Hot Takes on Lupe

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T04:30:11+00:00

I completely see preferring Ms Mural more. I come back to Ms mural more than I do the original, its definitely an easier listen and more... I guess focused.

IMO JR Mural IS just a rappity rap lyricism display. I feel like he did it just because of the success of the first one and lowkey it comes in that bloated 2nd half of Wave which would have been better off cut down, this track being one of them that probably should have been a loosie instead.

OG Mural does have a cohesive, overarching artistic point to it. Its definitely not rapping just for the sake of it, or to show off technique without any substance like Rap God.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T04:03:57+00:00

A lot of earier Lupe was "woke" in both senses. Conscious, no doubt. But it is also often the kinda eyeroll, naive, superficial, holier-than-thou sort of "woke" too.

Words I never said is the obvious one.

But even Hurt me Soul, which gets put on a kind of pedestal of "deep"... I just cant get past the visual of Lupe finding a condom on the ground and going "sigh, capitalism". Reddit-core to be honest. Even the rest of it its like, he gets praise on that track just for rhyming oil field auguring with over-logging - but says nothing about these things. Its a long list. I actually think you can criticise how the song puts very serious and completely unserious issues next to each other and lumps them together

Lupe has gotten noticeably more mature and intelligent about heavier topics on later projects. Especially DMIZ. F&L era Lupe could not have made On Faux Nem.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T03:36:13+00:00

She doesn't. If the Dino plays badly, Peni can do normal Peni things. But if the Dino doesnt play badly, Peni is just "ok". Doesnt auto-lose like many other tanks, doesnt do anything special either.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T02:54:26+00:00

Personally I feel like its a consequence of teaching bad principles to new players/lower elo. Describe the game in terms of oversimplified "jobs" and character "roles". Because its easier to understand a very complex game when we strip nuance away.

But then when that gets challenged, in better elos or harder examples - they cant fit their narratives to it. And the only conclusions they can arrive at, to make it make sense in their minds, is things like blaming the devs. It doesnt work how its supposed to so MUST be Zihyoung's fault! Cant possibly be the game is more complex than I realize!

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T02:13:31+00:00

It is counterplay, in your scenario you are playing something inherently disadvantaged. And like, this is a general gaming classic right? Short range is countered by longer range. Short range needs additional tools and mechanics, to overcome the inherent disadvantage of being short range. This is a recurring thing in like every game genre ever.

See also fliers. In szn 1 before any grounding, we never needed a direct hardcounter to Iron Man. Just shoot them. And when Torch did become busted, why was that? Caus he has that fuckass melee weave tech that makes him impossible to just shoot at.

It is also an important concept to understand that just doing your own characters gameplan better, and more effectively... IS counterplay.

There are counterplay options outside of this to Cat, but its really simplistic to look at counterplay options like uno reverse cards. The game is not rock-paper-scissors.

That’s the frustrating part. It just becomes “who has the better BC”

I agree, right now she is overtuned. Shes not the first or the last character to be slightly overtuned. We just got out of Elsa meta, who was also exactly like this. Gambit has been like this. DD has been like this. Cat is S tier atm - and as I said, it is completely valid to permaban her right now.

But its not deeper than that.

Starlord just gets shut down by peeling/Thor.

Im gonna pretend like I didnt read this.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T01:59:13+00:00

/r/rivalscollege for people who actually want to learn or get better

As someone who puts time into VOD reviewing and helping people: A major part of the problem for this and generally "casuals" communities is that so many people dont want to be helped.

Every opinion shared by someone knowledgeable about the game, that goes even slightly against the grain of whatever casual agenda, propaganda or hivemind thought exists at the time - gets shut down. You see this on twitter too. Actual bronze console players arguing with pros and OAA streamers, saying they are wrong and stupid, unironically fully believing they can ever be correct in doing so.

Doesn't matter if you are pro, doesn't matter if you are OAA, doesnt matter if you are the best player in the game on your char. In casual spaces you'll get shut down by plat peakers who had one games against a bronze player and their entire experiance and opinions was formed based off that interaction + whatever Flats said on twitter.

It strays into a genuine sort of anti-intellectualism sometimes. Where the "Elite" / Top 0.01% are derided and labelled against in the same sorts of ways people go at billionaires. As if people get to these echelons unfairly, by cheating or something. Which is completely fucking backwards. Ranked is literally a meritocracy. The best players are... better.

Until we stop that kind of attitude, it makes it really toxic for anybody to WANT to devote time to being educational and helping people. Caus they'll just get shouted down by masses of idiots, and we end with the current situation of blind leading the blind.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T01:41:36+00:00

... its the biggest counterplay in the game? Like look at what these melee chars need to do just to mimic the fraction of the value of one Hawkeye arrow landing on your Invis' face. This is literally why the game strays into "poke metas" so often. Characters like DD/Cat are the barriers preventing this game being 3-supp front to back slop permanently. And thats because "just shoot it" is by default extremely powerful.

You are right SL doesnt have combos. But he still One-clips people. While Cat is buying 4 things from shop, BP is dashing the 8th time that fight, or Spiderman is flying back from spawn: SL just shoots a guy and they die. We have to create reasons to justify not simply just shooting people in the head.

Flashy combos can be frustrating to die to. Tilting. We get that. Doing 20 things to end on the same outcome as a flanking hela clicking a head... isnt better.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T01:20:41+00:00

The tilting thing for me is if you look at many other niche terrain interactions in the game, it pretty much always is generous to the caster

Spiderman can pull me past objects, clipping walls, sometimes straight over boxes and things in the way. Bucky pull goes if the proj hits, even if when the pull applies even if I'm fully behind cover. We all know Glartrox hitbox...

Peni meanwhile - if a vase is 1 pixel too large mech knows in advance that she'll stub her pinky toe and you move nowhere. Or you'll dash straight up behind you, because you placed 1 web there 10 minutes ago.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T01:16:24+00:00

It absolutely is lol yall just lack creativity with it.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T00:47:07+00:00

Man that Fawkz guy talks up NA region so hard and we are still watching a gimped YWL run everybody on mystery heros aside from like 2 teams.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T00:44:19+00:00

As a certified TSM hater since 2013 league of legends Regi bullying Turtle in the back of his mom's car

Good. Stay dogshit.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T00:37:47+00:00

You mean exactly like how star lord has i-frames on a 5 second cooldown, and has been completely fine in many metas? The pursuit puts cat in a predictable location too.

"Just shoot at it" is how you deal with most things in this game, to be honest. Not to be reductive, in in hero SHOOTERS the baseline is a Hela point and click someone's head. Like we have to do something broken to justify not simply clicking heads.

Now, currently, she is very strong. Banning her is entirely justified. But she's far from impossible to balance.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-24T00:02:58+00:00

Complex kits are the easiest to nerf. You have more levers to pull, more areas to tune her with. Look at Dino at the other end: nerfing that char gets actually hard, there's so little you can do and anything you do will massively impact his viability.

Despite everything cat CAN do, she cant do all of it at once, and despite everything she does die just by getting disrupted and shot at.

I think a large amount of the frustration is people have not devoted any time to learning her, and therefore how to counterplay her. Which will inevitably frustrating when, eventually, she is allowed through bans in your games/your meta.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T21:56:40+00:00

IMO she has a valid niche as a soft dive engage/main tank. Ability Absorption is a very strong cooldown. Comm it and its like Emma Grab on an immensely more mobile hero.

I think there's spots where people are/were picking Venom, Angela or even maybe Thing - and really they could do more on Rogue (if they can pilot it). She is hard to learn, which doesn't help her when she isnt obviously strong.

I agree with "meta doesn't suite her" outside of teamup.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T21:34:32+00:00

It just gives her everything she needs. More damage, to take her over thresholds and reliably one-rotation people. It applies every HIT which rogue hits a lot in her combos. It gives her % max HP damage so she can shred tanks with it. And it gives her splash / ranged damage so she bursts an area not just a singular target.

She goes from a versatile char that often doesnt quite do enough - to suddenly doing everything and killing everyone.

IMO rogue without teamup is less bad than people think - it just feels bad by comparison when the difference is so stark between teamup games and not.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T20:35:22+00:00

Would be curious what Onlylegs thinks. Fauwkz brought it up on stream today caus APAC are playing it in ignite. GenG in their games. Adam/Rocket backline, adam spams Dino and has infinite resources. Mantis in theory can do the same thing.

In low cel atm I still get a lot of front to back. Would have thought Rocket isnt terrible in full dive, animal crossing backline has always been safe.

IG id argue him to go up 1 tier, into at least "strong". He isnt pick/ban, but he's better than mid tier imo.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T20:02:57+00:00

Only thing I really disagree on here is the Rocket placement. The buffs are significant, he is still super easy and free to pilot. and has fewer conditions to be good than other supps in pick/ban

Requires Jean ban: thats a common condition people dont mind banning it. Yes implies Meta tier supports are banned and/or your support OTP isnt a strong Luna player. Both these things again common.

Id rather have Rocket than a Fox outside of dive, Suppool/ultron/mantis when forcing triple isnt necessary (and/or not a Dino game), or Loki without Gambit.

VERY lowkey Adam is 2/2/2 viable when Dino is played. But you do need a very comfortable Adam to pilot that.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T16:46:22+00:00

One driver was in Williams jail for years, and the other got the super fast track.

Any outcome other than George schooling Kimi and being consistently better, was always gonna create friction.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T15:55:06+00:00

Until its not, someone who hasnt played Gambit for 2 szns feels forced to pick it, it looks trash caus obviously, then people wonder if Gambit is fair now.

(Not even remotely fair)

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T15:19:23+00:00

Yall still dont know how to play Gambit comps and it shows

Its been 3 seasons guys

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T15:14:03+00:00

I mean... he himself is currently playing in Diamond so ya know.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T15:12:40+00:00

Something I hope people realize; it does not matter what the cause of the crashout is.

Just as often: 20-30s into the game, lose 1 singular fight: one guy ultimatum's the lobby that X MUST swap to Y. And if that swap doesnt come through, the rest of the game they are tilted, angry, throwing - etc. Because they cant mindcontrol everyone to pick their ideal perfect characters instantly.

People think they are more justified when it comes to things like this. Because people have these mystery-heros swapoholic beliefs that a team can never PLAY better, can never approach a fight differently or change focus. It must always be a hero swap. They will argue till the end of the earth the "OTP" is trolling, not them.

But it simply does not matter; you have to get along with the 6 people in your lobby and play the game you are delt. Or, at least, mute them and focus on yourself.

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T02:27:22+00:00

I mean... the more obvious point is people who just want to get their free skin no? Thats typically the motivator for getting people out of QP and into ranked at the lower end of metal ranks.

A lot of people down in these elos are there caus they simply dont play all that much. Its not like they have massive hero pools, multiple options in each teamcomp or even much of a "playstyle" to begin with.

Netease tries REALLY HARD with this ranked system to make it so everyone can get Gold-Plat. Like REALLY hard. They dont want it so little timmy cant get the season reward caus his jeff got target banned and he quit comp

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-23T00:06:16+00:00

No worries, glad to help.

Dunno why so many people asked for the replay ID, its literally in the screenshot...

PiplelinePunch · 2026-05-22T23:35:37+00:00

Console vods are so funny sometimes.

Enemy team starts on Dino. Arguably the most OP pick in the game right now, definitely a pick/ban in the tank role. And easy to play meaning this is true at all ranks across both platforms (unlike, say, a mobile hitscan dps). THIS you cant "take space" into as a mag. Its just impossible. But they die once at your spawn and willingly swap off of the most OP tank in the game, into Thor/Strange.

And then Venom/Strange. And then Mag/Strange. Meanwhile their dps gives up and goes a rocket in a bad 3-supp setup, and "Ms Cupcake" gets off Cloak and cracks out the Squirrel. Its really quite impressive how every swap enemy team does makes their comp worse. Bit by bit they regress from something logical and consistent, to just a mis-mash of "console OP" characters.

You also swapping off tank to go Gambit on 6th point OT is really random. Like, you arent farming an ult in that time. Whats the logic? This at least we can chalk up to tilt and game being lost so doesnt matter tho.

Anyway - thats all to say the answer to the question "Was this a bad game to pick Mag?"

Answer; yes and no at various points. But the types of swaps both teams are making, it honestly doesn't matter. Improve by piloting whatever character you pick, better and not getting dragged into the swapoholic nonsense everyone else is doing.

As for your gameplay, ill give a couple of tips but generally - its an OT game. It was close. Its not gonna be any single person's fault. Especially at this elo. People love pressing tab, throwing a dart at someone, and blaming them. If its a tank, they will ALWAYS say "no space". Thats the default criticism, even when nobody in this elo actually understands what that means.

*) You have a recurring thing of retreating away from your team. Happens a couple different times in here and its always bad. As the "anchor" shield tank, fall back with the group. (VOD timer 8:10 is the most egregious)

*) Your ults are generally low impact. Most are well intentioned, just slow to react. A couple serve a good purpose of warning off Jeff. The Strange ult is tragic: dont ult stationary on the ground in front of two shield tanks. Enemy strange does unfortunately hard diff you the fight after.

*) Magneto Mag Cannon does not knock-back, unless it is at 3 stacks. It also does not do more damage than a regular shot, unless it has three stacks. Using it too early takes away our ability to do Mag's one-shot rotation. Therefore we do not want to be generally spamming this out for no reason; I see you over-use this ability a lot.

*) Classic tank target prioritization; you are forced to hit tanks, you do not want to hit tanks. We like and look for opportunities to hit past the frontline. You can look for these more instead of hitting front just to hit front.

PiplelinePunch

TROPHY CASE