Summoning Insight

Disquieting news settled on the League of Legends esports world this week with new from Jacob Wolf that the Saudi Arabian government would be including League of Legends in their Esports World Cup in July, 2024. MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the history of the Saudi esports initiatives, including this past year's Gamers8 event, and what it means to have Riot approval for competition. Our hosts also unpack the latest LEC talent announcements, the changes to the Worlds seeding and format, the delays in announcing league schedules, and Riot's "Hall of Legends." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We circle back on some old news that we have yet to discuss: long-time analyst and coach Mark "MarkZ" Zimmerman has been named the new commissioner of the LCS. Thorin and Monte give their takes on the news as well as examining the extent to which he can effect real change in the floundering North American league. Travis Gafford unexpectedly entered the conversation surrounding the commissioner role, which leads to quite a few laughs about the ridiculous situation. T1 fans are also compared to the movie Gremlins, but what else is new? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Christian "IWillDominate" Rivera joins the Summoning Insight season finale to discuss the greatest teams of all-time in the history of League of Legends. They discuss over a decades' worth of competitive League of Legends to identify and celebrate the best teams in LoL. Our hosts evaluate teams that peaked at an extraordinary level, such as Samsung White and Invictus Gaming, while also examining the teams that almost managed to walk the Golden Road, including JDG, SKT T1, RNG, and G2. Join us to evaluate each teams' unique aspects, strength of individual players, and fierceness of competition they faced to reveal the best of the best! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After touching on this year's rostermania in the LCK and LEC, this week Thorin and Monte turn their discussions to North America and Europe. With Cloud9's acquisition of Jojopyun, will they be the presumptive title favorites in the LCS? Over in China, Knight has announced his move to BLG, Weiwei signs with LNG, and OMG topside moves to NiP to play alongside Rookie. Riot finally steps in to takeover the LPL English broadcast as well, but it comes at the cost of downsizing the already meager casting crew on the league. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi is back on Summoning Insight to discuss the LEC and LCK rosters for the upcoming 2024 season of League of Legends! They also discuss what he would do in a theoretical universe where he's the head coach of Karmine Corp and his speculations about the team's roster and coaching staff construction. Doublelift announced his retirement (again), so Monte and Thorin discuss what it says about the health of the LCS and the success of his lengthy esports career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The 2023 League of Legends World Championship has ended with T1 and Faker's fourth title by beating a lifeless Weibo Gaming. Considering that Zeus, Keria, and Gumayusi are now free agents, what is the legacy of this iteration of T1's roster from their past two years of play together? Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians suddenly exited the LCS, leaving the league with 8 teams for next season. Thorin and Monte discuss the ramifications on the LoL and broader esports ecosystem as a result of these moves, as well as the unfortunate plight of the players promised spots on these rosters. The free agency window officially opened on November 20th, which means it's time to rampantly speculate about the future of the LCK and LPL considering the huge number of elite players not yet contracted for the 2024 season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The show begins with reactions to the semi-final matches and an in-depth breakdown of the high-level series played between T1 and JDG, ending the latter team's attempt at completing the first Golden Road in League of Legends history. Thorin and Monte preview the finals and discuss how Weibo might hope to defeat the T1 juggernaut in a meta the Korean team has defined, but the opportunity appears slim. They chat about the variety of roster moves rumored for LCS and LEC teams, including G2's former members regrouping under Heretics' banner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, we break down all four of the quarter-final match-ups at the LoL World Championship and debate T1's chances at ending JDG's bid to complete their journey on the Golden Road. BLG should easily beat Weibo en-route to a berth in the finals, but if the series is close does this spell doom for an exciting end to the tournament? The question of the Dade Award looms as Tarzen turns in an unforgiveable performance, and Monte and Thorin contemplate if there should be a winner this year. With another GenG performance at the international level, the guys discuss if this is the end of the Chovy/Peanut partnership that yielded three domestic titles but collapsed at two Worlds and an MSI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Worlds playoffs have arrived with the quarterfinal match-ups starting this week and you've got Monte and Thorin to preview each of the four match-ups. Fans have worked themselves into a tizzy about the performance of G2 and NRG, so it's time to bust some myths concocted on social media and address logical fallacies about these two teams' tournament runs. G2 released their entire year of scrim results, but it this a good look for the org? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've got a few bangers to start off the second stage of the Swiss at the World Championship, particularly KT vs LNG and T1 vs BLG. JDG's performance has been marvelous, but has LNG shown the glimmers of how to beat them in their three recent, close series? Team Liquid's uniquely tragic performance underscores a disappointing Worlds run for Western teams, but thanks to the Swiss format we might still see one of Fnatic, Cloud9, or NRG qualify for the bracket stage. G2 has proven their mettle and deserves a quarterfinal match, with only the minor hurdle of NRG remaining. Would it be Summoning Insight without a little complaining about formats? No, it would not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.