Game of the Day: SK Gaming versus Alliance

By Helmight

            SK Gaming has finally found their stride. Despite floundering in the middle of the pack throughout the Summer Split, SK came out swinging for Super Week. A victory against Millenium yesterday started them off on the right foot, and today they were able to carry the momentum through against the ever-dominant Alliance. In a 46-minute game, SK convincingly took down EU’s number one team thanks to a number of aggressive early plays and superior rotations.

            Good early rotations allowed SK to jump out to a 6k gold lead, but they found themselves stymied at the inhibitor turrets due to Alliance’s excellent waveclear. It took a pair of Barons to finally break into Alliance’s base, but even after the turrets went down it took everything SK had just to secure the inhibitors. An indecisive skirmish in the bottom lane sent SK home to heal, which gave Alliance a momentary advantage. They rushed for Baron, trying to take it down before SK gaming could respond, but were just a little too long in taking it. Jesiz and fredy122 went ham, comboing their knockups on four members of Alliance and killing all of them in seconds. Froggen was the only survivor of the massacre, but even Xerath’s long-ranged waveclear was of no use when his base was wide open. SK shoved down mid and took the Nexus down while Froggen danced on the sidelines, unable to stop the inevitable defeat.

            Jesiz carried SK Gaming through this matchup. His clutch three- and four-man Shockwaves never failed to turn the tides of a battle, and it was his ult alone that prevented Alliance from making too many aggressive plays. CandyPanda meanwhile made excellent use of the disruptions that Jesiz’s ult created, leaping into fights with his Rocket Jump and taking down Alliance’s members in a flurry of missiles. His late-game Tristana proved to be an absolute nightmare to deal with – he could tank towers thanks to Jesiz and Nyph’s shields and tear them apart within seconds. Tabzz’s Ezreal didn’t have nearly the same impact, but with Kog’Maw banned out and Lucian unavailable, his lategame AD carry options were slim.

            Alliance’s play was just as stellar as it has been all split long, but somehow – impossibly – SK outplayed them. Early objectives were traded back and forth between both teams, and while Alliance secured first blood, SK was not far behind with the second. The breaking point of the early game was the first dragon fight. Jesiz landed a beautiful Command: Shockwave on Alliance’s team, giving SK a kill and letting them secure dragon and back off before the rest of Alliance could regroup. Another skirmish a few minutes later by Alliance’s red buff had a similar feel to it – Jesiz landed a three-man ult, CandyPanda cleaned house, and then objectives were taken by SK. Alliance couldn’t get the early fights to go their way, nor were they able to catch up to SK’s rotations.

            However, Alliance didn’t go down easily. SK was forced into three Baron attempts to try and break through Alliance’s waveclear. The first Baron was easily secured by the duo of Svenskeren and CandyPanda, but in the aftermath of the Baron CandyPanda got sniped down by Froggen and Tabzz’s ults. With their AD carry down, SK fought a retreating battle against Alliance in which Jesiz and nRated also fell. Alliance took down the mid inhibitor and looked to end the game, but the spawn timers were too short and SK beat back the attack. It was the closest Alliance would get to winning the game.

SK Gaming (W)					Alliance (L)
Kills	Turrets		Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
14	10		79.7k		10	5			69.9k
Lineup
Position	Player		Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	fredy122		Aatrox	1/3/8	Top	Wickd				Gragas	1/4/2
Jungle	Svenskeren		Elise	0/3/5	Jungle	Shook				Riven	4/4/4
Mid	Jesiz		Orianna	3/1/6	Mid	Froggen				Xerath	2/0/5
ADC	CandyPanda		Tristana	9/1/4	ADC	Tabzz				Ezreal	3/3/5
Support	nRated		Morgana	1/2/13	Support	Nyph				Braum	0/3/7
Bans
Twisted Fate		Irelia	Kog’Maw		Maokai			Kassadin	Nidalee

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

Game of the Day: Fnatic versus Alliance

By Helmight

            It was a disappointing day for Fnatic fans. Their match against Alliance had been hotly anticipated, as a win here would tie them for first place and force a tiebreaker match between the two when playoffs arrived. Fnatic’s early aggression gave them a quick advantage, but their passive play and indecisiveness eventually let Alliance outrotate, outfight, and outplay Fnatic.

            Fnatic and Alliance played a 50 minute game, but in truth the match was over before then. Fnatic had been slowly stumbling over the course of the game and made a series of poor decisions that allowed Alliance to pull back into the game. Suddenly at a disadvantage, Fnatic then reverted back to their infamously passive play from their 8-game losing streak last split. With their opponents too scared to fight, Alliance applied pressure everywhere they could, taking towers and dragons with ease. After Alliance took one inhibitor and made to pressure another, Fnatic finally tried to fight them off. By this point though, Fnatic had forfeited a huge amount of gold and the fight went immediately south for them. With most of their opponents dead, it was a simple matter for Alliance to shove onto the Nexus and end the game.

            Fnatic’s play early on was brilliant. An early five-man invasion cost Shook his Flash and forced him to start jungling at his blue buff – then, a couple minutes later, Fnatic returned and stole his red buff right as he tried to secure it. Another pair of Flashes were burned by Alliance following the skirmish, giving Fnatic a huge early-game lead. Shifting Rekkles and YellOwStaR into the top lane against Wickd also proved to be a good move. With Nyph and Shook being forced to stay with Wickd, sOAZ was able to soak experience and farm in relative comfort down in the bottom lane. With early rotations coming out from YellOwStaR and Cyanide, Fnatic pressured Alliance’s lanes all across the board.

            However, Fnatic seemed to lose steam after the first few minutes of the game and their calculated aggression slowly turned risky. Instead of securing uncontested objectives, Fnatic more often than not traded towers with Alliance – then found themselves in a bad position and gave up even more afterwards. Alliance also had much better dragon control, securing five out of six for the game. With their early advantages dwindling away to nothing, Fnatic decided to stop pressuring Alliance and play more defensively. It was a move that Alliance punished to the utmost, and one that eventually proved fatal for Fnatic. 

Fnatic (L)				Alliance (W)
Kills	Turrets	Gold		Kills	Turrets			Gold
3	7	77.5k		6	10			86.7k
Lineup
Position	Player	Champion	K/D/A	Position		Player			Champion	K/D/A
Top	sOAZ	Gragas	1/1/1	Top	Wickd				Irelia	1/2/2
Jungle	Cyanide	Jarvan IV	0/2/2	Jungle	Shook				Riven	2/0/4
Mid	xPeke	Ziggs	0/2/2	Mid	Froggen				Orianna	0/1/6
ADC	Rekkles	Jinx	1/1/2	ADC	Tabzz				Kog’Maw	3/0/3
Support	YellOwStaR	Thresh	1/0/1	Support	Nyph				Morgana	0/0/6
Bans
Lee Sin	Xerath	Twisted Fate		Kassadin			Evelynn	Syndra

 

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!