Patch 3.10 and Magic Resistance

            In the most recent 3.10 patch, there have been many changes to how Magic Resistance items work. The first noticeable change is that Runic Bulwark is now gone. Riot stated that: “We wanted to reposition Magic Resistance as a personal stat as opposed to an aura-focused stat (see below for our Runic Bulwark updates). With these changes we specifically wanted to create more itemization options against sustained magic damage dealers in the mid game as well as create more options for tanks versus late game poke teams.” What do you build now instead of Bulwark? There is now one new item that can be used for early-game or mid-game, and also changes to Spirit Visage, changes to Banshee’s Veil, and changes to Guardian Angel all regarding Magic Resistance.

Aegis of the Legion

• Combine cost reduced to 375 Gold from 625 (total cost reduced to 1900 Gold from 2150)
• Health reduced to 200 from 250
• No longer grants self-only Magic Resist
• UNIQUE Aura – Legion
• No longer grants Armor
• Magic Resist increased to 20 from 15
• No longer grants additional bonuses to minions

With Bulwark out of the picture, Aegis is getting a huge nerf besides the 5+ MR and gold decrease. The health is dropping 50 HP and it no longer gives the player who bought it self-MR. The aura’s nerf is huge enough. No longer granting armor means that double AD comps (Jayce or Zed) can be a larger threat. Minions are also no longer getting the aura as well, so rushing Aegis and pushing hard can be a lot harder. Also Aegis now builds into Locket of the Iron Solari.

Spectre’s Cowl:

• Recipe: Ruby Crystal + Negatron Cloak + 205 Gold = 1400 total Gold
• +200 Health
• +45 Magic Resist
• UNIQUE Passive: Grants +15 Health Regen per 5 seconds for up to 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion

What this item allows you do to is negate early-game damage and allow you to heal up after taking damage. This is good against poke-comps and poke-like champions (Elise and Nidalee for example). If you know the enemy’s mid-lane will roam a lot (Kassadin or Katarina), supports can build this as it gives health and the MR. I don’t think it would be advisable to build this on an ADC, as the 1400 gold will put you behind from your big items.

Spirit Visage

• Recipe Changed: Spectre's Cowl + Kindlegem + 375 Gold = 2625 total Gold, up from 2200
• Health increased to 400 from 200
• Magic Resist increased to 55 from 45
• Now additionally grants +20 Health Regen per 5 seconds

Instead of building out of a Negatron Cloak, it now builds out of Spectre’s Cowl. With the 425 gold increase, it may be worth it for the 200 Hp increase, 10 extra MR, and 5 HP/s. Spirit Visage still keeps its old passive which gives you increased healing from all sources (lifesteal, spellvamp, etc.)

Banshee's Veil

• Recipe Changed: Spectre's Cowl + Ruby Crystal + 875 Gold = 2750 total Gold, up from 2520
• Health increased to 450 from 400
• Magic Resist increased to 55 from 45
• Mana reduced to 0 from 300
• Additional UNIQUE Passive: Grants +45 Health Regen per 5 seconds for up to 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion or when the spell shield breaks

Banshee’s Veil has a new recipe. No longer building out of Catalyst, it also no longer gives mana, meaning that mana-less champions can now build it without feeling they wasted gold. Adding more MR than before and the new additional unique passive, Banshee’s Veil can be a better item for mid-game or late-game at only a 230 gold increase and better helps against poke-comps.

Guardian Angel

• Recipe Changed: Negatron Cloak + Chain Vest + 1310 Gold = 2750 total Gold, up from 2600
• Magic Resist increased to 40 from 30

Guardian Angel used to build out of Null-Magic Mantle. Now it builds out of Negatron Cloak, adding 10 more MR than before.

My opinion on Team Curse and the welcome of their new Support player.

Earlier today was the announcement of Team Curse welcoming a new Support player to their roster. If you follow the European competitive scene, you may know him as one of the best Supports in that region. However, not only is he the best support, he has several different titles, best known as the Support Carry and the Thresh Prince for his amazing Thresh skills and his aggressive Support role. Yes, Gambit Gaming’s own Edward. 

I want to commemorate Curse’s manager, Liquid112, on achieving the ability to get an all-star player from another region to join a top team in the North American region. This has only been done one other time with CLG and the addition of Korea’s Locodoco for their Support player in December. I think this is good not only for Curse, but also for the NA region. Some may argue that Cop, Curse’s ADC, can be pretty passive at times, but some also say that it’s because Cop plays with passive supports. Edward’s aggressive prowess and aggressive champion pool is going to put Curse on the top of the chart for the Summer Split and hopefully more in their future.

One thing I’m feeling iffy about is Rhux. I know from all of Rhux’s old play as a Support player for Curse that Rhux isn’t the greatest Support. Here you have an unknown player who ends up winning Curse’s 1v1 tournament and then all of sudden gets a free Support position onto Curse. Later on, Rhux would be put as a sub for Curse while Elementz got his old position back. In January, Curse Academy was formed with Pobelter, IWillDominate, Altec, YoDa, and Rhux, where Rhux played Top lane. Anyway, Rhux just gets traded in and out of the Curse roster so much that I feel bad for the guy because he finally gets the chance to be on a big team, but then gets kicked back onto an amateur team and also a sub for Curse. 

Overall, I hope Curse does well with Edward. Edward is a strong pick to add to any team. I also hope that this change inspires other team managers to look at regional players and see if they can bring them to NA and vice versa.

For Curse’s own article on acquiring Edward, look here. Remember to tune into the NA LCS on June 12th!

Why I don't think amateur teams should get a gaming house.

Let me start my opinion off by stating the reasons why first and then I'll describe it below.

With recent news of the amateur team that competed in the LCS Summer Relegation, DoubleBuff (ex 1 Trick Ponies) is joining Denial Esports and moving into a gaming house (http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1fp3l8/doublebuff_join_denial_esports_moving_into_a/). Several reasons are as followed on why I think the gaming house idea is bad: Having to move to the California area, eligibility into the LCS, and a team’s ability to perform.

Stated in their Reddit post, Denial are heading off to a boot camp session in Ohio and then heading off to California for the next season's qualifiers. Why to California? Because the LCS takes place in California. This means that most professional teams need to be around the California area where they meet up in L.A. for the LCS. If teams are not around that area, they are facing huge traveling expenses. If the teams are in the area, they still need to pay for expensive housing.

Denial Esports aren’t qualified to be in the LCS until the next season in spring, in which, they still need to compete in the Qualifiers to be qualified for the LCS. This seems like a risky move for the team. If Denial Esports cannot make it into the next LCS season, they could lose Denial Esports as a sponsor and possibly disband, thus, the volatility that is the LCS that I’ve talked about in my previous opinion segment. In the same situation, Denial Esports may suffer the MRN curse, where Marn had to break lease with the house and disappoint the team's sponsors by disbanding the team. 

As an amateur team that went 0-2 in the first round of the Summer Relegation, I feel like Denial Esports is wasting their time with a house. Losing 0-2 is really a setback on how well you can show your strength and what you can offer to becoming a LCS qualifying team. However, the house can also do good. It gives more opportunities to coordinate and to improve as they simulate an LCS-like environment (playing next to each other).

I know I used Denial Esports as an example, but this is all true for all amateur teams. From my days of watching the Halo series when it was on the MLG circuit, amateur teams didn't really see any recognition until the end days of Halo 3 and some of the beginning of Halo: Reach as older teams had massive roster changes and seeding changes. Sure, MLG did some stuff like hold the amateur tournaments, but it's different from the LCS. MLG had about 5 events per year that allowed for more teams to reach the top 10 or the top 5. With the LCS, you need to wait 3 months for the end of the first split and then you go back into relegation, giving barely any room for recognition unless you place high in events or win the Ranked 5's stuff.

I’m not trying to bash, discredit, or ruin Denial Esports' reputation at all,  but from the way I see it, Denial is taking a big gamble on a house for an amateur team in an already huge gamble that is Esports. All in all, I hope to see Denial Esports get somewhere, whether it is number one in a big event or their dream goal, the LCS.