Worlds 2016: ahq Slowly Burns Out H2K

After waiting for the first two games to conclude, H2k-Gaming and AHQ were finally able to get their game underway. Being in a group with EDward Gaming and INTZ, these two teams are expected to be fighting for the second seed from their group, so this was a highly anticipated match-up.

In the pick and ban, we saw H2K immediately ban out Westdoor’s Twisted Fate, followed by both teams going with very meta bans. H2K chose to take the first pick Elise, which has been a very popular choice thus far, and ahq then followed with Rumble and Olaf. 

H2K completed their draft with Braum, Cassiopeia, Caitlyn and Gnar. Meanwhile, ahq went with Malzahar, Braum, and surprisingly a Jinx, a champion that AD Carry player An plays a lot. 

Casters pointed out immediately that ahq chose to go with a very high damage and high risk team, so H2K had a big window to punish this team early with the help of “First Blood King” Jankos.

In an early invade, ahq was able to get flashes from both Jankos and Odoamne, as well as a ghost from Ryu, so Mountain had a big window to possibly make plays while their defensive summoners were down. He did just that, getting an early tower dive top on Odoamne right after H2K made a bad call to try and dive bot. Now at the five minute mark, ahq held a one kill lead, and yet again, Odoamne had to blow his flash. 

Now at the seven minute mark, both junglers met on the bottom side of the map, where H2K was able to turn a counter gank into a kill for FORG1VEN on Mountain. 

At 11 minutes now, ahq succesfully took the Infernal Drake with the help of Albis on his Bard. At 12 minutes, Ryu was able to solo kill Westdoor after succesfully baiting out a Malz ult under turret, which he instantly QSS’d to finish him off.

At the 15 minute mark, H2K took a two-for-one trade, trading the life of Jankos for Mountain and Ziv, giving H2K a 2.9k gold lead.

ahq was then able to get a pick in their jungle on Vander, followed by another pick on FORG1VEN. They were able to turn this into a free bot lane turret, with the gold lead for H2K now just at 2k.

At 22 minutes, yet another pick came for ahq, this time on Ryu, which gave ahq yet another turret in mid, and one in top. Their gold lead was now just 800.

Six minutes later, Ryu made a bold play, flashing forward to pick off Jinx/An, and H2K saw their gold lead increase to 1.1k. Just two minutes later, ahq responded as Westdoor picked off Jankos, which they were able to turn into a Baron. A fight ensued, seeing three members die from ahq and two from H2K. 

After seven minutes of Baron footsies, ahq got a pick onto Ryu, which led to a long fight, where ahq was able to cleanly ace H2K and get Baron. Before H2K players were able to respawn, ahq walked down mid and took their inhibitor, as ahq looked to be in complete control.

At the 47 minute mark, ahq was able to bully their way into H2K’s base, taking down the bottom inhibitor as well as slowly taking the Nexus turrets. H2K did not have an answer for this push, which led to ahq finally being able to close it out. 

With their win, ahq is now 1-0 in groups, while H2K falls to 0-1.

What do you think of the action at Worlds so far? Let us know by commenting below or tweeting us @GAMURScom.