For those new to ramen, ramen is a type of noodle soup that grew out of the influence of chinese immigrants to Japan. Ramen is characterized by special noodles (a variation of chinese wheat noodles) in either meat, or fish broth. While originating in Japan, ramen has since spread throughout South-East Asia, and the world. so, whats the big deal with Japanese noodle soup you ask? well, Ramen is something of a super food; ramen increases oxygenation of the blood, and crucially for what we will be discussing today, increasing nuro-responsiveness.

Performance Enhanching Effects

As previously mentioned, the consumption of ramen 4-10 hours prior to a mentally or physically stressful event—Such as an athletic competition, or e-sports tournament—significantly enhances one's ability to perform. At one time, ramen was flying under the radar as a method of gaining a competitive advantage, but now with increased research we're starting to see the amazing effects of the unassuming soup be documented. Recent studies have shown that high-level athletes that compete in sports like Hockey, Tennis, Mixed Marshal Arts, Track and field, etc., see, on average, a 6%-14% improvement in cardio and endurance excericeses after consuming ramen. the effect on the brain is even more shocking.

recently, a group of sport scientists from MIT, McGill, and the University of Arizona that specialize in E-sports observed the effects of ramen on reaction time, game awareness, and team effectiveness in a group of 50 top-level North American, European, and Asian E-sports athletes. Although Tim Michaels Ph.D, a researcher from McGill University, was very clear that their study was only a first step in growing the body of research, he admits that the results of their explotitory study are very compelling: [...] Well, obviously there needs to be a lot more research on the subject. the purpose of our study was not really to get definitive answers to questions, but rather more along the lines of figuring out what kinds of questions we need to be asking [..] for example, our research suggests that the improvements correlated to ramen consumption are most strongly correlated with e-athletes from asia. is that because of something genetic? does ramen have a cumulative improvement factor? truth is, we don't know yet, but those are certainly questions we can answer in follow up studies. no doubt E-Sports organizations will be waiting for more research, now that we have data showing that even the guys from [North America] are seeing a 5% improvement in their reaction time after eating ramen. — Tim Michaels, Ph.D

What does this mean for tournaments?

Well, for now, we'll have to wait and see, but seeing as 8 of the first 9 League of Legends World Championships were brought home to the asian contenent, we might be on a collision course with a major point in E-Sports history.