The All-Star Event is the final event in the year — it’s a last hurrah to celebrate the individual skill that goes into League of Legends. These are the players who’ve earned your fandom through talent, passion, and memes.
The last day features mixed matchups of the Fire and Ice squads as they try to claim victory for their side. These are the matchups for the final clash of the 2016 All-Star Event:
Here are ten things to know about Ice and Fire:
1. Korea is the best region — as has been demonstrated the last four years at Worlds. As such, they’ve been placed with the teams with the least success at Worlds in that same time frame. Is it fair? Is it not? I’m not one to engage in petty philosophical arguments. What I do know is the team with the best player still wins more often than not. And the best “player” in this case is Korea. Not even North America’s false hopes can sabotage those expectations! Right? :sweat-emoji:
2. The individual team make-ups were determined by gladiatorial combat. No Teemos survived. Across the board, Team Fire has the wider disparity of skill because the LCK players are more or less the five best players at the tournament. Or, at least, the most successful if you prefer tangible results as a basis for strength. Meanwhile, each of the three Ice teams would make for compelling rosters in their individual regions.
3. Some of you may be wondering what’s at stake in these All-Star Games. Is it just pride? Do they get money? Does the winning team retain home field advantage for Major League Baseball’s World Series? Is this like a normal queue game compared to a solo queue game? A Spring Split game compared to a Summer Split game? Am I ever going to answer this question?
4. Froggen was featured in the promotional video because a snowball transported him right into the [howling] abyss.
5. Team Fire is subbing in Bengi for Game 2. Ask ROX or SSG who will win that one.
6. George R. R. Martin first released “A Game of Thrones” as a part of his novel series, “A Song of Ice and Fire” in 1996, which makes it about the average age of the players in attendance. More importantly, the books teach us a valuable lesson in humanity: anyone can die at anytime. Such, too, is the nature of the All-Star Event.
7. Doublelift and Madlife, who are still pretty good, would have been one of the best possible pairings in Season Two. Unfortunately, they’ve shared similarly underwhelming results since. Perhaps they’ll pull out some of the highest tactical strategies from Season 2 such as bush camping or level 1 five-man invades.
8. Otherwise we have PraY and Aphromoo together for the afro-lane and a few reunions of former teammates: Impact and Faker, sOAZ and xPeke, and — while they’re not on the same individual team — Smeb and PraY will don the Team Fire colors in their last games as teammates. If ever you’re wondering how super teams without synergy might mesh — as seems to be a common theme this off-season — then these matches will serve as a fun early indicator.
9. In Pokemon, fire is super effective against ice. But bugs can beat darkness, so anything’s possible.
10. Something can be so cool that’s it hot. Or as the kids like to say, “lit.” Or even “spicy.” It’s good to be cool to people and bad to be cold. And good to be on fire in the metaphorical sense, and bad in the literal sense. If you have ice in your veins, then you’re a good competitor. If you have ice on your fingers, then you’re stiff. If you’re hot, then you’re attractive. If your body is too hot, it means you’ve caught a cold. Honestly, it’s just too hard to say which element has the inherent advantage. One thing is certain, though. All-Stars will be lit. Shit’s going to be fire. And it will be cool as ice.
Make sure to tune in as the action resumes tomorrow at 4 pm CET.
