League Rundown - Episode 630: Hey, it can only go up from here…

[00:00:12] Speaker A: Gets hit. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Kimmy kids a little too far here. He's gonna have to try and get himself out. Living O Tillery and the rest of the shots of fire. Zion is just killing the next Zion single handedly win the game by game by game by game by [00:00:26] Speaker A: should be. Oh my God. [00:00:28] Speaker B: Stupid. Marches through and manages to the table with Messiah tanking it up. I do not believe he just believe. I cannot understand this game. Unicorns of love. It wasn't a mutant. They're Nexus. Hello and welcome to episode 630 of the League Rundown. This is your 2026 Worlds Play Ins review and Swiss Stage preview episode and it's lovingly entitled. Hey, it can only go up from here. I'm your host, Kangas and I'm joined by three esteemed co hosts. Up first we got. Oh wait, where's the soundboard? Here we go, we got. [00:01:25] Speaker A: And the big bickle pickle. [00:01:27] Speaker B: There we go. [00:01:27] Speaker A: You know, sometimes I hate being right. [00:01:33] Speaker B: It can't be tough. It can be tough to be right. We'll talk about how right you were about certain things that are painful for N A fans. But first we also have joining us Mr. Mazelpl. [00:01:42] Speaker C: Hello. Excited to be here. Excited. [00:01:44] Speaker B: Happy to have you talk to you. Hell yeah. Bring all of your LPL expertise because this is going to be, I imagine, a slightly LCK biased cast today. So you got to bring all the LPL excitement and knowledge to the table. Also, special guest joining us on this week's episode, we have the one, the only. Yeah, you've heard about him, you love him probably if you watch the lcs. Unless you're one of the caster team, which we like to bully him a little bit. We got returning the LCS stats guy, Leo, fresh off an injection of fame this past split, crushing it on the broadcast and becoming kind of like a character in his own right. But I gotta say, we had him on the podcast before he was famous. How's it going, Leo? [00:02:30] Speaker D: Hi. I'm just here so I don't get into by Kangas in our next match. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Oh, you think this is gonna change that? [00:02:36] Speaker D: I hope so. [00:02:38] Speaker B: Okay, well, we'll see, we'll see. I just kind of let Jesus take the wheel when I go into a League of Legends game. So honestly, blame God. Don't do that. It's a great start Episode already. We got worlds to talk about. We're gonna react to the play INS and how God forsook along with the Swiss Stage preview. But before all that, we got some news to hit from around the horn. Up first, some roster news. This is a fresh one. There were some rumors around this and now it's confirmed by the players. C9 have released Zven and Apa. The big seven man roster that never once saw a sixth or seventh man play. And now the two members that were riding the bench are off the team and not on the org anymore. Let's get thoughts on this. Bickle, I'm going to start with you. Just are you at all surprised that this is happening? [00:03:37] Speaker A: Guys, listen to me. I swear it's a seven man roster. You have to believe me. Totally plan to run this the entire time and they were just stuck with these contracts because they couldn't sell them to anybody. [00:03:49] Speaker B: But definitely, definitely. [00:03:51] Speaker A: It's no real surprise to see Sven and APA heading out to greener pastures. Most likely. [00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah, hopefully greener pastures. Speaking of green, potentially Fly Quest to green pastures, another rumor I'm hearing is this is all speculation. This one is like far, far, far from being confirmed. But with Masu's contract being up at Fly Quest, a lot of people are like, well if Taskool didn't work out and they're not keeping Sven, then who would C9 grab? They already have imports in mid and top lane, so probably Masu. I there. There's a chance that C9 makes a push from ASU. It makes sense on paper. So just a big rumor going around. Which then means Fly Quest would be looking for an ad carry. Maybe they just gets vent. It's just like a little, little trade skis, little swap skis, but all that's conjecture. Leo, as the stats guy, what are your thoughts, your reactions to Sven and the apa? First off, just kind of the whole seven man roster since we never got your thoughts on it on this podcast, but then also them departing. [00:04:51] Speaker D: I'm just bummed that we never saw any roster construction shenanigans. I was really hoping we'd have a day where we'd have all possible iterations of the roster play in the same day. Like in a best of five. That would have been sick. But I am excited to see where APA goes next. And as for Sven, maybe we can get the first ever team to riot. Contract trade. And Sven joins the broadcast with chat leaving. [00:05:20] Speaker B: Ooh, true. Jat is departing. You know what, that's something that we didn't even, I don't think cover on a previous episode, his official announcement of that. But yeah, with Jat departing, the LCS broadcast team potentially could be an open seat. So if a player wanted to Pick it up. Sven is, you know, guested many a time on the lcs. Could be a natural fit. Having talked with him in the past, I he likes being on the broadcast, but he has said multiple times, even in interviews and stuff he was like I just love being team side. So I think that he would rather play. Even in his tweet that he put out, it seems like he still is eager to play if not coach. But I'm I'm sure we could convince him if he doesn't have other offers to come join the broadcast. [00:06:03] Speaker D: I hope he doesn't play again only because it would be really funny for his last match to be the classic show match that happened earlier this split. [00:06:11] Speaker B: Oh, that would be his last match. Oh God. That's better that than I guess bombing out in lower bracket finals versus tl, which would be his other last match. All right, we'll keep our eyes on where's Van and APA end up though. I feel like APA as a native mid laner that is I think far and away the best native mid laner that we have. A lot of teams should be looking at him. The question I have is will he want to join one of the lower end teams? Like if. I think Shopify probably keeps any for another year at this point. So then it would be like DSG or dig. Does APA want to join a DSG or a Dig? Probably not. I don't know if I want him to either. But you know you mentioned that you [00:06:57] Speaker A: feel like Masu may leave Fly Quest to join Cloud9. I could see APA heading over to Fly Quest if Quad's not going to be sticking around. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Oh that would be interesting. Maybe Sven and APA to Cloud to Fly Quest. That'd be funny. [00:07:13] Speaker A: They do need a louder voice so true Zen would fit that. [00:07:18] Speaker B: I wonder if Apa Griffin would work in my head. No, but I'm just wondering maybe, maybe there's some like voodoo magic happening there if those two are common for the team. But either way we'll keep our eyes on where's event and APA end up. Some variety topics. That was all the roster news that we had noted for this week. So if we miss anything, let us know in the community. Discord but variety topics. We have the return of Champs Q in NA question mark. In case you don't remember, Champs Q was a thing that used to be around back in like 2022 during that Worlds and I think it was introduced in 2021 but basically it's like a its own server where people with Tournament Realm accounts, specifically pro players can go and play. Matches used to be open for LCS and NACL and I think even like tier three players as well. Pretty much like there's a application process you could get approved to get a an account for it. And then they're like just good players against each other. Just pro players against each other. No solo queue mentality. You're in discord calls so you're communing with everybody. Really cool thing. Champs Q is awesome. It's back in na, but it came back a little last second. Like there wasn't a lot of marketing behind it and a lot of push for it. And even in the post that Mark Z put out it was kind of like a hey, like we threw this together. Like here it is, go do it please. And last night, as of last night there was only one game that fired. So you have to like go into the discord queue up in your rolls and apparently last night over the three hour period or whatever that it's live, only one game actually played. Not ideal, but yeah. Thoughts, Pickle? [00:09:03] Speaker A: There were some technical issues last night regarding ping with things so they weren't necessarily getting the best quality, which is probably part of the reason they ended up like that. If I'm thinking right, it ended up being G2 with Griffin Jungle against Team Liquid with who was it Top Lane? I'm blanking. [00:09:25] Speaker D: I think it was all Team Liquid. [00:09:27] Speaker A: It wasn't all Team Liquid. Morgan wasn't there. [00:09:31] Speaker B: I didn't catch any of the. [00:09:32] Speaker A: I think it was Zoom. [00:09:33] Speaker B: I just was hearing this. [00:09:34] Speaker A: Now that I say it, I think it was Zamudo. But okay, it was Zimuto top for Team Liquid. [00:09:40] Speaker B: And that's the type of stories that you get from Champs Q which I love. Like G2. All of G2 now knows what it's like to play in a game on comms with Griffin. I think that's awesome. So hopefully it continues and hopefully it picks up. It is somewhat nice to hear that there were some Ping issues because maybe that's why some players didn't want to hop on and if they can fix that, sort that out, then it will grow from there. Leo, do you have any thoughts on Champs Q though while. While we're on the topic, [00:10:09] Speaker D: I can just say that I helped tested it a little bit this oh nice past week and Mark Zimmerman, our glorious commissioner kicked me out of the server afterwards. Grateful son of a gun. [00:10:22] Speaker B: That's crazy. The man who Zimmers did that to you. [00:10:25] Speaker D: He's on my list. [00:10:26] Speaker B: Let me tell you, he just made the list. [00:10:29] Speaker D: He just made the list. [00:10:31] Speaker B: The LCS stats guy. Leo's list. Hey look man, if we need to have like a conversation with him about this, just let me know. I'll back you up, okay? I'll be like, I'll be your hype man jumping up and down behind you. [00:10:43] Speaker D: Hell yeah. [00:10:43] Speaker B: Cracking my knuckles and such. Okay, well we'll work on getting Leo back in there. I'm also trying to get in there because I'd love to co stream some of the games. I think it'd be super fun. But also games need to fire so we'll see if they do Demacia Cup Bickle we have a winner for the Damascia Cup. [00:11:03] Speaker A: When we were last talking about the Masia cup, we were down to the semifinals. We knew the four teams remaining. We had the semifinal matchups and we're waiting on the finals as well. We had KT going up against BFX and team we facing off against bro. Were we bound to see an all Korean final? No we were not as we managed to take down Bro. 32 narrowly avoiding being reverse swept but tournament favorites KT Rolster were taken down earlier by BFX so that set up BFX to try to go for back to back off season tournament victories. And that is exactly what they did when they took down team we in pretty convincing fashion. [00:11:43] Speaker B: 31 definitively the best of the mid teams that is earned the right to but it's cool that they're able to win back to back. Well done for your X. Still cool tournament. Still happy that teams like Flycore west were able to go and compete despite the fact that NA also did overall pretty poorly in the Demacia cup as well. World Songs Update as well. We have had a couple at this point in World season. We talked about the anthem on the last episode but now we had the reveal and the release of KDA Fire Starter. It was leaked and then released early. I believe it was supposed to release like early either the day before Swiss started or like on the day of Swiss. Either way it was already going around like online. So then they Riot just released the music video kind of unceremoniously but did not stop it from getting the most views of any Riot music video in the first 24 hours. Pretty cool. That's more than any other KDA song. More than any other world's anthems. It is number one I believe. Got like 9.4 million views in the first 24 hours. Crazy. Let's give our thoughts on It. I'll go last. So let's start with Leo, the guest on the show. Did you like Firestarter? [00:13:06] Speaker D: Oh, it bangs. I've had this on repeat. I've probably listened to it at least 40 times since it came out. [00:13:14] Speaker B: Damn, that's a lot. That's a lot more than me. [00:13:16] Speaker D: But the music video, so nice to watch. [00:13:20] Speaker B: It's so cool. [00:13:21] Speaker D: I'll just put it full screen, turn off my eye saver, just take it all in. It's. [00:13:28] Speaker B: Dude. Evelyn voguing on. I thought that was Evelyn. [00:13:36] Speaker D: Don't disrespect my Kaisa. [00:13:38] Speaker B: All right, sorry. Kaisa voguing in the music video, then. That. That sequence was so cool. I also just love the beginning of it. Like, all the. [00:13:47] Speaker D: The. [00:13:48] Speaker B: The coffins and then they all come out wearing the black outfits. I was like, yeah, let's go. They're back with the dead, baby. All right. Big. [00:13:56] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Sorry. [00:13:57] Speaker C: What? [00:13:57] Speaker A: Yep. [00:13:58] Speaker D: Oh, it's so worth the wait. [00:14:01] Speaker B: So worth the wait. Yep. 100. Bickle, what are your thoughts on Fire Starter by KDA? [00:14:07] Speaker A: Well, Leo's making up for me because [00:14:09] Speaker B: I haven't seen it yet. Oh, no. Okay. It's all right. It's all right. Well, hey, you know what? Maybe at some point during this episode, if you need to step away for, like, five minutes, you know, just grab some AirPods, pop them in, listen to the song in the background. Yeah, it's good. Speaking of stepping away for a moment, we will get maybe Mazel's response later. He had to step away from his computer momentarily, but he'll be rejoining us on the episode shortly. But that's it for all of our news. I think Firestarter was a banger. It is one of, if not my favorite KDA songs. And I think the best song released four worlds this year. I still did like the True Damage one, though. I thought it was cool. Oh, wait, no, not True Damage. The Heart Seal. Heart Seal song. True Damage was in the anthem, right? [00:15:00] Speaker D: Yep. [00:15:00] Speaker B: I'm getting the bands mixed up in my head now. Yeah, there we go. I still like the Hard Steel song. I thought that was a bop too, but Fire Starter is definitely better. Oh, and it looks like Mizel is back. [00:15:09] Speaker D: Mazelle. [00:15:10] Speaker B: We're talking about Fire Starter. I gotta get your thoughts on the new KDA song. How do you review it? [00:15:21] Speaker C: Give it like a. Like an 8 out of 10. I think it's really good. Okay. It's very different. I think it's very, like, K Poppy, which is cool. I think some of the choruses are really awesome, but I think the music video made it. [00:15:37] Speaker B: Yeah, the music video is awesome. One of the best parts, the only knock against it that I have is I think it's just like a little cheesy. The lyrics, when they're like, I' ma start a fire, I'm a fire starter. I'm like, that's like the pinnacle of the chorus. And it's just like, okay, we're just kind of like reversing the words and like say the same thing kind of. But it's a great song. That's a nitpicky thing. Just a tiny little thing. And I don't want Leo to get mad at me because it seems like he really, really likes this. So we're gonna, we're gonna move on from there. If we missed any information, any news that you wish we talked about though, before we hopped into the world's part, you know what to do, let us know in the community Discord. Link to that is in the description, wherever you are listening, along with links to both our Patreon and our merch shop. So if you want to help support the pod, you can do so through there. Unfortunately, we have not had an update to our updated merch this week. I've not had the time to sit down with Sam and go through any of the designs, but hopefully by sometime during Worlds we will have some new designs on the merch shop for anybody who's interested in picking up some more fun stuff. With that being said, gentlemen, it's time to talk about 2026 League of Legends World Championship Tournament. Starting with the play ins in Los Angeles, California, we had four days of games. Two best of fives on the first two days, one best of five on the last two. With only one of four teams advancing to the Swiss. Mazel. Run me through real quick from first to last place. How did play ins shake out? Well, well, well. [00:17:16] Speaker C: We find ourselves here once again a bit unfortunate. It was KC that ended up coming out the the victors and the only ones to move forward into the world's main stage. Second place was MVK from the lcp, the number three seed there. And then, and, and then you would think it's North America, but no, it's Brazil. Brazil was third place falling to MVK and coming in as the worst performing team of Worlds. 2026. Something I have not been able to say about the NA teams for I feel like a couple years now was C9. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Last place, worst team at Worlds, first ones out on home soil, they Just had to walk down the street to enjoy the rest of their year because they have no more League of Legends ahead of them in 2026. Disastrous for NA. Heartbreaking for the region hosting Worlds. But hey, they were the worst team in the plan. So what are you going to do about it? [00:18:27] Speaker A: I'm telling you, a Cloud9 fan found a monkey's paw and wished to be [00:18:31] Speaker B: at Worlds, actually literally ending the curse after three years. And then this is the result. It's just so painful. [00:18:40] Speaker A: I know technically they did because Plans is still Worlds, but did they? I mean, the games were at the LCS studio. [00:18:48] Speaker B: Yeah, they didn't even make it out the door. [00:18:52] Speaker A: They did the only thing that would make it so they couldn't play outside of the LCS studio because if they had finished in fourth or fifth, they would have gone international to Demacia Cup. If they had finished second or first, they would have at least got to travel the U.S. so the only way Crazy could have not traveled anywhere was to finish third place in play ins. [00:19:16] Speaker B: Maybe they just really like la. Maybe they're a little agoraphobic right now and they don't want to leave home. You know, it happens. It happens. Yeah, it was a spectacular failure from C9, literally that. Let's start with the KC match because we don't have time to break down every match from play ins. But I think this one for sure is worth talking about. What a monstrous throw. In game two. We were so far up in gold and then we just botch back to back Dragon Fights and Casey are able to run away with it. Then we take game three and we're up two to one. But that series should have been a three zero. I know it's been memed on. I know it's like, oh, the NA cope, the NA Cup. It should have been a three zero. Like that's the craziest part, is that we wouldn't even be having this conversation if they had just done what they needed to do with that big of a goal leading game too. And yeah, they just kind of fell apart from there. Leo, as the guest on the Pod, I don't want to like throw you straight into the hot seat here, but what are your thoughts in general on C9's performance in play ins? Either from just a personal perspective or maybe from a stats perspective, because I know that you were helping the broadcast the entire time. Like we were both working during play ins and so you were coming up with a lot of stats, but either that lens or just through your own personal lens on C9's performance. [00:20:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:20:33] Speaker D: I mean, I can only find one bright side in their performance, and it's that at least they were near apartment you know it. I have never. I don't think I've ever been so mad at one of our teams before at an international event like TSM06. Yeah, I was pretty upset, but I, I, I legit had a crash out when I was telling my wife what happened that day. And just how abysmal, how embarrassing. C9's performance was utterly ridiculous. [00:21:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And unfortunately for myself, the only series that I cast it was then C9 losing to Furia, which was their next opponent. [00:21:17] Speaker D: And you called it too. In the, in the morning meeting we had, you're like, I've only ever cast. When I cast C9 internationally. They lose, I think is what you said. And I was like, oh, Jesus. [00:21:31] Speaker B: I don't want to be the curse man, but I think I might be the curse man. Like, I casted America's cup earlier. 2026. They were 05 against Fury. They lost the best of three, then a best of five against the Brazilian team. So they were 05 going in. They take game one and it's like, okay, thank God. But it wasn't that convincing. Like, it was a slow burn despite them having a big lead. And I think that you could tell they were much more afraid after what happened in the KC series where they also got gold leads. But then through this time around, they got gold leads and then did nothing. And she's kind of like, the game ended because they were able to eventually get the elder and, you know, get the Baron push and yada yada. Also, Tatu definitely helping out by just Jarvan Eqing straight into a line push that all of C9 was in was kind of funny. Jet did a breakdown of that of, like, why he might have done something like that based on the vision, but definitely were given a free play here and there. But then the rest of the series, C9 had just like completely lost all heart. So, yeah, again, don't want to be the curse, but think I might be. I want to give everybody though here because I think we're all NA bias. I want to give us all an opportunity, a little cathartic release. Talk about the pain inflicted on US by C9. Mizel, would you like to go next? How are you feeling about C9 at Worlds? [00:22:59] Speaker C: Well, I know there's a common statement of, like, feminism and stuff being set back for many years. This also applies to this situation where NA has Been set back many years of progress because. Because of C9's failures. [00:23:23] Speaker B: I was so confused where you were going with that. And honestly, I kind of wish you had said C 9. Set feminism back with that performance. [00:23:34] Speaker C: I don't want to get canceled. [00:23:40] Speaker B: Oh, wow. [00:23:41] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Yeah. No, they said America back. They said. They said it's bad. [00:23:45] Speaker C: Na. [00:23:45] Speaker B: All right. [00:23:46] Speaker C: It's not America. [00:23:46] Speaker B: It's na just n. A true. Yeah. Even bigger. Even bigger than America itself. Oh, yeah. Oh, a Bickle. I don't know how you're gonna top that, but I want to give you an opportunity as well. I mean, how did C9 make you feel? [00:24:02] Speaker A: Honestly, indifferent, because I wasn't surprised. Like, coming into the tournament, I was really low on C9, and I thought they'd lose to Furia when they met, I just thought Furio was going to be better than MVK so it would happen later when they matched up, I thought they'd lose, and they did. But C9 has some obvious big issues that they need to address, and I'm really curious to see where this roster goes. [00:24:38] Speaker B: There's been a lot of conversations, if you've been watching any of the other supplemental content. Like, Yamato went on to a podcast and hearing, like, Mind the Gap, where Vetti shared some of his conversations he had with Yamato as well, of, like, kind of what happened to the team. And basically, it was like, there's two different extremes of C9 comms that are both detrimental. One is everybody's yelling and making a bunch of noise and nobody's listening to each other. And then the other is if somebody makes a mistake early in the game, they just shut off and stop talking. And both of those things were happening in play ins, and that's two very different things to solve as a coach. But both of them are. The stem is communication. Communication on C9 was not good enough for them to beat the other teams in the play ins, even if their hands were okay. But, like, even in the Fury match, like, that was something I brought up on Cast. I was like, when I think of Loki Thanatos, I expect them to smash these lanes. And it shouldn't really matter too much about, like, is blabber helping them out? Like, in just the isolated 1v1, they should be better. And they weren't. They weren't, like, individually getting big leads. I think Thanatos arguably, in my mind, had the better performance because, like, I think just back to local yes, no, or three kills on lock and then throwing it. [00:26:11] Speaker A: I have a problem with How Thanatos performing the fact that he couldn't gap the guy that Kratos fathered like, yeah, you should be destroying Guiga. And you just didn't. [00:26:25] Speaker B: And a big part of it. I know that this was something talked about in a lot on the cast. It was talked about postgame is talked about all over the place was like, why did C9 ban three ranged top laners when Gigo doesn't play those they banned like Vayne Varys. I think Jace was one. And it's like those are not in his champ pool just to like Thanatos Renekton when Gigo's counter to Renekton is volley Bear. He played it twice against Thanatos in the Americas Cup. So it's a known thing should be in C9's draft reports than it does should remember this. And I did get. I did hear that it was a Thanatos call that he said like C9 comms when drafting was like he could go volley bear. And Thanato said, no, I. I win this matchup now. I've been practicing it. And so then they felt confident because Sanitos was confident. And then it did not work at all. So stuff like that's tough because it's like again, are you gonna blame the coach for a bad draft? Are you gonna blame the player for asking his coach for the bad draft? Yeah, a lot of emotions, A lot of emotions around C9. But I think there's a couple other celebrations to have. I know it's. It's a little heartbreaking, but do. Do people have positive thoughts on Brazil, on how Furia performed in this. In this plans because they were able to beat C9. And it just kind of feels like whenever they play against NA now Furia just gets angry. Somehow levels up. [00:27:58] Speaker A: I'm gonna be an actual. I. I don't want to do this. I want to be a real downer. I think this is a disappointing plans for Brazil too. [00:28:06] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:28:07] Speaker A: Like, I think the fact that they got 6:1 to buy MVK is really difficult for them. They should absolutely be happy with the fact that they beat down C9. But I think personally, like to the Furia team, they were expecting to do that. They were probably expecting to compete with Casey and I thought that's what they would do. But they couldn't match up against mvk, who I think are the real. Yes, Casey got out. But I think MVK are kind of the story of plans. [00:28:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm happy to bring that up. This team was wild to watch. I Feel like they really encapsulate the old wild card mentality. You know, back in olden days of Worlds, we would have wild card regions and when they would come in, we would see things like Levi, I guess that wasn't really a wild card region, but like, you know, the level six knocked her and whatever four minutes into the game. And these like crazy strategies that aren't the best to, you know, consistently win games. But if you take your opponent by surprise, you can. MVK had some of the funniest stats in the tournament and Leo, I'm gonna throw it to you here for it. Do you have the stats or do you remember the stats of how many first time champions they had as a team? [00:29:19] Speaker D: God, yeah. I think it ended up being like, when we ran the graphic, it was six, if I remember correctly, six champions. It was a little late in Tier one before. [00:29:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And it was a little cheating because Sansan the Jungler, he had never played in Tier one. So Guri is their main jungler. Sansan subbed in versus KC games two and three and that was his debut in Tier one. That's a Tier two Academy player that got his first, first ever Tier one games at Worlds. And he looked really good for the first. Like I was gonna say that, like [00:29:54] Speaker A: the first half of game two where he was on the Kiana. I'm like, is this gonna work? [00:30:00] Speaker B: I was getting so hyped because I was on the desk for that series with, with Jad and Emily and we were all like, holy, like, this kid's actually popping off. Like, we gotta do like a whole highlight reel. It was awesome. Good start. It didn't finish, but I think it's a great start for the kids. [00:30:16] Speaker A: They had so many fun picks. The cog mom, repeatedly. I think that was my favorite. Yeah, that was just great to see because the first time I was like, wow, this is a really niche thing they're bringing up. Then they do it again. Like, okay, they just really like it. And then they do it a third time. Like, shit, is this like one of their best picks? [00:30:34] Speaker B: Yep. It really was also interesting, semi like controversial thing about kog'. Maw. I don't know if anybody else saw this. It didn't make a lot of ways Damage with W. The turret damage with W. Yeah. It's a bug that was a known exploit and he abused it every single game that he played. Kogma on. On camera, you can see instances. So if you have. For anybody who's not aware of this bug, kog', Ma, your W you get like the empowered autos and the. The extra range. So in this one, for this bug, the way it works, if you press W while you have an auto attack in the air currently it will add your. Your like on hit multipliers to that auto. But it has a bug on turrets where it will now do your per the W percentage health damage to the turret itself. So you can get percentage damage to turrets, which it shouldn't do. It only works when you press W wall and auto attack is already in the air. So it's. Yeah, he was getting a lot of damage on Terry with that AP Kagma. That was crazy. [00:31:46] Speaker A: And correct me if I'm wrong, Leo, but I think the first game he played he had like the second highest DPM ever at Worlds. [00:31:56] Speaker D: Yeah, it was third. I didn't check World specifically, but it was third highest at an international and first at an international among mid laners beating Chubby's. [00:32:10] Speaker B: That's so cool. It's such. And he was without the game. He's against Cassante because I remember being [00:32:16] Speaker D: a person picked the first. [00:32:18] Speaker B: Okay, I don't remember exactly what. I just remember at one point there being a Cassante on the other team and being like is AP Cog enough to shred through that? That was against Assassin. Yeah, he like four shots. It was disgusting. [00:32:31] Speaker A: That was against Cassante. And also the counter pick to Rise where it just looked really good in the rise. [00:32:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So yeah, fun picks, fun play style. And that last game versus Casey. What a game to go out on Twitch. Freaking Harky leaving his lane and invading top jungle level one is AD carry. Twitch was so goofy, dude. Leo, have we ever seen that? Like this is a random stat to ask from you, so don't worry if you don't have the answer. But like is there any like metric that we were able to catch from that game of like slowest AD carry completion of first item or like of their quest or anything like that? Because it felt like he put himself so far by doing that. But it was so fun to watch. [00:33:19] Speaker D: Yeah, I thought the same thing. Like surely his role quest is gonna finish super late. I looked up the number. It actually wasn't terrible when you consider how much he was out of lane for that first five minutes. [00:33:32] Speaker A: Really? [00:33:32] Speaker D: It was like. I want to say it was obviously top half of like slowest, but it wasn't like up there on the leaderboard. You know what I mean? [00:33:43] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:33:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:44] Speaker B: It wasn't like breaking records or anything. [00:33:46] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. [00:33:48] Speaker B: That is surprising considering he just wasn't really able to get back into the game very much at all. I mean, yeah, he wasn't atrociously behind CS. I think it's peaked at like 40, which is pretty bad. But then he was able to maintain from there. But the cheese did not work, unfortunately. But that last game was just all gas, man. Like the solo kills top lane. The, the, the sequence. What was the sequence where it's like Vetti. I just remember screaming like, we have to calm down. There's a stone kill top immediately after [00:34:22] Speaker D: that was probably one of the most fun games I've watched in quite a long time. [00:34:27] Speaker B: Oh yeah. And if you're gonna go out of Worlds, go out that way. Don't go out with a whimper. Go out with a fucking roar. That was so fun. [00:34:36] Speaker A: MVK did not make it out of play ins, but they're going to be more remembered than probably 90% of the teams and Worlds. [00:34:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Specifically they played a rookie jungler. He had never played Tier one before and he gets to go in and play against Yikes in Worlds. That's so cool. I love that. [00:34:58] Speaker A: One of the very few players to technically make their Tier one debut at Worlds. [00:35:05] Speaker B: Yeah, Leo. Has anybody else done that? I know that we had asked at some point on the day for that stat, but there was a lot of stuff going on that day. Were you ever able to dig? Like, has a player ever subbed in for their debut at Worlds? I never, like a unique first time. [00:35:20] Speaker D: I never got around to really looking at it. But Molecule, the LEC stats guy, I think did give me two names that may have also done it before, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. [00:35:34] Speaker B: I know it sounds like you might know. [00:35:36] Speaker A: One was for Fanatic at AD Carry. I'm trying to remember his name. That was the year that upset had something going on so he couldn't make it. [00:35:45] Speaker B: Oh yeah, Forgot about that. [00:35:49] Speaker C: Wasn't like Bean or something. [00:35:51] Speaker A: It was Bean. I think you're right. I think you're dead on. I think it was Bean. [00:35:54] Speaker D: Oh yeah. I think that's what Molecule said for one of them. Cool. [00:35:58] Speaker B: Well, all right. So it wasn't a unique first time, but it doesn't happen a lot. And it was cool that it almost worked. Very close. Yeah. But Casey made it through Worlds 2021 [00:36:11] Speaker A: with Bean, with being. [00:36:14] Speaker B: There we go. We have. The last team we haven't talked about is kc. The team that did make it out of the play ins stage, it was a comeback against C9, but then they cleaned up that was a 3 over 7 VK, 3 over 70K back to back. Didn't even have to play versus Brazil. And yeah, they I think looked like the best team in play ins once they shattered C9's mental in that first series. [00:36:43] Speaker A: They looked like the best human planes. Once Yike decided to plug in his keyboard, that too. [00:36:49] Speaker B: Yeah. So let's get dig a little deeper into that pickle. What are your thoughts on Casey overall? And like did they impress you? Do they convince you that they can do any damage in the in the Swiss stage? Like where are you at with Casey right now? [00:37:02] Speaker A: In all honesty, I think planes told me nothing about Casey. Like the law, the five game series against Cloud 9 was concerning, but I very much attribute that to rust, nerves and a little bit of choking. But it seems like they were kind of able to get that under control. Specifically Yike who was having an atrocious series against Cloud9. He seemed to pull it back against MVK where they just looked like the by far better team. So I think Casey has potential to do some damage. I wouldn't count on them making it out, but I wouldn't be surprised if they make it to like the 22 round of Swiss. [00:37:45] Speaker B: Okay, I think that's a very respectable end for Casey. I actually wouldn't even have them that high going in this with stage. But I will say my read outside of Yike coming online is also that Kalist I think looked much better against MBK than he did against C9. So Clist definitely warmed up to it because it's crazy to think this is actually his first worlds. Kalist has never been at worlds before, so in his debuts I think, yeah, it took him a little time to warm up to the stage. Now he's got to get a new stage to warm up to in Allen, Texas and a lot of eyes will be on the young French ad carry. Okay, that's all that we had. Oh, oh wait, there's one, one last narrative that we forgot to cover. Leo, you brought this to our attention. More of a reminder. Raz's ass, kind of the breakout star of the play ins stage, would you say? [00:38:39] Speaker D: Oh, absolutely. You know, he tried to say he had a wallet back there, but if there was a wallet back there, it was holding the entire U. S. Treasury, let me tell you. That was a dump truck on stage. [00:38:52] Speaker B: For anybody who's unaware, there was a clip going around. Jamada, I believe was the first one I saw post it. But then it just made waves all over socials of a certain Angle of Razzle plasm, beloved analyst on the lcs. And yeah, he's packing. So shout out Raz. And kind of became like a rallying cry for N A for a bit there. But unfortunately, just like Raz displayed himself, NA was ass. So okay, that's it for the Swiss Stage conversation though we had draw show after the Swiss Stage wrapped up for the first round. Or sorry, of planes after plans wrapped up, we had our draw show for Swiss stage. There we go. That's the correct word order right there. And so now let's bring our attention to what comes next. Games are going to start this Friday and we got a lot of games. That is eight best of ones happening in a single day. It's going to be a very, very long one, but we gotta start with the matchups themselves. Bazelle, can I toss it over to you to just run us through real quick all ups and then we'll give our thoughts on some of the big ones. [00:40:07] Speaker C: We had some banger draws, so we're starting off with Gen G versus ig. An absolute giga banger. And maybe not everybody thinks that, but I hope that HLE versus Top Esports is going to be next. Then we have BLG versus MCOIL and AL versus kc. So it's going to be all of the LPL representatives to kick off the day. They're the only ones that are all playing their games right back to back, which is hilarious. [00:40:34] Speaker D: That is interesting. [00:40:34] Speaker B: I didn't even realize. [00:40:35] Speaker C: And then, well, I guess EU does too in the later stage as then it'll be G2 versus DK after ALKC and then we'll have Team Liquid versus CFO, Los versus T1 and TSW versus Line to round out the first day. [00:40:51] Speaker B: Which means it is LCS versus LCP. The last two remaining LCS seeds are against the last two remaining LCP seeds for the first round, which both sides consider a blessing because it is an easier opponent. But it has raised a question around the community. I've heard the takes on both sides. I have my own opinion on this, but first I want to hear from everybody else. Leo, let's start with you as the guest on the pod. Do you think N.A. was lucky or unlucky given the draw? Because the counter argument I've heard is that you want stronger opponents in the best of one rounds because then you can't rematch against them for qualification rounds. Whereas if you have your easier opponents early, yeah, you're going to get wins, but then you're going to be against stronger opponents in qualification rounds, statistically speaking. What are your thoughts? [00:41:44] Speaker D: Yeah, I can see that argument. I'm more on the side of the we got lucky. Only because you go back to last year, the Hundred thieves nightmare run. They got a hard matchup in every single round. I don't believe having a good or bad draw in round run, round one really affects too much, honestly. But I think it's a little better that we get an easy draw, because assuming all goes to plan, you got a free win. Now you're only two wins away from qualifying. [00:42:19] Speaker B: Yes. [00:42:19] Speaker D: You're. [00:42:19] Speaker B: You're getting a W in the column, which is better than a loss in the first column. Mizell, let's actually. Mizzle sounded like he had a lot of thoughts on this, so let's go. Bickle first. Bickle, what are your thoughts? Is NA lucky or unlucky on the draw? [00:42:33] Speaker A: I think Leo hit the nail on the head. It's better to have these matches be quotation marks. What you consider to be freer wins, because then you only need two wins instead of three wins. And for the people that are saying you want to rematch them later, these type of teams are likely not the teams you're going to be facing in those qualifications. Exactly. [00:42:55] Speaker B: Yeah. That. That. That's my big takeaway from it. So you. You hit my nail on the head as well. All right. I'm in agreement mostly with Bickle and Leo here. Mazel. What are your thoughts? Was N a lucky or unlucky? What are your opinions on the drug? [00:43:12] Speaker C: I just think, in general, I think it's hilarious that everybody's, like, thinking that this first draw decides your entire world Swiss run, where, like, I think you want to have these harder matchup, quote, unquote, harder matchups earlier on, and especially the way that Swiss works out. But it's the best of one. Like, literally anybody can win a best of one. We've seen it time and time again. So I think if you want a harder opponent or you want a good test into the. Into the Swiss stage without having to cost too much, I think it's the perfect opportunity for it. And, you know, I think it's funny that, you know, everybody in NA is like, oh, free wins, free wins. But let's be real. Like, I don't think they're free. I think both sides are saying that, which I think is hilarious. So I would rather see these tougher matches. Like, I know me being LPL biased. Like, I'm actually really happy that we got 2 and 2. I guess more so the LCK side of things, but, like, the fact that we do get top esports versus hilly, maybe top esports, bombs out, who knows, Whatever. But we get to see that test, right? And we get to see what they can do. And I think for ig, specifically against Gen G, I think anything is possible in that. Best of one. [00:44:24] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, well, it sounds like we're all pretty much in agreement. And I find truth in everybody's statements because, Mizell, I think that. But what you hit on there was that it's not free wins. I know that we. Everyone else is like, quotation free wins. I don't think any of us consider it to be like, oh, we are heavily favored in these matchups, but these should be the easier teams for us to match up against. But based on how C9 looked, I'm not like, oh, I'm scared right now. Yeah, like, especially cfo, more so than team Secret Whales, based on what I've seen of them. And just like, man, I respect the hell out of doggo. And if he's able to, like, tilt yawn, that could go poorly. [00:45:06] Speaker C: Just to add on, like, from the EU centered thing, like, I would be super happy that McOH and Casey get to face off Bins Blgal, because first of all, you don't have to match up against them again, but at least for the while. But also, you just get to see what the level is. Right? And you're literally facing the one and two team from LPL in a best of one. I think that's the place I would want to be. [00:45:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:45:28] Speaker B: That's what 100 Thieves was able to capitalize on last year and get their win in best of one against blg. But what I want to focus on is that, God damn it, do we need a win in the N A column? So let's just get a win on the opening day, please. Whether it's a good draw, bad draw, I don't care. I just want to see a W next to one of our team's names, please. [00:45:52] Speaker D: All right. [00:45:52] Speaker B: Let's talk about best matchups, though. Mizell, you said Gen G versus ig Giga Banger, I want you to have a little time to talk about why you think so. Because in general, I'm seeing a lot of doubt around ig. This is your opportunity to try and correct that narrative as you see fit. [00:46:08] Speaker C: Well, first of all, carria said that IG was the best team besides them at Worlds 2025. [00:46:15] Speaker B: Oh. [00:46:16] Speaker C: So you know that. That was great. [00:46:17] Speaker B: Okay. [00:46:18] Speaker C: This time they are not barred in at the plans which is awesome. A majority of the team is still the same. John T is the newest addition. He was on Top Esports to start the year. He earned his place over there but then was vehemently replaced by Jackie Love when he came back from his break. But he has been a big star for IG and I think you can still rely on some of the old carries. I know especially the Shine Rookie were having really good end of the year performances. Even if they are the the fourth seed, I still think their run in playoffs was really, really impressive and get to see some of that veteran feel from it, which was awesome. I think way has been a little bit hit or miss in the jungle and that's I think what I'm most worried about. But I'm more excited to see Jachi especially go up against Ruler. Obviously a lot of background there as well. But it's going to be an interesting match because I think it'll give a nice taste test to what IG can bring because I think people are doubting this team and I think they do have an opportunity to make a huge run. Not only the motivation behind the scenes and the things that they've talked about, especially like it's so cute. Like literally the shy just came out of the woodworks from playing Valorant and playing Wild Rift because he wanted to make this run with Rookie and I know that was a lot of the case last year, but it feels like they've sobered up a little bit from that. We're bringing the stars together in 2025 and then it didn't work to we just want to win and we want to find a way to win. So I think it's gonna be very hot or cold. I think they have the opportunity to develop in the tournament itself, but I want to see what this first test has. [00:47:53] Speaker B: Okay. I like it because I again, almost everything I've been hearing is, oh, IG overrated. IG overrated. So from somebody who's covered a lot of LPL games and is like the expert of LPL on this podcast, happy to hear that you have a little more faith in them because yeah, otherwise, yeah, we're only getting one lens. Let's give everyone's favorite banger matchup for day one. We're not going to cover like single thing or all the potentials for the next days as well. This is just day one. But Leo, what are you looking forward to on day one? What. What match are you kind of focused on here? [00:48:26] Speaker D: I think I'M looking forward to HLE TEs because it's either going to be a miracle happens or war crimes are occurring in the top line. And either way, it's going to be super entertaining. I can't wait to see what 369 rolls in this game. [00:48:46] Speaker C: Dude, can I just add a little flavor to it because I think it's hilarious. I don't know if knight had the script or whatever. I'm sure y' all have all seen the. The tweets about it or maybe you haven't, but there were screenshots grabbed of. Of Knight messaging or 369 on the league chat, and he literally said, if you're having trouble dealing with emerald players, what are you gonna do against Zayas? And then he literally got Zayas in the first round. [00:49:11] Speaker B: It's so goofy. [00:49:12] Speaker A: I think we're about to experience some war crimes in the top lane. [00:49:17] Speaker C: I don't think so. I believe in 369. It's not like he hasn't been around the game. He's literally been coaching Zweighon this entire time. He's been the positional coach behind him. So it's not like he hasn't, like, been around the game. Maybe he hasn't, like, played solo queue and stuff like that, but I don't think it's gonna, like, I. I don't think it's gonna be good. But it's also 3, 6, 9, bread and butter to play defensively and try not to lose. And I think that's something that top esports can play around. [00:49:42] Speaker D: I think there's one way to make this matchup pretty fair to 369. Riot should let him pick a valorant character for this first game. Yeah. [00:49:52] Speaker B: Maybe the new one. Hush. Was that her name or something like that? [00:49:55] Speaker C: Yeah, it was supposed to be Clove. [00:49:57] Speaker B: Supposed to be Clove. What happened? [00:49:59] Speaker C: That's what cr. Well, that's what Chris was talking about. That's where the joke comes from. [00:50:04] Speaker B: Okay. [00:50:05] Speaker D: Okay. [00:50:05] Speaker C: Chris was saying the only way you can win is if, like, nobody shows up to the game. And then if he picks clove, then Zayas will have no idea what he's doing. [00:50:12] Speaker A: Yeah, [00:50:14] Speaker B: well, that's going to be a fun one for sure. For many, many reasons. Bickle, let's go to you. What's your matchup that you're looking forward to the most on day one? [00:50:23] Speaker A: I think the closest and the best matchup in round one. It's just G2DK. [00:50:29] Speaker B: Okay. Oh, that's a good one. Actually. [00:50:32] Speaker A: Two teams with very high variance. DK in particular, can be the best. Can be one of the best teams at this tournament or one of the worst teams at this tournament. And everything in between, [00:50:46] Speaker D: man. [00:50:47] Speaker B: The fourth seed from LCK, I feel like, is always banger, because T1 has been the fourth seed multiple times and always, like, pops off, too. So maybe DK steals some of that magic. That'd be a. That'd be a one for the road. Yeah, that's a good one. Actually, I was just gonna go for one of the N A ones. I feel like TL CFO is one that's going to be very close. I actually think CFO is going to give us a lot more trouble than maybe most NA fans would believe. And both of our regions are very happy with Easter us. There's gonna be just a lot of, like, rivalry going on here. I think it's really cool. So there we go. That's all of our kind of plugs for the. The first round. One that you maybe just don't even need to watch because we all just kind of assume we know what's gonna happen is. Is los versus t1. Can we talk about this? How the hell did t1 get, like, the easiest draw in the entire bracket? Or was it the easiest draw? Maybe we're overreacting. Leo, was this you that brought up the T1 narrative armor? I forgot who reminded me to add this one to the. To the dock here it was Miselle. All right, Mizelle, sorry I stole your valor and gave it to Leo there. Talk to me about T1's narrative armor and pull in LOS here. Is this information that. Dude, yeah, yeah. [00:52:03] Speaker C: You're just absolutely flipping this. Usually they wait to activate the Antarctica servers until it's like. Like, knockouts when they really give, like, t1 all the buffs. But, hey, you're just starting off strong here. They. Hey, at least they're communicating with us for the first time in the last three years that they want T1 to win. And that's true. [00:52:21] Speaker B: This is. [00:52:21] Speaker C: At least there's open communication. [00:52:23] Speaker B: Leo, I don't know if you're aware of this. We have a running bit on the podcast where when it comes time for worlds, that one of the people from this Riot Skins team has a dial that they can adjust the damage that T1 does in team fights. [00:52:37] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. [00:52:38] Speaker C: Give or take, like, 10 to 15. Oh, yeah. You know them, don't you? [00:52:43] Speaker D: Like, you're connected with them to comment on that particular statement. [00:52:49] Speaker C: Good, good, good. [00:52:51] Speaker B: Probably for the best, but Running bit we have. And now. Yeah, it's getting a little more obvious from the riot side here. But that said, I. Maybe I'm just disrespecting Brazil because we did just lose. Scene. I lost a Furia, our third seed versus their second seed. And now this is their first seed who beat Furia back to back in their play. [00:53:08] Speaker D: Yeah. And I'd say C9's on a pretty similar. Similar level as T1, so it's really anyone's game here. [00:53:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:16] Speaker D: Okay. [00:53:17] Speaker B: Fair enough, actually. All right, moving on, Moving on. That's day one, everybody. Some of the expectations, some of the narratives around. But now it is time for another tradition on the league Rundown podcast, which is our world's award predictions. So we have a couple of categories that we do every single year. And as a cast, we just kind of lay down our expectations for them. Up first we have the Rundown Knighthood award, which of course is which player is over hyped. I myself put 3, 6, 9. This guy, he's coming out of nowhere, you know, he's just. He hasn't even playing a lot. I looked into his last couple of match records. Not that impressed. I don't know why. This guy's a world's caliber player. It doesn't even seem like he plays the game very much anymore, so I'm surprised by that one. Leo went the opposite way. You put Zweighon. I don't even know if that guy's gonna make it to Worlds. [00:54:21] Speaker D: Right? I'll be the first to admit I don't pay much attention to pro league outside of the lcs. I'm a huge homer. But I've been hearing so much about Soyon, and I think he got first team all pro, if I'm not mistaken. This split and everyone's like super hyped for him coming Worlds, and we haven't even started the switch stage and he's already invisible. He's already not here. So I don't. I don't see how. [00:54:47] Speaker C: Come on, man. Why are you doing that? [00:54:55] Speaker B: Hey, true. More like Zweigo first. [00:54:58] Speaker D: No, it isn't internationals, bro. Come on. It sure isn't. By the way. It's going. [00:55:04] Speaker B: Yeah, he's gonna have to hit his first internationals next year. [00:55:11] Speaker A: Didn't he make MSI this year? [00:55:13] Speaker D: Oh, that'd be embarrassing if I didn't remember that. [00:55:16] Speaker C: The first World. [00:55:17] Speaker A: Okay, I heard you guys say international. I could have sworn this was. [00:55:21] Speaker B: I think I said first international. There you go. Mazelle. Who did you put for your rundown? Knighthood Award. [00:55:31] Speaker C: What was it? Sorry, like, cut out. [00:55:33] Speaker B: Oh, who did you put for your rundown Knighthood Award? [00:55:38] Speaker C: Oh, it's the. Well, am I gonna get. Am I. I'm not gonna. Am I gonna get, like, chased down in the streets and killed if I say this. Probably. [00:55:47] Speaker B: Probably not. [00:55:47] Speaker C: It's the Mr. Choker himself, [00:55:51] Speaker B: Toby, aka chokey. There we go. Mazel. Locked it in. [00:55:58] Speaker A: I don't. [00:55:58] Speaker B: So. So this is where the. The, you know, actual debate comes in, because mine was a total meme answer, but I'm actually going to challenge you on this. Is he hyped this year? I feel like Choby is the least hyped. [00:56:08] Speaker A: He's always. This year. [00:56:09] Speaker C: No, he's always hyped. Always. [00:56:11] Speaker B: Okay. [00:56:13] Speaker A: He's still rated by multiple people as the best player coming into Worlds. [00:56:18] Speaker B: Jeez. Yeah, I remember Jad did, like, a whole breakdown of, like, all the times Jovi's been in World's Finals and, like, how many times, how many games did he choke? And he actually has a pretty high record of clutching. Like, he doesn't choke that often. It's just his team chokes often around him. But I test individually. He actually is. It was like, two of the games, he could. Individually, you could argue he choked himself. So. [00:56:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I think especially last year in that KT series was really rough. [00:56:51] Speaker D: That was a true joke. Yeah. [00:56:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, [00:56:57] Speaker B: yeah. I don't remember if Jack did all of his series at Worlds or just. [00:57:00] Speaker D: Well, I don't think he's made a finals. Can't guess. [00:57:03] Speaker A: He's never made finals. [00:57:05] Speaker B: Oh, has he not made finals? [00:57:06] Speaker A: He's never made finals. He's always made quarters and semis. [00:57:09] Speaker B: Oh, my God, he's so overrated. That's crazy. Overhyped. [00:57:12] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:57:12] Speaker B: Mazal, you're totally right on. [00:57:13] Speaker C: Yeah, I am. I know, I know. I called. [00:57:15] Speaker B: All right, Big. Oh, who'd you pick? [00:57:19] Speaker A: Continuing my train of. I think North America is getting way too hyped up coming into this Worlds. I've gone for Jose Dioto. [00:57:27] Speaker C: No. [00:57:30] Speaker B: Why? It's going to directly conflict with one of my picks later. [00:57:34] Speaker A: Yes, I know, but I. Jose is fun. I think he's a good player. I'm just not convinced he's going to match the level of what is a pretty stacked jungle pool. [00:57:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it is a stacked jungle pool. And he was the second best jungler in North America. [00:57:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:57:58] Speaker B: Throughout the year. Arguable at times, he was the best. [00:58:01] Speaker A: But, like, I had difficulty with this one because I'm like, I don't feel like, there's anyone that I've heard that's being, like, so hyped up, I'm like, no, that's just not that. I just highly disagree. So I had to look for someone, like, Yeah, I guess. [00:58:17] Speaker B: Okay, so fair enough. I guess I've fair enough. [00:58:20] Speaker A: It seems like I'm settling into my role of the NA hater on this podcast. [00:58:24] Speaker B: You really are. And Jamada couldn't even join us. I thought he would be the one to hate on na, but I guess instead we got Bickle. [00:58:35] Speaker A: It's pessimism. There's a difference. [00:58:38] Speaker B: It's not hate. It's hurt. You know, I've been hurt in the past. [00:58:42] Speaker A: Exactly. It's like, listen, they've hurt me so many times, I just expect them to continue hurting me. [00:58:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You know when somebody being an NA [00:58:51] Speaker D: fan is really just having Stockholm syndrome. [00:58:53] Speaker B: Okay. It kind of is, actually. [00:58:58] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:58:59] Speaker B: And our next award, though, Moving on along the list for the League rundown award predictions, we have the Please Bench, the Kench Award, AKA Please don't make this chant popular in my solo queue. Something that we think will either surprise the masses, shock the masses, inspire the masses to start playing a champion that is very annoying to play against in solo queue. This happens pretty much every year around Worlds, where a pick is locked in that then just kind of ruins a couple of our games of experience. I'm gonna toss this one over to Bickle. Bickle, run us through. What are the. The choices that we have here? [00:59:37] Speaker A: Just go through everybody's. [00:59:39] Speaker B: Start with yourself. [00:59:40] Speaker A: Okay. For. For myself, it's just a champ that everybody hates. I just don't like watching this champion. I don't like it being popular in solo queue because it's boring to play. It's awful to play against. Please just remove Yumi. Like, please. [01:00:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Got played in the KC game. Although is. I don't know if, like, when I see Yumi played, are people inspired to play Yumi or would people that already play? [01:00:14] Speaker A: My concern is that people aren't inspired to play Yumi. The only way they end up playing Yumi is if Yumi ends up as one of those. Oh, wait, this champion's actually really broken again. Like, it was a couple of years ago at Worlds, and it almost makes people play her because she's so good. I just don't like that. [01:00:36] Speaker B: Okay, interesting. Yeah, I could see that. If it actually pops off and is, like, good. [01:00:41] Speaker A: Exactly. [01:00:42] Speaker B: That would be very annoying. All right, let's move along the list. Mazel. Who you got? [01:00:49] Speaker C: I Put Cassante. Because I think this champion is the most broken champion of all time right now. And we are probably going to see so much of them. But I just would like to not see him continue to be in solo queue games because I hate playing against him. [01:01:03] Speaker B: This is the most classic ad carry answer you could ask for. [01:01:06] Speaker C: Absolutely. [01:01:08] Speaker B: Please no. Tank, Assassin, Bruiser, dps, all the things in the top lane. I think that's a very respectable one. [01:01:17] Speaker D: Filling this out. I really couldn't think of a champion, so I put Zeri because I got ran by one earlier today in solo queue. But our discussion earlier about Chica reminded me. Oh yeah, I don't want to see kog' Maw in my games, bro. I don't even. I don't want to see him on my team. I don't want to see him on the enemy team. That AP build is disgusting and it shouldn't be allowed. [01:01:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna ask specifically the AP build because that one is the annoyed one for sure is gross. That's a good one. I picked Nasus because mine is. I just got that champion is so Thanos in solo queue. It's ridiculous. And I imagine if somebody plays it even in jungle, then a bunch of people around the world are gonna be like, ooh, Nasus. Yeah, that's. That's a champ. And then start picking him up again. Please don't play Nasus, everybody. It's like the same type of thing was on my team. He doesn't stack at all when he's on the enemy team. It's. You can't kill him. Okay, Airport Speed run is our next category for the award show. We got the eastern team with the worst showing. That's right. We flipped it around this time. Usually the airport speed run is the western team with the worst showing. But since we're in North America, it's the eastern teams are going to be flying home. So I switch it around to be cheeky. Let's start with mazel this time around. Mizell, what's your choice? [01:02:39] Speaker C: Dk? Donkey Kong? No. Someone kia. I'm a big fan of Showmaker, but I think they're going to bomb out. I think their variance is way too high. Much like top esports who, you know, maybe foreshadowing to some extent, but I think they're going to have the worst from. [01:02:57] Speaker B: I think that this is also a very LPL answer. For sure. It's like lowest seed Korean team. [01:03:02] Speaker C: Yep. [01:03:02] Speaker B: But I think it is the most obvious of the LCK teams to pick as well. Unfortunately, I think the rest of the pod disagrees. Oh, also, Badger included his prediction, so let me real quick say his and we can update those as we go. He had caps for the knighthood award and nocturn for the Please bench the Kench award. And he's the only one that has ignored S's air sport airport speed run award. Because Bickle and Leo, we all have [01:03:30] Speaker A: the team without their top laner. [01:03:33] Speaker B: Exactly. Top esports. Ironically, top esports without their top laner as they have 369 playing for them. So three of us with TEs. And I think it's a bit of a cheater pick there because the roster issues they're having. I think it's. Unless it gets fixed. Mazel. Do you think there's any chance that it gets fixed and what Zweon actually gets to play in the next 48 hours? [01:04:00] Speaker C: Well, no, I mean it's definitely not gonna be then. I mean that's. That's obvious. But he can still play at any time when he gets in. So I would think towards the end of Swiss Club probably, or even if they make it to knockouts, probably be there. [01:04:12] Speaker B: So even if they just go like oh, two and best of ones, if they just win a best of three against Brazil or you know, LCP or something, maybe that buys them time to. To get their actual top laner in and make a miracle run. Could happen. But that means that we go to the next award. The longest walk, AKA the western team with the worst showing again. Haha. We switch it around this year. Wow, this was almost a sweep. I'll go first because I'm the only one not in agreement I put Casey. The reason being I was not convinced on their performance and plans. I think that this team will for sure bomb out like one best of one win. Maybe they go oh two and best of ones and then they win like a best of three versus Brazil or LCP or N A. But I think that they will still actually if they. If it's N A then that would invalidate this. Yeah, they gotta like lose to a bunch of teams right away. I just don't think the Casey is very good and mkic having a more stable team. And now that I say that, that just doesn't sound right. Did I just say the word stable and mcoin the same sentence? Anyway, everybody else is mcoil because probably the better answer. I just am a French hater, I suppose. Sorry, Mizelle. [01:05:29] Speaker C: Thanks, bro. [01:05:30] Speaker B: Yeah, appreciate it. Leo, do you have any grand reason why MCO is Your longest walk. [01:05:36] Speaker D: I just kind of feel like the LEC lower bracket finals was a fluke and I think MCOIL heavily overperformed in LEC playoffs and I think Worlds will bring it back to being the third or even fourth best team of Europe. And they're gonna go out in 03 or 1 3. I know, man. We need them to bomb out. So he's like, damn, this region sucks at and he comes back to North America, he rips up the contract he just signed. [01:06:13] Speaker B: True. [01:06:13] Speaker D: And he comes back. [01:06:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna say like he did just sign a contract unfortunately. But yeah, it is what it is. All right, there we go. At least we're all in agreement it's gonna be a European team. Haha. [01:06:28] Speaker A: We're lucky. Mkoy looks so terrible because I strongly consider team Liquid here. [01:06:32] Speaker B: God damn it, Pickle. You gotta come on. Where's that at a bias, man? It's okay. You're by far the most or the least biased on this cast. I will say. All right, get in the bin. Our next category. Which player has the biggest lane kingdom? Beckle, I'm gonna toss this one to you first. Kick us off. [01:06:54] Speaker A: I was going a very generic way, but I just did some mental math in my head and realized, wait a second. T1 gets to play Brazil round one. Brazil has arguably the worst player at this tournament is their AD carry. T1Z carry is arguably the best AD carry in the world. Pace is going to do unspeakable horrors in that lane. So I'm going. [01:07:24] Speaker B: Yes, that would be a great starting argument, opening argument for a get in the bin award. Mazzell and Leo actually agree. So let's give this one a mizel since you can back up the talk a little bit, covering the region, who is your get in the bin winner? [01:07:41] Speaker C: There's got to be night. It is time. It is his moment and I know it's usually the case. He's obviously one of the best 80 or one of the best mid lanes in LPL. But I think this year particularly he showed even in some of the struggling moments for BLG that he could just pull out magic tricks anytime he wanted to. Especially with Cass being strong, especially with Ari still being strong, especially with the mid lane Chample right now and the mobility and connection with jungle. I think him and soon will be two of the most brutal jungle mids to go up against. I think Knight particularly is going to have himself a hell of a tournament. [01:08:17] Speaker B: All right, anything to add, Leo? [01:08:19] Speaker D: Because I was doing stat pulls for Swiss Day 1 last night. And I was just amazed how Knight has won 8 of the last 9 first team all pros in the LPL. That what a dominant. [01:08:35] Speaker A: Whoa. [01:08:36] Speaker D: Player. Like, I don't think that's ever happened before. Maybe in Japan with. Oh God, his name's. Was a pretty dominant player in Japan there too. But my God. So I was like, surely he does well at Worlds, right? [01:09:00] Speaker B: Surely, surely, surely he would never win. I wouldn't believe that at all about being hyped. [01:09:10] Speaker C: The other little things is like split two. He had four. And I know this is just looking at numbers, whatever. He had four out of the top, top five most kills in a game, like, and that's crazy. And then he did that again in split number three. He did that for two splits in a row, having like 16, 18, 19, 20 plus kill games. It's. It's actually ridiculous. I've never seen that in my entire life. With a league that is so deep that even has some awful teams that give up huge numbers, like still being able to put that up in two splits in a row. I've never seen that in my time in the lpl. [01:09:51] Speaker B: So maybe on a bit of a heater, but I think everybody forgot a very important one and that's that. A little reminder, last time Worlds was in North America, a certain young, I believe, rookie mid laner showed up, showed off and took down faker in the grand finals. That is of course, Zeka, baby. We're back in N A. I think Zecca, he, he, you put a burger in his hands. This guy's never been more comfortable. Okay, this is his, this is his own right now. So I went Zeka. Badger went Tarzan, by the way. So shout out to the jungle. Yeah. I'm not locked in with you. You're locked in here with me award, AKA the most underrated team. I'm gonna start off. I got cfo, the second seed from the lcp. I actually think that the lcp, especially after what I saw from mbk, not a region to sleep on. And they were able to get a team out of Swiss last year, right? Didn't they? Was it CFO that made it out? [01:10:54] Speaker A: It was cfo, yes. [01:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And obviously a different look to the roster, but they still have doggo. And I still think that doggo is like one of the funnest, most fun AD carries to watch when it comes to international competition. And shout out Shadow for maybe being good. I don't know. Shadow wasn't even that great in lpl, was he? Didn't he? Like, have one crazy. [01:11:17] Speaker C: I mean, yeah, he played for BLG and gave them a big run, but we account that to. To BLG honeymoon syndrome. [01:11:25] Speaker B: So now one. One big thing here is that it's not going to be the rest and the driver combo. It's just rest in the top lane now. So. I know that was kind of, like, fun last time around where they had these two different styles of top laner, but still, I'm giving respect to CFO and the lcp. All right, Bickle, who you got? [01:11:48] Speaker A: I have the European first seed, G2. I think they have. I personally have them as strong favorites to make it two quarters, and I think depending on draw, I could see them in semis. [01:12:06] Speaker B: I agree. Which makes me think that they're not really an underrated team. [01:12:12] Speaker A: That's fair enough. If you want to say people have [01:12:14] Speaker B: been G2 in, like, top five teams at Worlds. [01:12:17] Speaker A: That is entirely fair if you want to argue that. But if. Okay. And let me pivot. [01:12:23] Speaker B: But still a good pick. No, no, no. It's totally fine. I think it's a good pick. I just. I also agree that they should do well, so. No, no need to pivot, but if you had to. Do you have a secondary? [01:12:36] Speaker A: Like, if I had to pivot, I probably go dk. [01:12:42] Speaker B: There we go. That's a good one, too. Mazel. Who you got? Oh, God. [01:12:47] Speaker C: Hello. [01:12:47] Speaker B: I just saw it. [01:12:49] Speaker C: It's ig, baby. [01:12:51] Speaker B: Yep, yep. The one that Badger put as the eastern team with the worst showing and maybe others would put if top esports were not there. But you have confidence, and I like that you already gave your defense for them, and that's good enough for me. [01:13:10] Speaker D: Much along the same lines, as you can guess, LCP has proven that they're not a region to dismiss anymore. And I am scared of our matchups in Swiss Round one. So. Yeah, put tsw. Yep, yep. [01:13:26] Speaker B: There we go. Shout out. Tsw. Shout out the lcp. Last couple here. Let's speed through these so we can wrap up the Worlds preview episode. We got Legends Never Die, AKA the breakout player of Worlds. I'm gonna go first here. I put Jose deodo, which I know was the Knighthood award winner for Bickle, but I think Jose de Oto is looked so good in N A. He's looked like he's leveled up so much since the last time that we saw him on FlyQuest, and I really, really, really am excited for what this guy can do at Worlds, specifically if he gets, like, a lease in game. I don't Think it matters what team he's against. If he gets to play Lee Sin versus T1, he's gonna style on them for that game. And that's enough for me to be a breakout player. If you just get that one pop off moment, that pop off performance and making it out of Swiss staging into knockouts would be an extra little cherry on top which I think the TL are good enough to do if they get a good draw. So that's my one. Bickle, who you got? [01:14:34] Speaker A: I have the young AD carry for dk. I have Smash. He has Smash. He had so much hype coming out of his Academy days under T1. It's just he couldn't really move up because of Gumiyushi. Now he's finally on the international stage, is really going to show what he can do and why he has been such a hyped prospect. [01:15:00] Speaker B: That's a good one. I like it. Mazel, you're up next. [01:15:04] Speaker D: Hi. [01:15:05] Speaker C: I mean I think it goes hand in hand. Biggest lane kingdom breakout player Worlds night. Let's go. [01:15:10] Speaker B: This is time, baby. Consistency, I like that. Which means Leo, [01:15:17] Speaker D: he. [01:15:18] Speaker C: Oh. [01:15:21] Speaker D: The tail end of playoffs left a lot to be desired. I think his stocks are quite low and I think he's gonna have a repeat of last Worlds where he's solo killing Ben and he's gonna. Everyone's better than Dokla until it's time to be better than Dokla. I believe in that boy. He's gonna kill it. [01:15:44] Speaker B: Hell yeah. Love that. Bringing in the na belief alongside myself. A couple more here actually. Last two we have up first. Not another pantheon AKA the highest pick band champion at Worlds Currently in the lead for play ins. That's my answer is Nocturne. He had a 95 presence all of which were bans. 21 bands out of 22 games in play ins and I think that trend is going to continue. I feel like Nocturne when he is good and he fits a format, he's so good and there's so many things you can pair with him now. Things like the Kiana, the Nico as well as the traditional Oriana that I know Nico or Keanu is mostly like in the jungle but like I still think she can be played mid lane if somebody wants to break her out. So I. I got the. The Nocturne pick here. But speaking of some of those other names have also been listed. Bickle and Mazel have the same one so I'm gonna give this one to Bickle. Who do you have? [01:16:44] Speaker A: Have 80 jungler assassin Kiana There we go. [01:16:49] Speaker B: Why do you think Keanu is gonna be so good? Is it just like the. It's gonna be something about solved format or like it's in the meta or it's a counter to the meta? Why do you think it's gonna be so big? [01:16:58] Speaker A: I think she is just in a very strong position right now. She's been such a high Prio around the world for a bit and got buffed or I can't remember if it was buffed or just not touched. Touched. Coming into worlds and with such strong junglers that really excel at her play style, I just see it being a high Prio pick. [01:17:22] Speaker B: Okay, fair enough. Mizel, anything to add to the Kiana defense? [01:17:36] Speaker C: I think you hit the nail on that. As our theme is today, we're hitting [01:17:41] Speaker B: a lot of nails. What are we locked carpenters? Leo, what nail would you like to hit? [01:17:46] Speaker D: I thought going with Nocturne would be a very boring choice just because it's statistically correct currently. So I went with Olaf just because he's currently number three in presence and I think he's a very fun champ to watch in pro. Just seeing a guy run into the enemy team is just. Just highly entertaining. So I'm putting him down to will it into existence. [01:18:12] Speaker B: Also a little more flexible than something like the Nocturne because he could be played in top lane or technically still in the jungle. So maybe a little hedge of your bets there. Badger picked Ezreal. I think that's another great nod as well. So that means our last award to Predict for Worlds 2026 and thus wrapping up the episode is an alpine hand, AKA the team that benefits or hurts the most from the Swiss draw. A little pun right there. So who benefits the most or hurts the most from the Swiss draw? You can go either way, whether it's a positive or a negative. I'm gonna go first. I'm gonna go mcoi. I think mcohoy is gonna get kind of shafted by the draft. It's just a straight up luck prediction because you never know. But I just feel like MCO is going to have bad luck, which is funny because I also put Casey as the longest walk team as opposed to mcoil. So maybe I'm hedging my bets also. Hell, you never know. Let's go reverse side now. Leo, who is your team? [01:19:18] Speaker D: And I think it's Benefit the most because, you know, this year G2 has been considered a Eastern team killer, and they've matched against an Eastern team in round one, which means Lower chances of getting an Eastern team later. So I think they're gonna. The traps really gonna hurt. [01:19:39] Speaker B: Yeah. They do not want an NA team in the qualification match, I'll tell you that right now. That's. That's gonna be bad news for them, historically speaking. Mizell, who you got? [01:19:53] Speaker C: I've got blg. I think with the way the draw gives. Gives them a lot of motivation moving forward and is able to put them over the edge with the long run. [01:20:02] Speaker B: So you have a positive, you think benefit of the draw. [01:20:05] Speaker A: There we go. [01:20:06] Speaker B: I like that. Bickle, you're the last one. Who do you have? [01:20:09] Speaker A: I also have G2, but I think it helps them because they have gotten shafted by Swiss like, the past three years it's existed. So surely they're due for a good hand this time, right? [01:20:23] Speaker B: Yeah, they've been building up to good karma. [01:20:28] Speaker D: Last year they got T T. They [01:20:32] Speaker B: had M coin last year. [01:20:34] Speaker A: Not so much last year. Not so much. I'm talking about the first two years. [01:20:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:20:40] Speaker B: I'm coin to fly is kind of diabolical for G2, actually, [01:20:45] Speaker A: 24 and 23, they had the most horrendous. [01:20:49] Speaker D: 24 was pretty horrendous. I mean, they got paid in 2024. So it wasn't all bad. [01:21:03] Speaker A: Yeah, just ignore the rest. [01:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah. In the aggregate, it's. It's pretty bad. There's a stats term for Proud of you. [01:21:11] Speaker D: You're learning. [01:21:12] Speaker B: Add some flavor to the language here. Speak speed at your level. Yeah. All right. But with that said, that is our official league rundown. Worlds awards prediction. We'll see who is correct and who is incorrect as Worlds continues. Game start Friday. It's going to be an early day for folks on the Pacific coast. It's going to be 10am Pacific time, and it's going to be eight games in a row. It's going to be just back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back. I think that was eight, but I'm not even sure because that's a lot of backs. It's a lot of backs to go back. And that means that world season is officially upon us, everybody. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Planes is wrapped and now we have to see the big dogs battle it out at the Swiss Stage. I will not be there for Swiss Stage, but I will be in Texas for Halloween weekend, which will also be my birthday weekend. So that'll be essentially the second week of the Swiss Stage. But yeah, it's like two weeks of Swiss. And then we have our knockouts. And it's gonna be knockouts each weekend. Five total weeks of Worlds this year for the schedule. Very condensed schedule, but fun regardless. If you're gonna be in Texas on Halloween weekend, come say hi. Would love to see you. I'll also be there for Worlds Finals. Leo, Bickle Mizell, Was anybody else able to get tickets at any point for Worlds [01:22:34] Speaker C: Finals? [01:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah, let's go. [01:22:36] Speaker D: I'll be at home working the. [01:22:38] Speaker B: Leo, any chance. No, our goat. Our goat. Carrying the team pickle. [01:22:46] Speaker A: What about you wish but didn't have the finals lock. [01:22:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it was difficult to get tickets. Well, if you see myself, you see Mizel. Come say hi and yeah, let's have some fun at Worlds, everybody. You better be cheering on N A as well as clenching, because I'm, I'm staying clenched the entirety of this Swiss. We gotta make knockouts, baby. For everybody listening along, though, Reminder, if you could leave a review. Leo, I'm not great with numbers when it comes to reviews and number of stars on the review. As a stats guy, do you. Does any number come to mind? People should leave five stars. Okay, that's good that because again, I wasn't confident. I, I, I thought maybe it'd be that. But five star review helps us get the podcast noticed, helps us grow the podcast. So shout out to anybody who has left a review and if you have the time, would greatly appreciate it. Also, shout out anybody who supports the podcast, either through the Patreon or through the Merch shop. You're the goats. And specifically, thank you, Leo, for coming on and guesting again. It was super fun having you on, dude. We didn't put you through any torture of a quiz this time. But we do still have. We, we have time. Time and this off season. So if you want to come back, [01:23:57] Speaker D: I'll be happy to. I'll study this time. [01:24:02] Speaker B: That would be awesome. Where can people catch you? What socials would you like people to follow you on? [01:24:06] Speaker D: If they want to follow me on Twitter @mz. Leo the Chosen. I cringe every time I say that tag, but it's what I've chosen. [01:24:17] Speaker B: Leo the Chosen. There we go. Is LCS Stats guy. [01:24:21] Speaker D: I mean, I've just had this, this tag for so many years that my brand will fall apart as fragile as it is if I change it. So true. [01:24:32] Speaker B: I do. I. Okay, you know what? I feel like LCS stats guy. Leo. [01:24:37] Speaker D: I mean, but what happens, what happens if I move on? I have to give the account over. [01:24:43] Speaker B: Oh, wait, true. Wait, no, That's a good point, actually. Yeah. What if. [01:24:48] Speaker D: What if I go to Valerie? [01:24:50] Speaker B: What if they change? What if. What if NA and Brazil combine and we become a new thing? [01:24:56] Speaker D: Oh, they would never do that. [01:24:58] Speaker B: Then what do you do? Yeah, that'd be a crazy idea. All right, well, either way, thanks for coming on. It was awesome to have you, and thank you, everybody, for listening along. If you made it to this part of the podcast, AKA the end, just know that we love you, and we'll see you next time. [01:25:14] Speaker D: Peace. [01:25:17] Speaker B: Oh, yes, Daddy. [01:25:19] Speaker D: Hell, yeah.