Game of the Day: LMQ versus Counter Logic Gaming

By Helmight

            Doublelift went 11/5/5 with two quadrakills in today’s game between Counter Logic Gaming and LMQ. Normally, one would assume that CLG won easily if that was their AD carry’s score. However, it was LMQ taking home the victory thanks to some simply phenomenal play by their toplaner ackerman and a clutch midgame Baron steal.

            Counter Logic Gaming held the advantage for most of the early game, easily racking up kills and towers against an LMQ squad that looked a bit out of sorts. However, as we’ve found out over the course of this season, it only takes one mistake to lose a game. For CLG, it was making the call to go for a 20-minute Baron. LMQ arrived right as Baron fell low and a truly amazing Smite by NoName allowed LMQ to steal the objective. With their health bars already low from Baron, CLG absolutely melted under LMQ’s damage and got aced without a single return kill. With the buff in hand, LMQ proceeded to take three of CLG’s towers before anyone could respawn to defend them. It wasn’t over for CLG yet though – as they tried to resume their aggression, Link and Aphromoo got caught in LMQ’s jungle while Seraph died in a duel against ackerman. These kills set up LMQ to take an inhibitor and jump out to a 12k gold lead – an insurmountable advantage that CLG would never be able to recover from.

            Even after throwing their lead, Counter Logic Gaming did everything in their power to get back into the fight. Link and dexter’s wombo combos allowed CLG to successfully defend their base multiple times, and Doublelift managed to pick up a pair of quadrakills in the process. However, it was simply too little, too late. CLG spent most of the game cleaning minions from the lanes and trying to keep their inhibitors alive and would never manage to seriously threaten LMQ’s base again.

            LMQ meanwhile played a phenomenal game that shows exactly why they’re currently the number one team in North America. Key to their success was ackerman. With a full AP Gragas, ackerman’s amazing barrels and Body Slams let him set up multiple picks for LMQ and turn around fights that could have otherwise gone awry. Vasili also pulled his weight for his team – though his K/D/A isn’t as impressive as ackerman’s, his Tristana’s insane damage let LMQ take down towers and inhibitors before CLG could muster a response.

            It was CLG’s game all the way up to the Baron steal. Though every dragon went LMQ’s way during the laning phase, smart rotations and picks by Counter Logic Gaming let them catch out LMQ and burn down towers with little to no response. With 3 kills on Doublelift and 2 on dexter, it looked as though CLG would easily take down LMQ. Even after the midgame debacle, Counter Logic Gaming had a chance to come back. A smart initiation by dexter let Doublelift pick up his first quadrakill and gave CLG a Baron, but after the buff wore out they were back on defense for the rest of the game. One final teamfight might have turned the tides, but it was ackerman who saved the day for LMQ yet again. His Explosive Cask was perfectly placed and blew CLG’s members all over the place. After Vasili and XiaoWeiXiao mopped up, it was simple for the rest of the team to clean out the Nexus.

LMQ (W)				Counter Logic Gaming (L)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
25	11	86.0k		21	5			72.0k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	ackerman	Gragas	11/2/8	Top	Seraph				Nidalee	3/7/8
Jungle	NoName	Lee Sin	1/4/9	Jungle	dexter				Rengar	3/4/5
Mid	XiaoWeiXiao	Twisted Fate	7/4/9	Mid	Link				Orianna	4/5/13
ADC	Vasili	Tristana	5/4/12	ADC	Doublelift				Jinx	11/5/5
Support	Mor	Thresh	1/7/17	Support	Aphromoo				Braum	0/4/11
Bans
Kog’Maw	Elise	Lulu		Kassadin			Nunu	Yasuo

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

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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