Game of the Day: Gambit Gaming versus Supa Hot Crew

By Helmight

            Coming off an 0-4 Super Week, Gambit Gaming knew they were in a pinch. Their poor performance last week dropped them to a game above last place and change needed to happen if they wanted to avoid relegation. In a bold move, Gambit’s management replaced Darien and Diamond with substitute players Kubon and loulex in an attempt to revitalize the team – a reasonable move given how lackluster their toplaner and jungler have been of late. However, simple roster changes weren’t enough to give Gambit the victory. In an anticlimactic, 33-minute game, Gambit would fall once more to the Supa Hot Crew.

            Midgame shotcalling weaknesses and a weak composition are what brought down Gambit this time. Genja was frequently split off from his team when fights occurred, preventing him from dealing damage to the Supa Hot Crew and giving them easy victories. As if that wasn’t enough, Gambit’s composition couldn’t handle the Supa Hot Crew’s. While Kubon’s Yorick could have potentially swung the tides in Gambit’s favor thanks to Omen of Death, the Supa Hot Crew’s displacement spells and area of effect damage were too strong for Kubon to do anything except ult and pray. His prayers were never heard – niQ’s Fizz wasn’t nearly fed enough for him to carry fights, even after he came back to life through the Omen. With these weaknesses, Gambit couldn’t stop the Crew from amassing an almost 10k gold lead and steamrolling them into the ground.

            Of course, we can’t fault Gambit for everything. The Supa Hot Crew looked solid in all parts of today’s game, despite their early game disadvantages. kaSing in particular stood out – and not just because he was playing Gragas. The Crew’s support managed to land his ultimate perfectly almost every time he used it, allowing him to burn Summoners and pick up kills while in lane and displace Gambit’s team in fights. Without his clutch Explosive Casks, it’s fair to say that the Supa Hot Crew would have had a much more difficult time overcoming their early deficits. SELFIE was red-hot as well, annihilating Gambit in multiple teamfights thanks to good knockups from the rest of his team.

            Gambit actually held a lead early in the game thanks to their powerful bullies. Their Caitlyn/Nami botlane held a huge advantage over MrRalleZ and kaSing, resulting in Genja being more than 30 CS ahead of his counterpart at one point. Kubon had a great time top as well – though maybe that’s because Yorick has no counters in the toplane. With their lanes doing well, Gambit was able to take the first dragon of the game without contest and gave them a decent chance against the Supa Hot Crew when they clashed over the second.

However, their decision-making and positioning was ultimately fatal. The Supa Hot Crew took four kills and the dragon to gain the lead. They’d never lose it for the rest of the game as they outfought and out-rotated Gambit at every turn. The final fight near Gambit’s top inhibitor was an absolute slaughter and the Crew managed to take home the win shortly afterwards.

           

GMB bans: Kog'Maw, Ryze, Orianna

SHC bans: Lee Sin, Kassadin, Evelynn

Player	Champions	K/D/A	Minions Killed
Gambit Gaming
Kubon	Yorick	1/3/1	222
loulex	Elise	1/3/4	121
niQ	Fizz	3/5/3	289
Genja	Caitlyn	1/2/1	309
EDward	Nami	0/3/4	17
Supa Hot Crew
Mimer	Shyvana	5/0/8	333
Impaler	Rengar	1/2/8	139
SELFIE	Yasuo	5/1/9	346
MrRalleZ	Corki	2/1/12	292
kaSing	Gragas	3/2/11	69

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

Game of the Day: Supa Hot Crew vs Gambit Gaming

By Hemight

            Everyone who’s played League of Legends knows how scary a 50-minute game can be. One small slip up – a single missed skillshot, a misplaced ward, or a whiffed ulti – can result in a sudden and immediate loss. The Supa Hot Crew were brutally reminded of this today in their game against Gambit. Despite GMB gaining an advantage early, the SHC’s chaotic, splitpushing play let them draw out the game to a point where they could win fights against Gambit. Unfortunately for the Supa Hot Crew, one single mistake by Impaler and Selfie at the 50-minute mark cost them the game and allowed Gambit to take home the victory.

            The draft phase showed the Supa Hot Crew picking an AD-heavy comp based around Selfie’s Yasuo and Mimer’s Jax, allowing them to both splitpush and teamfight effectively. Meanwhile, Gambit’s team was built solely for teamfights thanks to the AoE damage that niQ’s Karthus and Darien’s Renekton could put out. However, Gambit’s strategy would only work if they won by midgame. If the Supa Hot Crew could push the game past 40 minutes, their terrifying lategame Jax and armor penetration would be too much for Gambit to handle

            As if to keep Gambit from ramping up early, the SHC opened with an aggressive laning phase, stealing away Gambit’s blue buff and securing the first dragon. Though first blood would go over to Gambit after a three-man gank took down Selfie, the Crew’s midlaner managed to take Diamond down with him. A few minutes later, Impaler and Diamond would both head up to gank their 2v2 lane. Though niQ’s Requiem brought all three of the Crew’s members low, they still managed to take the kill on EDward and back off safely.

            Gambit was far from out of the game though. A handful of picks, in addition to some questionable decisions from Impaler and Mimer in the midlane, allowed them to secure three towers, a pair of dragons, and a 5k gold lead. With an advantage established over the SHC, Gambit began to more aggressively pressure towers, knowing that they were stronger for the moment.

            And yet, the Supa Hot Crew refused to go quietly. The waveclear of their comp allowed them to swiftly push Gambit away from any tower that they tried to pressure, while Mimer and Selfie ran interference by constantly splitpushing. Even Baron didn’t give Gambit enough of an edge to finish off the Supa Hot Crew – the threat of kaSing’s Tidal Wave made tower diving a risky proposition at best and forced them to squander most of the buff. Meanwhile, the SHC continued to chip away at Gambit’s lead, slowly shrinking their gold deficit from 5k to 4k, then to 3k. By 37 minutes into the game, it was getting difficult for Gambit to win teamfights, and they knew it.

            So, Gambit fell back to the Baron, first trying to bait the Supa Hot Crew into facechecking it to grab a pick, and then trying to burn it down before the SHC could respond. Neither strategy worked, and after a poor teamfight forced EDward to back the Crew was able to swiftly burn down Baron’s health and take the buff for themselves. Another teamfight shortly afterwards resulted in catastrophe for Gambit, as four of their members went down thanks to a great Last Breath by Selfie. The Supa Hot Crew picked up an inhibitor immediately afterwards, and while Gambit still held a slight gold lead, all of the momentum was with the Crew.

            But even in their moment of triumph, SHC stumbled. As Gambit tried to pull out of mid after a failed siege on the Supa Hot Crew’s inhibitor tower, Impaler and Selfie leapt ahead of their team to initiate a fight on Darien – one of Gambit’s tankiest members. Predictably, the fight went south for SHC and resulted in the loss of 4 team members for no kills. It was a fatal mistake that gave Gambit an opening. Shrugging off the minor damage from MrRalleZ, Gambit was able to charge down mid and take down the Nexus in a game that they otherwise should have lost. 

*Author’s note: Yerrow changed his screenname to kaSing since last week. Same guy, different name.

            SHC bans: Ziggs, Evelynn, Braum

            GMB bans: Kassadin, Kayle, Twisted Fate 

Player	Champion	K/D/A	CS
Gambit Gaming
Darien	Renekton	3/2/10	272
Diamond	Elise	6/4/12	146
niQ	Karthus	10/3/13	398
Genja	Lucian	3/3/8	410
EDward	Thresh	2/3/18	74
Supa Hot Crew
Mimer	Jax	2/3/4	297
Impaler	Jarvan IV	2/8/10	117
SELFIE	Yasuo	5/7/3	486
MrRalleZ	Corki	6/3/4	363
kaSing	Nami	0/3/11	18

      

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!