Gaming
The ESL and BBC commentator tells us which teams should win the League of Legends Quarter-Finals.
Leigh ‘Deman’ Smith has been casting for 15 years, commentating at huge events such as the League of Legends Championship Series and Intel Extreme Masters, but the League of Legends World Championship quarter-finalsis one of his biggest events yet. Why? Because the ESL man is part of the commentary team for the first ever eSports event to be broadcast on the BBC.
Last year, BBC 5 Live asked if it was time we took gaming seriously as a sport, and the answer seems to have been a resounding yes! From this Thursday, BBC Three will be livestreaming the League of Legends World Championship quarter-finals live from Wembley Arena. The show starts on Thursday with Flash Wolves taking on Origen for a spot in the semi-finals, and Leigh will be joined in the commentary box by James ‘Stress’ O’Leary as the pair offer their expert opinion on the big matches all weekend.
Ahead of the big tournament, Leigh told us that he’s looking forward to working with the BBC, but he understands that it will be a bit different as he is tasked with explaining League of Legends to a new audience.
“We will obviously be explaining things more throughout the game than Riot would, which I don't think is a particularly bad thing as often even regular players might not understand the whys and hows of a pro level game. The producer has asked for it to be clear to new viewers but not over the top as to antagonise the average LoL viewer. It will be a tricky balance that we will have to work on as we go.”
Between Thursday and Sunday, Leigh will be commentating on the big matches, but which teams will make it through to the semi-finals in Brussels on 24-25 October? He gave us his LoL Worlds predictions.
Flash Wolves Vs Origen (Thursday, 5pm)
I had the pleasure of commentating on the Flash Wolves when they won IEM Taipei in commanding style, really putting them on my radar. They continued that strength in the groups, taking first place ahead of KOO Tigers and CLG who many had down as easily progressing.
Origen have released a video in which they are openly celebrating drawing the Flash Wolves in the quarter-finals, already saying that they now will get more money for reaching the semi-finals.
I feel they are massively overlooking the Taiwanese #2 seed, and this may come back to bite them. However, they are a very experienced team that has clearly stepped up a level for the World Championships and should go through to win, but this could well be another five match series.
SK Telecom T1 Vs ahq eSports club (Friday, 5pm)
SK Telecom T1 are, in my opinion, by far the best team at this year’s Worlds. ahq will have to be at the very top of their game to even take a single game away from SKT, and even then I'm not sure it's possible.
The issue is that everyone has been so focused on Faker that they've forgotten that this is not the same team that won Season 3. Marin is an absolute beast in the top lane, Bengi is still the same world champion Jungler he has always been, and the bottom lane of Bang and Wolf simply don't die very often. Bang died just once in the groups; one death in six matches gives him a KDA of 71 - incredible!
Now the one possible saving grace for ahq is that SKT have elected to play Easyhoon in the mid for this quarter-final which may just give ahq the focus they need to look towards these other lanes.
Fnatic Vs EdWard Gaming (Saturday, 2pm)
I would absolutely love to see Fnatic reach the finals. but to do so they need a little more control. Huni is an outstanding player but has also had some very rash plays in the groups that have cost his team dearly. However, he will be up against Amazing who has been lacklustre at best this Worlds, so he should win that lane.
You also need to look at Fnatic's last battle against ahq, where the bottom lane pairing of Rekkles and YellOwStar got manhandled by AN and Albis. You can bet your life EDG will have paid close attention to that. Not to mention the rematch once again between Rekkles and Deft.
The Jungle battle is very even - both have made their mistakes, but have also made some incredible ganks. Reignover and Fnatic have taken first blood in every game in their group stage with some pinpoint accurate skill shots.
The mid lane is a dead heat - you have Febiven for Fnatic who made the biggest matchwinning play of his career against ahq on Le Blanc, but he is up against PawN, last year’s world champion who single-handedly destroyed his opponents in 2014, claiming the jacket of Dade after dominating him in the semi-finals.
This match will be incredible to commentate on, and is by far the one I’m looking forward to watching the most.
Kt Roster Vs KOO Tigers (Sunday, 2pm)
This will be an incredibly tight game. They played each other recently and Kt Rolster came out on top, but only just. It was 3-2 in the summer play-offs of the LCK. For that reason, I will side with Kt Rolster – however, neither team has performed amazingly so far at Worlds. Both have incredible top laners and I am a big fan of the support GorillA on KOO Tigers. This could go the distance once again.
The first match of the League of Legends World Championship Quarter Finals starts at 5pm on Thursday 15 October. Watch it on BBC Three.
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