The thing about competitive gaming is that eye candy really isn't part of the experience. The prettiest backdrops in the world don't mean a thing if you lose. So Riot is adding an option to League of Legends that will make it easier to tune out the background noise.

"Recently we added an option to the Game tab in the menu called 'Hide Eye Candy'," Riot JxE wrote in the League of Legends forums. "Some of our more competitive players requested the the option to hide some of the less subtle movement on Summoner's Rift. We added the option to disable things like butterfiles, dragonfiles and the water wakes to help competitive players focus on what they care about, the gameplay."

Old-timers may recall cranking down the resolution in Quake to maximize framerates and thus the opportunity to get on the trigger before the other guy. But that was about squeezing every last drop of performance out of hardware that could sometimes be overwhelmed by all the on-screen action, whereas this toggle simply does away with potential sources of distraction.The concept is essentially the same, though: sacrificing visual quality for a better competitive edge.

The hookups should be enabled in the next PBE [Public Beta Environment] deployment, he wrote, adding, "Only ambient critters that persist after 1:55 will be disabled by this option. You can continue to perfect the dark ritual necessary to spawn the Duck." I have no idea what that means, but I assume it's important somehow.

The coming of the summer split is heralded by the smell of barbequed careers. The World Championship's now just a scant five months away, and while that might seem a long time to us mere mortals, it's no time at all for teams. The spring split and Mid-Season Invitational took measure of their capabilities—and left the majority of them found wanting, even among the topmost teams.

The stink of it this year's been especially intense—Counter Logic Gaming dropping Austin "Link" Shin set off a chain reaction of drama that hasn't yet fully settled down. Similarly, though Cloud 9's Hai Lam stepping back wasn't entirely unexpected due to his decline in strength, the break-up of the long-lasting roster entailed much wailing and gnashing of teeth from its supporters.

But the big question for either of them, and all of the teams and regions locking in their rosters for the summer, is "has it helped?" The summer split is a merciless time—their one last chance this year to make it big, leaving no margin for error.

Crossing the Rhine

The good news is, Europe's out of their rut! Fnatic's breathtakingly aggressive performance back at Tallahassee demonstrated progressive evolution—enough to give SKT T1 a jolting scare, coming within a desperate game to take the best-of-five. The great news is, they're not going to be alone in this.

Much of the criticism levied at Europe over the past seasons was their regional timidity—a low-risk approach to play influenced by CLG.EU and characterized by extended laning phases and late-game emphasis. The key exceptions were Gambit Gaming and Fnatic, but the decline of the former thanks to the geographic burdens of the centralized EU LCS circuit meant that most of the trickle-down influences afflicting Europe came from teams that largely didn't know how to close out the game without a monumental gold lead or late-game scaling carries.

That's no longer so much a part of the EU metagame fabric, thanks to the efforts of Fnatic, in any of their iterations, and the infusion of fresh blood over the last year. Teams like UOL don't know when to quit, even for their own good, and teamfights churn out for minutes at a time. And the returning veterans from Origen aren't slouches in the high-risk/high-impact play style either—probably not a coincidence that Origen is basically Old Fnatic coming back to show these newcomers what for.

It is a necessary evolution for the scene, not only to keep pace with China and even Korea's aggressive early-game strategies, but because the game has been steadily balanced in favor of their sort of early-game risk management. A combination of the current tank dominance and the scaling-back of AD carries makes late-game oriented farm strategies categorically inferior to those structured around early- and mid-game dives and dragon fights. If they can keep the pace, they should be pretty happy with their odds come October.

Land of the free (wins)

While the EU is coming out of a passive rut, North America seems to be slipping into one. TSM's disappointing performance at the Mid-Season Invitational highlighted significant deficiencies in the region overall—for instance, their lack of mid lane strength outside of Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg had an unintended crab-bucket effect highlighted by his inability to make an impact against international teams also known for their mid laners.

Simply put, for the last year, Bjergsen hasn't had to fight against anybody that could come within a shadow of his own capabilities. He's forgotten how to be the underdog in a scrap. And TSM's forgotten what it's like to face teams that are actually capable of abusing timing weaknesses and stagnant play.

To the chagrin of regional purists, the solution for this probably won't come from within the North American scene. The next-best mid lane talent from spring comes from China's Yu "Xiaoweixiao" Xian, on Team Impulse, or Team Liquid's Kim "Fenix" Jae-hun, from Korea. Cloud 9, in particular, has taken a page out of TSM's own books, scouting abroad in Europe to take advantage of their comparatively greater pool of mid lane talents. Nicolaj "Incarnati0n" Jensen, fresh out of purgatory, is expected to be Bjergsen's peer—a fellow mid laner, a fellow Dane, and anticipated to be a fellow monster upon the North American circuit.

That doesn't seem to solve North America's long-term issues, though, or strategic deficit. In particular, the coaching shortfalls dramatically illustrated by Counter Logic Gaming's (latest) descent into madness don't appear to be solved for most of the region's teams—though one would certainly hope that Brandon "SaintVicious" DiMarco's announced retirement from Gravity's lineup is more of a transition into that role, given the job's requisites in authority and experience.

It might be some time before North America's Worlds-ready, though—probably not this year, in fact. While it speaks well for them to be willing to retool so heavily, such as with Team 8 dumping the perennially struggling Ainslie "frommaplestreet" Wyllie for Zachary "Nientonsoh" Malhas, the act of retooling at all is something you do in hopes of better long-term growth. In the short term, they're left in an even worse position than they were before, having to rebuild their team identity.

Gone with the Winds

All hail the new age of Taiwanese esports! ...kinda. AHQ's Westdoor fulfilled his promise to avenge Yoe Flash Wolves' loss to Team Solomid, and overall rebuffed all doubters that the LoL Master Series deserved their World Championship seeds.

The problem is actually winning Worlds, or at least coming into contention for it.

Sure, sure. Taiwan now has a 2-1 record against Europe, and have pulled ahead of North America. But while it's a great thing for the region to be so solid against the LCS circuits, the real challenge is against their closer neighbors across the Strait and up north on the peninsula. Frankly, they can't handle Edward Gaming or SKT T1, and don't appear to be capable of doing so anytime soon.

The scrim system set up between the coaches network of the three regions has done a lot for the scene, elevating them to a respectable plateau, but it can't solve the smaller player base and poorer infrastructure the LMS is saddled with. They have fewer endemic sponsors to work with, fewer Challengers to recruit and foster, and the banning or retirement of even a single star player can cast doubt upon the region's hopes. And with both Sa "GreenTea" Shang-Ching and Chen "Winds" Peng-Nien retiring this year, my poor region's in for some rough weather.

Of course, "retiring" in esports is extremely conditional. GreenTea's "retirement" was crucial to AHQ's current success, as he now fills an analysis and background support role they were severely lacking. And while Winds isn't as closely tied to the Taipei Assassins now, focusing more on streaming (alas), he's still contracted to help them out with training and analysis—not to the same extent as GreenTea, but still better than letting the man that single-handedly taught Taiwan to jungle to simply slip through the cracks.

World's best

Of course, the only story of any real consequence in the road to worlds is the heated rivalry between China's LPL and Korea's LCK—and, more specifically, the anticipated rematch between Edward Gaming and SKT T1. The Mid-Season Invitational back in Tallahassee, Florida, was the first time in two years that Korea's lost an international tournament they've shown up at, and it's clear that the direct and external causes of that's all at China's feet. Not just by Coach Aaron's unbelievably devious pick-ban strategies neutralizing Faker in crucial games of their now-legendary best-of-five set, but in how China's billionaire scions have neutralized the Korean region as a whole.

It should rightfully be upsetting to long-time esports fans that KeSPA's not only failed to invest properly into their world-class teams, but failed further yet to convince any of their expatriated players and coaches to return during the months since the massive 2014 Chinese shopping spree.

In fact, China's influences are encroaching even further. Incredible Miracle re-qualifying for Champions Korea isn't too surprising—but they're now sponsored by Chinese company Longzhu. New team Anarchy is, like with GE Tigers, yet another competitor outside of KeSPA's aegis of influence, representing another crack in the defenses of Korea's formerly well-reputed corporatized infrastructure.

Is this the end for them? Probably not. Rumors have reached me as to CJ Entus's strengths against even Chinese front-runners, and SKT T1 isn't going to take their loss lying down. But Korea's finding themselves in an interesting position: they may very well be the perceived underdogs versus China come October—a position they haven't experienced since IPL 5.

Either way, this will be a historic summer.

With the lock-in deadline passed for Riot Games' North American League of Legends Championship Series, the professional esports teams slated to play over the coming summer finally stopped playing coy with their roster confirmations. For most of the announced retirements, the fallout was relatively minor. For instance, former Cloud 9 captain Hai Lam's decline has been publicly remarked upon since his health troubles early last year, and the team's subsequent pickup of newly eligible European mid laner Nicolaj "Incarnati0n" Jensen was more anticipated than surprising.

Not so with Counter Logic Gaming. Though former mid laner Austin "Link" Shin's retirement was also anticipated, his passing was far more turbulent. Link had been subject to years of community criticism for what was perceived as playing an excessively passive role in the team's often troubled fortunes—and in his passing, let free the coagulated mass of his built-up resentments in a 17-page summation of his experiences, thoughts and frustrations with the team. The accusations ranged from unprofessional practice environments:

"Everyone was playing path of exile or like street fighter or d3. No one played soloq except me and aphro. I was like wat the hell is happening. This isn t a top tier team. But obviously I was new so I was getting used to it."

To disconnects between coaches and players:

"Monte failed as a coach in korea particularly because he couldn t get to people. Maybe it s the team s fault, but as a coach you should somehow be able to get your players to listen. Maybe it s the players being uncoachable but I remember Monte/Zikz telling dexter like a billion times hes on the wrong side or to tell him what he s doing and dexter failed to do it or did it half-assed. Maybe that s the reason why he got kicked/left i dunno."

And was especially critical of star AD carry Peter "Doublelift" Peng's effect on CLG's internal culture:

"At some point double lost respect for [Christopher Mykles] and once he loses respect for ANYONE your e fucking donezo. It s what happened with him + chauster/jiji/saint/voy/nien/seraph/dexter/me/ go FIGURE.

…

I think the biggest problem was that double always tried to take action. He d get desperate or the blame deflect would come up. There s a reason why every single one of our top laners feel like they are awful at the end of the split. You can guess why. It s actually cancer. The trust within hotshot/nien/seraph all fell. Top lane was an island because clg became so bottom lane focused. It was the wrong way to play the game."

Link's outburst led to Doublelift posting a lengthy—if not 17 pages—defense:

"All his points about me being overbearing, loud, calling for ganks, forcing us into unfavorable lanes for my benefit - fucking hilarious. Maybe relative to the 2 mute solo laners I played with for 3 years (minus Darshan who is very vocal god bless him) I am loud. Maybe I'm lane focused because in context of our team, both our other lanes have been absolutely shit in lane vs top teams and it's incredibly hard to win a game with 3 losing lanes."

And it all snowballed out from there. Former players and staff left terse comments over Twitter either in support or disagreement with Link's assessments, while his summary of CLG's historical inside story prompted others to pitch in their own full-length perspectives.

Both Steve "Chauster" Chau and Cody "Elementz" Sigfusson, founding members of the official Season 1 team back in 2010-2011, threw in their own analysis of the team's flaws during their times on the team. Their inclusion in the ongoing multi-sided tell-all illustrated that the current public spat between Link and Doublelift wasn't just a reflection of two headstrong players, but an ongoing issue with the venerable organization, among the first to be established specifically for the game.

That, in turn, prompted team owner George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis to explain his own perspective and his plans for the future.

"From the beginning CLG has been the most "players first" and focused organization that has existed in the scene. That in itself creates personal story lines where the players develop and grow through their failures and experiences. The problem with this model is that players have the freedom to make mistakes. In a more authoritative and militaristic styled organization you don't let players make those mistakes. You bypass the whole process by telling them how things are from the start.

…

When everything started, I was a dumb 19 year old kid living in his mom's basement. I had a dream to make a community for everyone to support and be a part of. I wanted to foster an environment where everyone was nice, and we'd all work and fight for the same goal. I learned it just couldn't be that way, and I couldn't be that way. Discipline and the ability to control attitudes are what leads to success in young athletes."

What this actually means for CLG's future was left mostly unexplained. HotshotGG mentioned organizational changes and a shift towards a more authoritative and dictatorial style of team management, but deferred to explain the specifics some time in the future.

This isn't the first time that CLG's promised major changes in response to glaring weaknesses revealed over the course of the competitive season. They were in similarly dire straits back in August 2014, prompting HotshotGG to tweet:

"I won't let this happen ever again. I knew all the answers but never acted on them. Change will come, I promise."

Change has finally come with the summer roster, in the form of an overhaul that mimics Korea's SKT T1, featuring dual interchangeable mid laners with Eugene "Pobelter" Park and Jae Hyun "HuHi" Choi, formerly of Winterfox and Team Fusion respectively. Whether the leadership issues that plagued CLG in prior years have finally been solved is left to be seen.

Former coaches Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles and William "Scarra" Li were contacted for this article, as was former jungler Marcel "Dexter" Feldkamp and former manager Kelby May. All have declined to comment. Counter Logic Gaming was sent a request to comment, and has yet to respond.

Holy crud, what a weekend. The drama's been far in excess of my expectations, and it was already stacked high thanks to the quality of the teams that had made it to Tallahassee. Unlike IEM Katowice, there was absolutely no dispute that the representative teams were at the top of their respective leagues. Hyperboles like "clash of titans" didn't seem too far-fetched: SKT T1 had returned to their rightful thrones at the top of Korean play, Fnatic stood victorious dripping the blood of Unicorns upon the hills of Europe, Edward Gaming is blessed with the Heaven's Mandate of the LPL, and North America's Team Solomid was coming into a tournament as one of the favored teams for once. Heck, there was even little to complain from the Taiwanese corners this time around, with AHQ's jolting sweep through the Master Series promising that they'd at least put up a fun fight.

Of course, they did a whole lot more than that. The greatest thing about the Mid-Season Invitational wasn't just the clash of top teams. It was the implications that came gushing forth from the wounds and injuries they inflicted upon each other—forecasts from the entrails of hopes and dreams.

Pride goeth before

The first forecast was a harsh one: North America's in for a rough ride at Worlds. The skeptics' questions raised back at Katowice seemed prophetic. Does a victory over GE Tigers, who suffered drastically with patch changes, mean quite as much against a revitalizing SKT T1? Does a victory over Team WE really mean anything when they're so lowly-ranked in the LPL, and the looming threat of EDG's growing reputation among Asian teams remain untested by the west?

Well, no. The Katowice title seems a bit like a hollow crown now. TSM was studied thoroughly, and found wanting. If there was anything that unified the teams that qualified for Tallahassee, it was a reputation for abundant aggression, and Santorin in particular didn't seem to know how to handle the violence being wreaked upon his team by Fnatic's Reignover, AHQ's Mountain or EDG's Clearlove.

In contrast, literally every other team knew exactly what to do versus TSM, from moment to moment. No wards were needed to understand this simple truth: where Dyrus was, Santorin wasn't. With that gospel understood, there was little to fear against the North American champions.

North America itself's got plenty to fear, though. TSM's friends and rivals might have guiltily looked away from the slaughter upon their own home turf, as they share at least a little of the blame for the performance put up. The fact of the matter is that TSM is North America's number one, undisputed and peerless. Nobody else on the continent had the skills and teamwork to truly challenge them—and in their weakness, doomed their own champion to a terrible fate.

There has been no better mid laner to test Bjergsen's mettle. No better support to counter Lustboy's game-changing plays. Nobody in North America that's consistently converted Dyrus's sacrificial laning phase into a game-winning advantage. The world representative teams will be leaving Tallahassee soon—and when they do, who will TSM learn from now? Who can teach them something they haven't already mastered by the time October rolls around?

Maybe it's time to pull a CLG and see if Chaox can house them for a couple weeks in Shanghai.

The meek shall inherit

In contrast, holy crap AHQ! What a showing! Westdoor fulfilled his promise he made in a recent interview with me: they'd avenge Yoe Flash Wolves' 1-3 defeat back at Katowice, and did they ever do it with style. His cooldown Fizz was a terror from the deep—a pick that only maybe EDG's Pawn had any experience and practice with, leaving the rest of the world helpless before its trickery and cunning.

And it wasn't just TSM that suffered. They were the first team to give SKT a proper scare, dragging them to the brink of defeat in the last game of the group stage—in my bias, I'd like to say that they softened them up for Fnatic's legendary 2-3 near-victory over the Koreans the day after. At the very least, AHQ came out of Tallahassee high off the knowledge that their style is finally internationally viable, with victories over both Western teams.

They still have work to do, though. Even as their individual players have been impressive, organizational mistakes led to defeat by the hands of their eastern hemisphere peers. And the 0-3 defeat by EDG in the semifinals was especially appalling, demonstrating none of the vigor from the group stages.

In sharp contrast to TSM, however, AHQ has plenty more room to grow and refine. They aren't even considered, individually, the best players of their region. Even Westdoor finds himself besieged for the title by the likes of Maple, Toyz and Chawy. And where Taiwan's top players can't provide enough pressure to highlight AHQ's weaknesses, no problem—the LPL and LCK are almost literally just next door, and they're already lining up to scrim.

It's starting to look a lot like Taiwan's a threat—the first time that the region's garnered any respect since 2012. Been a long time coming.

Gods shall bleed

In fact, it's been about as long since the scene wasn't stricken with the terror of Korean dominance. The Season 2 World Championship and IPL 5 was the very last time that the Korean teams weren't the oppressive favorites. But now, even Faker's been shown to bleed. Febiven's miraculous back-to-back solo kills against the man commonly considered the best player in the world has been a thundering rally cry. AHQ demonstrated that even an oft-disregarded backwater team can put fear into the hearts of the world's best region.

And with Korean blood in the waters, the sharks of China are in a frenzy.

All things must come to an end, empires and legends alike. And the untouchable Korean esports dominion now find themselves besieged.

This may be the year they fall.