League of Legends: Dignitas Vs. Renegades Was a Real Clown Fiesta

This week’s NA LCS games reminded us what makes watching League of Legends so great, for better or worse. Counter Logic Gaming pulled out a clutch victory against Cloud 9 and Team Solo Mid got stomped by Team Liquid. Sometimes a game is so bad that it’s great, a real “clown fiesta.” Renegades vs Dignitas was one of those games. I recommend watching the first five minutes, then skipping to the 40 minute mark and basking in the glory. Commentators and players were left speechless. Look at some of their tweets.

This comedy of errors started when Dignitas tried to take down the tier 1 tower bot lane, which happens without incident nearly every game. They didn’t plan their waves out well enough and didn’t have enough minions to soak up the tower shots. Billyboss and Kiwikid took three tower shots apiece, and got executed. The casters were at a loss for words, which never happens in professional play. But that’s not even the worst part.

Seeing an opportunity to apply map pressure, Renegades headed to the Rift Herald. Hakuho (a new player to the LCS) and Crumbz tried to solo it. This was only four minutes into the game, so they were both too underleveled to kill the purple crab. They both ended up getting executed. The casters were laughing at this point; there was nothing else they can do. This was the first time, in any LCS-level game, that four members of opposing teams got killed by NPCs. Summoner's Rift had the highest kill participation at five minutes.

The game even ended confusingly. Renegades won a team fight in the mid lane, netting them three kills. They then pushed past the inhibitor, killing two Nexus towers. Renegades overstayed, and Apollo and Shiphtur managed to get three kills back. Dignitas started pushing into Renegades’ base, while Seraph (who’s on loan from the Challenger Team TDK) managed to teleport into Dignitas’ base. Seraph then used the pushing power of Graves to back-door the Nexus, Xpeke style. This was the second win for the split for Renegades, who have lost 12 games by the end of Week 8.

The CLG vs. C9 game was great to watch because both teams are comfortable in their play and aren’t afraid to take risks. Team fights broke out every few minutes, both teams going punch-for-punch. First- and second-place teams do well in the rankings because they know when to pull the trigger and pounce.

On the other hand, lower tier teams tend to play passively, afraid to lose a team fight and then the game. That’s why games between lower tier teams tend to be so boring. No team engages, forcing teams into a dance party in the mid lane. Games regularly go past 40 minutes when teams in the bottom half of the bracket play.

This may have been the worst LCS game ever played.