Jinx Infographic - Stats and build for Jinx

For today I won't be writing much of an article but instead I have created something instead.  Something that would be more fun and enjoyable to read than a giant wall of text. Here's a little infographic I made for our new favorite champion Jinx going over her item build, some stats, and such... enjoy!

What are your opinions?  Will Jinx be nerfed?

Hottest Cosplay Girls - List of Cosplay Girls

So for today I have a list of some of the hottest cosplay girls you can find over the globe.  I'd like to give back to the community and spread awareness for these fine, hard-working souls who dress up and live out the fantasies that some of us may have dreamt about.  So without further ado, here is my list of some of the hottest cosplayers out there.

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Where there you go.  Just a quick list of some of my favorites.

Which ones did you like?  Comment below!

Tips for Success - Climbing the Ranks for League of Legends

Hey everyone!  What I'd like to speak about are what I've found that works for me and have actually tried that worked out with success.  To give a little background of myself, I'm a pretty newcomer in the League scene.  I've been playing a few months now and I've recently acquired Platinum.  I've been speeding up more lately I believe because of some strategies that I keep in mind now and also that I'm able to play more now rather than 1-2 games every few days.  I like to analyze and critique plays and do a ton of self evaluation as well.  Here is my LoLKing for reference http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/38281967 .

So to start it all off, here comes my list:

1.  Focus - Absolutely paramount.  With the games that I've tried from waking up trying to get a Ranked in before heading out, or the quick game right before heading to bed sleepy.  The results have typically not been so pretty.  I came to realize the reason for this is because I add a burden to the team when I'm not playing at my top level since my reactions would be slower, I'm in a time crunch so I rush things and become impatient, and I tend to make worse decisions because a factor of the previous two.

Let's flip the switch though.  The games that I've done after a work out or shower, I feel more relaxed, I feel quicker to my senses, and my thought processes flow more smoothly.  This has resulted me in averaging more wins than losses, which for Ranked is what it's all about.  For ranking up, it's not about the amazing game you just played where you carried so hard and went 20-2-15...  But it's more about how do you play consistently over the course of a series of matches.  If you win a game going 10-3-7, then the next match go 2-9-3, and have that cycle repeat?  The MMR(MatchMaking Rating) system will believe you are around where you should be and attempt to keep you around there.

2.  Analyze - Everything you did, and could've done.  Just because you won a team fight, think about how it could've gone better.  Were there openings where you could've gotten more damage out?  Peeled more to save the ADC that is now dead?  Think about why you died.  Did you overextend to kill that Sona who was one auto away from death?  Did you push too far without proper vision and enemies are missing?  In almost every situation, there are different strategies and decisions that could've been used.  One important thing is to also think about these situations as soon as you can after it occurs, like as if you had just died and have free time to think about what YOU could've done rather than how your team could've helped your issues.

LoLreplay is another great resource to use.  When there is a game where I end up doing really poorly, I always take a few moments to take a break and/or watch the replay of the game to see where the events occured that snowballed the game to a definite loss.  You can get this program at http://www.leaguereplays.com/download/ .  Very simple to use, just have it open, play your game, and your game will be saved for your review to check it out later.  It uses the spectator mode so you can see what the other team or teammates did as well.

3.  Knowledge - Knowledge is power.  It does matter to an extent how much you know about your own champion, but it will also compete against the knowledge you have against the team composition you're facing and your lane opponents.  Knowing the crucial power spikes, build paths, their opportunities for play gives you such a buffer and at times an advantage when matching up against the enemy.  This does come with experience to face against different playstyles that a certain champion can be played as, but just knowing cooldown timers, item power spikes and such, will help you a great deal in knowing when you can safely go for that CS or look to get some trade damage off in your advantage.

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_champions Is a site where you can see a list of the champions and after clicking on a certain champ, see their abilities, timers, costs, cooldown etc.  I feel this knowledge is essential in knowing especially as your lane opponent, but even more so later on in the match if they're on your team or against you.

4.  You can't win them all - Not every game will be won.  This is the mental state that I had to change about myself before I started seeing real results.  You will NOT win every game that you play.  The highest rated Solo Queuer in NA is Wildturtle (http://www.lolking.net/summoner/na/521955#profile) and boasts a 65% win/loss ratio.  You can't win them all and it won't happen.  You have to lose to learn what you did that caused that to happen, that way you know what not to do next time around.  To gain rating, it's all about winning more than you lose.  If you average winning 3 out of 5, 2 out of 3, you will gain rating and you will gain ranks.  Of course if you win your next 3 out of 5 JUST after losing 9 in a row, you will probably not gain much of any.  Just keep it up though, learn consistently, find out what works for you and stick with it.

But do you know what you can do every game?  Look to improve yourself.  Every game, every match, every exchange is a learning experience.  Then use that to your advantage later on, knowing you can't trade back when he has those cooldowns up, or you can dive in on him when his summoners are down.  With this in mind you will win more consistently as long as you've kept on learning.



So there it is.  Those are some of my top tips for success.  I hope you can use some of these tools and apply it within your matches in the Rift.  Good luck!

Also if you'd like, tell me what tips have worked out for you!

Esports - Emergence of a new Sport

The emergence of Esports growing from lan parties at someone's basement to filling out giant venues has started to become a normal theme.  Events like Dreamhack hosting events at Elmia which boasts over 13,000 visitors twice annually at a vendor with the size of around 34,000 square feet to another event like the World Championship Series for League of Legends at the well renowned Staples Center which is over 950,000 square feet!  The Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey has been quoted that "eSports will someday be the biggest sport in the world." Source .

Let's look at Riot Games approach to this market.  They are the company that is responsible for League of Legends and quite honestly a hefty future investment in the Esports scene.  You also have companies like Valve with their Dota 2 and Blizzard previously with Starcraft and World of Warcraft.  But focusing on Riot Games, their strategy has not been to get immediate returns on their investments, but for the future and security of Esports as a whole.  It has been recently discovered that for Riot Games to host their LCS tournaments, they actually don't even break even, but lose money in these situations.  Of course whose to say that they don't make returns elsewhere such as Champion Sales and such.  As you will see soon in the future though, that Esports IS starting to become a legitimate identity.  Even the United States government has started issuing Athlete visas(the same that basketball/soccer players would get) to these Pro Gamers to come here and compete at these tournaments.  You can take a quick google search and easily find information on this now.

2013 LoL World Championships at the Staples Center

One other important approach that Riot Games has taken this year was that in starting of Season 3, which is the current season, they introduced a team salary that would help with the team with keeping costs covered so that the players can fully dedicate their talents into giving out their best show, rather than worrying about being able to pay their rent.  The amount they disclosed was that they give $175,000 to each team.  So let's try to break this down then.  In a team you typically have 5 main players, 1 manager, and subs, usually 1 to 2.  It was also released that each main roster player will receive at LEAST $25,000 with that.  So we can start with the minimum, a main player receives $25,000 a year on the salary, free living expenses minus food and pleasure spending, travel, and gear.  You also can look into tournament winnings which for first place in the World Championship Series is $1,000,000.  Of course the tournament winnings you would be splitting that with your sponsors and with your team.  There's also the streaming aspect.  Streaming has become THE thing for the every day gamer to watch these pro gamers in action AS they're playing.  The big pioneers in this would be websites like Twitch.tv, Azubu, and of course Youtube.  With how many viewers some streamers attract, sometimes in the 20-30k range, it's not a far fetched idea that these people can live off of the streaming revenue alone.  Sites like Twitch.tv offer generally about $3.00 per 1,000 viewers on their Ads.  There are many options in terms of what kinds of Ads can be shown but that's the basic general understanding of it.  So at the end of the day, your average professional League of Legends player can make it easily in the mid 5-figures, while your more prominent players that take advantage of streaming can definitely make it upwards to the 6-figure mark.

So yes, it's here, and probably here to stay with so much more room to grow.  Maybe this will change the persona, or image that the mass public has on hardcore gamers as mom and dad's basement dwellers, desk and room littered with pizza boxes and soda cans.  At the same time, maybe it won't; it depends on how the rest of the country will take to this emerging trend.  It also depends on the image that these organizations and pro gamers portray as well.  Hopefully they look for the long haul and keep things at the most professional level and really give everything they have for the future of the sport.  On one spectrum we have families and groups of people that don't believe in the hype and think it is all a waste of time; then we have the other group that genuinely believe in this idea and support what it means to many peoples' futures.  Here's one interview of a Pro-Gamer known in the North American League of Legends scene who's family did not support his dreams but now has a, so far, successful career in professional gaming. 

I have big hopes and dreams for Esports and everything that it can do.  I hope for more organizations looking into this and branding themselves into this market like in the Korean market you have giant, international brands that sponsor teams.  I hope that the people involved in it now don't give up on it now and to keep on pushing.  But mainly I hope for people like you to support this dream.  Why?  Because it's people, just like you, that will make this happen in full force.  And it's so easy to support, just watch and enjoy.  What do you think of gamers and of esports in general?

Our very own Jitterbug... aka Juno... aka our Husky | Journeys of owning a Husky

So back in 2010 I decided I wanted to get a puppy.  Not just any puppy either.  A Siberian Husky, must be pure bred, must be female.  I was realllyyy particular about what I wanted and wanted nothing else... except maybe a German Shepherd.  So anywho, I searched high and low, near and far.  Then after months of searching, I find the perfect breeder.  When I call them I find out I'm one of the very first people to ask to meet them so I schedule an appointment to meet the little buggers the next couple days.

Crazy excitement ensues and I can't hold back my jitters as finally I'm pulling up to their neighborhood and at last their home.  I go there with some roommates of mine at the time and we meet the family, and the magnificient family of huskies.  There were tons of them!  There were 6 puppies and 6 adults that were already in the household.  When you see these little buggers, barely able to walk on the vinyl flooring and slipping and sliding just to come say hi to you, you can't help but melt in front of them.  There were so many adorable ones to choose from and I found one that I thought was really pretty but apparently the first person already stopped by and called dibs on that little princess.  I then looked over to find a really sweet one that ran up to me and I just had to pick her up.  She instantly fell asleep in my arms and I couldn't let go of her.  The family told me that she's never done that with anyone and she usually doesn't like being held at all.... at that moment I felt that this is going to be the one.  She's gonna be my little pupner in crime.  At this time the pups were only around 5 weeks old so they weren't ready to go to another home yet, so I set a schedule with them to swing by when they were all set to go and gave em my full deposit to let them know how serious I was about coming back again.  After that, the usual farewells and a little bit of sadness of leaving the one I wanted there.  But with that also came that warm and fuzzy sensation that I'm finally getting my own Husky.

The next couple weeks pretty much flew by as I got things prepared for my new tenant, such as bedding, toys, treats, food, etc.  I spent hours into the night peering into forums about how to properly raise a puppy, certain emergency procedures in case of choking or signs of major sickness, the list goes on.  Then the day of pick up finally came and there weren't much words for how ready I felt to get her and how joyed I was for it.  I go to pick up Juno, which I decided to name her in the waiting weeks, with my roommates again and we pretty much just rush her back home.  At the same time my roommate also picked up a sister husky as well so that they'd have a playmate with each other.  The next hours were full of holding them, playing with them, and just interacting with them.  We had company over as well and they were the life and event of the evening.  The night ended really well and being an accident free day, with them already learning to use the bathroom properly outside on the first day was a sure fire good sign in my eyes.

The next weeks were all about training them, playing with them, and just bonding with them.  I know people will say it's nothing like taking care of a real baby, which I'm sure isn't even close, but it's definitely my closest experience to that so far.  Waking up 3-4 times a night at LEAST to constantly take her to go "pot pot" and the random spurts of energy she got in the middle of the night was enough to keep me awake and only being able to sleep a couple hours at a time.  The first couple weeks were definitely pretty exhausting but she started getting used to my schedule and definitely made it alot easier on me.  Within that time, some things that I found that she loveddd were Kraft Cheese for treats, playing with her plushy toys, and exploring like a little villain outside.  What I loved about her in the beginning was that she would not leave my side, and if I would walk away a short distance, you would see her little paws hopping as fast as she could to get right by my legs again... surely though, this didn't last very long(maybe 12 weeks old).

When the weeks started turning into months she pretty much started being her own little Christopher Columbus, storming the winds of the night, battered against the cold and snow... she'd push on to expand her "sphere of influence" and keep going some more.  There was this certain area that she loved in the woods that she would always love to go through, which had tons of fallen over branches and twigs that she'd had a blast just running through and of course getting messy as hell.  Also for a husky, she had okay recall as well, especially if I had some cheese on me, which I learned very quickly to always have with me.  I tend to hear about other huskies not having the best recall so I do feel as if I got pretty lucky with her.  She's a bit derpy here and there but she's my little bugger.

From there on when the months turned into years, I've only really grown more close to Juno.  I felt as if she'd always be there for me when I wasn't feeling well or upset.  Like this one time I had kidney stones and I had massive pains on my side.  I remember she came up to me in my bed and was kissing my tears of pain away and also sniffed and kissed my sides.  I thought it was pretty incredible to see that maybe she knows where I'm hurting.  In times of loneliness and sadness she was by my side to keep me company and to just be there.  There's not alot of relationships out there that can compare the bond you could have with your dog.  It's different from having a friendship.  A friend can go on and live without you, but for your pup, alot of times, they can't.  And when they have you, you are literally all they have.  It's like a mother's love I'd say.





I have to say though, taking care of her wasn't easy... and honestly wasn't really possible without the help of my loving girlfriend, who's always been there for me and for Juno.  Through my long work days where I couldn't be home to feed/take her out, to all the love and care that she shares with us both... it just shows you how lucky you are to have someone as special as that.  All I hope for is that this continues and we all make special moments with each other.  So to that, Juno and I dedicate this post to you...

We love you.

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