#teamsnake

Q: When you were trying to find ways to counter each other, you decided on a split push composition in the last game so you could avoid engages from the other side. Is it because you couldn't think of a better method to counter in the laning phase after Marin choose Morgana?

Flandre: We thought this is a good way to fight against Morgana. Her early game is really strong with a high damage output. Since she was also lane swapping, she would be ahead of me in levels. So we just continuously pushed the wave to drag out time so we could buy items.

Q:  A question for Tank. If GodV/Painevil/We1less (I no longer know which name to use) ulted you after LeeSin kicked you in the last round, what do you think would've happened?

Tank: I had Mercurial Scimitar. So even if Lee Sin landed his q on me, it would still be okay. So you couldn't have changed much in that team fight.

Q: What was the biggest challenge playing against LGD today? How did you overcome that challenge?

Flandre: When we played against LGD, the first round was still within our calculations. We did take into consideration that Marin might choose Rumble. After we banned his Rumble, we didn't realize that they still had Morgana. This is why our second game was really brutal. After our second game, we had a really long discussion. We found a way to counter it, so we ended up winning.

Q: Flandre is also really good at Morgana himself. Why didn't you decide to play Morgana then?

Flandre: You still need to look at what we practiced. Since I haven't practiced her recently, I was scared to choose her.

Q: Then will you practice Morgana in the future? Or will you practice champions that counter Morgana too?

Flandre: I will still practice her in the future since I'm pretty good with her. I can try her out a bit more during practice. However, I definitely need to practice champions who counter her too. If not, we would've missed out on today.

Q: How did it feel to lane against Marin today?

Flandre: Actually, we didn't lane against each other much today. We were always lane swapping, so I couldn't see much.

Q: A question for Tank. For your LeBlanc, why did you build Mercurial Scimitar and not Zhonyas?

Tank: Because there was a Shen and a Morgana, who both had crowd control. If one lands on you, you could possibly die. That's why Mercurial Scimitar was safer.

Q: Which top lane champions do you think are OP?

Flandre: The top lane champions who are strong this patch are Quinn and Poppy.

Q: Tank. After laning against GodV/PainEvil/We1less, how do you view him?

Tank: Since he leans more towards a ‘偏刷’* playstyle, there wasn't a lot of lane pressure. I feel that it's pretty easy to pressure him.

*I think that might mean ‘wave clear’, but I’m not entirely sure.

Q: In the third game, there was sense of toughness that was different from before. Do you think this type of play style is suitable for Snake?

Q: Comparing the rules for the new season to this year’s season, which areas do you think are reasonable? Which areas do you think lacked consideration?

EDG Aaron: I think the new season’s format is similar to a tournament format. It lengthens the regular season. For example, playing one game every two weeks. This is really advantageous for team preparations. For the areas that are not as reasonable, since we haven’t tried this format yet, I’m guessing that playing your own group twice and playing the other group once might not result in equal matches or might cause some unforeseen issues.

Snake ZuoWu: Raising the competitive level in the matches is the number one reason behind these changes. The earliest LPL was in BO1, which meant that chance played a huge role. After changing it to BO2, winning or losing didn’t mean as much. This caused many teams think that it was okay as long as they didn’t lose, which slowly led to teams slacking off. After a while, it was difficult for players to put in their full efforts to try to win during the regular season. However, the BO3 format is very unfriendly for teams who are not as strong or who are not in a their prime condition. Before, they could fight really hard to gain a point, transition to the next stage and then try out different methods to adjust their situation in order to raise their strength. However, now if they consecutively lose, it would be really hard for these team to rise up again.

Since trying to gain one point against a strong team already requires a strong fighting spirit, trying to win would definitely mean teams will lack self-confidence. When they lose too many times, even practicing would be discouraging. The entire team house would have the ambiance of despair. So when the middle of the season comes around, the point differences between the strong and the weak teams would be very clear.

Q: BO3 will increase the viewership interest level and the competitive level. Every single point is very crucial. Would this give the teams an increased amount of pressure?

EDG Aaron: I think that BO3 is a more rational format. You can say that it gives both more pressure and more opportunities. BO3 means that you have to win. However, if you lose the first game in your BO3, you will still have the opportunity to win. It can give the teams who take time to get into the game another opportunity.

Snake ZuoWu: LPL’s purpose is so that Chinese teams would be able to have good results in Worlds, so pressure is necessary.

Q: When they were going through the process of adjusting the format, did they ask the teams for their concerns and recommendations?

EDG Aaron: They did communicate with the teams and staff. This new format is the result after consolidating everyone’s concerns.

Snake ZuoWu: Tencent, Riot, LACE all discussed with our LPL teams before making the final decision on the format. Although we all approached the problem from different perspectives, our goal of wanting LPL to become better and better is still the same.

Q: What do you think is the purpose behind following traditional sports and splitting the region into two groups?

EDG Aaron: Splitting LPL into two groups will allow all the teams to have more stable scrims schedules. It’s more convenient to have both normal practices and to schedule with other teams for scrims. It will also decrease the competitive antagonism between the different teams during the regular season, which allows teams to prepare more carefully.

Snake ZuoWu: My understanding is that splitting into two is is their method for managing the match schedule after switching to BO3. If you play double round-robin, there will be too many games. Before when we had BO2, we had three times every season where we would have to play three games in a week. If we do that with the BO3, players would reach their limit before even finishing the games. If you play single round-robin, there will be too few games. Thus, we can only play 1.5 round-robin matches.

Q: Many DuoWan netizens have mentioned that splitting into two groups can cause there to be a difference in strength between group A and group B. The final result might not be very reasonable. How do you view this?

EDG Aaron: Actually, it won’t result in the so-called ‘unfairness’. First of all, it’s split into four tiers. The new teams that are coming into this new season have all adjusted themselves more or less. Them being strong or not strong are mainly based on subjective judgements from the fans. Their strength is only on paper. However, in reality, their play results isn’t necessarily that case.

Because there are many causes on why a team performs well or not, there might be some definite separations between strong teams and weak teams. However, with this format, it’s not that only one or two teams will be able to advance. Majority of the teams will be able to make it into playoffs. After entering into playoffs, the strong and weaker teams can then be determined through elimination. Thus, I think that this “unfairness” won’t affect the play level in the playoffs.

Snake ZuoWu: WCG used have this saying  “Having a good group is equivalent to practicing for half a year. However, you can only determine which is the good group after playing most of the games”.  From when they first revealed the groups till 2-3 weeks into the season, it’s hard to determine which teams are actually strong or weak.

Q: With this new format, how does it affect you in terms of time?

EDG Aaron: The specific match schedule for each team isn’t out yet. However, I feel that it won’t be like before where every team will have so many match days every week. Right now, for every team, they’ll probably go to the venue to play once every two weeks. With this, every team would have more time to prepare. For the entire LPL, this is beneficial for breaking the self centered type of strategy. Everyone one will have more time and energy to invest in game strategies. At the same time, there will be an increase in the exciting factor of these games.

Snake ZuoWu: Never again will we have situations where we will have to play three BO2 in a row and then play a BO5 for the Demacia Cup on the fourth day. We can more reasonably prepare for our training plans.

Q: How did players react when they heard about the new format?

EDG Aaron: They all look forward to the new format. They didn’t feel annoyed, nor did they really express anything more. They think that it’s pretty good too only win or lose, to have more time to prepare for these games and to have set scrim partners. All the players approve of it. Actually, before all of this, Riot and Tencent have both communicated with the teams. All the players were able to accept it. Clearlove, Koro and them also didn’t have too big of a reaction.