Terbinator
Member
SKT v GE is on now.
Nami picks, Kog picks, Cass picks.
Nami picks, Kog picks, Cass picks.
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League of Legends Championship Series: Season 5
- Thread starter Edwardo
- Start date
Wolf Akela
Member
Why doesn't Faker always play?
I think it is because Faker and Easyhoon has different play styles and champion pools, so they pick depending on what strategy they want to run.
That or they just don't want to exhaust their Faker resource.
Kotetsu534
Member
Fnatic v H2K starting in 10 minutes. H2K wouldn't actually be the first team to reach an EU LCS final in their first split if they won - Lemondogs did that back in Summer 2013 - but they would become only the second team ever to defeat Fnatic in the playoffs. Of course, this Fnatic roster is essentially a new team itself, and making the final would be a huge achievement for them too.
I'm a bit torn here and will definitely be cheering for whoever wins in the final. Leaning towards Fnatic just because I admire Yellowstar so much for sticking around, helping assemble and captain a new team so successfully at a (for esports) late stage in his career.
I'm a bit torn here and will definitely be cheering for whoever wins in the final. Leaning towards Fnatic just because I admire Yellowstar so much for sticking around, helping assemble and captain a new team so successfully at a (for esports) late stage in his career.
Stone Ocean
Member
C9 vs TL will be either the best match ever or the most disappointing thing ever
Don't fail me now, C9
Don't fail me now, C9
Stone Ocean
Member
I love these picks so much
I'd say they are more like team impulse of eu, dunno if eu has a tsm-equivalent right now.
H2k is the C9 of eu though
Kotetsu534
Member
Game 1: Fnatic v H2K
Fnatic pick an aggressive comp with fairly poor scaling and sieging since they have Lee Sin and Cho'Gath as their solo lanes. H2K pick Shen, able to join a group of 4 who can rush down any exposed enemy with Sivir ult, Diana's burst and Annie's engage. I imagine that whoever wins the top lane duel will have a large splitpush advantage and be able to win off it.
Fnatic have Lee Sin (Smite/TP) take their red while Reignover does their blue with a pull and Kalista/Thresh push mid in. This lets them invade, burn loulex's flash and take his red buff. It also hurts their mid laner's early farming greatly. Don't think this move is worth it - H2K end up getting a farm advantage, first blood and Kalista's flash during lane phase. Fnatic are in trouble 8 minutes in. They try to gank top but Olaf gets bursted down immediately by Annie and Sivir. Down goes the first tower of the game. Looking grim after lane phase.
Fnatic catch Hjarnan completely alone and blow Shen ult before killing him. They go for dragon no. 2 but H2K engage them 4v5, killing Yellowstar, before Ryu jumps in and picks off Steelback. Good teamfighting from H2K give them a 3k gold lead. And by 16 minutes it's 7-1 and 4-0 in towers after a very one-sided fight. GG!
1.0 - Laning phase
Game 2: H2K v Fnatic
H2K, with Diana banned, swap Ryu on to Cassiopeia and, with Hjarnan on Jinx, run two immobile late game monsters protected by Shen, Gragas and Thresh. Fnatic looked to be edging towards a comp centred around Steelback after their first rotation, but they ended up with Lee Sin/Leblanc solo lanes and Lucian AD. They need a good start because late game will not be kind to them. The top lane splitpush struggle may be very important.
Yellowstar uses both his summoners at level 1 trying to get first blood on Hjarnan, but Kasing skills W and easily saves him. Wonder if Fnatic are a little panicked. They go for a lane swap and having Huni farm his own jungle while Odoamne is stuck getting no farm. Good start for Fnatic, albeit H2K get first dragon.
Oof. Odoamne is level 1 at six minutes. Fnatic being brutal with the denial. But then they let him freeze in the top lane and get to level 6 by 11 minutes. I think this may be a huge error.
Fnatic eventually pull off a nice gank in the enemy jungle, using Huni's TP and lots of wards to catch loulex and Kasing out. They look like they're going to settle for taking mid outer when Yellowstar jumps Ryu with Flash-Monsoon and gets himself killed. Odoamne arrives with Teleport just before the tower dies and H2K end up turning three kills with a counterpush down mid lane, taking Fnatic's mid outer and inner towers.
H2K get themselves aced thanks to great teamfighting from Fnatic at the third dragon. Febiven is able to bait loulex's and Ryu's ults without getting caught and is able to flank on to H2K's backline. Huge mistake by H2K - they didn't need to fight, but they did and lost 5 kills for nothing. Fnatic take this lead and try to sneak baron. They get the baron but get embroiled in a messy fight afterward that ends 3-2 in their favour, but Jinx gets both of the kills. They could have turned that down and escaped 2-0.
Fnatic play the next baron much cleaner, using it to bait H2K in to the banana bush area and have Reignover Flash->snowball/Absolute Zero from blue buff on top of Hjarnan. Boom, first inhib forced down. Soon after the nexus falls. Great teamfighting from Fnatic.
1.0 - Teamfighting
Game 3: Fnatic v H2K
Fnatic run more or less the same comp that won game 2, only replacing Janna with Thresh since she was picked away. H2K move Ryu on to Ahri to combat Febiven's Leblanc and Odoamne on to Sion. Presumably the early game will be better for him this time. It looks like there's a scaling edge for H2K and an early game edge for Fnatic.
Oh god that level 1. Huni should apologise to all solo queue junglers. Disgusting stuff as he hides in H2K's tribush and steals loulex's Gromp. Fnatic get a mid lane lead with Febiven blowing Ryu's Flash and building a cs advantage. Unfortunately when he tries to roam top he ends up needlessly blowing his Flash along with Reignover, trying to stop Sion's ult as he flees.
Meanwhile H2K's bot lane has been quietly bullying Steelback and Yellowstar around, steadily amassing a cs lead. They draw a lot of Reignover's pressure and just about escape without giving up first blood. Reignover does grab first dragon for his time. This pattern continues to repeat, with H2K taking a cs and tower lead while Fnatic try desperately to dive them, narrowly missing multiple kills. No first blood by 16 minutes.
The dragon dance at 19 minutes is prolonged and tense, but eventually H2K steal the dragon away (against two Smites + Consume with a Sivir Q) and manage to pick up 3 kills for 1, chasing Fnatic under their bot outer tower. Hjarnan had the idea to push down mid while this was going on and take Fnatic's mid inner tower. This has been the story of this game - H2K able to chip down and take Fnatic's towers with superior rotations while Fnatic fails to get the kills they're chasing, building a gold lead while doing so.
Fnatic seem to panic a bit at this stage, first attempting to use guerilla tactics to trade kills for towers, which works a little since H2K have lost control of the side minion waves, then trying to force an engage extremely hard with a Lee Sin kick on Janna in the middle of H2K's team. That gives up a 0-3 fight and baron, which leads to first inhibitor, which leads to second inhib, which leads to game before 40 minutes.
1.0 - Rotational play
Game 4: H2K v Fnatic
H2K end up with a "greedy" comp, taking Kog'Maw and a bunch of diving champions - Sion, Diana, Annie. Fnatic attempt to punish it with a last pick Zed, but they're very dependent on Rek'Sai's tunnel to actually get into a fight, as they have no hard CC on either top or mid. Jinx is their only siege defence, and she's vulnerable to the dive.
Fnatic's chances aren't helped by Huni getting caught, forced to skill W, and blow his Flash at level 1. He's not held up this series under the severe ban pressure. Wonder how practiced he is on Vlad.
Laning phase is unremarkable until the 11 minute mark, where Febiven manages to solo kill Ryu. He also managed to steal his blue, so a very strong early showing from him. Other than his individual heroics, not much happening other than Sion pulling an expected cs lead on Huni's Vlad.
Fnatic take Febiven's advantage and rotate the lanes so that they have pressure on both sides of the map. At 18 minutes they find a gank on Ryu through the jungle with Vlad and Rek'Sai, which lets Febiven sneak through the jungle from bot lane and jump on to Kog'Maw and Thresh who were trying to retreat after taking H2K's mid outer tower. The rotations opened up H2K. From here, H2K can't get anywhere on the map without being collapsed on, and baron goes to Fnatic on minute 22.
0.5 - Rotational play
0.5 - Individual play (Febiven)
Game 5: Fnatic v H2K
Oh, Silver Scrapes in the break before this. Thank you Riot, but this series has been about as far from a WE/CLG.eu or NiP/Millenium type grind as a 2-2 can be - three games have been one-sided stomps and the other wasn't close after 30 minutes. I wonder if game 5 might be the exception. Rumble, Maokai, Lulu, Shyvana and Hecarim manage to get perma-banned for the entire series. Fnatic stick with the game 4 adjustment and take Sivir out of the pool.
Fnatic first pick Thresh only for H2K to reply with Jinx and an early Zed pick. That's bold - does Febiven play Urgot? Apparently not, Fnatic opt for Cho'Gath and Ezreal. H2K take Gragas and Janna - a strong disengage/siege duo - and save top lane for last pick. Fnatic finish off their comp with Rek'Sai and Vladimir. H2K take 55 seconds before highlighting Diana and giving it to Odoamne - risky pick, guess he didn't have an answer in this situation. For Fnatic the key questions would appear to be whether Vlad can get to Jinx and whether Ezreal can farm up fast enough, for H2K it looks to be whether Zed can be relevant against a bunch of champions who are hard to assassinate and a tough laning matchup, and whether Diana can get through lane phase.
Fnatic get first blood on loulex after he makes a huge error by using E in the middle of mid lane before walking into the jungle and getting jumped by Rek'Sai. Reignover then shoves Diana out of lane after blowing her flash, before returning top for the second kill of the game. Ryu is now forced to roam and lane swap with Odoamne because his top and jungler are so far behind, but he can't achieve much, and his tower goes down and Fnatic soon lead 5-1 in kills. The game collapses soon after.
1.0 - Laning phase
Playoff Totals:
5.5 - Laning phase
5.0 - Rotational play
4.5 - Teamfighting
3.0 - Individual play
1.5 - Objective calls/preparation/vision
1.0 - Team composition
Fnatic got off to a bad start with an unusual and unsuccessful strategy in game 1, but were able to pull it back with good teamfighting in game 2 and great play from Febiven in game 4. Even in game 3, they were extremely close to securing several kills before H2K got too far ahead from tower kills. Fnatic displayed a much deeper draft depth than H2K, and were eventually able to use it punish H2K's weak jungle/top coordination, get the best out of Febiven and mitigate their bot lane's difficulties in the laning phase.
Everyone beats everyone and then Fnatic wins?
Fnatic pick an aggressive comp with fairly poor scaling and sieging since they have Lee Sin and Cho'Gath as their solo lanes. H2K pick Shen, able to join a group of 4 who can rush down any exposed enemy with Sivir ult, Diana's burst and Annie's engage. I imagine that whoever wins the top lane duel will have a large splitpush advantage and be able to win off it.
Fnatic have Lee Sin (Smite/TP) take their red while Reignover does their blue with a pull and Kalista/Thresh push mid in. This lets them invade, burn loulex's flash and take his red buff. It also hurts their mid laner's early farming greatly. Don't think this move is worth it - H2K end up getting a farm advantage, first blood and Kalista's flash during lane phase. Fnatic are in trouble 8 minutes in. They try to gank top but Olaf gets bursted down immediately by Annie and Sivir. Down goes the first tower of the game. Looking grim after lane phase.
Fnatic catch Hjarnan completely alone and blow Shen ult before killing him. They go for dragon no. 2 but H2K engage them 4v5, killing Yellowstar, before Ryu jumps in and picks off Steelback. Good teamfighting from H2K give them a 3k gold lead. And by 16 minutes it's 7-1 and 4-0 in towers after a very one-sided fight. GG!
1.0 - Laning phase
Game 2: H2K v Fnatic
H2K, with Diana banned, swap Ryu on to Cassiopeia and, with Hjarnan on Jinx, run two immobile late game monsters protected by Shen, Gragas and Thresh. Fnatic looked to be edging towards a comp centred around Steelback after their first rotation, but they ended up with Lee Sin/Leblanc solo lanes and Lucian AD. They need a good start because late game will not be kind to them. The top lane splitpush struggle may be very important.
Yellowstar uses both his summoners at level 1 trying to get first blood on Hjarnan, but Kasing skills W and easily saves him. Wonder if Fnatic are a little panicked. They go for a lane swap and having Huni farm his own jungle while Odoamne is stuck getting no farm. Good start for Fnatic, albeit H2K get first dragon.
Oof. Odoamne is level 1 at six minutes. Fnatic being brutal with the denial. But then they let him freeze in the top lane and get to level 6 by 11 minutes. I think this may be a huge error.
Fnatic eventually pull off a nice gank in the enemy jungle, using Huni's TP and lots of wards to catch loulex and Kasing out. They look like they're going to settle for taking mid outer when Yellowstar jumps Ryu with Flash-Monsoon and gets himself killed. Odoamne arrives with Teleport just before the tower dies and H2K end up turning three kills with a counterpush down mid lane, taking Fnatic's mid outer and inner towers.
H2K get themselves aced thanks to great teamfighting from Fnatic at the third dragon. Febiven is able to bait loulex's and Ryu's ults without getting caught and is able to flank on to H2K's backline. Huge mistake by H2K - they didn't need to fight, but they did and lost 5 kills for nothing. Fnatic take this lead and try to sneak baron. They get the baron but get embroiled in a messy fight afterward that ends 3-2 in their favour, but Jinx gets both of the kills. They could have turned that down and escaped 2-0.
Fnatic play the next baron much cleaner, using it to bait H2K in to the banana bush area and have Reignover Flash->snowball/Absolute Zero from blue buff on top of Hjarnan. Boom, first inhib forced down. Soon after the nexus falls. Great teamfighting from Fnatic.
1.0 - Teamfighting
Game 3: Fnatic v H2K
Fnatic run more or less the same comp that won game 2, only replacing Janna with Thresh since she was picked away. H2K move Ryu on to Ahri to combat Febiven's Leblanc and Odoamne on to Sion. Presumably the early game will be better for him this time. It looks like there's a scaling edge for H2K and an early game edge for Fnatic.
Oh god that level 1. Huni should apologise to all solo queue junglers. Disgusting stuff as he hides in H2K's tribush and steals loulex's Gromp. Fnatic get a mid lane lead with Febiven blowing Ryu's Flash and building a cs advantage. Unfortunately when he tries to roam top he ends up needlessly blowing his Flash along with Reignover, trying to stop Sion's ult as he flees.
Meanwhile H2K's bot lane has been quietly bullying Steelback and Yellowstar around, steadily amassing a cs lead. They draw a lot of Reignover's pressure and just about escape without giving up first blood. Reignover does grab first dragon for his time. This pattern continues to repeat, with H2K taking a cs and tower lead while Fnatic try desperately to dive them, narrowly missing multiple kills. No first blood by 16 minutes.
The dragon dance at 19 minutes is prolonged and tense, but eventually H2K steal the dragon away (against two Smites + Consume with a Sivir Q) and manage to pick up 3 kills for 1, chasing Fnatic under their bot outer tower. Hjarnan had the idea to push down mid while this was going on and take Fnatic's mid inner tower. This has been the story of this game - H2K able to chip down and take Fnatic's towers with superior rotations while Fnatic fails to get the kills they're chasing, building a gold lead while doing so.
Fnatic seem to panic a bit at this stage, first attempting to use guerilla tactics to trade kills for towers, which works a little since H2K have lost control of the side minion waves, then trying to force an engage extremely hard with a Lee Sin kick on Janna in the middle of H2K's team. That gives up a 0-3 fight and baron, which leads to first inhibitor, which leads to second inhib, which leads to game before 40 minutes.
1.0 - Rotational play
Game 4: H2K v Fnatic
H2K end up with a "greedy" comp, taking Kog'Maw and a bunch of diving champions - Sion, Diana, Annie. Fnatic attempt to punish it with a last pick Zed, but they're very dependent on Rek'Sai's tunnel to actually get into a fight, as they have no hard CC on either top or mid. Jinx is their only siege defence, and she's vulnerable to the dive.
Fnatic's chances aren't helped by Huni getting caught, forced to skill W, and blow his Flash at level 1. He's not held up this series under the severe ban pressure. Wonder how practiced he is on Vlad.
Laning phase is unremarkable until the 11 minute mark, where Febiven manages to solo kill Ryu. He also managed to steal his blue, so a very strong early showing from him. Other than his individual heroics, not much happening other than Sion pulling an expected cs lead on Huni's Vlad.
Fnatic take Febiven's advantage and rotate the lanes so that they have pressure on both sides of the map. At 18 minutes they find a gank on Ryu through the jungle with Vlad and Rek'Sai, which lets Febiven sneak through the jungle from bot lane and jump on to Kog'Maw and Thresh who were trying to retreat after taking H2K's mid outer tower. The rotations opened up H2K. From here, H2K can't get anywhere on the map without being collapsed on, and baron goes to Fnatic on minute 22.
0.5 - Rotational play
0.5 - Individual play (Febiven)
Game 5: Fnatic v H2K
Oh, Silver Scrapes in the break before this. Thank you Riot, but this series has been about as far from a WE/CLG.eu or NiP/Millenium type grind as a 2-2 can be - three games have been one-sided stomps and the other wasn't close after 30 minutes. I wonder if game 5 might be the exception. Rumble, Maokai, Lulu, Shyvana and Hecarim manage to get perma-banned for the entire series. Fnatic stick with the game 4 adjustment and take Sivir out of the pool.
Fnatic first pick Thresh only for H2K to reply with Jinx and an early Zed pick. That's bold - does Febiven play Urgot? Apparently not, Fnatic opt for Cho'Gath and Ezreal. H2K take Gragas and Janna - a strong disengage/siege duo - and save top lane for last pick. Fnatic finish off their comp with Rek'Sai and Vladimir. H2K take 55 seconds before highlighting Diana and giving it to Odoamne - risky pick, guess he didn't have an answer in this situation. For Fnatic the key questions would appear to be whether Vlad can get to Jinx and whether Ezreal can farm up fast enough, for H2K it looks to be whether Zed can be relevant against a bunch of champions who are hard to assassinate and a tough laning matchup, and whether Diana can get through lane phase.
Fnatic get first blood on loulex after he makes a huge error by using E in the middle of mid lane before walking into the jungle and getting jumped by Rek'Sai. Reignover then shoves Diana out of lane after blowing her flash, before returning top for the second kill of the game. Ryu is now forced to roam and lane swap with Odoamne because his top and jungler are so far behind, but he can't achieve much, and his tower goes down and Fnatic soon lead 5-1 in kills. The game collapses soon after.
1.0 - Laning phase
Playoff Totals:
5.5 - Laning phase
5.0 - Rotational play
4.5 - Teamfighting
3.0 - Individual play
1.5 - Objective calls/preparation/vision
1.0 - Team composition
Fnatic got off to a bad start with an unusual and unsuccessful strategy in game 1, but were able to pull it back with good teamfighting in game 2 and great play from Febiven in game 4. Even in game 3, they were extremely close to securing several kills before H2K got too far ahead from tower kills. Fnatic displayed a much deeper draft depth than H2K, and were eventually able to use it punish H2K's weak jungle/top coordination, get the best out of Febiven and mitigate their bot lane's difficulties in the laning phase.
Everyone beats everyone and then Fnatic wins?
Terbinator
Member
#PIGLETORRIOT
Peanut Butter
Member
Why do LoL casters/players say "actually" so much?
Terbinator
Member
Is it not just an Americanism?
because they are bad. the LPL guys are worse. Dude says soOOOOOoooo so many times.
Terbinator
Member
'Throwing down that Equalizer we all know so well'
Wat.
Wat.
Stone Ocean
Member
Not 4th the dream
corki W. it's ironically called an equalizer when he does it into a team
WesternHeretic
Member
Sneaky the most consistent player on C9 all year really cost them this game. Bizzaro land.
Balls/Hai were doing pretty good in the 1v1 lanes too.
When Corki does a bad W it's usually refer to as an equalizer because... memes/jokes.
Stone Ocean
Member
This Draven pick is ruining them
Sneaky is absolutely useless. He just gets dived and can't do shit on top of having horrible positioning
Sneaky is absolutely useless. He just gets dived and can't do shit on top of having horrible positioning
Terbinator
Member
Winlet flashing into the fight lol. The blood-spilling, it is beautiful is it not?
I don't even know what his W is.
I don't even know what his W is.
Stone Ocean
Member
Valkyrie
Terbinator
Member
Need the Vayne SKT skin pick for maximum disrespect.
Kotetsu534
Member
Game 1: C9 v Team Liquid
Cloud 9 go for a double AD (Corki and Draven) comp with Hecarim, Morgana and Gragas to engage for and protect them. Liquid take a double tank teamfight focussed comp with Piglet as their major source of damage on Lucian. I imagine this game will be about whether TL can force C9 to fight them.
TL's bot lane starts off very strong, dinging level 2 and getting a strong poke off on Sneaky's Draven. Although this doesn't translate into a cs lead, Piglet and Xpecial keep the pressure on and force C9's bot lane (in the top lane) to hang around for too long while low. They get ganked by IWD and Piglet nets first blood seven minutes in. Lemon then shows up in mid lane and feeds a second kill to Piglet. This advantage soon translates to top tower, but Hai equalises in mid, thanks to Corki's ranged pressure.
At 15 minutes C9 have stabilised and moved Hai, with Triforce, into the bot lane. But then C9 try to force a fight on TL after they secure 2nd dragon. Xpecial lands a super flash-Monsoon and TL win it 4-1. C9 are a very tough spot now - behind with double AD and losing the Draven stacks is very bad.
C9 do their best to use Draven and Corki to splitpush down TL's outer towers, albeit at the cost of kills and their mid outer tower. It's the classic smart objective play that C9 has always been good at, and it mitigates their losses considerably. Then they get a pick and give it everything to turn it into Baron with a TP Hecarim charge which chases Piglet from mid lane to his bottom lane outer tower. But it doesn't come off, and they lose another dragon. Teamfights on 30 and 35 minutes both play out similarly - C9 can't get to Piglet and they can't break through Sion and Sejuani. The end comes soon after.
0.5 - Laning phase
0.5 - Team composition
Cloud 9 go for a double AD (Corki and Draven) comp with Hecarim, Morgana and Gragas to engage for and protect them. Liquid take a double tank teamfight focussed comp with Piglet as their major source of damage on Lucian. I imagine this game will be about whether TL can force C9 to fight them.
TL's bot lane starts off very strong, dinging level 2 and getting a strong poke off on Sneaky's Draven. Although this doesn't translate into a cs lead, Piglet and Xpecial keep the pressure on and force C9's bot lane (in the top lane) to hang around for too long while low. They get ganked by IWD and Piglet nets first blood seven minutes in. Lemon then shows up in mid lane and feeds a second kill to Piglet. This advantage soon translates to top tower, but Hai equalises in mid, thanks to Corki's ranged pressure.
At 15 minutes C9 have stabilised and moved Hai, with Triforce, into the bot lane. But then C9 try to force a fight on TL after they secure 2nd dragon. Xpecial lands a super flash-Monsoon and TL win it 4-1. C9 are a very tough spot now - behind with double AD and losing the Draven stacks is very bad.
C9 do their best to use Draven and Corki to splitpush down TL's outer towers, albeit at the cost of kills and their mid outer tower. It's the classic smart objective play that C9 has always been good at, and it mitigates their losses considerably. Then they get a pick and give it everything to turn it into Baron with a TP Hecarim charge which chases Piglet from mid lane to his bottom lane outer tower. But it doesn't come off, and they lose another dragon. Teamfights on 30 and 35 minutes both play out similarly - C9 can't get to Piglet and they can't break through Sion and Sejuani. The end comes soon after.
0.5 - Laning phase
0.5 - Team composition
TharpDaddy
Member
C9 just need to not pick Draven. Sneaky is a big carry on the team and Draven is completely binary. You either snowball hard from an early kill or you become useless. It was cocky of them to think they could snowball Draven.
I never a fan of double ad comp so no wonder c9 failed this game :3
TharpDaddy
Member
I think C9 is on a downward swing. Hai is a ticking time bomb with his wrist problems. I could see something like that being a big motivation loss. Can't be fun to know that you have a headsman's axe hovering over your pro gaming career. I think he said it's to the point where he has to take a break after 2 solo queue games because of the pain. His champ pool has seemed really small lately as well. Zac and carry tops coming back into the meta benefits Balls and Meteos but I don't think it can offset Hai's problems.
Edit: I kinda want TSM and C9 to lose so we can have TIP or TL go to MSI. I'd like to see some other teams take on international competition.
Hahaha