One final entry on League, until Saturday.
Today I had to lock my picks in for how the rest of the tournament will go. You already saw me say how the first round will go: Griffin beats Invictus; Fnatic beats FPX; SKT beats Splyce; G2 might beat Damwon albeit it's a literal coinflip.

But then I had to go to the next stage of predictions as well.
In Fnatic versus Griffin, I gave it to Griffin. If Invictus wins against Griffin, then Invictus wins against Fnatic. If FPX wins instead of Fnatic, it'll be Griffin still. If both my predictions are wrong and it's Invictus versus FPX, well, FPX are first seat in China and Invictus aren't, but I'd probably still favor the world champions there even though domestically FPX was the better team.

But since you can't make these "what if" alternative predictions, the only official one is Fnatic versus Griffin, with Griffin winning.

In SKT versus G2, I gave it to G2--I said it yesterday and to reiterate again; I feel like whoever wins G2 versus Damwon will win Worlds. There's no world in which Splyce beats SKT, but if that somehow were to be the case, G2 beats Splyce; Damwon beats Splyce. Yet we're just going to see it be SKT, so the real question is whether the alt-prediction matters.

In SKT versus Damwon, well, this is a match that is a domestic rematch. While I've seen both teams clash in their regular season, I didn't actually catch their final bout with one another. I know they fought and I believe SKT won, but Damwon is a team that gets better and better with time, whose main weakness is a lack of experience...experience which if they do beat G2, they'll have begun to earn. So I give it to Damwon.

To talk more about SKT versus G2, this is a rematch. G2 barely won last time against SKT. I watched their five games in their entirety. Both teams were fairly equal in skill. I think that either team could win it, and SKT would be thirsting for vengeance given MSI semifinals, but in spite of that, I still think that by a hair's breadth, G2 wins.

Which gives in the finals my official prediction being Griffin versus G2, with G2 winning.

The other options:
Fnatic versus G2 (how on earth that'd happen, I don't know), G2 has proven twice that they win, albeit only just.
Invictus versus G2, a match which almost happened at MSI, G2 still win in my opinion.
FPX versus G2, G2 win handedly. Splyce a weaker team than G2, managed to go toe to toe with FPX; G2 can do better than that.

Fnatic versus Damwon, Damwon wins.
Invictus versus Damwon, Damwon has proven that they win.
FPX versus Damwon, Damwon still wins.

Fnatic versus SKT, SKT wins.
Invictus versus SKT, SKT still wins.
FPX versus SKT, SKT definitely wins.

It's really not worth talking about Splyce as an option, but sure, to entertain the possibility even though there's not a chance it'll happen,
Fnatic versus Splyce, Fnatic has proven that they win.
Invictus versus Splyce, Splyce win. Yes, really.
FPX versus Splyce, I give it to Splyce.

But again.
I only get one official prediction and my official prediction is as I said.
Fnatic versus FPX, Fnatic wins.
Griffin versus Invictus Gaming, Griffin wins.
SKT versus Fnatic, SKT wins.
Damwon versus G2, literal toincoss but I officially locked in G2.

Fnatic versus Griffin, Griffin wins.

SKT versus officially G2, still almost a toincoss but I officially locked in G2.

Griffin versus officially G2, close matchup but I still locked in G2.

Do I think that G2 pull off the golden road in spite of that being my official prediction? Probably not. They have to beat all three Korean teams in a row to pull it off. Every single Korean team they face is basically a cointoss, 50/50, on whether they pull it off.

If it comes up heads, they beat Damwon.
If it comes up heads a second time, they beat SKT.
If it comes up heads a third time, they beat Griffin and win worlds.

But it only takes it coming up tails once for G2 to fall. So they have to win three consecutive 50/50s, three consecutive cointosses, three consecutive close matches. And while officially this is my prediction, I don't think they get that lucky. And make no mistake. With teams this good, it'll be exactly that. Luck. Not a skill gap. Every team G2 faces will punish even the smallest of mistakes and trade blow for blow, objective for objective, kill for kill. But G2 will punish even the smallest of mistakes they make, trade blow for blow, objective for objective, kill for kill. G2 won't make many mistakes; they won't make many mistakes.

It'll be a game of inches stretching to miles, each and every single time. A game of one missed skill shot, one connecting skill shot, one dodged skill shot, one autoattack's difference, to determine win or loss, things which were a 50/50 chance of having gone the other way. Things which we can attribute to human error or human skill, but which in the live environment comes down to basically being human guessing and either guessing right or guessing wrong, where both teams not misclicking and deliberately going where they intend and shooting at where they intend, are guessing at whether this is a good or bad call, and roll the dice on it with a 50/50 chance of one or the other.

And that? That will apply regardless of which teams clash. G2 and Damwon. G2 and SKT. G2 and Griffin. Damwon and SKT. SKT and Griffin. Damwon and Griffin. None of those, in my opinion, have a clear favorite, of "this team is going to win guaranteed". None of those, in my opinion, even really have a "this team has a clear edge, 60/40, albeit still having the chance to lose".

They are all literally close to on the point, 50/50. Where you can't be blamed for predicting the losers to have won, because they could easily have with so much as a single thing having gone differently. You can still make predictions based on what you think, on the day, they will do. And my prediction is that, on the day, whoever of G2/Damwon wins will move on to win the whole thing, and I think that G2 at their best given their experience advantage have a 1% extra chance of winning.

But those four teams are, in my opinion, the best four teams in the whole world. There's a gap between their games with each other and their games with anyone else. You can make arguments for any of the eight teams being competent contenders, but realistically. Fnatic at their best aren't good enough; Splyce at their best aren't good enough; Invictus Gaming might be the world champions, but they've shown that at their best they still can be beaten by others; FPX might have domestically beaten the world champions, but they've shown that at their best they're not undefeatable.

They just won't win.

Whereas any of the four titan powerhouses of the tournament I mention, could easily do so.

I can't lock in my predictions until tomorrow, but that doesn't mean I can't blog about them today.
Griffin versus Invictus Gaming, Griffin should win. I believe they battled during rift rivals? (Could be mistaken about that even tho both teams were there so even if they didn't personally meet, their regions certainly did.) And during rift rivals, Korean teams smashed everyone, including the Chinese teams.

That said--this is a multigame series. Probably 4-5.

FPX versus Fnatic, if Fnatic is in top form, they should win. FPX only barely skated by with first place over Splyce--a team which is, nominally, weaker than Fnatic, at least allegedly. If FPX struggled hard to beat Splyce, and if Fnatic are indeed better than Splyce, then Fnatic should have this down. They do need to be in "We took G2 to five games and beat SKT" form, though, rather than "we went 1-2 first week of group stage" form. The former, they should win; the latter, well...they might still win, but in that form FPX has the edge. But overall I think Fnatic should be able to do it.

Another one which will take probably 4-5 games tho.

SKT versus Splyce...sorry, Splyce, but even if you manage to be in your top form, your top form is still inferior to SKT even if SKT isn't in top form. SKT can practically int and Splyce can play in top form and even given both of those conditions Splyce's chances would rest at a maximum of like 20%. Given no inting from SKT and Splyce not playing in top form? SKT crush them. SKT probably don't 3-0 Splyce, but they do probably 3-1 them.

Damwon Gaming versus G2 Esports is the nightmare matchup tho.
These two teams are, probably, the best two teams in the tournament.
Who could rival Damwon? Damwon beats Fnatic hands down; Damwon beats Splyce hands down; Damwon has proven they beat Invictus Gaming hands down; Damwon beats FPX hands down. What does that leave as the teams Damwon doesn't guaranteed win against?

SKT, another Korean team, and Griffin, another Korean team, and G2. SKT and Griffin aren't necessarily numbers one and two in the tournament; Damwon is neck and neck with them and while it's debatable--some say Damwon are justifiably third due to their lack of experience leaving vulnerabilities that can be exploited--there are plenty of people who think that they are the best team from Korea who everyone speaks of being afraid of and have shown considerable growth.

It is a match which would be worthy of the Worlds Finals, and frankly, will probably be more bloody and exciting than whatever we actually get for the worlds finals because it is a matchup between the two teams who, if paired differently, would probably end up clashing in the finals. If they didn't meet in the quarterfinals, both would move on to the semifinals; if they didn't meet in the semifinals, both would move on to the finals.

And yet.

They are meeting in the quarterfinals.

This match is literally a tossup. It's 50/50. Maybe, maybe, maybe 51/49 G2 at their best versus Damwon. But G2 needs to be at their best, and even then they only have a 1% edge, an edge based on G2 having the edge in experience and flexibility and on-the-fly problem solving being more up their edge. If Damwon had an extra year's worth of experience and these two were meeting I'd give the match to Damwon hands-down, but as-is IF G2 plays at their best, they win.

But.

This might sound counterintuitive. Yet in spite of me saying. "This is basically a tossup, 50/50, where either side could win."
On the day of the match.
It won't look that way.
What do I mean, it won't look that way?
What I mean by that is that when the two titans clash, their bloody match will look like either one team decisively crushes, or the other team decisively crushes. This is just a prediction; it's possible that they fight tooth and nail where each game they play could go either way every minute of the game and nobody gets a decisive definitive unbeatable lead.

But I'm expecting the games to be incredibly one-sided, where the winning team basically instantly crushes their opposition, in each game (even if it's not the same team crushing each game).

How could a match which is so 50-50, how could a match which is so close, so hard to predict, so hard to tell what the outcome will be, end up with one team absolutely smashing the other? Surely if they were crushing their opposition it wouldn't be hard to predict them as the winners, right?

It's just basic breakdown of their playstyles and worlds meta thusfar. Given their respective styles, I am expecting a level of volatility to the matchup each round. Where both teams will be going even...until one fight proves to crush the other team. This can be winning a 1v1, winning a 2v2, winning a 3v3, winning a skirmish, winning a teamfight, winning a 1v2, winning a 1v3, it can happen one minute into the game, three minutes into the game, five minutes into the game, ten minutes into the game, even twenty minutes into the game. But it will happen and then with a snap of the fingers...the match will basically be decided on the coinflip of who got luckier, who played just that slightly bit better, who had ever so slightest of edges. A game of inches which stretch into miles. Where one inch given leads to an insurmountable mountain miles high.

Given this. I doubt a 3-0, and it could be 3-2, but it's probably 3-1 regardless of who wins. If G2 is at their best, they have that 1% edge over Damwon. But this? This is a match which basically is determining the winner of Worlds 2019. Whoever wins this matchup goes the distance. Damwon end the golden road for G2, they beat everyone else is my prediction; G2 if they knock Damwon out go the distance and achieve the perfect golden road.

It will be the highest quality best of five of any of the Worlds matches. No other matches in the tournament will compare to it because it will be two teams that are insanely good and yet play vastly different styles clashing. Their teams have their own identities, their own strengths, their own weaknesses, and both teams know their opposition's strengths and weaknesses fairly well. Both have incredibly good coaches; both have insanely talented individual players who have team synergy that is off the charts.

This is the matchup I am most likely to have predicted wrongly (the second most likely being Fnatic but again, Fnatic should have that match if they're playing at their highest competitive level), because honestly. How can you predict a match like this? It's the match I dreaded happening because I really wanted them to clash in the finals, or at least have their brackets set up so that they'd clash in the finals assuming they won, in the case where one or both wouldn't make it.

Ah well.

It happens.

Seven of the teams in the quarterfinals have fairly well proven why they deserve to be there, and 4-6 of them (depending on your opinion on Fnatic/IG) have proven that, yes, they are titans who are to be reckoned with and deserve their spots as tournament favorites.

Anyway, should at least make a footnote about today's matches.
As a reminder: I anti-root for TL in that I actively like to see them lose, so today? I was really really happy to see them handedly eliminated. Where even in their one victory, against ahq, it didn't really feel like TL won that match so much as it did that ahq had the victory but lost it. The placements were perfectly as I predicted tho; I placed Damwon as first in the group, IG as second, TL as third, and ahq as fourth, so that meant I got all 16 pick'em points for that group which I am quite satisfied with. I suppose you could call this the silver lining considering that the dreaded matchup actually ended up happening.

The one match I really didn't want to happen, happened. I honestly would've preferred SKT versus G2, particularly since that would be a rather historical rematch. Yet Damwon Gaming and G2 have no direct history with each other (other than fighting each other in skrims), and yet here one of them will go home when both deserve not to.

Ah well.

Seems like every step of the tournament, someone gets screwed over. In the play-ins, Mammoth Clutch Splyce and Damwon not each having their own groups ensured at least one of them was almost guaranteed to go home, so Mammoth got screwed (not that it mattered since they gamethrew anyway, but they would've been screwed regardless).

Clutch got placed into the group of death, so they got screwed.

And in the quarterfinals, Splyce and whoever loses in Damwon/G2 got screwed.

It happens, I suppose.

Still a shame tho.

The analysts keep on saying, "Fnatic versus Clutch was messy". That Fnatic versus Clutch wasn't Clutch playing out of their minds well, but rather Fnatic just being sloppy.

Broxah disagreeing feels vindicating. Broxah basically said, in response to, "Why was the first game so messy and your game against SKT so clean?", "Because Clutch played well". He gave them full credit for putting up such a strong fight, crediting it not to Fnatic being weaker in their first game but rather Clutch just being that strong. Broxah was not saying Fnatic played better against SKT, but that Clutch just put up a much stronger fight. 

When he said, "If Clutch played the way they did against us, they could win against SKT and RNG", it's a statement of how much he respects their play and it shows the difference between the analysts' point of view of "oh that was both teams not playing well, and then Fnatic shaped up", and the players' point of view of "We played strong in both matches, but Clutch also played strong."

And honestly I think that he was right. I haven't seen Clutch Gaming's other two matches, both of which they lost, but I am expecting them to be hard-fought losses where they put their all in and only barely their opponents scrape by with the win. I could be mistaken; maybe Clutch gets smashed by RNG and SKT, maybe they didn't play at the level they did against Fnatic and that's why they didn't win. But I have faith in their strength to have fought tooth and nail against each and every single one of their opponents.

I talked about how Fnatic earned their spot, but in that Fnatic versus Clutch Gaming match, I feel like I should mention Clutch Gaming's performance. That wasn't Fnatic making mistakes; that was Clutch playing their hearts out and trying their hardest, and Fnatic playing their best to barely win in a base race. That's because Clutch Gaming isn't a bad team. They are good. Fnatic's better, but not by much.

CG ended their run 0-6. You might think that that means Clutch Gaming sucks, that Clutch by the stats was just a terrible team--except. No, they aren't. They were in the group labeled "The Group of Death". Put them into group B, and they'd have been guaranteed to go through. But they were put into the group where they couldn't have possibly gone through.

They were in a group where they couldn't have won. That's not their fault; that's not because they suck. That's because they're fighting with three of the best teams in the tournament, where people were like, "Can't we send three teams through?". Because all of those three teams are good. So Clutch Gaming just...couldn't win against these three. Not like this, anyway.

So given that Clutch Gaming couldn't have won. Given that CG had no chance to win given the group they had the misfortune of being placed in. You can't really say "oh, they didn't win a single game, they suck". Instead you have to look at what they did, how hard they tried, how strongly they performed.

They didn't suck. They didn't drop the ball. They didn't make many mistakes. Most of their "mistakes" were them thinking they had caught out the enemy team, thinking they had a free pick, that they had an advantage, but in situations which were 50/50, them being turned against and Fnatic in the turnaround managing to take the edge.

Clutch Gaming should hold their heads high. The announcers really do say it best. "You can tell who watched the matches compared to who didn't by those who say, 'oh it was 0-6? They must have sucked, that was an inevitable result from a team sucking', because those who watched the matches know better".

Clutch got royally screwed by being placed in the group of death. Place them in literally any other group and they have a chance of making it to quarterfinals. Mind you, not good chances in groups A or D--Griffin probably beats them; G2 definitely beats them; Damwon is basically a better Clutch from Korea (both organizations are fairly new, with new talent and excellent coaching staff) so they beat them; IG probably beats them; Splyce probably beats them.

But they win against the other teams, FPX included, almost certainly. And not all of those matches are guaranteed losses to Clutch. So in any other group, Clutch would've stood a chance; in group B, that isn't chance so much as an absolute guarantee that they'd have gone anywhere from 4-2 to 6-0. With better luck, they'd be in.

So I will fight any of their doubters, any of their haters, by pointing out that even in their losses to the best teams in the worlds group stage, they were fighting tooth and nail every step of the way. I absolutely believe in them going into the future. They are a young organization; assuming their roster doesn't change for the worse, they will be a force to be reckoned with next year.

I think that next year, if they make it to worlds--which again, if their roster remains the same or better, it will--that they could be a contender to take the whole title. No, really. They need time; they need extra experience; they need a little luck; they need to make intelligent decisions; they need to not have their roster go into the dumpster fire (because they're good because of each of their players and their synergy).

Yet if that happens, I have faith that they can do it.

I think that they can potentially win an NA title next year, levels of good. They can fight TSM, they can fight CLG, they can fight Cloud9, they can fight TL, they can fight the Golden Guardians, and cream the other teams. So I think that they can do it.

So hold your heads high, Clutch Gaming. You got screwed over this year and couldn't do it this year because of where you landed, but your performance given where you landed is admirable even if it doesn't show up in the stats. Do that well without being screwed over, and yeah. You win. <3

I found it hilarious that they were touting SKT versus RNG as "a preview of a potential fight for first and second seed", basically assuming that RNG would win enough to secure their spot.

They apparently forgot about Fnatic.

I did not.

I said of Splyce, "Shape up or go home. Show us you at your best form, and you deserve to move on. Don't, and you deserve to go home."

The same could, and was said, about Fnatic. They needed to shape up or go home--and just like Splyce, they shaped up and delivered. I said the entire time how Splyce and Fnatic both had the same thing happen: week one, they both underperformed. They both lost matches they had no business losing and even their wins were shaky.

For them to secure a spot at worlds, they'd have needed to up their game. Both teams were much much much better than what they showed on week one. So they needed to show us "Hey, remember how we fought G2 to five games? Remember that version of us? WE CAN STILL GIVE THAT PEOPLE!"

And give it they did.

I said in my predictions pretty much precisely what happened. SKT first, Fnatic second but not by much, RNG third. Because Fnatic at their best could beat RNG at their best. They just needed to be at their best...and they were​. So they earned their spot.

So remember how I said yesterday that I had bought a female bathing suit? Well today, I got to wear it. And my GOD it is amazing. It fit me perfectly. I honestly don't know why more guys don't wear something similar--there is an existing male one-piece full-body bathing suit, a really really old style no less. Or really new. Or both. You can find things similar to what I was wearing for men and plenty of men do buy them, but most men who swim...choose things which don't go above their waist.

I honestly don't know why they wouldn't tho, because I wouldn't need to be a girl to have known the experience of the swimsuit was amazing. But my god was it exactly that. It was incredibly comfortable, and it made me feel more like me. It also made me feel a little bit sexy. The whole day, I was just...exuding an aura of something I rarely display, of just an energy that I only display in my most euphoric moments. The moments where not a touch of gender dysphoria hits me, where I feel like I look like a girl.

Mind you.

While I loved it.
It was not without its downsides.
1: It was a bit warm. This is pretty unavoidable. The only things I was wearing on my torso (the area which was warm) were the bathing suit and my lifeguard shirt. I obviously can't get rid of my guarding shirt, so...not much I can do to be cooler when wearing the bathing suit underneath. Not much of an issue, given that I am skin and bones so rarely overheat anyway.

2: Some parts were initially a little itchy. I imagine that this is a byproduct of it being a new swimsuit though, because I'm pretty sure that every swimsuit I've ever worn has had that problem when they were brand new.

3: Some parts felt a little tight at times and some areas didn't quite stay in place properly. I believe the two are related, in that the tightness likely came from areas of the suit slipping out of their proper position. This is not something which is very fixable because it's an issue you deal with, with any given article of clothing. No piece of clothing is perfectly tailored to your exact measurements (unless of course...they are, but those are like...$200 business suits), and swimsuits are no exception to this. This is something which happens for all of my clothes, so isn't an issue specific to the bathing suit.

4: The straps at times seemed to be pushing in, in a way akin to having worn a heavy loaded backpack for too long. Especially the left shoulder which was bothering me about 50% of the time. Half of this can be attributed to the above--the suit slightly shifted out of the proper position, I didn't really notice this in the area it slipped, but felt the slippage in the form of the shoulder straps.

But mostly? This wasn't creating a problem; this was alerting me to an existing problem. Even without the bathing suit's straps, my left shoulder was suffering from a condition which I'd call some combination of "tight, sore, tender, stiff, fatigued". This is not a new issue. It's a known problem I frequently suffer from. From the base of my neck to my deltoid muscle, my left shoulder flares up on occasion to have that issue.

The only fix I have to it is trying to stretch the muscles, massage them a little, roll the shoulder, hyperextend it, basically try every trick in the book to loosen them up, to remove tension from them, to basically make them...not bother me. So, again. Not a problem related to the suit.

Noticing a trend? Yeah, basically, none of the problems were due to the suit and all of them are things which can be managed and were minor nuisances, not real problems. Things which are annoying, but which aren't detrimental and won't consistently plague me especially not now that I know of them (and even if they do, given time to break the suit in, they'll go away).

There is one problem which is due to the suit tho.
One which will, presumably, go away after a while, but which is still a little inconvenient.

5: So sometimes, I can randomly be aroused by thoughts which aren't sexual at all. These arousing things strike randomly, where I basically go, "what the hell, body? There wasn't so much as a single sexy thought in there, not even a kinky thought, not anything which is a fetish, so why are you being aroused by that?"

When I was initially putting the suit on, this hit me hard. (Haha. Sadly.) If I had to guess, my guess is basically that I suffered from Distracted By My Own Sexy, in that I literally said to myself, "Okay, yeah, I get it. I'm sexy like this. Now shut up. We've got work to do." And at the end of my shift when changing out, while I was wearing nothing but the swim suit, I ended up going for a while, "Okay, fine. I'll take some time to appreciate that, yes. I am sexy in this. I have the time to spare. But you need to get used to it, body, because this is going to be the new me."

Because, yeah. I feel incredibly sexy in it. It fits me, it looks good on me (well, as far as I can tell, anyway; I have no mirror so hard to say for sure), and I feel a lot more like my femininity is more on display while wearing it (even though it's not actually visible). I feel like I am more openly displaying "hey I'm a girl" while wearing it and that feels so good. Everything about it is amazing and it is incredibly comfortable.

I do think that eventually, my body will adjust to that and it'll stop happening. (It's honestly annoying and I feel a little annoyed/guilty that the arousal happens when putting it on/taking it off. So hopefully it's a temporary thing related to it being a new change that the arousal is just extreme excitement about.)

So overall.

It's perfect.

​So glad I took the plunge and made that buy.

Splyce came so close to being first in their group.
You may recall that after they went 1-2 I was among the doubters.
I said "The Splyce we've seen doesn't deserve to move on; if they want to move on, they need to prove it by showing us the Splyce that went even with the likes of Fnatic and G2", more or less. That they needed to step up their game or go home. That the Splyce we had seen wasn't worthy of worlds, even though the Splyce we'd previously seen prior to the tournament was.

That in order for them to earn their spot they needed to be in top form.

And while I missed half of the matches today, I caught Splyce's first match against FPX and their match against GAM--and I can say that Splyce did precisely what they needed to. They did precisely what I said they needed to do in order to deserve moving on, in order to prove themselves worthy of worlds. They stepped up their game and showed up in if not top form close to it. They were a force to be reckoned with, and this was the Splyce who made me place them as the favorites to win first in their group.

And while they lost the tiebreaker to FPX and thus didn't--that it came down to a tiebreaker proves to me that my original faith in them was not wasted. Yeah, their losses showed their weaknesses. Yeah, even in their wins they had elements which weren't clean. But the Splyce I saw today was the Splyce I was rooting for since the beginning of the tournament, a Splyce who was good whereas when I said "Splyce in this form doesn't deserve to move on", they were...not good.

They did it. I am so glad they did.

Yeah it sucks that my predictions for positions ended up both wrong for the group, with Splyce 2nd GAM 4th when I had them as 1st/3rd, but OH WELL. I am still happy.

Am terribly behind in the vogs tho.

In non-gaming news: today I went shopping for some swimwear. It was ludicrously expensive, at $130ish in price to get what I got. Some of it was necessary costs. Others were there more or less to mask my true purpose for the visit. Yeah, I got gear that I desperately needed, but while I could use a new jammer swimsuit and I've needed new goggles for months the rest of what I got aside from one item was luxuries meant to help give a mask for what I really was there to buy.

Fun fact: I thought that the trope I Have This Friend was, in real life, so transparently obvious as to not be worth trying. That it would be ridiculously transparent, cliched, obvious, and give away my true meaning easily. But apparently it works well enough! I said that I needed help shopping for a gift for a girl, about my height, and wanted to get them a swimsuit, more or less. I got the help I needed; while I have no clue if it'll fit, I will at least try it on tomorrow and hoh boy is it exciting for me. I imagine that it will not be very comfortable, but it'll be worth it I feel in the end.

I strongly suspect that I am heavily depressed and perhaps a bit sick. I'm really not motivated to do the things I should be doing; all I feel like doing is playing games and watching things and even there I am horrifically behind on everything. Like, it was only today that I watched RNG versus Fnatic and there's still like five matches I need to watch...and guess what? By the time I am up tomorrow, there will be plenty more.

​I suck.

I woke up early enough to catch bits and pieces of the Splyce versus JT game.
I maintain what I said before: "If Splyce can't win, they don't deserve to move on". I said that yesterday, and today...they showed exactly that. They just...don't deserve to win. Not in their current form. If they were in better form? Sure, yeah. But this isn't the Splyce that gave a serious challenge to the likes of G2 and Fnatic. This isn't the Splyce who proved their worth.

This is just Splyce at a level that's...not up to par to where they need to be. So, yeah. Shape up, Splyce, or go home, basically. If they don't return to top form, they don't deserve to move on. If they get back to the form they should be in, sure, they deserve to move on. But so far? They haven't and as a result, they just...don't deserve it right now in their current form.

This does mean I need to catch the rebroadcast (or vog) of Fnatic's game but they too lost. If they lost similarly to Splyce, my statement would stand for them, too, but I'll hold on that until I see their match.

I will say: in C9 versus Griffin, it did go the way I expected, but honestly, it shouldn't have--Cloud9 gamethrew for the exact reasons the casters said: their win condition was having Fiora splitpush, where Fiora advances when the team retreats, and the team advances when Fiora retreats. Except they didn't do that and when they didn't...yeah.

That having been said. Unlike the casters' utter lack of excitement. I was ecstatic to see that matchup. For the longest time I was thinking "Is Garen-Yuumi the new Sona-Taric?" with Mundo-Yuumi as the new Sona-TK as an alternative option. Well, I didn't quite get to see the matches of matches with the Taric, instead getting the TK...but that's just about as good as I could have hoped for.

I loved seeing the quadruple-support-item botlanes duel it out and try to out-scale, out-heal, out-sustain, out-damage, each other. Cloud9 was the weaker team, but I think that matchup of those two duos in the botlane is probably skill-based, based on what I've seen, and that was a treat to see.

Anyway, gotta watch G2's game so more blogging later.

Well...Splyce gamethrew.
Splyce had that game on lock.
And then threw it at Baron.
Splyce is the stronger team by far. They had the stronger draft; they had the stronger play; they were the team doing better the whole game.

And then they threw it all away.
They did everything right...until that one fight which cost them the game that they should've won.

That's disappointing, but also promising for Splyce--yeah they lost, but they were smashing the entire game until one mistake. One mistake, which is easy to fix.

​They've got this, even if they didn't get it today.

Still need to watch the very end of IG versus Damwon (had to leave near the end of it) and all of ahq versus TL tho, so will be doing that later.