Game of the Day: Cloud 9 versus LMQ

By Helmight

            With both CLG and Dignitas losing to bottom-of-the-table teams in today’s matches, first place was guaranteed to end up in a three-way tie. The only question was who would join the leaders – newcomers LMQ, or the ever-dominant Cloud 9. Though the fan vote was heavily in favor of C9, the American upstarts from last year would fall to LMQ in a thirty-minute, 14-8 game.

            Cloud 9 showed their innovative spirit during the pick/ban phase when Meteos picked up Rengar for his second stint in the LCS, and when Sneaky opted for a Kog’Maw pick after Lucian and Twitch were both banned out. Meanwhile, LMQ stuck with mostly tried and true champions, but did select Graves for their bottom lane instead of the suddenly-popular Jinx. The unusual picks left both teams feeling around for weaknesses in their opponent’s comp early on, leading NoName to gank early for first blood onto LemonNation. That would be it for most of the laning phase though - despite Meteos and NoName’s best attempts, no further ganks succeeded and both teams fell to farming for the first ten minutes of the game.

            Once the passive play ceased, it was on for both teams. LMQ grabbed the first dragon of the game after forcing Sneaky back to base, and then proceeded to dive Cloud 9’s bottom lane twice in quick succession. Though LemonNation died a handful of times in these attempts, smart roams by Hai’s Kassadin and Meteos managed to equalize or better the kill counts in the immediate aftermath of the dives. Cloud 9 answered the aggression with the first tower kill of the game, only to watch as Vasili answered back on the other side of the map. And so it went – LMQ and Cloud 9 constantly at each other’s throats, trading back and forth to create an even and bloody game.

            Despite the solid start, Cloud 9’s normally immaculate rotations were somewhat lacking as midgame started. Though they managed to show up to contest LMQ’s second dragon attempt, LemonNation was on the wrong side of the pit, preventing Cloud 9 from making a play on the LMQ squad and then getting chased down and killed by LMQ. Though Cloud 9 caught out Vasili and Mor in the bottom lane, they were unable to take a kill on either of them thanks to Braum’s powerful defensive abilities. With Cloud 9 always on the back foot, LMQ had a field day on their competitor’s towers, pushing down the outer and inner mid towers and rotating top.

            It was here that LMQ broke down. Despite killing Balls under the tower, LMQ was forced to retreat from the rest of Cloud 9 – a message that NoName might not have gotten. The LMQ jungler turned on Cloud 9 alone, forcing his team into an awkward fight that not everyone was prepared to be involved in. Hai went wild, cleaning house on the disorganized LMQ and taking home the quadra kill, with only XiaoWeiXiao managing to limp home. After securing Baron, it seemed as though the tables had turned completely in Cloud 9’s favor.

            Although they had won a major battle, Cloud 9 was destined to lose the war. Immediately after the Baron attempt, Cloud 9 forced a fight near dragon. Thanks to a great Command: Shockwave and Cataclysm from XiaoWeiXiao and NoName, LMQ won the fight handily, taking four kills and an inhibitor off of their success. The fight would prove to be prophetic – though Cloud 9 continued trying to execute dives onto LMQ’s carries, XiaoWeiXiao’s Shockwaves were too much and the NA LCS veterans would fall ten minutes later. 

C9 bans: LeBlanc, Lucian, Elise

LMQ bans: Corki, Twitch, Lee Sin

Player	Champion	K/D/A
Cloud 9
Balls	Renekton	0/3/3
Meteos	Rengar	0/1/5
Hai	Kassadin	5/2/1
Sneaky	Kog’Maw	2/2/5
LemonNation	Thresh	1/6/6
LMQ
ackerman	Lulu	3/1/6
NoName	Jarvan IV	2/2/9
XiaoWeiXiao	Orianna	4/0/6
Vasili	Graves	5/3/8
Mor	Braum	0/2/13

  

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Game of the Day: Team SoloMid vs Team Dignitas

By Helmight

            While TSM and Dignitas don’t have quite the same rivalry as SK and Fnatic or TSM and Cloud 9 do, both teams know better than to play poorly when their coach’s hairstyle is on the line. Locodoco and Scarra shook hands on-stage before the game, promising to get a bowl cut should their team falter and setting the stage for the wild game that TSM and Dig would play. In the end though, it was TSM’s newly anointed coach who would take the trip to the barbershop as Dignitas took the win, 14 kills to 10.

            TSM had been accused by Crumbzz in a pregame interview of playing not to lose, instead of to win, and perhaps because of that TSM opened the game with an aggressive early-game invasion of Crumbzz’s red buff. However, they made the mistake of leaving Bjergsen in the midlane, allowing Dignitas to collapse on the hapless TSM squad and pick up first and second blood. Despite the early losses, TSM’s aggression continued and paid off after two four-man dives under Dig’s bot tower equalized the score. Though Amazing’s Jarvan continued to look for ganks against Imaqtpie’s Jinx, Dignitas managed to pull their marksman out of the fire and pressure other objectives, garnering a slight early-game advantage.

            However, TSM’s pressure continued unabated, and the pair of teams would clash twice during consecutive sieges of Dignitas’s mid inner tower. Though Dig always appeared to be at a disadvantage, clutch plays by Imaqtpie and Shiphtur’s Orianna allowed them to answer Team SoloMid and take kill advantages from the fights. An inability to pressure objectives following the fights meant that the game stayed almost perfectly even through the middle of the game.

            The first break came after Dyrus left his team to splitpush bot, a move which gave Dignitas their first Baron of the game and then TSM’s inner middle tower without a fight. Jumping out to a 4k gold lead, Dignitas looked perfectly positioned to create a good teamfight – but the waveclear from TSM’s Jarvan, Syndra, and Lucian prevented Dig from snowballing the lead further and kept their inhibitors safe from harm. Finally, Dignitas was forced into another Baron attempt that ended with Crumbzz barely smiting the Baron as TSM collapsed on them. Fortunately for Dignitas, four of the five team members escaped – and a clutch Super Mega Death Rocket snipe from Imaqtpie took down Amazing and kept TSM from pressuring anything.

            Though Dig managed to grab the middle inhibitor, TSM never gave up fighting and forced Dig into a third and final Baron attempt. An amazing Teleport by Dyrus split Dignitas’s team outside of the pit and for a moment it looked like TSM was poised to wipe Dig off the map – however, Imaqtpie was left untouched. Dignitas’s marksman kited TSM backwards, staying alive thanks to ZionSpartan and Shiphtur’s shields and picking up three kills for his team. After Bjergsen was chased down by Zion a moment later, it was a simple matter for Dig to push into the base for the victory.

           

Player	Champion	K/D/A
ZionSpartan	Lulu	3/0/7
Crumbzz	Nocturne	0/5/10
Shiphtur	Orianna	6/0/5
Imaqtpie	Jinx	5/0/7
KiWiKiD	Braum	0/5/12
Dyrus	Shyvana	0/1/7
Amazing	Jarvan IV	4/6/6
Bjergsen	Syndra	1/3/5
WildTurtle	Lucian	4/1/4
Gleebglarbu	Thresh	1/3/8

  

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Dignitas Rising

 By Helmight

            Earlier this year, Grab the Lantern covered the acquisition of ZionSpartan and Shiphtur by Dignitas, stating that there were two possible outcomes of such a move. One was that the former Coast players don’t integrate well with the team and keep Dig in a solidly middle-of-the-pack condition; the other was that the two star players would carry Dignitas higher in the standings.

After Week 2 of the NA LCS, I think it’s safe to say that the latter scenario has occurred. Zion and Shiphtur have proven in their first six games with the organization that they are threats to be feared and have led Dig to a 5-1 record. This includes victories over both Team SoloMid and Cloud 9, the two teams that absolutely dominated the Spring Split.

Early ganks by Crumbzz in the mid or top lane have rarely failed to give Zion or Shiphtur first blood and allow Dignitas’s solo laners to start snowballing their advantage. This allows Crumbzz to spend as much as he needs ganking for Kiwikid and Imaqtpie, helping the duo lane get rolling as well. By the time teamfights roll around, Dig’s already got enough of an advantage to stomp their opponents and take objectives.

And it’s Zion and Shiphtur always leading the charge for Dignitas. In four of their five wins, Dig’s new top and midlaner have had one or fewer deaths combined - quite an impressive feat – and typically have the majority of their team’s kills. Without a doubt, these two players have become the crux of Dig’s strategy.

So how does one defeat the new Dignitas then? The answer was revealed by Curse in their Super Week showing against Dig: beat them in the laning phase, and keep Zion from playing carry champions. While ZionSpartan shines on Shyvana and Jax, being forced onto Dr. Mundo prevented him from becoming the unstoppable splitpushing monster he’s used to. In addition, Crumbzz’s inability to pull off successful ganks kept Curse from falling too far behind and let them come back in the midgame.

Unless other teams find ways of stopping Dignitas’s new solo laners though, it’s very probable that Dig will stay on top of the NA LCS this split – and possibly find their way into the World Championships. Only time will tell if Dig can stay hot. 

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Dignitas grabs ZionSpartan and Shiphtur

By Helmight

According to LoLEsports.com,  Dignitas has just signed Shiphtur and ZionSpartan away from Team Coast in a surprising move. David Slan, the coach and general manager for Coast, has said "Rather than have these two guys miss the Summer LCS Split, we made the decision to allow ZionSpartan and Shiphtur to be acquired by Team Dignitas." This is something I don't think any of us saw coming. Shiphtur and ZionSpartan are not only regarded as the best players on Coast, but also some of the best players in the LCS. So, what does this mean for both rosters now?

For Dignitas, the acquisitions are huge. Scarra's retirement meant that they were down one of their best players and Goldenglue wasn't nearly strong enough to compete at a professional level, let alone fill Scarra's shoes. Meanwhile, Cruzerthebruzer has left a lot to be desired in the toplane, managing to not die too often but also accomplishing nothing substantial for his team either. Though Dignitas did quite well for themselves early in the season, they were unable to keep pace with Team SoloMid and Cloud 9 and eventually fell into a solid fourth place - decent, yes, but not where they wanted to be.

With the addition of Coast's stars, Dignitas now has the shot of talent they need to come back swinging for the Summer Split. If ZionSpartan and Shiphtur are able to synergize well with the rest of Dig's roster, I wouldn't be surprised to see them stealing third place away from Counter-Logic Gaming.

Meanwhile, Coast is in a bit of a strange spot now, having signed away their two best players. It's no secret that their solo laners were the key to Coast's success for much of this season, and with their departure Coast is left with a lackluster bottom lane and jungler. Even if they manage to acquire players that synergize well with the rest of the team, I'm doubtful of Coast's chances to make it back to the LCS. Shiphtur and ZionSpartan pretty much carried the team through the Spring Split, and unless Coast can somehow find players of their caliber again, I don't think we'll be seeing them in the promotion tourney.

At any rate, the deal is certain to shake things up for the Summer Split. It'll be interesting to see how Coast's solo laners perform with a solid team behind them, and how the rest of the LCS responds to the new Dignitas.

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