Liljesports: June 2016

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Best-of-Threes: Working as Intended

Best-of-threes have brought a great deal of excitement to the NA LCS

The implementation of best-of-three series into the NA LCS was a no-brainer and, quite frankly, should have happened sooner. This past weekend, we saw the depth and flexibility the new system allows, as exactly half (5) of the series went to a decisive third game. Often times, the results of the games were radically contrasting, as each teams' endurance, versatility, and ability to adapt on the fly was put to the test. How different would Week 2 look had these teams been playing just isolated matches? Well, Immortals would have not have the opportunity to ban out Ohq's Twitch that terrorized them in their first match-up, and in turn would have fallen to a winless NRG team. Counter Logic Gaming would be 0-4, now having lost the opening match of every single series. And TSM would look like invincible world-beaters, throttling Immortals in Game 1 before finally showing some vulnerabilities in Games 2 and 3.
The Eastern League of Legends regions have been playing best-of series for quite some time. The advantages are quite apparent, and are already on display just two weeks after adoption into the LCS regions (Europe plays best-of-two). Not only only does it force teams to be multi-dimensional and better prepared, but it also places more pressure on a coaching staff to adapt. In addition, this is a similiar format to the best-of-fives that teams can expect to see in a playoff scenario, making them more aptly prepared for such a situation. With nine weeks and two series per week, a team can play up to 54 total matches this season, well over twice the amount from the 2016 Spring Split. While no team is likely to actually play that many games, they will still be playing more than ever before in the LCS. With a greater sample size, we achieve more reliable results. When it's all said and done, the cream will rise to the top.

Cloud 9 Ascending

No one had a better weekend than Michael "BunnyFuFuu" Kurylo

It is never an organization flying under the radar, but watch out for Cloud 9 in the coming weeks. After dropping it's opener in a tight set with Immortals, Cloud 9 has rebounded to win its next three series in rather convincing fashion. The players claim that the new lineup's communication is steadily improving each and every week, an assertion that has translated to the Rift. In a 2-0 weekend, Cloud 9 steamrolled Phoenix1 in a Game 3, then went on to sweep Counter Logic Gaming cleanly. What a win over CLG is worth these days is debatable, but we'll get to them later.
For me, it quite literally begins with the re-insertion of William "Meteos" Hartman into the starting lineup. Cloud 9 has played 11 games this season, and Meteos has either killed or assisted on first blood in nine of them (82%). Straying away from his old "farm until six" style, Meteos's early pressure, particularly on Rek'Sai, has given his team a jump on the competition. By purchasing an early Sighstone, he usually converts that early advantage into vision, allowing his team to press further. After nearly a year away from competitive play, rust and an adjustment period was to be expected. This has not been the case, however, as Meteos leads all junglers in KDA (9.7) and assists (101).
Meteos is not the only C9 member filling the stat sheet, as mid-laner Jensen and AD carry Sneaky are first and second in the league in kills, with 69 and 55 respectively. While these are a bit skewed considering C9 has played more games (11) than any other team besides Immortals, it still is a number worth noting. With two of the premier carries in the league, it demonstrates that C9 is managing to put it's gold in the right hands, and they are delivering. Not only that, but both players also reside in the top four in CS per minute. Jensen is in second with 9.6 and Sneaky tied for third with 9.0. While the mid-laner and AD carry rack up kills, the rest of the team accumulates assists.
While it is difficult to consider a former world-champion a supportive player, that's exactly what Jung "Impact" Eon-yeong has been for Cloud 9 this season. Since winning the 2014 World Championship with SK Telecom T1, Impact has been a part of several mediocre teams (Impulse and NRG), only to fade from prominence. Following a disappointing finish to the Spring Split, C9 acquired Impact to replace veteran top-laner Balls. The transition was not seamless, as Impact found himself floundering in the front-line and making questionable teleport decisions early in the first week of the season. As communication has improved, however, he has become a big-time initiator and tank for his team. Winning four of six games and boasting a 7.20 KDA on the champion, Maokai has emerged as Impact's most reliable pick, and something other teams might look to take away from him in the future.
Amidst all the big names and kill statistics, Cloud 9's most integral member might be a part-time player, Michael "BunnyFuFuu" Kurylo. Despite sharing time at the support role with Smoothie, it seems inevitable that Bunny will be named a starter for C9. When in the lineup, he ignites the team with decisive and aggressive play-making capabilities, which the team lacks in his absence. The results don't lie: C9 has won five of it's six games with Bunny at support, while actually posting a losing record (2-3) with Smoothie. While Smoothie did have a tremendous performance with Nami (0/2/18) in the closeout game of CLG, the team functions significantly better with Bunny in the lineup. With him, they defeated CLG in about seven less minutes (34:42) than with Smoothie (41:23).
This is no slight to Smoothie, as BunnyFuFuu is simply playing as well, if not better, than any support in the league right now. In fact, following his amazing weekend, he sits alone atop the NA LCS leaderboard in KDA, with a mark of 12.3. The next highest is LOD of NV at 10.1. But the stats don't do the man justice, as C9 looks like an entirely different team with him in the lineup. In addition to his signature Thresh, Bunny is emerging as one of the best Bard players in North America, constantly forcing this issue, especially when his team is ahead. C9 has found tremendous success on the combination of Bard and Sivir, champions that allow them to quickly rotate around the map and pick off opponents in the blink of an eye. With Meteos effectively controlling vision in the jungle, the difficulties are further exacerbating for opposing teams. Opponents, however, are already beginning to key in on this niche for C9, taking away champions and forcing them to expound on leads in different ways. As a group of highly skilled and versatile players, they are undoubtedly capable, and will only develop more as the season progresses. A huge test approaches this Friday, as Cloud 9 takes on TSM for the first time this season, seeking to prove that they can compete with the region's first-place team.

Echo Fox Seeking Answers

Froggen is regarded as Echo Fox's best player, but the team is struggling

On the strength of a late-season push, Echo Fox finished the 2016 Spring Split at 6-12, barely avoiding relegation and securing a spot in the summer lineup. The momentum carried into the current split, where Echo Fox began the season with a 2-0 sweep of Phoenix1 in it's opening series. Froggen utterly dominated the series, following an 8/1/9 Viktor performance with a 3/1/5 showing on Swain. Since then, however, the team has lost three consecutive series, including back-to-back sweeps in Week 2.
An identical lineup to the one that had developed some cohesion last split now appears to be faltering, particularly in late-game situations. Despite going 0-4 over the weekend, three of Fox's four games hit the forty-minute mark, where the team had every opportunity to win. The one that did not go that distance was Game 2 versus NRG, where veteran top-laner Quas debuted Illaoi in the NA LCS to resounding success.While Quas did demonstrate proficiency on the champion, it seemed a foreign entity to Fox, and one the team simply could not deal with. In a feeble effort, they fell in just under 33 minutes by a kill count of just 2-7. Froggen farmed spectacularly as always (leading the game with 301 CS), but there just wasn't any sort of initiative taken on the side of Fox. For example, Hard finished the contest 0/0/0 on his jungle Graves, and dealt just 4,800 worth in damage. Maybe he's looking to preserve his KDA, but if you're going to go down, at least go down swinging.
This has been a theme this season, as Hard's kill participation (57.3%) is last among junglers having played at least eight games. For what it's worth, he has posted the highest KDA (3.9) on the team this season, while KFO is having an absolutely abysmal time in the top-lane. With a KDA of 1.6, KFO trails every NA LCS player whose name does not begin with P1. He is contributing on only 50% of his team's kills, which is dead last in the league by a wide margin. KFO made a name for himself last split as a prominent split-pusher as Fiora. In one Fiora game this season, however, he went just 1/5/3 and made a myriad of bad decisions. If he doesn't step up his play and the losing continues, don't be surprised to see Echo Fox go in a different direction.
Of course, the bottom-lane is not without it's own issues, as Keith and Big have been on completely different wavelengths thus far this season. After a brief stint on TSM propelled him into the LCS, Keith emerged as a serviceable AD Carry this spring. Thus far this summer, however, his 17 kills trails only P1's Mash among AD carries in North America. At 2.2 and 2.3 respectively, both Keith and Big are in the bottom 15 of the entire league in KDA. Despite repeatedly going back to Braum, Big has had some truly questionable performances on the champion. Some of his ultimates have been ill-advised and confusing, and he also often overestimates the champion's tankiness. Frankly, Echo Fox is a mess, whose only win-condition appears to be Froggen completely taking over a game.

Struggles Continue for Counter Logic Gaming

Facing adversity, CLG looks to its leader, Aphromoo

Is it time to panic yet? Counter Logic Gaming, defending NA LCS champions and MSI runners-up have started the season 1-3, including two series sweeps. The same roster that took a game off SK Telecom (first NA team to do so) is struggling against regional competition. Yet, all that being said, I do not believe it is time to panic.
During a champion select phase, one commentator stated that CLG picks specifically around it's style, and in a way that might be confusing to other teams in any given meta. In the ensuing game, CLG played one of its cleanest contests of the split, cruising past Team Liquid in just over 30 minutes, by a kill count of 17-6, to secure its first series victory. In this game, we saw the defending champs. We saw the runners-up at MSI that captivated everyone with their exciting style. Sometimes, you just need to revert to what works for you, and CLG did just that in the final two games of this series. In two straight games on Caitlyn, arguably his best champion, Stixxay went a combined 11/2/10 Darshan, meanwhile, broke out his fabled split-pushing Jax to the tune of 7/0/2 in Game 2 of the series (expect to see a lot more Jax with the buffs to Trinity Force). The team's leader, Aphromoo, pushed the go-button with some amazing proactive Alistar play, racking up 22 assists in two games on the champion. For the first time all split, CLG looked like CLG, and appeared poised to make a push up the standings.
The very next day, however, CLG drifted away from these comfort picks, and was, in turn, swept by Cloud 9. Darshan once again picked Swain in the top-lane, only to fall to 0-2 on the champion with a KDA under one. Darshan, stop playing Swain. It might be a prominent and powerful choice at the moment, but it simply is not working for the team. With both Caitlyn and Alistar on the table, Stixxay and Aphromoo passed on their best champions (only ones with winning records this split) and instead aimed to pick against Cloud 9, taking away Sivir and Braum. Eventually, CLG's members will realize that they don't have to conform to what is "meta" or what is regarded as good. They are too smart not to. CLG simply has to get back into it's own game, and I fully expect this squad to do so.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The State of the Game

Patch 6.9 Marked the Introduction of the Four Elemental Drakes

Since the Mid-Season Invitational, Summoner's Rift has experienced a significant overhaul, most notably on the bottom side of the map. Replacing what was a static and often undervalued Dragon are the four Elemental Drakes, each of which rewards a unique and permanent buff of its own. While there was some skepticism about the randomness at which these jungle bosses spawn, none can argue that the Dragon was in need of some adjustments. With an early game that had become an arms race to knock down turrets and stray from combat, Riot admittedly aimed to put more premium on early game objectives. How much premium? Well, that's up to each team to gauge for themselves. Infernal has established itself as the most coveted drake, purely because of its scaling power and usefulness in any situation. The others, however, have also found relevance in deciding a team's course of action in any given situation. While we still see plenty of lane swapping and turret trading early on, the Elemental Drakes have brought diversity and excitement to the game, which seemed to be the primary mission of the changes. Factors to consider and rewards to weigh have grown exponentially as teams continue to feel out the best avenue to victory. Of course, with so many options, the avenue is not always clear, especially considering it changes based any given situation. That is why this change is so great, because it makes the the ways to destroy the enemy nexus bountiful and perpetually changing. There are so many different ways for teams to win a competitive game of League of Legends. After all, the ends justify the means, right?
Of course, we can't forget about the love given to the Rift Herald. The buff granted, "Rift of the Void", now grants more base health, armor, attack damage, and magic resistance than previously. Most importantly, it now lasts a full 20 minutes as opposed to just two, and can only be acquired once. I repeat, 20 minutes. The Herald has gone from a nice little consolation prize to an objective that can completely alter the course of the game. Imagine a three-item Trundle snagging that buff and split-pushing for the duration of the game. That is a problem. On a team with one or two Mountain Drakes? A nightmare. With such variance on both sides of Summoner's Rift, decision-making is more paramount than ever before, and the quickest teams to adapt and innovate are most certainly to be the most successful. Here's a look at how each team fared in the first week of summer competition.

The Good

TeamSoloMid

Kevin "Hauntzer" Yarnell is having a breakout split thus far for TSM

Any discussion of who impressed in the first week of the NA LCS Summer Split has to begin with the region's most popular squad: TeamSoloMid. Following what was a tumultuous and rocky Spring Split, TSM came into the first weekend of play as an underdog to Counter Logic Gaming. They swiftly squashed that notion, however, making quick work of CLG, followed by Team Liquid, and escaping the opening weekend as the league's only undefeated team. TSM looked good doing so, outplaying CLG on every front and slowly accumulating leads at every position. Both Bjergsen in the mid-lane (3/0/7) and Svenskeren in the jungle (2/0/5) recorded perfect games in the first victory, but it was the performance of Doublelift that stood out the most. Playing inspired against his former team, Doublelift went 8/1/3 as Lucian, dealing nearly a third of TSM's total damage and some of the signature plays he is known for. Enabling Doublelift to perform so well was the team's new support, Vincent "Biofrost" Wang. A former challenger player, Biofrost's aggression and play-making abilities stood out in the opening weekend. As opposed to Yellowstar, who was a roaming and shot-calling support, Biofrost remained attached at the hip of Doublelift, allowing him to succeed at all costs. His cohesion with the team can only improve going forward. Bjergsen, meanwhile, appears to have returned to form after several lackluster splits. and is making an early case as NA's best player. In four games, he has played four different champions, each of which brings a different style to the mid-lane, and different elements to the team. The team's less anonymous solo laner, Hauntzer, has unquestionably been the league's strongest top laner. Hauntzer has been an absolute monster, recording a 11.0 KDA (2nd) and providing the front-line threat that Doublelift and Bjergsen need. Although teams will have trouble deciding worthy bans against TSM, it would be wise to keep Ekko away from Hauntzer. In two games on the champion, he has combined for a score of 15/1/13 (28 KDA), and has been the team's highest damage dealer in each match.

Immortals

Will this Split end differently for Immortals?

After a disappointing third-place finish in the Spring Split, I'd imagine that no one was more eager to get back on the Rift this summer than Immortals. However, the same problems that reared their ugly head against TSM in the playoffs seemed to resurface for them in the opening weekend. Despite going 2-0 in series, it was anything but clean for Immortals. In his very first game, a low-mana, level 5 Huni decided to tower dive a fairly a healthy Meteos as Ekko. The ensuing play gave first blood to Cloud 9, and put Immortals behind the eight ball. Later on, Immortals made a hasty play for Baron that resulted in a quadra kill for Jensen's Azir and a put C9 in the driver's seat. In the end, Huni's full ability power Ekko, and the rest of Immortals, was able to make just enough plays to squeeze out a game win, and eventually a series win over C9. It was not a cleanly played series from either side, as Cloud 9 lost as much (if not more) than Immortals won. Huni's underwhelming Riven pick was overshadowed by Pobelter quietly carrying on Viktor. In the deciding third game, Pobelter dealt more than a third of his team's total damage (38.5 k), and caught Sneaky sleeping in the pivotal team fight. Even in their second series against Phoenix1, Immortals trailed in kills for much of the first game before their talent and experience ultimately won out. In the second game, we finally saw a vintage performance, as they crushed Phoenix1 in just over 26 minutes. What made Immortals so dominant last split was their full throttle, decisive play-making that forced other teams to play a reactionary style. At the same time, they experienced little to no adversity, and their hubris often seems to be their ultimate weakness as well. Although they padded the statistics last split, they have just one player (Adrian) in even the top 20 in KDA after one weekend of play. If they hope for a better result this time around, they'll surely have to show a bit more variance than they did last season. They'll definitely be itching to show what they can do in this Sunday's rematch with TSM, the team that bounced them from the playoffs, 3-0, mere months ago.

The Bad

NRG Esports

GBM will have to step up for NRG to rebound from a tough Week 1

As a new NA LCS team, NRG Esports began last split by winning it's first three games. with mid-lane star GBM emerging as the Week 1 MVP. The former LCK player was one of the first to find great success on the new Zilean, leading his team to an absolute throttling of TSM in Week 3. The excitement surrounding NRG fizzled, however, as the team seemed to regress throughout the course of the season, eventually being swept by Team Liquid in the first round of the playoffs. In response to the defeat, the organization made several roster changes, bringing on Ohq, Quas, Santorin and KiWiKiD. The revamped roster did not take the league by storm in quite the fashion the former one did, as NRG lost both its first two series of the summer to rookie teams. Their struggles culminated in a 24-5 loss to Apex on Saturday, which completed the two game sweep. Quas struggled mightily in the loss, going just 0/6/2 on Vladimir, who is considered to be one of the game's strongest champions currently. In fact, Quas has had an abysmal start to his NRG career, recording a 1.3 KDA during the opening weekend, better than only Gate of Phoenix1 (1.0 KDA). He can't shoulder all of the blame, however, as no NRG member has a KDA higher than 2.7. GBM, the only remaining player from last split's lineup, posts just a 1.6 KDA, and has struggled to find picks that will work for him thus far. Widely regarded as the team's best player, GBM will have to perform better if the NRG hopes to recover from a rough first weekend. It won't get any easier, however, as Immortals awaits them on the schedule Friday night.

Team Liquid

With the team struggling, Dardoch has been reinserted to the lineup

Everything changed when Joshua "Dardoch" Hartnett joined the Team Liquid lineup last spring, igniting the team to a strong finish that included wins in 5 of its final 6 matches. He was twice (Week 3, Week 9) the weekly NA MVP, and enabled star Korean players Piglet and Fenix to thrive in their respective positions. Prior to the 2016 Summer Split, however, Team Liquid suspended Dardoch indefinitely for insubordinate behavior, and even toyed with the possibility of moving him to another organization. That all changed when the team seemingly crumbled without him, swept by Team Envy and demolished in the first game against TSM. Apparently, TL had thought it's integral structure would be able to withstand such a loss, but was quickly proven wrong. As new acquisition Moon floundered in the jungle, the team struggled in turn, and was never really in control of any of it's first three games. Just like that, Dardoch was back on stage, and quickly had the team in position to hand TSM it's first loss. Though they inevitably fell, it cannot be overstated how much more confident the TL players looked with Dardoch patrolling the jungle. So while TL looked poor in a winless opening weekend, the team should be expected to make big strides with Dardoch back in the lineup. If they don't, they could be looking at a hole too large to climb themselves out of.

The Surprising

Counter Logic Gaming

Who would've guessed CLG would go 0-2 in the opening weekend?

Counter Logic Gaming put North America on the map last month, finishing second at the Mid-Season Invitational only to defending world champion SK Telecom. The organization was vindicated with the performance, proving ultimately that dropping Doublelift was the right decision. After all the top-level competition, CLG was come home and stomp the rest of lowly North America, right? Not so much. In the opening series,CLG was outmaneuvered by TSM repeatedly, and was simply slower on the uptake. The team was constantly on its back foot, forcing to play reactionary while TSM called the shots. Ironically, forcing the issue and putting team's on their heels is what made CLG so successful internationally. Stixxay seemed determined to prove he was an Ezreal player, picking the champion in each of the first two games and yielding rather underwhelming results. He would have been much better suited on his signature Caitlyn, or even a post-nerf Kalista, though it is unlikely that would have changed the outcome. Losing to TSM was one thing, but surely CLG couldn't fall to a brand new LCS team and move to 0-2. Well, they did, falling in a three-game series to Team Apex, and looking rather poor doing so. Stixxay struggled as Ezreal once again, going just 0/3/5 in the deciding loss. Huhi and Xmithie, meanwhile, have also performed poorly despite getting some of their more comfortable champions (Rek'Sai, Viktor). They have a 2.3 and 2.4 KDA respectively, both of which rank in the bottom 20 of the league. Needless to say, no one expected this sluggish start from the defending NA champions, and some have already attributed it to an MSI hangover. Personally, after that international performance, I'm going to give CLG the benefit of the doubt. I expect them to bounce back this week against both TL (Saturday) and Cloud 9 (Sunday) and be right in the thick of things come next week.

Apex Gaming and Team Envy

XSpecial is already making a big impact for Apex Gaming

If Bjergsen is the MVP of the split thus far (and I think he is), then XSpecial is a close second. An LCS veteran, Xspecial has come bursting back onto the scene with Apex Gaming, winners of the 2016 Spring Challenger Series. This lineup is clearly not content just making it into the league, however, as they have made some noise with a 2-0 opening weekend. The team's strong start is due in large part to XSpecial, who has found his niche playing tanky, engage heavy, support champions for the team. In fact, he has only played Braum, Thresh, and Alistar thus far, something worth noting for opposing teams seeking to pinch his champion pool. To this point it's been effective, however, as his 88.4% kill participation is tops in the league among players with at least four games. With his help, the team's AD carry, Apollo, has found himself in the top ten in the league in kills (20) so far. Leading the team in kills, however, is the new top-laner, Ray, coming from Edward Gaming of the LPL. Ray has been the team's second (arguably first) best player, with his Fizz being an integral part of Apex's victory over CLG. In two games, his tankyFizz has gone 14/5/15, and was an absolute nightmare for CLG's back line. Apex has a huge test ahead this weekend, as they are set to play both TSM (Saturday) and Team Envy (Friday).

The second undefeated newcomer to the LCS is Team Envy. On paper, the potential and experience was there for the lineup, especially in the in the solo lanes (Seraph and Ninja). However, it is the AD carry, LOD, who has been the team's standout performer to this point. LOD is no rookie, having bounced around on seven different teams since 2012, including Team Curse and Team Coast. When Ember disbanded in March, LOD was picked up by Envy, which never looked back. After one weekend of play, the AD carry leads the league with a KDA of 15.7, with the next closest sitting at just 11.0 (Hauntzer). He has found particular success on Caitlyn, a marksman who has shown a sudden resurgence to prominence. In two games on the champion, he has combined for a score of 11/1/8, and has been comfortable enough for other teams to take notice. While Envy did go 2-0 in opening weekend, they did so against the two winless teams in the LCS. This weekend, one of the undefeated newcomers will be no more, as Team Envy and Team Apex face off in a prime-time showdown this Friday night.

Liljesports