Game of the Day: Curse versus compLexity

By Helmight

           

            I’m not usually one to slap the word “epic” onto things, but there’s no other way to describe this game. Curse and compLexity went back and forth more times than I can count, fighting and clawing at each other’s bases down to the bitter end – and what an end it was. After 57 minutes of play, Curse finally managed to pull off a breathtaking victory against compLexity.

            compLexity went into the pick/ban phase with a poke-heavy strategy in mind. With Caitlyn, Morgana, Elise, and Orianna, their team was focused on sieging down Curse’s towers and protecting Caitlyn from danger. Meanwhile, Curse’s comp was far more interesting. IWillDominate brought out the jungle Skarner for this game, creating a sort of pick/teamfight composition that relied on the power of Quas’s lategame Jax to succeed.

            For a game with such an exciting conclusion, the match between COL and CRS opened just about as slow as it gets. With both duos occupying bot and generally even matchups across the board, farming was the name of the game for almost ten minutes straight. Finally, a sneaky brush gank by Kez brought about First Blood and seemingly opened the gates for both teams to begin their aggression. Dragon got started off by compLexity soon after the pick, but IWillDominate somehow managed to outsmite Kez for the steal. Though the first objective slipped away from COL, they wouldn’t be denied - Westrice was easily able to answer the dragon by taking the top outer tower.

            The game then fell into a predictable pattern: Westrice and Quas would 1v1 each other in a side lane while the remainder of their teams pushed mid back and forth. It was a sound strategy for compLexity in theory, as Lee Sin could easily fight Jax at this stage in the game, but at the same time they found themselves unable to properly siege on any of the inner towers. Meanwhile, Curse was fighting back against the pressure of COL’s poke and couldn’t really make a play themselves. The first teamfight of the game was largely indecisive, with two members from each side going down after COL attempted a push for Curse’s mid inner tower. After the failed fight, both teams switched gears back to farming. They knew they were in for the long haul at this point, and it became a question of whether Curse’s lategame Jax would be able to beat out compLexity’s lategame Caitlyn.

            The first break in the game came with a Curse rotation towards the bottom lane, where Quas and Westrice had been dueling for the last few minutes. With the slippery Lee Sin drawing in Curse’s midlaner and jungler, compLexity made a beeline for Baron Nashor, hoping that Westrice could keep them occupied for long enough. However, the Blind Monk wasn’t quite slippery enough – after taking down COL’s toplaner, Quas immediately channeled his Teleport and arrived at the Baron just in the nick of time. With the entirety of Curse collapsing on them, compLexity tried pulling out of the pit to avoid the fight. A clutch Glacial Fissure by Xpecial however prevented the escape and Curse would eventually take the ace off of compLexity, as well as the Baron.

            From here on out, it was a topsy-turvy, back-and-forth game. Curse would make good use of the Baron to secure all of COL’s inner towers, but when they went back to refresh the buff they were met with a brilliant Command: Shockwave by pr0lly. Now with the advantage, compLexity would take down a pair of inhibitor towers and the middle inhibitor – only to get aced in the aftermath of their success. Curse then used their numbers advantage to secure a pair of inhibitors from COL, swinging the game back in their favor. It seemed as though Curse would keep up the pressure through to the end of the game, but compLexity was not out yet. Another clutch Shockwave killed off Voyboy and Quas as Curse tried sieging the bottom inhibitor tower, and compLexity ran off down midlane to end the game.

            With their exposed inhibitors falling, Curse’s remaining members mounted a desperate defense that took all of compLexity’s members low and killed off pr0lly. With COL in full retreat from Curse’s respawned team, Quas channeled his Teleport onto an allied minion inside COL’s base. The lategame Jax ripped through an inhibitor and both Nexus towers, but was stopped short of ending the game by RobertxLee’s recall. COL’s marksman forced Quas off the Nexus for a moment, but could not forestall the arrival of the rest of Team Curse. With the support of the rest of his team, Quas leapt back for the Nexus and ended the game after a wild 57 minutes. 

CRS bans: Ziggs, Tristana, Evelynn

COL bans: Rengar, Kassadin, Kayle

Player	Champion	K/D/A	Minions Killed
Curse
Quas	Jax	6/4/8	464
IWillDominate	Skarner	2/3/11	217
Voyboy	Lulu	3/2/13	414
Cop	Lucian	8/0/8	501
Xpecial	Braum	1/3/13	75
compLexity
Westrice	Lee Sin	0/8/7	545
Kez	Elise	2/4/5	156
pr0lly	Orianna	5/3/5	477
ROBERTxLEE	Caitlyn	5/3/5	549
Bubbadub	Morgana	0/2/9	31

 Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

Game of the Day: compLexity versus Cloud 9

By Helmight

            Cloud 9 is usually looked at as the Superman of the NA LCS – the best hope for NA to win worlds, and one of its strongest teams. However, the North American champions may have just found their kryptonite in the form of compLexity. Despite being a new team to the league and having one of the worst records, COL has proven to be quite effective against Cloud 9. Their first match during Super Week resulted in a surprising win for compLexity, and though much has changed since then this matchup hasn’t in the slightest. In a chaotic game full of sprawling, scattered teamfights, compLexity managed to take down Cloud 9 in an immensely surprising upset.

            I’ll be honest – I didn’t watch this game live because I figured it was going to be a one-sided stomp. NA shoutcaster Jatt said himself that compLexity was “at the mercy of Cloud 9”, and the fan vote swung heavily in C9’s favor. However, COL approached this game with determination and poise, drafting a strong teamfight composition that relied heavily on pr0lly’s Yasuo. C9 meanwhile went for early game dominance, planning on shutting down compLexity early with lane bullies likes Caitlyn and Renekton and then using their usually flawless rotations to keep COL out of the game. It was a sound strategy – every time compLexity has fallen behind early, they’ve usually lost the game.

            The early game made it appear as though C9’s plan was working to perfection. COL was pressured hard in every lane, with pr0lly dying to a stealthy Meteos gank for first blood. Westrice then tried to engage on Balls’ Renekton with his ult, but was immediately forced to Flash away from the fight after realizing that he couldn’t beat the crocodile in a straight-up fight. The first tower of the game was C9’s as well – business as usual against a last-place team.

            But compLexity somehow managed to stay relevant. Instead of panicking and throwing themselves further behind, COL executed a lane swap. Pr0lly was able to comfortably farm against Sneaky despite not having a tower, while Bubbadub and RobertxLee were able to pressure Hai. It was a strategy that might not have worked if C9 had immediately switched their own lanes to counter it, but for whatever reason the NA champions waited for a few minutes before making the swap. It didn’t matter an awful lot for compLexity in the end – but it did keep them in the game a bit longer and kept C9’s gold lead down to 1k.

            Once teamfights started, they proved to be a chaotic affair. Nothing seemed to go right for either team – RobertxLee’s ballsy Rocket Jump initiation onto Sneaky didn’t go as planned, but C9 seemed out of sorts in fights, constantly shifting their position without simply standing and fighting against a team that hadn’t outscaled them yet. Though neither team won the first fight, it was a bad omen for Cloud 9. The next two teamfights went much the same way, but after forcing Hai to back with low health at the end of the third skirmish, COL made the call to start Baron. With a Tristana and an Elise on their team, compLexity was able to swiftly burn down the objective before Cloud 9 could respond, gaining their first lead of the game.

            C9 knew they were in trouble now – their bullies were effective in the early game, but not nearly as good as compLexity’s lineup in the late game. For this reason, they opted to play passively, trying to use Caitlyn and Ziggs’ waveclear to keep COL at bay. Normally, this would have been a smart move – if you were playing against someone not named Westrice. compLexity’s toplaner had been using his ult almost suicidally to set up teamfights, and as 3 members of C9 grouped around their mid inner tower, he went in. A Flash over the wall into Dragon’s Descent set up a three-man Last Breath from pr0lly, annihilating LemonNation and Sneaky in an instant. The kills were enough for COL to break into C9’s base and take the first inhibitor of the game.     At that point, it was no secret as to where the game was going. Ten minutes and three more inhibitors later, compLexity took down Cloud 9’s Nexus for the stunning victory.

COL bans: Rengar, Lulu, Lee Sin

C9 bans: Kassadin, Braum, Kayle

Player	Champion	K/D/A	Minions Killed
compLexity
Westrice	Shyvana	1/1/8	310
Kez	Elise	2/1/6	120
pr0lly	Yasuo	1/4/8	264
ROBERTxLEE	Tristana	5/2/4	345
Bubbadub	Sona	1/1/9	25
Cloud 9
Balls	Renekton	2/0/5	306
Meteos	Evelynn	4/1/3	136
Hai	Ziggs	0/2/6	331
Sneaky	Caitlyn	3/2/3	295
LemonNation	Morgana	0/5/4	22

 Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

Game of the Day: Millenium versus SK Gaming

By Helmight

            Remember when Millenium was the joke of the EU LCS? Back in the Spring Split, Millenium had an abysmal 9-19 finish to their season and were forced to play in the Challenger Promotion tournament just to keep their spot in the league. No one’s laughing now though. Millenium have reshaped themselves into a dominant team that easily go toe-to-toe with the best of Europe, as proven in today’s game against SK. Though SK put up an excellent fight against the up-and-comers, they were unable to stop the well-executed pick comp that Millenium brought to the table.

            Part of the issue rests with SK’s composition though. With a Trundle in the top lane, an Evelynn in the jungle, and a Lulu in the mid lane, SK’s team was severely lacking in the damage department. All of their hopes were resting on CandyPanda’s Kog’Maw to carry the game – if the Void puppy went down, so would the rest of SK. However, Millenium’s comp featured a trio of champions that were more than capable of diving SK’s backline to get to CandyPanda. The game therefore became a case of SK’s peel versus Millenium’s dive – whomever could pull off the strategy more successfully would be victorious.

            The early game was quiet for both teams. Millenium was able to secure the first tower of the game thanks to a 4v0 push in the top lane, but SK responded to that strategy by grabbing the first dragon. They might have pulled out a tower too, but a good defense by Kev1n and Kottonex prevented SK from taking the objective. Afterwards, both teams went back to standard lanes – Millenium shifted their duo down to lane against CandyPanda and nRated while Kev1n roamed top. Though standard lanes usually mean a more passive laning phase, this was hardly the case. Jree’s Morgana was constantly looking for blood and managed to secure a suicide first blood onto nRated with his ultimate and Ignite. No sooner had he respawned and come back to lane than Jree went ham again, using his ultimate effectively to lock down CandyPanda and allow Kottonex to pick up the kill.

            But despite the pressure on their botlane, SK refused to cave. Good rotations by Jesiz and Svenskeren allowed SK Gaming to take a handful of towers from Millenium. With the gold and kill count dead even, SK moved for dragon. Millenium quickly responded, opening the first teamfight of the game. Kottonex and fredy122 both dove for the enemy team and respectively got blown to pieces, but Millenium also lost Kev1n’s passive as well. With SK’s team low on health, Creaton tried going for a kill and got locked down by a well-timed Grasping Roots from nRated. With two members down and Aatrox weakened, Millenium had no choice but to concede the dragon and the early lead to SK.

            The old Millenium might have been beaten right then and there, but the new Millenium wasn’t out of the fight yet. A clutch dragon steal by Kottonex, followed by a well-played teamfight, allowed Millenium to reverse the gold lead. SK tried holding onto their advantage by pressuring MIL’s mid and top towers, but made a crucial mistake in leaving CandyPanda at the front of their team. One Dragon Rage by Kottonex later, the Kog’Maw was dead, along with two other SK members. Millenium wasted no time, seizing the first Baron of the game and starting a long siege on SK’s towers. By the time the buff finally ran out, SK was left with a single inner tower still standing and a 7k gold deficit to come back from

            The final blow for SK was not long in coming. Millenium’s second Baron attempt of the game forced SK to respond, but they arrived just a second too late to prevent the buff from going to Millenium. Despite this, SK had a good chance to win the teamfight – if they had focused Kerp. A well-placed ultimate from Millenium’s midlaner placed him right in SK’s backline and he proceeded to rip SK apart, without taking almost any damage in the process. With the ace in his pocket, Kerp led Millenium on a fast push through SK’s top lane straight to the Nexus, winning the game after only 37 minutes.

Player	Champion	K/D/A	Minions Killed
Millenium
Kev1n	Aatrox	3/0/9	231
Kottonex	Lee Sin	4/2/10	127
Kerp	Twisted Fate	4/1/11	296
Creaton	Lucian	6/2/12	270
Jree	Morgana	2/4/11	23
SK Gaming
fredy122	Trundle	1/4/1	258
Svenskeren	Evelynn	1/3/4	140
Jesiz	Lulu	2/3/2	250
CandyPanda	Kog’Maw	3/6/6	292
nRated	Zyra	2/3/5	39

 Questions? Comments? Leave them below!