This Week in NA eSports

Curse Academy will now consist of Rhux Top Lane with OneBadBrad Jungle, Fabby AD Carry, Vibes Support, and Only Jaximus Mid. Rhux, Jaximus and OneBadBrad were already announced subs on the Curse team for awhile now, with the AD Carry/Support combo of Fabby and Vibes having played together on a short lived team that was formed by PhantomLord. With all of the hype that Fabby brings with his signature style of playing AD carry and the experience that Rhux gained from playing in the LCS for Curse last season as support, Curse Academy is looking to dominate the amateur LCS scene and go for a spot in the LCS Season 4, even if it means taking out the current “Professor” Curse team. Unfortunately, this change for CRS Academy means the departure of both Pobelter and Altec, two players who have shown a lot of potential and are sure to be picked up by other organizations in the future if they still desire to play.

In an unpredictable turn of events, Velocity eSports came out swinging this week and took wins off of both CLG and Vulcun this week in two very strong showings. Similar to what Vulcun and GGU (Coast) did last split at around the midpoint, Velocity went ahead and did a roster swap, moving midlaner Vileroze to toplane and bringing ex-MRN midlaner ecco into the fray. Frommaplestreet had two solid performances this week, which his fans will tell you are the kind of performances that should be normal for him. After his very public venting of his feelings a few weeks back, it seems that maybe the Oddbro, and his team, have finally stopped stumbling out the gates and are ready to make a run in the final weeks of season play.

Cloud9‘s continued dominance in the LCS is unlike anything the NA scene has seen before, even when Curse was at it’s best last split. After a crushing victory against TSM and fairly one-sided game against Curse, Cloud9 has shown that they hold no fear of the “old guard” of LCS professional teams and are here to stay. Every member of C9 has proven again and again they have very few exploitable weaknesses. As of right now, they are a strong contender for not only winning the Summer Split, but are one of the biggest threats in the World Finals.

Across the Pond in Europe

This week EG Raidcall announced the addition of substitute jungler Mojtaba “Shacker” Aflaton who will be alternating with Stephen “Snoopeh” Ellis depending on their composition and/or the team they play against and Christoph “nRated” Seitz, who joined the team as an analyst. Snoopeh hopes that this change will be the much needed boost the team needs to finally climb higher in the standings, as shown by the 2-1 they were able to pick up this week. nRated, former support for Fnatic, joins the team as a well-respected player and friend who will provide a fresh new look on EG Raidcall’s game and strategies. Here’s to hoping that these changes to one of the most adored rosters in competitive League of Legends prove beneficial.

Following a recent team restructuring that included benching three of the original members of the Copenhagen Wolves, new top laner Vytautas “extinkt” Melinauskas retires from competitive League of Legends after only four weeks with the Ninjas in Pyjamas. Claiming he has not felt motivated to maintain his pro player status and fearing the possibility of holding back a team definitely destined for success, extinkt steps down in order to pursue his degree in autumn. He leaves, assuring fans that he will continue to help the team in anyway possible while they search for a replacement starter.

And in Korea

In week 3 of OGN Champions Summer, we had the pleasure of watching perhaps the most entertaining set of the season, with CJ Frost going head to head against KT Rolster Bullets. In the first game of the set, the duo of Insec and KaKaO proved too strong and were able to out-duel CJ Entus Frost, handing them their first loss of the season. However, in game 2, GodLife himself carried the team on his shoulder with the first Alistar pick of the season. Along with Space’s Twitch, Frost’s duo managed to steamroll over the Bullets and even out the set.

For this week of OGN, the first day of matches have already gone underway and, like the treat he always is, Faker performed admirably on against MVP Blue and even pulled out a pocket Syndra pick. However, being just as gratuitous as he is with killing blows, Faker decided to hand off some of the dirty work to the AD, Piglet, and they shared MVP honors at the end of the day.

For the last 2 days of OGN in the regular season, day 2’s match to watch is CTU vs CJ Blaze. Since both teams are tied at 3-1 and have already qualified for the playoffs in the group, look to see some experimentation from both teams as they prepare for the Round of 8 starting early next month. And, as OGN is wont to do, they saved the biggest story of the season by pitting Woong’s coached MiG Blitz against CJ Entus Frost, his former team. Besides the prospect of beating his former team in competitively play, it’ll show Woong’s prowess as a coach in the Korean scene if he can best one of the world’s best at teamfighting.

Besides officially announcing his position as a coach for Counter Logic Gaming, MonteCristo announced on Twitter that he and his fellow double rainbro caster DoA will be in Los Angeles. It’s been speculated that the duo will be meeting with Riot to discuss casting the World Championships.