A Year of Low Elo - Review and Thanks

Hi, my name is Dave "Compy386" Quarles. I am cofounder and cohost of the #1 League of Legends podcast, LowElo, and I feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world. 

Jeff and I met playing league sometime in early 2011, maybe before. Due to us both having weird work schedules, we ended up playing together a lot. Every night we would get off work and play for hours, usually until the sun came up. 

Then we hooked up with Christian, who I had played TeamFortress2 with years before. The three of us shortly afterward acquired Garrett. 

It was at this time, one year ago, that I said to Jeff "hey, why don't WE do a League of Legends podcast?" And he said, "that sounds pretty ok I guess." 

See, Jeff had the knowhow. He'd done podcasts before. He knew the nuts and bolts of how everything came together. By then I had about 1000 wins. I thought I knew a little about the game. So we started the first week in January 2012 with Episode 1, and Garrett was the only one who listened to it...at first. 

There was never any question or hesitation. The podcast was just something we did. Sure, not many people listened to it at first, but we kept our noses to the grindstone and kept churning out the episodes. There was not a single week where we thought "is this worth it?" or "I don't feel like doing the podcast this week." That just did not happen. Every week, there we were talking about our favorite game and building what has become, in my opinion, the greatest community in all of gaming. 

Then things started happening. Big things. Amazing things. One night, we sent a tweet to Rin the Yordle. We knew who she was from the art scene. We asked if she wanted to be on the show, and much to our amazement, she joined our Skype call and we started recording. 

After that, we started the stream, or should I say, IceDarkKnight and AceTrainerEli started it. We thought it would be a great place for everyday players to participate in a shoutcasted match just like the pros. Again, the stream was another thing we just did. We had few to no viewers in the beginning. IceDarkKnight and AceTrainerEli really took the stream and ran with it. Twice a week, they did shoutcasted 5v5's, and they were really good. Every week there were more and more people participating. 

Before long, we had others shoutcasting games on other nights. The stream itself had become its own community, all based around the ideas of LowElo. Stay Classy, treat others with respect, have fun, and be a good teammate. When Riot unveiled their Streamer Portal that included our stream, we hit the roof. Suddenly, we realized, Riot knew who we were and understood what LowElo was all about. 

Then, we got the best email I believe I've ever gotten in my life. Riot was going to give us press passes to the Season 2 World Championship in Los Angeles. It was so unbelievably amazing that it proabably deserves its own post. Touring the Riot offices, meeting Rioters, and meeting other people invovled in eSports and gaming media was truly an honor I will never forget. 

What's the point of this post? I just wanted to say thanks. Thank you to all our listeners, all our fans, and to everyone who helped make 2012 a wonderful year with LowElo. I hope we can work together to make 2013 even bettter! 

100 Game Challenge Certificate

This is the official Certificate of OPness for completing the 100 game challenge. 

To honor the wonderful, classy summoners of the Low Elo Community, and to recognize their achievements, we have created the official Certificate of OPness to celebrate those in the community who have completed this daunting task. 

Like other New-Age, touchy-feely institutions of higher learning, LowElo University runs on the honor system. If you have not completed the 100 game challenge, then you are...discouraged from dowloading/printing out this image. 

But once you complete your 100 Game Challenge, then please print out this Official Certificate and fill in your summoner name and champion. Each certificate is printed on high quality paper (assuming you have it). Each Official Certificate is also signed by Jeff and Dave themselves. Yes. Even though you print it out at your house  Jeff and Dave actually signed it with pens. Really. 

Real Summoners of Genius - Mr. AP Teemo Mid Autolocker

Today we salute you, Mr. AP Teemo Mid Autolocker. 

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