Monday, April 6, 2015

LPL Week 10 Review : Bard/Kennen/Irelia support and more!


For many teams, this was the week of truth - and on top of that, they were dealing with a new patch. Returning picks such as support Irelia and new picks like Gragas jungle, Shyvana top and Bard even, made this quite the moving week.

by Michael "Tribble" Godani

Friday, April 3rd

OMG vs Energy Pacemaker

OMG's coach, citing the teams performance in other games, said he wanted to place his team on unconventional picks. Whether this was the case or not, it was still another show of disrespect levied towards the viewers and fans of one of China’s top teams.

Losing Game 1 in a true “we don’t care” fashion to the last seed in China does not mean EP didn't have to do anything for it. AmazingJ, who brought out the Garen the last time he was on stage, managed to 1v1 superstar Gogoing in lane. You could even see AmazingJ shout out loud when he got the solo kill.

OMG did manage to stay in gold range of EP early by prioritizing turrets. Unfortunately, EP played their teamfights a lot better and while OMG kept initiating fights, EP kept cleaning them up.

Energy Pacemaker came to play and they showed us just that with their new jungler and ADC. The last seed in China took down OMG with a beautiful teamfight composition. A few Gnar! + Glacial Prison combo’s completed the wombo combo and therefore most of the teamfights.

EP's comp was built around getting those five drakes and they did. Having the fifth dragon stolen away from them by Loveling was nothing more then a minor misstep for this relatively new lineup. EP managed to pick up the fifth drake followed up with the second baron of the game for them, and with that they upset the LPL and its fans by destroying OMG in the first game.

To round up this first game, OMG should really stop letting Cloud play Annie; his last two performances were very poor and the only impact that he has had was feeding the enemy team. We've seen that OMG cannot play these “lategame” team compositions well. Early/midgame is their forte, but who is going to tell them that.

The second game was a different story. Perhaps OMG realized that there were a lot of people around the world not amused with their performance/draft.

Putting Gogoing on the Gnar and Cloud again on a skillshot champion, Nautilus, they were ready to go. The star midlaner from the all-Chinese line-up, Cool, was playing the Anivia who picked up first blood sub 3 minutes into the game and from there went on to snowball, grabbing a few more kills around the map and a comfortable 30 cs lead.

EP’s Captain57, the jungler, did manage to get some aggressive warding down early-on in this game, same as he and the rest of his team did in the first game of the series. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to countergank since all the ganks or, let’s say, most of the ganks, were focused on the botlane.

Early midgame OMG did manage to rotate towards the toplane, giving both Cool and UZI a few more kills so that they could grab some new fancy gear from the item shop to get ready for the final siege.

A beautiful siege on the toplane ended with a Crunch into the Gnar! to line the members of EP up for the Anivia/Jinx combo who would quickly make fast work of the fresh meat that was being presented to them.

As mentioned earlier, Cloud was playing a skillshot champion. As the best mechanical support player in the world right now, he showed off with incredible hooks, beautiful peel and teamfight-deciding plays. The man is a monster on skillshot supports, showing it every single game.

OMG did not manage to end the game themselves. EP ended it for them by surrendering after 26 minutes and splitting the series.

King vs LGD Gaming

Two teams who both came out with their own unique compositions. The Ori/Kog’maw ball comp from LGD against the five-tank army from LGD. Yes, five-tank army! Maokai, Vi, Cho’gath, UrGOD and Nautilus. The most remarkable detail about King was that MLXG actually build Cinderhulk on Vi.

The first ten minutes of the game were quiet with a lot of farming, and right before the second spawn of the drake (the first one being picked up by King) MLXG ulted PYL above LGD’s red buff to secure a 4v5 advantage for the next drake. As King was not sure yet if a 4v5 was sufficient enough, they managed to kill Acorn’s Rumble and then went for their second drake of the game. It seemed to be going okay for King as they were still down in gold due to the fact that LGD was getting better farm and knocking down turrets. 

The real switch in the game was around the twenty minute mark when MLXG overextended and died for free while the rest of the team tried to catch up and got picked off one by one. A 3-1 trade in favor of LGD basically sealed the game.

We1less was playing the Orianna this game and he did so to perfection. A couple of beautiful shockwaves, especially around the thirty minute mark. TBQ jumped into the midlane, followed up by a Glacial Prison and Acorn’s Equalizer! Double kill TBQ, no escaping this though, the Ori ball caught out any player trying to escape this drive by the killer squad from LGD.

LGD destroyed King’s idea of being unkillable with teamplay and individual play. TBQ and We1less were looking very strong on their champions and secured a first game win by forcing the surrender from King.

Bard and Amumu were locked in for the LGD team and they got everyone hyped! The first time that Bard was to be seen in competitive play, Pyl was the first one to do it. Just a note on the side, Flame got swapped in for Game 2 to get some playtime.

Before the game even started, TBQ managed to give Leym first blood which resulted into a boots pickup for the Nautilus support. Leym used his mobility to scout out TBQ in his jungle to get vision on his jungle pathing and with success. TBQ was not as successful on Amumu as he was last game with the Sejuani. Dying too many times by making bad plays, TBQ set not only him but his entire team back by a lot. Flame was cursed to play 1v3 every couple of minutes and the bottom lane of LGD didn't get a single decent gank from the sad mummy.

It was actually We1less who once again was the shining light on the LGD team. Who would've thought that an Anivia's ganks would be more successful than Amumu’s? Indeed!

King controlled the game just fine, taking early drakes, collapsing on lanes knowing where TBQ was by warding properly and extending their map pressure.

A 23-minute baron by King didn't result in a total collapse on one of LGD’s turrets, but they used the buff to slowly take away the outer turrets and get more control over the map.

Pyl’s Bard didn't work out as he might have hoped for but it is to be appreciated and respected that he took it out, even if not to his own success. We have seen the potential of Bard and perhaps with some better coordination, this could really be a strong pick.

Skye might have been one of the better performing players this game, single-handedly taking out Imp in every teamfight and causing chaos. 

TBQ did give LGD a bit of hope by stealing the second baron, but King their lead was too big to overcome with this buff.

King takes the fifth drake and shortly after take down Game 2 as they split the series!

Star Horn Royal Club vs Vici Gaming

This is it, the moment of truth for the fans, the players and the organisation of Star Horn Royal Club. With four games to go, this should game should be a great start for a perhaps crazy playoff participation run, could it be?

No, it cannot! Vici gaming showed off another Montecristo like game with a low but efficient kill count and strong rotations to leave SHRC out in the cold.

Vici had 100% control over every single aspect of this game. They ended the game with a 22k gold lead and dropping no towers to the two-time runners-up at Worlds.

Calculated tower dives with a ton of  crowd control coming out of Carry’s Hecarim, Dandy’s Definitely Not Udyr and Hetong’s TF, caused them to multiple times come out of these dives with zero deaths.

The substitute jungler for SHRC was not able to make his mark this game, perhaps that was a bit too much to ask for.

So, a very strong looking Vici Gaming with another objective-minded game which worked out perfectly fine, just like the previous games that they have played.

Game 2 wasn't all that different in terms of results. Vici Gaming took control over the game after Blank was caught out in the dragon pit while Mata wanted to clear a ward. He tunneled into the pit and when he tried to tunnel out, Mata flailed him backwards and VG just collapsed on him. Instead of turn away from this area, SHRC decided that a early lead for Vici might be a better option here.

After this point, Vici took a big enough lead to start controlling the entire map again, as they did in Game 1. With superior ward coverage, a fast clear of the outer turrets basically sealed the deal for them. Vici showed incredible teamplay while the only shining light on SHRC was Cola’s Jax, taking away the only two turrets of the series in the botlane.

Dandy showed this series that his champion pool is more like an ocean. Udyr and Sejuani were picked up this set and especially with the Sejuani he showed off some incredible ganks. His ultimates were on spot, hit them 100% with a 100% kill follow up on them.

Vici Gaming is looking like the second best team in China at this point while Star Horn is in need of some serious help! The team looks completely broken, clueless and is really in need of someone to get these guys back on track.

Edward Gaming vs Team World Elite

To keep the playoff dream alive, Team World Elite must at least take a point off EDG in this series. After this first game, that is still possible, though highly unlikely.

Where teams such as OMG and LGD have been trying certain champions/strategies out, EDG is not much into that and just does whatever they want and how they want it together with winning.

Swapping out Pawn for U hasn't changed a thing for this match as EDG still dominated every aspect of the game.

The game started off quite well for Team WE by going even in the early game, picking up the drake and only being down in gold by some cs advantage created in the bot and top lane.

Until the second drake spawned, the game was quite even but EDG shifted into their second gear and took a 3-0 fight and the drake. All three kills went to the super toplaner, Koro1, who was playing Jarvan IV, building a brutalizer into a hydra into the last whisper and before he could complete his ghostblade the game was already over.

Several fights occurred across the map, especially in the midlane, and every single time, EDG came out on top. Even if only by a little, the No.1 in the world managed to grab the advantage out of every single confrontation.

Did TWE play bad? I don’t think you can say that they actually played bad, they were just up against a much better team.

Game 2 started a bit similar to Game 1, although with less kills yet there were some ganks from both junglers who could’ve lead to a few deaths across the board. While the game seemed to be going even, EDG was once again coming out on top after a few fights, ending with a 4-2 and a 4-1.

Looking at the trades, it looked good, but none of the kills were going onto EDG’s carry Deft. He was not having a good game, some might discuss his item build as an issue for this game while others might argue that EDG was a bit too cocky coming into this game.

Mystic on the UrGOD made quick work of Deft and made sure that he was the one coming out on top with his standard build (FH,LW,MM,BC) while Deft went for a unorthodox build with the Infinity Edge as his first item.

The game slowly turned as more teamfights started to ramp up and Aluka’s Sion was becoming more and more an issue for the players from EDG. As soon as the Undead Juggernaut got his Thornmail, he was dishing out more damage to Deft without even targeting him.

Team World Elite sought out more fights and got them, everywhere, within seconds of each other, almost fight after fight, extending their gold lead with each fight. All this fighting lead to destroying the bot inhibitor from EDG and a Nexus turret but, by overstaying a bit, EDG managed to kill two members from TWE and answer with the Baron.

Could it be? I mean, if there would be one team to come back after this(EDG being behind in the meantime in turrets 8-2), it would be EDG.

No, it couldn't. Some questionable engages came through from Meiko and even U all of a sudden was found in the middle of this “Melee range” formation which sealed the deal and gave the IEM finalists the win.

Team World Elite beat Edward Gaming and was added to the list of OMG, Snake and King of teams who managed to pull this off this split. 

A split between a cocky EDG and a motivated and 'all-to-play-for' Team World Elite, keeping playoff dreams alive!

OMG vs Energy Pacemaker 1-1
King vs LGD Gaming
Star Horn Royal Club vs Vici Gaming  2-0
Edward Gaming vs Team World Elite 1-1

  
April 4th

Star Horn Royal Club vs Energy Pacemaker

Crazy performance from the struggling members of the Star Horn Royal Club, forcing a 21 minute surrender from Energy Pacemaker after an amazing game!

Destroy AmazingJ, that was the early mission for SHRC, EP who initiated the laneswap placed Maokai in the botlane who got bullied by Zero’s Thresh and Namei’s Jinx. After poking him with the hook/chomper combo a few times, he had to give up first blood and gave SHRC more control on the bottom lane.

Star Horn turned up the heat and didn't stop, taking a turret in the bot lane, the drake and then collapsing with four people onto AmazingJ’s Maokai followed up by a toplane gank on the tree really sealed the deal.

They did not only break the confidence of the man who managed to kill Gogoing yesterday inlane 1v1, but the entire team.

Zero’s Thresh combined with the chompers from Namei was an effective way to take out a single member while the Gnarjuani combo took out the rest of the team.

Our world’s finalists blew our mind by taking the bottom inhibitor sub 19 minutes and forcing a 21 minute surrender after baiting the baron which lead to two kills.

Are they back? Is the playoff dream still real and alive for Star Horn, or was this a one time show?

Clearly, this wasn’t a one time show! Game two continued where Star Horn left off in game one. I do have to mention that giving away Sejuani and Gnar was quite the awkward decision, but it worked out for them.

Blank’s early gank pressure lead to several kills and Zero once again came out big with the hooks, this time out of the Nautilus.

Zero single-handedly dominated the early game for Star Horn and slowly but surely Cola joined the snowball.

SHRC looked very good and EP looked terribly bad! Although Star Horn didn't clear the game as fast as they did in the first game, the game was never really in danger of being lost. Especially after Cola’s baron steal, yes, the Leblanc baron steal got brought to you by Star Horn Royal Club’s Cola with a bitter taste for Energy Pacemaker’s Drizzle who failed to smite.

Star Horn cleans up this set and takes the three points home, being alive still to make the playoffs!

Gamtee vs Snake

Snake should be the big winner of the 5.6 patch, the tank meta would suit their champion pools and improve their peel for Kryst4l.

What Snake did today in their first game against Gamtee was something new, new for the entire league of legends meta, Shyvana top with Teleport Smite.

How does this work though? Well, in lane swaps, Flandre managed to pick up the Gromp which is a juicy 60 gold and add 30 gold to it once he had his cinderhulk. Flandre kept picking up the Gromps in either his bot or the enemy’s top side to keep him ahead of his laner LetMe.

His quick cinderhulk was the key to the domination that Snake managed to show off later in this game.

Gamtee did try to fight Snake off, but the newcomers kept their gold lead by contributing to kills as a team and not as a single or duo.

Flandre was ahead enough to tank up the baron together with Beast who picked up LPL’s first Gragas jungle and Baka was hitting it from outside the pit. They got caught out, but managed to pick up the baron, a 3-2 exchange in favor of Snake with Kryst4l picking up the three kills which got him going as well.

A fed Draven with a huge dragon in the front line that seemed to have a limitless health pool.

Snake did it again as most of the watchers would say. The only question is, shouldn't Snake just have played this safe instead of showing off these kind of shenanigans right before playoffs?

Gamtee’s LetMe was impressed enough by the Teleport Smite combo that he tried it out himself on the Rengar top building full tank. Snake came onto the rift with two new picks in the likes of Trundle and Volibear (jungle). Early on, LetMe was benefiting from the laneswap initiated by his team by being far ahead of Flandre’s Trundle. The small advantage became a bit better when Xiaohu managed to 1v1 Baka inlane and take first blood.

Snake answered back with a couple of early drakes, good vision control and taking the outer turrets down before the 15 minute mark.


The entire game was going back and forth, while Snake was in the lead most of the time, Tale’s positioning on the Kog’maw lead his team to even the gold and outplay Snake in the teamfights.

Gamtee made a questionable decision going for a baron which they did manage to get, unfortunately for them, Kryst4l was quick enough to come all the way to the baron pit after taking the bot tier 2 turret. Kryst4l then cleaned up the pit by taking three kills and Baka took the last one as Sinkdream managed to get away as the slippery fish that he was.

Snake’s limited engage from the Volibear was what should’ve lost them the game, Volibear is a pretty one dimensional champion who cannot reach the backline without flanking. If he does manage to reach it, he is either too low health to do something or his passive is popped already.

Gamtee exploited this and was on their way to split the series, but the bad positioning from Tale on the final teamfight at the dragonpit lead his team to defeat against a shaky Snake.

Invictus Gaming vs Master3

Both teams had something to play for and after looking good the last few weeks, this might be one of the most interesting games of the day.

Interesting it was, when we look at the first game. Z1tai playing the Eye of the twilight in the toplane, Shen while Kakao picked up the Gragas.

Also worth mentioning is that M3 switched out Candy to play with Smlz, who is a known UrGOD player and therefor locked in the UrGod.

It was quite the farm game although Kid and Kitties managed to push Smlz into his turret early with some good harass and forcing the heal as a result of eating a death sentence.

M3 decided to make a dragon play and with succes, just the follow up on ganking the botlane didn't share the same success. At least, not for M3, a gank with the Glacial Prison got turned from a possible 2-0 gank into a 1-3 advantage for M3. A great countergank by Kakao didn't only lead secure his own bot duo, but also lead to killing the enemy botlane in exchange for his own Kitties.

The Kalista from Kid being up by two levels, two kills and a gigantic cs lead, meant that the botlane was secured, time to focus on the other lanes.

Rookie was doing a great job already against Dade’s Vladimir who lost his turret early and falling behind in CS which meant that the Batman & Robin duo from IG focused on helping their toplaner out.

All this happened without any form of real pressure by Master3, who just let IG do whatever they wanted and when they did try to interfere, they simply got smoked!

Yes, IG showed off their mechanical skills, especially Rookie who had some beautiful Azir plays and Kitties max range Death Sentences were one not to forget.

A 21 minute surrender was the result that IG was looking for. They take game one.

The second game of this series was a lot more interesting to watch when it comes to close games. Looper locked in one of his favorite champions in the toplane, Singed, as Invictus Gaming came onto the rift again with the Shen & Gragas.

M3 was looking good early in the game, coming out on top in the little skrims that occurred across the map but not quite as lucky on the dragon attempt that got stolen by Kid with the Ezreal ult.

IG traded the next two drakes for a mid outer turret and the top tier 2 turret and continued to expand their lead in forms of farming and turrets.

We do have to mention though, that M3’s jungler, Condi, is just looking terribly bad! Yes, he did have a decent debut, but after showing off his facechecking ability for the last few weeks, our friend managed to single-handedly lose teamfights by misusing his Glacial Prison. Not once, not twice, every single time!

IG’s composition had again a lot of utility and they used this to bait the baron multiple times so that Zz1tai, who had a double teleport on the Shen, could splitpush and take down the bottom inhibitor which eventually lead to a baron for Invictus Gaming.

M3 wasn't playing better or less than IG in the teamfights, but when you  have a jungler who wastes his aoe stun ultimate on a single target or in the open, you’re chances are pretty much done for.

Kid managed to punish Condi’s lack of insight with cleaning up fights due to the ability he had to burst down champions and chase them to finish them off.

A great performance from Invictus Gaming who secure the three points and push M3 really close to relegating.


Team World Elite vs King

Perhaps one of the most important games this week in terms of playoff seats. As both teams still have control over who is going to the playoffs, this promised to be a interesting match with two teams going all out.

Assassin, the decent performing midlaner from King, came onto the rift with the Karthus while LeyM obviously thought that Zero’s Irelia support pick was good enough to pick it himself(and also in the second game).

King started very strong, Assassin was using his ultimate almost to perfection as the team seemed to communicate very well. The pressure that MLXG applied on the botlane got followed up by the pressure that Assassin put onto Team WE with his ultimate.

The roams from the King midlaner lead to full control for the promising team who according to the critics would be somewhere in the top of the LPL based on their pre-season performance. King continued to pressure WE and eventually pushed their lead towards the 9k gold mark which didn’t even help King that much. A teamfight that occurred at that point went even, 4-4.

Despite the gold lead, this game seemed to be even in terms of fighting, as TWE tried to stall the game to farm up as much as they could. King couldn't close out the game, a common issue that we've seen quite a few times before this split and with that they kept TWE their hopes high. Teamfights were still going even until around the 40 minute mark. A teamfight that barely went in favor of King, as their team started to scale better and TWE their damage was falling off, lead them to the baron and eventually to close out the first game.

King was lucky that TWE is not a good teamfighting team, otherwise this might have turned out otherwise.

Perhaps the most important game for Team World Elite was the second game against King for them this split. For some reason, Spirit and Xiye were allowed on Nidalee and Leblanc which lead TWE to victory in the second game of this set.

As we started out even, with great ganking pressure from MLXG on the midlane, TWE managed to come out on top early in the midgame. As both Aluka and Skye farmed up, Aluka got a little bit ahead after Spirit started to give his lane some more attention.

Xiye in the meantime had been toying around with Assassin’s Lissandra, who didn’t stand a chance 1v1 against the Korean midlaner.

The first teamfight seemed to be happening around the second dragon spawn, but TWE managed to poke and scare King away from it, giving them another free drake which would help them significantly to close the game out earlier than King did the last game.

Creating the fights that lead to turrets and eventually the baron, strangly enough didn’t come from Spirit or Xiye, but from Yuzhe, who showed why we are all such a fan of LPL supports playing Thresh.

Death Sentences, to the fullest meaning of the name, were thrown out to sentence the poor looking King players to a 1-1 in the series, which would keep the hopes for the playoffs for TWE alive.

Team World Elite didn’t hesitate pressuring King while having a gold lead, they searched for fights, created fights, took objectives and forced a sub 30 minute game win over their competitors for that playoff seed.

Results Day 2:

Star Horn Royal Club vs Energy Pacemaker 2-0
Gamtee vs Snake 0-2
Invictus Gaming vs Master3 2-0
Team World Elite vs King 1-1

April 5th

Snake vs Master3

A beautiful game to start your Sunday off with. Snake came onto the rift with the troll in the toplane and the fat drunk man in the jungle while Baka picked up a new champion, Karthus.

A game that shortly after M3 picked up the first blood on their ADC, got turned into favor of Snake with some unfortunate teamfights for M3. You don’t want to be in early skrims around the map with a Karthus on the enemy team.

Baka picked up three early kills and the likes of snake took the rule of three into three early drakes and turrets.

There was nothing much that M3 could do except hope for mistakes from Snake’s side. After picking up the baron early in the game, pick got turned into a teamfight and turned into favor of M3. Bad positioning from the likes of Kryst4l and Flandre, but well executed skillshots from Dade and zone work from Lovecd.

This only extended the torture that Snake had lined up for M3 who had no answer to their strategy of the Trundle splitpushing to get rid of the outer turrets.

Snake ended the game 9-0 in turrets and took a perfect game. M3 their chances for playoffs is now looking very grim with King picking up points and all they can and must do is turn it up for game two against Snake!

So it appears that someone told Dade that if they wouldn't win this game, playoffs would be close to impossible.

The former Samsung Blue superstar came onto the rift with a digusting performance in terms of KDA and skills to show off together with LoveCD. Dade’s Leblanc, Lovecd’s Thresh was a recipe for abuse and disgusting punishment.

Snake started off decent by taking the early dragon again but M3 wouldn't have it. Flandre who locked in the Shyvana again with the teleport smite got camped and taken out of the game with some 3-4 men ganks.

M3 showed a completely different approach to the game than they had shown in the first one. More aggressive and above all wanting to win and destroy the opponent. We mentioned Lovecd, who is just one of those players why you would watch M3, especially on his Thresh. Every Chinese support is a great Thresh player and the use of his kit this game was tremendous, beautiful flails into the box and DeathSentences that literally caused death.

As you can see in our Top 5 of this week, Dade’s dancing skills were tremendous and his ability to delete Baka was quite entertaining also.

M3 kept pressuring Snake and left them no chance to even have hope to get back into the game.

A well deserved split.

Team World Elite vs Energy Pacemaker

All that Spirit and his ducklings need right here is a 2-0 victory to have a bit of hope of making the playoffs.

Spirit was once again the man of the match, the uncontested MVP for Team World Elite. His early ganks, annoying Nunu invades(which causes nothing but stress and frustration for the enemy) applied enough pressure for his team to capitalize on the already relegated Energy Pacemakers.

Spirit got his ADC Mystic a head with some beautiful Thresh lantern ganks got him ahead too in gold to work on his support items.

As always it is both amazing and satisfying to see a player of world class being able to solo-carry games in the professional gaming scene, Spirit always delivers!

A perfect game for Team World Elite that didn't drop a single turret forced the surrender right before Mystic could’ve gotten his first penta of this split.

Energy Pacemaker got their bans back this game after being punished for not obeying the rules for showing up with the proper lineup.

The weird fact about this pick and ban phase is that Aluka got to play his Sion again as Spirit got his Nidalee and Xiye his Leblanc.

It was another one-sided match. Team World Elite dominated thanks to the likes of Spirit who in the early game was not even needed in the bottom and midlane. Xiye got himself ahead as Mystic picked up a early double kill inlane.

Spirit kept applying pressure after delivering Aluka his first blood and destroyed the morale of EP. Contesting buffs, showing up constantly in the enemy jungle and even scaring EP away from a dragon while being outnumbered 1v3.

Spirit showed off as if he was making a “How to carry” video live on stage.

Spirit got himself so far ahead and therefor also his teammates that they could capitalize on every teamfight, the one in the bottom lane ended with a massive chain of CC by Aluka and cleanup from the likes of Spirit and the one in the toplane ended with a quadra kill for Xiye.

Another perfect game by not giving up any turret and Team World Elite take a well deserved and needed 2-0 in their last game of this week!

King vs Invictus Gaming

King starting off by giving Skye the red buff for his laningphase against Zz1tai’s Trundle. Mainly to sustain his health and to be able to come out on top in trades. In the meantime in the toplane Wuxxian was destroying Kid thanks to great play from both Wuxxian and Leym but also due to a slacky performance from Kitties. Failing to peel properly for his ADC by not using the proper spells in the proper moments caused them to fall behind, getting poked out in lane and then giving up first blood to MLXG’s Rek’Sai.

To make matters worse, Skye teleported top and ended up giving his ADC a double kill, just to snowball his lane and getting him ready for the upcoming teamfights.

Despite the early kills on MLXG and Wuxxian, the gold stayed even as Rookie and Zz1tai were winning their lane in farm, but King was winning the battle in dragons. As we will see later on they managed to pick up 5-0 dragons in this game which eventually caused IG to lose the game.

We can’t blame everything on the dragon control, Kakao was just not able to make his presence known in the first 10-15 minutes of the game while Rookie farmed up mid.

The first teamfight that occurred in the toplane went in favor of King, who gave a great show in terms of “How to peel for your ADC” while Rookie did not manage to pull off a proper flank with the Azir.

Losing this teamfight caused IG the baron and the fourth drake for IG. As IG did manage to pick up the baron later on in the game after Assassins got caught out, they couldn't translate it into anything big like a inhibitor. King continued their wonderful way of teamfighting for which the team has been praised so many times this split and took the first game after MLXG and Assassin collapsed onto the backline after Skye splitting up the team.

A very much deserved victory for King who controlled objectives and fought their fights carefully and properly.

There isn't a single person that stood out on King, all players put filled in their roles and managed to win thanks to their teamwork.

Game two was a total different game than the first one, as King decided to turn on the heat quite early by MLXG counterganking his botlane, grabbing the first blood on Kakao’s Nidalee. Not much later he caught the jungle cat in the river and turned her into a dead kitty while Rookie was taken out by Assassin.

From this point on, there were appearing little skrims everywhere on the map, King came out on top of every single one of them. Assassin impressing a lot again on his Karthus, timed ults, beautiful teleports to assists his teammates.

Perhaps MLXG and Assassin impressed me the most this game, they were very eager to choke IG and try and take the three much needed points to keep the playoff dream alive, or should we say secure it?

Also this game, King controlled the dragon, grabbing all dragons in this set is perhaps a detail for Invictus Gaming to think about.

Then again, perhaps Invictus gaming is aiming fort hat 6th spot and didn’t bother too much with this game? Who knows, anyway the three points go to King who have their seventh spot almost as good as secured!

LGD Gaming vs Vici Gaming

The best set of the night on this final day of week 10. We got served some bloodthirsty first half of the game with picks such as Imp’s Ashe, Acorn’s Galio and Mata’s Kennen.

Oh yes, it was on! Dandy tried to capitalize on TBQ’s predictable and weak early jungle by invading and placing traps all around. He managed to find at his blue buff after PyL had to wait in the fountain to revive after giving up a kill. This “capture” by Dandy, turned into a incredible fight with teleports being used and ults being thrown out. A wonderful play by We1less and teamfighting from LGD turned this skrim into a 6-2 win for LGD.

TBQ was active this early in the game, ganking here and there and even killing Dandy solo in his own jungle. LGD was playing this early game with succes, as Vici was not allowed and able to play their dominating rotation game as they did the previous games.

Unfortunately for LGD, at the dragon pit, Carry got a triple kill on the big tree which turned him into a vicious animal at this part of the game and Vici jumped on his back. The tree was carrying the teamfights with his AOE damage reduction and throwing the damage back like the boss that he was!

Vici Gaming was perhaps not able to show off their objective minded gameplay, but they did outsmart LGD, baiting TBQ’s ult kill him and Pyl shortly after to take the dragon and more map pressure.

VG’s comp seemed to be stronger than LGD’s comp, or they were just playing it better. Who knows, anyway Vici Gaming was going to take game one after LGD was throwing their early lead that they grabbed from TBQ’s aggressive play.

VG takes the baron, two inhibitors and then die to LGD in a teamfight…yes, they died.
The gold got put into good use as the gap closed to only 3k gold and LGD seemed to be able to stay alive a little bit longer.

As the next baron spawned, Vici was looking to take the two inhibitors down again so that they could just recall, sit out the baron that LGD took as they moved in for the inhibitors.

On the contrary….LGD came out of their fountains after the empowered recalls with FURY AND RACED AS HARD AS THEY COULD FOR LGD’S BASE!

A game, a game of throws some might call it, got thrown towards the likes of LGD who managed to pick up game one to disbelieve of VG’s Dandy.

As the second game went into the draft, it was quite clear that Vici Gaming was here to take the win for the second game, LGD on the other hand were trying out some other picks. Riven mid, Khazix Jungle and Miss Fortune ADC.

TBQ applied a bit of pressure early after We1less got ganked mid at level 2 by four people and managed to pick up a kill on Hetong. This was pretty much the highlight for LGD until Flame managed to pick up a triple kill with his Shyvana in dragon form.

Vici was not going to let LGD style on them and started to slowly turn up the heat which came to a real explosion when they found a dragon fight. That fight went in favor of VG with 5-0 since We1less was not yet aware of how to enter a fight as Riven. The triple kill in that fight that got onto the God of Vasilii helped him to get far ahead of Imp’s MF and to apply more pressure inlane.

As soon as Vici took the outer turrets from LGD it was the same ol’ story as the games before, apply pressure, obtain vision control and suffocate the opponent. In contrast to other games, their opponent was not that much troubled with it, perhaps only Flame(who has been trolled by LGD in both games he played this week). LGD was getting their asses kicked but on the player cams it didn’t seem to bother them.

Right before the 20 minute mark Vici managed to ace LGD again and slowly entered their base.

A clean game from Vici Gaming who ended the game with a 38-5 score to split the series.


Results Day 3:

Master3 vs Snake 1-1
Team World Elite vs Energy Pacemaker 2-0
King vs Invictus Gaming 2-0
Vici Gaming vs LGD Gaming 1-1

Standings after week 10:


Roster for Week 11:

Day 1:

LGD Gaming vs Gamtee
Master3 vs Energy Pacemaker
Star Horn Royal Club vs Invictus Gaming
Edward Gaming vs Vici Gaming

Day 2:

King vs Gamtee
Star Horn Royal Club vs Snake
OMG vs LGD Gaming
Edward Gaming vs Energy Pacemaker

Day 3:

LGD Gaming vs Invictus Gaming
Team WE vs Gamtee
Edward Gaming vs OMG

Vici Gaming vs Master3

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

Friday, April 3, 2015

EU Playoff Preview: Gambit VS Unicorns of Love



by Reece "SabrewoIf" Dos-Santos

For one team, this season has been the height of consistency - never pulling away and always remaining middle of the pack with a 1-1 record against all but two teams. For the other, it was an uphill battle against what looked like another dreary season, but they ended up in their best position since 2013. For both, it was a season of hope after impressive showings at IEM’s San Jose and Cologne respectively.

The Unicorns of Love stampeded into the European scene with probably the fastest growing fan base ever seen in a recently promoted amateur team. After their victory against TSM in San Jose, Power of Evil left with 10 times the amount of Twitter followers he had entered the tournament with. While the Unicorns haven’t quite pulled off the Cloud 9/Lemondogs effect of entering the scene and winning in their first split, they've put on a hell of show and could easily become one of EU’s best and biggest brands. What’s best about watching the Unicorns is simply how fun and energized they look; the enjoyment they’re getting from their experience is easy to see in their work ethic and reflects in their results. Especially in comparison to teams like Meet Your Makers and Elements who spent a good deal of time in a bubble of despair - a bubble that led to unmotivated and zombie like repetition of basic mistakes, mistrust in calls and underperforming.

Gambit, on the other hand, has been on a recovery mission after being one of EU’s biggest names and slowly falling away into irrelevance. Just as the above mentioned teams, Gambit also started off the season in an already established bubble of despair following a terrible 2014. Although IEM success provided a good recovery point, things still started off badly and looked to be a repeat of past EU LCS results. Needless to say. however, after the benching of NiQ and the picking up Betsy, this is the healthiest Gambit squad we've seen in over a year. Diamond finally seems revived and while not quite at the level he used to display, he’s still showing signs of the same spark before he dulled. For Gambit fans it’s a relief to see a squad that, despite failing to show up at IEM Katowice, looks like it can challenge for top spots and remain stable and healthy.

The Unicorns and Gambit stand 1-1 in their EU LCS series against each other with neither wins really providing a picture of how this match-up might turn out. The first win for the Unicorns being in Week 1 and the first of Gambit’s five game slump. In this match-up, Power Of Evil was allowed to play his signature Syndra and made great use of the soon-to-be-deleted item Deathfire Grasp to seize control and carry his team. In addition, every kill in the game bar one happened on Gambit’s side of the map. The only Unicorn that didn't completely outclass his match-up was Vizicsacsi.

One the flip side, the Unicorns had just gone 2-0 in Week 8 and therefore destiny required them to balance out and go 0-2 in Week 9 where they faced Gambit for a second time. While this match was more contested and actually had map-wide kill distribution, the game fell completely into Gambit’s hands as Power Of Evil’s new tank meta Cho’Gath pick didn't quite work out how it does in solo queue. This, and then the loss to the Giants to end the week, doesn't bode well for the Unicorns coming into playoffs but they aren't a team that has shown any tilting tendencies and I still expect their A game to be on.

For me, the match-up’s to look out for are in the Mid lane and the Jungle. If Power Of Evil and Kikis can pull away from Betsy and Diamond it's more than likely that the Unicorns will be able to trample Gambit. However, if those two lanes don’t go as planned, I worry for the Unicorns’ ability to comeback as I believe Gambit have the raw skill advantage in both the bottom lane and the top lane. But, on a whole team synergy level, the Unicorns are one of, if not the best teams in the EU LCS. They’re a team with full trust and belief in each other, and such a tight level of synergy is arguably the most dangerous element in professional League of Legends gameplay.

Love hurts.

Looking forward to the semi-final place these teams are fighting for, I also think it’s the Unicorns of Love that hold the advantage in a match-up against SK Gaming. The fact that SK are an objective based team and can be easily uprooted and overturned by disruptions to their game flow falls greatly into the Unicorns’ hooves. The fast paced and sometimes spontaneous shifts in game play, often started by Kikis, are a perfect combat strategy to EU’s strongest team. This was proved in Week 6 when the Unicorns handed SK one of their 3 losses in the split.

Gambit on the other hand has trouble making a comeback when teams outmuscle them in the earlier stages. Failure to secure dragons, barons and any more than 5 towers is also a dangerous habit among their losses. SK are the only team to 2-0 Gambit this split and I can’t see that trend changing in the playoffs, SK play Gambit’s game better.

Game prediction: Unicorns of Love 3-1

I believe in dark horses, and horned ones too.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Preview of EU Challenger Series Spring 2015 Playoffs: Origen vs Reason Gaming

By Anel “Musinlol” Musinovic


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EU Challenger Series playoffs once again begins at 18.00 tonight and Reason Gaming will need something special & some more to pull out the win vs Origen.


Origen vs Reason Gaming
SoAZ, Amazing, xPeke, Niels & Mithy vs Kubon, Xayoo, TakeFun, Celaver, Libik


Origen are the clear favorites here as the 95-5 fan vote has indicated, and with no disrespect to Reason Gaming, that is probably the right percentage. Reason Gaming joined the playoffs because SK Gaming Prime's Sencux and Wunderwear were unfortunately ineligible to play due to age restrictions under the following rule:

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SK choose not to enter the playoffs using subs Phake and Zytan, and they their forfeited their spot over to Reason Gaming.


Origen has only lost to the LowLandLions, but some might argue they were taking it easy and fooling around a bit because they had already secured the first spot. Origen definitely won’t be taking it lightly on their semifinal match vs Reason Gaming, but they may choose to save picks and strats. Standard play should be enough for Origen to beat Reason Gaming.


When these two faced each other previously, Origen 2-0’d them even though one of the games was fairly close. This routing wasn't unexpected because of Origen's higher level of experience and just a higher level of player for player.


Pick and Bans:

As stated above, I don’t expect anything fancy from Origen. For Reason Gaming, on the other hand, I would love to see a pocket pick like Zyra for Libik or anything else we don’t often see to potentially surprise their opponents. Also they could try and go for the old LowLandLions winning recipe of banning out 3 mid laners to try to minimize xPeke’s impact on the game and pick a jungler like Nidalee or Rek’sai who Xayoo seems to prefer - to try to snowball the lanes out of control.


Origen has more experienced players and I think they will come out ahead right from the start in picks and bans, especially if they get their Kog'maw comp, which Reason should fear for good reason.


Player to watch from Origen: xPeke


Who else could it be than our beloved xPeke. xPeke is a versatile midlaner who knows how to carry but also knows how to allow his team to carry. He's got a strong champion pool, and while he tends to favor flashy assassins, Ahri always seems to find a way to charm her way in on him. He can also bring out the likes of Lissandra, Ezreal, Xerath and Lulu (even though recent nerfs to Lissandra has made her see less play.) Knowing xPeke from previous seasons, he has made his efforts to pick up Viktor & Diana which he might pull out vs Reason.


Player to watch from Reason Gaming: Xayoo

I didn’t pick Xayoo because I think he's a better player than the rest in any way, but because he often buys sightstones. They will have to try to snowball lanes as said previously and utilize the vision they have to make aggressive plays and win from there. He will also be the person who has to snowball the lanes otherwise I see no other outcome than a 2-0.


Predicted score: Origen 2-0 Reason Gaming


The game will be played April 1st at 12 PM EST & 18:00 CEST
If you want to contact me or follow me on twitter -> www.twitter.com/musinlol

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Week 10 LPL Preview


by Michael "Tribble" Godani


We are two weeks away from knowing which teams are going to the playoffs. Which teams aside from EDG, OMG and Snake will have a chance to grab the Spring Split Championship and a ticket for MSI? Who will have to play in the relegation tournament? How is the “tank” meta going to affect our league? The majority of these questions shall be answered after the upcoming 24 games this week, so let’s have a look.

Current LPL Standings:


Friday, 3rd of April

OMG vs Energy Pacemaker

Two teams who have nothing more to gain. After OMG's first set loss against Invictus Gaming in Week 9, they might be seeking some form of revenge for their fans, but they've already secured their spot in the playoffs. Energy Pacemaker, on the other hand, will probably be going into the relegation tournament at the end of this month. With that being said, both teams might be trying out some new picks while keeping in mind that OMG will want to hold on to that second spot in the standings.

King vs LGD Gaming

The week of truth for the players and staff of Team King, who are playing three extremely tough matches this weekend of which LGD is their first opponent. Both teams are here to win and splitting the set is not going to help any of them. Also for these teams the new patch might either be a problem or a huge benefit, who knows. LGD is confident of their playoff spot, the only question is where they will end up this split in the standings and for King, every game is a final. Both King and LGD have not been living up to their expectations, although LGD seems to be playing a bit more consistently. This should be a great game to watch with two teams who love teamfights and still have something to fight for. 

Star Horn Royal Club vs Vici Gaming

SHRC has been suffering all season. Having played seven weeks without their star ADC Namei, they now have to continue the rest of the season without InSec. He was diagnosed with a tibial fracture and requires surgery. The management of SHRC has not estimated a date of return yet. They want InSec back only when he is fully recovered and in good shape. Until then, they'll have to do with another substitute to finish of this season. 

Vici Gaming, the team who is currently holding the 4th place spot in the LPL, will be SHRC's first opponent. Vici amazed friends and foe with their performances in their last few sets, demonstrating beautiful objective control and rotations followed up by perfectly executed teamfights/skirmishes. While EDG has been looking extremely good with their new players, Vici Gaming seems to have also sorted out their issues and seem renewed. Vici is also pretty much ensured of playoff contention while for SHRC, this game is one of the four finals that are remaining for them. Will SHRC's broken formation hold up against this renewed Vici Gaming? Can Namei pull his team through or will Mata and his companions throw more salt in SHRC's open wounds? 

Edward Gaming vs Team World Elite

Both Team WE and Invictus Gaming had to bow down to the most powerful and dominating League of Legends team in the world that goes by the name of Edward Gaming. Two best of 5 sets got decided in 6 games by this indestructible formation of greatness. After winning the Demacia cup last weekend without dropping a single game, with Deft dying only twice in the finals and Clearlove being undefeated in the cup as well as in the LPL with his Lee Sin, they seem unstoppable. There is so much to say about this team, but to sum it up, you might call them SSW v2.0.

Then there is Team World Elite. Dropping to QG in the Demacia cup with EDG waiting for them wasn't a good showing. Their new formation is working better than their old one, but is it good enough to take a game off EDG to keep the playoff hopes alive? I personally don’t think so, yet you should never underestimate Spirit, who, along with Clearlove, might be the most interesting match-up to keep track of during this set. The two best junglers in the world are facing each other.

Will Spirit do the impossible and lead his team to victory? Or will EDG continue their rampage and endeavor to out-style their opponents as they did last weekend and in all weeks prior?

Friday’s Matches:

OMG vs Energy Pacemaker
King vs LGD Gaming
Star Horn Royal Club vs Vici Gaming
Edward Gaming vs Team World Elite

Saturday, 4th of April

Star Horn Royal Club vs Energy Pacemaker

EP has basically no chance to obtain a playoff spot this split and will have to focus on the relegation tournament at the end of the month. SHRC, on the other hand, are still in the running for a spot and their game against EP could bring them three points. Keep in mind that SHRC is the one team that EP managed to defeat this split, though with Namei on the roster of SHRC, it should be doable to grab all the points here. As a matter of fact, if SHRC does not take the full win this set, it’s pretty much over as far as their playoff contention is concerned. First up for SHRC is Vici Gaming, which seems tough, but let’s hope that the substitute jungler for SHRC can make his mark at least in this game if he doesn't already do that in the VG set.

Snake vs Gamtee

Both teams are more likely to be trying out champions/formations and perhaps new tactics. Snake is guaranteed of their playoff spot, while Gamtee is most likely to be facing LSPL teams in their relegation tournament. Snake who has been experimenting with a few new setups and tactics, might have to switch up their game again in this new patch. Likewise for Gamtee. The strange fact about Gamtee is that their individual players are not as bad as their current standing is showing, but they are simply splitting too many sets. This would be another set which would probably be a split. 

Invictus Gaming vs Master3

We have discussed M3 before this split. Their botlane is really improving lately and Dade seems to be feeling more comfortable as the season is coming to an end.  M3 has really improved a lot and perhaps with gaining a few more points, starting today against IG, they can secure their playoff spot.

Invictus Gaming is going into this match after suffering a 3-0 fatality from EDG. It is no disgrace to bow to the ranks of the current top team in the LPL but perhaps it did leave its mark on the players. IG has improved considerably lately and Rookie has stepped up his game. He managed to kill Pawn multiple times this weekend in lane. 

Overall this should be a very exiting match to watch between two teams who still got all to play for. 

Team World Elite vs King

The week of truth for Spirit and his IEM heroes. This week will give them (and us) a lot of clarity on their current status. Both King and TWE are in need of three points this set to either secure or have hopes for the playoffs. Team World Elite struggled early in the season but has improved since IEM. King, on the other hand, is just one of those teams as we discussed earlier that is comparable to LGD. Inconsistent results, yet they managed to take a game off EDG and OMG with strong and dominating play. If we will see both teams on top of their game, it will most probably be a tie, then again, who knows. 


Saturday’s games:

Star Horn Royal Club vs Energy Pacemaker
Snake vs Gamtee
Master3 vs Invictus Gaming
Team World Elite vs King



Sunday, 5th of April

Master3 vs Snake

One of those games where a split is the most imaginable outcome looking at the standings of both teams. Snake might want to go for that second spot but shouldn't risk all that much with the possibility that Vici Gaming might knock them out of third. Ella and Beast are the key factors in this game on the side of Snake, where Candy and Lovecd are the ones who have been stepping up their game on the side of M3. A very interesting match in terms of strength, M3 has been growing stronger while Snake has seemed to be getting less dominant this split.

Team World Elite vs Energy Pacemaker

For the biggest E-sports organisation of China, this game against Energy Pacemaker has got the same tag on it as SHRC vs EP, “must win”. Must win to stay alive in terms of making the playoffs, for TWE this game is just as important as the one against King. Where King is facing off difficult opponents, this might be the easiest out of all teams for TWE to pick up three points against. Spirit should and must be able to carry his team in this set and lead them towards those 3 points of victory while Energy Pacemaker wants to make sure that they will leave this split leaving a good impression.

Invictus Gaming vs King

A final for King, while Invictus Gaming is also looking for a victory but with less pressure. King has two teams behind them that want to make sure that they won’t make playoffs, and they're playing against a team that recently lost to EDG but showed signs of strength, suggesting it would be really hard for them to take down. King has been spoken about a lot this split and their standings at this point might actually reflect the way that they play. They win some, they lose some, and they share the 7th place spot. Invictus Gaming is in the same predicament as King but with a lot more quality, that’s why they are higher on the ladder. Definitely a game where the teamfight seeking mentality from King will have to face the skirmish potential and strength from Rookie and Kakao.

Vici Gaming vs LGD Gaming

“We want to attend the MSI as the #1 representative of China.” That’s what LGD Gaming wants and on top of that, getting to Worlds is their top priority this season. Vici Gaming is their next opponent, with Vici having stepped up their game and looking fantastic lately. LGD can now show if they can live up to their own and their fans expectations.

Can IMP finally show that he is still the ADC that he claims to be and carry his team to victory as he did at SSW? He surely has the support to do so. Perhaps the revived botlane of Vici Gaming is too strong, as Vasilii and Mata seem to have finally learned to work properly together? How will Dandy disturb Acorn during his laning phase or deal with TBQ? Will the Dandy/Mata roams be successfull or interrupted? Will Acorn make his presence known in the botlane with one of his fantastic teleport plays, or will We1less go off as one of the top midlaners as many claim that he is?

Perhaps the most interesting match of this weekend, served to us as the last game of the week!


Sunday’s games:

Master3 vs Snake
Team World Elite vs Energy Pacemaker
Invictus Gaming vs King
Vici Gaming vs LGD Gaming



Top 3 Players to Watch:


1. Team World Elite’s Spirit – EDG, King, EP. Spirit has to wait with taking off his carry pants. These three games are perhaps the most important games for TWE this split. If they could manage to pick up 6-7 points then I would say that the management would be really pleased. Spirit is capable of carrying, can he do this again?

2. Star Horn Royal Club’s Namei - InSec is out, Namei is in. Namei has won 3 LPL splits and is now the one and only, the chosen one, to keep SHRC in the LPL and perhaps even make the playoffs. If ever there was a time to prove himself once again, it is now!

3. Snake’s Beast - Beast has been one of the most important players on Snake this split, together with Ella. Now with the patch going over into 5.5, we should be very curious to see how the new meta junglers are going to affect his playstyle and the playstyle of Snake.


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

http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames2

http://star.longzhu.tv/lpl