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In the global family of League of Legends, its clear that the major regions -- North America, Europe, China, Taiwan and South Korea -- get the most attention and marketing from developer Riot. But the family doesnt end there. The peripheral areas for LoL esports, called the Wildcard regions -- Brazil, Latin America North, Latin America South, Japan, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), Oceania, Turkey, and Southeast Asia -- have their own professional teams, organized seasons and representatives at prestigious events like the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and World Championship. However, they have collectively been the textbook middle child: the neglected one, overshadowed by its brethren.Each year, Riot places a Wildcard team on a pedestal to showcase the ethnic diversity of the community, but that doesnt mean the team has an easier road to the big tournaments. While each major region gets a guaranteed spot, Wildcard teams not only have to conquer their own regions, they have to fight the other top teams of other Wildcard regions just to qualify for either MSI or Worlds.The process in Wildcard team selection has been far from perfect even as competitive standards in major regions continue to improve. In both the 2015 and 2016 International Wildcard Invitationals (IWCI), which is where Wildcard teams compete to qualify for MSI, there have been many problems that major regions dont run into anymore. Both the 2015 and 2016 IWCIs showcased different problems and raised important issues. The good news is Riot is amending mistakes and get the IWCI competitive standards up to code. However, the pace of improvement and its two-steps-forward-one-step-back process leave something to be desired.Wildcard Head Coaches Alexander Abaxial Haibel from INTZ and Josh Jish Carr-Hummerston from The Chiefs, and a player who spoke on condition of anonymity, wish to dispel some myths and discuss the real issues regarding the process of setting up the International Wildcard Invitational.The scheduling squeezeA major issue that popped up during the 2015 MSI was the lack of consistency in available preparation time between regions. Every region had a different length of time between the moment they qualified for MSI and the start of the tournament, ranging from five to 25 days. For Wildcard regions, this issue was even more complex. This is because qualifying teams from these regions had to first prepare for and win the IWCI tournament, another international event, before they could attend MSI.While some Wildcard regions like Japan and Turkey had longer stretches of time to prepare for the IWCI tournament at 23 and 17 days respectively, others ranged from about a nine to 12-day preparation period. Brazil had three days, less, if you include the actual travel time and jet lag accumulated by the travel.We managed to do some superficial research while on the plane, but only really what champions people played, not their team playstyle, which takes a lot more time, or key players. We also didnt have much time to think about and fix our mistakes from the [Circuito Brasileiro de League of Legends] final, said Coach Abaxial of INTZ, a Brazilian League of Legends team that won a slot in the 2015 IWCI event.Three days is not enough time to prepare for a second tournament on top of practicing and winning the finals of your own region. Even regions who had more time said that they were not properly able to prepare. Australias The Chiefs from the Oceanic Pro League (OPL) had 12 and 11 days to prepare for the MSI qualifiers in 2015 and 2016 respectively. While this was much more generous than INTZs three, 12 days can still be a struggle when preparing to face seven other regions teams.While our end goal during our domestic split is always beyond local teams, its hard to prepare for teams that arent the ones stopping you from making it internationally. So we used practically all of our energy to prepare for Legacy, our opponents in the [OPL] finals, and then [had] under 10 days to travel and prepare for seven other teams, from seven other regions, says Chiefs Coach Jish.The voices of the IWCI participants make it clear that they want more time, but most of all, the amount of time should be consistent across regions; this would make the tournament fair for all involved.Happily, conditions are getting better. In the 2016 season, the top team of each of the five major regions and the winner of the 2016 IWCI all had 11 to 17 days to prepare for MSI itself after qualifying. This is a great change, as it gave regions the same amount of time to prepare, boot camp, and travel to an international tournament.Some feel there is still room for improvement, however. I feel as though there should be a little longer delay between local and international events though, because we dont necessarily get the chance to prepare and improve on our previous issues. It becomes a series of band-aids and working out any simple fixes and tricks you can properly apply in 10 days before [playing] international teams, says Jish.It seems like a good goal would be to have a buffer of 22 to 28 days from each regions finals to the IWCI qualifier. At the same time, this ideal runs into issues of scheduling for each regions regular season. If each Wildcard region had 22 days to prepare for the IWCI, then their regular season would have to start a lot earlier. Otherwise, MSI and Worlds would need to be pushed back and it would be disruptive to the major regions.In any case, so long as every region has the same amount of time to prepare for the IWCI, then Riot can at least ensure fairness. This year for the 2016 season, most Wildcard regions were given around two weeks except for Japan, Latin America North, and the GPL who each received six through eight days of preparation time. Clearly there has been improvement, but there is still a ways to go before this standard is universally achieved.A tale of two citiesAn important aspect for international competitions is making sure that the teams who fly out to compete have an adequate place to practice while preparing for the tournament. The general opinion was that the 2015 IWCI tournament in Istanbul had sufficiently good practice conditions while the 2016 IWCI tournament in Mexico City was far from ideal. Although Riot was responsive to the 2016 teams concerns, it was worrying that this years event was a step backward from 2015 in this respect.For IWCI 2015, they rented out a hotel basement and built temporary rooms, which worked out reasonably well. It wasnt perfect, but the chair and desk height, computers, and monitors were all fine. The rooms were also accessible 24/7 which is something you might not normally think about but was very helpful, says Abaxial.[In 2016,] Mexico at first was very bad, and we played in a condition at LAN cafes that I have never experienced before. Very hot, small, and dusty. Halfway through the tournament they fixed these [issues] and let us play in the Riot offices, says the anonymous IWCI player. In a reddit post from Adrian hatchy Widera, the Head Coach for Turkish team SuperMassive Esports, he commented on similar problems while dispelling some of the more exaggerated rumors, such as hearing gunshots in the area.I think the largest oversight for the practice conditions were that they werent sustainable to use over a long period of time. The heat and fans werent problematic when we first got there, but we were trying to put in 10+ hours each day prior to the event, which is where it started taking a toll on players/teams. The equipment in our facilities [was] completely fine, and if we had issues or concerns, like the initial 60hz monitors [whose refresh rate was too low], we could get things fixed through speaking to the cafe staff or Riot, says Jish.The problem of hostingThe teams practice conditions in Mexico were mitigated relatively quickly. However, given the small amount of time allotted to teams to prepare, it is a waste of two to three days for teams to have to recognize existing problems so that they can ask for a fix.I think Riot has definitely made large steps towards improving the conditions and events for Wildcard regions, although the expectation/standard of a premier region [like North America and Europe] isnt realistic. Outside of Brazil, no Wildcard office seems to have anywhere near the staff, resources, knowledge or ability to replicate that of the major leagues, says Jish.If conditions and facilities are not up to par in most Wildcard regions, whats the alternative? A possibility would be hosting the IWCI tournament in one of the major regions such as NA or EU, since expert staff and good environment conditions are readily available. However, to do so would present more challenges, and not just around scheduling.Generally, were always re-evaluating our process around our inter-regional events, and have considered a variety of options for IWC events, said Riot Games Communications Lead for Esports Nicola Piggot. We dont really want to artificially place them in the NA or EU studios, given that those regions dont have any teams competing in the event, and the local fans arent incentivized to attend without a hometown team, but we are considering a variety of other options to further develop those events.Standing united for a better futureAs of now, Riot cannot guarantee proper practice conditions for IWCI teams or standardized preparation time before IWCI. These issues are difficult to handle because of scheduling challenges with regards to when regular seasons would be held across regions, and as Jish mentioned, because only Brazil seems realistically able to meet the practice environment standards requested by coaches and players across the IWCI scene.The good news is that Riot is explicitly investigating this issue. With some more attention to detail, theres no reason that they cant help create dramatic improvements to the infrastructure of these international events; they can work towards ensuring and building upon the more favorable conditions of the 2015 IWCI and the fairer scheduling of the 2016 IWCI for the future. Hopefully, growth can be consistent moving forward and the Wildcard regions wont feel like they are subject to second-tier competitive conditions.Sure, the Wildcard regions arent the premier markets for Riots monetary investment compared to the major regions. However, having constantly prided themselves on LoLs cultural diversity across the globe -- including implementing culture-specific skins into the game -- and championing theirs as a worldwide esport, Riot needs to back those ideals with continued support for a fair competitive standard for these regions. Doing so will promote a stronger future for the whole ecosystem, not just smaller markets.. Salomon Shoes Online Nz . 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Its the middle of the week, and you know what that means: Mid laners.Its time to look at the best the mid lane has to offer at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships and which players will be challenging the greatest of all time, SK Telecom T1s Lee Faker Sang-hyeok, in his attempt to win his third Summoners Cup.5. Lee Scout Ye-chanRegion: China Team: Edward GamingWhat better way to start the countdown than with Fakers former protege on SK Telecom T1? Scout was a highly sought after amateur on the solo queue ladder, and he joined SKT T1 last year to play backup for two of the best mid laners in the world, Faker and Lee Easyhoon Ji-hoon. Scout left his homeland of South Korea to join Edward Gaming in the middle of the year after being used sparingly by T1 and knowing his chances of ever eclipsing Faker as a starter were slim to none. EDGs Heo PawN Won-seoks constant health issues opened the door for Scout to take over, and hes grown throughout the short summer split.Scout was primarily known for his explosive highlight reel play in solo queue, and he was forced to change into a safer, mage-centric player for a large part of the year behind the offensive talents of superstar AD carry Kim Deft Hyuk-kyu. Yet, in the summer finals, he was able to showcase his brash Zed play in a clear 3-0 victory over rival Royal Never Give Up. Although Scout was initially brought in to backup the two mid laners who have several world championship titles between them, hes begun cutting a legacy of his own as one of the fastest rising players in the world today.4. Lee Crown Min-hoRegion: South Korea Team: Samsung GalaxyNext to Scout, Crown is another South Korean-born mid laner who has the opportunity to break into superstar status this tournament. When Samsung was in the proverbial dumps following the exodus of all its top talent from 2014, Crown was one of the few bright spots during the rebuild. A little over a year ago, the newly cemented Samsung starter made a name for himself by alternating heavyweight blows against Faker in a matchup between Crowns pocket Yasuo and the T1 aces Ahri. It wasnt the most serious and clean game from the usually neat SKT T1 of 2015, but Faker challenged Crown, and Crown delivered, going 10/36 in a losing effort that ended the series 0-2.Since that loss, Samsung and Crown have grown leaps and bounds as a whole. Crown prides himself on his work ethic as a pro-gamer due to his old days of wanting to become a StarCraft professional where the practice is even more strenuous. After failing to make the playoffs in the spring, Crown pushed himself to become a better player in the summer with an even wider champion pool. The ace of Samsung did just that, having one of the better summer seasons of any mid laner in the world. In his past six games during the South Korean Regional to get to the World Championships, Crown played six different champions, including his signature Viktor in which he went 10/0/4 in a winning effort over KT Rolster.Samsung is not a team of many stars, but it surely has a budding one in the form of Crown. It took two full years to complete the rebuild of Samsung, and there is no better man to lead them into the future than the 21-year-old mid laner.3. Huang Maple Yi-TangRegion: Taiwan Team: Flash WolvesUnlike the other two Worlds newcomers, this will be the third World Championships for the Flash Wolves mid laner. He came to Worlds in 2013 as an excitable rookie and was sent packing by Faker and SK Telecom T1 before he could even win a single game at the tournament. Last year, it was a better show of his talent, and the Wolves got all the way to the quarterfinals before ultimately losing to Origen in a relatively close 3-1 series. Back for his third shot at the Summoners Cup, Maple is a veteran and has been consistently one of the top talents from Taiwan the past few years. His partnership with jungler Hung Karsa Hau-Hsuan cant be praised enough, and its the pairs chemistry and raw power that has dragged the Wolves through inconsistency in the side lanes the past two years.Although his spring split was good -- not great -- his summer split moore than made up for it with a statline of 118 kills, 34 deaths and 60 assists in 28 starts en route to a domestic championship for the Wolves.dddddddddddd The scarier thing, however, is that if J Team hadnt fallen apart at the end of the year, Maple wouldnt have had the best summer season for a Taiwanese mid coming into Worlds: Chu FoFo Chun-Lan, a 17-year-old prodigy, bested him. The standout rookie put together an even better regular season with a 8.3 kill/death/assist (KDA) compared to Maples 8.2, and a higher overall damage per minute, as well.Maple, though, experienced and battle-tested, got through the rough times while FoFo, a rookie, couldnt make it past the finish line. There are rumors that this could be the last run for Maple in Taiwan after getting offers from the LPL last year, and if so, hell want to make this the perfect sendoff for a Wolves team that has consistently made it to the bracket stage of international competitions over the years.2. S?ren Bjergsen BjergRegion: North America Team: Team SoloMidIts been a long road for Bjergsen to get to this position. Last year, when he was depended on to be all the offense for Team SoloMid, he was shown he couldnt do it all. For how great of an individual player he was, his position as shotcaller while also outputting 40 percent of his teams damage was impossible to keep up. Teams knew how TSM played, and teams would focus in on Bjergsen and make sure he wasnt able to beat them.Now, in 2016, with a fellow consistent damage threat in Yiliang Doublelift Peng, who has also taken a brunt of the shotcalling duties, Bjergsen is free to breathe and be the kind of talent hes always had the capabilities of becoming. Teams will still zero in on Bjergsen, but hes no longer playing a game where he always has to be the savior. This allows him to play a more free-flowing style across the map instead of always being hemmed in the mid lane. The added freedom helped Bjergsen clinch his third MVP award, and one of his better statistical seasons in history: 166/62/275 for a 7.1 KDA and a damage per minute (DPM) of 628. When you compare his 29 percent of TSMs damage output this split to last summers 42.5 percent, you can see with a better team around him, Bjergsen is able to do more with less.1. Lee Faker Sang-hyeokRegion: South Korea Team: SK Telecom T1He might not be the best player currently in the world -- Song Smeb Kyung-ho and Ming Clearlove Kai say hi -- but that doesnt mean his spot as top mid laner has been wrangled away just yet. There are a lot of issues you can point out when you look at the SKT T1 roster -- a large amount of it in the jungle -- but Faker isnt one of them. In the toughest region in the world, he walked away with the most kills out of any mid laner (162) and second-place overall to only KT Rolsters sniper No Arrow Dong-hyeon, who played three more games in the regular season.The amazing thing with Faker, though, as hes done throughout his career is what Bjergsen has finally started to accomplish on TSM: doing big things with little gold. When someone gets a large amount of his teams gold, you expect them to be able to output a high-level of damage. For Faker, he once again topped all mid laners when it came to DPM (677) and was second in the entire league behind his teammate Bae Bang Jun-sik. When it came to the percentage of gold he received from his team, Faker was 16th in the entire league. Hes not only the type of player who can stand on his feet as an individual, but hes the type of player that props up the players around him. He takes less of the pie but is still able to deliver the numbers expected from one of the best, if not the best player in the entire league.You have the likes of Scout and Crown getting better everyday, mechanical marvels like Maple and EDGs Li Xiaohu Yuan-Hao, and Bjergsens evolution to becoming the best player the western region has ever introduced. But at the front of the pack is Faker, working just as hard for his third Summoners Cup as his first. ' ' '