Saturday, April 4, 2015

Preview of EU LCS Spring Split 2015 playoffs: H2k vs CW

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic




EU LCS playoffs begins at 17.00 tonight with H2k facing Copenhagen Wolves which will be followed by Gambit and Unicorns of Love.


H2k Gaming vs Copenhagen Wolves
Odoamne, loulex, Ryu, Hjarnan & KaSing vs Youngbuck, Airwaks, Soren, Freeze & Unlimited


The last time H2k and Copenhagen Wolves faced off in a Bo5, the Wolves sent H2k packing in a clean 3-0 sweep to keep their LCS spot. However since then they've lost their star player, Febiven, to Fnatic and acquired a new fresh support, mid laner and coach in KaSing, Ryu and Prolly. Needless to say, the change has worked amazingly for them. They've looked better and better as a team and the week that they've had is playing into their favor to develop even better strategies, etc.
     Finishing in 3rd with a 12-6 record and looking the stronger of the two, H2k will once again be going in as favorites against the 8-10 Copenhagen Wolves. Hopefully to a different outcome than the last time.


Pick and bans:


H2k:
In pick and bans, H2k should focus on getting a winning match-up for Odoamne. Even though I think Odoamne could go even in a losing match-up against Youngbuck, it could work out well. I explain why in the “Player to Watch” section, so you'll have to wait for a minute to find out. 

If they want to go with a comp where they try to pick winning lanes they could also try to bring out the Nidalee, Rek’Sai or Lee Sin to have even more early game pressure. We know loulex is probably one of the biggest Lee Sin advocates and still prefers him in the changing jungle meta. The pick could work well vs a Kennen - who Copenhagen Wolves have previously played. 

They could also go with a scaling comp with the likes of a Kog’Maw and Lulu in the mid lane but I would like to see an aggressive early game comp because of their superior map play.

If H2k want to play the Sivir that they've brought out eight times, with seven of them being successful, they should try to ban out Freeze's signature Draven who has a good match-up vs Sivir. Even trying to ban out three adc’s could be a good great idea because Freeze hasn't found a single win on other champs besides Graves, Kalista & Draven.



Copenhagen Wolves:

For Copenhagen Wolves, I find it a bit more difficult because there's a lot you want to ban against H2k and the recent Jarvan nerfs might have hit them hard.

Airwaks has had eight games on Jarvan and managed five wins from them, but with the recent nerfs he has been trying out different picks such as Sejuani and Fizz - with the Sejuani being a bit better for the team in my opinion.


Getting the Sejuani pick will be important and if banned it doesn't mean that much because it leaves up other picks for his teammates. It's likely that he's practiced other tank junglers such as Nautilus, Zac & Gragas. Otherwise, he can fall back on more early game pressure junglers in Lee, Rek’Sai & Nidalee. Last time, in the promotion tournament vs H2k, he did play Gragas so he should have that as a pocket pick if needed.


The bans I would go for in Game 1 would be Leblanc, Ahri & Sivir. I’m unsure about the two mid lane bans because I feel like Ryu can shine on other champs as well but is really good on those two specifically. Also they could let the Sivir go through and pick up Draven if open. With those two assassins banned though they could go for their Cassiopeia, they’ve won three out of three games with her.


Player to watch from H2k Gaming: Odoamne


Even though the great addition of KaSing seems to be what has made them a better team I would like to go for Odoamne. Youngbuck has a lot to prove with the pressure he's been getting from the community.
     He leads the team with his shotcalling and is able to do pretty good calls when doing fine himself, but when getting behind I feel like Youngbuck can make Copenhagen Wolves’ shotcalling suffer. Also the extra pressure from community can make him believe that if he doesn't put up a great performance the wolves might be looking for other options. Therefore I would like to see a top lane pick from Odoamne that can bully Youngbuck into mistakes, deaths or just falling behind in experience.


They both have five games on Maokai despite Odoamne having way more success on it with a 100% rate while Youngbuck is sitting on a 20% win rate on him. H2k will know that could be a contested pick and might just give it over to Copenhagen Wolves and pick up the Gnar who they've played in two out of the last four games.


Gnar can be a difficult champ to play because of the rage but can be incredibly strong in teamfights and is a really good lane match-up against Maokai. Odoamne also has a 80% win rate in five games on Gnar so it is likely that he will try to pick that up.


Player to watch from Copenhagen Wolves: Soren


Soren has improved massively this season. He seems way more confident when he plays and it shows in his performance. He's been compared to other great danish midlaners and he will be one of the key players against H2k. He has had a strong Cassiopeia winning all three of his games on her.


If his main champs get target banned I'm guessing he would go for Xerath but it will be interesting to see if he has picked up recent champions such as Diana which could be great in teamfights which the Wolves have been favoring a lot this season.


Predicted score: H2k Gaming 3-1 Copenhagen Wolves

The game will be played April 4th at 11 PM EST & 17:00 CEST over at www.twitch.tv/riotgames

If you want to contact me or follow me on twitter -> www.twitter.com/musinlol

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