The final two remaining teams in the Kings of Europe LoL tournament face off today, for what is sure to be a close and exciting match.
CLG.eu, the much-hyped counterpart to the prominent North American team, would be the first team to take out m5 in a large tournament if they were to win. m5 will look to retain their recent dominance, brought about by their aggressive counter-jungling strategy.
We will be live blogging the entire match, so click "read more" for live updates!
Riot revealed today some of the major changes on the way in the upcoming Ziggs patch. Below is the patch preview.
In summary, there are a few big tweaks to a few champions, including a significant nerf to one of the most used junglers, Lee Sin. Lee Sin is now getting less of an AS bonus from his passive and resonating strike does less execution damage.
Jax is receiving what I think is a significant buff, which frankly he's needed after his rework. He can now activate the stun on counterstrike early, rather than waiting for the dodge effect to wear off before stunning.
My thoughts: Both changes were needed at least somewhat, although frankly it's too early to say whether the Lee Sin changes were appropriate before seeing him in action with the nerfs. He should be slower at clearing jungle now and an all-around less effective ganker. I personally prefer GP anyway, so luckily I won't have to rage this patch. The Jax buff is a great change, as it will give Jax players more utility and decisionmaking integrated into their gameplay. He also effectively has an immediate AoE stun, which should make him more useful in late-game teamfights.
Riot just released more detail on the champion they had been hinting at earlier this week. As expected, he seems to be a new AP carry focused especially on skillshot techniques.
Abilities
Passive: Every 12 seconds, Ziggs' next attack deals bonus magic damage. This cooldown is shortened by each use of an ability.
Bouncing Bomb (Q): Skillshot that bounces and does magic damage
Satchel Charge (W): Throws a bomb that detonates after 4 seconds, or by activating the ability again.
Explosion deals damage and knocks enemies away. Ziggs is also knocked away if near the explosion, but does not take damage.
Hexplosive Minefield (E): Scatters multiple mines that explode upon enemy impact, dealing damage and slowing.
Mega Inferno Bomb (R): Long range AoE nuke. Enemies closer to the center of the blast take increased damage.
Today marks the beginning of a 4-day online tournament in which we will see the best European teams compete for a prize of 2,500 euros. We will be covering every match as they play out, and live blogging the last rounds of the tournament.
After the break, we'll start our coverage beginning with SK vs. exGBT
So stay tuned for a full weekend of top-level LoL tournament play!
It'll be interesting to see how CLG.eu, who wasn't present at IEM Kiev, fares against M5. We won't be live blogging this one, but I encourage everyone to watch as it should be a close match.
CLG.eu has Taric, Sivir, Trynd, Alistar, and Morgana; M5 has Yi, Brand, Sona, Miss Fortune, and Vlad
Soon you will be able to follow The LoL Dojo's progress on the ladder upon the launch of our new own3d.tv stream! We are currently in the process of setting up and organizing our live stream, which will broadcast daily and include special events, such as community games and viewer requests.
Another interesting bonus of our new stream will be your ability to track our progress on the ladder, starting at 1400 elo and (hopefully) climbing all the way to 2k! It will surely be a long and arduous journey, so be sure to tune in for our regular ranked game broadcasts.
A link to our stream will be coming shortly. In the meantime, be sure to enjoy our continued updates and coverage of the LoL scene!
The devs over at Riot Games have just teased a new champion on the main site. And it's a yordle. "Ziggs, the Hexplosives Expert" will be the newest champion gracing the fields of Summoner's Rift starting next week.
While little information has been released thus far, I'm assuming we have some sort of AP champion on our hands. Riot describes Ziggs as a "turbulent technician with a propensity for pyrotechnics". I'm hoping this means we get a new full AP carry heavy on technical play, sort of like Orianna without the support utility. We should find out later in the week when the champion's mechanics preview is released.
Moscow FiveTSM
Sona Lee Sin
Mordekaiser Karthus
Kennen Alistar
Shyvana Sivir
Skarner Irelia
Irelia vs. Shyvana in top lane again, as it was in game one. We have some interesting differences from that game however, with Ali able to keep Shyvana off of TSM's carries and Karthus always godlike if it gets to late game and he gets farmed.
Both teams have shown impeccable play thus far in the tournament. Neither team has lost a map. That's about to change.
Moscow Five's strongest point is their teamplay and execution, never missing a beat in a gank or teamfight. TSM is notorious for their aggressive play centered around Reginald's mid lane. If TSM is to defeat the Russian team, they will need to be careful not to overextend and get stuck in traps and uncomfortable situations.
Reginald's also been hinting at a new AP champion he'll pull pull out against M5. I'm really hoping to see what he has planned.
Game 1 Picks
TSMMoscow Five
Sona Shyvana
Irelia Taric
Graves Kog'Maw
Skarner Lee Sin
Cassiopeia Galio
Here we are on the final day of IEM Kiev, up bright and early for the 3rd place match between SK and Dignitas. 4th place is never remembered in tournaments, so both these teams are vying both for money and pride.
SK was looking like the stronger of the two teams yesterday, with Dignitas' laning being completely shut down against TSM in both games. SK was at least able to have a respectable showing in the first game against M5.
I'll be updating this post with picks as we get closer to starting (in about 15 minutes), and we'll be live blogging the games all throughout the day.
Game 1 Picks
DignitasSK
Lee Sin Sona
Tristana Morgana
Leona Caitlyn
Pantheon Maokai
Jarvan Tryndamere
The final match of the day is an all-American affair between Team SoloMid and Team Dignitas. TSM is the favorite going into this one at a higher bracket seed. The winner will move on to play Moscow Five in the finals tomorrow.
Here are the picks for Game 1
Team SoloMidTeam Dignitas
Sona Nunu
Lee Sin Sivir
Graves Skarner
Irelia Rumble
Cassiopeia Veigar
So we get to see some high-level Veigar play. Nunu-Sivir is also a great combo for bottom. I'd say picks are pretty close.
Sadly I overslept and managed to miss most of game 1, but I can say that I did see a Mordekaiser and 60k gold on one team, so the game must have been pretty epic.
M5 took game 1, meaning SK will be playing for their tournament lives in this next game. Here are the picks for game 2:
SKMoscow Five
Morgana Ryze
Sivir Taric
Soraka Miss Fortune
Renekton Shyvana
Udyr Gangplank
By most measures, one would say SK outpicked M5. M5 is incredibly strong however, so this should be a great game.
We're down to the (tentatively) last two games of the day. I say tentatively, because there is a great likelihood we may see a 3-way tie for either first or second place after these games.
If Moscow Five and Sypher both win, M5 will advance with a 3-way 1-2 tie for second place.
If aAa and Dignitas both win, we will have a 3-way 2-1 tie for first and second place.
Here's to hoping one of those two situations plays out. Here are the picks for aAa vs. M5:
aAaMoscow Five
Graves Sona
Skarner Galio
Cassiopeia Lee Sin
Riven Kog'Maw
Taric Irelia
Dignitas currently stands at 0-1, aAa 1-0. Personally, I'm hoping Dignitas can pull this one off because it would keep a bizarre 1-2 tie scenario alive, so we could possibly see more games today.
Here are the picks
DignitasaAa
Nunu Shaco
Sivir Swain
Maokai Vayne
Rumble Lee Sin
Karthus Taric
The picks look pretty even to me. Click "Read more" for live blogging updates
We'll be live blogging today's remaining matches as they begin. Sypher and Moscow Five are doing player interviews now, so stay tuned for coverage. Match estimated to begin in 5 minutes.
Moscow Five has already won their first game vs. Dignitas, meaning a win here against Sypher would guarantee them passage to the elimination stage of the tournament.
Update (2:00): Curse pulls out to an early lead, as they ambush an attempted jungle invasion by SK, scoring two kills to one including first blood.
Update (13:00): First team fight breaks out around second dragon spawn. SK manages to catch Galio out of position, picking up 2 kills to none. SK picks up dragon as well and pulls out to a small lead.
Update (23:00): SK continues to pull steadily ahead, taking 4 kills to none at dragon, despite having dragon stolen by Lee Sin's smite. SK has now killed 6 turrets to Curse's 1.
Update (27:00): SK takes the first baron of the game after picking up a few more kills. SK now ahead by 7.5k gold. Hard to see Curse coming back at this point.
Update (30:00): SK wins in a pretty methodical, one-sided game. Although both teams have qualified for the IEM Grand Finals in Germany, SK will join TSM in advancing to the elimination stage of IEM Kiev.
TSM just advanced from the group stages following a surprisingly one-sided match against SK gaming. Reginald's Sion was able to shut down LeBlanc's farm in the middle, with the bottom lane being equally successful in favor of TSM. We also got to see TheRainMan's Teemo and a jungle Rammus on the side of TSM.
TSM managed to get a fast baron, and snowballed from there, taking another baron after sniping a few SK champions. Irelia managed to farm enough for SK to snag a few champion kills at the end, but it wasn't enough to stop the constant push of TSM.
SK will now play against Curse in a game that will decide who will advance and who will fall out in the group stage. This is an especially crucial game for Curse, since they still need the ranking points to qualify for the IEM grand finals.
I'll be live blogging SK v. Curse, so stay tuned over the next hour or so
Tomorrow marks the start of the Intel Extreme Masters Challenge circuit stop in Kiev. Eight teams will meet to vie for critical ranking points in the last opportunity to qualify for the IEM world championships. The Eight teams are:
Group A
SK Gaming
White Lotus
Team SoloMid
Curse
Group B
Against All Authority
Moscow Five
Sypher
Team Dignitas
I personally would predict SK and TSM to move on from group A, with AAA and Dignitas moving on from group B. Coverage of the event will begin tomorrow, as well as a link to the stream. Be sure to stay tuned!
For our first ever Champion Review, we look at Sejuani, The Winter's Wrath.
Class: Solo Top / Jungle Role: Tank, Disruption, Crowd Control Abilities
Frost (Passive): Basic attacks slow enemy movement speed by 10% for 3 seconds
Arctic Assault (Q): Charges forward, damaging and applying frost to enemies in your path. The charge will halt upon contact with the first enemy champion.
Northern Winds (W): Aoe storm surrounds Sejuani, dealing damage every second. Deals increased damage to enemies effect by Frost or Permafrost
Permafrost (E): Sejuani converts Frost on nearby enemies to Permafrost, dealing magic damage and reducing movement speed dramatically
Glacial Prison (R): Ranged skillshot, stunning the first enemy champion hit. Nearby enemies are also stunned for a shorter duration.
Sejuani is a very durable champion, capable of handling enemy carries in teamfights without fear of dieing. Frozen Mallet is a must, as in addition to it's added survivability, the slow stacks with Frost and Permafrost. As may be obvious, Sejuani's main goal is to keep vital enemy targets slowed. This also allows Sejuani to function as a gank-reliant jungle champion. With charge and permafrost, Sejuani retains exceptional power to single out an overextended champion and keep it from reaching the nearest tower. However, a jungle Sejuani relies heavily on ganks, as her abilities are not optimal for clearing jungle minions. Her ability to gank and durability combine to make her an exceptional counter-jungle choice.
In the right hands, Sejuani is a very powerful choice. Her greatest strength is her ability to initiate, and remain locked on enemy carries to keep the focus off higher priority targets on your team. Her aoe stun serves as great cc, and combined with her tankineness, it makes Sejuani an exceptional counter to champions such as Katarina and Tryndamere.
Welcome to Kunfo's Dojo! We plan on building this site into a one-stop destination for everything LoL, from news and guides to eSports coverage.
In addition to our general coverage, you will be able to witness the ranked career of myself, Kunfo, first hand. I'll be starting at 1400 (my ranking today) and end up, well, hopefully higher than that.
So be sure to follow us, bookmark this page, and stay tuned for champion reviews and guides, tournament reporting, and any other type of content you might request. You can follow us on twitter @KunfoLoL. Stay tuned, our stream will come soon.
