Game of the Day: Curse versus Team Dignitas

By Helmight

            Dignitas’s midseason curse is back in full force this split. Despite having a powerful poke comp and the momentum needed to win against Curse, a single bad decision was all it took for them to lose the game.

            Curse and Dignitas had fought tooth-and-nail against each other all game long, forcing them to both to look for Baron. However, in the end Dignitas didn’t respect the Baron-taking power that Curse’s unorthodox double AD carry composition provided. As Shiphtur went for his blue buff and ZionSpartan splitpushed bottom with his Teleport on cooldown, Curse made the call to burn down Baron. An attempted steal by Crumbzz failed, and immediately afterwards Curse was able to pick off both Shiphtur and KiWiKiD. With a three-man advantage and their marksman both still alive, Curse charged mid, taking the inhibitor tower and inhibitor in seconds. ZionSpartan and Imaqtpie mounted a heroic defense of their Nexus turrets, but it was too little and too late. Voyboy’s rockets and Cop’s minigun tore through the pair of towers and the Nexus before Dignitas’s team had a chance to respawn.

            Though matched up against Dignitas’s powerful poke comp, Curse managed to hold their ground and prevent the sieges that Dignitas needed to win the game. “It was a little shaky during the midgame, but once we hit lategame we were fine,” said Curse’s midlaner Voyboy. "Once we got some MR, once we got some sustain, [the poke] was easier to deal with." It certainly didn’t hurt that IWillDominate was on Evelynn – the threat of Dominate stealthing up and flanking Dignitas meant that they had to pre-ward areas before setting up a siege, delaying their strategy and giving Curse’s carries precious time to power up. Once both Voyboy and Cop had their lifesteal items built, Curse was easily able to pressure Dignitas away from objectives.

            Dignitas meanwhile played a good, solid game. Xerath seemed to be a good fit for Shiphtur and the Magus Ascendant was key to their poke composition. With his Shocking Orbs coming out in addition to Crumbzz’s Coccoons and KiWiKiD’s Dark Bindings, Shiphtur gave Dig the ability to lock down and annihilate anyone on Curse’s team – something that Xpecial found out more than once in the game. Really, it’s impossible to say that Dignitas played poorly. They grabbed the first dragon and the first tower of the game and pressured Curse on multiple fronts despite being down in gold. However, late game is unforgiving and Dignitas seemingly forgot that fact. It’s a lesson they’ll need to learn if they intend to break a five-game losing streak and make a run back for a playoff spot.

            Unconventional picks were a theme of the game – the reworked Nidalee finally made her LCS debut in the hands of ZionSpartan, while Xerath crossed the Atlantic to play in North America’s games as well as Europe’s. Of especial note is Voyboy’s AD Tristana in the midlane. It’s unusual, but it paid off for Curse in the end by giving them great objective pressure. Though they split evenly on dragons and towers with Dignitas, it was the fact that they had two AD carries that allowed Curse to take the game-winning Baron. Tristana and Jinx’s resets were also key – if Curse started winning a teamfight, they were able to keep winning it. However, in the end, it wasn’t the resets that won Curse the game. It was Dignitas’s inconsistency and shotcalling.  

Curse (W)				Team Dignitas (W)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
9	7	66.0k		5	4			58.9k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	Quas	Lulu	2/0/5	Top	ZionSpartan				Nidalee	1/1/1
Jungle	IWillDominate	Evelynn	4/2/3	Jungle	Crumbzz				Elise	1/2/3
Mid	Voyboy	Tristana	1/0/5	Mid	Shiphtur				Xerath	1/2/3
ADC	Cop	Jinx	2/0/5	ADC	Imaqtpie				Kog’Maw	2/1/2
Support	Xpecial	Braum	0/3/5	Support	KiWiKiD				Morgana	0/3/5
Bans
Lee Sin	Lucian	Twisted Fate		Kassadin			Yasuo	Rengar

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