“I don’t like picking Jax when Impact can still pick Renekton.”

“I love the Twitch ban, but are they really going to let Piglet get Ezreal again?”

“Oh my god, that ward is hilarious.”

These are just some of the phrases I overheard while sitting at USC’s Galen Center during the semifinal matchup between SK Telecom T1 and Najin Black Sword. By simply allowing yourself a little time to eavesdrop on some of the fans in the crowd, it becomes immediately clear that the League of Legends fanbase is incredibly passionate, intelligent, and knowledgeable about the game.

With every pick, ban, or ward placement, the crowd murmurs, discussing with friends and strangers the strategic advantages and disadvantages of each. There are discussions of early game pressure, mid game vision wars, and late game team fights. Item efficiency and AP ratios, Mana regen and cooldown reduction.

And no, these folks aren’t hopeful pro players or analysts. These are fans that have bought tickets and traveled from around the world to watch these games live.

“I’m not convinced the Zyra/Ashe bot lane is as strong as NA thinks it is.”

“Zac is so strong in teamfights, but if he gets shut down in lane that bad, he’s worthless.”

These men and women are what make these events so great. Of course, the matches are amazing to watch, but the vibe surrounding the community is what’s special here at Galen. The cheers followed by bated breath as Fnatic and Royal Club face off at level 1 come from everyone in the crowd simultaneously. This is a crowd that knows their game, and knows how important each and every kill can be.

Yellowstar’s Leona manages to find a couple of Sight Wards by way of Oracle’s Elixir, and there’s a smattering of applause. Even some of the less glamorous responsibilities of the support role have fans here. 

“Peke! Peke! Peke!”

“USA! USA! USA!”

It’s not all about the serious strategy talk here, either. League fans love cheeky play. They love when xPeke manages to escape in an exciting manner. Even more, they love when something slightly bizzare happens in champion select. An Annie support pick. A mid laner hovering over Heimerdinger. Royal Club’s Uzi switching repeatedly between top-tier Caitlyn and questionable pick Urgot during Champion Select just for laughs.

That levity really helps break through the tense feelings surrounding the matches themselves. These are teams fighting for their livelihood, but they’re still willing to have some fun. And the crowd is right there with them. This is still a game, after all.

The overall vibe at Galen is one of playful competition. Despite being in Los Angeles, all of the foreign teams have plenty of supporters. And, perhaps not surprisingly, they’re all relatively civil with one another. Jokes fly back and forth, arguments break out between fans, but everyone accepts that the results of the match will show them who is really the best team.

“Scoreboard, bro.”

“Can you believe Piglet’s KDA?”

Most of the time, fans are just happy to see some of the best plays in the world. They want to watch Faker’s Ahri. xPeke’s Kassadin. Uzi’s Caitlyn. During each match up, fans are rooting for whoever’s down in games, just so they get to watch more in the series. As proven by group stages, they’ll sit in their seats for upwards of ten hours at a time, just for the love of it.

This is the community surrounding the game. And this is the sort of joy that happens when all these international fans gather in one place to watch some world-class play. This is live League of Legends.