Hi everyone, I’m RobertxLee and play ADC for Complexity Gaming League of Legends. At the end of the split, we unfortunately placed 8th therefore stuck with the last option of the three challenger teams.
Going into relegations, a lot is going on in my mind, such as what I would do if we get relegated. I’m honestly not sure what I would do if my team got relegated, but I would most likely go back to school and simultaneously play in the challenger scene or look for an LCS offer. I’m not sure what my team would do if we got relegated. I personally would want to still strive towards playing professionally because I love playing competitively, but I know the rest of my team has obligations such as Bubba and his wife, and Kez with his new fiancée. Hopefully we stick it out as a team and try again next split. Now reflecting, I have no regrets putting school on hold, but I constantly think about if I should have stuck to school and not pursued the dream. On one hand, I feel like I got to live my dream, but on the other hand, have I truly just wasted time? If we get relegated, then I am basically back at square one after a few years of hard work. All of my friends are graduating college, meanwhile I barely have any units under my belt. The sad part, there is no long term “job” as an LCS player. Eventually, new talent will outshine you and you get left in the dust.
Playing in the relegation matches, I am obviously stressed, but I don’t feel overwhelmed compared to trying to qualify into the LCS. On my first attempt trying to qualify, I felt stressed up until our relegation match. The build-up time from the LCS teams picking the challenger they wanted to play up until we actually played, I just couldn’t sleep and thinking about failure and what I would do. Right now, I’m just thinking about how I am preparing for the match, and what I can do to prepare mechanically/strategically for the incoming matches.
So here’s the teams we may possibly come up against:
Curse Academy
I think CLG will pick Curse Academy first because they are the “weakest”. The reason I think they are the weakest is because of their individual skill and team play compared to Coast and I consider T8 as a wildcard, which will make teams hesitant to choose them. If we do play them, I feel confident in 80/20 odds of beating them in a bo5. Their bot lane are pretty strong though, but I think me and bubba are better. Bunnyfufu is a really good support, and makes a lot of plays in lane and across the map. Saint has a lot of knowledge of the game, but you can tell they fall short in shot calling. Cris’s laning phase is volatile as well, which makes him a prime target to get camped. Overall I think we are individually better and have better team play.
Team 8
Team 8 is very tricky and bring out weird picks from their top laner. The thing about Team 8 is their solos are really strong and control the pace of the game. They are also really good at skirmishing, but I feel their playstyles have a lot of flaws making them easy to beat. If we were to play against T8, I would think we have a 70/30 in our favor. The reason is because I think their star player is slooshi, but I think pr0lly will be able to control and beat slooshi. T8’s botlane look like they don’t have much synergy together, despite being very good individually. Dodo excels outside of lane phase though, but if played in a standard game, we will be able to come out ahead. Again, I think we are just better individually and team play wise. Only thing that scares me is if calitrolz does his carry top lane style and gets out of control.
Team Coast
Not much to really say now because Coast traded out their solo laners for Korean challengers. Coast’s jungle + bot lane are top of the line. Santorin controls the map very well, and is always in the right spot at the right time. I don’t really see many flaws in his plays, and his mechanics are definitely top tier. Mashme + Sheep are hands down the strongest duo amongst the other challenger bot lanes. I definitely consider them LCS material, but I don’t know about “world class” referring to the post coast made. The thing that I praise about Coast’s bot lane is their aggressive play style and making lots of plays, but it’s very punishable and can be easily snowballed under a small mistake. I think their bot lane is weaker now because of the meta shifting. Their prime was when full aggression champions like Lucian + Caitlynn were popular, but now the meta is shifting towards hypercarry ADCs. I don’t really know much about their new two players, but I wonder if there’s a language barrier between the players and if they are top tier solo laners. Not sure if this information is true, but heard they weren’t even challenger in the Korean solo queue ladder, which makes me not that worried. Hopefully pr0lly and Westrice can handle them in lane, and our team play can make up for it. Individually skill wise, I think we are about even or in favor towards Coast, but with the recent change to their roster, I can only assume their team play is a work in progress. I think we have a 70/30 chance against Coast.
Follow Robert on twitter @ROBERTxLEE
CLG chose CA and EG chose Coast, so in the end Complexity will be playing Team 8.