The Red Bull Battlegrounds are only days away! Watch eight of the top StarCraft II players in the world battle it out for $50,000 in prize money at the historic Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on November 23-24. We’re giving away a pair of tickets to the event and all it takes is a retweet!

How to Enter

Want to watch the World’s Top #SC2 Players compete live in NYC? #BattlegroundsNYC RT To win a pair of tickets! @redbullESPORTS @redbullNYC

— compLexity Gaming (@compLexityLive) November 19, 2013

• Follow our Twitter Account
• Retweet the tweet shown above or click here.

Rules

• Must reside in the tri-state area (or immediate vicinity).
• Must be willing to attend event if selected.

* Void where prohibited by law. Must complete all steps to enter. No purchase necessary. Making a purchase does not increase your chances of winning. One winner will be chosen by compLexity staff, at random, at the end of the contest.

The compLexity Gaming family would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Sam “Chuuper” Chu as he turns 22 today!

Chuuper long aspired to become a professional League of Legends player, and with compLexity, he finally surrounded himself with a team capable of achieving his dream. While he admits a bit of discomfort with his recent switch to be the team’s Mid Lane, his early performances have still been consistently impressive. He enjoys the versatility of his new role in the sense that bruisers, AD casters, assassins and traditional AP carries are all viable considerations. With his versatility serving as a cornerstone of compLexity’s strategy, he will have ample opportunities to display his newfound mastery of the position.

Once again, we’d like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Sam “Chuuper” Chu!

At 3PM EST today, compLexity’s Jason Lake will be a featured guest on ChanmanV’s Climbing the Ladder. Climbing The Ladder is a weekly e-Sports show that discusses the ins and outs of all the various segments of professional gaming (player, team, tournament organizing, sponsors, casting, etc.). This week, all things compLexity Gaming will be discussed as well as thoughts of Blizzard’s WCS and thinking about the future of eSports.

Again the stream is set to broadcast at 3PM EST today or 8pm CET. The stream can be found here, or below.

VOD

With more than half the LCS season complete, we decided to crunch a few numbers and breakdown every teams performance by a handful of observable metrics. Our LoL team then chimed in with their own thoughts. We think you’ll enjoy the result.

The data we collected can be found on the official LCS Season 3 website. Be sure to check back in with us as we have additional metric based LoL articles in the works.

Use the black and red buttons below to navigate between sections.

• Record
• Starting Side
• Opponents Record
• Time of Day
• Day of Week

Match Breakdown by Record

 

CATEGORY

COL

CLG

CUR

DIG

GGU

MRN

TSM

VLC

TOTAL MATCHES

15

17

14

18

15

15

17

17

WINS

3

8

12

14

3

5

12

7

LOSSES

12

9

2

4

12

10

5

10

WIN %

(.200)

(.471)

(.857)

(.778)

(.200)

(.333)

(.706)

(.412)

 

Tyler “Lautemortis” Nicholls
We go into most matches confident; Obviously against some teams we are more confident than others. We had a plan against MRN in week 6 but in champion select we opted to vary it which threw us all off our game.

Samuel “Chuuper” Chu
Experience is the biggest difference between a us and the top 4 teams. The teams at the top of the standings are all more accustomed to mid and late game scenarios. As a team we need to have a better grasp on how to push an advantage.

Josh “brunch U” Abrantes
During games, the more established teams might be down early, but as soon as it passes 25 minutes, they know what to do to turn it around while lesser experienced teams like ourselves struggle. They’re good at grouping and getting objective control later in the game — they have far more chemistry and experience together than us.

Abe “M eye A” Nguyen
Most of the top teams have been in a professional League scene for a long time. In our case, we are still finding the best practice schedules and strategies for our team. As for Curse, I think they have found a roster of experienced players that meshes really well.

Nick “Nickwu” Smith
I’ve started to get less nervous when playing. I just focus on my game and matchup and try to do the best. Beating Dignitas was one of the best feelings ever then to go 0-3 next week was devastating.

10

Winning Streak
Despite dropping their first two matches, Team Dignitas won the next 10 in a row and owns this season’s longest winning streak

6

Losing Streak
At six games, the longest losing streak belongs to Good Game University during their Week 3 / 4 drought

64

Match Count
The number of total matches through 6 weeks of LCS Season 3 play

 

Match Breakdown by Starting Side

 

CATEGORY

COL

CLG

CUR

DIG

GGU

MRN

TSM

VLC

MATCHES AS BLUE

7

8

8

10

7

6

10

8

BLUE WINS

2

4

8

10

1

2

8

5

BLUE LOSSES

5

4

0

0

6

4

2

3

BLUE WIN %

(.286)

(.500)

(1.000)

(1.000)

(.143)

(.333)

(.800)

(.625)

MATCHES AS RED

8

9

6

8

8

9

7

9

RED WINS

1

4

4

4

2

3

4

2

RED LOSSES

7

5

2

4

6

6

3

7

RED WIN %

(.125)

(.444)

(.667)

(.500)

(.250)

(.333)

(.571)

(.222)

 

Tyler “Lautemortis” Nicholls
Bot lane can take double golems on BLUE which means you have an advantage over RED side bot lane. Its disadvantageous to lane swap your ad/supp top because you lose dragon pressure. Also BLUE side has first pick which means you can take a good champ.

Samuel “Chuuper” Chu
I also feel as though BLUE is the better side. First pick advantage is pretty big.

Josh “brunch U” Abrantes
The angle of playing is far more comfortable for me on BLUE. Baron control is incredibly imbalanced for BLUE, but the counterpart is dragon control is imbalanced for RED. BLUE bot lane gets double golem advantage which is a significant lane-making factor. Ganking top lane is easier on BLUE as well, but ganking bottom lane on RED is easier so there’s a small mix of counter balance as well.

Abe “M eye A” Nguyen
I believe that the map is balanced overall. BLUE has the advantage of first pick and double golems on the lower half of the map for the duo bot lane.

Nick “Nickwu” Smith
I understand that bottom side BLUE has an advantage because of double golems. I’m not too sure what other advantages BLUE side has in terms of the layout of the map. BLUE side also gets first pick and that’s very crucial with how many first pick worthy champions there are. I think the map is overall pretty balanced though.

.625

Overall Blue Win %
With a combined 40-24 record, LCS teams playing as BLUE have a substantial advantage

.375

Overall Red Win %
When playing as RED, LCS teams lose on average 5 out of every 8 matches

25%

Blue vs Red Differential
Statistically, LCS teams have won 25% more matches playing as BLUE

26-2

Record as Blue
Curse (10-0), Team Dignitas (8-0), and TSM Snapdragon (8-2) boast a combined 26-2 record as BLUE, and coincidentally they’re the only LCS teams with winning records

2

Winning Teams as Red
Only two teams, Curse (4-2) and TSM Snapdragon (4-3) have winning records playing as RED

* LCS uses BLUE (bottom) and RED (top) to denote sides; in game the top side is actually PURPLE

Match Breakdown by Opponents Record

 

CATEGORY

COL

CLG

CUR

DIG

GGU

MRN

TSM

VLC

MATCHES VS > (.500)

8

7

4

4

7

7

4

7

VS > (.500) WINS

1

2

3

2

0

1

1

1

VS > (.500) LOSSES

7

5

1

2

7

6

3

6

VS > (.500) WIN %

(.125)

(.286)

(.750)

(.500)

(.000)

(.143)

(.250)

(.143)

MATCHES VS <= (.500)

7

10

10

14

8

8

13

10

VS <= (.500) WINS

2

6

9

12

3

4

11

6

VS <= (.500) LOSSES

5

4

1

2

5

4

2

4

VS <= (.500) WIN %

(.286)

(.600)

(.900)

(.857)

(.375)

(.500)

(.846)

(.600)

 

Tyler “Lautemortis” Nicholls
There’s a big difference in knowledge between us and the mid to top teams. Our strategies can sometimes take them by surprise and mechanically we are not far inferior. Curse on the other hand has shown tremendous teamwork and coordination which is one of the hardest things to learn as a team and something we are still striving to accomplish.

Samuel “Chuuper” Chu
When we scout another team we mainly try to find out what their comfort picks are. From there, we’ll try to understand how their comp works and find out if there are any weaknesses. Then we’ll look at replays and analyze their level 1’s and see if they have any habits and tendencies that we can take advantage of.

Josh “brunch U” Abrantes
Our mindset is the same every game: do our best to win and learn from our triumphs and failures and expand our play style.

Abe “M eye A” Nguyen
We prepare similarly for all the teams we play. We try to develop a game plan tailored to each opponent. In the case of our Week 5 match against Dignitas, we had a solid strategy that went almost exactly how we planned. In the case of the week 6 MRN game, our strategy was not as effective.

Nick “Nickwu” Smith
We’ve definitely had a tough first half of the season. The difference between us and the top teams is experience. A Team like Curse is not only more experienced but now they also are more focused. They practice much harder then people give them credit for and that practice has made them mesh extremely well as a team.

.000

0-FOR
Good Game University is 0-7 against teams with a winning record

.153

Stat Title
The combined winning percentage of compLexity, Team MRN, TSM Snapdragon, and Vulcun who each have a single win against teams with a > (.500) record

1

Winning Record Against > (.500)
Curse is the only team with a winning record against > (.500) teams

2

Losing Record Against < (.500)
compLexity and Good Game University are the only teams that have a losing record against < (.500) teams

* > (.500) Refers to teams with winning records

* <= (.500) Referes to teams with break even or losing records (in other words non-winning)

Match Breakdown by Time of Day

 

CATEGORY

COL

CLG

CUR

DIG

GGU

MRN

TSM

VLC

MORNING MATCHES

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

2

MORNING WINS

0

1

1

0

0

0

1

1

MORNING LOSSES

1

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

MORNING WIN %

(.000)

(1.000)

(1.000)

(.000)

—

(.000)

(1.000)

(.500)

AFTERNOON MATCHES

9

13

11

10

9

8

13

9

AFTERNOON WINS

2

5

10

8

1

3

9

3

AFTERNOON LOSSES

7

8

1

2

8

5

4

6

AFTERNOON WIN %

(.222)

(.385)

(.909)

(.800)

(.111)

(.375)

(.692)

(.333)

EVENING MATCHES

5

3

2

7

6

6

3

6

EVENING WINS

1

2

1

6

2

2

2

3

EVENING LOSSES

4

1

1

1

4

4

1

3

EVENING WIN %

(.200)

(.667)

(.500)

(.857)

(.333)

(.333)

(.667)

(.500)

 

Tyler “Lautemortis” Nicholls
I like playing in the morning because watching the other LCS matches gets me tired before we play. We probably perform the best earlier in the morning.

Samuel “Chuuper” Chu
I mainly like playing and practicing in the mornings because it’s much more quiet. It’s easier for me to concentrate and work on my game. I don’t believe the time of day affects our play as a team.

Josh “brunch U” Abrantes
I prefer to play in the afternoon. This is the prime hour for scrimming since most gamers don’t really get up until about 12:00 PM anyway. At the Riot Studio we all hang out and watch the games together and make fun of Chuuper.

Abe “M eye A” Nguyen
We typically practice during the afternoon and evening, but we don’t mind playing any time.

Nick “Nickwu” Smith
I don’t have a big deal on play time preference. I guess I prefer the afternoon so I can sleep in a bit more. I don’t think our team performance has been hindered by time of play even if it was early in the morning. Anytime we are supposed to play we should be ready to do so.

6%

Morning Matches
1 out of every 16 matches take place at 12:59 PM or earlier

64%

Afternoon Matches
The overwhelming majority of matches have a scheduled starting time between 12:01 PM and 5:59 PM

30%

Evening Matches
A little less than a third of all matches start at 6:00 PM or later

* Morning Matches have a scheduled start time before 1:00 PM

* Afternoon Matches have a scheduled start time between 1:00 and 5:59 PM

* Evening Matches have a scheduled start time after 5:59 PM

Match Breakdown by Day of Week

 

CATEGORY

COL

CLG

CUR

DIG

GGU

MRN

TSM

VLC

WEDNESDAY MATCHES

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

WEDNESDAY WINS

0

2

2

3

0

2

2

1

WEDNESDAY LOSSES

3

1

1

0

3

1

1

2

WEDNESDAY WIN %

(.000)

(.667)

(.667)

(1.000)

(.000)

(.667)

(.667)

(.333)

THURSDAY MATCHES

4

6

4

7

3

4

7

5

THURSDAY WINS

0

3

3

6

0

1

5

2

THURSDAY LOSSES

4

3

1

1

3

3

2

3

THURSDAY WIN %

(.000)

(.500)

(.750)

(.857)

(.000)

(.250)

(.714)

(.400)

FRIDAY MATCHES

6

6

5

6

7

6

5

7

FRIDAY WINS

2

2

5

4

2

2

4

3

FRIDAY LOSSES

4

4

0

2

5

4

1

4

FRIDAY WIN %

(.333)

(.333)

(1.000)

(.667)

(.286)

(.333)

(.800)

(.429)

SATURDAY MATCHES

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

SATURDAY WINS

1

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

SATURDAY LOSSES

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

1

SATURDAY WIN %

(1.000)

(1.000)

(1.000)

(1.000)

(.000)

(.000)

(.000)

(.000)

SUNDAY MATCHES

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

SUNDAY WINS

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

SUNDAY LOSSES

1

1

0

1

0

1

0

0

SUNDAY WIN %

(.000)

(.000)

(1.000)

(.000)

(1.000)

(.000)

(1.000)

(1.000)

 

Tyler “Lautemortis” Nicholls
I like playing during the weekend, but honestly all the days have melded together so I can’t say it really makes a difference.

Samuel “Chuuper” Chu
I don’t really believe we play better or worse on any particular day of the week.

Josh “brunch U” Abrantes
I’d prefer to practice Monday through Friday and have weekends off, but that’s not the case.  We currently get one day off, sometimes two after LCS matches.

Abe “M eye A” Nguyen
To be honest, it is hard to keep track of the days — everything goes by so quickly. Personally, I don’t have a preference in terms of what days of the week we play.

Nick “Nickwu” Smith
I’m fine with the standard way its been, with most of our games on Thursday and Friday. I don’t think our team would perform any better on the other days.

19%

Wednesday Matches
The only Wednesday Matches occurred during Super Week 4

31%

Thursday Matches
The great majority of matches occur on either Thursday or Friday

38%

Friday Matches
The great majority of matches occur on either Thursday or Friday

6%

Saturday Matches
Each team has played only once on Saturday — Look for that to change in Week 7

6%

Sunday Matches
Each team has played only once on Sunday — Look for that to change in Week 7

.000

Mid Week Troubles
compLexity and Good Game University are a combined 0-13 on Wednesday and Thursday

1.000

Undefeated on the “Weekend”
Curse is a perfect 7-0 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

* To date the only Saturday / Sunday matches occured during Week 5 at MLG Dallas

Player thumbnails courtesy ^©League of Legends Championship Series, LLC 2013.

Earlier today at the League of Legends Championship Series NA qualifiers in Santa Monica, our very own Jason “1” Lake was interviewed by ESFI. The interview answered questions about League of Legends, StarCraft 2, the coL Academy, thoughts on the current eSports scene, and compLexity’s future.

00:52 – coL Academy LoL team results in LCS NA, expectations for future
02:05 – What is the coL Academy?
03:55 – Helping develop amateur players to the next level and esports development in general
06:40 – How many resources is coL planning to put into LoL as compared to SC2? + Riot Games setting the bar as esports developer
09:00 – EG reportedly about to pick up a major LoL team; does a move like that make coL really want to do the same?
10:55 – Thoughts on the disbanding of Quantic Gaming
12:58 – What steps can coL take to make sure what happened to Quantic doesn’t happen to coL?
15:12 – Closing down the coL gaming house in Houston, Texas
17:10 – coL moving into 2013; re-evaluating SC2 plans and investment; does this have anything to do with why the house is gone or is it just wanting to focus more on getting top players?
19:03 – What are the overall plans for coL in 2013? Any big announcements coming up?
20:40 – Closing wordsESFI

Tonight compLexity Gaming will be taking on Fnatic in week 2 of the Evil Geniuses Master’s Cup Series League – Season VIII. After a tough loss versus the Russian team Empire in week 1, our boys are looking to get a win tonight and generate some momentum for the rest of the season. One thing that makes tonight’s match particularly interesting is that coL and Fnatic met in the semi-finals and the grand finals of EGMC’s last season. Hopefully we can recreate last season’s success and bring home a win versus Fnatic.

Tonight’s match-ups are:
Moon vs TriMaster
J vs Goswser
aLive vs QXC
Rain vs Heart

The match kicks off tonight at 9:00 PM EDT and can be watched here. If you’re not able to watch the match live, VODs will be made available on the EGMC website.

Score	1	2	3	F
coL.TriMaster	1	0	0	1
Moon	0	1	1	2

Score	1	2	3	F
coL.Goswser	1	0	1	2
J	0	1	0	1

Score	1	2	3	F
coL.QXC	0	0	–	0
aLive	1	1	–	2

Score	1	2	3	F
coL.Heart	0	1	0	1
Rain	1	0	1	2

With the Summer Championship a few weeks away, today MLG revealed the list of commentators for its Raleigh event. Taking place August 24-26, MLG Raleigh will feature tournaments for League of Legends, StarCraft II, Mortal Kombat, and Soul Calibur V.

The commentator teams for each tournament are:
League of Legends:
Dan Dinh, Optimus Tom, Deman, Monte Cristo, Jaws, and Jatt

StarCraft II:
Day[9], Apollo, djWheat, TotalBiscuit, Mr Bitter, Rotterdam, Rob Simpson, Tim Frazier (Robin), Axeltoss, Kibbelz

Fighting Games:
Tom Brady for Mortal Kombat, Bibulus for Soul Calibur V, and Juicebox Abel as your host

With nearly $215,000 in prizes on the line, you’re not going to want to miss all the eSports action at MLG Raleigh. If you’re luck enough to live in the Raleigh area (or willing to travel) you can pick up a Venue Spectator Pass here for $35.00. If you’re like me and will be watching from home, you can purchase Summer Championship HD pass for $14.99. The HD Pass features full ad-free HD on all streams, near-instant access to VODs, and access to any Premium-only streams. If that’s still more than you’re willing to pay, you can watch all the action in Standard Definition for free.