Reign of Gaming

I'm not sure this applies well to the NA LCS. Cloud9 did very well, Velocity Esports did not. One is 5-0, the other is 1-4. It's hard to call this the rise of the new teams when only one is rising.

In Europe this is fair. When I look at the EU LCS Team Alternate and Meet Your Makers clearly dominate with a combined 9-1, that one loss coming from Team Alternate beating Meet Your Makers. Plus Lemondogs are 2-3 with Fnatic and EG, which ain't bad. 

I was very surprised by how poorly Ninjas in Pajamas/Copenhagen Wolves did. I was pleasantly surprised by how well Gambit and EG did. Curse looks like team cohesion is breaking down. CLG and Dig had exciting games but it's harder and harder to see either of them approaching the Asians. 

I thought your element of surprise section was very well written.

Cloud 9 looks amazing but I'm actually more impressed with Coast (GGU) and Vulcan. At #2 and #3 they're showing that last split/season wasn't a fluke and they look to solidify their spots as top tier teams. The real test of these new LCS teams isn't just who's winning now but who's looks like they're going to be able to stay in the LCS next year and the year after that, to become a presence in the scene. I expect either Vulcan or Coast finish that transition into a top tear team where they're in the top 4 LCS in 2014 and 2015. 

Quote from A2ZOMG »

All Riot has to do honestly is just buff the other supports.  Sona is very well designed, and it's really not an excuse to nerf her as opposed to simply just getting better at designing and balancing other champions. 

QFT.

Quote from Xyltin »

So NA needs to be careful, cause they have actually a huge advantage over the EU team in this tournament, an advantage that they won't have when they will clash again with their normal teams.

In Game 2 of NA-EU the EU brought their A-game and NA beat it. Game 1 yeah, I could see what you're saying, I see the lack of teamwork, but game 2 were both teams at their peak and I just didn't see where the lack of communication was holding EU back. Yeah, NA made boneheaded decisions but I'm not sure what having Fnatic or GG there instead would have changed. Game 2 showed both at their best, which makes it a great match but there's no excuse for a loss. 

I think the US is slowly improving. Yeah, they lost over some really dumb decisions but compared to S2 Worlds they're much stronger. In AllStars the US team at least looked like they could beat the Chinese; 7 months ago they were nowhere near any of the Asians. In another five months, who knows, especially if the new guys like GGU keep improving like they have been. 

First champion in awhile I'm not interested in and it's entirely the concept.

I know some people are very excited but he looks like a Spawn reject out of a 90's comic. I'm just not interested in another "dark immortal butt-kicker" character.

Mechanics-wise, he looks the like the newest version of the melee carry/assassin Riot keeps trying and I actually hope he works out. If the numbers are right I could see him working,

I'd like to make the case for Trundle being Tier 4, possibly Tier 3.

Trundle excels at being the solo tank/melee in ARAM and peeling, meaning he is the only melee/tank character on the team. He excels at peeling for his team and rips apart even the strongest ARAM melees once he gets his ult. He has two major advantages:

#1 Shrinking the map to peel. By setting his pillar at one side of the map and then running over to the other side, he can effectively force any initiation to go through him. On Rift immediate CC is the strongest form of peel but on Howling Trundle's ability to shrink the map and his MS buff ensure that 99% of initiations will hit him first. 

#2 Dat Ult. On Howling, while melee characters are weaker in general, you still want a tank line because any successful initiation will lead to at least one death if not more. Bruisers who get next to squishy APs like Lux cause massive havoc because kiting is so critical. However, ARAM does not favor melee teams so there is likely to be only 1 or 2 such characters, which makes Trundle's Ult so powerful. I have yet to meet the bruiser who doesn't melt on Howling after a Trundle Ult, simply because burst is so powerful. You can build tanky enough to survive ARAM burst but not with a Trundle Ult on you.

I do think Trundle requires a specific team comp. Because he is so good at preventing initiation, he really benefits if the other 4 players on his team are ranged with strong poke. I agree he does not initiate well or fight very well against other bruisers. 

A couple comparisons:

Shen: Shen is T4 and has great CC but it's no better than the Pillar. Shen also has a poke that he'll never really use. In comparison, Trundle decent sustain from his passive and a vastly superior ult.

Volibear: Yes, Volibear can be scary because if he lands his initiation he can do a lot of damage. Against Trundle however, he will never ever land his charge. Trundle's defensive strength exceeds Volibear's offensive strength, plus has the ult and sustain over him.

Lee Sin: Has a fairly useless poke, a shield, and 1 big form of CC. I don't see the advantage over Trundle here.

Finally, yes I'm arguing for Trundle within a fairly specific context that prizes his defensive capabilities (Pillar, MS boost, bite slow). Your list seems to prize offensive capabilities and strong initiation (Amumu, Malphite) more than defense. I'm not sure this is accurate. In most ARAM games I've had one team ends up with a clear poke advantage, forcing the other team to try to initiate. A lot of you T2 and T3 are strong initiating (like Rammus) but are much weaker defensively (Malphite's ult, as an example). If your team has the poke advantage, as it will about 50% of the time, that initiation is much weaker and Trundle's defense is much stronger. 

I remember Mundo being really strong early season 3 then trailing off, especially before the Warmog's nerfs.

Mundo is still great at what he does, being a beast without having a lot of items. He just kinda fell out of the meta for three reasons:

1. Weak ganks. A Mundo gank requires you to chain cleavers until you can apply red buff and even then it's pretty weak. Plus he doesn't fit the buff->buff->gank meta which is so dominant right now. His early clears are fast but right now we value early pressure, especially on towers, more than jungle clears.

2. No CC. Strong CC can make up for a lot of mistakes by junglers right now, a bad J4 who Cataclysms at the right time is still a huge asset. Mundo doesn't have that.

3. Weak Mid game. Mundo doesn't need a lot of items but until he gets a few critical ones (like Warmogs) he's kinda weak in teamfights since he's not super-indestructible yet. Most T1 junglers, however, are fine with just Iron Solari and boots. And given the current meta's focus on seizing objectives in the early and mid-game, Mundo has problems. 

So yeah, Mundo is still awesome and can still legitimately carry games as a jungler. In lower tier games which tend to go longer, or ones where all your lanes are very safe I think he still has a place. The meta just doesn't value his "discount carry/bruiser" kit right now. Also, old Hecarim kinda stole his role once people figured out his place in the new Jungle, because Hec has ganks and CC on top of being a scary beast with a few items.

Just finished G1 of CLG v Vulcan. 

Thoughts:

EG V CW: Really sad these two have to face off, because I like to see the younger teams rise up but I love EG and really want them to be the S2 powerhouse they were. Glad EG took it.

GGU v Dignitas: Man, G3 it felt like Dig's entire comp was scarra on Karth. Glad GGU took it, really liking GGU's new support. Dig's been looking weak for awhile now.

Vulcan V CLG: Don't really like either of these teams, honestly. I guess I dislike CLG more than Vulcan so glad to see Vulcan off to a good start.

I would never have guessed Zac would debut toplane instead of jungle. I don't get it. 

Since Morello mentioned him, I thought I'd mention Warwick.

I actually think WW is strong now, he just does not fit the meta. His Q is strong with great inherent scaling, is W is a great team buff, and his ult is still great. The only problem is his E, it's almost useless. His kit doesn't feel inherently weak, it just doesn't feel like a good jungler kit aside from his ult. His E should be a ganking tool, and I think it was meant to be, but they'll probably need to tone down one of his other abilities if they buff E into something useful.