Hey folks! Today we will be looking at the weekly happenings around the League of Legends professional scene as well as some game related topics. Without wasting any time let’s get to it.
Roster Moves
On April 3rd of 2017, it was announced that Adrian left Team Liquid after a brief stint with them. He joined TL about a month ago and only played a few games as a starter. It still remains unclear what TL’s intentions were when they brought him to the team but if the plan was for him to split time with Matt then clearly that plan failed miserably and Adrian didn’t get a chance to settle into the roster. In terms of what the future holds for Adrian, so far he hasn’t joined any team but it’s likely that he will. While he isn’t a star player he is still one of the better and more reliable support players in North America.
The only thing stopping him from joining a good team would be the reputation that he’s not easy to get along with. He has stated it himself that while he was apart of Team Impulse, he was unable to get along with Coach Fly (current coach of Phoenix1) due to his attitude. Most recently it was also reported that he was unable to get along with Inori which is one thing that contributed to Adrian’s departure from P1. We hope he is able to find a good team to showcase his talent and we wish him well!
Another less important but still noteworthy roster swap is Deceit joining the QG Reapers over in the LPL. So far not much is known for Deceit excluding that he made his debut as a professional player in QG’s Week 9 series against Vici Gaming. It was definitely a successful one as they ended up winning 2-0 against Vici. He would also play one game against Game Talents before being subbed out for Cloud. Certainly, a great debut for Deceit and we are looking forward to seeing what he can bring to QG and the LPL.
Event Updates
The 2017 Mid-Season Invitational is approaching and two teams have qualified for the event. Over in Brazil’s CBLoL the RED Canids were victorious over the Keyd Stars in the 2017 CBLoL Stage 1 Playoffs. Being the home of former Pain Gaming ADC brTT, it’s nice to see RED Canids qualifying for MSI as brTT is a crowd favorite and a player that a lot of fans will want to see play internationally. Surprisingly enough the Keyd Stars didn’t put up much of a fight against RED Canids. It was a quick 3-0 sweep and this was not something that we expected heading into the Finals of the CBLoL. We predicted that Keyd Stars would do well due to having the strong top side duo of Yang and Revolta however, both players didn’t have that great of a series which possibly contributed to their loss.
Over in Latin America South the Opening Cup Playoffs concluded with Isurus Gaming taking the win over Furious Gaming in another decisive 3-0 sweep. This went as we expected and it’s nice to finally see Isurus Gaming qualify for an international event. While it’s not expected that they will be able to pass the Play-In stage of MSI it’ll still be fun to watch them play and show what they are capable of.
Live Patch Updates
Patch 7.7 was recently released and it brought forth some interesting changes. Amumu has been heavily buffed with his passive being updated to allow him to deal a percentage of true damage. His W also received some generous buffs, doubling the power of the ability. While these changes may not be enough to push players into picking him up in competitive matches on a regular basis, it’s possible we may see some Amumu games here and there as junglers try to experiment with the champion.
Alistar was also the beneficiary of some buffs with his passive and E being strengthened. His passive heals all nearby allies now instead of the closest ally while his E has a lower cooldown and the empowered attack from it deals a bit more damage. Alistar isn’t really played much at the moment due to being abused in lane by most ranged supports. These buffs are unlikely to help him with that however they do compensate by making his team fighting and skirmishing stronger. So we might just see a bit more of Alistar once 7.7 rolls onto the competitive scene.
Another big change is the buff to Jarvan IV’s W shield. Not only is the base shield overall stronger now but the bonus shield now scales off of Jarvan’s maximum health. While this buff means nothing for damage oriented Jarvan, this is pretty big for tanky Jarvans that build a lot of health. With these changes, we might just see Jarvan making a slow return to the competitive scene although what role he’ll be played in is questionable. In the rare times, we’ve seen Jarvan this year he has mostly been played as a solo laner primarily in top lane. With tanks being strong at the moment and Jarvan having a good laning phase, we may see players picking him up as an early game lane bully while transitioning into a tank build. This is similar to how Renektons often start off with one damage item for laning dominance and then transition into a tank build.
Some minor things to note are that Rengar’s Q got some slight nerfs which means his priority in pick/ban may fall off a little bit but the nerfs aren’t huge so he’s expected to remain a strong pick. Nunu also received some good changes however in this current meta that has developed it’s very unlikely we’ll see Nunu because he just doesn’t fit what teams are looking for in a jungler. Shaco also received a few changes that pushed some more power onto his passive while making his Q weaker. This is unlikely to do anything for Shaco in terms of him being a strong meta pick and he will likely remain in the same spot he’s in at the moment.
Thanks for reading this news article. I will see you next time! Good luck!
