Special Featured Matches: The Undead Horde

Montesque64 has scheduled some special Featured Matches this weekend, as part of Interactive Lore Event II, in which the Lich Queen Nefara sends forth her undead armies to assault Bandle City.

501st Big Mike will be running these matches.

Undead roster: Karthus, Hecarim, Mordekaiser, Yorick, Thresh, Sion, Urgot, Amumu, Eve, Nautilus, Brand

Piltover, Zaun, and Demacia have each sent Champions to aid Bandle City in this battle:

Related lore:

• Update 2: Opening Moves — Curious yordles explore an ancient Shuriman pyramid and find a new friend! (Hint: she is not their friend.)
• Update 4: The Endless Dead — Nefara raises an undead army from the sands and commands them to seize Bandle City.

Come join us in the Factions chat:

Saturday: Swarm Games

Streamed at LoLTourneys.

The faction elects one summoner, of Platinum level or higher, to hold back the undead tide.  That summoner may request any number of opponents, from 2-5, to play in a custom game.  These opponents must be, at minimum, 3 tiers below the faction representative (i.e. a platinum player can pick Bronze players, but a Diamond could pick Bronze or Silver.)  The non-faction summoners will be playing champions from the undead roster.  The Faction player selects the battlefield from amongst these options: Crystal Scar, Howling Abyss, or Summoner’s Rift.  If the game lasts for longer than 17 minutes (HA, CS) or 25 minutes (SR), OR the Faction player gets more kills than (5* # of opponents on HA/CS or 8 * # of opponents on SR), it counts as a win for Bandle City.  If neither of these conditions are met, it counts as a win for the undead.  In either case, the points awarded for the win will be modified by how badly the Faction summoner was outnumbered (For instance, a Piltover win vs 3 would be more valuable than vs 2, and vice versa for the undead)

Sunday: The Final Battle

Streamed at twitch.tv/LeagueFactions.

(Apologies to Montesque if I’ve made any errors here.)

The usual Sunday Featured Matches slots will be filled by a best-of-three clash between Bandle City and the Lich Queen’s army. The Megling Commandos and Screaming Yipsnakes have been deployed! Every able-bodied yordle has taken up arms to defend their glorious yordle home. As the horde comes over the horizon, yordle telescopes reveal its horrifying size, an ocean of bones and bandages rattling steadily toward the walls. But help is on its way!

How To Play

First, build the Bandle City team. Subs are allowed, though “true” Bandle City Summoners should be preferred. There are no fixed Tier requirements. Once the Bandle City team is ready to go, confirm the ranks, using the higher of S3 and S4 solo queue rank. (e.g., “3 Golds, 2 Silvers”.) Then, make an Undead team with the same ranks. (A little handwaving is okay if necessary to get the match started on time. I define “a little handwaving” as +/- one rank. So GGGSS vs. GGSSS is fine, as is GGGSS vs. PGGSS.) As always, if confusion arises or there are exceptional circumstances, the staffer running the day’s matches (501st Big Mike) has authority to make ad hoc rulings.

First off, Bandle City, thanks to Zaun, gets to vote on some bans, representing the use of Pharmakon II psi-mages.

Special Rule: Piltover

Piltover has fully committed its forces. Bandle City gains one Piltover Champion for these matches.

Caution: Fighting the undead horde is dangerous! Champions sent to aid Bandle City may be injured in battle.

Piltover, vote here!

Special Rule: Zaun

The HexKorps has been fully deployed. Two Zaunite Champions will be made available, though only one can be Summoned per match. Zaun, vote here!

Caution: Fighting the undead horde is dangerous! Champions sent to aid Bandle City may be injured in battle.

Bandle City also gets one universal ban against the undead. Bandle City Summoners, vote here!

Special Rule: Demacia

Demacia has sent its mages to protect Bandle City and destroy the undead horde. Demacia can send Lux, Galio, or Leona to help Bandle City.\

Caution: Fighting the undead horde is dangerous! Champions sent to aid Bandle City may be injured in battle.

Summoners of Demacia, vote here!

Poll Results from Lore Event IV

Here are the preliminary results from Lore Event IV. As noted on that page, these polls are advisory only, and won’t fully decide what actually happens.

This is taken from my summary email to Montesque64, so there’s some shorthand.

The Mothership

Bandle City is willing to grant at most a warpgate mission.

What level of access to the Mothership would you grant, as an absolute maximum, to Zaun in return for their help with the project?

• 24% insist that under no circumstances should filthy non-Yordles be allowed to have anything to do with the sacred Mothership.
• 58% would be willing to ferry a warpgate to the moon, but nothing else.
• 15% would be willing to grant partial access to the Mothership, e.g., participation in supervised missions.
• 3% are willing to grant full access.

Zaun’s minimum asking price for help with the Mothership project is “partial access”.

What would the yordles need to offer, at a minimum, for Zaun’s help with the Refuel the Mothership project?

• 100% of Zaunites would accept “full access”.
• 77% would accept “partial access”.
• 35% would accept “Warpgate only”.
• 2% would do it out of the kindness of their biomechanical hearts.

Proposed outcome: If the Summoners have their way, no agreement is made.
Alternative: If Zaun is willing to give a bit and accept only a warpgate mission, a treaty could be made. Perhaps a roll weighted toward “no deal” would reflect the situation? e.g., roll a d10; on a 7 or above, a “warpgate-only” treaty is made. Or you can just decide.

The Battle for Bandle City

Bandle City is willing to offer anything short of a HexKorps garrison or a no-spying treaty for Zaun’s help against Nefara.

Which terms are you potentially willing to offer in exchange for Zaun’s help against the undead army?

• Only 18% would authorize a HexKorps garrison.
• 49% would authorize a no-spying treaty.
• 70% would authorize giving Zaun access to undead specimens.
• 67% would authorize a no-sabotage treaty.

Zaun insists on undead specimens, a no-sabotage treaty, and (narrow majority) a no-spying treaty.

What terms are absolutely essential to get Zaun’s help fighting off the undead horde?

• 90% demand undead specimens.
• 67% demand a no-sabotage treaty.
• 54% say they want a no-spying treaty, too.
• Only 31% insist on the HexKorps garrison.
• 0% were willing to do it just for cupcakes.
• 0% refused to help under any circumstances.

Proposed outcome: Technically, no treaty combination received a majority. However, there was fairly strong agreement on “no sabotage” and “undead specimens”. The only hangup is “no spying”. 54% of Zaunites insisted on that, and 49% of Bandle City Summoners were willing to give it. I would suggest that a treaty is made with terms “no sabotage” and “undead specimens”. Then, flip a coin. If heads, Zaun also gets “no spying”. The coin toss represents how the wheeling and dealing plays out over the negotiating table.

A little music

Enjoy some music to accompany your matches.

For Bandle City

Yordle’s Paradise, by various artists
We’re all less than three feet high, living in a yordle’s paradise

Yordle, by Instalok
So you want to fight against us? Then you should fear our small force
Never underestimate us, you know you shouldn’t mess with a yordle

For the Undead

Bump in the Night, by Area of Defect
Your team is running from zombies, like it’s Dawn of the Dead

6v4, by Area of Defect
Your sickness sustains him, he delights in your pain, and on Summoner’s Rift, he is lord

Blue Ribbon, by Area of Defect
Climb into the saddle and get carried away