League of Legends Worlds Analysis, Group Stage - TSM vs. SHR Game #2

Team Solo Mid vs. Star Horn Royal Club Game #2

Standard Lanes

Bans

Nami Alistar

Janna Zilean

Rumble Lucian

Picks

1. Lee Sin 2. Ryze

3. Tristana 2. Janna

3. Nami 4. Khazix

5. Rumble 4. Caitlyn

5. Orianna 6. Fizz

Lane Match-ups – Team Solo Mid

Top -

Rumble will get bullied by Ryze early on, the range and Q spam of Ryze really putting on the pressure. Level 3 will give Rumble a bit more ability to fight, however Ryze with his snare should keep Rumble at bay. Rumble's time to shine, will be his level 6 and when he picks up his first Mpen item, growing even more when he gets his second. This will be during Ryze's weak point of gaining his mana. Rumble needs to be extremely wary of ganks from Khazix before level 6, however Lee Sin counter-engages will heavily turn into TSM's favor.

Mid -

Orianna will have the pressure in this match-up for the first 2 levels, able to really put the pressure onto Fizz and deny him farm. Once level 3 hits, things will be tougher for Orianna, as Fizz can harass and hop out. Just as against Yasuo, Orianna will need to keep the ball close in order to guarantee safety and return damage against Fizz. Barrier will almost be essential for surviving level 6-8 against Fizz's all-ins. Hang back and farm with your ball when you have no knowledge of Khazix, and stay close to your ball and harass Fizz when Khazix is no where near. In the end, Orianna should be able to out-farm Fizz and win the lane that way.

Bot -

Trist/Nami are in for a rough lane if they go 2v2. Caitlyn and Janna will be able to get very good harass from level 1 and can continue it as the match progresses. TSM should be reduced to farming under turret as Caitlyn and Janna push against their tower. All-in potential for TSM should be very low, as Janna shield and knock-ups will be very strong if Tristana jumps in. At level 6, expect Caitlyn to be using her ultimate on cooldown against Tristana, while Janna holds her ultimate to prevent any all-ins.

Jungle -

Lee Sin vs. Khazix, much of the same. Farm mostly but try to use your early pressure. Gank opportunities will be primarily in the top lane. Getting a counter-gank top if Khazix tries to gank Rumble will go great for TSM. Otherwise going after Fizz if he uses his combo against Orianna will also net success.

Lane Match-ups – Star Horn Royal Club

Top -

Ryze will be able to bully Rumble at the low levels and should do so as much as possible. When Rumble gets his level 3 combo up, Ryze should keep him at bay with a quick Q cast into snare then backing off away from Flamespitter damage. Prioritizing an early Negatron Cloak would do wonders for Ryze in this match-up and should be picked up before Rumble can get both of his Mpen Items, even if it will slow his scaling down some. Ganks with Khazix will be very successful, as Rumble has no escape, however they must be wary of the counter-gank from Lee Sin which would turn the fight heavily around.

Mid -

Fizz is going to have a hard time against Orianna, getting bullied early, and having trades after level 3 that will only go even or in Orianna's favor. However, if Orianna's ball is ever far away from her, that gives Fizz the opportunity to get in some free harass and pole hop away before the ball can move back to her or move to hit him. Look for opportunities to all-in at level 6, saving pole hop to dodge Orianna's ultimate. Getting this opportunity will be difficult, but rewarding. Ganks onto top or bottom will yield more success, but will sacrifice a lot of cs and tower damage.

Bot -

Strong in either a 2v1 or a 2v2. In either situation Caitlyn/Janna will bully the lane and push into the tower, trying to take it down as quickly as possible and denying a lot of CS to whoever they face. They should win the lane they are in, but will be unlikely to net a kill. The advantage should be used to get a quick tower kill and then switch lanes with top to do the same again.

Jungle -

Another Khazix vs. Lee Sin. Khazix needs to farm quickly to level 6, and then join Caitlyn/Janna in tower pushing with an Evolved Spike Rack. In the earlier levels, he should try to gank Rumble, but must make sure that he knows where Lee Sin is before attempting this. After 6, if not pushing with the team, timing a gank with Fizz ultimate onto Orianna will yield summoners, and possibly a kill.

Team Composition/Strategy – Team Solo Mid

*Win Condition – Withstand the early turret pushing power of SHR. Take dragon during Rumble's power spike and Ryze's mana generating phase. Once Tristana gains enough range and items, start to push turrets, using Rumble ultimate to zone SHR's back line if they engage.

TSM has drafted what can be considered an anti-engage composition. If SHR ever want to dive in onto TSM, Nami and Rumble will keep the back line of SHR zoned and far away from them, giving TSM time to focus and take down Fizz and Khazix. Any engage made by SHR should be shut down my TSM's champions as long as SHR do not gain a massive lead. Once Tristana scales up enough, TSM will use her to start besieging towers while being ready to disengage. Their team is also extremely strong in corridors, as a disengage composition so they can make good use of retreats made through the jungle.

Team Composition/Strategy – Star Horn Royal Club

*Win Condition – Fast push turrets with Caitlyn and move the early gold lead around the map to take as many objectives early as possible, getting Fizz and Ryze past their weakest points and close to their late game hyper-scaling. Once they reach their strong points, have Fizz and Ryze split-push while the 3 man squad of SHR wave clear and poke from range in mid.

SHR has picked up two hyper-scaling champions in Fizz and Ryze. This leaves them at a bit of a disadvantage during the mid game, especially against a Rumble. To somewhat alleviate this problem, they have chosen a duo lane that can fast push towers. SHR need to quickly push at least two, if not three turrets and us that gold advantage to get to the strong points of Ryze and Fizz quickly. Once Fizz reaches the point where he can split-push, he should definitely do so, Ryze following suit later on when he reaches it as well. Khazix, Janna, and Caitlyn can offer decent wave clear and poke, holding their own near towers against TSM.

Game Notes -

I would have preferred to see a lane swap by SHR, taking the top tower with Khazix extremely early, then moving to bot lane and dominating TSM's duo quickly after, taking bot turret as well. However, in the standard lanes, they do keep Tristana behind a good amount.

Even though Lee Sin being bottom does not result in a gank, the presence allows Tristana to not fall farther behind.

Fizz taking many jungle camps.

Rumble goes all-in against Ryze, using his ultimate. Ryze uses his flash, unnecessarily so I feel, and backs off. I feel as he had already stepped out of Rumble's ultimate, Ryze could have taken the fight and killed him, or at least backed off simply by running and not being forced to use flash.

Lee Sin dashes to ward as Fizz is dashing into him and drags Fizz with him, ends up getting SHR first blood. Should have just ran towards Orianna and tower. Also nets SHR dragon as bot lane is heavily pressured and pushed in as well.

Tristana/Nami are finally able to put some pressure onto SHR's bot lane with Janna's mana low and her ult down from dragon.

Lee Sin dives top lane with Rumble, killing Ryze. The lost flash earlier coming up huge here.

Khazix ganks bottom, burning 3 of TSM's summoners on bot lane.

SHR finally take bottom turret at 15 minutes.

Rather than backing off after taking the turret, they continue to push, resulting in a great flank TP by Rumble, getting kills on both Caitlyn and Janna. Fight goes 2 for 1 in TSM's favor and then gains them a lot of damage onto the bottom turret.

Dragon is the next focus for both teams, immediately following. Some great harass from Orianna as SHR moves in prevents them from being able to do dragon, and zones them away from mid, allowing TSM to take the mid turret.

SHR start dragon, and Lee Sin steals it for TSM. Khazix leaps into 4 members of TSM, to start the fight, but a great Rumble ultimate completely zones the rest of SHR and keeps them away long enough to annihilate Khazix. SHR continue the fight, currently a 4v4 with Tristana away from it, however she is able to make it to the fight and clean up. The result is 5 kills for TSM, 3 for SHR, with 3 kills going onto Tristana and the dragon to TSM. This massive swing brings Tristana even with Caitlyn and TSM into the lead in the game.

Now in the lead, TSM have a great team for taking control of the jungle and pushing turrets.

Rumble 1v1's Ryze in the top lane. Ryze has 0 magic resist against Rumble who now has triple Mpen items.

TSM will begin to push turrets and take control of SHR's jungle, by grouping as 4 or 5 and using their team fight power. At this point it is TSM's game to lose.

SHR rush top with their whole team while TSM move to push bottom lane. They catch Dyrus, kill him, and take baron. The unexpected 5 man top, ignoring everything else, comes up huge for SHR. Very risky, but it did work out. (Better warding for TSM in the top jungle, and Dyrus being more aware of the danger would have prevented his death, and then he could have stopped Baron alone or at least slowed down SHR enough for TSM to make it there).

TSM out-rotate SHR, putting pressure onto SHR mid turret, SHR flank TSM and get good damage, but TSM disengage and SHR chases TSM into the jungle, while Rumble and Orianna still have their ultimates and turns disastrous for SHR as they get over zealous.

Great play by SHR draws TSM into a very spread out, chaotic fight, breaking TSM's team fight advantage. The fight goes 2 for 2, but SHR are healthy enough and in the right position to take TSM T2 mid turret.

TSM takes SHR mid inhibitor, and backs towards dragon with no vision on Baron. SHR see this and rush to Baron, getting it again. TSM really needed to back from the inhibitor down middle and then towards baron to be ready for the counter-baron. Delays the game again.

SHR push bottom, still trying to team-fight instead of using Fizz's split-push potential. Doesn't net them anything but time, as Orianna's wave clear at this point is instant.

SHR rotate towards Baron/top, taking top T2, TSM rushes mid, forcing SHR back to defend their inhibitor. SHR gains a turret kill, but TSM now are free to take vision of Baron.

The fight happens at the Baron area. A great Rumble ult zones Caitlyn out of the fight completely. A bit of a split allows Fizz and Ryze to take brawl with Orianna/Rumble/ and Nami while Tristana leaps past them to take out Khazix and Janna, then return to clean up the fight. With Caitlyn delayed and Tristana so strong, Tristana rushes down mid and takes the Nexus.

Item Notes -

No early MR from Ryze really puts him at a huge disadvantage against Rumble and costs him several deaths. The pick-up of Glacial Shroud before Negatron Cloak really offers Ryze nothing against the double AP comp of TSM.

Janna goes Mikael's against a team whose only hard CC is Nami's bubble. Janna needed to pick up an Aegis/Locket which would have been huge against TSM's composition. Exponentially more effective than Mikael's.

End Game Notes -

SHR did not play into their strengths, and try to fight TSM several points, even though TSM has such a great anti-engage composition. Trying to fight this, gets SHR into a lot of trouble early on and sets up TSM to take control of the game.

A very risky play by SHR and then a sloppy back by TSM, end up giving them a great reward and they secure 2 Barons in a row.

SHR continue to try to fight TSM though, and lose out against the disengage. To be fair though, with their inhibitor exposed in mid, it is just about if not completely too late for a split-push.

What Star Horn Royal Club needed to do -

In the team composition that SHR chose, they needed to get an advantage early in all lanes, not just in the bottom lane. The best way SHR could have facilitated this is by using the huge advantage that SHR's duo lane had to fast push turrets. SHR should have opted into 2v1 lanes and taken the top tower as quickly as possible. This would have created team gold, and while it would not have kept Tristana down in the beginning, it would have kept Rumble down. As soon as the top turret drops, then Caitlyn/Janna switch to bottom lane, having an item advantage from shopping as well as the match-up advantage and pushing down the bottom tower quickly as well. Khazix (or an Elise) could easily help facilitate this by rushing level 6 and picking up Evolved Spike Racks for the poke and fast wave clear.

With two turrets down, Khazix/Caitlyn/Janna could have pressured mid while Fizz switches into a split-push (TP would have been great on Fizz instead of ignite). This would have helped Fizz and Ryze get the lead they needed to be able to split-push, win the 1v1s and draw multiple members into their lane.

Another thing that SHR club could have done, was to not pick Fizz. They could see the full intention of TSM's team and had an opportunity to pick their mid laner in response. A mid laner that has good long range abilities, does not have to all in, and is able to provide usefulness in a tower siege would have been great against TSM, as TSM had no hard engage and SHR already had Caitlyn/Janna for the turret pushing. Xerath, Syndra, Ziggs, or Jayce would have been great for SHR. Playing the same way as mentioned in the previous paragraph, but instead of SHR's mid laner split-pushing, he would help in the siege once it reached mid lane. From there, poke around dragon, manage waves, and then push into the T2 turrets, extending the gold lead.

League of Legends Worlds Analysis, Group Stage - TSM vs. SHR Game #1

Star Horn Royal Club vs. Team Solo Mid Game #1

Standard Lanes

Bans

Maokai Fizz

Nidalee Lee Sin

Alistar Lucian

Picks

1. Zilean 2. Ryze

3. Rengar 2. Zed

3. Tristana 4. Nami

5. Irelia 4. Corki

5. Janna 6. Elise

Lane Match-ups – Star Horn Royal Club

Top -

Irelia will get bullied by Ryze early and will be reduced to surviving and farming. It will be rough for a while, but being lower than Ryze will keep his kill potential almost non-existent during the low levels, as well as providing Irelia with an easy way to set up a gank through the long duration of her stun. Once Irelia reaches and 6 and picks up a Sheen, she will have more control over the lane than Ryze. Her all-in onto Ryze will be superior while Ryze is scaling up with his tear/catalyst. Every opportunity after this point should be used to push Ryze out of lane and potentially kill him. Jungle with Rengar will be extremely potent and should be a priority.

Mid -

Zilean does not have much to fear from Zed. Safe use of bombs to get farm and harass should be used while making sure to avoid a level 2 or 3 all-in from Zed. Once level 6 hits, and Zilean in an even lane will hit it first, all kill pressure from Zed will be gone. Zilean can freely fast push mid lane and then roam to the sides and make plays there. The ability for Zilean to speed up Rengar during Rengar's ultimate will make for good ganks, and good plays later on in the game.

Bot -

Tristana/Janna will have a fairly safe time against Corki/Nami, but will be unable to put much pressure onto them. Farm as much as possible to get Tristana into that late game and avoid 2v2 engagements with TSM's bot lane, especially when Corki picks up pieces of or completes his Trinity Force. The passive movement speed from Janna will help when Rengar lane ganks with his ultimate.

Jungle -

Rengar should farm as much as possible and use the increased experience from Zilean to reach level 6 ASAP. From there he has solid gank potential in every lane (though the least in mid as Zed is slippery). Ganks before 6 should be focused top, as Irelia can set them up very well.

Lane Match-ups – Team Solo Mid

Top -

Ryze can bully Irelia, though it might not be so wise. With Irelia lower than Ryze, it will put Ryze at risk to be ganked easily by Rengar. Harassment should only be done when he knows that Rengar is on the other side of the map and must be wary anytime his presence is not accounted for. Be especially mindful of low hp ranged creeps and the ability of Irelia to double gap close in those situations. If possible, try to keep the wave slightly on TSM's side of the river, giving more time to chase Irelia in a gank, since she has built in tenacity to deal with Elise and Ryze CC, and because Ryze will need a short escape route if he gets ganked.

Mid -

There's really not much for Zed to do in this lane. If possible, get harassment in the early levels, and try to all-in around levels 2-4 for the kill. If Zed cannot get ahead early, there will be no way for him to kill Zilean after 6. Other than that, Zed must farm and get enough of a power lead to be able to split-push later on in the game.

Bot -

Corki/Nami will have the advantage in this lane. With superior all-in, poke, and sustain they should be able to come out ahead in this lane. The key will be landing the skill shots in trades/fights though. If Nami and Corki miss their skillshots, they can lose a trade to Tristana/Janna. TSM's lane needs to be extra careful against Rengar when he hits 6, especially Nami. Janna's passive move speed bonus on top of her slow into knock-up will give Rengar plenty of time and an easy setup to gank.

Jungle -

Elise against Rengar is a bit of an awkward match-up, especially in these compositions. I would suggest that Elise put on an early tower push bottom. Rengar cannot do much early on against a siege. Elise should use her ranged and pick ability to help push towers early, opening up the map for TSM to ward and keep track of Rengar. Early gank potentials will be against top lane, if Irelia is pushed to Ryze's tower or mid, if Elise can somehow sneak into for a flash cocoon.

Team Compositions/Strategy – Star Horn Royal Club

*Win Condition – Deny TSM the ability to split-push, have Rengar get the lanes (primarily top) going. Group up with the mid game potential of Irelia and Zilean, denying Zed's usefulness and allowing Rengar to make great engages. Alternately just get ahead of both Ryze and Zed to completely shut down TSM's split-push ability.

SHR have a great composition here to completely shut down TSM's plan. Zilean + Rengar can make extremely fast engagements that are hard to see coming and hard to stop. The experience advantage will allow Rengar to make level 6 ganks that much earlier as well. If/when TSM try to split-push, Rengar is great at stopping them, able to gank straight down the lanes and turn the split-push into a 2v1 very quickly. Alternately when TSM try to push with their 3 man squad, the engage potential (as noted before), should be able to prevent them from escaping. As another note, Irelia's strength in the mid game and as a duelist will help to prevent a successful split-push from TSM.

Team Compositions/Strategy – TSM

*Win Condition – Get ahead enough to be able to perform a 1-3-1 split-push and whittle down SHR with the pressure.

TSM's composition here, kinda sucks to be honest. The Rengar pick has really screwed over their ability to split-push safely. Picking Zed into Zilean completely gave away their strategy and allowed SHR to deny them it. TSM must get ahead early and stay ahead early to be relevant in this game. To do this, TSM should use the advantage that Elise has over Rengar (her ranged and siege ability) to fast push turrets and get them an early gold lead. If TSM manage to gain a lead, then they will need to put pressure around the map with deep wards to spot out Rengar. Zilean will be the biggest deterrent with his wave clear, for the 3 man squad and the team should pay very close attention to his animations, If they ever see him cast his speed up, but do not see the particle, then Rengar is near. If TSM get behind, it will most likely be over. They will have to fully commit to the split-push and hope to trade objectives.

Game Notes -

*I would love to see pink wards make it into the bushes by SHR's T2 turrets early on. Not sure how they will work out, but would be interesting to see.

Very great gank by Elise up top, but Irelia's passive gets her away.

Nami misses her bubble and SHR goes in, coming out ahead in the trade.

TSM bot lane, falling behind SHR bot lane. Every other lane is winning in CS.

Irelia with level 8 able to do a ton of damage to Ryze. Rengar ganks through lane soon after. A great flash into the leap from his ultimate denies the warning time for Ryze and gets the kill onto Ryze with Irelia.

3v3 on bot lane, Irelia TPs as soon as the fight starts, but Ryze takes much longer. Tristana flashes back to focus on and knock-back Elise. SHR does much much more damage and takes out Elise. The quick TP allows Irelia to secure it and then pick up Nami. As Zilean comes down, he is able to speed up Rengar and add damage from bombs so that he is able to reach and kill Ryze. Takes dragon.

At this point TSM's strategy is completely dismantled. Bot lane has lost pretty hard, top lane has reached the point where Irelia's mid game spike is much stronger than Ryze, and Zed has not gained enough of an advantage to deal with SHR's anti split-push.

Irelia is able to 1v1 Zed in the bot lane, this is her power against split-push during this stage of the game.

SHR will start to use Tristana to start taking towers, while Rengar Zilean and Irelia will do a lot of running around to gank lanes and control jungle objectives.

TSM delay backs to try to take middle, but then decide to try to get kills. Ryze goes in too early and without any defenses, goes down in seconds before TSM can reinforce.

TSM get heavily out rotated and make a very risky fight. Able to push SHR out, but nothing else. SHR want to be the ones to engage, and let the fight go, even though they most likely would have come out ahead, but with several losses.

TSM disengage from SHR fight, mainly through Corki poke and a weak engage from SHR.

TSM create a fight behind SHR, but are too far behind. Tristana is now past your mid game dip and has skyrocketed past Corki's mid game spike.

TSM aced trying to stop Baron. Great play by Zed though, watch how he uses shadows to kill Trist.

End Game Notes -

TSM really lost the game during champion select. SHR read their strategy and completely countered it.

No lane for TSM got an advantage with bot outright losing the lane, and top lane falling behind during Irelia's power spike.

TSM did not react in game to SHR's composition and did not do anything to salvage the game and alter their strategy any.

What Team Solo Mid needed to do -

Top and mid were picked to early I believe. It gave away TSM's strategy right away and allowed SHR to pick Rengar without TSM having the ability to counter him in their picks. Pulling out a heavy disengage/team fight/protect the ADC composition really makes things hard for teams that lack siege potential. This would have allowed a better mid pick primarily. Xerath, Ziggs, or Orianna would have been great against Zilean and this team, providing AoE to spread damage out as well as providing disengage and utility to escape when SHR wants to engage. If TSM wanted to stay with this strategy, then they should have recognized the deadliness of Rengar against split-push and decided on how to get around it. Sticking with Ryze/Zed first, the rest of their picks were good/decent, if they had switched up their strategy, maybe trading Corki or Caitlyn.

With the composition that TSM ended up with, they really needed to get themselves an early advantage and use the early turret pushing ability to gain map control and a gold lead. TSM should have started with 2v1 lanes, and gone for a fast push, bringing in Elise after buffs to accelerate this. TSM could have also tried a little bit of a crazy play, and 4 man pushed top lane and move to the T2 turret. 4 ranged champions, with the CC of Elise/Nami/Ryze would easily secure them 1 if not 2 towers. The early gold and the exp denial to Rengar if he tries to turret defend would be a huge boon for TSM and help Zed get the gold lead he needs. From here, judgment would need to be made in the game, but continuing tower pushing early with Caitlyn, or at 6 with Corki would be ideal. Use Rengar's inability to engage early on and take advantage of the CC that Elise/Nami/Ryze can offer.

League of Legends Worlds Analysis, Group Stage - TSM vs. SK Game #2

SK Gaming vs. Team Solo Mid Game #2

ADC/Top switch, SK Gaming

Bans

Zed Alistar

Tristana Nidalee

Ryze Aatrox

Picks

1. Khazix 2. Maokai

3. Swain 2. Janna

3. Morgana 4. Lee Sin

5. Vayne 4. Kog'Maw

5. Ziggs 6. Syndra

Lane Match-ups – SK Gaming

Top -

Swain is a lane counter to Maokai, able to bully him extremely well, more so than Maokai can sustain, and is safe against Maokai at all points during the game. Swain should take an easy lead in the top lane match-up, zoning from level 1/2 and going for kill pressure at level 3 and beyond. Must be aware of ganks from Lee Sin before level 6, at 6 Swain should be safe to escape any 2 man gank without ignite. Has plenty of potential with Khazix ganks.

Mid -

Ziggs turns this mid lane into a farm fest. Ziggs should seek to keep Syndra pushed back for the first few levels but no longer than level 6. Outside of that, Ziggs should seek to farm as many jungle camps as he can while quickly clearing mid lane when it shows up. Stay away from Syndra, and do not let her get kill pressure onto Ziggs. Pretty safe against Lee Sin ganks as long as Ziggs has quick reactions with the satchel.

Bot -

Vayne/Morgana don't really make for a great lane. There is some potential for a binding into wall stun and Black Shield can block some damage, but there is no hard CC for it to stop in the bot lane. However, Morgana will be good for getting picks later on and for providing massive protection against Syndra later on in the game. Should look try to farm, but will most likely be taking harass from TSM's lane. Can have a solid gank with Khazix if Morgana lands the right binding. Switching and fighting a 2v1 lane would probably be a much better choice.

Jungle -

Khazix vs Lee Sin again. Farm stuff. Best ganks will occur on the top lane against Maokai, especially if Swain can get him low. Try to mirror Lee Sin top and bottom to prevent him from having successful ganks. Mid lane should be just fine.

Lane Match-ups – Team Solo Mid

Top -

Maokai has been countered, it is going to be very difficult for Maokai to exist in this lane. Maokai needs to do everything he can to avoid harass and get farm. Needs to be wary of using saplings to farm creeps, as they will keep the lane in Swain's favor.

Mid -

Against Ziggs, this lane has been turned into a farm lane. Syndra should just farm, get to the point where she has fast wave clear, and then roam. Looking for catches in the jungle with Lee Sin would also be very strong. If Syndra can land a stun, before Lee Sin is caught by vision, a gank mid can happen, but it will be difficult.

Bot -

TSM have a much stronger duo lane. Janna/Kog'maw can get some easy harass onto SK's duo and eventually push them into a very defensive position in lane. Stay away from positions that will get you knocked into a wall if Morgana lands a binding. TSM should expect the lane swap SK, and try to match it. While Maokai will have a bad lane against Swain, if Vayne free farms, she will be able to deal with Maokai throughout the game anyways.

Jungle -

Another Khazix against Lee Sin match-up. Farm and try to be ready to counter-gank. Lee Sin.

Team Composition/Strategy – SK Gaming

*Win Condition – Get Vayne ahead and strong enough that she is able to decimate Maokai and split-push while the 4 man squad siege turrets using Ziggs/Khazix poke.

SK has not so much crafted a composition as they have baited TSM into picking Maokai and Syndra. Swain and Vayne counter Maokai pretty hard while the Ziggs pick effectively shuts down Syndra's lane strength by long range farming. Morgana is also used to prevent Syndra from being able to one shot people with her ultimate.

*SK's special strategy – SK have a plan going into this. Rather than sending Swain to fight Maokai, SK lane swap, sending Morgana and Vayne top. The moment they see that Maokai is indeed top, Morgana leaves Vayne alone. SK effectively switch their top laner and ADC. Vayne is great in a 1v1 against Maokai and Morgana/Swain become a bot lane that TSM don't really know what to do against.

Team Composition/Strategy – Team Solo Mid

*Win Condition – Win lanes, win game. Get ahead of SK, find picks, and push them down.

The team TSM crafted does not really excel at anything. It is however, a very strong composition. TSM have a strong front-line, good play making champions, disengage, pick, and a hyper-carry. Their team is very solid, and while it does not do any one thing super amazing, it does everything very well. TSM will be looking to get an early lead, and use that to just be stronger than SK. TSM need to make sure that the lanes go well early, and then start getting picks/plays with Syndra and Lee Sin.

Game Notes -

SK performs a very crafty lane swap, switching ADC with Top. Khazix will gank top lane for Vayne at level 3, this plan is already in SK's mind from the start of the match.

Maokai, with the level 3 to 2 advantage goes all-in against Vayne but Khazix is close by. Maokai has spent too much mana however, getting a few cs before the all-in and runs out before he can finish off Vayne (who he very nearly kills). Vayne then escapes with heal move-speed and Khazix picks up the kill.

It is not first blood though, as Lee Sin performs a dive on bot lane and gets the kill. However, TSM go too aggressive and end up performing a second, unnecessary dive onto Morgana and end up giving her 2 kills so the dive effectively trades 2 for 2 with Swain able to TP back to lane to grab the farm/exp. (Morgana does not have binding at level 2, very odd). Swain gets a huge level lead from this.

Lee Sin continues to focus bot lane, really should be keeping Vayne down instead.

Swain having the level advantage really allows SK's bot lane to be able to CS and fight against TSM's lane. Once Kog'maw reaches 6 though, the lane really turns back into a bullying situation.

Vayne being so strong against Maokai, Khazix comes top and they are able to turret dive a level 6 Maokai and get top turret.

Swain/Morgana make a great attempt to all-in Kog'maw/Janna, but a TP from Maokai and a counter-engage by Lee Sin and roam by Syndra allow them to pick up both kills for nothing.

TSM's bot lane move top, while SK goes bottom, trading T1 turrets. Vayne gets even farther ahead.

Vayne with her level lead and Blade of the Ruined King can 1v1 anyone at this moment, TSM having no response for her.

TSM put so much focus on Swain, making plays that are too aggressive and leave them vulnerable. TSM still have put 0 focus onto Vayne.

Misplays by SK around dragon gets Swain killed and TSM take dragon, but with mid lane low from Zigg's constant pressure, SK are able to take mid turret. (I would have liked to see Vayne have stayed top instead of moving for dragon. Could have taken top T2 or kept Maokai from joining TSM at dragon and letting the 4 man squad poke at mid/dragon.

Returning from dragon, TSM run through jungle towards mid, not respecting the power of Vayne, and the AoE damage of Ziggs. Ziggs deals tons of damage and zoning against the returning, low hp TSM members, and SK get 3 kills for 0 and mid T2.

At this point the game is pretty even, but Vayne is miles ahead. SK really need to keep up the split-push with Vayne.

SK take top T2 next. With only bottom T2 left, SK should start to push mid as 4 and let Vayne split-push and 1v1. They do so, then collapse for the final T2 turret.

TSM start to focus on jungle objectives that will force SK to group. However, with all outer and inner turrets down, SK should keep Vayne split-pushing, either trading for inhibitor turrets or preventing TSM from being able to focus on such objectives. They do not however do this.

Vayne backs at 27:00 from bot lane while TSM is 5 man in mid. Vayne should have just kept pushing bottom.

SK get a pick onto Lee Sin, but then wander around Baron for awhile, they should have pressured mid with their 4 man squad while Vayne pressured top, could have easily put down turret pressure.

SK get caught in TSM's jungle, ending up in a 5v5 fight. TSM take 2 unanswered kills. TSM head to dragon and catch 1 kill plus take dragon.

SK give up on the split-push at this moment, (bad decision) and TSM start to gain an advantage.

Vayne finally heads to the split push but backs off when TSM head to Baron. Because TSM is low, this does work and SK are able to collapse, stop Baron, and then take it themselves.

Once again, SK do not use their split-push advantage, this time having Baron. TSM get a pick and take dragon.

This trend continues for a long time. SK not using their split-push advantage and playing into TSM's superior 5v5 team. Several fights occur over the next several minutes, TSM getting picks and pincers until they are able to freely take Baron. TSM, for the first time this game, gain control of the match.

TSM take mid inhibitor and Vayne finally starts to split-push again. TSM get antsy for the win and push as 4 into SK's base for nexus turrets, but get collapsed on from behind without their front-line. Trapped in SK's base, without Maokai, TSM get split up, flanked, caught out, and dismantled. Kog'maw goes down early, Syndra is unable to one shot Khazix, and everything goes down hill. SK Ace TSM in their own base, and are able to push all the way up to TSM's base and win the game before TSM can re-spawn.

Item Notes -

Ziggs goes Zhonya's second item. I would have much rather seen a Deathcap for greater poke, or especially a Lichbane for tower damage while Vayne splits and pulls multiple members away from SK's 4 man squad.

Would have preferred to see Zhonya's from Swain instead of Rylai's.

End Game Notes -

This game was a real mess for both sides.

SK gained a huge advantage on Vayne early, used it well to get the outer and inner turrets of TSM, but then just stopped. They could have kept pressing the advantage for Inhibitor turrets and potentially inhibitors. They threw the game by not keeping up the split-push pressure and not running a 4-1 push.

TSM played awful early game, not knowing what to do with SK's top/ADC switch. They do pull it together late game, however this is because SK does not play their composition well. However, impatience and one tremendous error ends up losing TSM the game.

What Team Solo Mid should have done -

Expect and match the lane swap. Having not matched it, then TSM should have put the focus onto Vayne top instead of on Swain bottom. Kog'maw/Janna would do fine against the lane, but Maokai will have a very rough time against Vayne. Lee Sin could easily swing that lane, using the cc of Maokai to keep Vayne in range for the kills. TSM needed to recognize as soon as SK left Vayne top in a 1v1 that Vayne needed to be stopped from being able to become a split-push monster.

League of Legends Worlds Analysis, Group Stage - TSM vs. SK Game #1

Team Solo Mid vs. SK Gaming Game #1

Standard Lanes

Bans

Nidalee Lulu

Kayle Zed

Aatrox Syndra

Picks

1. Alistar 2. Lucian

3. Lee Sin 2. Khazix

3. Nami 4. Mundo

5. Tristana 4. Sona

5. Yasuo 6. Orianna

Lane Match-ups – Team Solo Mid

Top -

Alistar and Mundo will have a pretty standard farming top lane. Neither champion will have an innate advantage over the other, however the lane can be turned by the jungle ganks. Mundo is much more susceptible to a dive or short gank, while the slows from Khazix and Mundo will allow a chase down a longer lane. Alistar should do his best to push lane and clear waves, then try to make TP plays or fight with Lee Sin and Yasuo in small skirmishes in the jungle or mid lane. Once Trinity Force comes into play, Alistar will have a little bit more bully potential, but not enough to make a significant difference. A long fight will still play out in Mundo's advantage.

Mid -

Yasuo has a slightly rough time against Orianna, but not enough to really be shut down from fighting. Good use of dashes through creeps can make it very hard for Orianna to hit him with offensive ball movement, and with good positioning Yasuo can get in some poke onto Orianna when his flow charge is full. As the lane progresses, Yasuo will gain bully presence at level 6, but will lose it once Orianna is able to wave clear in a spell cast or two. Both lack solo lane kill potential, barring any major mistakes, and any ultimate trades should come out with even damage. The major advantage that Yasuo has is with the jungler, Lee Sin. Once both are level 6, the kill pressure from a gank onto Orianna will skyrocket. It is at this point that they should take advantage of the lane.

Bot -

The bot lane match-up is a trade off between greater poke from Lucian/Sona, and better CC from Trist/Nami. The lane should remain even for a good part of the game. If Tristana/Nami want to pull a lead, they should push heavily into SK's tower. Being stuck at the tower will lower SK's harass and poke potential to a great degree, while TSM's lane holds onto a better all-in fight, as long as Nami hits the bubbles. A jungle gank from either side will sway this lane. At level 6, the greater potential lies in Tristana/Nami, as they have better and more tools for safety, even though they have a trickier engage/fight than SK's side.

Jungle-

Another Lee Sin against Khazix match. Both should go even on farm. In this particular game, Lee Sin should look to swing either top or bottom, without wasting too much farm time. An early dive, perhaps a 3 man dive, onto Mundo up top should prove very successful. Once Lee Sin hits 6, focus should shift to mid lane or jungle skirmishes near mid lane, synergizing with Yasuo ultimate.

Lane Match-ups – SK Gaming

Top -

Alistar and Mundo will have a pretty standard farming top lane. Neither champion will have an innate advantage over the other, however the lane can be turned by the jungle ganks. Mundo is much more susceptible to a dive or short gank, while the slows from Khazix and Mundo will allow a chase down a longer lane. Mundo needs to be wary of an early tower dive from Lee Sin as well as a follow up dive when Alistar reaches level 6. Outside of that, Mundo should farm as much as possible, stacking armor against TSM's team. Teleport plays should primarily be attempted on bottom lane.

Mid -

Orianna generally has an awkward time against Yasuo. His swift dashes combined with the flow shield make it hard to land solid harass against him while also using the ball for CS. Optimal placement of the ball will either be on top of Orianna, or in the middle of her own creep wave. Both of these options will serve to zone/deter Yasuo from attempting to harass Orianna back, as the quick short ball movements will be much easier to hit than if the ball were residing in the opposing creep wave. The ideal point in this match will be when Orianna is able to quick kill the creep wave in 2-3 spells, this nets her a much faster clear speed than Yasuo, as well as forcing minor creep damage onto him. Creeps attacking Yasuo are also much more predictable in their movement and this will help in avoiding Yasuo's dashes. Level 6 will be a feared point though, mostly because of the potential for Lee Sin ganks into an unavoidable Yasuo Ult. Good warding and safe play will be required when Lee Sin's position is unknown.

Bot -

Lucian/Sona have a better level 1 than Tristana/Nami and need to use it to their advantage. Keeping the wave even or in TSM territory will be essential for the better poke/bullying potential of SK's lane to be effective. Must be aware that a Nami bubble landing onto Sona could be disastrous, but must not allow that possibility to hold them back. Getting Khazix into a lane bush and then engaging onto Nami would be an ideal gank.

Jungle -

Another Khazix vs Lee Sin match-up. Not much new to say here. Khazix will farm mostly and look to counter-gank. Khazix should especially be looking to counter-gank or prevent a dive onto Mundo top. Other than that, look to punish an over pushed lane, and try to sneak in a bottom gank through a lane bush, particularly once Sona hits 6.

Team Compositions/Strategy – Team Solo Mid

*Win Condition – Get good Yasuo ultimates. Have Lee Sin make good early ganks and mid game plays to get the lead. Turn this lead into small skirmish and jungle objective control. Get Yasuo and Trist to scale before Mundo does, and try to create a lot of flanking plays to get to SK's back line.

What we see from TSM is very much a Yasuo composition with Tristana as a late game back up. TSM's largest spike will start at level 6, peak around level 11 and the mid game and then start to fall off after that. During their power spike, TSM must use their synergy with Yasuo to create small skirmish fights and solid lane ganks. EVERY champion on TSM's team can set Yasuo up. There are too many options for SK to reliably avoid them all. Mid game dragons will be key, and until Tristana gets sufficient range, they should avoid tower sieges in 5v5 fights, as SK has solid disengage potential, baring a Yasuo ultimate to the back line.

Team Compositions/Strategy – SK Gaming

*Win Condition – Do not fall behind in the early game, wait to scale up, and protect towers through wave clear and disengage. Get to a point where Alistar is no longer a major threat to your back line, Mundo is able to tank pretty much the entire TSM team with a high armor build, and Orianna's damage reaches her late game heavy threat potential.

SK's team is setup to scale into the late game and against TSM's full AD composition will do well against it if they can reach that point. Their play making ability is lacking, but their counter-engage and ability to punish over reaching TSM members is severe. Orianna and Khazix will need to defend towers as much as possible, keeping up the wave clear and delaying any time of objective snowball from TSM. The key point to being able to reach past the mid game TSM spike, is by avoiding Yasuo's ultimate. This will require good warding to avoid flanking, and respect for Lee Sin's “Insec” plays as well as Alistar's headbutt/pulverize combo. If TSM engages without reaching Orianna or Lucian with Yasuo, then the disengage from SK should prove superior.

Game Notes -

Orianna throws the ball away from herself deep into creeps while there is an easy dash path for Yasuo to engage along with his knock-up being active. With Lee Sin present, this step too close costs Orianna her flash.

Not having her flash or her ball, and having just used her dissonance against creeps, behind Yasuo. Yasuo once again dashes through creeps with knock-up, just barely reaching Orianna and allowing Lee Sin to come in to help secure the kill. Was a great play by Yasuo.

Mundo show's his prowess against Alistar.

Orianna picks up a chalice, in my opinion a bad item pick against this TSM team and against Yasuo.

Yasuo, with the assist on first blood and the slight exp advantage, Yasuo takes control of the lane.

Lack of warding against Alistar roam ends up with Orianna dieing under tower to Yasuo to the gank synergy.

Lee Sin gets too greedy for a kill on Lucian, misses the knock-back shot with his ultimate and ends up dieing for his attempt.

Top and bot lane are running even, but mid is severely behind. TSM takes this advantage and turns it into a dragon.

Note how weak vision is in the top side right now.

Small fight at blue, nothing gained or lost. Does result in a 3 man move to top, but only burns Mundo's flash.

A great engage by Sona almost nets Lucian a kill on bot lane, but the safety of the Tristana/Nami lane allow a quick disengage. The sustain of Nami will allow Tristana to stay and heal up to take the next wave, before both sides return to shop.

A solo engage by Yasuo onto Orianna results with Lee Sin being able to collapse and provide just enough damage to kill off Orianna.

Fast reaction times in bot lane save Tristana from being locked down by Crescendo. Nami in turn, locks down Sona, and Sona barely escapes. Lucian goes hard on Tristana, but miscalculates the damage and does not keep chasing for the last hit. (Should have anyways and went after Nami after Tristana). Lee Sin comes from behind to lock Sona and Lucian at the tower and TSM 5 man collapses with Alistar TP. Mundo TP's but only adds his own death. Leads to a dragon for TSM. Khazix, trying to poke, lets himself get caught by Yasuo, and goes down, as Orianna tries to help and dies for her troubles as well.

At this point, TSM is very strong at this point, having hit their mid game spike on all their champions. With the map already opened up, the game is pretty much solidified. TSM will run all three lanes in in small match-ups in which SK will try to make plays, but will lose to the lead TSM has. Eventually this results in a Baron.

With Baron and the lead that TSM is wielding, TSM use Tristana's range to push into SK's base and win the game.

End Game Notes -

Yasuo was the central figure in this match, with Lee Sin providing great support to him and the rest of the team. Orianna misplaying the match and building wrong led to Yasuo getting too strong for the team to deal with.

The big dive bottom was the solidifying factor for TSM's win. If Lucian had been more aggressive, he could have killed Tristana and then Nami, the dive would not have happened and the crazy snowball from that point would not have happened.

The TP into the 5 man dive was also ill-advised, Alistar will provide much more in a dive with his ultimate while Sona could be considered already dead with her low hp.

Khazix letting himself get caught right after dragon led to two more kills onto Yasuo.

This whole series of events led to TSM's huge lead and dominance over the rest of the game.

What SK Gaming needed to do -

Not let TSM get Yasuo. Their composition from the first three picks were very ideal for a final Yasuo pick. Aside from that, Orianna needed to respect Yasuo's dash range and use her ball movements as well as creep wave manipulation better. Keeping Yasuo from going on a rampage was key against this team, and SK did not make sure that did not happen. SK needed wards to watch for Alistar and Lee Sin flanks on top of the better play from mid lane. SK can take away, don't let these insane Yasuo compositions go through.

Item Notes -

I have to point out that Orianna built terribly. Going chalice against a physical damage mid, let alone against a full AD team. Orianna had a few routes that she could have chosen including, seekers/Zhonya's, triple Doran's, or Haunting Guise. All of which would give her some survivability against Yasuo. I would have love to have seen any of those items then, into tear after. That would give her early game survivability and the mana/regen she will need throughout the game. Building Zhonya's or Rod of Ages next would be ideal. Either item, on top of Archangel's shield will give her the survivability she will need in the mid to late game. In this instance, I would trade out my blue runes, and possibly my Quints for scaling CDR runes to cover the CDR she so desperately needs.

League of Legends World Analysis, Group Stages - Team Solo Mid, Main Page

Team Solo Mid

Top – Dyrus

1. Win – Alistar 2/0/8

2. Loss – Ryze 1/7/1

3. Win – Rumble 2/1/7

4. Win – Lulu 1/1/9

5. Win – Rumble 6/4/9

6. Loss – Maokai 5/6/5

Jungle – Amazing

1. Win – Lee Sin 3/1/9

2. Loss – Elise 1/5/2

3. Win – Lee Sin 1/3/8

4. Win – Lee Sin 4/1/13

5. Win – Lee Sin 4/5/11

6. Loss – Lee Sin 2/6/10

Mid – Bjergsen

1. Win – Yasuo 5/0/6

2. Loss – Zed 2/4/1

3. Win – Xerath 5/0/5

4. Win – Orianna 3/0/11

5. Win – Orianna 4/2/10

6. Loss – Syndra 4/3/7

ADC – WildTurtle

1. Win – Tristana 5/0/3

2. Loss – Corki 1/4/2

3. Win – Kog'maw 4/0/6

4. Win – Tristana 11/1/6

5. Win – Tristana 5/0/7

6. Loss – Kog'maw 5/2/8

Support – Lustboy

1. Win – Nami 0/0/9

2. Loss – Nami 0/5/2

3. Win – Janna 2/0/8

4. Win – Braum 0/1/14

5. Win – Nami 2/4/15

6. Loss – Janna 1/4/13

Banned Against 

Lulu – 1 

Zed – 3 

Syndra - 1 

Maokai – 3 

Nidalee – 1 

Alistar - 3 

Nami – 1 

Janna – 1 

Rumble – 1 

Elise – 1 

Tristana – 1

Ryze – 1

Banned By
Nidalee – 3
Kayle – 1
Aatrox – 2
Fizz – 1
Lee Sin – 1
Lucian – 3
Zilean – 3
Syndra – 1
Alistar – 2
Rengar – 1

Group Stage Notes -

Throwing TSM for a loop with champions can really get into their heads. They will need to realize that they need to think of what the opposition's team comp and champions can do quickly, if they are thrown for that loop again.

TSM is primarily a team-fight team. Be ready to face death ball and protect the ADC compositions. On the flip side, TSM need to do their best to get strong compositions like this as well.

Siege compostions fit TSM good as well. Long range disengage compostions will definitely be in their reportie.

TSM really like to play ADC hyper carries. Forcing WildTurtle onto an uncomfortable champion could yield great results (when TSM ban Lucian, ban or pick away Tristana/Kog'maw/Corki). TSM should also prepare for this situation.

TSM do not do well against Zilean.

League of Legends Worlds Analysis, Group Stage - SSW vs. DP Game #2

Samsung White vs. Dark Passage Game #2

Standard Lanes

Bans

Nidalee Tristana

Lucian Yasuo

Thresh Zilean

Picks

1. Alistar 2. Ryze

3. Khazix 2. Lee Sin

3. Corki 4. Braum

5. Zed 4. Ezreal

5. Janna 6. Fizz

Lane Match-ups – Samsung White

Top -

Alistar should have a bit of a rough time against Ryze. With the range advantage and the lack of all in potential early on for Alistar, Ryze should be able to bully him early. Picking up a point into Alistar's heal at level 2 may be very useful, unless you are expecting a gank from your jungler at that point. Although bullied, Alistar should be able to sustain through it when he picks up his heal. Using mana for the headbutt->auto attack combo will hurt Alistar's longevity in lane but the damage will stick to Ryze. Always keep enough mana for a headbutt/pulverize combo in case of a gank and heal > headbutt harassment when Alistar has extra mana. Wait for your jungler to really go aggressive, farm and play safe till then. (Here we will get to see SSW and Dark Passage's top laners switch champions and see how the match-up fairs this way).

Mid -

Mid will be a very brawl centric lane. With two mid lane melee assassins in the mix, poke, trades, and fights will be almost constant. The rush to level 2 will be very important. If one or the other can definitively reach level 2 first they can all in to grab early lane advantage. Zed will have an easier time harassing with his skillshot Q and his AoE E. Neither of these will pull creep aggro while Fizz will have to auto early on for his harassment. Zed should be stronger at level 2, slightly, and then Fizz at level 3, evening back out after until level 6 upon which Zed should have the advantage. Zed has several ways of dodging Fizz ultimate, be it his own ultimate or shadow play. Fizz on the other hand, can only dodge Zed ult through his pole hop. After 6 if at anytime Fizz's pole hop is down, Zed should go all in.

Bot -

This match-up is fairly even with poke residing on the side of Ezreal/Braum and all-in potential on the side of Corki/Janna. The difference is very slight though in these regards. Corki/Janna will be looking to trade damage against Ezreal while Janna shield is up. Enough harassment this way will ensure them the lane. As long as they don't get out poked, the lane should proceed in a safe, even manner. At level 6 the lane match-up will shift, with poke advantage switching to Corki/Janna and all-in to Ezreal/Braum unless there is a decent amount of creeps hit by Ezreal ultimate. All in all an even lane whose determination will rest upon Janna shield use and Corki/Ezreal properly timing their dash skills.

Jungle -

Fairly even match-up against Lee Sin. Should farm primarily and be ready to counter-engage Lee Sin if he ganks. Best gank opportunities will be in top lane if Ryze over extends. Providing even a small amount of damage mid lane will also swing the lane in Zed's favor. If he can sneak his way bot lane, a counter-engage if Ezreal/Braum or a gank if they are pushed up too far, will be devastating with the burst of Corki.

Lane Match-ups – Dark Passage

Top -

Ryze should have a very easy time against Alistar. While lacking sustain, he does have the bully potential. Ryze should focus on forcing Alistar to use his heal, keeping his mana low to prevent headbutt harassment. Will be a hard lane to get a gank on, especially after level 6, but the lane match-up will allow Ryze to farm and scale with safety.

Mid -

Mid will be a very brawl centric lane. With two mid lane melee assassins in the mix, poke, trades, and fights will be almost constant. The rush to level 2 will be very important. If one or the other can definitively reach level 2 first they can all in to grab early lane advantage. In an even level 2 however, Fizz will be at a disadvantage, as his skills will force the all-in where as zed can provide poke as well as all-in potential. At level 3 though, Fizz will be able to harass with his full kit. Either by dashing in at Zed and hopping out, or by hopping in behind Zed, then dashing through him back to Fizz's side of the lane. Once level 6 comes around, the lane becomes much tougher. Fizz must hold onto his ultimate and his pole hop, otherwise Zed will have the advantage with his ultimate up.

Bot -

This lane is an even match-up, Ezreal and Braum will have the better poke and setup early on, but the damage potential of Corki/Janna is higher, unless they can secure the Braum stun onto Corki. Getting safe poke and farming will be the best option, if enough damage can be tossed onto Corki or Janna, then a potential all in can be had. Ezreal needs to make sure to keep his E shift up to dodge Corki Q and/or Janna Q as these will provide a significant advantage to SSW's bot lane if they hit. At level 6, the poke and all-in potential switch. If Ezreal/Braum can land a stun proc, they can combo it into both of their ultimates, making sure that Ezreal does not get diminished by creeps. This will provide a huge amount of burst and win them the all-in.

Jungle -

Even match-up against Khazix. Farm and look from some sneaky ganks. A bot lane gank onto Janna would prove the most successful. An early top lane gank would also work well, but if both headbutt and pulverize are up, Alistar should be safe. Be prepared to counter-engage a level 2 all-in by Zed should also prove successful

Team Composition/Strategy – Samsung White

*Win Conditions – The first win condition is simply winning lanes and the snowballing that into the mid game power spikes of Corki, Alistar, and Zed. Alternately, a second win condition appears in the form of Zed split-push and Corki/Khazix wave clear.

Once again Samsung White has drafted a team that is very lane focused with much less focus on team synergy past the laning phase. This composition is all about outplaying Dark Passage early and snowballing a lead. There does exist a backup plan this time around though. If Samsung White cannot find the skirmishes they want and are unable to win 5v5's, Zed can split-push while Khazix and Corki wave clear and/or turret siege with Janna and Alistar providing disengage and anti tower dive against Dark Passage.

Team Composition/Strategy – Dark Passage

*Win Conditions – Win lanes and turn that lead into small skirmish wins. Get Fizz and Ryze into their hyper carry late game status.

Dark Passage's team comp does not have a very solid strategy but rather have picked comfort champions. They have chosen two very hard scaling laners in Ryze and Fizz who while superior in the late game to Alistar/Zed, must get ahead early to provide any mid game benefit. If they can not pull a lead early on, Ryze and Fizz will be very weak until the late game mark. Additionally, DP is lacking any kind of wave clear and have set themselves up for an extremely rough time if they get behind. Dark Passage must go even or win lanes to have any hope with their team comp.

Game Notes -

Ezreal Braum get some very early damage on Corki. Braum takes way too much damage from Janna in lane though, preventing them from being able to fight at level 2.

Zed hits level 2 first, and all-ins Fizz, giving him a big lead. Zed poke after that keeps him ahead despite Fizz having 5 HP pots.

Ezreal/Braum go in at level 3 but are unable to get the stun proc onto Corki. Need to wait till an Ezreal shift will guarantee the proc.

Ryze gets too close to tower against Alistar, gets flash->pulverize->headbutt into tower right as Khazix ganks, dies.

Khazix wards after hopping over, so he can see Lee Sin Q.

DP's bot lane attempts to go all-in, at even HP. Without getting poke or an early stun proc onto Corki, the fight goes in SSW's favor.

Khazix applies pressure top, and once Alistar is 6, a catch leads to an easy tower dive. And a kill. This does cost SSW the early dragon, as it was timed with SSW's bot lane backing, giving DP an easy dragon. Focuses the gold up top and on jungle.

SSW mid and bot lane constantly harass and apply pressure, creating a huge gap in experience and gold between the two lanes. At this point, the game is essentially over. Dark Passage have lost any and all pressure unless they can survive until the 45-55 minute mark, however with a lack of wave clear, it is highly unlikely that they can survive until then.

Corki/Janna reach level 6 first and bully DP's bot lane, pushing them out and keeping them low on experience and farm.

Fizz tries to catch Khazix in the jungle, but uses his E. Zed who is pushing mid to the turret gets an easy shadow over the wall into ultimate which Fizz can no longer dodge and dies.

Fizz escapes a great tower dive in mid lane and transitions it into a bait and counter-engage with Lee Sin vs Khazix/Zed. A great play that only barely does not work out. Janna comes in and saves Khazix with shield and ultimate at the very last second. If the mid lane had gone more even, Fizz would have had the damage to kill Khazix before this could have occurred. Samsung collapses onto this fight, netting them 3 kills for 0.

Alistar 1v1 's Ryze, roaming from the mid fight back up top as Ryze is pushing tower. With the positioning advantage, and the mid game spike of sheen/phage, he is able to easily secure the kill against Ryze who has very little combat stats at the moment. This nets Alistar his Trinity Force and allows him to completely bully Ryze.

Dark Passage attempt a dragon to catch back up, however they get pincered by SSW who are vastly ahead right now and end up getting aced and losing dragon.

Without any wave clear and with SSW's lead and dive potential with Alistar, they will push down towers quickly and look for the win.

End Game Notes -

Not too much to say. Dark Passage got outplayed by Samsung White in the laning phase. Lacking any kind of mid game comeback mechanic, Dark Passage then bleed kills and turrets to Samsung White.

Note that even in this match, Samsung White is still creating solid and superior vision control.

What Dark Passage needed to do -

Dark Passage should have picked a solid mid game 5v5 team composition and very early on moved into a death ball/siege composition. Unfortunately for Dark Passage, they are outmatched in individual skill. Their best hope would be to quickly transition out of the laning phase and into team-fights and pushes with a superior team fight composition. Something with long range, wave clear, and disengage.