Well it's been a while since we've heard from the CLG guys over in their new Korean gaming house, but we finally have some pictures and videos of the place they'll be playing League of Legends from while training for the OGN tournament. Here's their first walkthrough and video of the place, courtesy of one Saintvicious.
Along with that we have several different images of where they're staying:
HotshotGG and Doublelift rummage through computer boxes with Becca's help.
Wow, CLG sure are messy! Just kidding, I think they're just getting stuff set up.
Saintvicious shows us the perfect way to use a kitchen.
Doublelift can't figure out how to open a simple box, while Chauster is up to no good on his laptop.
SharkshotGG is so alone in his area, if only someone wanted to join him.
There we go! Mr. and Mrs. CLG control their vast eSports empire from their two thrones.
Team SoloMid just can't seem to go a week without making headlines over something. Last week's big news was that Dyrus joined after The Rain Man stepped down from his post at top lane. It seems now the group's added a new member to the fold, albeit one who won't take up a specific lane: Jonas B. Supper (the "B." is rumored to stand for "bro") has joined Team SoloMid at the gaming house as manager for the squad.
It's no secret that TSM has several outspoken individuals on the team, and anyone who's watched the team's streams during scrims and arranged team queues has likely caught one or several arguments between team captain Reginald and, well, any other member of the team. While criticism and discussion are typically considered productive (if sometimes frustrating) methods for improvement, the arguments and such seen on these streams have felt heated and personal, at least to the casual observer, rather than constructive. Mr. Supper's goals, as stated in his announcement, are to iron out the kinks and eliminate the distractions that he believes are preventing TSM from reaching the very top:
Reduce the workload of Reginald (who currently manages TSM and runs the TSM website).
Direct the criticism and arguments away from petty issues and towards constructive points.
Create a regular schedule for the players.
Improve the group's diet.
Apply the tenets of Sun Tzu.
This is a tall order, of course, and certainly something that won't be accomplished overnight. However, if even three of these points can be achieved, it's quite likely TSM will see a dramatic improvement in its competitive play.
What remains to be seen is the trickle-down effect of this. While other teams have non-player managers -- LgN and mTw.NA immediately coming to mind -- none have managers known to be living in the same house as the players, and none have been so transparent about their goals for their team.
Lulu is now out on North American servers, and here's the champion spotlight to give you the lowdown on her. The patch notes are also out, and include Blitzcrank buffs, Jax buffs, and... Irelia nerfs. There's also a slew of other changes to champs and such, but we'll let you view all of that over in the official patch notes located here. Oh, and be sure to glance over this information on the Hexdrinker changes and the new item, Maw of Malmortius.
Team RFLX, winners of last weekend's Go4LoL, has joined Team Legion (LgN). To this point, LgN was an organization focused primarily on the development its Starcraft team; the addition of RFLX appears to be its first foray into a non-Starcraft environment.
We are very happy to add RFLX to our roster, as they have shown impressive play in League Of Legends within a very short time frame. Our progress in Starcraft 2 and the generous support of our sponsors have encouraged us to expand our roster to other games. With this addition, I am confident that our goal of funding a team house will be reached. -LgNDarigaz - Team Legion Owner
The move appears to be a full-on partnership; the announcement suggests that the two will integrate into a single website with a brand new design, and RFLX's manager, John 'Reaper' Lankford, will join LgN's Darigaz as co-owner. The League of Legends team, meanwhile, will continue to do what it does -- compete in as many tournaments as possible and maintain high solo queue ELO ratings. The members of LgN are:
Neil 'PR0LLY' Hammad
Tyler 'Lautemortis' Nicholls
Alex 'inoObish' Mata
Jesse 'Arcknight14' Wu
Jon 'Demunlul' McCulloch
RLFX first caught the League of Legends community's attention when it attended MLG Providence in lieu of Counter Logic Gaming. Though the team took fourth place at the event, members of Team SoloMid, Team Dignitas and Epik Gamer spoke highly of the individuals. RFLX has continued to show a strong presence at Go4LoL events, and last month defeated Epik Gamer during the IPL Killing Spree before losing to Curse Gaming.
Here are the new skins coming out in the LuLu patch. LuLu actually looks pretty terrifying in that cupcake one. Is that supposed to be her polymorph? Does she really turn people into cupcakes. I can't even imagine that. Besides that we see a new one for Graves as well as Kogmaw. I'm personally super excited about the Graves one. Gangsta Sean Connery.
Update: I made a video with all of the models and skins, you can even see what LuLu's polymorph looks like for each of the different skins.
Lulu, the highly anticipated support champion, has been revealed! She'll be bringing some interesting mechanics with her, especially with her fairy companion Pix. Her abilities are below, but make sure to check the source link to read up on her lore.
Originally Posted by NeeksNaman
Abilities:
Pix, Faerie Companion (Passive) - Pix fires magical bolts of energy whenever his owner attacks another enemy unit. These bolts are homing, but can be intercepted by other units.
Glitterlance - Pix and Lulu each fire a bolt of magical energy that heavily slows all enemies it hits. An enemy can only be damaged by one bolt.
Whimsy - If cast on an ally, grants them movement speed and ability power for a short time. If cast on an enemy, turns them into an adorable critter that can't attack or cast spells.
Help, Pix! - If cast on an ally, commands Pix to jump to an ally and shield them. He then follows them and aids their attacks. If cast on an enemy, commands Pix to jump to an enemy and damage them. He then follows them and grants you vision of that enemy.
Wild Growth (Ultimate) - Lulu enlarges an ally, knocking enemies away from them and granting them a large amount of bonus health. For the next few seconds, that ally gains an aura that slows nearby enemies.
There are a lot of League of Legends sites out there, and most of them have a lot of bloggers. It's a tall order to keep up with all of it, but don't you worry; we'll do it for you. We like you that much.
Each week, we'll sort out the best blogs, vlogs, podcasts, sites and articles from the rest and compile them into one handy (and also dandy) post for you to use as a guide to the week's League of Legends happenings.
The biggest news of the week, of course, was Dyrus' move to Team SoloMid. After the news broke, Dyrus recorded a vlog to give his thoughts on the matter and his new perception of the game and scene.
The Rain Man, who stepped down as Team SoloMid's top lane, recorded a vlog prior to the official announcement, showing off some serious eyebrow skills. In it, he clearly seems to know the announcement is coming, yet he's still pretty enthusiastic of things. Best of luck to you, TRM.
Chaoxrecorded a vlog, discussing mostly the ramifications of IEM Hannover and the path TSM will take as a result.
Obscuricatook a look at the results of IEM Hannover and walked away unimpressed by the North American teams when compared to the dominance of Moscow 5.
Team Dignitas' Kyanitecaught up with Absolute Legends' Xinec.
Another Dignitas blogger, OGrandeLeo,interviewed CLG.EU's Yellowpete. He next interviewed aAa's Linak.
SK Gaming's Shark3D took an in-depth look at the risks and rewards of slaying minions, pursuing champion kills and prioritizing map objectives.
ggChronicle's Soterebroke down a group of champions that are likely to be slapped by the nerf bat. Yes, Irelia is included in this list.
Episode 27 sees Travis discussing IEM Hanover, IPL 4, and Dyrus's replacement of The Rain Man on TSM with Snoopeh, Chaox, Dyrus, and Xpecial. The crew is joined by special guests Hat Person and Baron to discuss the Vegas adventure.
