Your one stop shop for links and recaps is here again with plenty to talk about! Some big stuff went down this weekend, so I’ll just tell you now there will be spoilers. And blood, lots of blood.

Live Championships NA

Spring Season Live Championships saw unprecedented attendance and enthusiasm from the beautiful Avalon theater in Los Angeles this weekend. The production value, commentators, and analyst panel were better than ever. Yes the games were great too, but give me a moment to talk a little bit about what a visual spectacle this was. I think the effort SEMC is putting into their life productions is paying off with a viewing experience that gives you the entire story. Playoffbeard, Roam and Xinyi at the analyst desk had a nice rapport, the beard himself doing a good job as ringmaster between the two and drawing out thoughtful questions that added depth to the conversation. The casting roster has really come to life throughout this season, not only giving us great analysis and play-by-play but plenty of personality. I particularly liked the video packages that told you more about the teams and allowed the players to discuss their thought process. Even young guys like the DNZio were excited to share their opinions, and be surprisingly articulate in doing so. Watching from home, I felt the energy was absolutely electric in the theater as the audience was treated to a real professional experience. In short, more of this SEMC.

Personally, I came into this weekend pulling for TSM and Nemesis. The former as I’ve always enjoyed these three guys and their intelligent play, and the latter mostly because LostBoyToph’s sniper play on Phinn and VONC’s weapon power heroes. Then again, how do you not like Phoenix Reign? When the most veteran player on the team is 15-year-old OldSkool, you know this team is bound for greatness.

Talent leaked from all corners of the tournament, but the real money was on Hammers eSports. Dnzio said it in his package “it’s going to be Velocity or Kinetic” because he sees Hammers from the inside and knows what they’ve got is special.

The final series between Hammers Velocity and Phoenix Reign was textbook strategy and preparation for both teams. Game one showed glimpses of the one mistake I believe Velocity has made in the past, putting Dnzio on Blackfeather. He is no doubt Vainglorious caliber on the swordsman, but his reaction time with Vox and Ringo make him almost unstoppable.

Reign was able to shut down the melee carry in the opening volley, clinching a quite convincing match but Velocity regrouped and switched gears to a lane hyper carry Ringo strategy. Games two and three were very similar, Reign struggling to make it to the back line and even when they did the sustain on Ringo was just enough that DNZio could stutter down one or both carries, leaving Ezadox to run off as Ardan.

Aloh4 and Vains are a surprisingly complex duo, acting as pincers that control the rate of play so the main damage dealing hero can really unleash. With the update 1.17 meta firmly in play for this championship, there were plenty of Fortress bans, but I would argue that Phinn proved more dangerous for the style of compositions we often saw. Vains was able to maintain a center of gravity for his team with the powerful tank.

Game four saw Reign with their backs against the wall as the reverse sweep was upon them. Velocity returned to Blackfeather in lane and iLoveJoseph attempted to counter play with Taka in jungle. Arguably the best box fox in the world, iLoveJoseph hoped the burst down before the heartthrob stacks could chew through his team. While valiant, Reign seemed nervous in the final game, repeatedly putting themselves in poor spots and not coordinating as a team. Velocity closed out the series with near perfect form and took home the trophy.

Congratluations to every team that participated this weekend! Your skills are the stuff of legend we will tell our internet grandchildren.

Invincible Armada Wins VIPL 3

No longer the bridesmaid, Invincible Armada finally got the gold this weekend in a triumphant 2-0 sweep of Hack. Game one saw a rare Celeste from the diligent druid, with bash bros Krul and Phinn proving too much for Hack’s Petal. Flexing a solid Blackfeather buff comp in the second game, IA had druid back line detail with Adagio as Mango took point and Phinn did Phinn things. Huge congratulations go out to the new champs, it’s wonderful to see changing of the guard in this high level play. Fist bump goes out to GankStars Sirius for securing the 3rd place honors in a very stylish series against GL. Check the VODs if you’re down for a binge.

Vainglory Invitational Series : Final Week!

The VIS is back this week and if you haven’t been watching you missed some serious badassery. You know how cool it is to see all the top teams at Live Finals once a season? That’s basically what this is like every week. As we approach the end of the first VIS season, I’m going to summarize what you may have missed so there’s not hours of tape to watch. Of course, that’s still an option.

Hammers eSports

Hammers eSports charged out full board with wins over Nemesis, GankStars and Team Phoenix. They displayed versatility of compositions and dominant objective control, winning all three match-ups in 2-0 sweeps. In week four the winds shifted and Hammers hit a rough patch. Facing a recently unimpressive TSM, Hammers struggled to find the proper pacing and couldn’t come together for all important team play. That has since been a reoccurring issue with the Hammers squad, odd judgement on when to pick a fight and overstaying their welcome often being the cause for late game weakness. The strength of Hammers lies in their ability to push a hyper carry comp on their opponents (often the laner) and force the enemy to engage in an attempt to bring down their main damage dealer. If they are able to hit their stride again with this strategic play, Hammers can definitely break the slump and win the league.

Team SoloMid

TSM won the first week against Team Phoenix and then fell to Liberation and GankStars with uncharacteristic performances. Parallel with struggles in the Vainglory Masters Series, Team SoloMid seemed to be trying new compositions, most notably with MICSHE running Glaive in jungle and CullTheMeek on a lot of lane Skye. While Cull seemed comfortable on Skye, his jungle counterpart showed signs of unfamiliarity as a front-line fighter. FlashX repeatedly drafted Fortress, which has since risen to a vicious aggressor appropriate to the initiator role, but couldn’t provide his carries with enough protector support. Midway through the league schedule TSM seemed to return to form and while MICSHE still appears as the jungle carry from time to time, they have worked the kinks out. This flexibility of roles is their next level of evolution in professional play. TSM is innovating their play style to try and win more games in the draft as their opponent can’t always predict which player will take on a specific role. Their key to victory for this season of VIS is the art of the ninja, all cloak n’ dagger.

Liberation

Boasting the same squad (plus some serious young guns) from their historic Autumn Live Finals championship, Liberation has a had a rocky road throughout VIS. Their story has been one of wins and losses full of close calls and exciting play. While they may be sitting at 3-4 going into this last week, I think they have potential to take it all. Liberation have beaten TeamSoloMid (week 2) and Hammers eSports (week 6) with impressive form that is indicative of their ability as a team. Rivaling the jungle aggression of Nemesis’ VONC, StatusBaked has prowled plenty of times as either Glaive or Krul with weapon power builds that get in his enemy’s faces with such burning hate they won’t be able to grow a mustache for years. Liberation has also seen wonderful synergy amongst members of “X” and “Mutiny”, especially with Mike83 stepping in recently alongside StatusBaked and e36 to carry the lane with surprising agility. Liberation’s preferred strategy for this week maybe to control the jungle with beefy weapon power heroes and force the enemy to contest objectives in unfavorable situations.

Nemesis

The always exciting and competitive Nemesis guild entered the VIS with middling power but a promising roster. While they fell to Hammers and Team Phoenix in the first two weeks, the real story here kicks off in week three. Jungler VONC drafted weapon power Alpha in both games against Liberation, and showed off an aggression almost unparalleled in the league. Coupled with the precision skill shots of LostBoyToph on Phinn, Nemesis gut punched Liberation like that dude that killed Houdini. VONC has since created a mythology for himself with his #NoFearJustFight play that often pushes the enemy back with a swarm of pressure. The downside here may lie in the same factor. Nemesis is on a serious hot streak now, but the times they’ve gotten in trouble it’s often been because VONC’s aggression was ill-timed. His willingness to fight isn’t always what’s best for the team, especially when he’s trying a weapon power Lance and tries to 1v3 his opponents under their own turret. Synergy with his teammates is crucial here and there’s no reason they can’t stay on the same page and win it all.

GankStars

Largely considered one of the most consistently competitive and dominant guilds in Vainglory, GankStars made an impressive showing with the start of VIS. Beating TSM and Liberation with a very competitive loss to Hammers in between, they showed brutal efficiency with FooJee’s jungle crystal power carries (Reim and Petal most notably) and Iraqi stuttering his way around the Fold and into our hearts. The turn came when the Sirius squad shipped off to VIPL and the members of Vega were left to represent their guild. While still extremely talented players, the remaining GS members have faltered in the last few weeks. In my experience watching these guys, I am constantly surprised to see BestChuckNA playing the roam position when he has been so fantastic in lane when he was a member of Vertigo Black. I feel like GankStars can come back strong to end VIS by controlling the pace and not allowing their opponents to dictate when a team fight starts.

Team Phoenix

The home team, if there was one, is Team Phoenix in this league. While they had some difficulty early on, losing every other game, the last few weeks have been a near exponential rise. They began VIS 6th out of 6 in power rankings and their competition was clear when TSM swept week one with clarity. Week two saw an intense battle against Nemesis, Phoenix taking the series 2-1 through die hard late game patience and the ability to farm up when behind. Their strategy often mirrored the TSM of old when they were but Alliance, maintaining some level of control on their side of the map and holding out under pressure until late game builds come through. The shift here is the opposite of what GankStars went through, Phoenix acquired their Reign roster and those boys came in hot. ILoveJoseph, Ezadox and OldSkool have represented Phoenix in the last several weeks and shown off painfully good skills. Their choice of Taka in jungle and lots of Blackfeather have made weapon powered nightmares for the other teams in the league. My only suggestion here is that Phoenix stay the course.

Looking Ahead

With no team far ahead, this league is shaping up more excited than anyone could have expected. While the excellent play from Team Phoenix and Nemesis can highlight them as favored to win, I’m going to make the off-meta choice of Liberation. With their mix of raw talent and experience, I think Liberation can adjust and apply pressure in the right areas to push back OldSkool in lane, force VONC out of his own jungle, and even stand tall against a TSM special. The last part being easier without double infusions, of course.

Come on by Wednesday 5 PST / 8 EST for the first of two triple header nights. Follow @VISLeagueVG for the links when it goes live. I’ll be casting every game with CyberOwl, so stop by and we can all make this journey as one.

Tesseract Second Qualifier

While our state side excitement may die down in the coming weeks, there is so much more going on overseas as Tesseract, in particular, is still ramping up. Just scrolling through the brackets, I think it’s clear that SEA team names are on average way better than most of what we got. Happy Pills, The Fake Bosses, and DrinkDrankDrunk all stand out as teams that do their talking on the Fold and let the image of the team remain downright silly. Unfortunately, second place finisher Happy Pills was eliminated early in this qualifier, jeaporidzing their shot at a finals seeding. All three Infamous squads are still alive, as is the appropriately named Insane Potential that entered with 13th seeding and knocked out 4th and 5th seeds in their Lance bracket. Watch these games early on the weekends in our time zone and give yourself a reason to not sleep in.

Vertigo Disbands

It’s sad to see an OG organization like Vertigo call it quits after all this time and they will be missed. An extremely competitive group, Vertigo almost took it all of a few times in VGL and have contributed to the growing community in many ways. I find a moment like this to be quite sobering for the reality of our world. Most of us that create content and play in the tournaments do so as a hobby. When life gets in the way, tough decisions have to be made. I hope to see more of the members of Vertigo still popping up to add to the community whenever they can. Stay sting-y, Vertigo.

E3 Samsung Tournament

SEMC just announced this weekend a baller new tournament coming at you live from E3 in just a couple weeks. June 13-15 four of the big dogs from around the world are being thrown in a pit together hungry and without their mange medication. TeamSoloMid, G2 eSports (EU), Invincible Armada (Korea) and Hunters (China) will be participating a mini-tournament live from the event. Community Battle Royale match-ups will be hosted between games on both days and some promised swag if you drop by the booth in person. AdyEndrus wrote up all the facts here but my writing is so much saucier.

The Rise of The Star Queen Lore

The sweeping, arguably best, non-canon lore surrounding The Fold’s first family has at last come to an end with this final piece – Celeste’s destiny as the Queen. The bite-sized drama of SugarVenom’s installments have always been fantastic in their complex brevity, but this story deserves more. I want to spend more time in this world, hear the conversations around campfires and dark alcoves of the castle; join the rebel army on the front line as they charge the Stormqueen’s forces. I really want to fly through space with Vox, that might be the closest we can get to more Firefly. This isn’t a review, it’s a request. Don’t get me wrong, the ending was absolutely satisfying, but my fandom demands just one more hit. Then another. I’m good for the money.

Know Your Op History: Fountain of Renewal

I’ve mentioned this Ponce de Leon tool for victory a few times now and you may be think it’s power was all in the ability to stack multiple and trigger them for constant heal. I thought that too, then I verbalized that thought to the Broken Myth team. Oh boy was I wrong. Thanks in advance to Fierte, Sean and Gadianton for throwing a ton of sweet facts my way.

As Gad put it, the Fountain of Renewal has seen almost as many nerfs as Vox since its height of power. As I illustrated with Tank Skaarf and BP Petal, stacking multiple Fountains allowed the player to possess crazy sustain that anyone without the same tactic couldn’t stand up to. As soon as one heal ended you could trigger the next and keep yourself full of Gaia’s spit or whatever. The first attempt to deter this strategy came with update 1.6, but there were other changes before that further exemplify an OP item.

In update 1.1.5 (Were you playing then? Because I wasn’t) SEMC made a slight tweak to the heal duration, increasing it from 3 to 4 seconds. This prevented such immediate heal potential. Next in 1.1.7 some bigger changes came with passive and active tweaks. Fountain of Renewal used to provide a 13 health per second regen, this was altered to 1% max health per second when out of combat. A more significant difference is the nerf from healing 6 HP per % of missing health each second over 4 seconds to 2 HP per % of missing health over 3 seconds. Also, the missing health was re-assessed with each tick rather than only once at the beginning of the heal. This means you are receiving less healing as your health regenerates throughout the duration of the activation. So a little less potent, right? Just buy a handful!

Defensive strategy hit a real creative slump when players discovered they needed practically no other item besides Fountain of Renewal as they could purchase a bunch of them and get the HP, Shield, Armor and massive healing boost. This was nixed first in update 1.6 when after 600 HP of healing, any further healing was reduced by 66%. Not exactly a good value to buy more than one anymore, but still could warrant a second Fountain in the right circumstances. 1.7 saw the rule revert back, removing the reduced healing penalty, but soon after we saw a global change as activated items all went on cool down when any single one was triggered.

Atlast Fountain of Renewal was on the same page with other defense items, providing a benefit but no long viable to have more than one. However, SEMC saw one last problem that needed to be addressed. In update 1.8 the final price of Fountain was raised by 200 gold, on top of the price increase in 1.1.7 of 200, making it less of a quick response to early aggression. Tell that to FlashX with his sub five minute Fountains though, maybe he needs a farming nerf.

Vainglorious Trivia

Many of you knew the meaning of Vox (voice in Latin) but “Y” was the first one the comment that Chainsaw declared that would be his name. Congratulations Y! Here’s your nothing! The man himself told the story on The Fold Podcast about how it was the only time he put his foot down on a design choice like that. If you haven’t listened to the interview, it’s freaking awesome.

This week’s question pertains to lore maven SugarVenom. Which hero does she think of as similar to Wolverine?

First to answer (Twitter, Reddit, Comments) gets zip zero nada!

Apart from Live Championships EU, I have no idea what I’m going to write about next week! But this community never fails to disappoint with cool little dittys. Thanks for reading all you Gabevizzle Petal’s and Hammer’s first place medals.