walked out to the blocks. She sobbed as she

As the 2016 European League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) summer split reached its end, six squads emerged as potential contenders to win the playoffs title. In the quarterfinals, Unicorns of Love and H2K advanced and will next play fearsome adversaries G2 Esports and Splyce. While these teams are all preparing specifically for their opponents, they are also adjusting for Riot Games changes to the meta game through the new patch.The Unicorns of Love were less expected to reach the semifinals than H2K, but the meta changes and reckless decision making undid their opponents, Giants Gaming. UoL coach Fabian Sheepy Mallant was proud of his players feat, but he knows the daunting task that awaits: beat G2.G2 Esports, who have dominated their opponents in victories this split and count no less than three players in the summer splits All-First Team, is adding more strategic options to its playbook. The squad prepared for its World Championship berth during the season soon after acquiring Jesper Zven Svenningsen and Alfonso mithy Aguirre Rodriguez, shortly after its no-show at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).For G2, the name of the game was versatility. G2s MSI opponents had worked to foil their strongest point in the spring split: Kim Trick Gang-yun and Luka PerkZ Perkovics symbiotic play. By the end of the split, however, the squad secured the top spot with contributions from across the board, and the occasional losses in a best-of-two series did not detract from the teams World Championship aspirations.[Zven and mithy] had a really big contribution, so much so that we really had to start playing around other lanes because we were winning everything through bot lane, notes G2 coach Joey YoungBuck Steltenpool. We were thinking [that] if we wanted to improve ourselves to be able to compete at Worlds, we need to be able to win games through top lane and through mid lane, so we started to work on that a lot through the split and had to drop a lot of games because of that.However, G2s efforts during the split developed in a different game balance, where lane swaps and teamfight-oriented picks were the norm. In the current environment, lane swaps before the six-minute mark can hamper a teams chances to win a game. Happily for G2, this change plays to the rosters individual strengths. Combine that with mithys shot calling and Tricks solid decision making, and this club is a force to be reckoned with.If UoL is to take its semifinal match against G2, the team needs to pay attention to the phase of the game that occurs before the action even begins. In order to win in a game in the current patch, Sheepy states that absolute confidence in the drafting phase is necessary, as drafting interacts with lane matchups and game events to influence a teams winning conditions.On the topic of G2, he concludes, G2 is somebody who is forcing their play on you, who would try to push forward. You need to have an equally strong mindset, and if theyre trying to brute force something and you are wavering, then you will most likely end up failing. Thats why well need to work hard on ourselves and as a team, to make exactly sure [we know] what we are strong at, so if G2 is coming full force, we are able to hold against them and overcome them.H2K versus the Splyce upstartsIn the other semifinal matchup, H2K faces a similar dilemma as they face the young but impressive Splyce. Splyce held a 3W-1L record against them during the season and, more importantly, showcased an understanding of the game far beyond competitors not named G2.Most importantly, their growth has been spectacular. From the realm of bottom-dwelling teams still adjusting to the rigors of the LCS emerged a contender, and H2Ks Marcin Jankos Jankowski goes as far as saying that Splyces roster has top-of-the-league talent.Does the former Follow Esports team have playoff experience? Not yet, and that may be H2Ks saving grace. Its their first time in the playoffs, so maybe - hopefully - theyre going to be playing worse, states Jankos. [But] I dont think so because [Splyces Jakob YamatoCannon Mebdis] coaching is going to stop it, [so they will] be fine.But YamatoCannon, recently crowned Coach of the Split, may not need to change his coaching methods. As it turns out, he has primarily focused on picking stronger lanes, even during the lane swap meta. With recent changes, Splyce looks downright frightening.Back during the summer split, in the middle of the squads ascension through the ranks, YamatoCannon said, We had to do a lot of work around figuring out what we think is the strongest blind pick or the best counterpick in specific scenarios. Luckily, with the players I have right now, they had massive champion pools. With how I think about pick and ban, I think [the combination is] just perfect.Despite Fnatic choosing stronger lane picks against H2K, the latter emerged victorious from the quarterfinals based on their decision making and Fnatics shortcomings, but Splyce is a different matter entirely. Konstantinos FORG1VEN Tzortziou and Oskar VandeR Bogdan of H2K will not have the same opportunities during the semifinals as they had against Fnatics bot lane duo, and neither will their teammates Andrei Odoamne Pascu and Jankos against their respective matchups.If H2K are to win, they need to control the movements of Splyce jungler Jonas Trashy Andersen and mid laner Chres Sencux Laursen around the map, and that involves developing similar chemistry between jungler Jankos and mid laner Yoo Ryu Sang-ook. We still have to talk to each other way more, admits Jankos. I think Ryu is very loud on how to play the map, but not always for me to help him, so I have to help him for that a bit. And then I feel like I should be more aware of whats happening in mid lane instead of going always into other lanes.H2K had come close to reaching Worlds in 2014 and 2015, and they have another opportunity this split. On paper, they are as outmatched as UoL is, but their case is not as dire. 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RIO DE JANEIRO -- It was a postrace news conference more strained and theatrical than any ready room at the Olympic swimming competition. The gold and silver medalists sat at either end of the table: a defiant American teenager suddenly thrust into the role of anti-doping crusader, and a shaken Russian swimmer trying to defend her presence.Neither has been served well by the powers behind the rings. Lilly King should have been able to enjoy her evening without shouldering that responsibility. Yulia Efimova shouldnt have been in Rio at all, left to dangle as the symbol of a failed system.Too late now. King, a brassy 19-year-old champion from Evansville, Indiana, who isnt technically old enough to celebrate with champagne, spoke her mind and tore the foil off the bottle. The sound you hear from Rio is a giant cork popping and frustration foaming out.The fa?ade of harmonized anti-doping rules has crumbled. Athletes are tired of dropping their drawers on command for a broken system, tired of being cautious and diplomatic.Its incredible, winning the gold medal and knowing I did it clean, King said after winning the 100-meter breaststroke in Olympic-record time (1:04.93, 0.57 ahead of Efimova). The performance came 24 hours after King and Efimova engaged in a public finger-wagging war and King labeled Efimova a drug cheat. Im not a fan, King told NBC after the semifinals.Kings statements followed similar ones by Australias Mack Horton, who won the 400 freestyle the day before. Other swimmers chimed in with support. The question is stubbornly afloat on the surface now, unlikely to be submerged again.Total props to him for speaking out first, King said of Horton. I admire that. He said what everyone was thinking and I also said what everyone was thinking. I think its a victory for clean sport just to show you can do it while competing clean your whole life.King was a toddler when Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong were in their prime, but she seems fully aware that doping knows no borders. She was specifically asked about 2016 U.S. track team member Justin Gatlin, a sprinter who has served two previous doping suspensions. She didnt blink.Do I think people who have been caught for doping offenses should be on the team? No, they shouldnt, she said.If it appears unseemly for athletes to become verbal vigilantes in this gathering ostensibly held to promote peace, love and understanding, assign the blame where it belongs. Blame the sporting politicians who ignored whistleblowers in Russia, stalled on investigating, then invented eligibility rules on the fly when evidence oof state-sponsored doping in Russia forced their hands.ddddddddddddegal challenges spilled over into the opening weekend of the Games. Efimova, 24, was one of a group of Russian athletes the International Olympic Committee tried to prevent from competing because of a previous doping suspension -- a 16-month ban ending in 2015 that was imposed after she tested positive for a steroid contained in a supplement.The maneuver was doomed because of a previous arbitration ruling, and widely interpreted as an empty gesture following the IOCs controversial compromise to clear the way for most of the Russian delegation.Earlier this year, Efimova became one of hundreds of athletes -- the majority from Russia -- who tested positive for the newly banned substance meldonium. The World Anti-Doping Agency later had to peel back many of the positives after belated research showed the drug could linger in the system for months, giving athletes plausible deniability to say they had stopped taking it before Jan. 1 of this year.But the meldonium flap left Efimova tagged as a two-time doper and made her a lightning rod for the increasingly high-voltage argument about how to reform the anti-doping system. That debate did not come in time to save the credibility of these Games.Efimova got the green light to race the day before preliminary heats, and was loudly booed by the crowd at the Olympic Aquatic Stadium all three times she walked out to the blocks. She sobbed as she stopped briefly for Russian reporters after the race, but had regained her composure by the time the podium ceremony was held. All three medalists did their duty in posing for pictures and walking the pool deck without betraying any hostility.King and Efimova did not shake hands.If I had been in Yulias shoes, I would not want to be congratulated by someone who did not speak highly of me, King said. If she was wishing to be congratulated, I apologize.King put intense pressure on herself by calling out Efimova. Her coach at Indiana University, Ray Looze, urged King to take the high road, but admitted he didnt throw a sawhorse in the way once she started talking.The athletes have to start speaking up, and they have, Looze said.The IOC and FINA [the sports international governing body] respond to money, he added, biting off the last word like so much beef jerky. If the money dries up, then theyll clean it up. Lilly kind of cracked it open, but we all believe the same way. Nobody likes this. ' ' '