WORD OF THE DAY! 3/13/14!

VEL'KOZ: FIRST CONTACT!

VEL'KOZ CHAMPION SPOTLIGHT!

disintegrate [dis-in-tuh-greyt]
verb
1. To separate into parts, disassemble, or break-up; deterioroate.
2. To reduce something into particles, fragments, or parts.

EX. I know he has already been out for a couple weeks, but I still think I'd like to talk about one of my new favorite champs, Vel'Koz the Eye of the Void.

I've always been a big fan of Void champs (see Malzahar) and Vel'Koz is an interest spin on the concept.

The Void is a plan of existence beyond Runeterra that is both enchantingly enigmatic and terribly simple; the denizens of the Void are consumed by hunger. All four of the Voidborn champions in the League of Legends have a strong desire to consume; Cho'Gath seeks to consume the world, Kog'Maw is always, always "HUNGRY!", Kha'Zix seeks to consume deadlier and deadlier prey, and Vel'Koz seeks knowledge.

Vel'Koz may or may not be a member of the race of beings described as the Watchers by Lissandra but we do know he is from the Void. Unlike the other Voidborn, his concerns seem to be, rather than based on consuming matter, consuming knowledge. Vel'Koz enters Runeterra and the first thing he does is shoot a laser at a small animal, disintegrating instantly, and move onto more interesting subjects for observation. Vel'Koz learns through destruction and he certainly can learn a lot about Runeterra on the Summoner's Rift by destroying the other champions. But... what are his tools of destruction?

Vel'Koz passive puts a stack of Organic Deconstruction on a target when he hits them with an ability and, upon taking three stacks, the target takes true damage. This means that Vel'Koz can deal a lot of damage by hitting up his combos with his abilities. His Q, Plasma Fission, is a skillshot projectile that shoots a blast in a straight line and explodes into two projectiles at a 90 degree upon hitting a target. It is a good slow with great range and damage. His W, Void Rift, is his bread and butter ability for dealing damage and putting stacks of Deconstruction on target. He laws down a line of damage that, after a short period, explodes and deals additional damage. This can lay up to two stacks of Deconstruct on target and can be cast as Vel'Koz moves and simultaneously with his other actions with ease. His E, Tectonic Disruption, is a knock-up that can set up his other abilities for a combo or help him flee from foes. Lastly, Vel'Koz's ultimate, Life-Form Disintegration Ray, channels a blast of damage in a straight line that slows targets hit and adds stacks of Deconstruction. The longer they stay in the laser's path, which you can change the direction of, the more stacks they take and the more damage they take. Ultimately, Vel'Koz is a champion that works best on the back line of a team and can serve up interrupts and poke before ultimately ending his foes with his ultimate or true damage to lead to some awesome long-distance kills.

I really dig Vel'Koz as a mid but I'm also experimenting with him as a support... Hm. More research is more required.

P.S. I love how his alt skin was previewed in Lucien's alt skin art and Creator Viktor's art.

BATTLECAST VEL'KOZ PREVIEW!

WTF WED! WHITE POWER RANGER IN DA LEAGUE OF LESBIANS!

ROSEBLOOD

No video would be more appropriate to post after driving home as the frozen tree tops, glazed in silver, rained down dreary hail on the road. The air was as cold as a cadaver's kiss, the roadside ditches filled with floating sheets of ice and Styrofoam cups, and my fingers felt numb as I gripped the steering wheel. Winter is death. Winter is beautiful.

Also, this silly but brilliant little bit of Hitchcock inspired horror from TVMaxwell will probably put a smile on your face and a little warmth in your heart. Or just confuse you.

LEAGUE OF CHARMS (NSFW)

As for the vidja here, it is a pretty twisted, funny, and fanservicey bit of fluff from TwistedGrimTV.

As for a small League of Legends update, my ranked team's president Trainer Gary Oak (formerly OGMRSNESBITT) added Dio Omicida (ADC/Support main) and cShots (Top main) to our roster and that means we'll be able to build a full team more regularly and start playing ranked 5 V 5 as soon as possible. I've learned to play a lot of roles, so expect to see me doing whatever is needed to help my team win, including jungling as Jarvin IV.

P.S. My favorite Ahri skin is Popstar Ahri.

WHITE POWER RANGER IN DA HOOD

It was Aziz Ansari who said his favorite stereotype was that "black dudes are blown away by magic tricks".

A good Power Ranger costume apparently has they same effect, at least in this case. Now, "if only we all just treated each other the same way black dudes treat magicians" (Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive).

WORD OF THE DAY! 12/17/13! (LEAGUE OF LEGENDS UPDATE)

SOUTHPARK'S INTRODUCTION TO VIDEOGAME "TOXICITY"

toxic [tok-sik]
adjective
1. Video games. Used to describe a hostile or unfair player/s or game mechanic/s that create an imbalanced or unpleasant game experience for one, some, or all of the other players.

insta-lock [in-stuh-lawk]
verb
1. League of Legends. To pick a player/lane without the consent or consideration of your teammates.

EX. I've talked a little bit about teamwork before and shared the Teamwork OP video from Riot a few months ago, but today I want to talk about what happens when players, admins, and game makers don't work together to create a fun and fair game experience.

TOXIC TEAMFIGHT TURNAROUND

I still play with Team NUFU, as much as I can. I talked about them in an article in September (check it out HERE). Aceofspadescard mains support on our team and, mostly without our knowledge, saw fit to record some of our recent matches for the funnier parts and best moments. Posted directly above is a link to a recent game we played that started out very toxic-- the Volibear player on our team insta-locked Volibear without picking a lane, forcing Ace as Yasuo to mid, leading to some frustration in the first half of the match. The Volibear was very toxic, from the get-go, criticizing other players and generally being a useless slab of bear meat. The video above shows us shutting down their team (I'm playing as Jungle Vi) and, eventually, would carry us to a win.

We won because of skill, luck, and/but, most importantly, teamwork.

BONUS: MOVESPEED HECARIM

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/10/13!

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS MUSIC: GET JINXED!

jinx [jeenks]
noun
1. A person, idea, or thing that brings bad luck.
2. An exclamation used when two or more people say the same word at the same time. Until this silly game is resolve, the individuals who were "jinxed" cannot speak until they meet a specific criteria such as someone saying their name or buying the "jinxer" a Coke.
verb
2. To bring bad luck or to curse someone.
3. To destroy the point of an action or idea.

EX. The NuFu clan and implejr (that's me) have their differences; for example, several of them hold superstitions and I , for a number of reasons ranging from my skeptical nature to controlling my own neurosis & OCD, take a, at the best of times, optimistic and/or, at the worst of times, sadistic pleasure in ignoring, arguing, or even mocking such silliness. For example, in a game of Summoner's Rift on LoL (That's "League of Legends" for the uninitiated), I might say something like, "I think we're turning this around, guys!"

Now, when I say this on the fly and not to pester them, I say optimistic stuff to give myself a little boost of confidence and hopefully reassure my teammates. And yet... when they hear this, they groan and say that "I'm jinxing them." As someone who doesn't believe in such silly superstition, as much as someone who is a member of a species as illogical as our own can be, I'll even admit I believed in Santa Claus far past the point of appropriate suspension of disbelief and have participated in theatre superstition, I usually have a little friendly laugh at their frustration. This sort of disrespectful behavior reminds me of the newest champion coming to League of Legends...

JINX THE LOOSE CANNON

Here we've got a fun new champ that falls right into my playstyle of dealing damage at a distance and being able to escape in a hurry with the most petty psychopath to ever terrorize Piltover, Jinx.

The champion was first teased in the log-in screen splash for the Pool Party Update (not the arm with the pink bullet and blue smoke tattoos)  and then Vi's page was vandalized by a mysterious X figure. I've actually talked about Vi and Piltover in a previous article about my favorite ADC and the Sheriff of Piltover, Caitlyn.Well, it seem that our newest champ, #166 or, in roman numerals CVIX ("C" for Caitlyn, "VI" for Vi, and "X" for Jinx) is the sort of super criminal that Piltover not only deserves but needs. After all, what would Batman be without the Joker?

Jinx's full history is a bit of a mystery, but here's the official lore: both Caitlyn and VI, partners in fighting crime, have been teased by a villain with the calling card of "X". Starting a crime spree legendary enough to get her admission into the League of Legends, Jinx earned her name through the chaos that follows in her wake and put Piltover's finest to the test. She seems to take particular pleasure in frustrating Vi, whom she calls "Fat Hands", and, after destroying the Piltover treasury with Vi inside, to add insult to the literal injuries that Vi suffered, Jinx left a simple note: "You'll never catch me!"

As with any champion, Jinx has her inspirations in fiction and the real world; a punk girl aesthetic mixed with themes and elements of the Joker & Harley Quinn(Dark Knight graffiti, pale skin, make-up, laughter, petite femme fatale with a rocket launcher), Gollum (she talks to her rocket launcher, Fishbones), and Helen Bonham Carter (there is a certain Tim Burtonesque mania about her features).

As for her kit, they might as well have called her the "Glass Cannon" because she is all about dealing damage, kiting, disengaging, reengaging, and clean-up. Her passive "GET EXCITED!" gives her a massive but temporary speed boost every time she kills or assists in killing a foe or turret. This allows her to chase down and kill weak opponents, as well as flee in a pinch. Her Q "Switcheroo!" allows her to switch her autoattacks between a short-ranged but fast firing minigun, Pow-Pow, for dueling and a long-ranged rocket launcher, Fishbones, for AOE crit mayhem, giving her a lot of flexibility in fights. Her W "Zap!" is a long range skillshot that reveals the first opponent struck and slows them, which is great for escaping or chasing down foes. Her E "Flame Chompers!" fires three mines that, if stepped on by an opponent, blow up, and root them to allow her to catch or an escape other champs in a pinch or set up team fights. Her Ult "Super Mega Death Rocket!" is a global rocket she can fire that flies in a straight line, hitting the first enemy champ in it's path, and blowing up for massive AOE damage. This allows her to finish off opponents and, the best part, is the farther they travel, the more damage they do.

Jinx is a champ I'll definitely be picking up ASAP. After all, even a Neutral Good sap like me can get into a bit of spastic chaos every now and then. Plus, I can't say no to a super villainess who talks to her guns. DeadpoolxJinx OTP!

P.S. JINX! DOUBLE-JINX! TRIPLE DOUBLE-DOGGY DARE JINX! JINX LOG-IN SCREEN!

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS CHAMP SPOTLIGHT: JINX

 

C'mon and join the mayhem.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/13/13!

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: TEAMWORK OP

OP [oh-pee]
acronym
1. Slang/jargon. Over-powered.

EX. Teamwork is definitely OP in League of Legends. It took us a few months to form our 5 V 5 Ranked Team. To play 5 V 5 Ranked, you need 5 players of Level 30. Nick and Steven are the most veteran players, Chris hit level 30 shortly after I started playing in March, I hit level 30 in May, Clay started playing in June and hit level 30 this week. Five friends getting to Level 30 is only the first challenge in making a ranked team.

The other challenge of making a 5 v 5 team is figuring out who plays what roles; Nick is the MVP of the team and could probably take any role, but rocks the jungle hard with Nocturne, Rengar, & Shyvana, Steven's favorite role is the often under-appreciated support (Nami, Soraka, & Thresh) because of his experience of filling the roles left over by other players (he's a cool guy like that), Clay pretty much took to Top Lane and has excelled in that role, though occasionally experimenting in Jungle or Mid, and usually plays Shyvana or Volibear, Chris is best at solo lanes, so it only makes sense that he would take the role of mid with champs like Annie & Malzahar, , and I, after a lot of struggle, bounced around between all the roles, tending to play fill like Steven, and have found my role in bot lane, with the role of ADC with champs like Caitlyn & Quinn.

We've only just begun our quest to climb the Ranked ladder and, while there will be lots of hardships along the way, I believe we'll persevere.

To all the Summoners out there, GLHF.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/27/13!

not even close baby
exclamation
1. League of Legends Slang. One of the most popularly quoted catchphrases of videogamedunkey, the phrase it typed in all chat when a player escapes an otherwise deadly encounter with another player/s, especially if they barely escaped with little health or actually managed to get their pursuers killed in the process.

EX. There are a lot of moments in League of Legends where you barely escape an otherwise deadly ult, gank, or other maneuver from the enemy. My favorite ones are when you either fight your enemies under turret and end up getting both of them killed with a sliver of health left or, even more satisfying, running right behind your tanks, turning, and getting a triple kill while they hold them in place for your "one hit and your dead" ass.

implejr: Not even close baby!

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/16/13!

space aids [spehys-ehydz]
noun
1. League of Legends Slang. Malazahar's E ability, Malefic Visions, that deals magic damage over a period of four second and if it kills the afflicted target, spreads to the nearest enemy target available, repeating the process until either an afflicted target doesn't die or there are no more targets in range of a dying afflicted target, and gaining Malazahar mana.
2. AIDS from or acquired in space.

EX. Malazahar is my favorite mid character. He is the first character I ever achieved a PENTAKILL with in League of Legends. This is thanks, mostly, to his incredibly powerful E finishing off target after target in a team fight with space aids, and the rest of his powerful kit. He is still one of my best champs and, thanks to NuFu, he was one of the first champs recommended to me.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/12/13!

lasers a gogo [lehy-zers-uh-goh-goh]
noun
1. In-Joke League of Legends NuFu slang. The terminology used by members of the NuFu clan to describe Lux's use of her ult and similar laser based skills.

EX. I love playing Lux and playing with a Lux on my team because a well-done lasers a gogo sets up kills and finishes off fleeing foes.

BONUS: WEO WEO LUX STARRING VIDEOGAMEDUNKEY

And, for those of you confused, NuFu is the clan that me and my gamer friends have been rocking for a few years and, over the years, we've developed a lot of in-jokes, catch phrases, and observations that help us bond. I hope by sharing a few examples of this sillyness I can document the fraternity we've found in gaming.