Professional League of Legends 2024: Losing Cash Swiftly

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Professional League of Legends 2024: Losing Cash Swiftly

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Welcome to the 2024 professional League of Legends thread! With another milestone year behind us and another trophy in Faker's vault, the season's set to begin with significant upheavals in the LCK's teams, several brands returning to the LEC, and the LCS finding every last penny to pinch. Whether you're a brand new viewer or a crusty old veteran returning after Worlds, there's no better time to return to watching the sport.

What is League of Legends?

League of Legends is a team-based game with a simple objective: pilot one of 160+ champions and destroy the enemy team's Nexus. This simple concept belies a game of enormous strategic complexity and mechanical depth that brings tens of millions of players to the servers daily, and which has led to the development and growth of one of the world's premiere esports.

Matches take place on Summoner's Rift between the blue (bottom-left) and red (top-right) teams. The map is divided into three lanes - toplane, midlane, and botlane - which allied and enemy units (minions) spawn in and push down automatically. Killing minions will grant gold and experience, which can be spent on items and levels respectively to make champions more powerful. Each lane has several turrets that will attack enemy minions and champions, and which must be destroyed to make progress down the lane. At the end of each lane is an inhibitor, and destroying it will cause more powerful minions to temporarily spawn down that lane. Once an inhibitor is destroyed, the turrets that protect the Nexus are exposed; destroying these turrets will allow a team to destroy the enemy Nexus, winning the game.

Inbetween these lanes are areas populated by neutral monsters, called the jungle. In addition to the regular jungle monsters, there are special epic monsters that spawn at specific locations on the map:

Drakes: Powerful dragons that, when killed, give the killing team a permanent teamwide buff. The third drake that spawns will change the Rift in various ways, such as adding or removing terrain. Killing four drakes of any type will grant a Dragon Soul buff based on the element of the third drake that spawned. All drakes spawned after the Dragon Soul is claimed are Elder Drakes, which grant an incredibly powerful temporary buff to the killer's team.
Baron Nashor and Rift Herald: Occupying the same space on the map, the Rift Herald will appear twice before the 20 minute mark. Claiming it will allow a team to summon it to charge down a lane, dealing heavy damage to turrets it encounters until it's destroyed. After 20 minutes, Baron Nashor will spawn; killing him will grant the killing team a temporary buff that makes nearby allied minions much more powerful, allowing teams to more easily push into the enemy base.

Each team is composed of 5 members who fill a particular role, and whose initial position on the map is typically determined by that role:

Top: Starts in toplane. Due to being relatively isolated from the rest of the map, top is usually either a hard to kill tank champion or a duelist champion that can match the enemy top in a 1v1.
Mid: Starts in midlane. The shorter length of the lane and its central position on the map makes it attractive for mage champions. Success in this lane is often important due to its ability to impact both top and bot through roaming.
Bot: Starts in botlane. This is typically filled by champions that depend more on items than levels, such as ranged physical attackers, due to them being paired with the support. Proximity to Drake makes it an important lane early on.
Support: Starts in botlane. Supports get less gold and experience than the rest of their team, and are often champions specialized to fill that role as a result. Often responsible for acquiring vision for their team via sight-granting wards.
Jungler: Starts in the jungle. Junglers kill the neutral monsters in the jungle for most of their gold and experience, and are often tank or duelist champions, much like top. Their ability to roam around without losing too much gold or experience gives them a major ability to impact the other lanes.

The Regions

League is a worldwide sport, currently composed of four major regions and numerous minor regions. Regions primarily compete domestically, with two major tournaments - the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Worlds - serving as the primary international competition between them.

[Start Date: January 17]

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKVlixycWmapnGQ_wht4cHQ

The major region. Finally returned to form with the surprise dominance of T1 returning to the international stage, significantly raising their already formidable reputation. Generally known for having a methodical, controlled playstyle that's focused on objective control and precise timings to gain advantages. Notable for also being the major talent-producing region for the sport as a whole, with every region major or minor fielding multiple Korean imports.

It should be noted that Twitch has ceased operations in South Korea due to ongoing financial issues. While I haven't seen any official confirmation, I'm assuming that the Youtube page is now going to be the one and only source for live viewing, so adjust your bookmarks accordingly.

[Start Date: January 22]

Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/lpl

Generally considered the second best region, League's insane popularity in China has also made the LPL one of the busiest regions, with a staggering 17 different teams competing this season. A notoriously bloody league that loves scrapping, with LPL teams willing to duke it out at a moment's notice. Tends to trade off frontrunner status with the LCK depending on the meta.

[Start Date: January 13]

Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/lec

The Europeans have bounced around in the rankings over the years, though they're generally able to field at least one or two teams that are international menaces a year, and have one of the best English broadcasts around. Generally known for their unpredictability, having pulled out weird picks and niche strategies multiple times at Worlds to catch other teams off guard, though their ability to make deep runs is highly dependent on the strength of individual teams. Mergers and acquisitions have resulted in the return of Rogue and the addition of Karmine Corp as official teams, Excel merging with Giants to form GIANTX (lmao), and Mad Lions and KOI joining forces as Mad Lions KOI (again, lmao).

[Start Date: January 20]

Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/lcs

The LCS serves as the perpetual gatekeepers of international competition, being strong enough to consistently beat teams from minor regions, but not teams from majors. Typically favors a slower, risk-averse playstyle that plays reactively to enemy mistakes instead of proactively, which usually lands them in hot water against more aggressive teams. Has occasionally shown some surprising runs internationally, but usually flares out early. This marks an especially interesting season due to decreased investment from teams in their rosters, resulting in a lot of budget pickups, and the surprise announcement of Mark Zimmerman as LCS commissioner. Definitely a region to keep your eye on.

Note that the LCS is back to weekends, so be sure to adjust your schedules accordingly.

Important Links

LoL Esports - The hub for all-things pro League and Riot's official website. Contains schedules for every major and minor region, as well as various important regional and international tournaments.
Leaguepedia - Yeah, it's on loving Fandom, but there's no better resource for pro League information out there. Contains gamescores, champion statistics, player/team information, tournament results, etc.
Games of Legends - A pro game stat tracking site. Used extensively by analysts for looking up team and champion statistics.
EpicSkillshot - The OG Youtube VOD channel. Not allowed to upload LCK VODs, but you'll find VODs for every other major region and international tournament there, including a massive historical archive of past seasons for the curious.
Previous Thread - To relive the good (?) times.

Vermain fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Jan 5, 2024

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 02:54

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 23:21

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

reserve post just in case

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 02:55

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

1stGear posted:

Will this be the year that the LCS stops being an embarrassment? Let's find out!

the answer will unfortunately be "no" since the budget rosters are still mostly coasting on old, cheap names that can be quickly assembled into a frankenstein's monster. i do think NRG has a decent shot internationally if they stay the course and improve on what they did last year, and C9 has a solid on paper roster that might be able to do something come MSI

i'm more hoping for a revival of the LCS as a domestic league with markz in the driver's seat, since i think he genuinely understands what interests viewers and how to tailor the broadcast so that people have a reason to tune in, even if it's not necessarily to watch the best high quality league play in the world

njsykora posted:

Also since I posted it presumably as the OP was being written.

yeah, apologies for that; i got laid low by a migraine yesterday and just got around to it hoping no one was thinking of posting anything still :pwn:

i like the change overall, since it's a good way of giving 4th seeds to the regions that actually deserve them without just straight up stripping them unilaterally from NA/LEC. looking forwards to seeing the new LEC studio, especially if they increase the seating enough so that it doesn't feel like it's got the capacity of an average talk show

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 06:30

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

tithin posted:

fyi your link to epicskillshot goes to a completely different channel - a 4y/o intro to league video

whoops, thank you, must've been part of an older draft

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 18:02

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Digital Jedi posted:

LCS Address from MarkZ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ktDdPlioGs

2 biggest changes is

1)All matches will be on the live current patch. Pros no longer have to practice and play on two different versions.

2)Less downtime between games. Once a game ends/during the ending, the next game's draft is going to be recorded backstage. Then once the teams are setup and all the tech checks are going on, the recording will air, with the commentators making their commentary just as if it's live.

NACL is going to fearless drafts which I think was already announced?

drat, those are some pretty significant changes. live patch is huge because of how much it's going to favor teams that can get ahead of the curve and figure out the meta early on in the week to practice, so it could lead to some unexpectedly strong teams if they've got perceptive analysts. the downtime bit makes it sound like they're effectively nixing the postgame analyst desk: that's a big gamble for them to take, considering that it's a given for every other region, but it's not necessarily a bad direction to take it

i get the impression that markZ wants the LCS to be an entertainment product first and foremost, and making it as lean and mean as possible to bring in views (and probably draw more sponsorship dollars) is a good direction to take it in. i think he was easily the best guy they could've promoted to the job both due to his understanding of the direction the LCS needs to head in, and the fact that he's built up a tremendous level of trust over the years should help to restore a lot of faith in the product

edit: looks like there's also going to be a tier 2 americas tournament for the NACL and the various south american tier 2 leagues, which is a good step towards an all americas tournament for the main stage

Vermain fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Jan 9, 2024

# ¿ Jan 9, 2024 20:26

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

isaboo posted:

So what's the scuttle(crab)butt on the lesser known (to me) members of this season's rosters?

In particular, I'm looking at Bugi on Shopify Rebellion, DiG Dove, IMT Mask, TL Umti, 100T Meech and 100T Sniper.

I'm happy to see Jensen and Bwipo on FLY, but I'm not exactly excited about them adding Busio.

in terms of new names:

bugi's an import who was on TSM last season. pretty mediocre-to-good jungler without anything mindblowing about him
dove is an older KR pro who's been hanging around the scene without ever managing to make it big, aside from the 2022 LSB run he was on with prince. he's the kind of import you'd expect in the current LCS: mostly past his prime and has historically turned in unexceptional performances, but you can get him cheap and he's guaranteed to be a hard worker
umti's another KR pro who's spent his entire career on various meme teams like JAG and BRO, with another relatively unexceptional performance history and a relatively cheap price tag (and, in the case of TL, the ability to speak korean)
meech is from the NA amateur/academy scene and was on disguisedtoast's team last season. i sadly didn't get much of a chance to watch NACL last year, but his stats look rock solid as far as NA ADC talent goes
sniper is the extraordinarily rare case of actual, genuine NA talent, with him hitting challenger at 12 years old and putting in great performances at twitch rivals. he's finally at the minimum age to compete on the main stage, so a lot of people are excited to see what he can do, even if 100T's roster looks kinda mediocre

Vermain fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Jan 12, 2024

# ¿ Jan 12, 2024 18:45

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

as a reminder, LEC starts tomorrow (january 13th) at 11 AM EST. they finally got around to updating the lolesports schedule, so you can check your own timezone here for comparison

# ¿ Jan 12, 2024 23:50

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

njsykora posted:

We have LOL Park at home.

bet they don't even have a really quaint looking cafe hooked up to that thing neither

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:07

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

hell, if pyke's in meta, i'll take it

really funny we still cannot shake vi after like two goddamn years despite her starting out solely as a zeri counter

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:10

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

njsykora posted:

Grubs confirmed.

one season after grubby started playing league... coincidence????

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:18

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

njsykora posted:

Ice, your ult dude. That didn't have to happen.

On the other hand, trading that for a full 6 grubs is pretty worth with Adam where he is.

and then he throws it all away, rip

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:22

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

isaboo posted:

I'm the gameannouncement_onkilll_redDragon text bug

we all are in 2024

good response from G2, they've managed to keep this drat close

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:36

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

god how i've missed the incomprehensible G2 background chanting

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:40

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Duzzy Funlop posted:

I'm gonna have to look up all the new mechanics, since I missed the early broadcast, because what in god's name is going on on the rift?

there's three reasonably big map changes to keep track of, aside from the general layout changes:

instead of a first herald spawn, a voidgrub camp spawns in the baron at 5:00 and can respawn a second time before 9:45 if killed in time. whenever one voidgrub is killed, it gives the entire team a stack of a buff that increases damage to structures, and, if stacked to 4 or greater, occasionally spawns a voidmite while pushing ala bel'veth's ult
one person can now choose to ride herald like the battle sled in nexus blitz/arena so that she can be steered and used to collide into opponents
baron spawns in one of three variants that have different large scale attacks, and two of the variants (territorial and all-seeing) alter the shape of the entrance to baron pit

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 17:49

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

saintonan posted:

Love the post game interview where Mikyx says G2 is so much better at macro than any other team in LEC that they can screw around early game and it doesn't matter.

they're goddamn right, too, which does not bode well for the LEC considering G2 got its cheeks clapped internationally

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 18:18

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

i still cannot get over how loving cool the baron spawn is

Firebert posted:

Another season of G2 dogwalking the LEC and then getting rinsed at internationals

Honestly they should change the name back to EULCS

it would be very funny if the LCS accidentally moneyballs itself now that it's poverty row and still ends up beating the LEC again once MSI comes around

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 18:45

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

man i was joking about moneyballing before but jackies might actually be a hatteburg if this first game's any indication

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 20:58

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Tombad posted:

Please G3 Heretics, do not suck horribly

don't curse them this early in the season!!

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 21:33

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

absolute slaughter. guess we'll have to see if it was just a poor meta read from TH or if the perkz curse has grown even worse than last year

# ¿ Jan 13, 2024 22:01

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

whoopsie i overslept a bit

support ashe is still such a funny anomaly to me: it's become an SR staple after being imported from ARAM, and now it's literally impossible to play in ARAM because she's got one of the only fully new versions of an ability on the map (re: W has a base 18s CD at all ranks)

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 18:06

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

adam's garen is so drat clean to watch, pretty good game from BDS

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 18:15

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Tombad posted:

I like seeing Xerath but what the gently caress is it with Lucian + Nami?

everyone's a big shape of water fan in the LEC

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 21:05

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

isaboo posted:

well hello there Rogue

the exceedingly rare game where lethality varus actually does something

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 18:40

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

oh yeah, they've also shown off what i assume is a CGI render of the loving statue of faker they're adding to the hall of fame

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 19:27

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

njsykora posted:

Akali seems a wee bit strong right now.

titanic xin too, ashe popped like a balloon

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 19:39

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Savage Cracker posted:

lmao less than 100K viewers on the main english LEC channel, more than 200k on the spanish channels and another 200k+ on the french channels

they expanded the scope for costreaming this season for the LEC, so that sounds about right for the LEC going forwards

that's a massive loving viewerbase though holy crow

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 20:37

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

what a spicy-rear end game

curious to see if that breaks the one day regular season viewership record for the LEC, it sure felt like it

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 20:47

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

CODChimera posted:

rekkles owning in his first match of the LCK challengers

sadly the LCKCL doesn't have an official english language stream this year, but caedrel is covering it if you're curious about the games

it's extremely loving funny whenever they hit the pregame pick screen and it's 9 korean dudes with standard korean hairstyles and then rekkles in the corner with his frosted tips fauxhawk

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 17:14

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

also, as i was musing, the LEC not only broke viewership records but utterly smashed them; 741k peak for a week 1 game on a monday, +59% peak, +37% average

for comparison, ibai alone had more viewers than the LCS summer finals

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 17:18

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

a hot rear end reminder that tomorrow (january 17) is the first day of LCK. you can check out the schedule right here

tomorrow's a real land of contrasts with nongshim vs. a revamped (?) DRX, followed immediately by T1 vs. GENG, so make sure to check out the VODs if you're not up that late

# ¿ Jan 17, 2024 05:15

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

njsykora posted:

Imagine being a caster and having to find a way to produce something entertaining out of these first 2 games.

two huge stinkers, thankfully double support's gone come next patch at least

also, don't forget that LCS is starting up today; schedule is here for your own timezone. please consider showing up to support god's first and only region even if you're fallen off the watch wagon in the past

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 18:37

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Duzzy Funlop posted:

Didn't mean to poo poo on the casters too hard, I genuinely don't know what else I would have done with that last match on my hands.

i think they tried their best, but there's only so blood you can squeeze from a stone

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 18:54

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

2-2 would be quite the inauspicious start gamers 2, and frankly, even if they come back, the fact that they keep bungling the early game is an atrocious habit to have

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 19:18

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Lid posted:

Catching up on LCK and current favourite things are casters having no idea what Hwei's abilities are called because there's too many so becoming like fighting game commentary saying "Hwei with the EW into the WW QW" and that GenG in the off season recruited Canyon and Lehends so it's like this terrifying combination of Damwon and Griffin that are currently stomping everyone when they kept the core of Chovy, Kiin and Peyz.

people made a big ado about hwei being the new 200 years but he's honestly just an AoE vacuum mage ala orianna, as long as you avoid his big grab he's about the same as the rest of them

i am glad to see NS playing better this season but it's really starting to get depressing how categorically bad BRO is. even the meme stocks can't seem to save them this time around

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 20:50

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

jesus they REALLY threw in some effort glowing up the production, i'm loving the new studio design

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 21:07

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

drat this first LCS game is actually delivering, TL showing an unusually strong level of coordination

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 21:23

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

isaboo posted:

Also loving the new studio.

Someone remind me - what happened to Zven?
Wasn't he considering swapping roles? Is he just taking this split off or did all the teams pass him over?

looks like he didn't get any offers so he's just streaming/private coaching for now

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 21:33