League of Legends: IPL5 NA Qualifier Recap: MME.Ferus vs. CLG.Prime

IPL5 Qualifier #4 Quarterfinals: MME.Ferus vs. CLG.Prime Game One: MME Bans: Fiddlesticks, Evelynn, Sona MME Picks: Balls-Top-Yorick Mandatorycloud-AP-Katarina Aphromomo-AD-Ezreal Muffinqt-Support-Lulu Xmithie-Jungle-Malphite CLG Bans: Skarner, Rengar, Draven CLG Picks: Voyboy-Top-Jayce bigfatlp-AP-Morgana Chauster-AD-Corki Ellie Bee-Support-Leona Lautemortis-Jungle-Shen Leona (Ellie Bee) got a little too aggressive in an attempt to finish off Aphromoo's Ezreal, but ended up tanking unintentional tower hits without ending Ezreal. Muffinqt on Lulu was able to turn around the fight with enough damage and cc to grant Aphromoo two kills including first blood. Shen (Lautemortis) was able to Flash and taunt in on Balls's Yorick after Voyboy (Jayce) forced Yorick's Flashed. Voyboy was able to pick up the kill, but paid for it with his life when Mandatorycloud arrived and took the kill as Katarina. After some failed aggression by MME mid, Bigfatlp picked up two kills and CLG were able to take the first dragon. Ezreal picked up an early Brutalizer to snowball his lane and promptly took a 50 cs lead on Chauster's Corki, being the largest contributor to MME's 2k gold lead at 15 minutes. CLG were able to take a second uncontested dragon as the game became more passive, but MME's farm and turret advantage kept themm up in gold. The game finally broke open for MME when CLG wasted Leona's ult in an attempt to keep Ezreal locked down after catching a dark binding. With Corki top, Malphite (Xmithie) was able to counter initiate with his ult for a tower and a four for one fight. CLG counter pushed mid with middling success and MME baited Baron shortly after. CLG were doing deceptively well as they shoved MME off of Baron, but then Xmmithie showed up and forced the fight heavily in Ferus's favor. MME baited another Baron as soon as they could regroup and CLG could not even get MME weak enough to keep them off of Baron after losing another abyssmal fight. With a 10k gold lead and Baron buff, MME were able to take absolute control of the map and easily took two inhibitors at 31 minutes. MME casually won the next fights, rotated top, and ended the game at 34 minutes. MME 1, CLG 0 Game Two: MME Bans: Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Jayce MME Picks: Balls-Top-Udyr Mandatorycloud-AP-Katarina Aphromomo-AD-Draven Muffinqt-Support-Morgana Xmithie-Jungle-Amumu CLG Bans: Yorick, Malphite, Shen CLG Picks: Voyboy-Top-Rengar bigfatlp-AP-Orianna Chauster-AD-Ezreal Ellie Bee-Support-Sona Lautemortis-Jungle-Skarner CLG had no interest in dealing with Yorick or Malphite again and banned them straight away. MME were able to crush CLG with a normal comp so that it drew bans. MME were then able to pick up their preferred Morgana/Draven bot lane, but CLG responded by picking up the very strong Sona/Ezreal. Balls on Udyr tried to establish himself in lane from the get go, but paid for it when Skarner (Lautemortis) came up top and got Voyboy the kill as Rengar. Aphromoo was able to snowall bottom lane with the help of an Amumu (Lautermortis) gank after a slow start. Voyboy was able to get even bigger than Aphro. CLG weree able to take the tower and farm advantage heading into mid game this time around, but after catching Skarner in Blue side's bot jungle, MME were able to take the first dragon to all but even up the gold. Skarner and Rengar began roaming together and were able to pick up some kills. Udyr was able to take top turret after a Teleport gank bot, but that was hardly a recompense. MME were able to win team fights, but they were few and far between. With a sizeable lead, CLG were able to threaten Baron while Voyboy pushed bot lane and eventually took a free inhibitor. CLG got a little cocky and attempted to push mid they ended up losing four champions without getting a kill. MME rushed the Baron, but Voyboy Teleported into MME's weakened base upon respawning and quickly took down the nexus before Ferus could react effectively. Game Three: MME Bans: Fiddlesticks, Jayce, Orianna MME Picks: Balls-Top-Jax Mandatorycloud-AP-Evelynn Aphromomo-AD-Ezreal Muffinqt-Support-Blitzcrank Xmithie-Jungle-Maokai CLG Bans: Yorick, Skarner, Rengar CLG Picks: Voyboy-Top-Olaf bigfatlp-AP-Kennen Chauster-AD-Corki Ellie Bee-Support-Lulu Lautemortis-Jungle-Shen CLG denied themselves their strongest champions from the last game and went for a mystifying comp. MME first picked Evelynn, a champion they themselves had banned out in the first two games and Ferus's comp made a lot more sense on the face of it. A Flash grab by Muffinqt on Blitzcrank in a level one invade landed first blood for Evelynn (Mandatorycloud). Balls was able to survive the early ganks and later on pick up a kill for himself as Jax when Maokai paid him a visit. Muffinqt began landing repeated grabs on Corki (Chauster) and started snowballing Aphromoo once again. A nice counter gank up top by Kennen (bigfatlp) was able to get CLG their first kill and clear Maokai's Oracle's Elixir, but MME quickly resumed dominating the map through Evelynn roams and a dragon kill. MME's bottom lane tried to to zone out CLG as they took their outer bot turret, but they forgot themselves and MME dropped three kills to CLG to yet another Voyboy Teleport. MME continued to flaunt their advantage and took another turret and dragon. Kills were traded back and forth for a few minutes, but something finally gave when MME caught Lulu (Ellie Bee) in CLG's top jungle for a kill which they quickly followed with a Baron and a two for zero fight. This was immediately followed by another dragon and MME remained relentless, extending their lead to just under 10k. Blitzcrank engaged questionably on CLG without Ezreal, but MME's lead was able to more than make up for the mistake and CLG were aced as Jax and Ezreal cleaned up. Evelynn was able to catch out Corki for a kill and MME took one more Baron before beating up CLG one last time and taking their nexus for the series. MME 2, CLG 1 Key Team Fight: The fight that had the greatest negative affect on CLG was the botched mid game engage in game one when too much was wasted on missing Ezreal and MME were able to turn it around in devastating fashion. Most Valuable Player: MVP for the series goes to Aphromoo. His ability to win every laning phase and carry his team when they needed him most was something that no one else could do. Aphromoo has come so far in recent months in his ability to truly carry and he certainly deserves this recognition.

Source : ign[dot]com

LG-Incredible Miracle continues their title defense tonight against Prime!

Both LG-Incredible Miracle and Prime were able to edge out wins with 5-4 map scores in their first Premier division matches against StarTale and Team SCV Life respectively.  They now meet in the third match of Group B, with the winner securing passage into the playoffs and a chance at the inaugural IPTL championship.  Check out the rosters, notes on some of their key players, and a prediction below!

Lineups

LG-IM:

• Seed (P)
• MC (P) (from partnership with SK)
• NesTea (Z)
• Mvp (T)
• Happy (T)
• First (P)
• YongHwa (P)
• YoDa (T)
• True (Z)
• LosirA (Z)
• Ready (P)

Prime:

• MarineKing (T)
• Creator (P)
• ByuN (T)
• Maru (T)
• BBoong (Z)
• Classic (P)
• AriA (Z)
• Salmosa (Z)

Potential Starters

LG-IM: YongHwa (P) or First (P)

As he is overshadowed by two GSL champion-level Protoss players in Seed and MC, it is easy to forget just how good YongHwa actually is.  YongHwa has already seen action this season, taking down Hack but falling to the up-and-coming StarTale Zerg Life.  While those results aren't stunning, YongHwa is capable of much more.  He has a recent all-kill to his name, coming out first in LG-IM's second match of GSTL 2012 Season 3 against Fnatic and defeating the entire lineup.  Even more recently, he emerged as the surprise champion of the WCG 2012 Korean Nationals, defeating Prime's ace player MarineKing in the finals.  If YongHwa can take some maps and force MarineKing out early, then take him down like he did at WCG, LG-IM will be sitting pretty for the series.

Prime: MarineKing (T)

Prime has been known to attempt the unorthodox strategy of throwing their star MarineKing into the fray as the first player to grab as many kills as he can before handing the reins over to support players, relying on Creator to clean up in the more traditional ace role.  This very tactic was used in their first IPTL match against TSL, with MarineKing taking the first map over a more typical starting player in RagnaroK, forcing the TSL ace Symbol out in the second spot to try and stop MKP's momentum, which he did.  Prime was somewhat lucky, as Maru managed to take down the TSL Zerg star, setting the table for Creator and Byun to finish off the opposition.  If Prime tries this strategy again, it may not work so well: LG-IM is so stacked that they have the two most recent GSL finalists and a host of other stars, and with that depth, they do not risk much by sending a stud player out to stop a surprise starter in MarineKing.

Key Players

LG-IM: SK.MC (P)

The Boss Toss MC did exactly what he needed to do in the last clan war, coming in as the last player with a 4-4 score on the board to take out the resurgent Curious and win the match for his partner team.  If he can continue to consistently put wins on the table, he will immediately become more reliable in team league play than either of the other multiple GSL champions in the stable for LG-IM.  He still puts on amazing  individual performances, placing in the top three of four major tournaments since the start of July.  Also, the only person who stood between MC and the most recent GSL title, Seed, is now his quasi-teammate; these two Protoss superstars combined for four of the five map wins in their most recent team match, and do not be surprised if that trend continues moving forward.

Prime: ByuN (T)

Prime saved ByuN for the final spot in their last match, and he certainly pulled through, defeating a very strong TvT player in Polt before taking down Shine to secure a fifth map win and the match for his team.  If Prime continues to use MarineKing in a starting role, ByuN will become very important in the success of the team; without their ace Terran player to anchor, Prime could find itself hurting for strong Terran play at the tail end of series if ByuN does not continue to produce.  ByuN will have to handle more stressful situations than he may have been used to in team matches, but so far he has shown that he can step up to the task.  He is a very capable player and a recent GSL semifinalist, so do not be surprised if he defeats any member of the LG-IM roster.

The Aces:

LG-IM: Seed (P)

Seed, though unable to close out the entire match for his team, satisfied expectations in the match against StarTale, taking out Life, Squirtle, and Parting--all amazing players--in succession before finally falling to Curious.  This is the sort of play we should see from a GSL champion, and should he continue to play like this, Seed could very well secure LG-IM's advancement to the next round mostly by himself.  His victories over Parting and Squirtle are a particularly good sign, as one of the major keys to defeating Prime is being able to effectively handle their Protoss beast, Creator.  Seed should be considered a favorite in every PvP he plays, especially considering the aforementioned map wins against StarTale, as well as the fact that Seed won his GSL finals over another very good Protoss player in MC.  Creator is no slouch, though, and put up a good fight against Seed.

Prime: Creator (P)

With the eccentric play style of MarineKing, Creator is a bit better of a fit for the traditional ace role on Prime.  Whenever he can, he plays a methodical and patient macro style, very well tailored to the current metagame.  The key to Creator's success is his ability to defend and keep his economy intact, while at the same time teching, upgrading, and building up an immensely strong late-game army, then knowing when and where to move his army once he has it.  These strengths are most evident in his PvT, but with the two arguably strongest LG-IM players being Protoss, Creator will need to bring his PvP A-game to do his part for Prime.  PvP is not known as a matchup where you can sit back and macro up; Creator will need to be able to defend all kinds of crazy aggression that either Seed or MC are more than capable of mustering.  He will have a tough task ahead of him if both of the LG-IM Protoss studs are still available when he is sent out.

Prediction

LG-IM: 5 > Prime: 3

The outcome of this clan war will come down to three things: how many kills MarineKing secures if he does start, ByuN's performance, and whether Creator's PvP is strong enough.  I think only one of these will go Prime's way.  If LG-IM leads with YongHwa, he will bring down MarineKing again, taking out one of Prime's strongest players right off the bat and setting the tone for the whole match.  ByuN will grab two or three kills, showing the strong play we expect from him, but Seed will come in to close.  The GSL champion should take out both ByuN and Creator, all but claiming the win for LG-IM.

This match will take place on Wednesday, September 26th.  Catch the live stream to see these two ridiculously strong teams have at it for the right to advance to the playoff bracket.

Source : ign[dot]com

IPL and ShootMania at PAX Top 5 Plays and VODs

IGN Pro League, Ubisoft, and Nadeo teamed up at PAX Prime to bring you the first taste of ShootMania as a competitive title with a $1,000 Elite showmatch between esp and Area 51 Gaming, as well as a fans and pros tournament that let PAX attendees show their skills for a $500 prize!

The video above shows some of the crazy plays made by our qualifying team, esp, as well as some of the PAX attendees and their awesome, climactic attacking and defending rounds in Elite mode. For much, much more of the PAX Prime VODs and a taste of some of the other game modes, check out http://www.youtube.com/iplshootmania

There are games up from the fan tournament, like this set between EG.n0thing (Jordan Gilbert, current Counter Strike player for Evil Geniuses) and esp.gillz (Bryan Gilbert, former Quake and Unreal Tournament pro):

You can also see the entirety of the best of 7 showmatch between esp and Area 51 Gaming, beginning right here with Game 1:

There are also some VODs up from other game modes besides Elite, including this one from our Siege showmatch:

For dozens more Elite matches and exhibitions of the other game modes ShootMania has to offer, check out http://www.youtube.com/IPLShootMania and subscribe now so that you don't miss any of the future action!

Source : ign[dot]com

NBCU Shows Coming to Amazon Instant Video

More good news with regard to streaming video for members of Amazon's $79/year Prime service: a deal announced today with NBC Universal is bringing back-episodes of NBCU-owned shows like Battlestar Galactica, Parks and Recreation, Heroes and Friday Night Lights to Prime Instant Videos.

Prime Instant, Amazon's streaming video service, has been free for Amazon Prime members since it was introduced in February, 2011, and its library of available content has grown steadily in that time. "We continue to invest heavily in our content selection," said a spokesman for Amazon.

Amazon designed Prime Instant Video to compete directly with Netflix Instant, so while none of the content Amazon acquired today is exclusive (compared with several shows it recently optioned from Warner), playing catch-up with Netflix is a logical step for the service.

Prime members can check out all the new content here. Let us know what you're most excited about in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Transformers Prime: Season Two Rolling Out on BD, DVD

Autobots, roll out! Even through the season hasn't finished just yet, Transformers Prime: Season Two is heading to DVD and Blu-ray November 20, 2012 (for the DVD), and November 27, 2012 (for the Blu-ray), from Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios.

The four-disc set will collect all 26 episodes from season two. Here's a brief synopsis of the second season, direct from Hasbro, "With Unicron defeated by Optimus Prime, what was thought to be the end of Autobots’ darkest hour is actually proving to be just the beginning. The dynamic second season of Hasbro Studios’ acclaimed animated hit series Transformers Prime digs deeper into Transformers mythology as both the Autobots and Decepticons uncover clues relating to secret artifacts of Iacon, Cybertron capital city. Their discoveries could not only change the balance of power in the war, but also potentially revive their dead home planet.

Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Josh Keaton, Jeffrey Combs, Kevin Michael Richardson, Ernie Hudson, Markie Post and Steve Blum lend their voices to this returning series produced by Hasbro Studios. Spearheading the creative efforts on Transformers Prime are co-executive producer Duane Capizzi and executive producers Jeff Kline, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The Transformers Prime series is currently airing on The HUB TV Network in the U.S. and on Teletoons in Canada."

Transformers Prime: Season Two will come to Blu-ray encoded in 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio), with English 5.1 and 2.0 audio. The DVD will feature an anamorphic widescreen presentation, also with English 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo.

Extras will include the following:

• Optimus Prime: Up Close And Personal Panel From San Diego Comic-Con International 2012 - The incomparable Larry King, one of the most recognized broadcast interviewers in the world, goes one-on-one with voice actor Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime). "The King of Interviews" salutes the beloved Cullen and takes fans on a journey through the actor's early days on the original 1984 animated TV series “Transformers Generation One,” the three box office smash Transformers movies, and his current work on The Hub TV network's Daytime Emmy® Award-winning animated series Transformers Prime from Hasbro Studios.
• Brand-new interviews with the creative team

The 4-disc Blu-ray collection is priced to own at $59.99 SRP (available for pre-order on Amazon for $41.93). The 4-DVD set is sold separately and has a suggested retail price of $29.93 SRP (available to pre-order for $20.95).

Stay tuned for move coverage of Transformers Prime. Be sure to check out our Blu-ray review of Transformers Prime: Season One, and check out IGN TV's Transformers Prime hub for news, reviews, features and more!

"Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places!" Follow R.L. Shaffer on Twitter, Facebook and MyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!

Source : ign[dot]com