The inevitable end to esports... / Why everyone is mad at LCS - Summoning Insight S7E23

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the Esports World Cup (EWC) talent tease, Dash turning down invitations to attend EWC, reactions to the LCS Finals taking place at the KZbin Theater, Cloud9's first week of play, LCK week 1, a lack of hype surrounding LEC, praise for the LPL format, and more!
EWC talent tease: x.com/EWC_EN/status/180308029...
​Learn real-life conversation skills in another language! Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription at www.babbel.com/SUMMONING
HELLO FRESH sponsored this episode! Head on over to www.hellofresh.com/LFNAPPS for FREE appetizers for life!
EXPRESSVPN now sponsors Summoning Insight! Get THREE free months of service with our link: www.expressvpn.com/summoning
Thorin's new Substack: iamesports.substack.com/
Monte's stream for Bangers Only: / montecristo
Monte's primary KZbin: / ggmontecristo
Monte's KZbin for ALL Bangers Only VODs: / @bangersonly-ge2pf
Announcing the NEW Last Free Nation culture channel with Thorin, Richard Lewis, and Monte's film club FOUR PLAY. Subscribe on KZbin here: / @lastfreenationculture
Summoning Insight is the longest-running, most viewed League of Legends esports podcast in the world. Each week, hosts Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles and Duncan "Thorin" Shields break down the most exciting matches from LEC, LCS, LCK, and LPL as well as interviewing professional players, coaches, casters, and journalists from around the world.
Listen to Summoning Insight on podcast platforms:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1w3sDoR...
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast...
Google: podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...
Pocket Casts: pca.st/4z9sg2tg
Pandora: www.pandora.com/podcast/summo...
iHeart: iheart.com/podcast/104244896/
This episode was filmed on June 19th, 2024.
Come join the Last Free Nation Discord for in-depth discussion across esports: / discord
0:00:00 - Esports World Cup
0:28:05 - LCS Final announcement
0:43:13 - LCS
0:53:14 - Cloud9
1:05:34 - NRG vs 100T
1:11:47 - LCS topic conclusion + season format
1:28:16 - LCK
1:48:25 - EWC format and timing
1:56:04 - LEC
2:04:46 - LPL
2:19:13 - Discord Subscriber questions
#lolesports
#lolpodcast
#leagueoflegends

[@igniortix]

The never ending LS's crusade against brasilians that's coming

[@Liratan]

This whole Saudi thing is just a real life textbook example of the prisoners dilemma. It would be better for everyone if nobody took the money but as long as someone is going to take it if you don't you're just super screwed

[@genovaz]

Fuck it take all the money, take every penny, let them bankrupt themselves trying to buy goodwill.

[@colin5197]

​@genovaz lmao good luck with that 😂🤣

[@JTHarleyD]

When you comment on tweets or any other type of similar content, could you show it on screen, so we can follow whatever it is you are talking about, instead of having to look it up while watching/listening to the show?

[@everything-has-a-handle-now]

You actually have them on your screen for 3 hours?

[@JTHarleyD]

@@everything-has-a-handle-now I have them on my secondary monitor, yes. But I like to see reactions, and follow along with some context for what is being talked about.

[@NwinDii]

Faker in chair looks up at trophy. He looks down and thr kight dims as the camera rotates around the chair to reveal another chair with chovy in it flashing his ring the shadow of the dim lighting. Lights on and chovy stands up to walk past the lck trophy towards his worlds one would be a mega hype intro or finale to this season before worlds.

[@neilpanganiban272]

and know how Chovy is portrayed more as an angelic being as opposed to Faker's Demon king title. That would be so dope. The church challenges the Demon king 🔥

[@iRiDiKi]

I genuinely think the age argument in eSports is a bit stupid. Leaper being 24 shouldn't be a surprise as much as it is - if anything, the whole reason he looks good is probably because he's had a history of playing the game and has built up knowledge and experience of different meta's and styles. If we look at other games, most of the best players are those who have been playing the longest. Rapha has seen his best years in recent times and he's 35.

[@Danxor]

same thing in the NBA, most of the best players only start winning championships in their mid to late 20s (their prime)

[@uhmmmFU]

Its because eSports pros do not tend to take very good care of their physical health. I think we going to see a lot more of them competing into their 30's in the future. I'm 29 and my reaction times are as good or better than when I was a twitchy 18 yearold simply because I've been working out, supplementing correctly, getting bloodwork done, avoiding alcohol, and getting plenty of sleep.

[@Jabby97]

wow the the thumbnails looks great for these episodes!

[@_sumisu]

Looks like zoomer bait. Please go back to the old ones.

[@alvinohlsson5986]

Agree​@@_sumisu

[@knightofrohan]

To the point about the live events with Tariq and such, a content creator named David Sjaznuk has been having these watch parties for LCS for years, in New York and this split is the first split where the LCS is actually facilitating and helping promote these watch parties, not just run by him, but by other folks. While the LCS is not paying for these, they are sending merch and giveaway stuff and just promoting it, which is nice. I really think that this kind of thing is the key to building fandom back up for LCS in NA and folks like David are such beasts because they are doing so much for fandom in the region. I hope Riot and teams invest in them, more.

[@Auggyisonfire]

Didn't have the chance to attend the first live viewing that you all had hosted it. Am hyped for the future where these may be a thing.

[@nosuitsgiven]

Monte is a good man holding his tongue while Thorin constantly interrupts him to rant.

[@hardlo7146]

He has years of experience. It does get maddening when it happens so much Monte even forgets what he was gonna say.

[@williaminatio3853]

professional type shit

[@Mr-fe5ng]

You not used to it, large portion of the show is monte giving thorin the stage to rant and create entertainment 😂

[@BitcoinCashPodcast]

LFN Live events at bars sounds unbelieveably awesome, that would be so fucking hype.

[@thekevinc]

Thorin needs to watch RRR one think you have to understand about big Indian movies though is that they tend to combine all genres into one, don't really know of any notable ones that would be considered just a "Drama" movie, its usually a combination of action, romance, comedy, musical, etc.

[@Zwheim]

I was thinking about different LEC rosters, but a roster I think could work but might just be my delusions would be Irrelevant, Bo, Jackies, Flakked. Support idk, someone vocal who can look for more impact around the map. idk if it would be a newer rookie or someone experienced.

[@TheOtaxephon]

Honestly, listening to Thorin yolo an ad read was an experience I never knew I needed to have but I'm glad I had it.

[@evilmerc2039]

Okay Rek'sai - the app is top 5 calls of all time.

[@Emilmossing]

What would be the cost of having a viewing party like that? If one had access to full professional recording and studio(One of my clients are the Norwegian opera and ballet)

[@sodaron5828]

LiV Golf is great. Going to a live event next month. Have yet to attend a Riot event.

[@Max88188]

Since you dont play the game regularly you should also know that NA clash is usually held on the same weekend as finals

[@CURichard2019]

They have clash like every other weekend. It's so frequent now. Used to be a rare thing, now common. Not a big deal, with how frequent it is there are less players since it isn't a rare event to try and catch. Now it's like whatever can skip until it's more convenient.

[@mitchr1619]

first ever episode i watched live while driving around for work, was a hilarious ep

[@DnDandVideoGames]

Is Locodoco still alive? They bring him up a lot always in memory form, but you never hear from him. What happened to that guy?

[@treynguyen1236]

In crypto and web3 community, living his best life

[@Aanenk]

Nrgs botlane def made a difference. I tried hard to like the team because I like their brand in a sense but I cant stand contractz sadly. Pala very hit or miss aswell. Unsure if its due to something in his lifestyle but thats what it seems like.

[@arkaina-ps7pd]

Love the wacky racers analogy

[@radekhruby142]

Bruh VPN doenst make your phone more secure -_-

[@RayOnTheInternet]

Raleigh, North Carolina in the house, we do indeed pig wrestle

[@FireEatingNinja]

Big agree on Valorant not being a good replacement for CS. It's moreso half Overwatch, half CS. Overwatch failed for a reason that's not just developer flubs (sorry if that's news to people). There's a spectator issue in FPS games though. Overwatch is honestly easier to understand from a shallow level and a better spectator experience, but the "competitive edge" of Overwatch is too streamlined. Generally speaking at semi-competitive levels, a CS player is going to have 10x more agency in the game than you'll have in Overwatch. Maybe 3x more than Valorant just because abilities level the playing field too much and allows unskilled players to shortcut options. If you're a god at Counterstrike you can 1v9. I'd like to see a gamemode for Valorant used in competitive that has zero abilities and see if it can hold its own.

[@CURichard2019]

Valorant very explicitly is a combination of CS and Overwatch. From the get go they have implied as much. If you remove the abilities, you have a worse version of CS because the maps are made to incorporate the abilities. Of course you could make maps specifically ignoring them, but at that point the game is cartoony Counterstrike.

[@robin_designs]

I think I preferred the old summoning insight thumbnails.

[@rebornthanos]

It's so funny you guys posted this title, I was just reading the hundreds of thousands of messages of riot and franchising being absolutely cooked in the comments.

[@Littledunc1]

But Keria can pick twitch, kalista and cait support vs bottom tier teams? aren't we supposed pretend he's flawless.

[@Riggered]

loved the sc2 goat answer

[@Kingkevin619]

You guys are acting like peyz didn't do this well against Blg

[@StillKeepOnLosing]

Thooorin's LeBronze in League is LeChoke'vy. How many superteams bro gotta set up to win a title? Sad

[@all4god650]

New proposed change. All teams must have a female and male roster. Fearless roster ruleset.

[@HeLLraiSa911]

👍

[@xendranara7121]

Thor is just talking abt barcraft its not new

[@CountCocofang]

What I don't understand about us westerners is how we are so picky about which other cultures we criticize. Especially when it comes to values. It's so silly to me how discussing the cultural xeno- and homophobia in far eastern countries is such a taboo when these are such trending topics in the west.

[@reginaldwent2321]

valdez, wolf and lpl caster are not invited because they aren’t good casters besides maybe lyric. Dadga only good lpl caster and he left. Hysterics is bad at casting and wont find nearly the same success as dagda

[@igniortix]

They are obviously good casters, but I agree they are not top tier. Lyric is pretty underrated, guy has ton of game knowledge, good communication skills and can read the game really quickly

[@gangrenousgoblingangrounou7583]

Valdez and Hysterics are some of my favourite casters, Lirik also is really good in his element, not a fan of Wolf but i still think its rightfully bullshit that casters who spend the entire year learning about a region are just passed over for ppl who cast EULCS as the EU ones are more "popular" so rubbish

[@patriciofloresdifilipo3713]

Tbh casters like flores, riv, phreak, hotshot and medic set up a highh bar

[@70chaoswalking07]

Hysterics is worse in LEC than he was LPL but by no means is he a bad caster. In LPL he was one of the best PbP in the world

[@nickmajora]

The changing thumbnails is making it more difficult to find your show each week.

[@justin9744]

Saying everyone is mad at LCS is completely disingenuous.

[@tincuflorin6735]

gc

[@utuber1360]

Frank Sinatra was fined. In 1984, he was involved in a controversy at the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas, where he was allowed to set his own rules and deal cards face down, violating regulations. The casino was subsequently fined for these infractions

[@turnermarius4471]

G2 will spank FNACTIC back to reality.

[@summonersummoner9536]

As a player of the game I’m not mad at them

[@emillarsson1299]

You really fucked up the viewer questions, extremely wrong on almost every single one. Sad!

[@treynguyen1236]

Are you ret*rded?

[@SirDumplin]

Am I the only who don’t care about saudi shit. Riot is only doing this to make money. I am a wrestling fan and they do shows for the prince. But us fans know it only for the money. We still get people bitching about it. But most of us don’t care about anymore. Edit: I’m not saying you’re not allowed to care to Saudi. I’m just saying I don’t care because I know riot is only doing it for money.

[@charliestrausser6238]

"Sportswashing is working and I am slowly starting to give up on my values, why do people keep on talking about it???"

[@CarlosCarlangas]

You don't care because you dont have any morals or values. You'll ignore people getting killed and arrested as long as you get to watch some shitty league matches.

[@SirDumplin]

@@charliestrausser6238 what can we do about saudi, saudi isn't going to change. They don't want to change. Let business make their money. Also values isnt going to help you pay your bills in this economy

[@antistaplays4240]

@@SirDumplinyeah man let’s just continue to excuse genocidal governments so billionaires can fucking make more money what a sad cuck you are

[@dirtydard4870]

​@@SirDumplin"in this economy" There are bills which no sum of worldly wealth can pay

[@taylorpeay8991]

Just going to keep commenting on their hypocrisy. They make money profiting off of a game that they disgree with the morals of the company that owns the game. But LOL profiting off of Saudi money is somehow different. They both drive cars that run on Saudi oil, but somehow thats different. They both use electronics made from child labor in china, ut somehow thats different. They both wear clothes made from sweatshops, but thats somehow different. The sell sugar and gambling ads. Their entire value system is based on a standard they have never held or maintained. That is the issue with people these days. They always expect others to make a difference or be better

[@conorfiler5820]

You're on another level of delusional

[@dommanu1879]

You better be sending this through smoke signals while sitting in the mud somewhere in the jungle, bud.

[@taylorpeay8991]

@dommanu1879 I never said I had morals or had those values. The difference is they did. They make the claim that they are moral all the time. That's the problem. You can't claim to be moral if your actions aren't. And besides. There are plenty of clothes companies phone companies and alternative means of transportation that don't use child labor. Just saying.

[@taylorpeay8991]

@conorfiler5820 not really. We criticize saudi for gay and women rights. But yet we in the west cut the genitals off of children lol. How can you say we are better. And it's delusional to think what I said wasn't true. You cannot claim to be a good person when your livelihood is provided by the suffering of others. That is a fact. But right let's use your logic. As long as you pretend to care about child labor. It's OK for you to wear the clothes they make. Because you "care." Right?

[@dommanu1879]

@@taylorpeay8991 It's juvenile to put actively and directly taking blood money from an oppressive and murderous theocracy to sell out all you claim to stand for on the same level as not living as a consumer celibate. I also don't think you even actually listened to any of the content because the main criticism has never been that people just go and work there.