Red Bull League of Its Own is over and we had the opportunity to ask pros Norman "Kaiser" Kaiser and Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik for their thoughts on the upcoming LoL season.
On December 9, 2023, Red Bull put on A League of Its Own, bringing together top tier LEC teams, smaller German orgs and the 2023 World Champions – T1. Thanks to the Fearless Draft, fans were treated to a spectacle throughout the day, bringing in brand-new unique picks.
Thanks to Kia, who were also at the event with their fully electric EV9*, we got a chance to speak with pro-players Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik from G2 and Norman "Kaiser" Kaiser of Team Heretics about the upcoming changes to Summoner's Rift. How will these affect the pro-scene in 2024?
Exclusive: How Will The LoL Season 14 Map Changes Affect Future Gameplay?
We’ve all seen the changes hitting the rift in 2024. The map is getting a complete overhaul and brand-new jungle creatures are being added. These changes will definitely have an impact on your average solo queue gameplay, but how do the pros see these changes?
Riot wants to make top lane more fun and interactive, but will the top lane river brush, as well as wall changes have an impact? G2 Esports top laner Sergen "BrokenBlade" Çelik noted that there could be some changes to the top lane due to the way Riot have changed the terrain.
[Season 14] will be the first year where it will be a bit harder for the jungler to gank the top lane [...] If your wave isn't good, you're going to die a lot and this [map] change fixes that. I think a lot of bully lanes are becoming meta now, simply because you can't be ganked.
But it’s not just the top laners who will be impacted by the changes. Team Heretics' support Norman "Kaiser" Kaiser also noted that the bot lane will see some significant changes due to the newly added tri-bush on the red side.
If you play Blue Side, you can invade Bot Lane Jungle very easily, so you'll probably want to pick very strong prio lanes on Blue Side, simply because you can push out the lane and then immediately go into the Enemy Jungle without any obstructions.
Because of these changes, it seems like the warding is going to be even more important in the upcoming season, with the small bot lane brush in the river being highly contested according to Kaiser.
Not only that, but the mid lane is far more open, which means mid laners will have more time to react to ganks from the enemy support or jungler.
Red Vs. Blue – Do These Changes Affect The Side Teams Pick?
For as long as League of Legends has existed, it has always felt like blue side was the superior one. With these changes, Riot is trying to even out blue and red side. But will this have an effect on the draft in the upcoming season, or is the priority of first / counter pick going to stay the same?
For now, it seems hard to determine which side is going to have higher prio, since a key part is the champion pool and how many OP champions are part of the current meta. BrokenBlade also reiterated this when asked about the different sides, stating that "it could take months for teams to truly figure out which side is the better one" in Season 14 as the meta naturally unfolds.
However, in the bot lane it feels like the new tri-bush will impact the red side, as Kaiser mentioned. This makes it feel a tad weaker than before, due to the lack of safety.
Once we were ganked from behind and we were so surprised because you could only jump over there with Rek'Sai or Lee Sin before, but now any jungler can just run through this bush through the tower and gank you from behind.
Void Grubs Or Rift Herald – How Will Those Changes Impact The Game?
With the jungle monster changes in Season 14, there might be even less prio for the top lane in the early phases of the game. Kaiser noted that Void Grubs will definitely impact the map, especially when playing longer ranged comps. Since Void Grubs require you to actively hit the tower to gain a bonus, melee comps who have a tougher time might be at a disadvantage going forward.
He also stated that the introduction of Void Grubs could lead to longer laning phases, since these new creatures feel less powerful than something like a Dragon even, so teams might prioritize taking an early dragon over contesting a few Void Grubs.
Overall, the new map changes do seem to be well-liked, with Kaiser even saying that he does like the adjustments. So now we wait for some pro play to see whether these predictions come true.
I also think the map changes are quite good. You can still roam mid lane, even if it's a bit more difficult, but I still think the changes are very good!
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