League Rundown - Episode 590: WTF 2 NA’s?

[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. [00:00:29] Speaker B: Passes through and manages to the table. [00:00:32] Speaker A: 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. Foreign welcome to episode 590 of the League Rundown. This is your 2026 LEC Preseason Begins episode and it's lovingly entitled WTF2NAS. I'm your host, Steve Kangs and I'm joined by three esteemed co hosts. Up first, fresh out of the can, it's Badger. [00:01:26] Speaker B: Hey, y'. [00:01:27] Speaker C: All. [00:01:27] Speaker D: Happy, happy after the holidays. [00:01:31] Speaker C: Wow. [00:01:31] Speaker A: I. I was expecting a little more energy from that first episode of the season. Badger, come on. [00:01:36] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked about it during the pre show. I did not know like any of the rosters going into this. So bear with me folks. This is gonna be a great time. [00:01:45] Speaker A: You know what, you can be the average listener then that you'll be like the, the every man on the show about that. [00:01:51] Speaker D: That's the shtick. [00:01:53] Speaker A: That's the shtick. That's the angle. We also have joining us Mr. Mizelle Piel. [00:01:57] Speaker C: Hello. Excited beer. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. Because Badger didn't want to say. [00:02:04] Speaker A: Is past the third, which apparently Badger said is the cutoff for when you could say Happy New Year. [00:02:09] Speaker C: But I'll allow it should be, should be a good time though. Excited to talk about league in the new year. [00:02:14] Speaker A: I know. I cannot wait for it to start. We're talking LEC first because it's starting before lcs, but even then it's gonna be like another two weeks. But I'm itching, man. I'm ready for games. And speaking of LEC and games, special guest joining us, he's been on the podcast a few times, but now he's returning Jamata from eu. Thank you for doing Djen Demon Hours over in EU to join us. Recorded this podcast. Welcome to the show. [00:02:41] Speaker B: Thank you. And yeah, it's been, gosh, maybe almost two years, I think, but there was a stretch of time where I was on here for a good couple episodes. [00:02:51] Speaker A: I know. [00:02:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. [00:02:52] Speaker A: We got to get you on more often. [00:02:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Hey, like I'm a lot more free this year. I don't know if I've Always. [00:03:00] Speaker A: It's been awesome seeing the. All the content you've been putting out. You've been doing a lot of heavy lifting, especially since, like euphoria dropping over in eu. We talked about that a little bit before going live of just how disappointing that was. But excited for you to kind of step up and try and make a lot of your own content as well, and very happy to pick your brain for all of your information about EU teams and opinions on the players for this episode in particular, because this is like the big EU primer episode where we're going to go over the format and all the rosters and we're actually going to make a tier list of all the teams as well. But before we do all that, jamaat, I have a question. Because you are from the eu, I believe. Correct. [00:03:33] Speaker B: Are my sources depending on who you ask sometimes, you know, because I do have a lot of claims to different regions on technicalities, you know, like I'm one removed twice from being North American, just for clarity, you know, like, I could, I could walk into an embassy and get a passport, like it's possible. But yes, European is my. Is my main claim. [00:03:50] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. So about as European is like inspired these days, is what I. What I'm hearing. Yeah. Yeah, Well, I am. I wanted to get your opinion on something and everyone can weigh in on this. So I'm drinking tea right now. I'm still like, I'm recovered from a cold, but my throat is still not like 100% just because I was coughing so much. I'm drinking tea now as a, as a European rate my technique for making tea. So I take water from like, like filtered water from the Brita in the fridge and I pour it into a mug and then I put that in the microwave for two minutes and then I take out a tea bag that's like probably a year and a half old because I rarely drink tea at home. And I dip it in and I leave in there and it's still in there. The teabag's been in there for probably 15 minutes. The tea's cold at this point, but I doused a bunch of honey and then I mix it all together and that's how I make tea. [00:04:44] Speaker D: Are you trying to alienate him to start this episode? [00:04:47] Speaker A: I'm just curious. I'm just curious Jabbata's thoughts on the technique. [00:04:51] Speaker B: I'm in pain. I mean, just on a medical level for a second. Do you want that thing to help your throat like you're drinking it cold? [00:04:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:04:58] Speaker A: I mean, that's the goal. [00:05:00] Speaker B: That's the goal. Then you need to drink it hot. [00:05:03] Speaker A: Oh, okay. So just earlier. See, I'm notorious for like preparing food or like a drink and then leaving it for 30 minutes to marinate and then I'll come back later. [00:05:13] Speaker C: Yeah, probably. I'd say the average is probably longer than 30. [00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Mizzell's lived with me before. He's seen this first hand. [00:05:18] Speaker B: Yeah, well, okay. A lot to unload there. [00:05:23] Speaker C: What was. [00:05:24] Speaker B: What kind of tea was. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Is a non caffeinated because it's the evening for me. It's like 5:30pm or afternoon. I suppose it's like. It's like an herbal ginseng or like a. Like maybe ginger. I think it's like a lemon ginger. There we go. It's a lemon ginger tea. [00:05:44] Speaker B: Oh, that's. That's good. The. The ginger will kind of help clear your sinuses a little bit. [00:05:52] Speaker A: Yep, yep. That was the. That's the goal at least. [00:05:55] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Just drink it hot and, and don't. [00:05:59] Speaker A: Okay. [00:05:59] Speaker B: And I know this is a thing. You guys call it the electric kettle. It's just the kettle. Get one. Get one. [00:06:05] Speaker A: The electric kettle versus actual kettle. Okay. [00:06:07] Speaker B: The actual kettle is just the kettle though. But you guys call that the electric kettle. And then you call the kettle the pot. Although rather the pot the kettle, which I just can't. [00:06:15] Speaker A: Oh, you have different names for them. [00:06:16] Speaker B: Well, your, your guys's kettle is the, the like glass version of an actual like the thing that you put on the stove with that you take off the lid. As far as I'm. [00:06:25] Speaker A: Okay, so that's what you call a kettle. [00:06:26] Speaker B: That's like our electric kettle is the kettle that you put on the little like it's little stand and it heats up until it boils. [00:06:34] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:06:35] Speaker B: I'm pretty sure your guys's kettle is the, the one that you like. It's like a pot. Like you call it a teapot. I guess you put it on the stove until you obviously have boiling water. [00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah. And it makes a fun noise when it gets hot enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll look at. Into that. Maybe if. If they cheap life changing Amazon. [00:06:53] Speaker B: The cheap and life changing. [00:06:54] Speaker A: They're like 20 cheap and life changing tops. Hey, that's the NA motto, baby. I'll look at one of those. All right, cool. I just want to get your thoughts real quick before diving into things, but there are actual league things to talk about. So let's begin here around the world, a few news topics. We're Starting off in Europe because that's the only thing with roster news really hit. We've talked about this already. Was heavily rumored. Fnatic have now officially terminated Oscar Renin's contract and will have a new top laner coming in. I don't know, maybe Jamat, if you have more information. But the rumor was Emperos coming in. Is that still as far as you're aware as well? [00:07:34] Speaker B: Yep, it's pretty much all but like officially confirmed he's playing in Champs Q. I've been watching a bunch of European champions queue, actually. [00:07:42] Speaker A: Oh, cool. [00:07:43] Speaker B: Nice. And FNAC have been pretty active in there and he's been playing and he looks pretty good. Yeah, it's funny because I remember him actually more as his previous ID, which was Jaxplank. He was a Jax and Gangplank 2 trick. He played comically in the NLC in the split. I think that we were in. We were doing the show from Spandau and he was a very strong individual top laner. So contrary to that, you know, Two Trick name had a pretty decent champion, Paul. And since then he's, he's gone on to do okay enough for himself. You know, I think realistically it was the, the last year on, on Gentle Mates and specifically Summer that kind of put him on a lot of people's radars, but he's had pretty consistent results for the last kind of two years or so. But I will say, just to kind of speak plain, it does feel like one of those pickups where it's like someone on the roster knows him and it's just like they, they, they think he will, he will hold his own in, in the lec. [00:08:40] Speaker A: Ah, yeah. And he gave enough LP to somebody else on the team in solo queue that they're like, yeah, yeah, bring him on. [00:08:46] Speaker B: That said again, you know, I've been keeping out on Champs queue a lot and when he's queuing up, he looks good. So I don't really have any, any complaints about him. And again, seems to be a very versatile player from even back in the day. But even like more as of late when he was on Gentle Mates, they were running him on predominantly carries. And if that's the direction that Fnatic want to go now that they have Vladi as well in mid, I think it can make sense. I think it can make sense. [00:09:11] Speaker A: Okay, well, we'll see if that works out for Fnatic. Obviously. We'll talk more about like, kind of expectations for their roster compared to the rest of the field later. On, but at least we know now it is confirmed top lane will be changing, even though we already bas expected that. One other big kind of roster news, bit more of like a new roster being introduced at the nlc. You already kind of mentioned that, you know, Imperials coming in from there. There's a new team coming in, four swines and a bum. Now, you might have heard this already if you're, you know, more in tune to kind of like the, the Reddit posts or like the social media aspect of, of league news, because this is a very unique take on a roster. It is four veteran players and a Plat three streamer named Forson that are making a team and are gonna actually play in the nlc. I, I don't think we've ever seen anything like this where it's like we've seen streamer teams, but this is a legit, like, I'm just gonna say a bad player playing on a team with four other good players. Jomada, what are your thoughts on four swines and a bum and what to expect from them going into the NLC season? [00:10:24] Speaker B: Well, where to begin? Where to begin? Yeah, it's, you know, we've had rumors circulating for a few weeks now, technically very close to months with I think Forsen just flatly tweeted in like November, I'm looking for players to join an NLC team. This is obviously the culmination of that. I mean, my, my thoughts, my thoughts on it are the, the project excluding force and looks fun. I, as I've kind of stated many a times in different bits of media, I'm. I'm a sports purist. Right. Four sends a plat three player. [00:11:08] Speaker A: Man. [00:11:09] Speaker B: He, he is 1000, got a grind. He is 1000 LP below the ranked requirement in the ERL rulebook. [00:11:19] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I saw. It's absolutely hilarious. [00:11:21] Speaker B: It is absurd. It is absolutely absurd. You know, I, I have, I have pretty strong feelings about that. Like, if Watson was D3, it would just be funny. You know, that's kind of my take on it. Before I get to the funny part, I'll be a little bit serious. I think it would be funny and it would kind of be a bit of a big whatever. It does kind of make me question and I think it should make even more neutral, less invested, you know, as someone like I am in the, in the region, kind of question the overall competitive integrity of the league. Obviously, we're in a spot. And this, this debate came up last year with Fearless where it was like, okay, at what point do we value entertainment over competitive integrity? And how do people view the product of. Of, you know, league esports? Is it an entertainment product? Is it a sports product? Is it a competitive. Like, what. What is the actual end goal? And a lot of people seem to have landed on entertainment. Whilst I. I don't holistically disagree with that, I think there are certain liberties that you can take away in that realm, and then I think there are. We're allowed to cuss on the show, right? [00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah, go for it. They're just straight up his takes, right? And I think this is kind of. This is. This is one of those circumstances where this is a bit of a piss take, where I. I do see it as a situation where, you know, if. If you are that player who is, for argument's sake, struggling to find a way into an erl, and this. This can happen, like, for, like, players trying to break into tier one. And then one of the regions has teams like this. Now, this is. Fortunately, I think there's only really, like, three Rosses like this in the nlc. Obviously, this is like the big main one. Then it can kind of feel like a slap in the face to, like, the. The true honest hard grind. Right. That side of things. That said, serious part mostly out of the way. It'll be hilarious if he gets to play because I. I've been speaking with a lot of different people, and I. I don't know if. I don't know if this has been cleared. I'm gonna be honest, because they might. [00:13:28] Speaker A: Have made the announcement before getting confirmation. [00:13:30] Speaker B: From Riot, because, like, here's. Here's my understanding. Okay. Riot tends to not bend the rulebook, like, in this capacity. This is something that is very, very unorthodox. I really need to, like. I need to stress this quite heavily. I. It's just bizarre. Like, foursome is plat three. I really need people to, like, let that crazy. That is. [00:13:56] Speaker A: Let us see. That's not even Emerald. That's, like, past goal. [00:14:00] Speaker D: Everybody in this call, above plathury in rank, like, genuine question. [00:14:04] Speaker A: Yes, I am in Emerald. [00:14:06] Speaker D: Okay. I'm an Emerald as well. So I was just. [00:14:08] Speaker C: I was just curious to be an Emerald, but I haven't played in a long time. [00:14:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll let you stay. [00:14:13] Speaker C: It's. [00:14:13] Speaker B: It's all good. Yeah, we'll. [00:14:14] Speaker A: Grandfather, you. [00:14:18] Speaker B: Know that is. That is 1000 LP worth of skill differential, right? And you think about, like, diamond players smurf in platinum. Like, guys. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:28] Speaker B: Diamond players smurf in platinum. [00:14:30] Speaker A: It's ridiculous. [00:14:31] Speaker B: Yeah. It's strange. [00:14:33] Speaker A: The big question, though, Badger, I'm actually curious your thoughts on this, because this just came to mind while. While Jamada was kind of giving his thoughts. What's funnier? This roster existing or the fact that Jamada considered piss a swear word? Well, bad enough to ask if he. [00:14:51] Speaker B: Like, you know, okay, sure, yeah, you. [00:14:55] Speaker A: Know, like, still the question stands. Badger. [00:15:02] Speaker D: I was. [00:15:02] Speaker C: I'm. [00:15:03] Speaker D: I'm gonna go with C. The Delta Fox roster from right before they. [00:15:07] Speaker A: They cut. That was also very funny. [00:15:12] Speaker D: I. I mean, so I have friends who like, half pay attention to league in the off season and they, they, they listen to the podcast and they just kind of messaged me. They're like, they're like, wait, is this a real roster? And it was this post for this team. And I'm like, wait, hold on. No, I'm like, that's got to be Sleep Esports. Like, come on. Like, don't do that. And I looked again. I'm like, oh, this is a real roster and an erl. Okay, I guess this is where we're going now. All right, cool. [00:15:43] Speaker A: And we haven't even necessarily said one of the funniest parts and part of the inspiration for this episode's name, which I haven't really talked about too much. WTF2NAS PO Belter is going to be on this steam? Yeah, it's Drut Dr. Or DROT top lane poelter Mid Jack Spectra in 80 carry and Veigar V2 as support with for Jungle. Like, yeah, that's crazy. Like, for. It might not be the funniest part of this roster. It actually might be Vegar V2 support and Bo Belter, like an NA player going back to compete. He was like, you know what? Doublelift's team imploded. I'll go play over in Eun or. [00:16:25] Speaker C: Not the problem, I guess. Yes, he was the best part of that team. [00:16:31] Speaker A: He actually was. And I actually, I got to talk about him, talk with him a little bit during, like, the Christmas show match thing that we did, the winter show match for lcs. And yeah, I mean, he's like, I don't. I. I don't want to, like, you know, put words in his mouth, but he likes competing. He still likes playing League of Legends and is good enough. And he's like, got Challenger on five different accounts. So, yeah, I think that, like, he's the type of player that I want to entice to come back to pro play. I'm like, come on, try over at LCS team, see what happens. But, yeah, we'll keep our eyes on this one. It's a funny team for sure. But it, I, I agree with you about it. It raises questions on like, how seriously are. Is the NLC being taken? Also, I will say this is kind of a trend that's been around the world, even outside of like esports. I, I'll use like UFC as an example or, or. I don't even think it was uc. I think it was bo. But boxing is starting to become more competitive or not less or it's starting to focus less on pure competition and it's adding fun matches to the title cards because they'll have like the actual boxes go against each other and they'll have a Jake Paul fight or they'll like. A notable example that was. Came to my head was a couple years ago there was like an arm wrestler that boxed a strong man and then there were two strong men that boxed each other. Like people that aren't trained in the sport but want to compete against each other in a different thing and they're athletic enough so they put them on the title card because they both have a million followers on Instagram and it's going to get a lot of new views to come in and watch boxing that otherwise wouldn't. I see this as a similar thing where they're just trying to capitalize on like an entertainment aspect in a competitive league. I doubt this team will win, but people will definitely tune in and watch. [00:18:18] Speaker B: I, I have a pretty good idea of the rest of the roster pool. [00:18:24] Speaker A: Is this team gonna win? There's no way. Please, Jomana, don't tell me she's gonna win. [00:18:28] Speaker B: I have, I have some, some worries that it's. It's dangerously close. [00:18:34] Speaker A: Even. [00:18:37] Speaker B: That is, that is. I mean. Well, look, I think it's really important to, to note, right. Dritter is individually a very talented player. He's 5, 5 rolls challenger. [00:18:46] Speaker C: Right. [00:18:46] Speaker B: I think it's. He's done all five now. He's definitely at least on four. [00:18:49] Speaker A: I don't know if it's concurrent, but yeah, he has in the past. [00:18:52] Speaker B: It's not concurrent because he's done them like all at different like points. Like he's done different challenges. The only like big thing for me really is that Jack, not Jack Spectra. Paul Bell is playing from NA. If he's playing from LA, he's gonna have 150 ping, maybe even. I want, I don't think that much more. I don't know how playable that is. Like that, like in a. Even like in a. Like Air quotes. Competitive environment that like the ERL will be. That's a pretty big disadvantage no matter how you. You slice it. [00:19:25] Speaker C: Right. [00:19:26] Speaker B: So it's gonna get ready for a. [00:19:27] Speaker A: Lot of Malzahar and lasagna. [00:19:29] Speaker B: It's gonna have to be a lot of like, brains over. Over mechanics or for po. But the bot lane is also just very solid. Like Jack Spectre is still Challenger, as far as I know. Obviously. Vega V2, same thing. Right? So these guys are good. Like, this is. This is four very individually talented players and four sen. [00:19:46] Speaker A: It's gonna be funny. Yeah, it's gonna be very funny to watch. And now, now I'm even more excited that you don't even think they're gonna get like, on and you think it might be close. That makes me excited. So we'll keep our eyes on that going forward and update people depending on how funny their games look. I don't even know when their first game would be, but it sounds like they're not even necessarily confirmed. So maybe next week we'll have more updates, but around the world there are other stories, so let's get into some of them. Bad LCK story. So talk to me about the LCK mandatory league wide meeting that they had. I just saw a tweet about this earlier today and it was funny enough that I thought it was worth bringing up. [00:20:27] Speaker D: Yeah, it's just a quick story to kind of COVID Sheep Esports put out a thing that the. Yesterday, actually that ahead of the 2026 season, the LCK held a mandatory training for about 150 players and coaches. Is the event covered the formats for LCK and LCK challengers. [00:20:46] Speaker A: Makes sense. [00:20:48] Speaker D: Anti doping education. [00:20:49] Speaker A: Oh. Oh. Is that necessary? Was that. Was that a problem? [00:20:53] Speaker D: Hey, man, I don't know if you were around when Adderall was huge in like the counter strike scene, but like. [00:20:58] Speaker A: I did hear stories. I don't know if. [00:21:00] Speaker D: I don't know if that's a problem in the LCK that they're like trying to address at this point, but there's also contract guidance for rookies and sportsmanship training for veterans. Yep, okay, sure. [00:21:13] Speaker A: It's just funny. I like. I'm sure that these things happen more than we like, see reports on, but it's just the specific thing was the anti doping education. I was like, that's. That's hilarious that that's like a thing they need to be concerned about. But theoretically, yeah, there you can use performance enhancing drugs in certain ways. I mean, it's not gonna be like traditional ones. That you would think of like steroids that athletes would use. But yeah, I'm sure that there are a lot of use cases where people will take advantage of different prescription drugs or non prescription drugs to get a leg up. So hopefully LCK does not do that because they did their mandatory training. There we go. [00:21:50] Speaker C: Boom. [00:21:52] Speaker A: That's all we had for lck. LPL though. Mazel. Give us the LPL update. When are things starting off? Because I know that they are the first league, so people want to watch some competitive League of Legends, they can check that out. [00:22:03] Speaker C: Yeah, it starts on the 14th of January 13th. If you're in an A, it's going to start off with just two games. It's going to be Weibo versus ig, which should be a banger in top esports versus jdg. Big rosters to watch this year, Al. Unfortunately, I'm just going to lay a caveat out. The LPL power has definitely gone down a couple notches, but the top teams will still be good. AL is running back their roster, except Tabe isn't going to be there any longer. He'll be over on jdg, but they have Teacher Ma, which is cool if you know him. Old, old player. I actually met him in person. He's really cool. But they'll be pretty good. Still, I believe there is some fluctuation with Flandra, I think in terms of if they'll be bringing in one of their LDL players because a lot of the teams this split are going to be subbing out some of the bigger name players until spring. Which is funny because the format, the way they've adjusted it, Winter split now matters a lot. Championship points went through the roof for winter split and so now it's kind of put players in a weird position because a lot of them want to take breaks, but that's really weird. Kind of need to. Need to be there for winter as well. And spring got a little bit of a buff too. It's not like all reliant on summer any longer. BLG will be my favorite team as they have decided somehow awkwardly, to bring Shun back to the fold. Which is very weird. And I really wish I was there for the first conversation in that room when he walks in. That would have been hilarious. They also brought back Viper from the lck. They saved him from the pits of despair and they're gonna bring him back here, hopefully win a world championship. Yeah, that's what LCK is. [00:24:05] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. [00:24:06] Speaker C: All right. [00:24:07] Speaker A: I don't know if you agree with that one. [00:24:09] Speaker C: It's gonna be big. [00:24:10] Speaker A: I'll be sitting over here with all these world titles. All right, I'm just gonna keep going. [00:24:14] Speaker C: This is my time. This is my time. Danny's gonna be their coach yet again, which is gonna be really interesting themselves. IG is the weirdest one because they have a couple breaks that are coming through, but they're also bringing in some lesser known players. They still have Rookie, but he's gonna be taking a break. Mako, but he's gonna be taking a break as well. They brought in Fotick to replace Gala, which not the greatest of upgrades, but Gala went over to jdg, who now have brought over the biggest pieces of that CFO roster we saw internationally with Junja and Hong Kyu coming over. [00:24:51] Speaker B: I'm so excited. [00:24:54] Speaker C: Yeah, JDG should be a lot of fun. [00:24:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I know it's technically your segment. I kind of want to jump in just because. Nah, you're good. I was just giving him. He was giving hands to pretty much every mid that he played against this year except for like bdd. Like, that's the only guy he didn't like, kind of go toe to toe with for more of a series than he did internationally. [00:25:16] Speaker D: Big Hong Q fans on this podcast. [00:25:18] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:25:19] Speaker C: Okay. [00:25:19] Speaker D: I'm in the right house, overly. [00:25:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, you're among good people. You're fellow believers. [00:25:24] Speaker B: So yeah, I'm big on that. Mazel. Also, no, I'm really big on Xiaoxi. I've. I've. Yeah, I've thought that he's been a pretty good individually top laner for a long time. Even when they were super dysfunctional in summer and they, they brought him in. [00:25:36] Speaker C: Oh, he was the best. [00:25:37] Speaker B: He was. Yeah. He was undeniably their best player, which is crazy because he had scout and. And what you call it pays on the team. So really, really interesting to think. And I think no matter what you feel about Vampire, he has undeniably the best head coach in the world to have as your head coach when you're playing support. So, yeah, I actually, as much as I would love to clown on Vampire and Aragon, I think it's going to be hard to. [00:26:03] Speaker C: I. I think he's gotten better for sure. [00:26:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:06] Speaker B: And like notice he's gotten better. I think he's going to increase that rate of improvement significantly because he's laning with Gala and he's got Toby as bloody head coach. So I think that's going to be. [00:26:17] Speaker C: I'm just a little salty because I feel like Perukia. I like I would have Loved to see Perukia in that spot instead. I think Peruki is our next like fucking Mako. Like I think that guy's just got the stuff, man. God, I cannot wait to watch him. Anyways, top esports is going to be a little bit different. They are also another team that's taking a lot of breaks. So Jackie loves famously complaining about some health issues that he had last year. We'll be taking a break for the first split. They've replaced Kanavi with Nayo which yeah, I wouldn't say it's a side grade. That's all I'll say. [00:26:53] Speaker A: So it's an upgrade. Okay. [00:26:56] Speaker C: He's okay. [00:26:56] Speaker B: He's okay. [00:26:57] Speaker C: He's very young, still trying to find his feet as a jungler and I don't think he has the confidence to do so just yet. But they're bringing in some other LDL players especially in support which will be really interesting. Weibo gaming hasn't changed too much besides a couple of big pieces. JD is now on Weibo Gaming instead of being jobless which was a tragedy last year. Xiaohu will still be in mid lane somehow and Elk is going to be on this team now for Weibo and which paired up with Erha, another like kind of budding support will be a really interesting pair. But it's Elk's first time away from BLG for a long time since they got him and and on as the combo when they first their run. So a couple other middling teams like, like I was saying, EDG is going to be a really interesting one. I think they're building a lot off of what they did last year so keep an eye out for them. I think besides that it's very tough to find a favorite anywhere else. I think the other one that I might highlight would be LNG just because they were able to put together a pretty good run in Demacia cup and it's a lot of kind of budding players in sheer croco, bulldog, 1xn and missing are going to be on that team. So keep an eye out for that. [00:28:08] Speaker D: Bulldog and Croco are on this team. [00:28:11] Speaker C: Yeah, Croco's been on the team. [00:28:14] Speaker A: Did Badger just lose all of his faith in this team? [00:28:18] Speaker C: Pretty good in Demacia cup so. But we'll see how that all works out. I think another big star from Demacia cup and maybe I might be maligned for this but Tong Yuen actually looked really good for lgd. Even though LGD had some decent runs throughout. I think Tong Yuan was still the best player on that team. But we start up on the 14th. Make sure to go check out LPL English. Yeah, we'll be doing coverage again. We'll have a new broadcast package and a whole slew of new people casting for us. So it'll be a good time. [00:28:48] Speaker A: It's still an awesome project. Props to Mazel and the team behind there, Kai Alk. I know Kelsey Moser is still helping out a little behind the scenes too of like just running this unofficial English broadcast because it's crazy to think it's been a year now since Riot dropped it. But I mean you guys survived a whole year and put out some amazing content. You covered the games so people could actually watch the league and also continuing. So Shadows, y'. Alls. Yeah, yeah. Got a lot of really good player interviews. Those were fantastic. [00:29:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I got to interview some of my favorite players. It was crazy. [00:29:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So I'm happy that you guys are back. So everyone listening, please go support the LPL English because it is a community run thing. It's not like a riot sponsored show anymore. It is just amazing people doing amazing work and it's also a great opportunity for people interested in getting into broadcast to kind of like get. Get their legs under them. Are you still accepting any applications or anything? Whether on the front end like casters or back end like helping out with either like twitch moderating or like socials or anything like do you. Are there still opportunities if people are interested in helping out between splits there. [00:29:57] Speaker C: Will be for at least front facing stuff or back facing stuff then we're always looking. [00:30:02] Speaker A: Sure. [00:30:02] Speaker C: We did find a really good guy. I mean we like cast Omega Wide Net this off season just to see how many people we brought in or we could bring in. So we have a lot of people but we're always looking for back in people for modding and socials and all that kind of stuff. [00:30:16] Speaker A: Well, if any members in the community want to help out Bazelle, should they reach out to you is official me. [00:30:23] Speaker C: Or just message the company account? [00:30:25] Speaker A: There we go. Boom. Find them on Twitter. Find Mozel. If you want to get involved, feel free to get involved. I'm gonna get through these next two stories a little faster so we can get into the bulk of the the actual LPL episode. [00:30:38] Speaker C: Oh man. [00:30:38] Speaker A: No, unfortunately not. But thank you for the LPL update. That was fantastic. Next up, if you have never heard of this stats site, I just heard about it and or at least I just use it for the first time earlier today. Dpm lol. I know some people use it a lot, I use other stats websites, but there was a cool post I saw from them that they're going to be adding a socials feature to the website. I don't know when it's coming or like how like much they're gonna push it when it does come out. I'll try and keep my eyes on it, but they made a post on Twitter about how Reddit is kind of dying for league and like the moderators have been a nightmare to deal with since the inception basically. So they're adding kind of like a Reddit esque thread to this stats website so it's gonna be one stop hub for league fans. But I think it's really cool. So if it actually is usable and like a good experience, I would love to kind of plug it on the podcast more. But for now I'm just keeping my eyes on it. Also, the League Cinematic is dropping the day after we're recording this episode, so you will not get our reactions. By the time you're hearing this, it will already be out. Make sure to check it out. Let us know your thoughts through the community Discord, which you can join through the link in the description wherever you are listening as well as if you want to support the podcast, you can support us through our Merch shop or our Patreon. Both links are also in the description. And speaking of the Patreon, I was teasing it a little bit during the off season episodes and now I can officially announce how we are allocating this year's bonus Patreon funds. After paying for all the audio editing for our fantastic editor Ian, as well as a lot of the kind of behind the scenes, just administrative stuff for keeping the podcast up on the websites. We have still a little nest egg and we are partnering with a fun community event called Tag Team lcs. That's right. If you might have seen some tweets about this, some some buzz coming around. It's starting very soon, but it's also kind of coming together within the last week. So hopefully more marketing will be pushing. We'll be helping out with that as well. But David Shynock, very prominent member in the North American community, very active on TikTok and Twitter. He's been putting together this thing where all LCS teams are invited to bring two representatives. Season will start on the 8th for the new League of Legends season and the two representatives from each LCS team can duo queue for a week and whoever highest MMR by the end will win a cash prize. Everyone's buying in and the league rundown. Patreon supporters as well as the merch purchases are also helping contribute to the prize to make sure that we're helping give back to the LCS community. So that's pretty cool. Competition will start the eighth. Go check out the Twitter account of David Chinock. He's been tweeting about it a lot. Otherwise, the. I'll try and remember to tell Ian to add the link to the official website in the description where you're listening as well. Well, it's tag-team-red.verso.app.com. don't maybe don't search that because I don't know where that's actually gonna take you. But yeah, go, go find the link in the description. But with that being said, it's time. [00:33:38] Speaker D: I do one more thing. [00:33:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. What you got? [00:33:40] Speaker D: So we had two teams rename in the lck and I have not had a chance to talk about it yet because. [00:33:47] Speaker A: Oh, I didn't change. [00:33:49] Speaker D: So a freak of the platform became Name Soup sop. So now the team formerly known as dnf, AKA the DN Freaks is now the DN Supers. [00:34:01] Speaker A: Okay, that's kind of funny. Which although I will miss DM community. [00:34:04] Speaker D: Is calling them the DN Loopers at this point because, you know, dropping. [00:34:08] Speaker C: Dropping a turd at this point. [00:34:10] Speaker A: Okay. [00:34:10] Speaker D: And then unfortunately, okay. Savings bank has renamed to Hanjin Brion. [00:34:16] Speaker B: Not unfortunate. [00:34:18] Speaker D: So no more. [00:34:18] Speaker B: No more. [00:34:19] Speaker A: Okay, bro. [00:34:20] Speaker B: This season, dude. [00:34:22] Speaker A: Okay, bro. Was so fun. [00:34:24] Speaker B: That is unfortunate. What is fortunate. Welcome back Gener Green Wings. Congratulations guys. The resurrection. The resurrection is complete. We have gone full circle. [00:34:37] Speaker A: Like a phoenix rise from the Ash. [00:34:39] Speaker D: Bon has officially become generic. And everything and all is right in the world. [00:34:44] Speaker A: The world healing. [00:34:45] Speaker B: We're going to go back to, you. [00:34:46] Speaker A: Know, 2015 viewership number numbers and we're gonna sell a Madison Square garden. [00:34:51] Speaker C: Let's go. [00:34:52] Speaker D: 88 minute games. [00:34:53] Speaker B: Incoming. [00:34:56] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you for that one Badger catching that, right? [00:34:59] Speaker D: Yeah. Glad I could catch everybody up. [00:35:01] Speaker A: But with that being said, let's hop into the episode proper because it is all about lec. For the rest of this episode we're gonna go over the format explainer tell you how you're going to be watching the LEC games this year if you haven't already heard and as well as our thoughts just on the format overall. And then we're gonna tier list the team. So you kind of have an expectation of who is gonna be good, who's not gonna be as good. We've power ranked in the past this is gonna be basically the same thing and then we'll close out after that. So first off, LEC Format Explainer Jamada, since you are the resident EU expert here, give me the TLDR for some of the like big changes happening and then we can give all of our kind of a thoughts on the. The nitty gritty as we go through it. [00:35:46] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. So pretty much the winter split more or less has been replaced by something called LEC versus is. Is now where. Where we're at. It's a setup where we're gonna have. They've dubbed it like the two of the. The two best performing ERL teams though. They. [00:36:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like the EMEA Masters Summer Champs within just like the most consistent top performing team across the year. Which is a little vague, but it's just to get lost if I'm being honest. It's. [00:36:16] Speaker B: It's because they wanted to get a lyran and they weren't sure whether or not they would come. Top two. [00:36:21] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. [00:36:22] Speaker B: That said, that means we have LR and then Carmen Corblue who were the. The summer champions competing in the. What was formerly the winter splitter. Now LEC versus the format is kind of a little bit off. Odd I think to kick off because I want to say there was like a very weird. [00:36:45] Speaker A: Yeah, there's gonna be BO1s at the beginning. It's. It's in a fearless format. Having any BO1s is weird and like starting off the year with them also. [00:36:52] Speaker B: Feels odd and, and for me like being the, the. [00:36:57] Speaker C: The. [00:36:58] Speaker B: The make do hate fearless guy. It is weird to have fearless us be like such a big part of what is kind of supposed to be pushing and keeping a lot of interest in, in. In the league. And then the. Somehow the, the. The we walk out the meeting and the first four weeks of the LEC is, is best of ones and it's a double round robin. Like it's not even like it's. Oh no, it's a single round robin. [00:37:20] Speaker A: Single round robin best of one with 12 teams though. So that's gonna be 11 best of ones for each team. [00:37:25] Speaker B: It's four weeks of competition of best of one ones. I. Yeah, that's a lot of time in winter split. Like that's, that's not a short amount of time. But yeah, it's single round robin best of ones into double elimination bracket with eight teams. So like a traditional eight team playoff bracket pretty much all the way best of best of threes up until round Four or round three, I want to say. [00:37:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's rounds one and two are best of threes, then it's. The remaining will be best of five, so not that many, but we will get enough. Best of five kind of ramp up into the finals. [00:37:59] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. And then, of course, winning. That qualifies you two first, then. So it's a format for sure. And having. Having the. Having the LR boys in. In the lec, and of course, having Kami Core Blue. There's. There's an NA rep on there, by the way, boys, just in case. I hope you guys. [00:38:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm telling you the episode title. We're sneaking NA players into eu. We're just making two nas, baby. [00:38:24] Speaker B: Obviously, for those unaware, that's. That's Yukino the jungler. [00:38:27] Speaker A: Yes. [00:38:28] Speaker B: Yep. I want to say he was. He was playing in an ACL for a little while and then obviously calming Core Blue. [00:38:33] Speaker A: Yeah, about two years. [00:38:34] Speaker B: Yeah, they stole him. And honestly, he's. He's looked pretty damn good down there in the rl. So I'm excited to see how he. How he sizes up against some of the. The Junglers. Because, hey, in the lec, if there's one thing I can say individually, there are like this. We have a very stacked jungle pool, top to bottom. Like, even some of the worst junglers in the league. [00:38:51] Speaker A: League. [00:38:52] Speaker B: You know, they will. [00:38:53] Speaker A: And this will make three N A players playing in this tournament, which is. It's. I struggle to even call it Split one because it's weird hearing Mazel talk about LPL having more championship points online in Split One than last year because every other region feels like they went the LCK route, where it's like, oh, Split One is fake. This is called LEC versus the EMEA Invitational. It's not even called, like a split. They're calling it an invitational tournament. That's why they're bringing two of the URL teams in. So it's like, like, it's. It's. It's interesting. Like, different regions have different takes on it, but this very much is like a kind of more casual forefront. I don't even think other than first stand, there's not, like, any implications for the rest of the year on this. [00:39:35] Speaker B: As far as I'm aware. No. And I think they really kind of took a page out of the LCK's book because it seemed like the overall general approach and just kind of vibe. Even when you spoke with some of the global broadcast voices, that is like, yeah, this split kind of is. Is whatever it's like everyone's obviously, like, playing to win, but it's kind of a period of time where a lot of the teams are, you know, just trying to figure things out. And, you know, we saw a lot of substitutions top to bottom. Right. Obviously, like the Smash Goomba stuff is what took up a lot of people's attention in that LCK cup. But every team was, was. Almost every team was, was pulling players in, out whenever they felt like it. So I'd be curious to see if there's anything like that going on, on in, in the lec. I feel like a lot of the teams don't really have that kind of depth to them, but over what the approach will be because I feel like, you know, for some of these kind of middling teams, this will be like a good opportunity for sure where it's like you, you want to take it as seriously as possible. You want as much like stage practices as you can whack in before you kick into spring and then summer. [00:40:36] Speaker A: Yeah, get all those BL1s before the bottom four teams get kicked out. Yeah, it's one of those things. I know, I know. I kind of said let's give like the, the, the spark notes and then dive in. But we're already talking about it kind of deep, so I just want to give my thoughts. This is, it feels like a, it's an obvious opportunity for a riot EU to get Los Rotones in to the lec, which is something that the community been talking about all year. It's like, oh, how do we get LR as an LEC team? Are they gonna buy a spot? Are they gonna, like, get in there? Are they taking like, you know, so I'm blanking. What was the team that just left and now I guess it wasn't. Yeah, Rogue left, but Navi replaced them in the summer. But still people were talking about, like, how do we get lrm? This is like an easy way to do it if you just say split one is kind of like a. For fun split. That's, that's how it was almost built last year. Just not everyone admitted that. This year people are more admitting, like, first split. Yes, there is first stand, which is a international tournament, but it's kind of more of a year kickoff, shorter format. Like, you get a smaller window in split one than splits two and three, which are the build up for, for Worlds anyway, anyway. So they're, they're kind of admitting that, yeah, this is a more fun thing and it gives us a chance to get lost returns in I understand it and honestly I'm a fan of it. I think it's cool the format is. I just. I'm not a big fan of the best of ones, but if that's what it takes to fit it all in the schedule, sure. But I think it's cool overall. Mizel Badger, I want to get your thoughts. Miss, I'll start with you. Do you think this is cool what you is doing with their first split? [00:42:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I, I think I like the idea of the first split being a little bit. Not for fun, but more fun and I always appreciate like different themes and stuff like that. And I think getting any more fandom or being able to expand that fandom is really cool. And I'm always a big fan of tier 2 versus tier 1. I feel like we should have more of that in an A, especially when those leagues were tied closer together than they are now because now they're like halfway across the continent from each other in terms of resources and all that stuff. But I think Tier 2 versus Tier 1 is so important and especially in our league. I don't think it works in traditional sports as much, but you still see it occasionally. Like, especially when like this is going to sound really bad, but like MLS teams get to play like Premier League team. It's really cool to just have that kind of variation of play and also just experience for the players. So I love it. [00:42:59] Speaker A: Cool. Badger, thoughts? Yeah. [00:43:02] Speaker D: Any chance that you can get to like highlight tier two teams on a tier one setting? I, I do like these formats like this. Just having the, the spotlight on some of the teams. I mean especially considering we. We have like a team that's up and coming. A lot of talent has come from it with like the KC Blue like ecosystem that they've had. And I mean, of course there's the legacy names that is Los Ratones of I guess legacy of one year, but some bigger. [00:43:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I was like, that's the thing that, that I'm coming back to is Los Ratones does not feel like a true Tier 2 team in the sense of like it being a. Oh, this is a developmental roster. But I guess in the spirit of these players could still go and play pro if a team wanted to scout them and pick them up. Sure. And Casey Blue is the one that I think is it. That argument makes more sense for us. Like, yeah, you're getting a lot of players coming in here that now get a chance to play against Caps and play against, you know, like Broken Blade and like legendary LEC players and actually get Stage time. Not just like scrims or like behind the scenes games, but like stage time against them. I think that's really cool. Yeah. All right. I like it. So Jamat, are you an overall fan of this then? [00:44:15] Speaker B: If it wasn't for the best of ones, I'd say yes. I am a fan of the concept of having your teams come in though. Yeah, absolutely. This, this is kind of needed, been needed for a long time. I am a very proper purists, so I don't even want franchising in the league. I think it's, it's a little bit too, too American for my, for my likes. [00:44:35] Speaker A: Yeah. You're more used to in the EU with like actual relegation. [00:44:40] Speaker B: Everything has promotion, relegation. It's baked into our sports culture. [00:44:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:44:45] Speaker B: So this is probably the best middle ground we're gonna get. Especially if, if the reaction from KC and like the KC base and the MCOID base is anything to go by on LR participation being. I think it's going to be a very tumultuous time for Riot to try and kind of undo any kind of franchise in the immediate future. So this is definitely the best middle ground. And I'm a fan again of having LR and another team or just again ERL's interaction with the LEC. [00:45:14] Speaker A: Cool, cool, cool. So that's split one. It took some time to explain, but it's worth it because it is a little more confusing. Thankfully split 2 and 3 much simpler because if you were a fan of LEC and spring split last year, you're going to be a fan of the rest of the year. It is the exact same single. Actually. Is it double round robin? [00:45:36] Speaker B: Actually not single round robin in, in spring. Best of three. [00:45:41] Speaker A: Best of threes. Yes. And then top six qualify for playoffs and then they're gonna run it back for summer. This past year they did this format for spring, but then in summer they did the whole like two groups like group A and group B and then they double round robin within your group this time. Why make it confusing? You know, just people like spring split format. I love spring split format. It's clean, it's easy to explain and you look at a graphic of it, you're like, oh, I understand it immediately. I think if once it takes three graphics to explain your format, you're doing something wrong. So this is very simple. [00:46:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:46:14] Speaker A: Single router on B03s, top six go to playoffs and then there's a playoff bracket with top four in the upper bracket, bottom two in the lower bracket, and it's double elim, best of fives all throughout playoffs, which it's. It's such an elegant playoff system and a clean regular season as well. I'm a big fan of it. Were you a fan of summer split last year? Gemada with like the. The two groups? Or do you like this system more? [00:46:38] Speaker B: It was all right. Like, I, I didn't hate it, right? But I, I just, I. I think when it comes to formats, simplicity is key. [00:46:46] Speaker A: King. [00:46:47] Speaker B: Yeah, and it's quite, it's quite funny because typically, even the more complex formats I'm actually kind of down for. But in terms of like the watchability, right, for the kind of average Joe that like, comes in and maybe only watches half the games or even a quarter of the games, being able to follow along with what's going on is like half. Half the fun. [00:47:04] Speaker A: Right? [00:47:04] Speaker B: It's like anytime you, you kind of like tourist any other sport, like, you want to know exactly what's going on. Okay. Like, you know, is this the cause is the semis? Is this. And yeah, I think that just gets rid of all of that faff. So I think this is definitely the best format they could have picked. [00:47:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I like it a lot. So, yeah, it's simple for the rest of the year. It's just that split one that kind of took extra time to talk about. So if anybody has further questions, though, if we didn't do a great enough job, you can check out the format explainer. Just Google LEC format 2026. There's a great primer that Riot already put out. You can check it out on their website. That will kind of re explain everything we talked about in deeper detail. The only things we didn't talk about was two teams or top two from spring split will go to msi, top three will go to Worlds. Very simple. It's not like points accumulated over the year or like any kind of playoff run or like tournament bracket after playoffs wrap. Nope. It's just top three, top two. So if you make finals in spring, you're going to msi. And if you make top three in summer, in playoffs, you are going to Worlds. So there you have it. That is the LEC Format Explainer. Now let's talk about what I'm assuming most people actually care about, which is the teams and kind of what to expect from them. We already, in a previous episode, went through the whole roster breakdown. The only thing I'm confused about because I don't know much about KC Blue, which is one of the ERL teams coming in to play in this Split One invitational on Leaguepedia, they don't have a top laner or ad carry listed. Does anybody know Jemata or anybody else know who the top laner or ad carry for Casey Blue is going to be? [00:48:40] Speaker B: Well, as far as I'm aware via like the transfer hub over at Sheep Esports, it's a top laner named Tao and then. [00:48:50] Speaker A: Okay. [00:48:53] Speaker B: A player named Hazel. That is Hazel. [00:48:56] Speaker A: Oh, that's close to Maisel or Mazel here. Oh, whoops, I just deleted the roll. Wait, wait. That begs a question. Mezel, do you think he goes by Hazel instead of Hazel? [00:49:12] Speaker C: My professional opinion is yes. [00:49:14] Speaker A: Okay, cool. We will call him Hazel for the rest of Split One then, just in solidarity with your name. But in the past we've done like power rankings or expectations. I think a fun way to do it is tier lists. I like tier lists. I know that that we've kind of the tier list meta has come and gone. I never got over tier list. Okay. I never signed off on a stopping making tier lists. So I would love to do one here, especially since we have Jamada's brain to pick Jamada the way that we do these. I've never explained these to you before, but we do it a little more intricate on our show where we do a kind of a Snake draft format. One of us will start and put a team anywhere that we want and we'll do that in a Snake draft. So I would start, or actually you at the top of the discord call would start, then I would go, then Mazel, then Badger, Badger would go again, then Mazel to me, then you. And we do that back and forth until all the teams are placed and then we go through one more time. And anybody can move a team up or down one if they so choose. And the idea being that hopefully this hive minds all of our opinions together to make like an accurate tier list. Because otherwise if we just put one out and argue about it, it takes forever. But we still get the fun of disagreeing about certain takes and stuff. So does that make sense or do. [00:50:25] Speaker B: You have any questions before we start it? [00:50:28] Speaker A: Perfect. So as we put a team on, we can talk about why we think they go into that tier and then we can all give our opinions on kind of what to expect from them, as well as maybe a roster refresher. So Jamata, you have an open board. There's S tier, A tier B tier C tier D tier, and then Rogue tier. [00:50:46] Speaker C: You could. [00:50:47] Speaker A: You can interpret that however you want. They're not around anymore. So I think we can poke fun. [00:50:52] Speaker B: So what. [00:50:52] Speaker A: What team would you like to place where first on the tier list? [00:50:56] Speaker B: Oh, man. I have two. I have a very boring option. I have a very fun option. Oh, the. The fun. The boring option. The boring option is I just place G2 and I think we all know where they're gonna go. [00:51:08] Speaker C: The. [00:51:09] Speaker B: The fun option. I'm. I'm. I'm gonna put Navi and Rooked here. [00:51:14] Speaker A: I. What are you doing? Is that what you're doing? Navi and Rogue, dear. [00:51:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:22] Speaker A: Spiritually, they're continuing the trend, you know, I. [00:51:26] Speaker B: How are we just placing them for now and then we go into thoughts or how's. Just. [00:51:29] Speaker A: Just one more time we're placing them, we'll go into thoughts and then at the very end, if somebody strongly disagrees, they could move them up a tier if they really want to, but I don't know if anyone's gonna disagree, but. Yeah. Why do you think Navi and Rogue tier? [00:51:41] Speaker B: A couple of different reasons. One, I just. This collective. Five, I just don't have, like, that much faith in. I've been. Again, I've been watching a lot of Champions queue. Maynard individually has been getting gapped a lot, like, by everyone. It's bad. And like, I haven't watched a Champions Q game individually where he's not like, just behind on his opponent in some games. Like, I think he's. He's being targeted a bit. But even in some of those games, like, the deaths are just a bit too much. Now. Champions Q is not like a serious, serious, serious metric. But still getting a gauge on, like, hey, how are they laning? How are they. They doing this while their habits. Like hell. What are their comms like sometimes? I think it's been a pretty big indicator. I just all in all, like, a lot of these players are coming up from erls. [00:52:28] Speaker A: Yeah, he's coming up from KC Blue. Right. Did he just win last. Last year then? [00:52:32] Speaker B: Yeah, did, did, but did okay. [00:52:35] Speaker A: Do you feel like he was a big proponent in that win or was it more like other members of the roster were bigger parts? [00:52:40] Speaker B: To be completely honest with you, I didn't watch much of Eme Amos Masters. I was okay. By the time the finals rolled around as well. I think I was still in America, so. [00:52:50] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, because you were here during LTA weekend. [00:52:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:52:54] Speaker A: So we didn't get to hang out more, by the way, but I know, I know that's. [00:52:57] Speaker B: That's a side that's such as. Such as. Such a, like, short events. [00:53:00] Speaker A: Like that. [00:53:01] Speaker B: But, yeah, I haven't been super impressed by him. And then Paris as well. Like, whilst I think the BDS project last year was just one that didn't gel together properly, he still left a lot, like, to be desired individually. And I'm not sure, you know, behind the scenes, comms wise, how comfortable is he going to be on the team like this? And that's also, like, the. The main thing I. I worry about is, like, who's the leader on this team? Because when the scary. [00:53:26] Speaker A: Please tell me it's not Larson, because Larson is still a roster and if. [00:53:30] Speaker B: They start him over, Poby, thankfully, Larson is not playing. It will be. It will be. [00:53:35] Speaker A: Oh, he's not. Has that been confirmed? Okay. [00:53:38] Speaker C: Laying. [00:53:40] Speaker A: Well, that does change some of my expectations. [00:53:43] Speaker B: It hasn't for me. I could tell you that right now. Like, I remember just like, if. If Poby came in last year and he was the one on Fnatic giving comms and, like, leading the team. One, that says a lot about Fanatic of Summer. But two, I. I think when, again, when I think about who's the leader. [00:54:01] Speaker A: On this doesn't give you confidence. [00:54:02] Speaker B: Poby is probably gonna have to be leader of this team. And this guy is. Isn't fluent in English yet. Obviously, like, League of Legends is League of Legends talk, right? But I was watching Champions Q the other day. This guy's like, guys, I've got to go to bed early. I have my English class in the morning. He's gonna struggle. I think he's still quite young in the grand scheme of things. And that's why I'm kind of concerned for this Navi lineup. [00:54:21] Speaker C: Right. [00:54:21] Speaker B: I think there's room for development, but I think in this immediate, you know, winter split, this is just. This is just rogue tier. I think they. There is a high possibility that they lose their games to lr, for example. Like, I don't think that. I don't think that's off the table. [00:54:37] Speaker A: I'm gonna summarize in a different way, because I'm gonna mention a player that you haven't mentioned yet. Any player that changes their name from Han Sam D to just Samdi is admitting defeat to Ham sama. So already that's a bad sign for Navi and their bot Laner. So. I agree. Rogue tier for Navi. All right. I think that's enough to talk about for a rogue tier team. Now I will throw another team on the list. I'm gonna make maybe a contentious one. I don't know if people agree with me or not. I am kind of a fan of this roster and I am a bit of a believer in this roster. I'm gonna put G X in B tier. I'm not putting them in A tier. I really want to put them in A tier. [00:55:22] Speaker D: I was. I was. I was hoping you would get a little bit bold there. [00:55:25] Speaker A: I, you know, when I set it up, maybe I set it up to be sound more exciting than it actually was going to be. But I feel like GX is that perfect middle of the pack team. I have faith in Noah to be a carry June. I'm happy that they were able to keep June in the offseason because now that was somebody a lot of people were looking at. And I feel like the fact that they kept him means that if they can get a second year with this roster, things can come together. Most teams blew up the rosters. There's only like three teams that didn't change. I. I'm also still a Jackie's believer. My boy can do it. It. [00:55:54] Speaker C: He can. [00:55:54] Speaker A: He can rise to the occasion. [00:55:56] Speaker D: Damn it. [00:55:57] Speaker A: So I think Jackie's NGX can make it into B tier. Jamata, do you. Do you have any thoughts on that? Am I crazy? Am I drinking the copium juice still? [00:56:07] Speaker B: Bees be all right? Yeah. I can see it. Like, I think Noah and Jun are still one of the best like duos in terms of just like that individual prowess. [00:56:16] Speaker A: They have won so many lanes. Like just if you just look at their bot side, this team's great. [00:56:21] Speaker B: They've been good in that regard. I think it's about the mid game and how they really position themselves on the map. [00:56:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:56:25] Speaker B: I think lot has individually dominated a lot of top lane matchups. My main concern really is just Isma Jacquiz. [00:56:30] Speaker D: Right. [00:56:30] Speaker B: Like, Isma showed pretty promising progress over the course of summer and then kind of hit a wall at a point. And as for Jacquiz, his issues are so well defined. I don't know how they're not fixed yet in terms of just the end of the summer and side laning getting caught, you know, being in tempo with his team. [00:56:47] Speaker A: Right. [00:56:48] Speaker B: These are things that are not only just kind of, you know, passive skills that you just kind of gain as a pro player as long as you've got the right kind of people around you. But that should be stuff that's being comped, right. And that. That seems to not be getting comped. And that's. That's really where I'm at with gx. I think B is pretty feasible. I Would maybe push them down to like the top of C if it was like holding my list. [00:57:11] Speaker A: Sure, sure. But yeah, I just have enough faith in a coach like Yodo as well to kind of hammer that out of Jackie's because I just see so much mechanical promise player like Jackie's and then if he can just stop up in, you know, like. Like you're saying when it comes to the map placements and tempo plays. All right, that's my pick. Mizelle, you are up next here for open board sans GX and Navi. [00:57:37] Speaker C: Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy. [00:57:43] Speaker A: Can really hear the passion. [00:57:44] Speaker C: I'm going to put. [00:57:45] Speaker A: Put. [00:57:46] Speaker C: I'm gonna put koi at A tier. [00:57:48] Speaker A: Oh, I like that. I considered even putting them in S tier. I know that also people maybe not been a fan of. But I think. I think a tier makes a lot of sense. It feels like all you need to. [00:58:00] Speaker C: Know and the only analysis you need going to the year is America, baby. [00:58:05] Speaker B: Jojo pun my goat. [00:58:08] Speaker A: I unfortunately your prediction last year of JoJo Pyun being the best mid laner in LEC. I don't know if that fully. He won a split. Come on. Yeah. [00:58:21] Speaker C: It was no stipulation on being the best mid laner all year. It was at one point he was going to be the best mid lane. [00:58:27] Speaker A: You did say that actually arguing that. [00:58:30] Speaker C: Winning a split puts you as the best player in your role. That's all I'm saying. [00:58:35] Speaker B: I'm gonna say it. And there's a reason why that euphoria episode got as much flame as it did did. There's a reason why those guys weren't as high on koi for a reason. [00:58:43] Speaker A: It. [00:58:44] Speaker B: It wasn't an impressive series. Like, they didn't. Like, I didn't leave that koi series or the series prime thinking, wow, this Koi team looks really confident in their play. Right? [00:58:54] Speaker A: That. [00:58:54] Speaker B: I think that that was the. The big yo. [00:58:56] Speaker A: I got. [00:58:56] Speaker C: I got something for you though. [00:58:58] Speaker B: Is it America? [00:58:59] Speaker C: Is it who came up with the dub? [00:59:01] Speaker B: Who was it? [00:59:02] Speaker C: You tell me the truth. [00:59:04] Speaker B: Results are results. But then what happened to msi, right? Like, that's. [00:59:08] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:59:09] Speaker B: That's kind of the thing. [00:59:10] Speaker C: Right? [00:59:10] Speaker B: Like, but that wasn't the question. [00:59:12] Speaker C: It was in the lec. [00:59:13] Speaker B: Of course. But the impression that you leave even in your domestic league is important. Right? Like, cool, they got the result and that's. That's what we're judging on now. [00:59:22] Speaker A: And for all those reasons, I think eight here does make sense. [00:59:25] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:25] Speaker A: Like, I still think that they are going to Be a competitive team in the lec. They are a threat. They could win another, split it. But, yeah, they shouldn't be up in that kind of S tier conversation. Yeah, I think that's cool. All right, Badge, that means you get two in a row now. So how would you like to. Yeah, yeah. This is how a Snake draft works. [00:59:46] Speaker D: Okay. I didn't realize you were doing Snake. I thought it was just gonna go right back to the top when we were done. Okay. All right. One of my. You know what? This is a two prong thing because not only is it an n a player on this team. [01:00:02] Speaker A: Oh. [01:00:03] Speaker D: It's also one of the. The. The trinity of LCK challengers, mid laners that I've been really excited about. [01:00:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:00:13] Speaker D: To tier one. So I'm gonna take Casey and I'm gonna plop them right at the top. And S tier. [01:00:22] Speaker A: Oh, Casey and S tier is kind of wild. I'm not gonna lie. Technically, they want us essentially the best. [01:00:33] Speaker D: Bot lane in the West. They have potentially a strong concrete top lane and jungle that they can, you know, rely upon. And Kayu, I mean, I think Kyou might be the best crop of this, like, LCK midpool talent that was coming out. [01:00:52] Speaker A: You were really high on Kia, who. [01:00:54] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm really high on Kyou. Zinny and Dayst are as those three. I genuinely think Zinni could be the best mid in NA by summer. And I think Kayu could be top two or contesting caps by the end of the year. [01:01:07] Speaker A: Ooh, strong endorsement. [01:01:12] Speaker D: The only thing with those two is, like, taking them out of the LCK system and moving them into NA and eu, respectively. I think these guys are really, really good. Good, like, genuinely, they're really good. [01:01:25] Speaker A: And I want to go back. [01:01:26] Speaker D: This team is going to be great. [01:01:28] Speaker A: To the previous point you had made of the best, potentially the best bot lane in the west as well. Because Kalist is like, we know what he's pure raw mechanics capable of doing. I think, like, much to a different extent than Jackie's like, but a similar conversation of, like, sometimes he does stuff in games. I'm like, what the hell are you doing? Like, why are you kaisa pushing bot lane while your team's all grouped mid and you, like, ult into five people, like, what's happening? Right. But he's also able to just solo carry games with his own play. And Busio is the best support that NA has probably ever produced. I mean, other native supports would be like, Vulcan Aphromoo in that conversation. But I Definitely think Busio has the, a higher ceiling than those players. Jamata, when you hear a statement like that, I want to get your thoughts because Busio, obviously we have a little NA bias for Busio, but I want to get your, your honest opinions on the Colis Busio bot Lane and then also maybe Kyahu and just in general. Casey. [01:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I mean Busio is the best support in the west, period. That's, that's, that's how that is right now. [01:02:29] Speaker A: Hell yeah. [01:02:30] Speaker B: I, I, I'm curious about how their laning phases will go. That's, that's one thing I'll, I'll, yeah, really want to, I really want to kind of keep tabs on. As for the mid games, I have no doubt in, in Busio's playmaking ability mid game. I think he's one of the best playmakers in the world. If I find, if I consider him the best, the Western support. I think this is where my opinions lie there. And like you highlighted, I think it's just on Kalist to make sure he's really in line with his team's tempo and ensuring that he's not on some random mid wave and just dying. [01:02:59] Speaker A: Right. [01:02:59] Speaker B: And really kind of screwing up the pace that KCM may be trying to set. I'm actually not too big a Noah on the Kia you pick up, so I can't speak to a massive amount of depth, but it was very clear that, you know, Vladi wasn't really working on this KC lineup. [01:03:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:03:18] Speaker B: Obviously in the back half of, of last year and specifically it was a lot to do with the early laning phase. [01:03:23] Speaker A: Right. [01:03:23] Speaker B: And how it kind of inhibited his ability to consistently pair up with Yike, who obviously Yike is very versatile as a player, but if the mid lane is in circumstances or situations where it's like, you know, Vladi's not thinking two waves ahead or three waves ahead, he's always thinking in the now. And one thing with Korean players is they're always thinking two waves ahead heads. So I, I expect that this will be a pretty sizable upgrade. Not just like, because like 30 is bad or anything, but this is just kind of the play style of a lot of Korean players, especially mid when they come in. So I anticipate that, yeah, K.C. s tier, second, first. It seems, it seems inevitable. [01:03:59] Speaker D: Right. [01:04:00] Speaker B: I think it would be an upset. [01:04:00] Speaker A: For them to be top two. Yeah, I, I, I agree that they could, they should be an S tier. It's also Badger saying dominant in number one. Like you are confident that they are number one. Which I think if we're just gonna say the elephant in the room, G2 is probably gonna be up there as well on somebody's list. Unless somebody trolls us. But I, I, it's, I, I don't know if I'm confident that they're better than G2 right off the bat by the end of the year. [01:04:28] Speaker D: Like, like 1B right now. [01:04:31] Speaker B: Sure. [01:04:32] Speaker D: Like, I think, I mean obviously G2 is like the best team in Europe, but like this is also a team that's going to scale really well into the later part of the season. [01:04:45] Speaker A: Yeah, they have really high ceiling if they can get things to click. But that's only one of your two teams. So Casey and S tier, you get a second pick. Now, do you have an idea of the second team you'd like to put on the tier list? [01:05:01] Speaker D: We're doing LR and we're doing Los Ratones and kcb. Right. [01:05:05] Speaker C: As well for this. [01:05:06] Speaker A: Yes, yes, they, they will also be on this list. But they're only gonna be applied for like, you know, split one, which I guess in general this is a tier list for split one thing. I, I'm thinking about it more from that perspective. [01:05:16] Speaker D: You know what I think? I think I'm gonna go ahead and put Lowe's for Tony's in C tier. [01:05:21] Speaker A: Oh, that's pretty low. I don't. You might get some angry Twitter messages. I. [01:05:29] Speaker D: It'S, it's, it's the bows and dude, so real. [01:05:36] Speaker B: Bow so real. [01:05:38] Speaker A: I cannot wait. [01:05:39] Speaker D: I'm just like, I, I really appreciate the fact that this guy is coming in to play. [01:05:45] Speaker A: But like. [01:05:48] Speaker D: Yeah, I, I need to see it. I'm going to be honest. [01:05:51] Speaker A: I cannot wait to see the B versus Merwin. I Merwin, please play some Lulu or like Soraka Top LA or some shit. I need to see Lulu versus just for science. Just to know what happens. Like, I don't know, but that would be very fun. Okay. Luster Tony is in C tier. Obviously they're a team that a lot of people are going to be watching just because it's like the hype streamer team coming in. But yeah, I don't know if I would argue that they should go higher. Honestly. Does anybody have strong opinions like if they should go higher or lower on the list so far. [01:06:31] Speaker C: I maybe put them in B tier, but I don't know. [01:06:34] Speaker B: I think, I think, I think Cs are very fair rating, I would say. And this is not to slight the bows. If they had a more traditional top laner I would. I would be comfortable enough to put them in B tier. [01:06:46] Speaker D: Yes. [01:06:47] Speaker B: I genuinely agree. I would be more than comfortable enough to put them in B tier. I just feel like Baws play style is what it is and I think it's going to be explored now. I think what's going to favor LR is that the regular air quotes regular season inside of the split is A is best of ones and they're like ridiculous plot armor strength is just their mid game macro. They like compared to like ERL teams. They were. It was ridiculous. Like it was like. It's like that one basketball meme. Right. They would just doing way too much putting up ridiculous numbers even in circumstances where they shouldn't have been winning. So I have faith in that. It's just about the baus and how consistent he is. But C very very fair. Nemesis is gonna. He's gonna do things to a lot of this mid lane pool. [01:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah. I am also excited to see support Rekkles in the LEC because I believe we haven't seen him as a support in the lec. Right. He changed his support when he went to go play in Korea for As if support reckless. Yeah. Yeah. World champion support Reckless. Technically, if my mind like calendar is correct, I'm pretty sure that's like the timeline. So now we get to see reckless support back in lec which is kind of cool. [01:08:04] Speaker C: All right. [01:08:04] Speaker A: Low Certonians in seat here. That means it's mazel back up. Mizel, what would you like to put on the tier list? [01:08:11] Speaker C: We're gonna go just cuz I guess it feels like it makes a little bit more sense. D tier for kcb. [01:08:21] Speaker A: Okay, so not rogue tier. You actually. You still think that they can do more damage than Navi? I think that's pretty fair. I think that like again a little NA bias. Yukino, shout out the NA Boy. But even players like Camillo having some experience playing in tier one means that they, they have some experience coming in. Plus a lot of this course still won last year. Jamada, what do you think about KC Blue? Do you have any. I know you're saying you weren't watching a lot of like the, the ERLs last year, but do you have any like strong opinions on Casey Blue or any of the players on there? [01:08:55] Speaker B: I mean besides Camilo who you know he started to leave a pretty positive impression towards the back end of his time on. On Team Heretics but even then it's, it's. He's not the strongest individual player so. So I'm a Bit concerned there especially because I just. I feel like the mid lane pool mechanically this year has like or coming from somewhat into this split has taken a pretty massive and notable spike. Right. Obviously we maintain Poby Nemesis is here. Qiyu is here. Humanoid, who I'm sure obviously we're going to touch on at some point when we talk about vitality, him in a good environment. That's a different player. That's not the same guy that's been on FNAC for the last couple of years. That's going to be a scary guy. [01:09:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And you haven't even mentioned my boy leader. [01:09:41] Speaker B: So I think it's going to be a rough year for him and it's not even really his fault. I just think that the pool around them is just, you know, snapshot up. But I will be looking at at these two as like the. The main guys. And then another one is actually prime because again a lot of spectating of the champions. Q going on Primes looks pretty good with some of the bot laners that he's been playing with. I haven't seen him play with his KCB be companion in. In Hazel, but I've been seeing him play with. [01:10:08] Speaker A: It's. Sorry, it's actually Hazel. [01:10:10] Speaker B: Oh, sorry. Yes, Hazel. But I've been seeing him lane with. With upset. I think I saw him Lane once with. With Noah. I've seen Lane with Kazi. [01:10:19] Speaker C: It's really quick. Sorry, it's oopset. Oh. [01:10:23] Speaker A: Oh, okay. Yeah, I know the European accent. It's kind of hard to sometimes save though. [01:10:28] Speaker B: I apologize. Apologize. I know the base here as well. Like I've got a. I've got a. But yeah, I, I think. I think D tier is. Is pretty fair. Again, when you just look at the other rosters and as we get to them as well, you'll kind of get a grips of like this. This seems around the range of. Of reality for. For kcb. [01:10:49] Speaker A: All right, well I'm gonna make things spicy then because I feel like we've had a lot of agreement so far with our takes. I'm throwing SK straight into D tier. Screw this roster. This roster sucks, man. Wonder coming back out of retirement. He's got. I don't think he's played league in a year and a half. He's just been playing only World of Warcraft. I'm not a leader believer. I know I made a joke about that. Jamat. I don't know if you have a different opinion. I feel like leaders at best. A middle of the pack mid laner And Mickey, I've just kind of lost faith in. In throughout his time. [01:11:24] Speaker C: This is Mickey's team. [01:11:26] Speaker A: I do not see. I mean, oh, it's Mickey and Wonder coming back together. Yeah, get the gang back. But like, I just. I do not see this team working. It's essentially a full rebuild with players either past their prime and some of whose prime wasn't even spectacular. In. In my eyes. Boom. Is that a spicy take? Jamada. I wanted to throw at least something in there so that we could get some discussion question. [01:11:50] Speaker B: You know, I. I think it's somewhere in the middle. [01:11:55] Speaker A: Okay. [01:11:55] Speaker B: I have a bit more faith than. Than you do. Personally, I think a lot of people aren't as. As big as they would have liked to have been on this roster. The return of leader is, you know, we've seen it a few times and I think for many people that, you know, they don't give a lot of chances. Right? You see see a player once, you see a player twice, okay. If they don't perform, then they're just out, you know, third times, third times around. It's like, okay, like, what are we still doing, you know? [01:12:21] Speaker A: Yep. [01:12:22] Speaker B: My main interest is just in Yoppa in. In bot lane. I've been following this guy since he was playing in not even the erls, but the tier 2 trls. Very big individual talent. I think the fact that he's laning with Mickey is very, you know, favorable for. For him. And I. I hope that at the very least released that's something that we kind of get as a takeaway is that that that guy in in AD is a. Is a potential talent for. For Europe moving forward. And I think that's what a lot what we're gonna get our best case gonna be. It's just like mechanical funnies. That's. That's really. [01:12:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Now now I'm a little sad to hear that because I was a big fan of Kadui and I was sad when they dropped Kadui. But I guess if it's another developing player that has promise, like, that's kind of cool. But God, give Kadui another shot, man. I just keep going back to that first game, that debut series. Man, if you could just hit that every game. [01:13:18] Speaker B: I do feel bad for Kazui as well, to be honest with you. But yeah, I think Yopper potentially has. Has a little bit of. Of something to him that that could give us a promising new name in. In Europe to look at when it comes to bot laners. So that's. That's kind of my. My big prospect on the escape. [01:13:35] Speaker A: Well, I will begrudgingly root for YOPA and a D tier team then, but up to you. You get two in a row here. What would you like to throw on the board? [01:13:43] Speaker B: Okay, this one I know is going to be contentious. I'm putting Vitality and A tier do it. [01:13:49] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:13:50] Speaker A: Oh, would you like them above or below Koi? [01:13:54] Speaker B: I'll put them below Koi for now. I, I think that their ceiling is above Koi, but I think their floor right now is probably below Koi. [01:14:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So Vitality's only made one change. It was just Humanoid coming in in the mid lane. [01:14:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:14:06] Speaker A: But they still got Knock Knocko Linkus Cary and Flex Leshy. [01:14:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that is a huge change for, for this team. And you know what? I just want to give some flowers to the guy. I think Shayak is kind of getting a bit of the short stick here. It's like. Yeah, I think last year Shayak was one of the better performing mids individually. I, I've still done that for the. I think he was actually like a top four level myth for most of the. The year, but he was playing on Vitality. So it's. It's hard. [01:14:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I definitely on him a lot throughout the year. [01:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah, like, it's hard. Like individually, he, he. I think he. He fell into the chaos a lot. But this roster here, I think with Humanoid, I alluded to it earlier, Humanoid is a completely different player. The second that he's actually in an environment where he feels, you know, I think desirable is maybe the correct word, you know, like to. To me and even just to like give a little bit of. In. In like studio experience, bro. I would see Humanoid sometimes in the studio. The life has just gone from his eyes. I've been seeing. I've been seeing him about, in. In the backgrounds of, you know, these champs Q games and this, that the other. I've never seen him look so life full. Like, I've never seen him so excited to play league. [01:15:29] Speaker A: Like a child reborn. [01:15:30] Speaker B: Yes. And I think that's a big deal. Nak Nao, I think left an incredible, incredible impression on pretty much anyone that watched him throughout the year. Lintus is also still individually very talented, but I think he just, he. He takes the piss like he doesn't know where the line is. I think someone needs to smack him on the wrists a bit more frequently to. To understand where that is. And then Fleshy is just. He's a playmaker. He wants, he wants to make plays whether he's on the same tempo as. As the rest of his team. That's a different discussion altogether. He's kind of like baby hilly, but, like, slightly less messy, and I like that. And I think this was. [01:16:05] Speaker A: I was gonna say this was a roster that just like last year, is really hard to power rank them because there was a lot of unknowns, but by the end of the year, it was, like, pleasantly surprised with how they did. [01:16:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think, you know, if they don't end up, I mean, you have to beat everyone, right, to. To go far in a tournament. But I think they end up. Ended up getting the KC second round or. Or first round on that bottom bracket. And it's like if. If they end up. If the fanatics on their side of the record, they. They go to round two, like, they go further in that record, I think they mashed up significantly better into Fanag than Casey. [01:16:43] Speaker A: Okay. [01:16:44] Speaker B: But a tier Vitality is where I'm at. I don't want to give that one too head coach. Personal. Personal change, which I think is a very big deal. [01:16:54] Speaker A: Oh, it's no longer Mac. [01:16:55] Speaker B: It's no longer Mac. Mac has moved into a player development role, is my understanding. He's basically kind of a little bit more in charge of, like, kind of overseeing player transitions from, like, academy and like, basically managing academy and like, looking at future prospects for the lec. [01:17:15] Speaker A: Imagine a team actually having that role as a job job. [01:17:18] Speaker C: That's. [01:17:18] Speaker A: That's fantastic. [01:17:21] Speaker B: And so it's his. His good old sidekick for. For many, many years. Padme teacher. [01:17:28] Speaker A: So nice. [01:17:29] Speaker B: He's. [01:17:29] Speaker A: Well, thank you for the update. I. I'll change out on the she. I missed that one. [01:17:33] Speaker B: Yeah, no problem. [01:17:34] Speaker C: Cool. [01:17:35] Speaker A: Cool. All right, so two changes for Vitality. It puts him in a tier, but you get one more team that you can place on the tier list. What would you like to do? [01:17:42] Speaker B: All right, here's the. You know, we'll stay on the contentious vibe. Oh, guys, if I put. If I put Vitality in a tier and a lot of us think that G2 is going in S tier, they just haven't said it yet. [01:17:55] Speaker A: Okay. What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing here? [01:17:57] Speaker B: We're gonna put Fanatic. Oh, at the top of seat here. [01:18:03] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. Honestly, I was. If it had gone back to me, I was gonna do the exact same. I feel like this Fanatic, I was thinking maybe low B tier, but I think upper C tier is right in that range, and I expect Fnatic to be as well. Like I don't see this roster working. Vladdy. Again. [01:18:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:18:28] Speaker A: Yes. I fellow believer. I have been an upset believer for so long. [01:18:32] Speaker B: These guys troll me every time. [01:18:34] Speaker C: That man's had so many opportunities, so many opportunities to prove it wrong. [01:18:40] Speaker A: And, and, and then every year at the beginning of a split, he's like the best AD carry in the league. And then he just gets depressed and then falls off because the roster just doesn't work around him. Yeah, I. I'm not a big believer in the Fnatic rebuild. I'm sorry to the fanatic fans. I've been a long time Fnatic fan. I. I'm not like, I don't really call myself a true fan fan anymore. I don't really keep up with them that closely. But back in the day, I like Fnatic was my team. I loved the reckless Fnatic build and it feels like they just haven't really been able to capture that same spark or really maintain that competition with G2 in the same way, despite the fact that we still randomly get these G2 fanatic like matches and finals still. But I don't. I don't see this being a year that they're really like pushing for that. I'd be very surprised if they made a finals. But you. You said Imperials was somebody that you were impressed with. If I remember correctly. Jamada from. From the champs Q that you've been watching marching. [01:19:37] Speaker B: Yeah, impressed. But the problem is the top lane pool is ridiculous this year. There's like maybe like three players out of the 12 or I suppose out of the 11 where I'm like, yeah, I think Emperor should probably be like going even or beating them. And then the rest, I think are just putting him in the floor, like in lane, like even maybe in arguably in lanes where he should be taking control. So I, I'm more curious. [01:20:06] Speaker A: B is one of those ones above him, right? [01:20:08] Speaker D: Yeah, obviously. [01:20:10] Speaker B: So I think what I'm more curious about is just how Fnatic try to approach the game philosophically, you know, game to game. This is one of these things where like, I think fearless probably hurts this team a lot because this would be the kind of lineup where I would expect you want to try and you know, draft very similarly game the game you want to be able to like kind of band aid things with like simple front to back comps, you know, relying on a couple of champs to kind of smooth over the. The early working processes of when you're trying to get a team together, they don't have that luxury And I think that's just going to continue to hurt them in terms of developing. So, yeah, I'm, I'm just team, team free upset on this one. I was surprised and I don't know how hot of a take this particular part is. Whilst finding a replacement would be hard, I think they should have, I think they should have tried to find another Jungler. I, I, I've actually, Yeah, I, I, like, I think it's one of those things where who is the one constant on Fnatic now for like the last four years? Yeah, you know, like, I, I think it gets to a point where even if you have a lot of faith in Resor can you think he's a good player? And I, I do like, I want to make that clear. I do. Like, I think a change has to happen eventually. [01:21:28] Speaker D: I don't think this is that hard of a take. [01:21:30] Speaker A: It's almost like the in, in NA, we have the same conversation with C9 and Blabber. Like at a certain point, Blabber is like a franchise player. But if they've struggled to really like make worlds for a while. I love Blabber as a player. I think he's a great jungler. But now people are losing faith, especially C9 fans. [01:21:46] Speaker B: To me, with Resolk, it's like, okay, okay, either we get rid of him or we actually build a roster around him and we like lean into the player that resort can be regardless of what the matter is. And I just don't feel like, I mean, we all know about the GM and have Fanatic, so it's just, it's not really, it's not really happened. So. [01:22:04] Speaker A: Okay, yeah, interesting. Okay, cool. Well, Fnatic in top of C tier, you also had Vitality in bottom of A tier. I think both of those spicy your takes, but I don't think they're too far off the mark. I think Vitality is maybe a little much faith in them, but I respect it. I respect the reasoning. So there's three teams left. It's me, Mazel and Badger. I'm trying to catch up here. It's G2 Shitters and Team Heretics. So, you know, I'll take, I'll take the hard one. I feel like Team Heretics is actually a tougher one to place the more I look at them because right away I'm like, oh, that's like a C or a D tier. But then I look at Ice and I'm like, how much can he carry? And I think it's still like C tier. I, I, I think the Team Heretics is probably top of C tier. I don't know a lot about the other two players coming in sarin or tracing. I have some level of faith in Sho and I think that ice is a fantastic, fantastic ad carry if he gets the resources. It didn't always work when it was like funnel ice and then let him carry, but I still think that, like, that can be a viable enough strategy that they can get some wins. So I might, I might even put them below Fnatic in, in C tier. So I'm gonna put them right there. Below Fnatic, but above Los for tones. [01:23:27] Speaker C: Not bad. [01:23:28] Speaker A: Jamada. Do you have thoughts on that one? One. Are you a fellow ice believer? [01:23:32] Speaker B: So, yes, I, I am an ice believer. I have two things. One, podcast related. I, I think they'll, I think they'll do fine with, with Ice Team Heretics. [01:23:48] Speaker A: Okay. The, and then non podcast related. [01:23:50] Speaker B: The non podcast related is I accidentally knocked my mic and my recording stopped for like, like, five seconds. So we might have to do a class for your editor just so he knows. [01:24:01] Speaker A: You know what? That's fun. Let's do a live clap test. Most people don't ever hear this. [01:24:05] Speaker B: Yes, I do apologize, but otherwise, I feel nightmare. For, for your audio, guys. [01:24:10] Speaker A: Thank you for the heads up. And this is a little peek behind the curtains for everybody. This is what we're. I'm going to count down. 3, 2, 1. And we're going to do a clap sync so our audio editor can get us back on track. All right, let's go. And three, three, two, one. There we go. And that's how the magic happens. Everybody. Welcome to the show. So wait, just making sure. Were you able to save the past one? [01:24:35] Speaker B: So the past one, it's still connected. So as far as I'm aware, this is all still one recording on my end. Perfect. So perfect. But we just needed that reason. [01:24:42] Speaker A: Through audio magic, Ian will make this all sound perfect. And you know what? Maybe he'll do it in such a way that, you know, we'll just, like, restart the podcast. I'll give like, a, a cold start here. That was a crazy take for that last one. [01:24:58] Speaker C: So now. [01:25:01] Speaker D: I. [01:25:01] Speaker A: Wait, I was the last one, right? I think I just put. Yeah, I put team here. Dicks of C tier. We all agree that's perfect. Mizell, you're next year. There are two left. You got shifters and G2. [01:25:12] Speaker C: Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take your joke and I'm gonna drive it home straight down it's gonna be shitters in D tier for Dookie all the way at the bottom. [01:25:23] Speaker A: All right, all right. [01:25:24] Speaker D: Put them in rogue tier. [01:25:25] Speaker B: Come on. [01:25:25] Speaker C: No. D tier for Dookie. [01:25:27] Speaker A: D tier for Dookie. We got the shift shifters down there, so this is continuing. The BDSM joke is they just picked a worse name for the the roster. This is one we've talked about a little bit, like just in our, our chat, our host chat on the Discord. So Jamada, we already kind of shared some of our opinions, but I'd love to get your opinion on this roster because this is one that's like, I would love to be wrong. I think that, like, Nuke has a high end. Trimby I'm a fan of. I think Bukata even showed us, like, what he could do a little bit last split. But, like, I, I just don't know how this roster is supposed to function with, like, a new ad carry coming in and like, playing around Rooster in the top lane. So, so what, what are your thoughts on the shift shifters? [01:26:13] Speaker B: I think this is kind of a crazy, crazy placement. I, I, maybe, maybe I'm one of the few. I'm big on the Shifters lineup B for Booty. I think I do. I do. No, yeah. [01:26:24] Speaker A: I think this is a beef. [01:26:25] Speaker B: A Booty roster. I. Rooster. Rooster was incredible in summer. I think Rooster was great. I think he was one of the best top laners in the league in summer. [01:26:35] Speaker A: Okay. [01:26:36] Speaker B: I think if there's anyone that you really want to pull point, like, you know, kind of fingers at, it's, it's Nuke. It's. It's whether or not Nuke is going to continue to like, grow as a player in terms of just like the development at the point that he's in, in his career. [01:26:52] Speaker C: Right. [01:26:53] Speaker B: This guy we used to consider in the same, like, echelon, almost as caps and humanoid. Like, we were getting pretty close. That's how, that's the kind of player that we were considering him as. Now in recent splits, it's not really been the case over the last year, obviously. So that's who I'm really looking at to try and kind of reinvent themselves and really kind of bring a little bit more flare to, to the Shifters lineup, whether it's draft, whether it's, whether it's the way that he actually, like, you know, ops to play out certain lanes. And then as for Paddock and Trimby, I'm big on Paddock, I think, I think Paddock really, I think Paddock's going to do fine in the lec. [01:27:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:27:29] Speaker D: Yeah. [01:27:30] Speaker B: I. I don't think. I think there's any problems for Paddock and I think more importantly, he has a very, very good lane partner in Trimby. I've got a lot of respect for Trimby. I've got a lot of faith in Trimby. I know that some Western and LEC fans may be, you know, soft to poor taste in. In their mouths from the last time he was here, but even when you think about how that lineup was looking at, it was. It was heretics. The last time he was here. They. They improved with like the second that Trimby got there. They started to look better over time. So I think the Trimby effect is real. I think that overall he. It's great to have him back in the league. I'm glad he's back in the ldc and yeah, I'm excited to at the very least try to get a bit more out of Nuke in particular because I think it's been a bit of a dark spot for him in his career. And if there was ever a split to do it, it's this split. This midpool was maybe the most individually stacked it's been in a in a while. [01:28:32] Speaker A: I just think the name is way too close to shitters for this team to do well at all. Like just. Just destiny. Destiny dictates that they have to be bad. But you know what? I could be proven wrong. I would be happy to be proven wrong. And that's why you can move teams up or down one tier in the list at the very end. And I'm sure that that might be the one you're looking at. That leaves one team left and one host Badger at the end. Yeah. [01:29:01] Speaker D: Wow. Really give me the easy one. You know what? This tier is looking very lonely. Just one team in it right now. You know, this great Korean mid laner on this team. Team that they can pair against that could potentially be a rival to them. [01:29:22] Speaker A: G2. [01:29:23] Speaker D: Welcome to Rogue Town. [01:29:24] Speaker A: I mean, no. [01:29:24] Speaker D: Okay. Nah. G2. I would put them above Casey and I mean at the start of the season, I would put them in S tier. Give it some time. Give it some time to play out. Just because we still don't know what to expect. Expect from. I mean, I. I have expectations for Casey and clearly my expectations are always right and have never backfired on me anytime that we've done, you know. [01:29:52] Speaker A: No, I'm pretty sure bad stuff like this in podcasts. [01:29:54] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just. Just ignore the Fly quest and the My Pigums last Year where I had flying oysters and finals and hey, you. [01:30:07] Speaker A: Did have a banger singer prediction for Loki wins Rookie of the year and C9 misses Worlds again. [01:30:13] Speaker D: That is awesome. [01:30:13] Speaker A: That was, that was a great one. So I will give you credit there. But I also think that G2 at the top of S2, that's exactly where I'd put them. I, I think that Casey is the competition but G2 is still the kings of EU, so that will leave the current tier list. Actually, you know what, let's not waste the time and go through it because we, we get one time to go all the way through through and move something up or down. 1. If we disagree with it. Jabada, you will start first. What would you like to move up or down once in the tier list? [01:30:42] Speaker B: I think I, I can't in good faith not say put shifters in B. Yeah, I'm just really. [01:30:49] Speaker A: Well you can, you can move them up to C. Oh, you want the top of C then put them in. [01:30:52] Speaker B: C. Yeah, put them in C. I can see them being in C. Yeah, I forgot that you said one. [01:30:55] Speaker A: So yeah, yeah, just so it is more of a hive mind because otherwise it can get a little wacky if you move them too many around now. [01:31:03] Speaker B: In C. [01:31:07] Speaker A: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That will leave me next. What do I disagree with here? I, it's tough cuz I feel like a tier is too high for Vitality. But if I move them to gx, which somehow are the only team in B tier, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right. But that's the only one I can like really confidently look at and be like, I think that that would be it. Otherwise maybe it'd be like moving. Yeah, I, I, I hate to do it. I'm sorry, Jamada. I'm gonna move, I'm gonna move Vitality down to the top of B tier. [01:31:48] Speaker B: That's okay. [01:31:49] Speaker A: And Coy will be alone in A tier for right now, but maybe somebody can move it around. If somebody disagrees, they can move them right back. So, so that will be Mizel. Do you have any disagreements or do you like the list currently? [01:31:59] Speaker C: Well, I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna trudge up the mountain with Jamada. I'm gonna move the shitters to B tier for booty. [01:32:07] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. You did it for the memes. [01:32:09] Speaker C: Goes with C and bus stuff. So. [01:32:11] Speaker A: No. Fair enough. So where, where do you want to put them then? Do you want them above all the. [01:32:15] Speaker C: Way at the bottom of B. They're at the bottom. The bottom. [01:32:18] Speaker A: Oh, that's a good point, Boot. That's a great point. Badger, you are the final one. What would you like to move around, if anything? [01:32:24] Speaker D: Oh, gosh, You know. No, actually, yeah, you know what? This is a preseason thing. This isn't going to come back and backfire on me whatsoever if I say this. Move GX up to a tier. [01:32:43] Speaker A: Let's go. What? That's wild. [01:32:47] Speaker C: Yeah, that is pretty wild. [01:32:49] Speaker A: The old switcheroo with GX and Vitality. Well, that looks real funky, but you know what? I'll allow it. Hell, yeah. All right, so with our hive mind of hosts and probably Jama pulling some of his hair out, we now have as follows. In s tier, it's G2KC. In A tier, it's Koi GX. In B tier, it's Vitality Shifters. In C tier, it's Fnatic Team Heretics, Los Ratones. In D tier, it's SK KC Blue. And in Rogue tier, all alone, it's Na'. [01:33:24] Speaker D: Vi. [01:33:26] Speaker A: And there you have it, the definitive League rundown LEC Hive Mind tier list. Thank you so much, everybody. As always, a very visual thing in an audio medium is always a blast to do. So hopefully you were able to follow along as we did all that. I will be screenshotting this and posting it in the Discord as well, just like we do with all of our tier lists. But to close out this episode, we're already going a little long. I had one final game prepared that I wanted to do. Do you guys remember last podcast that we did where right before the Christmas break where we were talking about how funny it would be if we ended every episode with, like, an audio bit? [01:34:04] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh. [01:34:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:34:07] Speaker A: So I had this idea for the say the Word on Beat challenge, which I think is hilarious, if we do it without the visuals of people being able to follow along. So, Jemada, the inside joke that we always do is that we do a lot of visual bits for an audio medium and our audience seems to like it. So, as the guest, I would like you to actually go first. First, I'm gonna need you to look at the stream that I'm sending to you on Discord right now. [01:34:32] Speaker B: Yep. [01:34:33] Speaker A: I'm looking at this and you are going to have to. And keep in mind, the audience is not going to hear everything in the background. They're only going to hear what you're saying. It's going to sound incredible, but you're going to have to say the word on the beat. It's a very simple game. And the first round will be relatively easy. It'll be an image and just say the word and they're all going to rhyme. It should be pretty self evident, but then it's going to really switch it up on you. Okay, okay. [01:34:59] Speaker B: Okay. [01:35:00] Speaker A: All right, we're going to see if Jama can do this. We're all going to cheer Jama on. This isn't to so we laugh at him. Okay, guys, are we supposed to be. [01:35:06] Speaker D: Watching your stream too or. [01:35:07] Speaker A: Yes, everyone can watch along so that way we know what Jama's doing for. [01:35:11] Speaker B: You guys here right now. It's going to sound off anyway because I'm. I'm in. I'm in the uk. So the. [01:35:18] Speaker A: That's a good point. That is a good point. We have multiple layers of this bit happening. Okay, okay. Without further ado and you know, maybe Ian can even add this in. I'll link it to Ian and maybe you can audio magic, try and make it make sense for you. But without further ado. 3, 2, 1. [01:35:41] Speaker B: Cat, cat, cat, cat, dog, dog, dog, dog. Oh, I have to do it that way. [01:35:46] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [01:35:48] Speaker B: Cat, cat, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, cat, cat, Moon, moon, moon, moon, sun, sun, sun, sun, moon, moon, sun, sun, sun, sun, moon, moon. Cat, dog, moon, sun. Cat, dog, moon, sun. [01:36:08] Speaker A: That was so weird having to be off sync with what I'm hearing. But that was level one. Okay, so now that you understand, okay, that was level one. Here's level two. It speeds up and it's gonna get a little harder. Okay. [01:36:21] Speaker B: All right, sure. [01:36:22] Speaker A: All right, let's see if Jabata can do it. And three, two, one. [01:36:30] Speaker B: Fish. Fish, Fish, fish. Cow, Cow, cow, cow. Fish, Fish, Cow, cow, Fish, Fish, cow, cow. Hot Shoe. Shoe, hat. [01:36:41] Speaker C: Hot. [01:36:41] Speaker B: Shoe, shoe, hat. [01:36:44] Speaker A: Ha. [01:36:45] Speaker B: Shoe, shoe, hat, Hat. Shoe, shoe. [01:36:48] Speaker A: I don't know if that was a beat. [01:36:49] Speaker B: Fish, cow, hat. Shoe. Fish, cow, Hat, shoe. [01:36:54] Speaker A: Okay, are you ready for level three? I believe this might be the last level. [01:36:57] Speaker B: I'm ready. [01:36:57] Speaker A: No, no, there's level four. There's. [01:36:59] Speaker B: Apparently there's four. [01:37:00] Speaker A: There's a level four. Okay. All right, let's see if we can do level three. I. I will say you've done good. I don't know if one of those was all odd beat. I feel like you got a little tripped up there. It's hard to tell what I'm also hearing it. It delayed. [01:37:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [01:37:13] Speaker A: Okay. Three, two, one, go. [01:37:19] Speaker B: Ice, ice, ice. Ice cream, cream, cream. [01:37:22] Speaker A: The delay is crazy. [01:37:24] Speaker B: Ice, ice, cream, cream, cream, cream. Ice, ice, cup, cup, cup, cup. Pen, pen, pen, pen. Cup, cup, pen, pen, pen, pen, cup, cup. [01:37:37] Speaker A: I feel like these are too easy. [01:37:38] Speaker B: Ice cream, cup, pen, ice cream, cup, pen. [01:37:41] Speaker A: Yeah, so these are like, way easier than the ones that I had been doing. But you know what, you've gotten through them. [01:37:46] Speaker B: This is why you've got a congratulations before you. You do it. You can't just click. [01:37:49] Speaker A: You know what? I did just pull up the first one that came up on YouTube and we are just raw doing this for the first time on a podcast, never having tested it before, but I think that that's part of the charm. It's the tastefully scuffed, you know, that's. That's what we aim for. So here, here's the final level. It is insane according to the video. And so far, Jamada has been smashing this challenge, so hopefully this trips him up. And three, two, one, go. All right, can you do it? [01:38:16] Speaker B: Sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing, sing song, song, song, song, song. Oh, song. [01:38:24] Speaker A: I don't know how to get that out of there. [01:38:26] Speaker B: Sing, song, song, song, song, sing, song, song, sing, sing, song, song, sing, song, sing song, sing song, sing song. [01:38:38] Speaker A: For the record, there was a next video recommended that popped up and covered up parts of the things that Jabada was trying to read there. Couldn't figure out how to get rid of that, but damn. Well done, Javad. All right, round of applause. I feel like he actually nailed that. [01:38:56] Speaker D: What. [01:38:56] Speaker A: What is badger? What do you mean? What was that? I feel like that was pretty self evident. [01:39:01] Speaker D: Just springing, figuring out ways to just spring all of this upon us. [01:39:06] Speaker B: Yep. [01:39:07] Speaker A: Hopefully everyone's ready for. For more shenanigans like that to close out episodes. I feel like it's. It's a fun way to continue the bit and, you know, really elevate the content. That's what we try and do here on the league rundown, is elevate the content. And speaking of elevating content, Jamada shout out to you. Putting out a lot of content around the scene for the League of Legends community, especially over in Europe, which is severely lacking now with things like euphoria going away. Where can people find your stuff and support what you're doing? [01:39:36] Speaker B: Thankfully, the handle is just jamada on. On YouTube. I managed to to finally snag it a few weeks back. So yeah, expect all kinds of content typically very much centered around tier one propolis play. I dropped a video a couple of days ago on Fearless and that was received surprisingly well considering how mostly negative I was talking about Fearless and it's. It's overall kind of its journey so far in pro play. And based on how we were talking about earlier, yes, I will be talking about and making a video on the 4 cent team very shortly. And then once the pro season kicks off, you can expect analytical, editorial, content, content pretty much, you know, several times a week. So look forward to that. [01:40:19] Speaker A: Beautiful. And I know that we've kept you a little longer. You're going to be recording some of that tonight apparently. So have a that's going to be a late night for Jamada. Shout out to you for coming on. Thank you so much. It's always a blast having you on the podcast, especially when it's like a big EU centric episode. We can really pick your brain on thoughts and you can tell us how wrong we are about our shitters opinions. Also, thank you Mizell and Badger as always for coming on here. Thank you everybody for listening along. It is a year and a new season across the world for all professional League of Legends leagues and this time it always feels special. Man. I. I'm getting, I'm getting giddy. I'm getting excited about the start of competitive league again. So thank you everybody so much for tuning in. As always, just remember this. We love you and we'll see you next time. [01:41:07] Speaker B: Bye bye everyone. [01:41:08] Speaker A: Bye bye. Oh, it's really quiet. It was really quiet that. Wait, we're gonna run that one back. There we. Go, sam.