a play now knowing that Yuji is around. I haven't heard. I don't believe it's been confirmed publicly or even private. Like I haven't heard any information of if Yuji is eligible to play this coming weekend. Even if he was eligible, would they play him? Because you know he's. He's got to travel in. So maybe they just give him a weekend to rest and just be around the team but not be playing. But Umpty did have risks, pain and wrist problems this past weekend and still played very well. So I think Umpty, that fire under him has improved the play funnily enough. All right. 100 Thieves versus Shopify Rebellion. We all have 100 Thieves 2 and 1. I just, I feel like both of these teams are. Well, okay. One of the teams cannot end a game that's Shopify Rebellion. They cannot end a game of League of Legends to save their lives. Hundred Thieves cannot win an early game, but can win a game. So I think it's gonna be a bit of a coin toss of like I expect Shopify to do very well or at least look very good for 80 of the series. But I still think 100 Thieves wins the series because the 20 of the time that they look good is going to be in the last 30 minutes or like after the 30 minute mark for, for each game. That's at least the. The recency of 100 thieves. I know that their history before was like they were good in the first 20 minutes and then through. But they've kind of flipped that in in recent weeks which is interesting to think about. But either way I think that's gonna be a fun series. I actually get to cast that one. So very excited for that. Then on Sunday we have Fly Quest versus Dignitas. Yeah, we all think it's a FlyQuest 2. 0. But I do want to add some stakes to this because I think there's a really fun angle. Dignitas have the slowest average game time. Or sorry, not slowest. I guess the longest average game time in the league. Fly Quest have the shortest average game time in the league. But if Dignitas can drag Fly Quest down into their territory and make a long game of League of Legends, they could be in the number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 position for longest games of the year. [00:50:54] Speaker B: Just saying that's. [00:50:55] Speaker A: They currently hold the top four. They could hold the top five. So that's the extra stakes for everybody. That's what we're cheering for is Fly Quest to give us a long game. We close out the weekend though with lion vs disguised. I have Lion 2, 0 Badger is lying 2. 1 Mazelle still believing in the boys with the paper bag. Disguise 2. 1 Mizel why do you think Disguise can take. [00:51:19] Speaker C: They're gonna do it. I believe. [00:51:23] Speaker A: I believe that dsg. I believe in dsg. It's not the same as clg. I don't, I don't like it. No. Any big insightful reason why? Or is this just fandom telling you? [00:51:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm just feeling it. I think dsp, they're, they're better than their record states and I still think they're on the verge of something. [00:51:45] Speaker A: I think that EIDO coming in could be really, really good for them. And this is the only team in their group that realistically they could take stuff off of. I know that they took one game off a TL in the best of ones before the group stage, but they looked really bad against Team Liquid. I like Team Blackwood was pissed about that and we're like, no, we are not going to give you anything in this next series. So hopefully DSG can't do something. I still believe in lion taking it pretty easily just because Satan and Henna are such good carries and, and Abadaga and Scary Jerry are not in the same category as, as those two. So yeah, that's what I got Badger. Any other big insightful reason why you think lion take it? Because you have them losing a game? [00:52:26] Speaker B: At least I, I, I do think that Disguised with Ido coming in has a chance to. I mean, the players on this team are good. Most of the players on this team are good. I'll, I'll give that caveat. [00:52:40] Speaker A: Okay. Walking it back. [00:52:43] Speaker B: You're talking about Pallet. You were talking about Palafox's stats. Don't look at Abu Dhage stats like those are. Those are just about as bad, if not worse. And his gameplay backs it up. [00:52:52] Speaker A: Any stats, Pal Fox is not lasting. It's probably. [00:52:55] Speaker B: Yeah exactly exactly. But I just think that lion has the the core and I mean they I there's a lot of good players on this team. Like I think Saints sneaky one of the better mid laners in the league. Like everything I've seen from Saint is just incredible. Like like if Saint wasn't on Lion I think we would be talking about him a lot more like we were talking about quid with 100 thieves. [00:53:29] Speaker A: Yeah yeah. Like I legit have the same opinion if Saint was on cloud nine instead of Loki. Not to say Loki's not a good mid laner but I think Saint is better. Like C9 probably wouldn't have dropped a game this split yet. Which a fun fact. Cloud 9 are on pace to be top three franchise placements like all time. So so sorry I explained that very poorly. The Org like they're on pace to be their third best regular season finish of all time time in in the in the orgs history. I believe it's 2020 spring is their best and then 2013 summer when they first came into the league was their other best. But if they win out 2:0 vs. Team Liquid 2:0 vs. First seed from the the group B which would probably be FlyQuest. I know that's tough to say 2oh team Liquid then 2o Fly Quest. But if they do that's the third best ever regular season from C9 history which is really cool. Cool. I think that they they're on pace for that. They could in fact pull it off. That was not a Lion point. That was a C9 point. I don't know how. [00:54:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I was about to say that it's a C9 point if I've ever heard one before. [00:54:35] Speaker A: So. Well, either way, they did not have Saint. They do have Loki. But Saint is looking fantastic online. Big fan over there. That's it though for LTA north expectations. That's all of our thoughts. Let us know if you agree or disagree about LTA north or LEC by joining the community at Discord once again. You can find the link in the description wherever you are listening. Also, if you want to support the Pod, we have a Patreon and we have a merch shot. Make sure that you pick up something from the merch shop. I'm drinking from my league rundown mug throughout this episode as we speak. That's really the only merch that I can endorse actually. Oh actually the hats. We we have a really cool baseball cap but I can't endorse the mouse pads personally. That's and too much bias. But anyway, if you are listening along and you are so inclined to leave us a review, mazel. What kind of review would you recommend our incredibly handsome and intelligent audience leave us? [00:55:33] Speaker C: I think it's deserving of five big stars. [00:55:37] Speaker A: Big Stars. Qualifier to the size as well. I am in agreement, Mizel. If you leave us five stars wherever you're listening along, or a thumbs up, whatever the rating scale is really does help us grow and get more noticed. So thank you for everybody who has left a review in the past. Thank you everybody for tuning in in the first place and making it to this message. Just know this one thing. We love you and we'll see you next time. [00:56:02] Speaker B: Bye bye bye everyone. [00:56:05] Speaker A: Oh yes, Daddy, it Sam.