Photo by Florian Krumm on Unsplash
LPL delayed
The LPL, China’s League of Legends League, which was meant to be restarting on Feb. 5, has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. The official LPL English Twitter account tweeted out last week, “We have decided to postpone Week 2 of the LPL until we can ensure the safety and health of our players and fans.” No more news has come through in the last week on the questions of what this delay will do to the international schedule, especially since Worlds is supposed to be in China this year.
LCK to start on time
Many were concerned that the LCK, Korea’s League of Legends League, would also be postponed. Thankfully, that isn’t the case; Riot Korea has announced that LCK will be starting on Feb. 5 as planned. However, until further notice, the matches will be played without an audience due to the risks of coronavirus.
G2 continues dominance, Origen and Fnatic fight for second
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“If Fnatic can claim a win versus G2 this week, they’ll be solidly back in the conversation, but for now, it seems like Origen, on the backs of Upset and Nukeduck, might get their wish of being the team that gets to challenge G2. ”
Despite only getting second place at Worlds last year, G2 Esports hasn’t slowed down. A surprise offseason move that sent Perkz back to midlane and Caps to bot lane seems to be working so far, and G2’s victory over Origen only solidifies their place at the top of the leaderboard in Europe. Fnatic and Origen are battling for second place, though Origen did win their matchup this week. If Fnatic can claim a win versus G2 this week, they’ll be solidly back in the conversation, but for now, it seems like Origen, on the backs of Upset and Nukeduck, might get their wish of being the team that gets to challenge G2.
Cloud9 and Dignitas won the offseason
Coming into the season, many people questioned the decisions made by Cloud9 and Dignitas. Cloud9 replaced their botlaner Sneaky, who had been with the team since 2013, with TSM’s Zven, and sold MVP jungler Svenskeren and support Zeyzal. To replace them, they promoted Blaber, their academy jungler who had previously subbed in for some games, to full-time jungler and bought talented support Vulcan from Dignitas in a deal that reportedly cost over a million dollars, according to an ESPN report at that time. Despite concern from fans, Cloud9 has started the season with a strong statement, going 4-0 in their first two weeks including a win against four-time champions Team Liquid. That’s the momentum they’ll need for their matches this week against Flyquest and Dignitas, but if they come out of those 2-0, there’ll be no argument left that Cloud9 isn’t the best team in North America.
.@Cloud9's $1.5 million, plus $250,000 to get Johnsun for the @VulcanLoL trade is the most costly single-player buyout in Western esports history in November.
Here's an inside look at the tense negotiations between Cloud9, Evil Geniuses and Dignitas.https://t.co/l1OnLEcirk
— Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) February 3, 2020
On the other hand, Dignitas signed their toplaner Huni to a controversial deal that ESPN reports has him making over a million dollars a year. They created a starting lineup around midlaner Froggen and rookie bot laner Johnsun, a lineup where Huni is the only member of last year’s team to remain. This is remarkable when you consider that last year’s Clutch Gaming, who was bought by Dignitas, made Worlds. Many thought the moves were a bad choice, but Dignitas has started the season 3-1, only losing a game to Flyquest, a team which is also 3-1. While it’s too early to tell if this new Dignitas will better the accomplishments of the past, they’ve at least proven the staff made the right calls.
Ashton Stansel is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at ashton.stansel@uconn.edu.
