In the latest Ties’ Takes, we look at the fallout from the OPL finals, and explore a couple of the more interesting storylines that we saw emerge from Split 1’s Finals run, including the idea of how player hubris could change the course of a series.

Post Mortem

In a region with a rich history of gallant underdogs and fanciful gauntlets runs, at the end of the day the story of Oceania tends to be that the Chalk always wins. And so it remained last week, when the Dire Wolves’ hype train came barrelling from the lower bracket into the much more fancied Legacy roster. I had predicted “the fastest best of five in OPL history” and it looked I may have been scrambling to do some maths at one point, and after a valiant but ultimately token resistance, Legacy closed them out.

There were a number of threads that I found interesting from the finals that you could pick at, should one have a mind to. The first one is that I can’t quite place my finger on how we got to this point. As a fan, I almost feel cheated that we were denied the OPL-classico grand final we seemed to be drawn inexorably towards.

This is not intended to, though it doubtlessly does, take anything away from the Dire Wolves who displayed a feat of endurance and resilience that only feels overshadowed by the Sin Gaming and Order runs of years previous due to the current playoff format and that it started with a loss.

• Read more: Order forge OPL history with 9-1 miracle gauntlet run

I also don’t intend to use this as a dry way of pointing out that “Of course this is different, everything is different in the current environment.” Rather, it felt like that once we all realised that Legacy and the Chiefs were either the two best, or two of the three best, that we all settled in for an entertaining split of “who is going to win the race to third” among the rest of the teams while we waited for a grand final treat we had not seen in some years.

And then it didn’t happen. All the emotional preparation and investment I had put into the split fell by the wayside and it just felt…anticlimactic that it wasn’t Chiefs/Legacy.

I’m not mad about the resulting match, we got to see the Wolfpack make an accounting for themselves that didn’t seem possible. I had written them off. We’ve seen the infamous ‘Kai Kerflop’ on more than one occasion as Ben “Kai” Stewart’s teams would spiral their seasons into the gutter.

At the beginning of the season, I was utterly convinced we’d see it again. At the regular season’s end I was utterly convinced we were seeing it again. Then they lost their first playoff match and I was banking the sentiment.

Still and through it all they found another gear. Even though 3-1 doesn’t read good on paper, I still think there were more positives than negatives for the Dire Wolves when you look at the totality of this playoff run.

And what more can be said about James “Tally” Shute that hasn’t already been gushed about? I think the comparisons to the end of Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos’ playing career are apt, and not just because they both had a mean Galio. What I love about both of these players, is that when they were on the picks like Tally’s Cho’Gath, or the aforementioned Galio, they exploit the biggest advantage they have left – brain gap.

It isn’t a case of not having the hands anymore – both players have the totality of career and individual plaudits to show that. The thing that I love most about these mid picks is that it’s identifying the biggest differential that the player has over basically all of their opponents – experience and knowledge – and exploits it mercilessly.

It really pleases me to see Oceanic teams identify the different ways you can win a match other than trying to take skillcheck matchups and just hoping to press buttons better than the other team. The “don’t worry, I’ll dumpster this guy” approach feels like it is opted into far too often, as we saw throughout this playoffs.

Solo Lucian Blues

One of the main examples we could see from this is the curse of the solo lane Lucian pick. It actually started spritely enough, with Jesse “Chazz” Mahoney picking up a couple of wins on it, and Pentanet.GG picking up a couple of losses. After getting bounced with it twice, PGG actually took it for themselves and it had a decent, yet unspectacular, showing for them in a losing effort to the Wolves.

This became the story of it as the season played out, and is part of the reason why I don’t like it. You pick it to bully lane and pressure early towers, but the tradeoff for this is heavy in a competitive environment. It forces your jungler’s hand to shadow the Lucian (as we saw Park “Croc” Jong-hoon making time for Romeo “Thien” Tran in the playoffs), risking early Dragon control going out the window. If you don’t get your own jungler into the mix you risk the enemy jungler crashing Lucian’s party and ruining the point of picking a lane bully in the first place.

Then, even if you get through laning phase with the bully ahead as planned, you need the composition to be spiking at the right time to take advantage of this plan so you can begin to take objectives and accrue leads before the other composition begins to do what it wants to do.

In my opinion, it’s taking the path of most resistance. Too much needs to go right to make the solo lane Lucian worth its investment. Further, we saw the pick absolutely crushed in the playoffs with a 0-4 record with Harry “Haeri” Kang (twice), Thien and Chazz all unable to make the pick work. It’s inconsistent with how the playoffs tended to go – teams take fewer risks in the early game and wait for more controllable outcomes in teamfights, as evidenced by the longer game times.

We see this across Esports and traditional sports that things slow down and teams go for outcomes they can control over unpredictable risks. This doesn’t seem to be the place you want a solo lane Lucian. You want him in those early skirmishes and dominating the chaos. It isn’t just here either, globally the solo lane win rate reads like a disaster: 39% in LCK, 36% in LPL, 25% in LCS, 20% in NA Academy – only the LEC has a positive record, with two wins from its two matches (regular season records).

Winning is already hard. I don’t see any reason that teams should make it harder on themselves.

There’s nothing more dangerous than a 2-0 lead…

Normally this adage applies to traditional sports, but it seemed in the playoffs this split that it applies to the OPL as well, because no team closed out a 2-0 lead into a sweep. Three times teams had the chance, and each time they couldn’t get it done.

It could very well just be something as straight-forward as the desperation of being put in the 0-2 hole, but I’ve encountered a little of the attitudes of pro players when they’re ahead and feeling good about themselves. Accordingly, I formed the theory that players permitted themselves a little hubris and decided that it wasn’t just enough to be beating them in the series, they needed to show that they were better players. They had to win with style.

So, I enlisted the help of former OPL analyst, OCS head coach, and Snowball contributor Callum “CDM” Matthews to have a look at these three games and see what we could find.

PSA: must be logged in to a Riot account to view match history

Avant 0-2 Order

Match History

This first game is probably the closest thing to proving my hypothesis. The Lucian mid pick rears its ugly head here, and it left the Order composition begging for magic damage. The Lucian started out only okay, then things rapidly got worse, comparatively and composition-wise. The Syndra was up over 500 gold at 10 minutes, which is not ideal to say the least. The gold difference was even, negligible at 20 minutes. While better than down 500, this still is not where the Lucian wanted to be.

And things went from bad to worse there. I would have liked to have seen an Orianna here, but just anything to keep the Sylas and Olaf honest with their resistances would have worked.

Dire Wolves 0-2 Order

Match History

This game is tragic. You may remember game 4 as the one with tragic gameplay, with the early kill for Swip3rR’s Rumble negated by the Wolfpack turning around Order’s effort to ram the advantage down their throats, but this one is tragic because after three bans and three picks each, Order have got them. They had them.

They got the Senna/Maokai pair to get the funnelled heavy tank and late game Senna passive damage combination, and even managed to secure the Trundle into Olaf matchup that went so well in game 1.

But after the second ban phase they take Corki, allowing Shok one of his signature picks in Cassiopeia. Then Dire Wolves throw the curve ball with Malphite, but it actually doesn’t matter here, Order are still fine. As Callum pointed out, this draft is still excellent for Order – if they can take Gangplank last.

I can only assume that Swip3rR’s Gangplank wasn’t current, because instead they flex the Maokai to the top lane for a new support in Tahm Kench and now Order’s damage is cooked. It’s too little, it’s too late and without the wave clear, global threat and most importantly the zone control that Gangplank provides by 23 minutes they’ve given up the baron, their small lead and ultimately the game.

This one I don’t think was hubris, by any stretch. But it’s an interesting case study in how one pick could have changed so much in this game.

Dire Wolves 0-2 Legacy

Match History

This one is a form of hubris, but not the one I had in mind when I formed my idea.

The genesis for this game comes from Game 1. I don’t know what piece of candy that Legacy’s coach Jensen Goh dangled out in front of Dire Wolves to distract them, but it sells them up the proverbial river. Legacy blind the Trundle jungle in the R1/R2 rotation… and Dire Wolves oblige them by picking the Olaf for them. Madness.

Kai proved that his team can adapt and they won’t make the same mistake twice though. When Legacy start on the AD/Trundle opener at R1/R2 in game 3, the Wolves respond with Kindred…and Legacy are basically doomed. Leo “Babip” Romer does the best he can on the Trundle pick as the map explodes around him, but he’s powerless. He’s down roughly 750 gold to his direct opponent at 15 minutes, and it’s nearly double that just five minutes later.

I think Legacy thought they could dictate the terms of this draft to Dire Wolves, and Dire Wolves showed that they wouldn’t be pushed around. At least for this game, given they handed Legacy a reasonable Trundle matchup by B1’ing Jarvan in game 4 and letting them go right back to their nonsense.

So at the end of these games, I was left with a hypothesis that couldn’t be proved from this sample size, but I still feel like there was a lot to learn about the way that teams handled being in this scenario. I’ll be looking to bring you some examination of trends like the 0-2 deficit in future editions of Ties’ Takes.

With Split 1 in the books, and moves already being made for Split 2, the time has come for teams to put the learnings they will have taken from their own experiences like these and make the push for the World Championship.

Next time on Ties’ Takes, we’ll begin looking at what each of these teams would, could or should be looking for as they make this push.

Follow Reece “Ties” Perry on Twitter.

Photography courtesy of Riot Games
Produced by Josh Swift

Avant’s emphatic 3-1 victory over Order has become a statement of intent as they now look to be a dominant force in the new post-major qualification world.

Though they didn’t know for sure at the time, when Avant hit the server to face Order in the Grand Finals of Season 1 of ANZ Champs for 2020 it would be looked back on with some significance.

In the current health environment, Valve made the only practical decision they had in attempting to condense the year that would normally contain two Majors into one. In this, they also halved the chances for ANZ teams to prove themselves on the biggest stage CS:GO has to offer. In turn, this put even greater significance on those events that feed into the remaining international tournaments that domestic teams can qualify for (assuming these events run as scheduled).

The result was that ANZ Champs became the first cab off the ranks as the “Best of the Rest” suite of events – the first chance for teams other than Order, Chiefs, Renegades and Ground Zero to make an international presence. And Order was here to crash the party.

With a DreamHack Open invite on the line, Avant stalled momentarily off the line, before coming screaming to life and overwhelming Order, 3-1. It was a crushing victory and given Order had taken Renegades to 3 maps a month prior, came in a fashion that many did not expect. It may give some pause to wonder if this team can finally be the one in a long list of contenders to take the domestic crown away from Renegades/Grayhound.

Jared “hazr” O’Bree has his eyes on this prize, but is taking things one step at a time to get to this lofty point.

“We’re definitely setting our sights on taking over that top spot eventually. I know we have all of the pieces required to do so, it’s just a matter of constantly working hard together and making sure we don’t get complacent with ourselves so we can keep growing as a team,” he told Snowball.

Asked about the “Gentleman’s Sweep” that Avant handed to Order, and if they used Dust2 to work anything out strategically that Order were showing them, hazr credited the slow start to just that…a slow start, as opposed to any sort of “feeling out” of Order.

“I think we just had a very slow start on Dust 2, we started to get into the groove of things in the second half, but it was just a bit too late. We didn’t really need to change anything for the next maps because it felt like we would’ve easily had that first map if we played like ourselves earlier on. It was a pretty smooth ride after that.”

Particularly impressive from Avant in this series was the performance of their veterans – Chris “Ofnu” Hanley and Mike “ap0c” Aliferis, who were at the top of the kill counts. Ap0c was every bit as cataclysmic as his namesake, leading the series in Rating and boasting a fearsome +21 kill differential. It was a stark contrast to the big-name veterans of Order, particularly Alastair “aliStair” Johnston and Karlo “USTILO” Pivac, who were each -30 or worse and had days they’d rather forget.

Ap0c noted that suppressing Order’s veterans was a conscious effort on Avant’s part. While Jireh “J1rah” Youakim, who had recently joined the team has experience in his own right, putting him in a place of fragging responsibility took away from the IGL the options he would normally have had at his disposal.

“You always try and contain aliStair as best you can (even if) most of the time he will still get his. I think minimizing the impact that Rickeh (Ricardo Mulholland) (CT) & USTILO (T) in particular had, really swung the series in our favour,” said Aliferis.

We’ve had a great run in Season 10 of the ESL #ANZChamps over the past couple months!

Here is a highlight reel of some of our craziest plays! ? ?

?? WATCH NOW: https://t.co/4OwuwMFbaE#AVANTARMY | @ESLAustralia pic.twitter.com/WP8C8H6iPZ

— Avant (@AvantGaming) April 14, 2020

The success that these efforts had really paid off in Avant’s utter dominance on their CT side. In matches that they won, they averaged nearly 10 CT rounds per map, and the only reason that number isn’t higher is that they took Train after only 9 CT rounds, having won all of them. Even factoring in their lost map, that average only dips just below 9 CT round wins per map. Ap0c credited the good blend of cohesion and confidence the team has built since this line-up had formed.

“We are really starting to click on the CT side. It was always going to take some time when we formed this new roster. We moved hazr to a completely new role for him (anchor) and BL1TZ was coming back to rifling after a year or so on the AWP.”

Meanwhile, for his part Ofnu has been nothing short of a revelation since joining Avant. Having watched the end of his time on Tainted Minds and into the Chiefs, I among others had wondered if we had seen the peak of Ofnu’s abilities and consistency pass him by. But since he left the Chiefs and longtime teammate Ryan “Zewsy” Palmer to join the new Avant roster, the resurgent Ofnu is showing the adage that form is temporary, but class is permanent.

“I think the resurgence is only just beginning, I was struggling individually and trying to find where I fit in our play style in comparison to last year in Chiefs but between working on myself and some tweaks on some of our rounds I’m starting to feel things click and can now perform to my own standards.”
Chris “Ofnu” Hanley

To this end, Ofnu acknowledged his long-time partner in Zewsy in finding his own role on Avant, and how he could bring success to the team and himself.

“I had recently been thinking about the qualities that he brings to teams he played in and trying to take some of those responsibilities on myself to help this team, he was always a selfless player and more so than ever in the Chiefs roster which can sometimes go under appreciated”

“The way in which he played and sacrificed definitely helped me to perform over the years.”

Now that the sun has set on the first season of ANZ Champs for 2020, we can begin to contextualize what this means for Oceanic Counter-Strike as it begins to adapt, as we all must, to the world we now face.

Avant may have had their second chance at a Major taken away by circumstances beyond all our control. Hopefully they and the rest of the region are not short of opportunities throughout the year to show their qualities on the international stage.

Despite competition ahead of them that has previously shown to be unassailable, crushing Order could be the shot across the bow of the scene that maybe we’re in for a new king of the mountain as we move through 2020 and beyond.

Header image credit – Avant Gaming

Our good takes are self-isolating here with me in Snowball HQ for 14 days, so I’m stepping in alongside Emma van der Brug and Harry Taylor to bring you the previews for Week 9 of the OPL.

This week promises to be a test of endurance, as we make up for missed games ahead of the Week 10 Super Week to take us into our new and exciting playoff format. As important as Week 10 is, with a big slate this round as well, teams cannot overlook any opponent.

The time for tough talk is over. It’s time for the sprint to the finish, so read on to see how our panel of experts sees the biggest matchups this week shaking out.

Emma van der Brug, Harry Taylor, and Reece Perry are here to talk about the biggest matches of the week, with playoff positioning on the line as Pentanet.GG take on Avant Gaming online from 4pm AEDT this Friday.

Emma’s Feature: Pentanet.GG (6–9) vs Avant Gaming (5–11)

Prediction: Avant def. Pentanet

Now that the OPL matches have moved online, the games and results are looking as crazy as ever. Both this week and next week will be absolutely critical for both Pentanet.GG and Avant Gaming, as they’re on the cusp of securing a playoff spot.

Pentanet are currently sitting in fifth place on their 6-9 record, whilst Avant are in sixth on 5-11. On the other side of the matchup, Avant secured an upset against The Chiefs, knocking them into second place behind Legacy.

It’s imperative if either of these two teams want to claim a spot in the playoffs, they are playing their best. There’s only three wins between fourth and seventh, creating enormous pressure for these teams to perform and earn every win they can as a safety net.

Pentanet are coming into this week off an 0-2 record, however they played against the second and third placed team, while Avant are coming in with a 1-1 record and a shock upset against The Chiefs.

With the momentum of that win, Avant has found their rhythm going into the final two weeks. With some polish they will be looking impressive and can earn their spot in the playoffs.

Thomas “LeeSA” Ma on Jarvan IV had a superb performance, ending the match participating in 25 of 27 team kills. He assisted Jesse “Chazz” Mahoney, taking first blood on Brandon “Claire” Nguyen only two minutes into the game.

He then racked up another kill and assist before four minutes, after challenging Park “Croc” Jong-hoon for the rift scuttler. If the Avant squad can replicate the impactful early game, they will set themselves up to take this game this weekend and continue earning a playoff spot.

Pentanet also faced the Chiefs, but didn’t find the success that Avant did.

They had their first 2-0 of the split the weekend before, but were unable to replicate the success in last weekend’s matches as they faced off against two of the top three teams.

The transition to online games looked to be a pain point, with their previous games against those opponents being a lot shorter last weekend.

Both teams have a similar matchups going into the final two weeks of the split, and as stated each win will be essential to securing their spot in the playoffs. Avant will be able to leverage the win against the Chiefs last week and continue their streak and take down Pentanet.

Harry’s Feature Match of the Week: Legacy Esports (13–3) vs Dire Wolves (11–4)

Prediction: Legacy def. Dire Wolves

Even with playoffs already locked for both Legacy and the Dire Wolves, and a top-three spot all but a formality by the time they load into the server on Saturday, these top squads will still come together to duke it out for the chance at taking top billing on the ladder.

With the Chiefs falling ever into the grips of catchability, these two squads should be ready to strike and take the throne in week 10 if the slide continues. The Legacy boys are better suited to this jump, and should come out on top this week.

After some small teething issues with the change of mid ?— from Jang “EMENES” Min-soo to James “Tally” Shute ?— Week 8 looked like all systems were once again firing in the team.

They were able to dispatch both Avant and Order with relative ease in the first week of games played from home. Having also previously taken down Dire Wolves in both meetings this split, once with Tally in mid, they are set up to make this matchup three from three.

Dire Wolves will also see a makeup game on the docket, making up their previously abandoned game against Order — which Emma tipped as a Dire Wolves win in Week 7 ?— as well as their other fixtures, with a game against Gravitas earlier in the round.

Whilst Week 8 saw them take down Mammoth and Pentanet this was done in the comfort and luxury of the Esports HPC at the SCG.

Week 9 will not see this comfort, as the SCG and EHPC have been shut down for the time being. This will see the team once again resettle, but still to a common gaming house, so we will need to see if this will affect their play having to change environments again.

Dire Wolves will be a big threat to Legacy.

They will be a big threat this week and also in the April postseason, and both teams will also take this as a tune-up match for when they almost certainly meet in a Bo5. There will certainly be some top tier gameplay and will become some must-see viewing in these trying times.

Reece’s Feature Match of the Week: Chiefs Esports (12–3) vs Order (7–7)

Prediction: Chiefs def. Order

On paper, this looks like a bloodbath waiting to happen. The Chiefs are a freight train barrelling through much of the OPL, leaving destruction in their wake. Order are a shakier situation, with much promise but much less delivery.

And it still could be a bloodbath waiting to happen. When last we saw these teams play it was, to be frank, a spanking. SeeEl took Spawn out behind the woodshed and gave him the Lassie treatment. The players never stood a chance.

But paper is brittle, and looks are deceiving.

Order’s clearest path to victory comes around the bottom side of the map. Haeri has been a consistent force for Order, Dream and Eyla have recovered some form, a welcome relief for the team and their fans.

• Read more: Haeri: “Being bad has only helped Order, we know why we were losing now and we can fix it”

While on the Chiefs’ side Claire has slowed, as has Katsurii. And while KoreaCK being for my money “The worst-performing player on the Chiefs” at the beginning of the split was a sign of how unbelievably strong the team was – now it’s kind of a problem in their losses.

For all his brash and self-aggrandizing bluster to start (“Very happy with my draft…gameplay mistakes to fix”), SeeEl’s Chiefs have flattered to deceive of late, admittedly against very stiff competition (and Avant). So it is important that they don’t put up another loss here, and risk Legacy putting ground between them.

And, despite the Pledge and Turn of this setup, the Prestige is going to be a very boring “I still think the Chiefs will win”. Order is still on the build and not quite at the Chief-toppling level yet.

Order’s baseline of success here would be playing the Chiefs competitively early, and making them really work hard for this win. And that’s what we can expect to see: Chiefs made to sweat for the win. Pyrrhic victories don’t get you points, but Order’s playing a longer game here.

The Oceanic Pro League returns this Friday.

Follow @ammeplays, @ImHarryTaylor & @Ties_AU on Twitter.

Photography courtesy of Riot Games
Produced by San Hoàng

In a move that sees the former WCS Challenger tournaments by Blizzard replaced, ESL ANZ Champs has been announced as the new way for Oceanic and South-East Asian players to qualify into four Masters level events across the year.

ESL ANZ Champs has positioned itself as Oceania’s primary gateway event to international competition. With a corresponding move announced recently in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that will send a team to a DreamHack Open event, the Champs series is forming a key part of ESL’s wider global network to feed local players into the international stage across a range of titles.

ESL Australia’s Product Manager James Fletcher is excited for the opportunities this new event will provide.

“With the addition of StarCraft II to the ESL ANZ Champs, we’re excited to also unveil this new global pathway for players in our league.”

“Competing at an ESL Pro Tour Masters level event is an aspiration that we hope many local players share, and we look forward to seeing our region represented on the global stage.”

As the replacement for Blizzard’s WCS Challenger tournament, there are now four global events that Starcraft 2 players will be able to take part in from ESL’s SC2 Pro Tour.

The move had recently been speculated on the Esports Social Club’s Not Another Podcast and the opportunites that have been announced largely mirror what was discussed there.

Three DreamHack events will form the first three opportunities, in Dallas, Valencia and Montreal and the fourth Masters level event has not yet been announced.

The StarCraft II portion of ESL ANZ Champs this year will allow players from across Oceania and South-East Asia to compete, including players from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.

Each qualifier will consist of three stages and will award $6,600USD in prize money along with the global pathway to each respective event.

The new event streamlines Starcraft 2’s pathway to the global stage along the range of events that fall under ESL’s banner and locally enables pro Starcraft 2 to be broadcast from the marquee ANZ Champs flag.

You can read more as the event progresses at https://pro.eslgaming.com/anz/sc2/

Header image credit: ESL

We’re going off-schedule with an exciting look at who Legacy could turn to in the aftermath of EMENES departure, and we break down the longest games in OPL history in today’s #BigStatEnergy

There was just too much that unfolded since I penned my last column to make you wait the full fortnight for that.

Legacy’s mid-lane sensation Min-su “EMENES” Jang has spectacularly left the roster in the middle of the split. The wording of Legacy’s release suggests this was relating to out-of-game behaviours and attitudes, specifically towards training. That much, at least, is clear to me.

With talk behind the scenes swirling around the approach to practice, it does make you wonder if he is linked to that, but I have no information to confirm that in either direction.

• Read more: Legacy Esports part ways with rookie mid laner EMENES

While mindlessly speculating as to what exactly went down to get us to this point might be fun, that isn’t the kind of mindless speculation I’d like to entertain you all with. Today’s flavour of mindless speculation involves where Legacy may turn to for their next mid-lane option.

Let’s look at five names, each with varying levels of likelihood, of being the next Legacy mid laner.

The Chalk

The clear front-runner is former Mammoth Academy mid James “Halo” Giacoumakis. Halo has been almost good enough for two years now in OCS – almost good enough to take down the Dire Cubs in last year’s grand final, and almost good enough to make the playoffs with the Legacy Genesis Revival tour.

There isn’t really a better active domestic option out there who is a natural mid laner. At least of those, who are active players (ooh, foreshadowing). He seems to play everything and the only players he struggled against are currently in the OPL.

The only thing you’d want to be cautious about is passing a player behaviour check, and not necessarily in-game. The reason he isn’t in the league already is salary expectations – as in, he wants one. Which is fair enough. But he’s spent considerable time in Twitch chat talking an inordinate amount about the players who did elect to play on the lower salaries this year. Doing these kinds of things in Riot’s broadcast channel is not likely to endear him to any decision-makers.

With that said, given who has passed checks I can’t see that stopping him, and so he is the odds-on favourite to finally show up or shut up.

The All-Star

I don’t think this next one would be overly likely considering he was already considering a role-swap to a different role. But, given that he’s talented, available, popular, and the lines between top and mid lane are becoming ever blurred, we must at least consider Jackson “Pabu” Pavone.

The two-time all star had arguably one of his best years on Gravitas last year on a roster that struggled at times, and with his regular content on Twitter, his stream and here on Snowball Esports, you know that he’s current in both his playing skills and OPL knowledge.

Ultimately, I don’t know if this one is too likely as I’m unsure if the role swap situation between either he or Topoon would lead to enough likelihood of success to satisfy either Pabu himself, or Legacy GM Tim “Carbon” Wendel.

The Thanos

“Fine, I’ll do it myself”

Part of me, and I don’t think it’s too bold of me to suggest that a part of us all, wants to see Carbon himself… and his “signature” Riven find its way into Legacy’s mid lane.

I don’t know if he can play mid. I don’t know if he wants to, and I don’t even know if it’s allowed under Riot’s rules. But the heart wants what it wants. And this is what mine wants.

The Prodigal Son (again)

This one I quite like because it involves a role swap that was teased in rumours that were circulating before the start of the split. They involved James “Tally” Shute rejoining the fold alongside OG prodigal son Leo “Babip” Romer.

Now, this callously robs us of half the co-stream power duo and that’s a definite downside, no question. But to return back to Legacy in his old role of AD Carry would free up Quin “Raes” Korebrits to play in the mid lane he was rumoured to be swapping to preseason. And that’s the part of this that interests me. It’s one of the better options Legacy have in the mid lane just to minimise the drop-off in raw talent alone, though it would be a compromise of sorts on talent in ADC.

Tally is an option that I see appealing to Carbon’s traditional sports heart. He’s familiar to the organisation, talented, a good teammate and has played the role before – for Legacy no less. In addition, he also understands the importance of the rivalry with The Chiefs – so between him and Raes wanting to stick it to his old team, their veteran presence would provide a real boost to the younger players as this rivalry plays out across the top of the OPL ladder.

I’m fairly confident that I want this to happen more than it is actually likely to happen, but there are parts of this that make sense across a number of levels.

The “Galaxy Brain” Choice

While we’re talking about returning old players and role-swapping them… how about Legacy have the plane pick up an old friend on the way back from Korea?

Former Legacy top laner Ju-seong “Mimic” Min would be a wild choice. To be honest, I don’t even know if he’s still playing. He may have gone to do military service, and with the coronavirus outbreak causing havoc in Korea it may not even be a good idea.

But if those concerns can be handled, it’s a wild choice that just may work better than anyone would have thought. We know that Mimic is an excellent player, and the points in Pabu’s favour are also in Mimic’s – he had a great season when we last saw him and top lane champs are basically all mid lane champs now, too.

This would be a “rich man’s Pabu” option that I just can’t see Legacy, and more relevantly the Adelaide Football Club justifying the expense for. Unless their mandate is “just go for the title” – which is antithetical to the measured approach Legacy have had for two years, if you were going to transplant a top laner it may as well be Pabu or Tally.

The Dark Horse

I wish I could take credit for this one, because it’s a really interesting option that I would implore both parties to consider. But when Snowball’s own Harry Taylor came to me with this name that he’d seen on the list of available free agents my eyebrows arched high with intrigue over this name that I’d thought was inactive.

After having a cup of coffee with 100 Thieves, OPL winning coach Richard “Phantiks” Su would tick a lot of boxes for Legacy. Let’s go through them:

• He’s a natural mid laner
• He’s, as far as I know, available (from a League of Legends standpoint)
• He has working experience with the entire roster (though once removed with former Mammoth Academy support Isles)
• He can be immediately plugged in as a viable option to a team trying to contend for a title.

Phantiks represents the best choice they could make in my opinion. This is a player who exists on excellence. He needs it like we need air and water. That kind of drive is exactly the right kind of replacement for the mentality and approach Legacy are claiming fits their values.

As a coach, he’s expanded on his already impressive game knowledge and would give Goh “Jensen” Quian Sheng and James “Denian” Goddard a third coach out there on the rift.

I love this option. It’s the one I want to see the most, and it would really shake up the league to see Phantiks back terrorizing the mid lane.

Big Stat Energy

This time on Big Stat Energy we explore the longest games in OPL history.

Pentanet.GG GM Pete Curulli brought up that his team had just taken part in the longest game in OPL history last Friday in their nail-biting loss to the Dire Wolves. Thanks to the boffins over at Leaguepedia, I was able to comb the OPL archives to see where the game had placed among the league’s longest games since its inception at the beginning of 2015 and the trip back through time yielded some interesting finds. Let’s take a look at the most interesting of them.

The longest game ever was one I was – indirectly – involved in during my brief stint as an analyst. Tainted Minds took down Sin gaming in an hour-and-five-minute slugfest that saw current TSM Academy player Lawrence “Lost” Hui triumph alongside OPL throwback Michael “Zahe” Dunn, who will feature regular appearances among these games.

The Pentanet.GG/Dire Wolves classic came in at the sixteenth-longest game at 51:11. Much like Zahe, the Dire Wolves are a regular contributor to this list of the sixteen longest games, having appeared in half of them with a 4-4 record.

Legacy and Avant were next, each with four appearances, though with disparate fates as Legacy went a perfect 4-0, and Avant a more pedestrian 1-3. Tainted Minds were 2-1 in their relatively brief stay in the OPL, and three teams had two appearances, with the Chiefs’ 2-0, Immunity’s 1-1 and Mammoth’s 0-2 creating a symmetrical record across the teams with two games. Abyss, Bombers, Infernum, Order, Pentanet, Sin and Tectonic all had one showing each.

What I want to highlight here as being really interesting is the absolute dominance of red side in these long games. 12-4 is overwhelming odds, with the Dire Wolves being half of those blue side wins (including last Friday gone).

The red side win rate of the fifty longest games in LoL’s competitive history was only 54% so it’s hard to know if 16 game sample is not big enough or if there’s something to be looked into there in terms of global win rates, how they shift over time within a game, and whether that’s something that teams should be drafting towards.

I won’t list every player who appears, but I do want to highlight a couple of regular and interesting appearances. Only Swip3rR and Tally among top laners have appeared more than once and remained perfect, with BioPanther being there three times and lost twice.

Carbon, having been a career Legacy player was always going to be perfect, being 3-0 and is joined by Spookz on that mark. Spare a thought for Sybol who is 1-3 on this list.

If you’re noticing a pattern here you won’t be surprised to learn that ChuChuZ and Swiffer are each 3-0, while Getback and a surprising Phantiks are each 1-2.

Lost is 2-1 among his three appearances on the list, offset by the 1-2 of Chenyboy, who is not a name I expected to write about in 2020.

Across our supports we see a 1-2 record from Cuden and a perfect 3-0 from EGym.

With one exception, in all of these roles I’ve left out the most regularly appearing player. These six players (due to a tie at support) are the longest of the long, the princes of patience, and the sultans of slow play.

Here is our All-Time Long Slog Team:

James “Tally” Shute:  4–0*

Michael “Zahe” Dunn:  3–2

Stephen “Triple” Li:  2–3

Calvin “k1ng” Truong:  2–3

Andrew “Rosey” Rose:  3–2

Jayke “Jayke” Paulsen:  2–3

*Includes two of his ADC games

There’s much more to dig into with these games, we haven’t looked at long games vs slow games (ie long game with no kills), nor champion impacts. But those are stories for another time. So, with this jam-packed bonus edition of Ties Takes in the books, I’ll be back next week with the mid-split OPL review!

Follow Reece “Ties” Perry on Twitter.

Photography courtesy of Riot Games

The OPL ladder looks like a cycling race, with leaders, stragglers, and a big pack in the middle. Let’s dive on into the guts of that pack and see who looks like rising and falling over the next few weeks!

The tour winds on

We’ve reached the end of the first round robin, and the league really does resemble a great cycling event, with the bottom of the league a full two wins behind the pack, and the pacesetters have pulled themselves two wins ahead of the peloton.

Some of what was expected has come to pass – Legacy are very good, Mammoth are struggling mightily, and the Dire Wolves are comfortably in playoffs ?–  a distance away from challenging for first, but equally far away from being outside of the playoffs.

Pentanet.GG and Chiefs have surprised us, despite most reasonable projections having both in the playoffs. What we knew about each roster before seeing any play has been outweighed by what each has brought to the table.

And despite a social media propaganda campaign trying to convince us otherwise, it may just turn out that Gravitas was #NotVeryGood after all.

Tune into a future Ties’ Takes for some mid-split award contenders. We’ll have played over half the games by then, so it’ll be a good time to have a look at those. But for now, I want to have a look at three teams who we might not have the full picture of through eight games.

Dire Wolves

The Wolves are sitting pretty in third, but I become filled with dread when I think about them hanging onto the spot. And it’s all for weird, intangible, and arguably arbitrary reasons.

Of all the teams I’ve watched play this year, I think the Wolves draft to a plan the best. I’m not saying that the plans are the best, or that their picks are the best for that plan. What I’m highlighting here is that when you look at a DW draft, more so than other teams, you know exactly what they’re trying to do, and when they win games it looks like how you imagined it would in their head. In my mind that says that they have the best grasp on their identity. By having this approach to their draft on lock, their success is the most repeatable.

Where they fall down is in their sometimes baffling gameplay. The standout in this is the Week 1 game against Mammoth, where they made exceptionally hard work of the win and really should have swept them aside. Now, that was the sub roster and so you can point the finger at not having Ha “Vital” In-seong, and perhaps a little of the Shernfire-era Dire Wolf arrogance coming back to roost, but make sure you can get the job done first. If the Wolves can clean this up, they’ll be in great stead.

The other elephant in the room for this team is we’ve literally seen this before from the trio of Ben “Kai” Stewart, Ryan “Chippys” Short, and Ari “Shok” Greene-Young and it went completely up the creek. So, while I’m cautiously optimistic for the Dire Wolves, their next three weeks is as hard as it gets. I won’t declare them legit contenders until the core can improve on their win rate heading into playoffs.

Order

Will the real Order please stand up?
I repeat
Will the real Order please stand up?
We’re gonna have a problem here
Y’all act like you’ve never seen an inconsistent Order before…

I’ll spare you all terrible spoof song lyrics, if only to sing the Ballad of Mighty Haeri. The young Harry Kang has been magnificent on an Order lineup that has at times struggled with Brandon “Swip3rR” Holland’s deaths in the early game, and Ronan “rare7” Swingler’s in the mid-late.

I bring up Order here because their record itself is a bit questionable if you expect them to be a top three team insofar as they lose to teams above them and beat up on the teams below them. Also, they’ve played Gravitas twice. This says to me they’re about where they should be. They need to ramp up if they want to maintain their current spot, and quickly if they expect to climb.

Maybe some of that coach difference that was hinted at in a tweet before the season could help here?

Pentanet.GG

Pentanet for my money is in the opposite situation to the Dire Wolves. And not just because of the obvious third-versus-third-last comparison. While the Wolves are falling victim to their gameplay not matching the quality of the game plan, at times Pentanet.GG’s gameplan is obtuse, inaccessible, or just plain absent.

At their worst, they look like a team bereft of identity. “Getback Friday” memes sprout and Souli looks very much like the rookie that he is.

In full flight they look decisive, full of purpose and committed to their goals. The teamwork is abundant, Jake “Rogue” Sharwood’s engages enable the team and Paris “Souli” Sitzoukis is given ample opportunity to explore his competitive limits and plenty of space for mistakes. At their worst, they look like a team bereft of identity. “Getback Friday” memes sprout and Souli looks very much like the rookie that he is.

What I want from this team is just to let Mark “Praedyth” Lewis carry. I don’t know if this is being stopped by coach Scott “Westonway” Farmer, or Praedyth himself. Let the man auto-attack some time. Dare him to deal some relevant damage, challenge him to perform in these midgame fights. As Legacy fans from last year will attest, he’s rather good at it when he does it.

If they can fix this up, accept and understand that this is a Praedyth-centric team and make sure he’s there contributing to kills and not just irrelevant Ezreal damage, then they can turn this split around. He’s third-bottom in kills despite being fourth in KDA and second in gold share in his role which, combined, is a sign that indicates he isn’t converting his safety and leads into impact in games. They’ve played the Chiefs twice already, so when you look at the ladder as it stands, they have the easiest last 13 games of all the teams.

Big Stat Energy

I’m working on something for future Big Stat Energies that should be a bit more meaty, but I just wanted to take today’s column to highlight a few intriguing numbers that I’ve seen on Games of Legends:

• The Chiefs have three of the top individual kill games, on three different players.
• Mammoth have given up three of the top individual kill games, to three different teams. (This one perhaps not so surprising)
• Raes has three of the best four CSPM (CS per minute) games
• Pentanet.GG have given up three of the best CSPM games. (I would cynically argue this is indicative of not being pressured enough in lanes and that Praedyth needs to be unleashed more, but even though two of them are ADC’s this is not prescriptive)
• Shoutout to Avant’s rookie ADC Violet for crashing the top two’s KDA party. He’d been touted behind the scenes as one to watch and while KDA is a fairly useless isolated statistic, it’s still an achievement.

The second round robin is where we really see the teams settle in to what we can expect from them as the season closes, so it’s now the teams at the bottom have to make their push if they want to be in the scrap for finals places.

Friday from 4PM AEDT is when we’ll rejoin the action, so make sure to see if these three teams can better their split trajectories for that fight!

Follow Reece “Ties” Perry on Twitter.

The OPL returned with a new look for its new era. CS:GO is also up and running again with MDL (though I won’t cover that today), and Ties’ column is back with the first column of a new decade.

Impact Performance

I came away really impressed with Minsu “EMENES” Jang. I know I’m not alone there; many others were as well. Don’t mind the broadcast where he arrived to mixed reviews, with  Skimmy beginning day 2 by commenting on his day 1 performance that he was “not as convincing as he may have wanted to” before following up with “When you put that much hype into somebody you need to see more convincing results at that level”.

So apparently EMENES needed to pack multiple good games into his first game. If someone can hit me up on Twitter with how the heck he was meant to do that, I’d appreciate it.

Looking at that first game, though – it really shows the more subtle ways that great players are great. On the Orianna, and – let’s be honest – with his bot lane doing a baby int around him, EMENES quietly built himself an impressive early game. His team helped him out by getting him the kill on the top road, and he paid them back in kind, handling a 1v1 against Dragon “Dragku” Guo on the back side of the team fight despite getting caught off-guard by the Mordekaiser out of the bush.

The thing that I liked most out of EMENES was that he built an impressive game without a highlight-reel Command: Shockwave. Few things change a game quite like a huge Shockwave, and to have the impact that EMENES did on his Orianna without hitting a game-breaking ultimate shows a no-fuss way of going about his business that in my mind showed impressive poise in his first stage game.

On that overlay

Look, I don’t want to go in too ham on this, it’s been done to death. To me, it looked like a conscious decision to hide the part of the spectator client that shows the champion stats and buffs. The issues are twofold to me: 1) It’s just such a large, pulsing blue around it that it really stands out and takes attention away from the action. And 2) Is that even something we want in the first place?

I spoke with an OPL fan outside my normal echo chamber of friends I discuss esports with, who lamented the loss of the champion stats/cooldowns/buffs/etc panel, and they pointed out that with the release and popularity of Senna, that having the panel there to see her stacks of mist would be really helpful.

Initially I wasn’t too sad to be rid of this panel as I have a vague memory of it blocking out something important in a teamfight one time. But after hearing this, which I hadn’t first considered, I’m now in favour of being able to see it again.

I’m sure Riot got the message on the Week 1 overlay loud and clear, so let’s see if we can get something a little more minimalistic, as opined by Brandon “Juves” Defina.

I think the LCK overlay is a good example of less is more. Clean and can see important bits of information.

I’ll say it again, less is more.

— Brandon Defina (@SINJuves) February 5, 2020

The rest of the weekend

• I came into this split worried about Avant, and an 0-2 week isn’t going to help this at all. I don’t think Dragku is a player they should have been building around and nothing he showed me so far has changed that.
• I like the edge Dire Wolves have going into preparation for future weeks. If Kai doesn’t know what he’s going to do before each game, how can the opponents be expected to predict it?
• I want to see more games from Pentanet and Chiefs before I’m completely confident with how I feel about either
• I was impressed with Gravitas. I expected a disaster, and at times they looked more organised than a lot of other teams.
• NichBoy continues to be a delight in my life.

GG great OCE banter

It was great to see some hard-hitting banter go around the league, led by Chiefs coach Chris “SeeEl” Lee who had this to say post-match after Pentanet.GG coach Scott “Westonway” Farmer vowed to hand him his first OPL loss ahead of their Friday meeting:

Where’s my loss?

GGWP @Windowsmonkey https://t.co/EeVjw2sdFu pic.twitter.com/76VYHtKcDy

— Chris Lee (SeeEl) (@coachseeel) January 31, 2020

He definitely had the last laugh with the win. Congratulations to SeeEl on the win, and a bigger congratulations on his fourth career competitive victory taking his tally past his career competitive rulings. See you on stage in Week 3.

Big Stat Energy

I’ll close with this week’s edition of Big Stat Energy, which is all about the numbers that I find interesting around the scene. And it’s a quickie today.

Had Order not punted a monster gold lead on Saturday, the following stat would have been true:

Since the Rift Rivals break last year (5th & 6th July 2019), not including games against each other, Avant and Legacy would have been a combined 0-24.

Pour one out for Rift Rivals, by the way. Raise your #RipRivals.

With rare exception, the first week of the OPL was just as fun a watch as it has always been, even with the myriad new faces. Beyond our prediction feature matches, I have my eye on Dire Wolves/Gravitas as the match most likely to be fun. The Wolves should handle them comfortably at full strength, but “should” is a funny word when it comes to winning in the OPL.

See you in a couple of weeks with more Ties’ Takes!

Follow Reece “Ties” Perry on Twitter.

Chiefs knew that to fill the shoes of their iconic roster AND go hunting for the major slot that has so far eluded them, they’d have to sign one heck of a Team. Fortunately, they’ve found one.

For the continual history at the top of the CS:GO division, as one of the stalwart organisations in Oceanic Esports, one of the feathers absent from their cap is a Major sticker. Today, they announced a new direction in their CSGO division which retains that status while also allowing them to compete in the Major system.

The acquisition of the roster most recently known simply as Team has been a consistent performer at the top of the scene over the last year. The roster joins Chiefs almost twelve months to the day after having formed under Genuine Gaming and have a slew of top 4 results over that time.

• Hugh “HUGHMUNGUS” Anderson
• Chris “Jinxx” Moseley
• Tom “apocdud” Henry (Captain)
• Jordan “SkulL” Newland
• Daryl “Maker” May

apocdud is excited to join a roster that shares their ambition and will empower them to grow.

“We’re all super keen to represent such a respected and storied organisation, and hopefully with their support we’ll be able to continue climbing the ranks of OCE and start consistently competing in overseas events.”

“I hope all our team team fans keep following us on our journey with Chiefs!” said apocdud.

Chiefs CEO Nick Bobir paid tribute to the outgoing roster, who served admirably in the events they were able to compete in under their circumstances.

“We would like to thank the previous members of the Chiefs Counter Strike roster who at the end of last season decided to go their separate ways, pursue new teams or hang up the keyboard.

“While one chapter closes, we are excited to start a new era with a team that has certainly worked hard throughout 2019, turned heads and made plenty of noise.”

The outgoing Chiefs roster contained some absolute titans of the local scene that would be a monumental challenge to live up to. Fortunately, their new roster has been putting up some titanic efforts of their own. Currently 5-1 in Mountain Dew League, this new partnership is poised to go from strength to strength as they push towards the first major qualifier season of 2020.

Follow The Chiefs Esports Club on Twitter.

Tipsters are highlighting the 2020 vintage of Legacy Esports to be the team to beat early on. Star players Quin “Raes” Korebrits and Leo “Babip” Romer talk with Snowball Esports about season expectations and what it takes to be the best.

With the oft-transient nature of player movement in the Oceanic Pro League, it’s always an exciting time anticipating who has the best roster “on-paper”. The new wrinkle in the off-season speculation game was the exodus of players, thanks in no small part to the new LCS Academy rule with play-in region players.

It was a lengthy, circuitous route to the rosters which left OPL fans with an ever-increasing thirst for knowledge of the new rosters. As the dust settled, Raes and Babip found themselves on together on a roster in a process the players themselves found circuitous.

It was all just a bad dream… #OPLTRADES pic.twitter.com/RCyjFK1CHV

— Legacy Esports (@LegacyOCE) January 17, 2020

While playing alongside Raes was definitely his intention, Babip admitted the roundabout path he took to get there wasn’t exactly what he had in mind coming into the 2019-20 offseason.

“During the offseason, Quin and I, along with Fudge (Ibrahim Allami) wanted to build a team with ourselves as the core,” Babip explained to Snowball.

“When Fudge got the opportunity to join an NA Academy team, we parted ways exploring our own individual options. In the end, we got back together and with this Legacy roster we have confidence that we can win and succeed internationally.”

Babip is a player whose history with Legacy is storied to OPL fans – he entered the league widely touted as a future star, and was taken under the wing of now-GM Tim “Carbon” Wendel in a sort of apprentice role.

The prodigal son returning home story almost writes itself.

Raes had a more personal reason to land at Legacy specifically. Having been on the end of some tough OPL Finals losses, Raes sympathized with Legacy for having their share of their own tough finals losses.

Ironically, two of Legacy’s toughest finals losses are inextricably linked to Raes. In 2016, Legacy had to field Harry “Cardrid” Archer as a substitute ADC after Calvin “k1ng” Truong received a competitive ruling, allegedly for directing abuse towards Raes while he played for the Dire Wolves.

Then, in the second split of that same year, having been traded to the Chiefs, Legacy were crushed 3-0 on the back of a Caitlyn masterclass from Raes. Between that, and the promising roster Legacy constructed, Raes ultimately called it an “easy decision to make.”

Joining Raes on this promising roster is Jonah “Isles” Rosario, having graduated from Mammoth Academy, by way of a brief stint on Avant. This will mark the second year Raes pairs up with high-promise young rookie after a great showing in the OCS.

In 2019 he brought Bill “Eyla” Nguyen up and helped him to an excellent first season as he showed him the ropes of the bot lane on the Chiefs. Having been the young-mechanics-crew ADC himself just a couple of years ago, Raes’ growth into a teacher while maintaining his dominance in his own role shows the consummate professional he’s become.

Raes acknowledged the experienced supports in Bryce “EGym” Paule, Mike “Cuden” Le, and current Origen support Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw in his own development and is happy to now be on the other side of the teaching dynamic. He’s confident that, in working together, Isles will develop into one of the best supports in Oceania.

The Legacy roster was rounded out with a couple of Koreans – former Mammoth top laner Jihoon “Topoon” Kim has OPL experience already, but joining him new to the region is former Gen.G and Kingzone DragonX trainee Minsu “EMENES” Jang.

Babip said he was initially anxious about playing with an import mid-laner – problems like the language barrier and frustrations around communications can often cause more problems than their mechanical skill can solve.

But only after a couple of short weeks practicing and preparing with the team Babip has said he been quite relieved playing with EMENES, saying “not only is he extremely good individually but also easily takes on board criticism, works through issues and cares about team improvement.”

Team improvement is one thing that is on the minds of Legacy as they take their roster of disparate parts and form a genuine team out of them. Raes and Babip both cited rosters with consistent parts as their biggest threats to this roster. Dire Wolves were mentioned by both players as being a threat due to their team-work and pre-existing synergy.

Raes also mentioned another team highly touted during the pre-season: Order. They have organisational familiarity with Ronan “rare7” Swingler and Jake “Spawn” Tiberi and brought in Chiefs trio Brandon “Swip3rR” Holland, Jordan “Only” Middleton and Eyla.

Although it’s only early days with teams being just a couple of weeks into scrims and we’re yet to see how teams look on-stage, it’s clear they’re both on the same page in their belief teams that work together the best will perform the best.

Performing at their best is something that has followed both players around their careers. Both are former OPL champions and will be leaning on their experiences to return themselves and Legacy to the top of the pile.

Babip said learning and evolving from his recent international experience will help him get back to the title and stay on top. By facing better players and learning how they punish elements of his game he previously was able to get away with, he’ll stay at the top.

Much like in the way we’ve heard in traditional sports that the focus on the “one-percenters” is where the work that will deliver tangible results comes from, Babip believes attention to detail on the smaller things will set teams apart.

He said there isn’t “anything, in particular, to focus on, there are a ton of small things in relation to gameplay, communication and studying the meta” will put the team where they want to be as the split and the year plays out

Raes is a player famous for taking over games and being a dominating force for his team. It’s something that’s a core part of his mindset and approach as to how the game should be played.

I asked Raes if he felt any extra pressure to remain dominant now he was the ‘on-paper’ undisputed best player in the region, a status that could paint a much larger bullseye on him with the youngsters looking to take his scalp.

True to this nature, he said everyone should want to dominate games, and

“being the best and having the everyday expectation to dominate games adds no pressure to my performances”.

A famous Wil Durant quote tells us “Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Raes and Babip have shown throughout their careers they are excellent OPL players. In 2020 they will band together with Topoon, EMENES, and Isles to deliver Legacy their first OPL title.

The Oceanic Pro League returns today.

Follow Raes & Babip on Twitter.

Photography courtesy of Riot Games

In this first trip into my grab-bag column, we digest the fallout from both the minor and the major and we see what’s creating #BigStatEnergy!

Major Debrief

*This section was written as DH Malmo began.*

The major is now well and truly behind us, leagues have started back up and the year-closing event season is in full swing with Dreamhack Malmo underway after Grayhound Gaming qualified into that event.

On the surface, little seemed to have changed since IEM Katowice – The Renegades retained legend status for the second consecutive time, and Grayhound found new heights in achieving their second pyrrhic victory from two trips to the major. So while the major is long gone, rippling below the surface is a new wave of promise in the Oceanic scene that I want to touch on.

Avant

The first of this new wave is the rise of the rejuvenated Avant squad. Retaining only Mike “ap0c” Aliferis and Jay “soju_j” Jeong from the previous iteration, the squad retooled with Euan “sterling” Moore, formerly of Grayhound and two players out of the Breakaway Esports squad in Jared “HaZR” O’Bree and Jireh “J1rah” Youakim.

They returned to action in the Minor qualifiers, carving a swathe through the event – toppling madlikewizards, Order, Ground Zero, taking a map from and putting a rocket up Grayhound before knocking off Order a second time to find themselves in Europe for the Minor.

The Minor itself saw them play 5POWER on either side of a swift 0-2 to Grayhound – eventually, they bowed out after losses to Tyloo and MVP PK. Their run was punctuated with tough losses on their own map picks, despite being paced by solid play from sterling.

Despite falling at the last hurdle, the side showed a lot of promise not just for themselves, but for the hopes of the rest of the region. Avant are in a tight fight with the Chiefs, Order and Genuine for the next best squad after Grayhound, and for Avant to put up such a showing in spite of the lack of experience shows that as the rest of the region continues to build, we can hold hope that the day of three Oceanic teams at the major being closer than we all might have thought.

Grayhound

For their part, the Hounds did their efforts one better on the scoreboard but showed a typically tenacious run through the major. In Katowice, they dropped two best-of-ones before dropping a respectable series 2-0 to Fnatic.

They started on a similar trajectory with an opening loss to Cr4zy – who showed themselves to be a feisty squad throughout the major – and Forze led to a collision with Brazil’s third-best team in INTZ. This time they overcame the 0-3 curse…only to find themselves in the line of fire of Vitality, then thought by many to be the second-best team in the world over recent months. Vitality would springboard from a 2-1 result over Grayhound, all the way into the top 8 of the major – and so Grayhound, despite their disappointment, can look back on the event with pride.

The background story for Grayhound was the farewell tour of Erdenetsogt “erkaSt” Gantulga, as visa issues meant he had to return to his home of Mongolia. ErkaSt leaves behind a colossal legacy of great play, and as a catalyst in the Grayhound squad that has paved the way for future teams, much like Avant, to chase their international and major dreams.

Replacing him in the team after his departure is Joshua “INS” Potter, formerly of Order. INS joined the team for the DreamHack Malmo qualifiers, and after a slight misstep against Genuine Gaming in the second round, stormed through the rest of the qualifier, dropping only a single map in games played the rest of the way (the 3-1 against Genuine in the finals included an automatic one-map advantage for coming from the upper bracket). That map was part of a spectacular series against Avant which I thoroughly recommend re-watching if you missed it.

I had the opportunity to ask a couple of questions to Grayhound’s AWPer Simon “Sico” Williams who talked about how the qualifiers helped the integration of INS and how the trip through the lower bracket as having some benefit, even though they’d obviously have preferred to take the easier route through the upper bracket.

“When getting a new player there is always a teething period where you get used to each other’s playstyle. You go over your strats and your entire game again and make sure all the roles are properly-suited to each player. Playing more games definitely helps us become better as a team and get the finer details of our game more concrete heading into Malmo”.

Sico’s own experience at the major saw him go head-to-head with ZywOo, and since joining the hounds he has taken on some giants of the AWP in Kenny “kennyS” Schrub and Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács – and he had this to say on these European powerhouses: “Aside from the obvious fact that they are very sharp and fast with the AWP…a lot of the European AWPers have different styles and are more dynamic with their positioning than Australian AWPers”.

Perhaps cheekily, I finished by asking Sico how INS was going to copy him next, having taken his spot in Order when Sico left and now following him to Grayhound. Ever the team player, Sico only had his eyes on the prize as he hoped to “pop his major cherry”.

If Grayhound continue as strongly with INS as they have started, that is but a matter of time.

Renegades

“Only a matter of time” describes the hopeful, yet fatalistic outlook I’m sure many Renegades shared with me as they were down 0-2 in the New Legends stage. Despite two competitive matches against Avangar and NRG, it felt like more of the same that we’d seen from the Renegades in between the two majors.

In fairness, Renegades had what could be politely described as one long nightmare from February to August after that initial wonderful success at the Katowice major. Visa issues and disrupted preparation plagued their attempts to consolidate their major run and left them with no consistent match fitness and dependent once again on a boot camp to find their form.

Their way out of the 0-2 pit started thanks in large part to Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas making a sparkling run through the major. Liazz finally showed the performances he was putting up before he joined the Renegades after not being able to stand out in a largely thankless role. In particular, he combined brilliantly with a throwback Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad outing to topple G2 Esports and helped Renegades seal their second straight top 8.

The quarterfinal would see a comfortable 2-0 win over an ENCE squad going through a little turmoil as aleksib was on his way out of the Finnish side. They took Avangar all the way to the second overtime on Mirage, before the clock struck 12 on this wondrous run as they dropped Dust2 16-9.

In the face of what seemed to be the most impossible position, the Renegades reeled off their best finish at a major. The magical performance of Azr’s troops has had wide-ranging impacts throughout the scene. Firstly, the most important impact is that all the concerns, all the doubts that were coming in from outside the team during their rough patch between the two majors was smoothed away with this run. Winning, as they say, cures all ills.

Much as it was with IEM Katowice flowing into this major, the next standout effect is one for the rest of the scene. By not needing to go through the minor system, we will see another case being made by our teams for three Oceanic teams making it to the first major of 2020. Avant and Order have been having themselves some fierce battles over the quest to be the third-best team in the region, and they may be driving themselves into a position where they can each threaten The Chiefs off of what previously looked like an unassailable second.

There’s been a cavalcade of crazy results that have followed the major, and it’s a series of events that makes the next major cycle an enticing prospect. There’s still plenty left to play for in Oceanic Counter-Strike this year as teams jostle to put themselves in the best possible place to make that great run into the first major next year.

Big Stat Energy 

Each column, I’ll be taking a look at statistics that intrigue me, and then talking about whether or not there’s something behind these stats, or if it’s just the wonderful circumstance of numbers.

The Great Oceanic Ezreal War

Those that know me know that I have had an axe to grind with this for some considerable time. I have had it with most OPL teams picking Ezreal. Absolutely had it. I think this pick, with notable exceptions, does absolutely nothing for the region. Let’s dive into why.

Ezreal serves several useful purposes. The most common reason is that it is a high source of damage per minute from must-respect range across the course of the game, while maintaining the ability to stay quite safe with his Arcane Shift.

That same range allows it to whittle down a wave from safety as well. It can serve as part of a great poke/siege composition. And it does an excellent job of nullifying enemy bot lanes where the composition has been designed to get a lead through bot-lane. Ezreal/Braum, a lane I have railed against on many occasions for doing nothing, is noteworthy for its specific ability to turn a lane that an opponent is depending upon to nothing. To borrow a phrase from another game:

“But it doesn’t do anything!”

“No, it does nothing.”

But this is not how it plays out. At least not in this league. Time after time after time we see the Ezreal picks put into situations where it doesn’t suit the composition, where it is asking the pick to teamfight off its ideal tempo, or with not enough damage supporting it to win a fight.

If you’re planning to teamfight with an Ezreal, something has probably gone wrong unless it is massively fed or is sporting a Trinity Force into a squishy enemy composition. You’re planning to fight with a pick that needs several seconds and ideally multiple rotations of Mystic Shot. Not only that, all of them need to hit, and probably he needs to be close enough AND safe enough to be auto-attacking alongside that.

All in all, it’s asking really a lot from the pick to be set up for failure like this and ask it to succeed. And speaking of success, let’s have a look at the numbers that feed this big stat energy. Take a gander below at the win rates of OPL AD Carries (and Victor “FBI” Huang, as one of the great luminaries of the pick from OPL days gone by).

There’s some good in this, no doubt about things. FBI, while he was still here, was immense on the champion, and arguably it’s his signature pick. K1ng is another player who is a legacy Ezreal player and is excellent on it. Raes was not someone I associated with it, but this year he came on in leaps and bounds showing great performances in both wins and losses.

After that, and throwing out Looch’s (and Anderu’s if you must) win rate for sample size, it’s abysmal viewing. Top of the list salvages that 41.8% win rate in 2019 which is awful in and of itself. Let’s explore some of the reasons behind that number.

Traditionally, teams in Oceania love big teamfights. It’s something we do relatively well as a region. It lets the players display their micro-skills which they’re inclined to want to do over patient, methodical build-up. If you can teamfight well, then you can win from in front and even from narrowly-to-moderately behind. Players play to this strength, and so they look to teamfight with their Ezreal in situations where it is off the proper timing, or when they don’t have control over when and how the fight happens, nor correct vision control to protect their carries.

So as I touched on before, teams pick Ezreal in some situations where it doesn’t make sense. In Oceania, fights are often over before the Ezreal can get enough Mystic Shots away to be threatening.

Excellent teamfighting teams like The Chiefs can take advantage of this to punish Ezreal compositions that get caught in fights. The Chiefs excel against the Ezreal pick by forcing teamfights upon it, exemplified by their undefeated 12-0 record when the enemy team picks Ezreal.

Flowing on from this, Ezreal requires unbelievable discipline from everyone on its team. You need to have discipline putting it in positions to succeed, you need to play patiently with the pick – particularly if you go to a dedicated poke composition, and the Ezreal player needs to be unbelievably disciplined in the way that they position an Ezreal for maximum damage output.

One of the elements that makes the best three Oceanic Ezreals above so good at the pick, and particularly k1ng and FBI, is the way they hover on the razor’s edge of danger. They know they need to be close enough to weave in autoattacks to augment Ezreal’s spell damage, close enough to make Mystic Shot harder to dodge, yet far enough away that they can stay safe.

This can be overwhelming for all but the most spectacular of players. Ezreal is a champion that regularly does high damage yet doesn’t always have the impact to match the raw damage number. The best players don’t just put out damage, they have massive impact with the Ezreal. And that’s just not everyone.

Verdict: This is not all the fault of the champion. He’s certainly not a bad champion, not by any stretch. The pick can bring a dynamic punch in widely different situations. But he’s not a get-out-of-jail-free pass to being a late game hyper-carry. He asks a lot, of the composition, of the execution, and of the pilot.

But just because the problem isn’t always the pick – that doesn’t mean it is OK to play it. Pro League doesn’t exist in a theoretical vacuum, it exists in the real hands of the real players who need to make the pick work in real games. In a region still developing the discipline to play this pick at the highest level, across all the players in the league, it just feels like taking the path of most resistance.

At the end of the day, if your name isn’t k1ng, FBI, or now Raes…I don’t want to see Ezreal in the OPL. I’m declaring war on this pick – just stop doing it.

With this meaty first edition complete, thanks for reading through the first of my columns. Check back next time, where you can expect to find a little more CS, a little more league, and more great Tie Takes.

Follow Reece “Ties” Perry on Twitter.