League Rundown - Episode 579: Normality restored

[00:00:11] Speaker A: The Amazing gets hit. Kimmy kids a little too far here. He's gonna have to try and get himself out. [00:00:15] Speaker B: Let me go. [00:00:16] Speaker A: 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 what? I cannot understand this game. Unicorns of Love. It wasn't a mutant. The Nexus. Hello and welcome to episode 579 of the League Rundown. This is your 2025 LTA split three playoffs week two review and LEC split three playoffs week three preview. This episode is lovingly entitled Normality Restored. That's because we finally were able to get vengeance for the Kalunga Eme that happened last weekend. We'll talk about it more in depth once we get through the news. But before that, let's introduce who's on cast. I am. Your host Kang is joined by two esteemed co hosts. Up first out of the can we got Badger. [00:01:41] Speaker C: Imagine being the LPL fourth seed right now. That's crazy. [00:01:47] Speaker A: Also teasing the preview because we have a couple more Worlds teams locked in that we'll cover in just a moment. But before that we also have joining us unfortunately a very sad boy. We got random Minion caster. [00:01:58] Speaker B: Yeah. We got a candidate this week beating like the dogs. [00:02:05] Speaker A: Candidate. Wait, is that like. Is that what being on like when red candidates do poorly. [00:02:10] Speaker B: But if we got. If we went Colunga the week before, then we got candidates this week. [00:02:17] Speaker A: You know what? I like that. You know there's two sides of the. The red coin. [00:02:21] Speaker B: Yes. [00:02:22] Speaker A: Canadine yourselves. Canadine your trousers. And then Colunga are wolves. [00:02:26] Speaker B: Catids. [00:02:29] Speaker A: I don't know their mascot is like a wolf or a fox. [00:02:33] Speaker B: It's a fox. Yeah. No, I just think of the meme that there are two wolves. There are two candidates in those. [00:02:38] Speaker A: Two wolves, two red candidates. Well, we'll talk about how the LTA games went. That was a little teaser of how confident the north is going to be going into finals weekend. But before that, let's get around the world news because there's a couple more teams qualified for World's Badger. You already teased it. What is another team now Confirmed. Confirmed. Going to be representing the LCK at Worlds 2025. [00:03:04] Speaker C: So we now know the four LCK teams that are going to be representing Korea Worlds. The only one that has their seed locked at this point. Is T1. And they will be the fourth seed after beating Damwon last week and then losing to Gen G32 and a great series. So the finals are coming up slowly but surely. It's Hanwha in the grand finals. But KT and Gen G are playing. Loser is the third seed, presumably speaking. I actually, you know what? I. I'm not gonna do this because the last time I did this KT1. So that'd actually be a banger narrative of Genji being the third seed coming from lck. And then it's just like, huh, that's crazy that Good luck to whatever NA1 team. Because it's technically. Wait, who's the region that doesn't have a pool one. [00:04:03] Speaker A: I don't know if it's been determined or if like we can see that. I'm going to assume that it's NA though just based on like historical. Yeah, I figured LCP did a little better. I think the. [00:04:13] Speaker C: The pool one. [00:04:15] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. Was it rmc? Were you the one that was doing the math based on like MSI performance last week? I remember on the episode somebody was talking about it that like technically there's an argument that LCP did better than us. [00:04:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:27] Speaker A: And since EU got two teams into the group stage, actually we're going to get. [00:04:32] Speaker C: Gen G is going to lose to kt. Fly Quest is going to draw them round one and we're going to get fucking Genji. Fly Quest as like opening match of Worlds this year. That would be insane. [00:04:43] Speaker A: Or the actual reality is it's going to be whatever C2LPL team is going to get. Do the Classic where we play against like eu. Oh God. Korea beat you again to make it in. That's how we do it, baby. Just look at the draw. Look at the draw. Yeah, but yeah, so T1 is fourth seed. We're still waiting on seating between Gen G, KT and HLE. [00:05:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Guaranteed at least top two. So they. They are gonna get a favorable matchup in round one of Swiss when it comes to Worlds. [00:05:22] Speaker A: But LPL also had a team qualify in. We're still waiting for half of their teams qualified. But anyone's legend is joining blg. Last week we only had blg. Now anyone's legend will also join them. They have two more seeds expectations. I'm still hearing things like top esports are heavily favored to make it into there. And then it's still kind of a couple different names in the conversation for who that. [00:05:45] Speaker C: So TS plays ig. I guess I'll I'll do this because I'm looking at it right now because I was curious about it because I couldn't remember the four teams that were in there. TES Top Esports plays ig. The winner of that is going to Worlds, guaranteed. And then JDG are playing Weibo. And the quote unquote lower bracket game winner of that makes it to the actually. So TES versus IG winner is the third seed from lpl. And then the loser of TSIG plays winner of JDG be Weibo Gaming and that determines the fourth seed. And whoever gets their. Their, their cheeks clapped by T1 most likely because Riot will not let that team falter in the play. And they will. [00:06:40] Speaker A: They're gonna hit the buff them 10% damage button. [00:06:43] Speaker C: They're gonna, they're gonna hit the modifiers button and T1 is going to win that fourth versus fourth seed matchup. I, I will put decent money on it. At this point, there's no shot that Riot's gonna let them not make it. Plus, I think T1 is going in better than any of those four teams that I just mentioned from the LPL. [00:07:08] Speaker A: So what I'm curious that I am condoning gambling? [00:07:11] Speaker C: Not that I am. [00:07:12] Speaker A: I, I. [00:07:12] Speaker C: Yes, I agree. [00:07:13] Speaker A: If there ever were a match to put money on, I might agree with you. It would be that one. Not condoning it. I could noting the version. [00:07:22] Speaker C: Definitely not condoning it. [00:07:23] Speaker A: Not condoning it. But you know, think about it. [00:07:26] Speaker C: Just, just think about it. [00:07:30] Speaker A: Lta. We also had one more team locked in here. It was 100 Thieves based on their performance this past weekend. So congratulations. 100 thieves have qualified for Worlds as well. But we're still waiting on one final team from the lec. So there are three teams yet to be locked in for Worlds. Two lplc. Yeah. [00:07:50] Speaker C: Okay. Was two LPL and then the LEC team. Okay. Yeah. [00:07:55] Speaker A: Yes. Because we already had Team Secret Whales qualify last week for lcp. Secret Whales, Oysters, psg, Talon, and Team Secret Whales. [00:08:03] Speaker B: Well, love that. [00:08:04] Speaker C: Honestly, going into it. I hate to, I hate to break it to everybody, but Team Secret Whales might be my favorite, my favorite team name going into worlds at this point. [00:08:14] Speaker A: Do you wait till you see their logo? Okay, the logo is. [00:08:18] Speaker B: Yeah. LCP got their seating confirmed. [00:08:22] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Yes. So the oysters, it is CTBC flying oysters first and Secret Whale second seat, actually. Oh, yeah. Well, let's move around the order of the teams on our little handy document then. My apologies, Team Secret Whales. I was unfamiliar with your game. [00:08:38] Speaker C: Does this mean we could get PSG versus 100 Thieves. Oh, no, no, no. Right. Yeah. Because they'll be. They'll be pool three depends on who gets the. [00:08:48] Speaker B: Like, doesn't get the receipt, but yeah. Or doesn't get. [00:08:54] Speaker C: Can we just get the frickin, like, article that comes out that they normally drop and just be like, here are the teams and what pools they're going to be in at this point? Actually, I'm going to check. Wool Esports. [00:09:04] Speaker A: Best we can do is confirming the musician for 4 World. [00:09:07] Speaker C: Yeah, you're right. Jem is performing at the finals for. [00:09:12] Speaker A: Yep. Which I think I've seen some, you know, community sentiment from the west being like, I don't know who this is, but it's hosted in China. It's a Chinese artist. That's fine. And I have heard. I don't know how much of a spoiler this is, so I will not spoil anything official here. But every year there's multiple artists. Like, it's never like, there's the headliner that does like that World song, but they often have other artists around. And from my expectation, there will be other artists there as well. But, like, this is the big headliner doing the World song this year, which, you know, it's cool. It makes sense for. For the region hosting and for the global player base. [00:09:49] Speaker B: I'm curious if you guys also brought. [00:09:51] Speaker C: Back the old world's trophy. They put it in the article. [00:09:55] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't see that. [00:09:55] Speaker A: I totally forgot about that. Thanks for bringing that up. Rmc, are you a fan of the new one or the old one? [00:10:00] Speaker B: I like the old one. I mean, the old one was okay, to be honest, kind of ostentatious, but also it just has that. That history. It has that weight, you know, it really. [00:10:09] Speaker A: I feel like League Esports is at the point where it's been around for like a decade and a half here. So we're starting. We're just starting to get into this generation where there is legacy. And right when we were getting there, they started changing everything. And I was like, why are we doing this? Like, this is stupid. Like, it. It's tradition that this is the Summoner's Cup. Even if it is. I mean, ostentatious is one way to put it. A little, like, maybe slightly cheesy is like the. The more negative way to put it. It still looked cool. It was iconic. And same thing with like, lcs, right? It's like now we change the branding and like, it doesn't feel like. Like you throw away the. The history by doing that. That's kind of what, the old trophy or. [00:10:54] Speaker C: Okay, I just looked it up. [00:10:57] Speaker A: You ready to the old one. Yeah. [00:10:59] Speaker C: The article that Riot put out last year before Worlds. That was the. Hey, here's, here's everything you need to know about Worlds going into it came out on September 9th last year. [00:11:15] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. It's September 22nd. Although world starting later this year. Yeah. [00:11:22] Speaker C: A couple weeks later. [00:11:23] Speaker B: So three split things. [00:11:25] Speaker C: I will say September 9th and world started the 25th, so that's two and a half weeks. So. Okay, so they've got about track for that. [00:11:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:35] Speaker C: If it comes out like Friday, then like, okay, it makes sense. But like, who, who's what pool. I need to know this, like riot. I, I, I do the 11 or 1,187,000 or whatever it is simulations that Dr. Strange does. [00:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:55] Speaker C: Of the Swiss groups. It was every year about how FlyQuest and how Fly Quest could get out and all this other stuff. Like, I need this in so far in advance. [00:12:07] Speaker A: It is really fun to geek out over it. I think the earlier they get it out, the better. But we are still on track because Worlds is starting later this year than it did last year. But we'll keep our eyes to the pulse or fingers to the pulse there because if they slip up, we will write a letter, you know, very strongly worded, and let them know how we feel about it. I don't think that we have any power over. [00:12:28] Speaker C: I don't. I could send you something and you could point it in the right direction if somebody. [00:12:33] Speaker B: Yeah, we just need to petition our local, closest Riot employee slash contractor. [00:12:40] Speaker A: No, no, this is what we do. We actually, we, we get our discord. I'll, I'll, I'll put in. Mark Zimmerman's the commissioner of lta. I'll put his email in our discord and then everyone can email him and we'll like come up with copy that. We can all put out together and just spam his emails. That'd be great. It's like emailing your congressman. Right. It's like same concept. [00:13:00] Speaker B: True. Definitely won't be emailing him a job application. Yeah, yeah. [00:13:05] Speaker A: I mean, if you want to do that too. Maybe include it before maybe you're later. I don't. Maybe use a burner email for the constructive criticism 1. I don't want you to hurt your chances. Anyway. Still three teams yet to be locked for Worlds. We'll keep our eyes on that because we should know by next week. I believe every team will be decided by then. Some roster news as well. Impact Big Story just dropped today. The day of this recording for the podcast, Impact's contract was up at the end of the year. We already knew that. And Team Liquid put out a video confirming they are saying goodbye. Moving on from Impact. I don't think this is a big surprise to anybody unless, I mean, Badger, you're the. The big Team Liquid guy. Is this a surprise for you? [00:13:46] Speaker C: Oh, no, it wasn't. I saw it coming. I. I mean, I've already put in my, like, my prediction for, like, the TL roster next year just based on, like, what I. What I want, slash, what seems feasible and okay at. So I. I feel like we've had this conversation. [00:14:05] Speaker A: We. We've had it a few times, and there was. I wanted to do, like, a dedicated episode proper to, like, okay, off season. Where do we think a lot of these freelancers, specifically the Hundred Thieves players, are gonna go? That's the problem is announcements are probably gonna start coming out as soon as, like, well, now the Hundred Thieves are going to Worlds. Maybe that's gonna be delayed a little bit longer. But, like, we also are probably gonna lose content because people are gonna be confirmed. So, yeah, just throw out. What. What's your dream roster? Like, what's your prediction? Liquid next year. [00:14:33] Speaker C: So my prediction going into it, and this is half speculation, half stuff that I think could be feasible. Serdi or Dokla Top Lane. [00:14:44] Speaker A: Okay. [00:14:44] Speaker C: Yuji in the jungle. Because I think he still just needs another chance. He just needed time. Quid or. Hear me out. Showmaker. [00:14:58] Speaker A: Whoa. [00:14:59] Speaker C: Steve wanted. Steve wanted Faker back in the day when franchising started. Didn't get him. Seven years later, gets one of the Four Horsemen from Korea to come over. [00:15:10] Speaker A: I mean, that would be banger. Okay. [00:15:12] Speaker C: Insane. I don't see it happening. [00:15:14] Speaker B: That's why there's enough money to set up a booth at LTA finals. I don't know if they've got money to get. Showmaker just saying. [00:15:20] Speaker A: No, they're. That's. They're saving the money because they're saving the money. [00:15:23] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [00:15:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:15:26] Speaker A: Thanks, Showmaker. For Team Liquid not having a booth. [00:15:28] Speaker C: Confirmed and then just. Just yawn and a little bot Lane again. Reunite the boys. Oh, Ayla. [00:15:36] Speaker A: Okay. [00:15:37] Speaker C: I would actually. I think that'd be hype. See, I think that's just the most likely TL thing at this point is for them to just be like, ayla, come home. Like, I know. Like, because who knows if Core is gonna play next year? [00:15:51] Speaker A: Like, his contract. So the two contracts that were up at the end of the year were impacting core and with Spawn kind of not being sure if he's going to be coaching again for Team Liquid and also was doing like the full remote coaching this year that did not work. I, I could see a world record retires and becomes a coach. I mean it's always been something that I think we expected him to do at some point. [00:16:11] Speaker C: Oh yeah, he's. Whatever he retires, he's either going to go into broadcast or he's going to be a coach. But it's probably going to be coach. [00:16:19] Speaker A: And so if he does, I think Ayla would make a lot of sense. He won multiple proving grounds in Tier 2 with Jan, like the, the, the big title that you can win in Tier two. And he was side by side with Jan during like their, their development in the tier 2 system. So you could definitely see that happening. I don't think Showmaker's likely also even quid. I think he's gonna be the number one most sought after player again. We'll, we'll talk more about this in a dedicated episode. So I think it's gonna be tough for any team because every team's gonna want him. [00:16:53] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:16:53] Speaker A: So we'll, we'll see where he ends up. But that is at least the confirmed news. Impact is out. Team LI guaranteed be looking for a top laner for next year. Outside of that, I didn't see any roster news. Sometimes I miss it, especially over in EU just because that stuff doesn't pop up on my Twitter feed. So if we miss anything else, you know what to do. Everybody let us know in the community. Discord, you can add us in there. And if you have not yet joined, make sure to join. The link is in the description wherever you are listening along. Also, if you want to support the pod, you can do so through the Patreon or the Merch store. Both of those are also linked in the description. [00:17:29] Speaker B: But unless. [00:17:30] Speaker A: Have we missed anything else? RMC Badger, are we good to move on? [00:17:33] Speaker B: I think. [00:17:34] Speaker C: I think we've done enough vamping before we, before we get to the, the, the bully beatdowns of the week. [00:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I was really trying to give RMC time to emotionally prepare for this because. Baby six zero, Brazil. Go back home. Get out of here. Hell yeah. The north is the best. With that said, it was awesome having the Brazilian teams here. I don't mean any disrespect by that, but God damn does it feel good to finally like come back after the Red Cannons fiasco that happened the week before. I was so Nervous going this weekend thinking okay geckos for FlyQuest that's going to be shaky. 100 Thieves played a sloppy style of league Red also play the same style. Maybe they have trouble there. But rmc, what happened this past weekend? [00:18:23] Speaker B: Well, honestly the Southfield part, that was one of the worst showings I've seen from both of these rosters which is kind of crazy. The cage starts one to a certain extent. I don't feel like they have a good excuse for going 00:15 but hey, props to Gakos man. Young player. You know I didn't think he would out bowl bowl with an Irelia. That pick was wild and I absolutely love it. It's a bowl specialty as well by the way. So it feels doubly bad that just got smacked on it. But yeah, no huge props to FlyQuest. I think Kade is a team that bounces back so I'm fingers crossed hoping that they recover from that spanking. But I also do keep in mind that they are not only did they have to travel up to la, they're now traveling down to Dallas as well. So it's kind of non stop moving which can be hard to bounce back from. [00:19:10] Speaker A: That is a lot of movement. Yeah. And again I'm happy that you already gave credit to him. I want to give a lot of credit to Gagos. He had a fantastic series. They really prioritized getting him comfort picks in draft. He played the Aelia, he played atrock game and what was the other? [00:19:29] Speaker B: Jacks. [00:19:30] Speaker A: Jacks, yeah. So three carry champions. He got to play, didn't have to play the Rumble which is awesome because that's like all that you've played so far. The two games on stage previously for Fly Quest and they really made sure that he was like able to play his game of League of Legends. It's exactly what you wanted to see for Serdi on Dignitas, which they did not do. But then when he went to lion suddenly it was like oh, he looks a lot better. I was getting reminiscence of that but it's just everybody else in flag was just so good also like yeah, they were able to still dominate and badgers like you barely notice a difference between like Bipo and Geckos. [00:20:05] Speaker C: No, because I think. I think a lot of the thing that I notice in FlyQuest and one of the things that I just like really, really when I watch them play the game it's just how inspired and quad just can take over the map like you. You have. You have the best jungler in the west. And you have this mid laner that's, you know, might be, might be contending for best mid or if not top three mids in the west, just, just running the map with a stable bot lane. And you can have a coin flip in the top lane because it doesn't matter what happens at that point, it it this team just inspired in quad. Just if this team has any sort of success at Worlds, it's going to come off of these twos back. Like genuinely speaking, they could, they could hold up against some of the Korean or Chinese mid jungles and make games very interesting when we get to world because like, God, it's just so, they're just so good. I mean this inspired Trundle pick him up. Being able to wait till like game three to pull it out because he's just got so much other shit and then just being like, oh yeah, I'm just gonna, you know, just, just drop bombs on fucking Trundle every time. I get it just. [00:21:15] Speaker A: It was just having picks like that. [00:21:16] Speaker C: In his pocket is insane to have. When you come into international play like this. [00:21:22] Speaker A: It was like almost the exact same as the finals for, for the North Conference versus 100 these where he gets like three ganks off in the first four minutes and is still farming and. [00:21:32] Speaker C: Just like does a full clear, gets a crab and gets a, gets a gang off in each lane. Like that's insane. [00:21:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like it doesn't even feel like his ganks are a sacrifice at all. Like he's still able to farm at insane speeds. Like this guy's ability to minmax jungle is something that every NA jungler needs to study. I, I know that like watching tape of other people in our region isn't something that a lot of people do. And I talk to pros are always like, oh, I watch LCK or I watch lpl. It's like no dude, inspired. Like you need to learn what this guy's doing and why he's doing it because he's so efficient. [00:22:09] Speaker B: Yeah. And I really like that they create the space for Masu to scale as well. Cuz like Masu's team fighting is still insanely good to me. [00:22:17] Speaker C: Like his leaning, his positioning is really good. [00:22:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Like the Misfortune game I feel like really exemplifies that. I mean the, the Jin game as well. But the Misfortune one where he gets to just kind of do whatever he wants. The bullet time's always set up beautifully for him. Like he knows when to go in and he's. And There wasn't like a okay, there was the Niko hard CC for him. And Busio got some disgusting ultimates that game. But at the same time it's also like, yeah, I think Masu just knows how to position really well in team fights and if inspired and quad just give him time and they can just pick scaling picks to yeah, let Masu just pop off and inspired in quad will go up really well I think against International Jungle Mids. But if you get Masu to the late, I think he starts matching up against International Bot Lanes as well. [00:22:56] Speaker A: And I love that he's with Busio who right now is like I I the best support in the western hemisphere as well. Like, I think that we have the best jungler and best support in the West. Busio is like this is his. What's the word I'm looking for? Not Renaissance. Well, maybe Renaissance it. Renaissance more is like, you know, a comeback term. But like I Busio is at his peak that we've ever seen him as a player right now and it looks damn good. He got player of the series for that series in the 3. 0. And also I didn't cover it earlier, but we they flag was pretty swept or almost swept. First team all pro quad got second team quid from 100 Thieves actually got first team all pro, but everybody else was first team all pro in their respective positions, save for Geckos of course, who that was bwipo that took first team for flyQuest but again, barely even noticed the difference between Geicos and and Bwipo there. So yeah, Fly Quest are still the kind of raid bosses of the entire region of the entire Cross Conference of the West. So very quick, smooth sailing to finals. VKS did not put up much competition. But rmc, from your perspective, you already said VKS is a team that can bounce back. How do you feel like they performed at certain points? Like, was there any spark or any like, sign of life that you saw in them? Of like, okay, yes, they can do better now in the lower bracket. [00:24:22] Speaker B: I mean individually, I think the bot lane of Mortis. Well, actually, to be fair, more mortiers than Trimby because Trimby was roaming around a lot. [00:24:29] Speaker A: But I, I, I think Trimby was getting gapped. [00:24:32] Speaker B: But he, he was. Yeah, feel like inspire just went, oh, old teammate, let's show him why. You know, I was the car on that team. But no, for I think mor showed that he still had skill, but the rest of the team I think really struggled and fell apart. This, this series didn't really showcase Anything great about Caid Stars? If anything I think it just exposed them a little bit that the so before Miru came in for Cade they had Kissy from Oceania who was kind of hit or miss, more miss than hit. And Miru really tied this team together but I think he's struggling with like the same problem that Kaze is right now where when they get outmatched like significantly in lane their impact just it's non existent and Miru just did mirror looking traffic cone against squad so I fear that we might see similar things against Squid River. [00:25:21] Speaker A: Okay, well not the highest confidence for vguez but we'll see especially once we get into our predictions here. The other series was Hundred DS versus Red and this was also a three zero but in a very different fashion because this I don't know if it actually broke the record for bloodiest series on average but I know that on average it was above a one kill per minute series. All three games were above one kill per minute. It was like 1.15, 1.3 something and then 1.2 something. And yeah, these teams just fought. [00:26:00] Speaker C: They were scrapping around Laurel just. It was insane. [00:26:03] Speaker A: Like it was crazy. The first couple minutes of each of the games is like a little slow. Except for was a game two where 100 thieves just turned their brain off and like try and contest a Level 1 Braum and just get completely punished for it. [00:26:16] Speaker C: That was ridiculous. [00:26:18] Speaker A: But other than that game they were actually really slow starts and like not as much action. But then once like the objective started coming up then there was like okay, now we're gonn fight for everything on the map and it was awesome. [00:26:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that the match played out how the kill score was expected because well like we said 100 Thieves are playing the south the south way which is they've never seen a fight they don't like and the south just like bet we haven't either. So the the blood was expected but I think what was this was the more depressing match for south fans because VKs getting spanked. That's Fly. We expected it. We didn't think any of the teams would be able to beat fly necessarily. But 100 Thieves should have been beatable. And two things. First 100 Thieves has been scaling up throughout the split and then I think this series was also one of the best series. They played the macro really well. Their lane swaps were perfectly played in order to nullify what Red should have been able to do. But Red didn't even show up. Like that wasn't Red candidates that was like Red Academy or like Red Trainees or something. Like the guys who showed up did not know how to play League of Legends. They knew how to teamfight right? They knew how to right click and do mechanics. But they seem to have forgotten what Minions were. CS was Wave States were Dragons Herald Grubs. Never heard of them. [00:27:31] Speaker A: It was just like they also seemed to just like there was like a black bar anytime Quid was on screen. [00:27:38] Speaker B: But they just couldn't see him censored. [00:27:40] Speaker A: So Quid just ran this series. Dude, he had a 55 KDA. He died one time across three games. This was like one of the marquee Quid performances off of the week before where he hits the five man or two weeks before we hit the five man yone old like oh man, that was quit Quit is just having like the the split of his career right now and I think fully deserved that first team all pro. And Kaze looked really good against Palafox. He was bodying Palafox. He looked like a child. Yeah. [00:28:15] Speaker C: What is this? What does this mean for how Shopify is this season? You know how it quickly it derailed after you know, the series last week. It. It just really in retrospective maybe. Oh, I got C9. I mean C9 lost to this Shopify too. So like you can't really say anything. [00:28:33] Speaker A: I mean it's just a bunch of. [00:28:35] Speaker C: Can'T believe what what's up. [00:28:37] Speaker A: What it means is Palafox is lucky if he's got a starting position next year because oh 100% the difference in in performance for Midlanders. Either he's gonna have to do some real, real solid off season grinding to improve or he's gonna have to just get lucky that the team is just like desperate for somebody. Because I think it showed he was the weakness of Shopify all year long, especially once Fudge started playing it better. And then he just gets gapped by this like very young. I'm not going to call Kaze a rookie because he's got the most experience out of like the three new guys on Red. But still like that's should have seen from from that mid matchup and then seeing what Quid was able to do to Kaza, you're like, oh yeah, that really highlights the the gap here in the mid lane. [00:29:26] Speaker B: If any org should be hiring Showmaker. [00:29:29] Speaker A: It'S Shopify Rebellion has the money at Shopify Rebellion. Which is why I'm like, you know, whenever it comes down to like the Quid argument, I think Shopify Rebellion they need a mid laner more than TL and they have more money than tl. So I think that like I'm predicting quid shopify next year which I think would like contracts. Quid. That sounds sick, dude. [00:29:54] Speaker B: That would be a very solid like second place team put. I don't think they can necessarily beat flist but I. I do think they'd be a very solid second place team. And at that point I don't think the south gets a second seat. [00:30:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. But yeah, I mean the. The 100 Thieves red match for sure. Go back and watch that. You can Skip the fly VKS that was was just flyQuest out macroing every last inch and then just outperforming as well. You want wish fulfillment. 100 Thieves Red Match was insane. We got a quid pentakill like minutes after he fat fingers Zhonyas. [00:30:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:32] Speaker A: And just like goes for nothing. [00:30:35] Speaker B: But did he confirm was five fingered. [00:30:36] Speaker A: And it wasn't like I talked to him after the series. I was like, so what happened there? He was like I hit it on E. I was like, really? He was like, yeah, yeah. And I'm pretty sure last time I played Silas I did the same thing. And I was like, what is it about Silas? He's like, man, I just hitting buttons, man. It's so funny. [00:30:54] Speaker B: But I do think this really exposes sort of the south in that the mid laners themselves suck. I'm going to be honest. Like, okay, like Kaze. Kaze is great. Well, he's the best thing coming out the south in the mid lane right now. And he's from Argentina. From Argentina. Tania. [00:31:09] Speaker A: I thought Miru was still considered like the number one Midland. [00:31:13] Speaker B: He is, but he's Korean. So. Okay. In terms of like domestic talent or like homegrown talent, the south mid lanes are weak and I think we might have done Mario a disfavor, honestly. Because I think he's been too used to crushing the mid lane. So he didn't know what the hell to do up against quad. And same thing with Kaze. [00:31:30] Speaker A: Right. [00:31:30] Speaker B: We saw this a little bit when Red played against Cade in the south south grand finals. When Kaze just couldn't win against Miru, things started going south for Red Catids. And then now against Quid, who's better than Miru? Yeah, like you said, Atomic bomb versus coughing baby. So kind of rough for Red there but well deserved win from 100 Thieves. I am very curious because 100 Thieves keep scaling like what their final form is going to look like. Can they actually take games off like this if they keep scaling going? [00:32:02] Speaker A: I think that there is a high chance that they can. That'll get us into predictions coming in for next week. So great segue there rmc. Let's just cover it right now. None of us have VKS picking up the series. I have 100 Thieves 30 in them. Badger, you got a 331 arm. So you have a 3 1. So both of you think VKS is at least good for one game. What was that? [00:32:26] Speaker B: Yanni's not here to beat me this time. [00:32:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so. But here's the bait. Here's the bait that I'll tell the audience and everybody that I told R See also and it's public information. It was on pros. Trimby was talking about it. But in scrims with VKS versus 100 Thieves, they had a scrim block where they five owed 100 Thieves. So that's where a lot of Brazilian casting talent was very confident about red versus 100 thieves that did not pay off. We'll see. Because stage games are very different than scrim games. Obviously. I imagine 100 thieves were trying a lot of different stuff in those scrims because obviously what they did against Flyquest did not work. They need to figure out new things to beat Fly Quest. I'm imagining a lot of those new things have been pulled out in scrims lately which would lead to bad performances in scrims if you're practicing new stuff. But I guess RMC is not taking that bait of the the 5 0. But where do you see that one win for Vivo Kade coming in? [00:33:18] Speaker B: Like I. I don't think Cade is a bad team. Like I said, I do think they will and can bounce back. So I'm expecting Coach CL to have prepped like at least something up his sleeve to to kind of throw a little bit of a curveball. And if it just does come down to straight team fighting. We saw it with Rid. Rid could match hands with 100 thieves. The hands weren't the issue. It was else besides the team fighting. So I'm trusting that Kate will have a better sort of macro prepared. Problem is I think 100 thieves will also have things prepared. Like the way they lane swapped I think was really, really well played and prepared. And again quid probably gonna beat Mirio and I think that's gonna be a massive problem. So yeah, I think gate just win one off of like a hidden ace and then that's probably all they have up there. Sleeves. [00:33:58] Speaker A: Okay, fair enough. And I mean that would be the last time to show a hidden ace as well because like they, they need to win series here if they want to make it to finals. Obviously they'll still be at worlds though. So we all think that they will be our third seed. That means it's 100 Thieves rematch versus fly quest in the finals and we all have fly three. I mean 100 these take one. [00:34:19] Speaker B: You know, I'll give 100, I'll give 101. [00:34:22] Speaker A: Like okay, all right. [00:34:24] Speaker B: Also they have this ability to suck specifically north teams to go and just try and match their hands. They don't. They screw up in that, that chaos. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point. I still just like after what we saw last time and what we saw from specifically Gatos, we don't know if it's gonna be Bipo or Geckos plane. But I don't think it really matters either way. I think that Dokla is the weak link on 100 Thieves right now. Maybe Ayla as well because sometimes Ayla just has oopsie moments in games. But Dokla is the one where like he just gets over confident. He has this really funny play. I mean I know they're already 20 in the series, but he's outside and he like is dirty farming top side and then ults into the Red's base and tries to engage behind. Like obviously they're already dominating and like they're just having fun at that point. But like Doka is the type of guy to do stuff like that where he just gets really aggressive and I think that Geckos or Bwipo can easily punish him for that. But if it is Bwipo, we know that Dokla will be hungry and angry because what we saw in the finals last time, refusing the fist bump, you know, having a lot of words to say about his opinions on Bwipo. So for that reason I hope that he gets a chance to rematch. But I think for the community's sake that a lot of we would rather just have Gecko so we don't have to acknowledge Bipo based on recent, you know, statements that he has made. [00:35:50] Speaker B: I think mechanically it'd be more interesting for Geckos as well because I think Gakko is, he's. He felt very lane focused to me watching him go up against Bol where like he gets big leads in lanes and kind of snowballs from there. Dokla feels like the same sort of player to me where his laning is his strongest point. So I'd Be down to watch the two of them just kind of focus on their laning and just top lane be an isolated island. [00:36:11] Speaker A: I'm. You know what? I think it would be exciting for that reason, but also because then Dokla can also make jokes about how, like, you know, wepo just was too scared for the rematch or something like that. You know, no matter how you spin it, the narrative will be good. [00:36:25] Speaker B: Yeah, we shouldn't. We shouldn't make fun of people. There are certain times of their life, you know, that they might not be playing properly, you know, due to things. [00:36:33] Speaker A: Oh, no. [00:36:35] Speaker B: Whipple's just in that phase right now. [00:36:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. He's having a tough time right now. [00:36:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:36:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Deservedly so. All right. But that is it for LTA. We all think it's gonna be fly quest, first seed, 100 thief, second scene viva. Okay. Third seed going into worlds, and we think Flag west are still just, hands down the best team in the region. But a region that has not even determined who their top three teams are is lec. Let's hop across the pond to Europe because they didn't have any games this past weekend, but they will have three series this coming weekend, I believe. Yeah, it's gonna be Friday, Saturday, Sunday. As their finals weekend kicks off, bit of a gauntlet run for the teams on Friday. If they want to win that championship, they' to win three best of fives in a row. It will start off with Fnatic versus kc, and we all. Oh, wait, no, we don't all have kc. I think it's gonna be a close series. I'm still not convinced by Fnatic. I know that they were able to 3.0Gx, and that was last time I doubted them. I know they pushed MCOID two, five games, but, man, they just don't look like they're a team that's all on the same page. And I think that Casey will have a little bit bit more, you know, team. Like this team's just been together a little longer, and they seem to work together better. But that being said, I think Kalist, if anything, he's got, like, a little worse. I know that I'm probably gonna get death threats for saying that, so I think Kalist just needs to get his head back in the game and do his job, and that should get them across the finish line, but I still think it can be close. Badger as a KC with a 3:1. So a little more confidence. But RMC, you got Fnatic winning it. [00:38:12] Speaker B: Why do you think? [00:38:13] Speaker A: Take this one. [00:38:14] Speaker B: Look, I know, all year KCs have Fanatics number I, I get it. But this is Worlds and this is lec and it's always about legacy and history for them. Right. So surely Fnatic's gonna make the, the insane like T1 Run. [00:38:26] Speaker A: I mean, if you believe in legacies, dynasties, kings. [00:38:31] Speaker C: Yes, all that stuff. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely. They can make the run. So you, you know, going against the grain there and it. Wow. It continues because next episode, whoever wins that first series is gonna go against mcoid. I have a five game series with that and MCO taking it versus kc, which also by the way, a fan out of kc. The winner of that is going to Worlds. So that would be the, the very least, the third seed. I think it's going to be KC. RMC thinks it's Fnatic. Whoever wins that goes against MCOI. I have McCoy taking a 3 2. Badger has a 32 as well. RMC, you believe in the narrative. [00:39:05] Speaker B: Yes. [00:39:07] Speaker A: Going to finals with a 32 win over MCOID. [00:39:10] Speaker B: But it will be five games. These two teams keep matching up and their, their series do get spicy. So I'm hoping and expecting a five game series. I do think it could go either way. I just like the narrative. And when it comes to lec, all my predictions, always just narrative. [00:39:23] Speaker A: And Fnatic should have beaten them last time. JoJo had to pull a, a miracle play out of his ass to get one of those game victories. So I actually do think Fnatic would be favored going into this match. I just don't think they're going to make it to the match. And yeah, we'll, we'll. We'll see what happens though. That, that's a, that's a fun prediction. Badger, any thoughts on. On why you have a five game series between and Casey? Because you wouldn't mirror an agreement that's going to be that matchup. [00:39:48] Speaker C: I, I just think it's one of these has to go five games and this just seems like the one that it's most likely. I mean you get, you get the French versus Spanish, you know, war again. We gotta, we got a. Narratives, narratives, narratives. It's gonna be in Madrid, you know. [00:40:08] Speaker A: Oh, that crowd's gonna be crazy. [00:40:10] Speaker C: You gotta remember that this is in Madrid. So they, they're gonna lose. [00:40:16] Speaker A: Imagine Spain beating France in Madrid. [00:40:20] Speaker C: Yeah, that's. [00:40:21] Speaker A: Yeah, that crowd would go ballistic. [00:40:24] Speaker B: Sure. The blue wall will show up there anyways. [00:40:26] Speaker C: Just the blue wall. [00:40:27] Speaker A: Oh no, they will. And there's going to be vi. Okay, wait, new predictions. Is. Are the cops getting called. [00:40:34] Speaker C: I feel like we did this the last time. And you. That was your big prediction last year was multiple. [00:40:41] Speaker A: Yeah. According to the shady reports that I have that were never officially confirmed. But I just believed them because somebody told me that it happened. I. Hell, yeah. [00:40:49] Speaker B: So I. I'm predicting they won't get called because I predicted Fanatic to be there. So the blue. [00:40:54] Speaker A: Oh, wait, that's a good point. Yeah, that's all right. Well, yeah, easy prediction for RMC then. But no matter who you have it, whether it's Fnatic beating KC going to Worlds, KC beating F going to Worlds, whoever beats McCoy or if McCoy beats them, none of it matters because all three of us are in agreement. Similar to NA. Doesn't matter who steps up to the Kings. They will not not hit G2. Have a sweep across the board for our predictions. I got a 3. 0. RMC's got a 3. 0. Badger has a 3. 1. So you think that Koi is good for a game against them. [00:41:27] Speaker C: But regardless, a little bit of trolling in these games, let's be honest. You got to remember who we're talking about here for a second. [00:41:34] Speaker A: True. I mean, took a game off of them in the upper bracket as well, so there's like very recent context for it. [00:41:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:42] Speaker A: Rmc, did you have a thought there? [00:41:44] Speaker B: No, no, I was agreeing with you like that. McOid to take a game. All right, Again, my prediction is different because I had Fanatic going through, so I don't think that's a game. [00:41:53] Speaker A: So, yeah, you have the big narrative of the dynasties, Kings legacies, and then still a sweep. That's such a boring way to end your prediction trade. What the hell, yo? [00:42:02] Speaker B: You got to respect history. There isn't a five game bag. When. When was the last time we had a five game bag between Fnatic and gt? [00:42:10] Speaker A: That's a really good question, actually. I have no idea. But it. It's got to be like at least a couple years. All right, well, that's our predictions. At least let us know in the community. Discord, whether you agree or disagree. Will the Kings and dynasties continue or will a new winner come in? Because it would be a big deal for. For world's first seed. When's the last time we didn't have G2 as EU's first seed going into Worlds? I feel like that is also been a long time. Some teams will win other splits, but when it comes to summer split, the important one for Worlds, it really is G2 that's always stepping up, up and, you know, able to. To pull that one off. So yeah, that's expectations and that is also. That's it for this episode. Wow, that was. This was a fast episode, guys. This might be a record. This is like 45 minutes into it right now. That's crazy. [00:43:02] Speaker C: I mean a six collective games to cover from the weekend. So I think that's. I think that's where we're at at this point. [00:43:11] Speaker A: How about then to. To close out just to pad the runtime a little bit here. Let's all say our favorite current champion that we're playing in League of Legends. Are you guys still playing the game that we talk about every week? I feel it shocks me how many people just don't even play the game anymore. They just watch. I've been playing a lot of bard lately. I've been picking that up again in my repertoire and having fun with it. What about you, Badger? [00:43:32] Speaker C: I moved back to mid lane because I'm playing with a team in LBLCS right now. [00:43:39] Speaker A: Oh, I've heard about how fun that is. I want to get a team signed. So especially in the office leagues are. [00:43:45] Speaker C: Weird because the you like the vast like difference in teams. Like the team that we're playing this week, they have like a diamond top laner and then the rest of their team are like silvers, gold and like one plat player. So I'm just like all right, cool, whatever. But like so I've been playing a bunch of a bunch of Imbesa and Silas just like trying to learn like melee champs again because I played range long but it's it it I. Okay. So I. There's a time that I played the game with Korean text and like audio on just cuz I was like haha funny like playing on like my second account like my game pass account to like learn how to play the champions. And I just was like okay, this is fine. I never knew M's healing was on her alt and not like on one of her base abilities. So I'm like huh? Why am I like losing this trade? Why am I not healing at level four? And then I realized I'm stupid and I never read the tool text properly. [00:44:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's an important one to remember. Well hey, I do like the melees in the mid lane and best in mid is cheesy as hell. But based on the match, Diego mid. [00:44:58] Speaker C: Is about to be the thing that I dip my toes back. [00:45:01] Speaker A: Oh no. Don't take the quid bait. Don't know. [00:45:04] Speaker C: It's good though. [00:45:05] Speaker A: It's so good. [00:45:05] Speaker C: It's good because they don't know, because people don't know how to punish melee middle mids. [00:45:10] Speaker A: All right, rmc, what have you been playing lately? [00:45:15] Speaker B: Oh, I. I've been playing League very much recently. But in terms of, like. [00:45:19] Speaker A: Ah, you're one of those. [00:45:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I am one of those. But in terms of, like, watching Silas definitely is up there for me right now, watching Quid kind of pop off with it, and I feel like there's a lot of good mid laners that can do that. In terms of. I've been playing a Riftbound, though, so my favorite champion Riftbound right now is probably Victor. He's not very good. I just enjoy spamming, like, recruit tokens with him because I use, like, minions as recruit tokens. [00:45:42] Speaker A: So I still have not done a lot of research into Riftbound. For anybody who's not aware I've been living under a rock. That's the new trading card game that Riot's putting out. I. I have not done a lot of research at all. All I know is that the, like, Learn to play decks are pretty underpowered, and for me, that is a challenge. So I know that I want to build a Garen deck. Can just try and break it if I can, because apparently that's like, the best of the Learn to Play decks. But it's still, like, lower powered compared to the other ones. [00:46:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, Master Yi is actually meta right now. [00:46:15] Speaker A: Oh, Master Yi is one of the learning ones. [00:46:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's Master Yi, Annie, Lux, and Garen. Garen is hopeless, but Master Yi. It's like the inverse of League where Garen's actually playable, but Master Yi cannot work in. In. [00:46:29] Speaker A: That's actually really funny. I do like that. Oh, also, here's another way to pad the runtime. Looks like Bick just hopped into the document and put his predictions. He has 100 thieves 32 over VKS and also flag 3. So we all still think Flyquest crushes it. And then for Europe, you just put KC31 and then MCO32 and then G230. So almost the same predictions as myself. The. Almost the same prediction as a badger. Actually, the badger just has Coy winning a game versus G2. So shout out Pickle for just getting predictions in there. Cool. Cool. All right. [00:47:02] Speaker C: Watching Valer and Champions. [00:47:04] Speaker A: No, no, no. We're not talking about another game. You got me on Riftbound because I'm a card game guy. You're not getting me on Valorant, though. But if everybody could please leave a review and I'M bad with numbers. Rmc, could you help me out here? How many, how many stars should they leave us? If they feel so inclined to take the time to leave a review, they. [00:47:24] Speaker B: Should leave one star for each game. Game the north won this last weekend. [00:47:31] Speaker A: Six. Six. Wow. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Yep. [00:47:33] Speaker A: I mean, I'm bad with numbers, but I. I don't know if you can leave six star reviews, but you know, I'll trust you. Six stars, everybody, please. If you could find a way to break the scaling system there. It really does help us get the podcast noticed, even for shorter episodes like this that we have less to talk about. Next week though, we'll obviously talk about the finals for LTA and LEC and then we'll also have the promotion to tournament for LTA north and LTA south that we can start talking about there. So we'll see more of the or preview some of the teams and what to expect from them in terms of power level and who might be able to step up to Disguised and Estrall. But with that being said, thank you so much for tuning in, everybody. This was a shorter episode, but a fun one. Regardless, make sure to tune in and cheer on the LTA teams in Dallas this weekend. If you're gonna be in Dallas, I will be there as well. Come say hi. I just got it confirmed. I will be casting on Saturday. So this is my first stadium cast. I've done stage hosting before. Yep. Thank you guys. Thank you. I've done stage hosting before, so a lot of you have probably seen me at events, but this is gonna be my first time actually casting one of the series. So big moment for me, the highlight of my career. I mean, like this is by far the, the biggest thing I've been able to do in my career. So cross my fingers. Here's to just not blow it, you know, but if you see me there, come say hi. Ian will also be around our editor. So if you remember that trombone guy, all the tromboners out, out there, make sure to say hi to him if you see him in the audience as well. But most importantly, even if you're not going to be there, just remember that we love you and we'll see you next time. Bye, everybody. [00:49:11] Speaker C: Bye.