Bold Predictions: League of Legends North American Regionals

What separates Curse from every other team is Elementz. I said as much during MLG Raleigh and I’ll say it right now: most support players respond to major action; Elementz makes it happen. His Sona play at Raleigh swung fight after fight in Curse’s favor, and he broke the Maven out after being denied the opportunity to play Alistar or Blitzcrank. Reign of Gaming’s founder has no interest in playing the likes of Janna, Lulu and Soraka – if a champ can’t get in there and wreck an opponent’s weekend, Elementz isn’t going to waste his time playing it. The opposition will have to make a singular effort to stop Elementz before he can stop them, giving Curse’s tanks and carries a considerable advantage going into every fight. I’m calling it now: Curse will win the NA Regionals, and Elementz will be named MVP.

Curse Gaming strutted their stuff in the infamous MLG Summer Championship finals, earning a 3-1 victory against the formidable Dignitas in their non-ARAM games. While no secret strategies were employed by either team, Curse looked sharp in the standard-fare matches and much more cohesive than in previous tournaments. In Seattle, Curse has the advantage of the less competitive bracket, which also contains TSM, mMe Ferus and TSM Evo. They should easily knock TSM Evo out in the first round, which likely leaves them facing the significantly more challenging TSM.Team SoloMid, however, has always had difficulty adapting to new strategies and playstyles, leading to notorious losses against Moscow Five and Azubu Blaze. If Curse can surprise TSM, Saintvicious and his crew can punch their ticket to the finals. Don’t be surprised when Curse takes the first seed for the Season Two World Finals in October.

Team SoloMid may be going into the NA Regional Qualifiers as the number one seed, but this means nothing as they prepare – by withdrawing from tournaments – to take on the top teams in North America.With the absence of TSM from last weekend’s MLG Raleigh, teams that aren’t normally in the limelight got a chance to strut their stuff. And TSM helped one group do just that, throwing their support behind – and even practicing with – Orbit Gaming. One has to wonder: why would they so flagrantly show favoritism toward one particular team? The team that had the only chance to knock out Monomaniac, the ever-present thorn in Team SoloMid’s side.Sure enough, Monomaniac lost to Orbit early in MLG, but then turned the tables during their rematch for the eighth seed. Now with a lack of practice (Guild Wars 2 was live this weekend), can the Monomaniac team TSM did not want to face make Dyrus break his keyboard? Don’t be surprised when it happens.

Going all chalk is hardly bold. In a single-elimination format, the favorites all making it through might be the hardest guess to make. Dignitas, Team SoloMid and CLG Prime all have the talent and the experience to win a tournament that has so much riding on it. I expect them to take the top three spots.The surprise will be CLG Prime pulling themselves out of a self-proclaimed slump and proving that training in Korea has helped them as a team. We have not seen much of the new CLG Prime roster in its entirety. While some speculate that the substitutes helped carry them to a respectable second place finish at MLG Anaheim, it is hard to imagine that having Voyboyin that top lane would not have made the difference in what was a nail-biting experience against Team SoloMid for the finals.As in the previous two qualifiers, the Third Place match will be the set to watch as two teams battle for the final spot for the Season 2 Championships. I suspect Dignitas has something particularly tricky up their sleeves and will use it to crush this series against Curse.

Team Dignitas has had a fire lit under their ass since they returned from Korea, coming into the MLG Summer Championship ready to fight. It wasn’t an easy battle for Scarra and his crew as they met the powerful Team Dynamic not once, but twice in the same tournament. Finally coming out on top after a bracket reset, Dignitas showed they have what it takes to last through their losing games and dominate the already-advantageous ones. Since having their winnings revoked at MLG, we’re going to see a team that is ready to take a bite out of the big dogs, advancing to the finals with only a single game lost in a single set.

Team Dynamicarrive at the North American Regional Finals needing to prove they have what it takes to win a major tournament. They’ve won multiple minor tournaments, including our own ggClassic and a few TSM Invitationals, but have trouble replicating their success at larger events. That will all change as they face a familiar and beatable opponent in Team Dignitas. At the MLG Summer Championships, Dynamic went 3-4 against Dignitas, pushing them in each set they played. If Dignitas comes out with another slow start, Team Dynamic will take the opportunities afforded them and move on to face either CLG.Prime or Legion in the semi-finals. Having previously beaten Team LgN at MLG, their only test will be against the vulnerable CLG.Prime. So, don’t be surprised if we see Team Dynamic in the North American finals and qualifying for the Season Two Championship.

Season 2 saw the rise of the underdogs, and Team Legion takes the spotlight as the only one remaining in North America. They surprised the crowds at IPL Face Off: San Francisco, beating down teams such as Monomaniac Ferus (then mTw.NA) and the stars of the East, World Elite. At MLG Raleigh, Team Legion was reunited with a well rested PR0LLY in mid-lane, and secured their spot for the NA Regional Qualifiers. The team will be facing CLG Prime in the first round match-up at the qualifiers. What LgN lacks in history, they make up for in confidence, transforming seemingly-lost battles into victories. Their opponents lack this leisure as CLG Prime recovers from another elimination at OGN: The Champions in South Korea. All lane match-ups will provide quite the show, but the true battle lies between the flexibility of Lautemortis and any potential hidden tricks HotshotGG may have as they progress through the jungle. If Team Legion capitalizes on a battle of nerves in the first round, they are capable of riding their momentum all the way to the Finals, securing a spot in the Season 2 World Championships.

Too many seem to have totally forgotten about Monomaniac eSports’ Team Ferus, formerly known as mTw.NA and APictureOfAGoose. And they’re all making a terrible mistake.The Goose name is an epic in itself; the Jarvan IV/Leona kill lane brought them to IEM Kiev, back at the beginning of the season, with only parental interferences preventing their entrance on the international stage that first time. With the North American Regionals expected to be dominated by “cheese strats,” who better to bet on than the King of Cheese themselves?True, mMe.Ferus might not have won it even then, but only for want of LAN experience. Since then, they’ve improved their LAN showings incrementally, culminating to a fourth place finish at IPL Face-off just earlier this month, and a first place showing against Dignitas at the NESL Pro Series Season 3 finals. If they stay on course, they’ll take the tournament entirely: the goose will honk again at Regionals, and the world will learn to fear the shadow of its wings!