Reactions to our recent Zeka hype video, lies that Redditors continue to tell about us, the LCK and LCS Finals, T1 failing to reach the Finals, Peanut stepping up, the League of Legends patch going into the final matches, the overall viewership of global leagues, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We discuss backlash from T1 and Faker fans, Cloud9's options following their disappointing 2024 run, Chovy's current era, the LEC Season Finals roadshow, Fnatic and G2's chances at Worlds, analysis of the LPL Regional Finals, and more! Thank you to the sponsors for today's episode! Go to https://www.buyraycon.com/lfn TODAY to get 15% off your Raycon order, plus free shipping! Thank you to INTOTHEAM for sponsoring this week's episode! You must use our link to receive 10% discount on anything you purchase on the website: https://www.intotheam.com/lfn Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with Mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code SUMMONING at https://www.shopmando.com! #mandopod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss why Riot Games and other game developers ought to be the target of fan frustrations over the Esports World Cup, T1's upset loss to KT, silly Twitter drama involving Dom and Jankos, the longest ever series winning streak in pro LoL esports history, why League of Legends may already be in a death spiral, the banger upcoming LPL matches, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join MonteCristo and Thorin with guest artificial ping, as they discuss the real problems with network latency at MSI, Riot's ruling to replay RNG's matches, possible positive changes to the MSI format, the dominance of T1/RNG/G2 in the Group Stage, predictions for the next tournament phase, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robert "Dagda" Price, LPL color caster and analyst, joins the show to discuss the LPL and LCS finals, the rise of NA players jojopyun and Danny, the chances of G2 and T1 and MSI, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Barento "Raz" Mohammed, LCS analyst, joins the show to preview the final weekend of the LCS playoffs, discuss C9's playoff collapse, discuss the final three teams in the LPL playoffs, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Falco, head coach of G2, joins the show to discuss G2's victory over Rogue in the LEC finals, how this iteration of G2's roster was formed, the strength of the field at MSI, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James "Mac" MacCormack, head coach of MAD Lions, joins the show to discuss the second round of the LEC playoffs, the LCK grand finals, coaching best practices in esports, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

**AUDIO FIXED WHEN AMAZING JOINS** Maurice "Amazing" Stückenschneide, LoL analyst, joins the show to discuss the first round of the LEC playoffs, the LCK semifinals, the favorites for the European title, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu, top laner for Rogue, joins the show to discuss the upcoming LEC playoffs, TSM coach Peter Zhang's scandalous departure, T1's perfect 18-0 split, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kim "Olleh" Joo-sung, support for Golden Guardians, joins the show to discuss the LCS playoff race, Olleh's extensive global experience playing LoL, T1's historic win-streak, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mohamed "Revenge" Kaddoura, top laner for Immortals, joins the show to discuss the upcoming LEC playoffs, Immortals' off-season moves, Revenge's Korean bootcamp, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex "Nymaera" Hapgood, LEC/NLC/LJL caster, joins the show to discuss T1's dominance in the LCK, Fnatic as the best team in the LEC, the current status of Malrang and Rogue, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss this Gen.G's lineup potential to be the greatest of all time, Chovy's significant role in his team's success, Twitter drama surrounding talent announcements for the Esports World Cup, results from LCS, LEC, and LPL, the fantastic content being made this split for LCS, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Erlend "nukeduck" Våtevik Holm, mid laner for Excel, joins the show to discuss LS' release as head coach from Cloud9, Excel's addition of Mikyx, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Peter Dun, head coach of Evil Geniuses, joins the show to discuss EG's method of roster construction, Jojopyun's promising start, MAD Lions' roster changes, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi, head coach of Fnatic, joins the show to discuss the TSM investigation, the start of the LEC spring split, Fnatic's hot start to 2022, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Catch the latest episode of Summoning Insight: the premier League of Legends esports podcast. Tuesdays on Spotify video Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the Esports World Cup (EWC) talent tease, Dash turning down invitations to attend EWC, reactions to the LCS Finals taking place at the YouTube Theater, Cloud9's first week of play, LCK week 1, a lack of hype surrounding LEC, praise for the LPL format, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the announcement by Riot Games regarding the potential merger between LCS, CBLOL, and LLA, a brand new annual international LoL esports event, reactions from Brazilian fans, Team Liquid's ownership's response to criticism of joining the Esports World Cup, the Esports Awards partnering with Saudi Arabia, analysis of LEC and LPL, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss controversy around Faker's Ahri skin for the Hall of Legends, changes coming to the LCS, Fearless Draft in the NACL and LPL, roster moves at Dignitas and Shopify Rebellion, how the Esports World Cup has affected pro teams' marketing exercises during LGBT+ Pride Month, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss MSI 2024, Gen.G and their potential to Golden Road this year, Faker and T1 defeating G2 despite looking shaky, the future of League of Legends, Chovy's status as a bonjwa, Jensen being benched b FlyQuest, Esports World Cup and Riot Games shenanigans, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss MSI 2024, Team Liquid vs Fnatic, the rivalry between NA and EU, Noah's lackluster performance, BLG vs T1, Caps potentially being one of the best mid-laners at MSI, the hype matchup of BLG and GenG + knight vs Chovy, Riot Games's subpar star-building strategy, LS's take on bracket resets, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss MSI 2024, FlyQuest's shocking early exit, leaks for a Faker Ahri skin to go with his induction into the "Hall of Legends," Fnatic, G2, and Team Liquid's chances of winning a match against an LPL or LCK squad, the reveal of "Club Support Program" teams for the Saudi-backed Esports World Cup, a common flaw in LEC broadcast talent, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin are joined by YamatoCannon, Damonte, Memento, and RandomMinionCaster to preview MSI 2024, discuss the goals of FlyQuest at this event, ponder the role that lane swaps will have, roast Doublelift, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the League of Legends regional finals in LCK vs LEC and LCS, more Doublelift drama, why the current broadcast meta may be changing, the economics of professional esports, the Chovy bonjwa debate, the upcoming MSI event, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss LEC, LCS, LCK, and LPL playoff updates, Riot Games backpedaling on their 2025 update promises, why Adam caused BDS to miss out on Worlds, the underrated Knight vs Chovy rivalry, problems at Cloud9, the lackluster in-person experience at League of Legends events, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss why Monte thinks G2's lane swap strategies were leaked, the G2 vs BDS series, Faker's statements regarding the ongoing DDoS attacks on T1, Sjokz stories, controversy regarding Inspired's recent interview with dGon, Korean top laner Thanatos joining Cloud9, the future of Fudge's career, potential changes to the LCS, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics being a part of the Esports World Cup (backed by the government of Saudi Arabia), controversy surrounding a strategic coach before the LCS Finals, why Coach Spawn deserves a lot of the credit for Team Liquid's victory at the LCS Finals, the upcoming banger matches in the LCK Playoffs, G2 looking dominant again in LEC, the ongoing LPL Playoffs, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the LCK All-Pro voting, preview the LCS and LCK Playoffs, Cloud9's disappointing games, KC and Rogue finishing 9th and 10th again in LEC, G2's spot on global power rankings, milkyway continuing to impress, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss Quickshot exiting Riot Games and LEC, Cloud9 returning to form in the LCS Playoffs, HLE defeating T1, results from LEC, Riot's update to the esports franchise model, the VCS match fixing scandal, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the latest drama featuring Doublelift and Dodo, milkyway's continued masterful performance in the LPL, the T1 vs Gen.G match, global power rankings, the start of the LEC split, Smolder in pro play, the latest from the Saudi Esports World Cup, a story about Kameto and KC, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the LCS matches that were played in a smaller, grungier studio, Tyler 1 vs Corejj drama, big roster moves at Heretics, Cloud9's 2-0 weekend, an update on the LCK DDoS saga, milkyway and FPX's plot armor, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the DDOS attacks on the LCK, T1 and Faker's current dominance over the league, TSM stories involving Bjergsen and Reginald, updates from the LPL, why FPX jungler milkyway is the player to watch this split, LCS Spring Finals once again being placed on Easter Sunday, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the drama involving BDS Adam, Wooloo's decision-making in reporting on certain stories, the LEC Winter Playoffs, T1 fans malding over Monte's power rankings, updates from the LCK, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss LCS viewership and Commissioner MarkZ's recent series of tweets on the topic, G2 once again rising to the top of the LEC power rankings, Hylissang's history of both strong and questionable plays, the strengths of MAD Lions KOI, the levels of play of the LEC and LCS, new information regarding the recent layoffs at Riot Games, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss KC benching Yamato and whether the action was deserved, the Cloud9 losing streak and questionable drafts, problems with the LCS, LEC, LCK, and LPL broadcasts, BDS's and their T1 style of play, Team Heretics' chances to win against SK, KDF's rise in power, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss playoffs in the LCS, LEC, and LPL, Riot discovering that Twitch subs exist, Chovy winning LCK MVP, what the lack of roadshows combined with VALORANT's schedule says about Riot's priorities, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss Riot Games's poor handling of LEC layoffs, Riot's cancelled streaming service, news out of TSM, the end of the split of Karmine Corps, Elyoya's decent performance as captain of Mad Lions KOI, BLG potentially stepping up to be what JDG was last year, Zeka's level of play on HLE, the messy game between CLoud9 and Shopify Rebellion, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss mass layoffs at Riot Games, the joint letter by the LCK teams + Joe Marsh's dissent, Karmine Corp's weak start in the LEC, the LCS's declining viewership, blue side dominance in Asian leagues, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss week 1 of the LEC, Ibai and MAD KOI vs Yamato and Karmine Corp, whether MarkZ's ideas can save the LCS, take stock of the LEC rosters, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Disquieting news settled on the League of Legends esports world this week with new from Jacob Wolf that the Saudi Arabian government would be including League of Legends in their Esports World Cup in July, 2024. MonteCristo and Thorin discuss the history of the Saudi esports initiatives, including this past year's Gamers8 event, and what it means to have Riot approval for competition. Our hosts also unpack the latest LEC talent announcements, the changes to the Worlds seeding and format, the delays in announcing league schedules, and Riot's "Hall of Legends." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We circle back on some old news that we have yet to discuss: long-time analyst and coach Mark "MarkZ" Zimmerman has been named the new commissioner of the LCS. Thorin and Monte give their takes on the news as well as examining the extent to which he can effect real change in the floundering North American league. Travis Gafford unexpectedly entered the conversation surrounding the commissioner role, which leads to quite a few laughs about the ridiculous situation. T1 fans are also compared to the movie Gremlins, but what else is new? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christian "IWillDominate" Rivera joins the Summoning Insight season finale to discuss the greatest teams of all-time in the history of League of Legends. They discuss over a decades' worth of competitive League of Legends to identify and celebrate the best teams in LoL. Our hosts evaluate teams that peaked at an extraordinary level, such as Samsung White and Invictus Gaming, while also examining the teams that almost managed to walk the Golden Road, including JDG, SKT T1, RNG, and G2. Join us to evaluate each teams' unique aspects, strength of individual players, and fierceness of competition they faced to reveal the best of the best! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After touching on this year's rostermania in the LCK and LEC, this week Thorin and Monte turn their discussions to North America and Europe. With Cloud9's acquisition of Jojopyun, will they be the presumptive title favorites in the LCS? Over in China, Knight has announced his move to BLG, Weiwei signs with LNG, and OMG topside moves to NiP to play alongside Rookie. Riot finally steps in to takeover the LPL English broadcast as well, but it comes at the cost of downsizing the already meager casting crew on the league. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi is back on Summoning Insight to discuss the LEC and LCK rosters for the upcoming 2024 season of League of Legends! They also discuss what he would do in a theoretical universe where he's the head coach of Karmine Corp and his speculations about the team's roster and coaching staff construction. Doublelift announced his retirement (again), so Monte and Thorin discuss what it says about the health of the LCS and the success of his lengthy esports career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2023 League of Legends World Championship has ended with T1 and Faker's fourth title by beating a lifeless Weibo Gaming. Considering that Zeus, Keria, and Gumayusi are now free agents, what is the legacy of this iteration of T1's roster from their past two years of play together? Evil Geniuses and Golden Guardians suddenly exited the LCS, leaving the league with 8 teams for next season. Thorin and Monte discuss the ramifications on the LoL and broader esports ecosystem as a result of these moves, as well as the unfortunate plight of the players promised spots on these rosters. The free agency window officially opened on November 20th, which means it's time to rampantly speculate about the future of the LCK and LPL considering the huge number of elite players not yet contracted for the 2024 season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The show begins with reactions to the semi-final matches and an in-depth breakdown of the high-level series played between T1 and JDG, ending the latter team's attempt at completing the first Golden Road in League of Legends history. Thorin and Monte preview the finals and discuss how Weibo might hope to defeat the T1 juggernaut in a meta the Korean team has defined, but the opportunity appears slim. They chat about the variety of roster moves rumored for LCS and LEC teams, including G2's former members regrouping under Heretics' banner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MonteCristo and Thorin discuss new esport team emotes in the League of Legends shop, Faker's surprising choice on T1 socials, KT defeating Gen.G, upcoming LPL and LEC matches, Team Liquid's dominance in LCS, the struggles of 100 Thieves, and more! Thank you to our sponsors for supporting today's episode! Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code SUMMONING at https://www.shopmando.com! #mandopod Get 50% off FACTOR meals at https://www.factormeals.com/lfn50 with code LFN50. High-quality, never-frozen meals delivered to your home! Thank you to INTOTHEAM for sponsoring this week's episode! You must use our link to receive 10% discount on anything you purchase on the website: https://www.intotheam.com/lfn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we break down all four of the quarter-final match-ups at the LoL World Championship and debate T1's chances at ending JDG's bid to complete their journey on the Golden Road. BLG should easily beat Weibo en-route to a berth in the finals, but if the series is close does this spell doom for an exciting end to the tournament? The question of the Dade Award looms as Tarzen turns in an unforgiveable performance, and Monte and Thorin contemplate if there should be a winner this year. With another GenG performance at the international level, the guys discuss if this is the end of the Chovy/Peanut partnership that yielded three domestic titles but collapsed at two Worlds and an MSI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices