A new adventure for me along with many other newcomers to the scene, Cadred will be covering the League of Legends event this weekend which will be taking place in NYC, the same location as the Starcraft 2 arena events put on by MLG.

A rarity by my own standards, I've decided to leave the FPS and RTS games behind and pop into the MOBA scene for a bit, exploring the largest and most widely-known e-sport in the world, Riot Games' League of Legends.

Azubu's Inner Fire

First up is Azubu Blaze (note: new interview HERE courtesy of MOBAFIRE), a South Korean team that's sponsored by the same company viOLet was recently announced to be partnering with. Formerly known as the B-Team of Maxmimum impact Gaming (MiG), Blaze is out to quell that title as the "lower tier team under Frost," having already proven themselves as one of the best upcoming teams in the world taking the victory in a convincing 3:0 over their big brother Azubu Frost (formerly MiG Frost) and cashing in a cool $88,000 with their OGN Spring title. Bok "Reapered" Hang-gyu will be playing the Top position, favoring champions Shaco and Irelia. Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong will be filling the role of AP Carry, favoring Soraka and Cassiopeia. Shin "Helios" Dong-jin (not to be confused with the cloud formation) will be the jungler favoring Lee Sin or Amumu. Ham "Lustboy" Jang-sik will be playing Support leaning towards either Orianna or Sona (he's also noted for being an active voice for making Support Orianna viable in league and competitive play), while Kang "Cpt Jack" Hyung-woo will be rounding out the team as AD Carry, liking Ashe and Vayne as his two top champions. I've been told this team is quite young but has serious potential to be considered within the top tier of LoL teams, and although only having one large accomplishment, the gravity of that alone is enough to consider them a force to be reckoned with.

Bay Life: It's not a hobby, it's a LIFESTYLE.

One of the most known names in League of Legends today is definitely Team SoloMid, having been created in 2011 and making a huge impact not only in the LoL scene but e-sports in general, known for their YouTube videos, trip vlogs and other comedic clips that can be seen around the internet. Don't let the smiles fool you, as this team is all business, dominating 2012 like nother other and taking home five victories since April, including IPL4, Reign of Gaming International, MLG Spring Championship and GESL. For their roster, Andy "Reginald" Dinh will be playing AP Carry, boasting one of the most aggressive playstyles in the scene and ability to adapt to nearly any champion thrown at him. Brian "TheOddOne" Wyllie, most known for making counterjungling a known term with Nunu, will be playing Jungler (and possibly sleeping with his eyes wide open). AD Carry for TSM will be none other than Shan "Chaox" Huang, a player regarded as the single best AD Carry in the world. Next to him will be Alex "Xpecial" Chu playing the Support role and the lovely Marcus "Dyrus" Hill playing Top, one of the more animated characters of the team. TSM's known to wreck, end of. Expect nothing less from them at this scale of a tournament -- they want to win and they have the ability to.

Anyone have a flashlight?

Lacking a team picture, this bracket demolition should do.
Not much is even known about Team Black, a newly formed European team that's been considered a ticking timebomb flying under the radar ready to strike any opponent that comes in their path. They took out Curse EU in the final of the Online Qualifiers. As said, nearly nothing is known as they're literally weeks old, but what we can say is that starting out the roster will be Julien "Alvik" of Sweden playing Top, Dejan "diqozoY" Komocar of Russia playing AD Carry, Oskar "Facerollerx" Skanning of Norway playing AP Carry (also the team manager), Hans "FatMamma" Bjerhem of Sweden playing Support while Plamen "napraen" Stoyanov will be representing the Jungler for Bulgaria. People say if this team takes this arena, they'll be at the top tier of the scene and will have a whole future ahead of them, developing a name for themselves as an elite LoL team. Can Team Black live up to the hype?

Curse to Break Bad Luck Spell?

The last team for the preview will be Curse Gaming, again, another household name within the League of Legends scene having been around for a while with the uprising of the game as an e-sport. These guys are the veterans of the scene having been created in 2010, making them the oldest team attending this event. For you old vets, you may remember them under the name Team XXX before they were sponsored by the popular WoW modification site which later branched out into more complex things, Curse. Nothing impressive results-wise lately, but they're in it for the winnings and nothing less. Jacky "Nyjacky" Wang starts us off as AP Carry while David "Cop" Roberson follows beside him as AD Carry. Cody "Elementz" Sigfusson will be the Support player while Brandon "saintvicious" DiMarco (a former TSM member) will be taking up Jungler. Jonathan "Westrice" Nguyen will be soloing the Top lane to round out the roster. As the subheading suggests, will Curse be able to break their bad luck streak of placing 6-8th, or is it too strong to overcome? They've got the ability, but what's the probability?