Showing posts with label VandeR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VandeR. Show all posts

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Roccat Waltz Into IEM Cologne Semifinals With Decisive Victory Over DoWS


                    Matt “It’s Pure Luck” Lee

It was far from the hardest test they will face this year, or even this tournament, but the new look Roccat lineup was dominant today versus the Dolphins of Wall Street in the first round of the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne. Coming into IEM Cologne as the likely favorite to win a spot in Katowice in March, Roccat was crisp and efficient in the two game sweep. The second round will see them draw stiffer competition as they square off against NA LCS representative Counter Logic Gaming but based on today’s performance it’s hard to not like their chances to move through to the finals.
           
Game one started off fairly slowly but for a bit of early action down in the bottom lane that saw former Millenium AD carry Creaton (Ezreal) nearly pick up an early kill on Woolite (Corki) only to be thwarted by a nice Aqua Prison by Vander (Nami) in the middle of an Arcane Shift. The game would see its first attempted gank just after the five minute mark. Lasagna (Pantheon) went to the top lane in an attempt to pick off Overpow (Irelia) who would quickly flash to safety but almost immediately reengaged as Jankos (Elise) was arriving on from river.  The level two Equilibrium Strike from Overpow would prove crucial this fight as not only was the stun long enough to use the ability twice, it helped lock down Lasagna as it was chained with Cocoon from Jankos. The Roccat jungler picked up first blood as we have seen so many times before and with a little help from Ryu (Jayce) roaming up top Overpow picked up the second kill on Meziljie (Gnar) while just barely surviving himself.
            
Roccat would find a pick on Lasagna a few minutes later courtesy of a deep ward placed at the red buff of DoWS. The game started to snowball out of control at this point. Roccat would pick up a dragon just after the ten minute mark while Overpower would simultaneously pick up a solo kill in the top lane as he tower dove Meziljie. Ryu, Jankos and Vander would find a kill on Bebe (Xerath) on the edge of the jungle near the mid lane as he was caught trying to steal dragon with a Xerath ultimate only to be Aqua Prisoned himself. The only lane that hadn’t gone horribly wrong for the Dolphins this late into the game was bottom where Creaton and Masterwork (Karma) were trading with Woolite and Vander fairly effectively. It simply wasn’t going to be enough for the Dolphins to get anything done. The vision control and map pressure were too stacked in Roccat’s favor and so was the gold advantage. At just over the fifteen minute mark Overpow was already 6/0/2 on a very snowbally champion and closing out the game was merely a formality for Roccat and it would mercifully end for the Dolphins in twenty-two minutes.
            
Game two started off quite slowly much as game one did and it was at the five minute mark again that the game would see someone take a trip back to base via a grey screen. It was played brilliantly by Vander (Thresh) landing a hook on Masterwork (Nami) who erred by venturing into his bushes instead of staying in his minion wave. Jankos (Lee Sin) took the lantern from river into the fight and would make a nice play on a ward hop to slow Masterwork down and allowed Roccat to pick up first blood. However, DoWS would answer back a few minutes later as Jankos was caught being a bit  greedy as he seemed to favor stealing the enemy blue buff away. He would pay for it as Bebe (Syndra) picked up the kill and secured his own blue. But Jankos would get revenge shortly after that as he and Ryu (Fizz) would team up to take down the Dolphin’s mid laner and the blue buff would be turned back over to Jankos.
            

The lead for Roccat stood at one thousand gold at ten minutes with neither team yet to take a dragon. The two teams would exchange kills on a Roccat invade that stole away the DoWS red buff. Masterwork was caught by Jankos and Ryu but was able to flash away. Lasagna (Kha’Zix) and Bebe were then able to close in on Jankos and Ryu with Bebe once again taking Jankos out with another Unleashed Power. A teleport bottom from Overpow (Gnar) sent the Dolphins scrambling away with Masterwork being killed for the second time in the game. But while this was happening, Bebe found another victim as a straggling Vander was picked off in the river close to mid lane resulting in a two for one in favor of the Dolphins of Wall Street. Meziljie (Jax) took down the top tower just after all of this ended and it brought the gold between the two teams to dead even just shy of twelve minutes into the game.
            
Bebe played well up until this point but would make a mistake of face checking a bush in his own jungle that resulted in a kill for Jankos and a dragon being picked up for Roccat.  They would continue to hang close with Roccat for the next few minutes but little mistakes would begin to add up. Meziljie went for an engage in bottom on Vander in what appeared to be a 3v2 in favor of DoWS but they never saw Ryu enter the brush and it was quickly turned back around on the Dolphins. Woolite picked up the kill on Meziljie and would get another on Masterwork on the ensuing chase by Roccat. The fight would be extended long enough for Lasagna and Bebe to attempt to get involved but their efforts were in vain as they both were killed and it was a 4-0 for team Roccat. The lead was suddenly commanding for Roccat as it surged to four-thousand gold at sixteen minutes; as noted above, it had been dead even just four minutes prior. 
            
With sightstones completed for two members, Roccat began to find picks as they wanted. They would catch Creaton out near his own red bluff and took their second dragon of the game. Overpow would defeat Meziljie in a duel and the deficit grew to almost seven-thousand for DoWS twenty minutes into the game. It took a bit longer this time but now it seemed to be a repeat of game one. The Dolphins seemed dazed as Roccat would take objectives and turrets as they pleased as the game progressed. A great hook from Vander onto Bebe would initiate the team fight that all but signaled the game was over as Roccat would ace DoWS without losing any of their own members. Roccat would pick up the Baron before winning one final team fight in the opponent’s base and pushing through for the win in twenty-six minutes. 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

EU LCS Thursday Preview:


by Silje
Copenhagen Wolves vs Fnatic
The Wolves showed off some good plays to an appreciative audience at Wembley last week. YoungBuck led his team to one of their best games vs Alliance, and ended up generating an impressive 12/3/5 on Irelia. Unfortunately, the game turned into a loss for the Wolves after Airwaks stepped on one of Froggen's Nidalee traps on the way to baron. Fnatic, on the other hand, won their first game against Gambit's substitutes. It was a well-played match from Fnatic's side, and as veterans within the LCS, they had an advantage over Gambit the entire game. Not a surprising win - but a good one. Fnatic's game on Day 2 was entertaining and tense. Millenium, with their gank-comp, set the pace of the game and took the early lead. Fnatic's Cyanide did a good job kicking Millenium out of position in team fights, and when Millenium got a bit overconfident, Fnatic punished them for it. Millenium still won, though, thanks to their map awareness and control, plus strong late game performances by Twitch and LeBlanc. But all in all, Fnatic showed some good plays despite the loss.
Based on last week's performances, this game should be intense and entertaining. Personally, my featured match-up will be SoaZ and YoungBuck in the top lane. SoaZ has shown that he can play a huge variety of top laners, from Renekton to Lulu to Shyvana and Trundle. Nothing seems to stop that guy from picking any champion. He knows how to play them all. YoungBuck on the other hand, leans towards tanky/bruiser top laners. He's had some games on Vladimir, but without much luck.  Renekton, Shyvana, Irelia and Trundle are all champions he is capable of playing. His last week's Irelia was huge.
Alliance vs Millenium
Millenium beat Fnatic, and lost to ROCCAT last week. That was, for me, somehow a surprise. I was expecting Fnatic to keep up their good play and win against Millenium. This game just shows how even the EU region is. Every team can beat each other. Their win against Fnatic was thanks to their gank/pick comp and their good late-game map control. LeBlanc and Twitch are also so strong late game that they can molest any opponents in their way. Kottenx proved that he is a good Evelynn and should not be underrated as a jungler. Alliance, on the other hand, won both of their games last week. They secured a convincing win against SK, who is known for their weaker early game. The match against the Copenhagen Wolves didn't turn out to be as one-sided as you would expect, looking at the standings.  The Wolves put up a good fight  - and one of their best games so far this split. Alliance had trouble with Youngbuck's impressive performance, and (with a little help from that Nid trap) they were fortunate to take the win.  
Alliance is currently showing dominance in the EU LCS. They have solid laners, as well as strong team play. Millenium has a lot of adept individual players who can carry games, e.g. Kerp on LeBlanc and Creaton on Twitch. It will be interesting to watch what kind of game these teams put up, and who will be the team choosing the pace. My featured match-up will be in the jungle. Both Kottenx and Shook have a wide variety of champions in their pools. Shook's Lee Sin-play is well-known throughout the community, and Kottenx is scary good on Evelynn. Kottenx had big shoes to fill as a replacement for Araneae but, he is, in my opinion, living up to the role he was given. 
Supa Hot Crew vs Gambit
In Supa Hot Crew's game vs the Copenhagen Wolves, they suffered in the early-mid stages of the game. It seemed like the Wolves might win when they managed to push SHC into their base, but Mimer, with his 13/2/5  Kayle, kept that from happening. Mimer scored a triple on the Wolves as they attempted to take SHC's middle inhibitor, successfully stopping their advance. Woolite tried to backdoor them, but Mimer went back to save the base, allowing SHC to secure the win.  Supa Hot Crew vs SK Gaming was a funny match. SHC's Selfie tried to play Nocturne mid against Jesiz's Kassadin and it didn't work out the way they intended. With solid play from SK Gaming, SHC suffered a loss. Gambit's core roster could not participate in London due to visa issues, and yet NiQ and the team's last minute substitutes did a decent job. NiQ's Nidalee was simply Godlike. I think that is a champion you should keep away from him in the future. Gambit lost both their games, but with a team that consisted mainly of solo-queue players, they weren't bad at all. They made some amazing plays.
I think this game will depend on how much of a positive impact the junglers can make on the game. Both Diamond and Impaler possess good mechanics and gank-capabilities, and both are capable of helping their teams win, depending on who does it best. That's why my featured match-up will be in the jungle. Diamond can pull out some unconventional junglers at times, such as Xin Zhao and Udyr, but usually without much luck. Impaler has been sticking to the traditional junglers. He is doing very well with Lee Sin and Elise.
SK Gaming vs ROCCAT
SK lost last week to Alliance and beat SHC. In their game vs Alliance, their early game was a bit shaky and they didn't seem like the SK team we are used to seeing being super decisive in their play style. In their game vs SHC, on the other hand, SK showed what happens if you give them the freedom to do things at their pace. We knew it was going to be an unusual game right from the picks and bans phase. Why would SK first pick Morgana when there were so many other strong picks open? When SHC locked in the Nocturne and Jarvan IV, first picking Morgana started to make sense, and also the pick of Caitlyn instead of a Lucian or Twitch. ROCCAT won their game against Gambit's substitutes, but it  wasn't a convincing win. Their win against Millenium looked stronger. They made good plays, and it looks like they're slowly growing stronger again.

My featured match-up in this game will be in the bottom lane, as the duo of CandyPanda and nRated take on ROCCAT's VandeR and Celaver. CandyPanda's Caitlyn scored a triple kill last week against Supa Hot Crew, showing that he is able to handle a variety of champions, considering the last week's favorite picks have been mainly Twitch, Kog or Lucian. In Week 5, Celaver had the highest KDA among the ADCs, while CandyPanda had the third highest. On support, VandeR had the second highest KDA and nRated the fourth highest KDA. nRated has shown that he is a total beast on Morgana, while VandeR has proven himself as the Thresh King multiple times. Both CandyPanda and Celaver can play the likes of Twitch/Lucian/Kog, but are also able to handle other ad carries such as Cait. 
Written By Silje