NA Regionals Team Spotlight - Team Dignitas

Hello Readers!

Welcome back to my series spotlighting NA LCS teams up for a spot at worlds in the NA Regional tournament held at PAX. Today we'll be learning about Team Dignitas.

Who is Team Dignitas?

Solo Lane - KiwiKid

Previously a Solo Queue player, Kiwi was picked up by Dignitas in December 2012. Originally a top Heroes of Newerth player, Kiwi switched to LoL and quickly rose to high ELO. He played on UT Austin's collegiate League team, PangGirls. Kiwi favors assassin solo laners like Fizz, Elise, and Kha'Zix. This brings him a high risk/high reward play style which has netted him 3rd in most deaths per 60 minutes. Kiwi's inconsistent play doesn't worry his team though, they've made it clear they see potential in him and his future as a professional.

Solo Lane - Scarra

Scarra's performance this split hasn't quite lived up to the Scarra who won 50%+ of the Mid Lane All-Star votes. This may be accredited to Scarra trying to expand his champion pool. In the Spring split he was famous for his Gragas and Diana, but teams soon caught on and perma banned these picks. This split, his most played champion (Zed) was only picked six times. He brought out many suprising picks like Pantheon, Master Yi, and Evelynn. Although Scarra may not be performing at 100%, he is still a huge factor in Dignitas' wins through shot calling and strategy making. He still remains to be the rock that holds this rock solid team together.

Jungle - Crumbzz

After playing Mid Lane, Top Lane, and Jungle in competitive play, I feel Crumbzz is at home in the Jungle. Also sporting a diverse champion pool, Crumbzz clearly focuses on forming advantages for his team in the early game. His champion pool accentuates this play style through picks like Lee Sin and Evelynn. Like most Junglers, Crumbzz uses his superior decision making to outplay his opponents. 

Support - Patoy

While inconsistency may plague Dignitas, Patoy's performance is always of the highest caliber. He often draws bans on his Sona, but has a deep champion pool to back it up. Playing nearly any Support, - any where from Alistar to Fiddlesticks - Patoy is always a player that Dignitas can rely on to perform.

AD Carry - Imaqtpie

Aside from being famous for making people ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ raise your their dongers ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ, people often forget actually how essential he is in Dignitas' success. While most of the spotlight is on Scarra, QT, like his support, is very consistent. Favoring AD's like Ezreal and Graves, QT displays very solid mechanics and rarely makes glaring mistakes.



Dignitas, as an organization, is well established in eSports. Sporting teams in other games like Starcraft 2, Smite, and even FIFA. Dignitas' League team was one of the original teams in North America and has served has a launching pad for many successful players such as Voyboy, IWDominate, Sneaky, and Araneae. Dignitas starting off Season 3 decently, but soon picked up momentum mid-season and went on a nine game winning streak. Unfortunately, like Curse, Dignitas couldn't transition their solid performance in the regular season into play offs. They finished 5/6th after losing to Coast (former GGU) 1-2.

They then were up for relegation. It was hard for everyone to imagine a premier LoL league without NA veterans Dignitas. But they fought back through relegation defeating Fidelis 3-1.

Dignitas' performance in the Summer Split has been okay. But, in their defense, many NA veteran teams have been doing okay after being dethroned by new teams Cloud 9 and Vulcun. Dignitas finished the season 13-15, tied for fourth place.


Although their performance may not show it, everyone on Dignitas has a deep champion pool. Let's take a look at what picks have been working best.

Top: Zac, Kennen

Mid: Zed

Jungle: Elise, Evelynn

Support: Sona, Janna

AD Carry: Ezreal

In the recent super week, Dignitas displayed an interesting compisition showcasing a Patheon middle. They matched Patheon's dive capabilities with long range Zac initiation followed up by Xin Zhao, with Sona to provide lockdown. The was for sure a one-off strategy to defeat CLG to secure a higher seed, but this shows the capabilities Dignitas has to create unique and intelligent strategies.

Dignitas will face off against Curse in the first round of NA Regionals held at PAX. Click here for a full schedule.

If you enjoyed this, please share with your friends! Come back on Monday for a highlight of Counter Logic Gaming.

Thanks for reading,
BohemianD

NA Regionals Team Spotlight - Team Curse

Hello Readers!

This is the first installment of a series I'll be doing leading into North American Regionals. Up first is Team Curse.

Who is Curse?

Solo Lane - Voyboy:

Voyboy the staple that holds the Curse roster together. Aside from being adored by fans all across the world, Voyboy is capable of being extremely innovative and superbly versatile. He's able to play carry picks like Tryndamere and Elise and is also proficient in support laners like Zac and Shen.

Solo Lane - NyJacky

Following the moniker "Curse or Die" Jacky has stayed with the team since its birth in August 2011. He has evolved as a player since the start of Season 3, formerly infamous for his small champion pool, and has proven that he, like Voyboy, is capable of carrying and supporting.

Jungler - SaintVicious

Being the oldest (and self proclaimed slowest) professional in the North American League scene; Saint relies on good decision making, rather than mechanical play, to outplay his opponent. He has been Curse's main shotcaller since joining in May 2012. Unfortunately, he has been in a bit of a slump in the Summer Split (placing 2nd for most deaths). But after his strong showing in the recent superweek his, and Curse's, play seem to be on an upward trajectory.

Support - Edward

The League world was shocked when Gambit's former support, Edward, abruptly left and joined Team Curse. Keeping his nickname "The Support Carry", Edward brought a new play style to Curse's botlane. Curse's old duo, Cop and Elementz, focused on getting Cop farmed and playing safe in preparation for mid game dragon fights. Curse's new duo look for more 2v2 lanes and often challenge other botlanes to skirmishes.

AD Carry - Cop

Previously known for his passive play style and holding the highest KDA last split, Cop's new support has changed him into a blood thirsty hard carry. His new favorite picks being hyper aggressive ADs like Twitch and Draven. With these picks he's able to follow up Edward's aggression. If he continues to play as he is now, we may just see him reach critical mass and become FAT COP.

Being one of the longest standing teams in North American League of Legends, expectations for Curse are always high. After the acquisition of Voyboy in November 2012 Curse has not only grown popular in the eyes of fans but also as a team. Team Curse's manager, Liquid112, has played a large role in the teams recent successes. Liquid's coaching methods have resembled those of traditional sports and have brought a level of professionalism that the North American League of Legends scene hadn't seen before by giving his team tools like a dedicated analyst, an amateur team to practice against, and a deep sub reserve of four players.

Performance in the NA LCS:

Going into the first split of Season 3 Curse was a fan favorite and showed why in their 8-0 start. Their dominance slightly faltered through the season but still finished second with a strong 19-9. Unfortunately when playoffs came they couldn't reproduce their regular season performance by losing to Coast (Former GGU) in the semis and losing to Vulcun in the 3rd place match. Enforcing the "Forever Fourth" Curse stigma.

Curse's start in the Summer split was nearly the exact opposite of their first run. Starting off the split 2-7 did no favors for Curse's chance at a repeat performance. Despite Curse finishing 4th last split, they were still a top competitor in North America. So what could have changed over the All-Star break? Turmoil within the team's roster led them to replace support player Elementz with the very suprising Russian support player Edward. For those of you who are a bit new to League eSports: Edward (formerly Gosu Pepper) was a member of the long standing Gambit Gaming roster (formerly Moscow 5). They were the most stable roster in League history up until June 2013. When questioned why he chose to leave Gambit Gaming, Edward blamed a poor relationship with Gambit AD Carry Genja. Although many would say Edward is one of the best supports in the world, it took Curse a long while to adjust. They showed gradual improvement throughout the season they finished 13-15 (tied for fourth nonetheless).

So what has been working for Curse this split? Here are some of their top picks.

Top: Zac

Mid: Jayce, Orianna

Jungle: Jarvan IV, Amumu

ADC: Draven, Twitch

Support: Sona

In the recent Superweek Curse used an AOE Wombo comp with Amumu, Orianna, and either Kennen or Zac. They used Saint's Amumu to win mid game skirmishes and transition well into their comp's main strength of late game team fights. I don't expect to see this comp again in NA Regionals as it was most likely something unique used to secure a spot in playoffs.

Curse will be pitted against Dignitas in the first round of NA Regionals at PAX. Click here for a full schedule.



If you enjoyed this, please share with your friends! Come back on Friday for a highlight of Team Dignitas.

Thanks for Reading,
BohemianD

Welcome!

Hello readers!

You've found my League of Legends eSports blog. I'm Blake, but better known as BohemianD online and BroBreh in League. I'm a Senior in High School and a huge fan of eSports. In this blog I'll be reporting on the happenings of all things League eSports.

There isn't much here now but I will be producing content weekly, so come check back for more!

Thanks for reading,
BohemianD