The League of Legends World Championship Play-In stage gave fans two insane picks earlier today in a crucial match between KaBuM! e-Sports and DetonatioN Gaming.
Not only did we get to see Soraka make her debut, we also got to see KaBuM pull out the ADC Vel’koz in a pivotal game for the team. KaBuM had to win to keep their chances of reaching the Play-In Knockout Stage alive. A loss meant they were out of the tournament regardless of results later in the day.
It was KaBuM’s long running ADC Alexandre “TitaN” Lima that took it upon himself to try out the unorthodox pick to take on the Vayne and Soraka combo in the bot lane— and it seemed to work pretty well, all things considered. Granted, its success was mainly down to the support Tahm Kench who made up for Vel’koz’s lack of mobility, and the team comp which either knocked up or grabbed enemies into Vel’Koz’s massive beam of death.
Vel’Koz wasn’t the only star factor during the game, however. KaBuM’s Aatrox pick also proved vital at the start of the game, securing two quick kills off of DetonatioN’s glaring mistakes to really take control of the matchup.
KaBuM’s Skarner, coming off of the successful gank up top that got Aatrox ahead, instantly rotated bot to get Vel’Koz a kill and the lead. This setup the tempo for the match, as Skarner constantly ganked each lane to build up a commanding team-wide gold lead that would soon be too big for DetonatioN to deal with.
Even after KaBuM’s first Baron was stolen away, it wasn’t enough to get DetonatioN back into the game. KaBuM secured the next Baron as soon as it spawned and used it to break into the base and take the win.
With Vel’Koz’s success today, we expect Cloud9 to be more cautious of other pocket picks KaBuM could have under their sleeve when they face them later on. Cloud9 can secure first place in the group if they beat KaBuM.
