KOI in financial TROUBLE? / LCS leaders announce goal to become like LCK - Summoning Insight S6E33

Famous streamer Ibai might be paying 3 million Euros for player salaries and other costs to prop up KOI, whose ownership is struggling to make payments to staff and Riot for their franchise slot. Gabby Durden announces that she will not participate in the LCS next year, to a mixed reaction from fans who enjoyed her interviews and hosting but criticized her casting. The LCS leadership engaged in a bizarre interview with Travis Gafford in which they revealed they reveal their ridiculous goal is to draw more non-domestic viewership like the LCK, with Monte and Thorin here to reveal the difficult reality that impedes their vision. They discuss the LCK playoffs/regionals, the latest on the LEC Season Finals, and more.

Summoning Insight is the longest-running, most viewed League of Legends esports podcast in the world. Each week, hosts Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles and Duncan "Thorin" Shields break down the most exciting matches from LEC, LCS, LCK, and LPL as well as interviewing professional players, coaches, casters, and journalists from around the world.

Listen to Summoning Insight on podcast platforms:

This episode was filmed on August 31st, 2023.

0:00:00 - Intro
0:04:02 - Gabby Durden steps down
0:19:10 - Travis "interview" with LCS leadership
0:49:26 - LCS scheduling and VCT
1:01:18 - LCS moving? + who will be the new commissioner?
1:09:44 - Ibai and KOI news
1:35:31 - LCK
2:11:03 - LCS
2:24:02 - LEC
2:36:06 - Discord Subscriber questions

#lolesports
#lolpodcast
#leagueoflegends

[wessac]

Gabby is likeable, she obviously was passionate for league but she simply was not good enough to be a play by play caster. it happens in life and its for the best that she moves on

[kejadventures]

Loves seeing Monte cristo on this. Because it reminds me all those years ago In season three, when he said Competitive league would become irrelevant before N A ever won a championship.

[issamelarmi]

My only issue with Gabbie is her casting, other than that she was a good host / interviewer

[charliemew]

Hey Monte and Thooorin. Love the show, have watched for almost a decade. Going to for sure go to read Alchemy after Monte's discussion on it. I'm a developer in the AAA space (Used to be right down the street from Riot) And whats always bothered me about being a game dev is the total lack of innovation because products have to be controlled to fit 'The Data'. Really great conversation and point about how products being tailored to a market while also remaining fresh is not doable. Great episode, and thanks for the book recommendation!

[SmoothRupertOG]

1:00:59 I work for a game dev company in a data science role, and one of the more important principles I preach to leadership is that data is more often useful for approaching a relative maximum, not an absolute maximum. We can optimize, but in order to reach new peaks, you need innovation.

[Savaris]

Honestly, regarding Wunder, I just assumed that he was still on the roster technically, just on ice until the off season
And I wouldnt be surprised if many other casual viewers also just were like "Right, they have Wunder on their team, pretty cool that he actually gets to play again this year"

[ferdinandnordstrom]

That Biggie line delivery was actually fire 🎉

[neetsk]

2:14:20 I was literally at the Hulu theater when Travis asked people who Palafox was. He was choosing who he was walking up to and would give them 5 bucks if they knew. It's funny to watch in person but I'm glad for Palafox that he showed everyone he could win a title.

[monkeybnnraffle]

Just a point of clarification when Travis brought Palafox around it was during worlds when it was in the US, not during finals. The Palafox video as from a year ago which undercuts your point at around 2:14:50.

[maigrita]

so glad yall touched on the travis lcs leadership interview, ive never seen someone so afraid of breaking down people when given the opportunity to really dissect what is going on with the minds of these tools in these positions of power. travis felt like a declawed animal against predators, he really tried to get some information out of them but its clear they were dodging nonstop but also travis just felt intimidated by asking and poking further

[georgebraymusic]

As a person with chronic depression, I really gotta thank you guys for providing me with so much entertainment and joy. No other esports content makes me laugh so hard and so often. I always look forward to your shows, and SI is the cream of the crop. In a world where it's pretty impossible to say that someone is the 'greatest of all time' in any field, you guys really are. Love you both and thanks again. ❤

[joepkippensnuiver]

As a counterpoint to the whole everyone forgot about Dash argument and no one watches his stream. Hosting is a completely different role as streaming the game. People liked Dash on the desk and I agree he was killing it there in that role. Watching him play SoloQ or costream LCS is completely diffrent and doesn't fit Dash as much. It is the same thing with LeTigress, so was a good interviewer, but as a caster, so was obviously outperformed.

[dshffect]

I think back in the day, the lcs was more entertaining by a long shot. You had the personalities of doublelift, sneaky, meteos, qtpie, scarra, hai, zionspartan(darshan), hell Alexitch. And that made the whole thing more entertaining and fun to watch. My ex doesn’t play video games but she wanted a sneaky jersey for her birthday one year. Those personalities gave it kinda a WWE feel it wasn’t always the matches you cared about but the storylines.

[xMrMoeJoe]

Long time fan of this show but I gotta say, Thorin finds himself misrepresenting random pieces of information recently. Specifically when talking about Travis Gafford’s Twitter video where he takes Palafox around and asks people who he is wasn’t at LCS Finals. It was worlds 2022 in New York. As well, the viewer question segment that brought up Hasan Piker was also weird. Thorin brought up the brothel story about it being raided for trafficking when it’s public knowledge it was for tax evasion. Still a crime, but a lot less abhorrent imo

[wifiman]

To save the LCS I propose the following rules:
1. Add drops to the LCS broadcast (LCS themed preferred)
2. Force players/teams to costream other regions or LCS playoffs (if they are elimnated already)
3. Force players to stream lol but it doesnt have to be ranked
4. Move LCS to the east coast or to a cheaper state to run everything cheaper.
5. Encourage the broadcast to flame the players when they make bad plays. Force teams to play better

[PassivesAbseits]

@25:00: yeah, but by that definition, the LCS already succeeded, since more people outside of Korea, than inside of Korea, are watching it. But since only 15 Koreans watch the LCS, the bar is not that high.

[BlackDeathBlade]

Peanut was pretty much the most underrated player in Gen G by pretty much miles because all people remember were his random griefs instead of what he actually contributes to the team. He's also one of the central reasons why Gen G are also very strong which is why Arnold decided to keep him. As much as Chovy and Peyz are highlighted star players, Peanut's Sejuani and Maokai are critical reasons of why I feel T1 lost in the finals so badly. I was kinda sighing when T1 insisted on Support bans instead of Jungle during draft because Gen G are simply better at those picks no questions asked. Chovy also played amazing that series too, but T1 insisting on Maokai Sej handshake made me go bruh....

[dizz]

GENG will surely make it to worlds this year, and if they actually do its hard to see GENG losing a final.

[LordKeram]

Thing about LCS viewership downward death spiral is. LCS viewership was always carried by EU. Now that they moved the times away from EU friendly hours and LEC is not the little brother. LCS is bleeding EU viewers like a kosher cow.

[Tulkor]

About the point regarding casting: i (started) watching some esports entirely because casters i liked casted it - back in the late 2000s i watched a lot of quake because uf joe miller, i started watching some wow stuff because of streamers/casters i like, i only watch valorant because of brenshow and pansy.