Sunday, July 6, 2014

Game of the Day: LMQ versus Curse



By Helmight

            I should have called this article “Hook City.” Though LMQ’s early-game pressure threatened to take down Curse before their late game comp could pay off, Xpecial’s amazing Thresh hooks stopped them dead in their tracks every time. Thanks to their support’s amazing plays, Curse was able to take home a convincing win against LMQ.
            LMQ knew they’d have to win early, especially with the all-AD comp that they’d drafted. For that reason, every lane went as aggressive as possible in an attempt to bully Curse out. Even NoName joined in – LMQ’s jungler’s forfeited a good chunk of his early CS as he tried to set up ganks all across the map. The bottom lane was a particular focus of his – NoName spent almost a full minute camping in the brush to try and catch Cop and Xpecial out. However, the balls-to-the-wall aggression would backfire on him when a brilliant Death Sentence from Xpecial pulled NoName under tower for First Blood.
            It was just a taste of what was to come. Xpecial’s hooks were key in every teamfight, catching out LMQ’s members and allowing Curse to get free damage onto them before the battle even started. However, Xpecial was more than happy to end fight as well as start them – his Death Sentences kept LMQ’s members from fleeing and secured even more kills for his team.
            With Xpecial playing like a god, it’s no surprise that Cop would end the game with half of Curse’s 24 kills. The early advantage that Xpecial and IWillDominate had given him allowed Curse’s marksman to absolutely shred LMQ’s team during fights. LMQ for their part tried to get to Cop, but great peels by Quas’s Gragas and Voyboy’s Ryze kept him alive and attacking in almost every teamfight. Meanwhile, LMQ’s marksman Vasili was completely outclassed – though he went deathless in the game, his Corki didn’t have nearly the same impact in fights as Cop did.
            With Cop and Xpecial both fed, Curse was able to secure almost every dragon of the game to keep their gold lead rolling. With their early game champions becoming outclassed, LMQ made a gutsy call to take Baron Nashor only 25 minutes into the game. Though Curse showed up late to the fight and couldn’t steal it away, they did win the post-Baron teamfight quite handily, trading Voyboy’s life for Mor, XiaoWeiXiao, and NoName. With the buff gone from three of their members, LMQ couldn’t resume their aggression and could only watch as Curse farmed up even more.
            To their credit though, LMQ played a great game. Curse only held a 3k gold lead even at their highest and NoName and XiaoWeiXiao were a terrifying pair to face. The mechanical skill of the LMQ squad and their refusal to say die forced Curse into a Baron attempt to try and end the game. LMQ was waiting for such a move and pounced - though they got there too late to steal the Baron, they managed to kill both Quas and Cop. It was a desperation play, but it kept them in the game.
            Finally though, LMQ overreached. As Curse charged down mid to retake the exposed inhibitor, Mor managed to land an opportunistic Aqua Prison onto Xpecial. Thinking they had a chance, NoName and XiaoWeiXiao immediately blew their ults on Curse’s support, instead of saving them for use in a larger teamfight. Curse quickly collapsed on the pair, killing both of them and running straight for LMQ’s base. With only three LMQ members left alive, there was nothing to stop Curse from going for the Nexus and taking a convincing win at 36 minutes into the game.

LMQ bans: Braum, Elise, Syndra
CRS bans: Kassadin, Kayle, Lulu

Player
Champion
K/D/A
Minions Killed
LMQ
ackerman
Renekton
2/5/8
261
NoName
Lee Sin
5/7/9
106
XiaoWeiXiao
Yasuo
5/7/4
339
Vasili
Corki
4/0/6
343
Mor
Nami
0/5/15
4
Curse
Quas
Gragas
4/3/10
304
IWillDominate
Evelynn
0/4/16
153
Voyboy
Ryze
6/4/10
279
Cop
Kog’Maw
12/2/9
270
Xpecial
Thresh
2/3/19
55


 

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