Week 9 LPL Preview : The Indomitable Team WE returns from IEM

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

After upsetting friend and foe by eliminating both Korean contenders for IEM, Team World Elite returns to the Chinese LPL with three games to catch up on their absence for last week. Also the top three are playing three games each this week so a lot of action. Let’s preview the must see matches of the week.

Current standings:

Friday 20th of March

The most interesting matches are the last two of the day, so let’s take a look at the second to last match-up, Team WE vs OMG.

Team WE upset everyone last weekend, literally! Eliminating CJ Entus and GE Tigers was the biggest upset in League of Legends history according to E-sports analysts and players. So, what can we expect? Well, Team WE can't blast into this match-up with the same team as they had on the rift at IEM because of the LPL's "two foreign players max" rule, although that shouldn't influence the end result too much. Team WE has shown improvement from what we've seen from them until now. Even Aluka, one of the worst top laners in the LPL, managed to conquer the hearts of a lot of IEM watchers.

OMG, on the other hand, has been performing quite well this split and they haven’t lost a single set yet. Uzi and Cloud seem to be the bot lane to watch from all the Chinese powerhouse teams.

This was a must see match because OMG is still one of the most exciting teams in the LPL and also because Spirit is the best performing jungler in the world at this point. Don’t get your hopes up too high for Team WE as they will most probably lose the set, but then again...miracles haven’t left the world yet.

Concluding Friday night is Edward Gaming against Namei’s Star Horn Royal Club.

Namei has lifted SHRC quite a bit in my opinion. Zero is now able to perform to the fullest of his capabilities because he has a self-peeling ADC next to him. Insec doesn't have to solo carry anymore, and we saw him in one of the last games he played not building full damage on his junglers -something he is known for.

Namei has arrived. This means that SHRC has a star player who might even carry them into the Top 4 of the LPL after the play-offs, which arrive in just a few weeks.

But EDG has been utterly terrifying lately and they're not going to let Namei have an easy game. Clearlove, known for his “feral flare” way of jungling, is actually ganking and making plays every single minute of the game. The key for this game is that EDG will have to finish somewhere in the midgame because of the teamfighting quality that SHRC has. Namei can be similar to Deft and they both play on the same level, but the peel that comes out of Zero has been a lot more impact then that which Meiko provides.

This will be a game between two highly respected teams that will do anything to win. Most probably a draw will be the most manageable outcome for SHRC.

Friday’s Matches:

Invictus Gaming vs Snake
Vici Gaming vs Gamtee
Team WE vs OMG
Edward Gaming vs Star Horn Royal Club

Saturday 21st of March

Vici gaming is facing Snake in the first match of the day. The biggest concern for this game will be whether VG can bring out their A-game. They've still have a lot of inconsistent performances because they haven't seemed to uncover what playstyle they are most comfortable with yet. A big point here is if Snake is able to get their “protect the ADC” comp with either a juggermaw or another kind of composition.

Every week on twitter, I state (along with a lot of other LPL watchers) that I still find it weird that Baka's Xerath is almost never banned away or picked away by the enemy team. It is the only champion that he plays at this point and since they are playing on 5.4, both Kassadin and Azir are not able to perform as well as they used to do in competitive play.

How will Mata and Dandy roams affect the mid game or even the early game of the game itself and can Beast and Ella provide enough space for their MVP ADC, Kryst4l, to perform the way he has done until now in the LPL?

There are a lot of questions concerning this match-up that need to be answered and on March 21st, they will be.

Team WE is facing LGD Gaming in the second match of their three-game week and this is going to be a big one. LGD is only three points above IG and VG and really needs to pick up these three points to secure a spot for the play-offs and maybe even be able to look up towards the third place spot that is currently being taken by Snake.

Despite the inconsistent performances of LGD, this team is still one of the top teams in the world when it comes to their wave control and ability to force objectives. The last time these teams met was in Week 3 when LGD took a convincing 2-0 victory over one of the biggest brands in Chinese E-sports. TBQ will be facing the best jungler in the world right now, Spirit, who has been carrying his team or tried carrying them in every single game this split.

We are looking forward to this match-up. A team that needs a 2-0 victory to secure their fourth spot and possibly a third spot and a team that needs to win as much as they can to avoid relegation and maybe even have a shot at getting towards that eight play-off spot in the LPL.

Saturday’s games:

Vici Gaming vs Snake
OMG vs King
Edward Gaming vs Master3
Team WE vs LGD Gaming

Sunday 22nd of March

Snake against Energy Pacemaker would normally been looked upon as easy 2-0 victory for Snake. Normally, that is, but not anymore. EP has been performing quite well since the CNYB, having split five times out of the seven games that they have played since then.

Energy Pacemaker is most probably going to have to play decisive games regarding relegation and that means they've got nothing to lose. We've had Raphael introducing Viktor to the LPL and we are really looking forward to what EP has got up their sleeve this match-up.

Snake's biggest advantage would be to pick up the dragons as early as possible and capitalize on that since EP's objective control is quite bad. Snake almost picked up the earliest fifth drake last week in one of their games and when facing a team that doesn't have the ability to control this, they should punish that kind of play.

Snake will probably defeat EP and take the three points. A draw is the the biggest win that EP can hope for here.

Edward Gaming is off to face Gamtee, the king of the draws. With ten draws, they lead the charts in terms of draws and not against the lesser teams only in the LPL. They have drawn games against LGD and OMG, but EDG is not of the same level as these two named teams. As mentioned before, EDG is showing a level of dominance which doesn't even force them to stomp their enemies but by simply outplaying and out-rotating them.

As EDG is having three matches this week, this would be by far the ‘easiest’ one with the least big names in comparison to the ones that they are facing this week.

Nine out of ten times would EDG take a 2-0 victory over Gamtee, let’s see what happens.

Sunday’s games:

Snake vs Energy Pacemaker
Edward Gaming vs Gamtee
Star Horn Royal Club vs Team WE
OMG vs Invictus Gaming

Top 3 Players to Watch:

1. Team WE’s Aluka – Having amazed all the LPL watchers with his performance in IEM this week, we will have to see if this former LPL Split champion will continue to perform the way he did last weekend. With Sion as his trademark champion, we are looking forward to his tanky style of playing and perhaps, he can prove us all wrong.

2. OMG’s Cloud - The best Chinese Thresh player, that’s what he is. Will we see it banned this week or taken away, or will we be a witness of another bunch of top plays by the support of OMG? His roams against M3 to eliminate Dade’s Viktor were great, not to forget the Death Sentence onto Looper in the top lane.

3. SHRC’s Namei - Namei is facing the best team in the world this week, EDG. This will be the biggest challenge that he has had in a long time and we are looking forward to see if this self-peeling ADC can carry his team towards a good result against this top team.

The games are live on the following streams at 6AM CEST:

http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames2

http://star.longzhu.tv/lpl