Post-game Analysis: CLG vs FW Game 1

 P/B:

• Overall:
  • Standard Mordekaiser and Gangplank bans on Red Side
  • Unsure of Veigar ban and leaving Lulu up; possible kneejerk reaction to C9’s game
  • Kalista and Thresh standard strong bans
  • Malphite ban is interesting; not sure if Steak plays it but it shows CLG doesn’t want to go against hard engage 

• CLG 1^st pick – Lulu: Veigar ban means CLG gets Lulu, flex pick top or mid, versatile for almost any comp, could allow AD mid
  • FW 1^st picks – Braum/Rek’Sai: Braum is great overall Support pick; Rek’Sai prioritized over all other junglers
• CLG 2^nd picks – Elise/Alistar: Since Rek’Sai was taken, Elise is still open, strong early game against Rek’Sai; Alistar is another strong overall Support pick
  • FW 2^nd picks – Ekko/Tristana: Ekko could be flexed top/mid; showing its likely team-fighting comp
• CLG 3^rd picks – Jinx/Darius: Jinx matches with Tristana’s range and strong tower pushing ability; Darius doesn’t have many counter picks, also shows Lulu is mid
  • FW 3^rd pick – Gnar: can lane OK against Darius with range and hop to escape; provides team with additional front line

I’m not a fan of FW banning Veigar and leaving Lulu up for first pick. They also chose Rek’Sai over Elise, which is fine for player preference, but makes it harder to survive early game. Both Bot Lanes are pretty much the same. I’m unsure of the Ekko pick. Its great that he’s a flex pick, meaning he could do decently against Lulu whatever lane she went. The fact that he’s melee makes me not like the pick; he already saw Alistar and Lulu on the other team, so I’m not sure how he would be able to get in and kill a target. Any ranged AP champion with decent wave clear may have worked out better. CLG got away with numerous strong picks, but no overall synergy for the comp. CLG could’ve taken Tristana in their 2^nd picks since its Doublelift’s go-to ADC (7-0 W/L in Summer split + playoffs); with Braum already shown as the opponent Support, they didn’t need to rush the Alistar pick unless they just wanted to know match-ups first. While I don’t think Darius fits CLG’s comp that well, given the situation he was a good blind-pick option for Top Lane since there aren’t really counter-picks.

CLG comp:

• Seemed to pick strong champions without an overarching theme
• Similar to “JuggerJinx” comp, but some pick potential; possible “JuggerDarius” comp
• Alistar is only real front-line
• Decent wave clear
• Great tower dive potential with Elise + Alistar
• Split push threat with Darius
• Engage potential with Elise cocoon or Alistar combo
• Win Condition: protect Jinx and let her carry, Darius provides an additional threat – could easily be JuggerDarius comp as well; use Elise’s strong early game to get Darius ahead, start grouping mid game for objectives

FW comp:

• Team-fighting comp with huge front-line
• Tons of CC and zone control – could make Darius ineffective
• No reliable engage
• Braum shield can stop CLG engage by blocking cocoon or any follow up to Alistar’s combo
• Braum shield can negate Jinx’s damage since she’s the main threat
• Low wave clear
• Win Condition: play safe and farm until mid/late game; group for objectives and maximize CC and zoning in team fights; protect Tristana and let her carry

Items/Build paths:

• ZionSpartan: Typical Darius build is Phage into Dead Man’s Plate, then completing Black Cleaver. By completing Black Cleaver first, it was hard for him to get into fights without DMP speed boost since Pobelter usually gave speed boost to Doublelift. Overall it was OK though since early team fights weren’t happening and he needed offense to keep up with Gnar who pulled ahead
• Xmithie: builds Runeglaive Elise over Cinderhulk for additional AP damage to supplement Lulu, also built Rylai’s; tank Elise may have been better + Aegis
• Pobelter: maxed W 2^nd instead of E, prioritizing movement speed over shield; not a fan of ignite on Lulu, exhaust probably better against an assassin like Ekko or TP for more global pressure
• Aphromoo: building Zeke’s over Aegis is good call for JuggerJinx comp; upgraded sight stone before building Zeke’s, too slow of a build, needed Zeke’s sooner
• Steak: rushes Black Cleaver on Gnar to keep up with Darius; get BC 1^st because Zion completed Ninja Tabi 1^st
• Karsa: builds 2^nd item Titanic Hydra for more offensive Rek’Sai, then goes tanky
• Kkramer: builds PD as 4^th item after already having Statikk Shiv but no life steal item, BORK would be a much better option; stacking attack speed on Trist is worse than other ADCs since her Q causes her to reach the cap easily
• SwordArt: builds Banner of Command 2^nd item, should’ve built Zeke’s since Tristana is the only real damage dealer for the team; Rek’Sai could’ve built Aegis instead of Titanic Hydra if they really needed it; unsure of ignite on Braum, exhaust may be better when CLG only had 2 threats

 Execution in Game:

• No lane swap
• CLG invade for wards on top side; Xmithie stays to steal enemy red buff and raptors
  • Karsa doesn’t realize he was counter-jungled, set behind in farm
• ~3:35-5:00 min: Xmithie failed gank top for ZionSpartan 3 times
  • Karsa was set behind in jungle camps but seeing Elise camp top, was allowed to farm CLG jungle for free and get ahead in farm
  • Steak heavily pressured, -20 CS, but didn’t die
• ~6 min: ZionSpartan +20 CS ahead as Darius but gets Ninja Tabi 1^st buy, should build offensively to stay ahead? Prioritizing movement speed
• ~7 min: Karsa ganks for Steak top, kill Darius to help Gnar catch up
  • Rek’Sai flash for kill when didn’t need to, could’ve given kill to Gnar to help him catch up
• ~ 8 min: SwordArt gets good deep vision into CLG bottom side jungle; spots Elise allowing safer laning and farm
  • ZionSpartan comes back to lane with multiple wards to prevent future ganks
• ~9:45 min: Karsa solo kills 1^st dragon for FW
• ~13:40 min: CLG get 1^st tower bot outer, mostly due to SwordArt roaming to get vision of CLG jungle, leaving Tristana 1v2
• ~15 min: FW rotate Bot Lane to mid and Ekko bottom to protect mid outer turret
• ~16:40 min: CLG gets vision control over dragon, SwordArt roams top for successful gank onto Darius; CLG get their 1^st dragon
• ~18 min: FW group 5 man mid to siege outer turret (5v2), get tower
• ~20 min: FW spread out lanes – Braum helps Gnar, Tristana mid, Ekko top; this helps Gnar get ahead of Darius while the other lanes can still farm safely
• CLG constantly attempt to siege mid outer turret, but Braum shield denies; tower finally taken at ~21 min
• ~28 min: CLG gets vision control of top side of map, prepping for baron
  • CLG sieges mid inner turret; CLG loses fight 1 kill for 2
• ~32 min: FW engage on CLG, win fight 2 kills for 0
  • Xmithie caught out by Karsa’s Rek’Sai (damage build got Elise very low)
  • ZionSpartan TP in while team backing out, Aphromoo goes in to help but both die
  • Maple’s Ekko got crucial stun onto Doublelift to prevent CLG re-engage (Ekko’s zone control executed well)
  • FW get baron as a result
• FW siege with baron buff 4 + 1, Ekko split pushing
  • Get 2 inner turrets
  • Aphromoo attempted engage, but great disengage by Braum ult
• FW rotate bot for last inner turret; kill Darius under tower, CLG late rotation
  • Ekko’s zone control once again shines, zones out 3 members of CLG
  • CLG good chase down FW and pick up kills, winning fight 3 kills for 2
  • Allows CLG to get 2^nd dragon, prevent 4^th dragon on FW
• ~38:30 min: inefficient Banner of Command use by FW, attempted siege on mid inhibitor turret but back off; CLG counter push mid with FW spread out in their own jungle, not expecting the push
  • CLG get mid inner turret, Elise lands cocoon on Tristana into Darius pull for kill
  • CLG get mid inhibitor turret + inhibitor as a result (FW no wave clear)
  • CLG sit outside FW base and engage again with Alistar combo, gain 1 kill
• CLG bait baron, ZionSpartan TP flank engage
  • CLG get 2 kills + bottom inhibitor turret + inhibitor
• CLG pushing to nexus 5v3, trade 2 for 2 kills but all CLG carries still alive to push and win

Despite CLG winning, it felt like FW played a better game. CLG had a great start by setting the Karsa behind in the jungle and Steak down in CS through repeated ganks. Xmithie took advantage of Elise’s early game and set up ZionSpartan with an advantage top. Unfortunately the repeated ganks failed and also allowed Karsa to catch up in farm. Karsa and SwordArt took turns helping out Steak by ganking for him and actually got Steak ahead by mid game to prevent any snowball by Darius. To me, It seemed SwordArt was the MVP of the match. He roamed to get deep vision in CLG’s jungle which allowed Steak to farm safely top, he ganked for Steak top lane for successful tower dives, he constantly defended turrets against CLG’s siege using Braum’s shield and delayed their global gold, and he was great in team fights making sure to land Braum’s ult on Doublelift for disengage. I was really impressed with how FW handled the early deficit and made attempts to get Steak back into the game. Kkramer did a good job laning 1v2 and keeping up in farm. FW had great lane swaps, leaving Tristana mid because she has the most wave clear to defend the turret and also allowed her to farm safely since Braum roamed, having Ekko farm the side lanes, and Braum/Rek’Sai helping Gnar. FW also had great dragon control throughout mid game. In my opinion, CLG’s biggest weakness is mid game. They rotate well early game to get all outer turrets down, but lack direction afterwards. Doublelift picks up all the farm in side lanes while ZionSpartan attempts to defend the opposite side lane. Aphromoo is stuck by DL’s side ensuring he can farm safely, meaning he isn’t available to roam or get vision. ZionSpartan was falling behind and Xmithie just farmed the jungle. CLG’s vision control wavers mid game and most vision is used defensively. Xmithie could’ve pressed Elise’s early game strength by challenging Karsa 1v1. CLG did a great job on capitalizing on Kkramer’s late game positioning and used the numbers advantage to bait baron into further kills. This one mistake late game for FW spiraled out of control leading to repeated bad situations. FW could have defended the CLG late game counter push mid much better where Kkramer got caught out. It looked like Steak was going to go split push, Braum was off to the side, and Karsa went back to farming the jungle – and they realized too late that CLG was pushing. Great job by CLG taking advantage of FW’s poor positioning and lapse in judgement.

Statistics:

Its very obvious CLG places all the emphasis on Doublelift and ZionSpartan gets the scraps. Doublelift consistently gets side lane farm while ZionSpartan is just supposed to defend the opposite lane while it gets pushed back towards them. Both Junglers had fairly large portions of gold, noted by both their offensive builds. Overall gold was pretty even throughout the match; however the item builds led to some disparities. I think Phantom Dancer 4^th item on Tristana was a bad choice where BORK or BT would’ve worked better. Both supports also didn’t prioritize Zeke’s Harbinger which is crucial for “Juggermaw” comps.

This game was truly about the ADCs. CLG gave Doublelift priority on farm and it shows with his 48% damage output. Jinx’s long range was crucial against a mostly melee team. ZionSpartan did a great job of front-lining and appearing threatening despite not getting much farm. If Doublelift had died in any of the team fights, I think CLG would have certainly have lost. FW had a lot of melee champions that were fairly even in damage output. While Maple may have had the least amount of damage, his zone control using Ekko’s stun, Q, ult, and Zhonya’s froze CLG’s DPS for its duration, allowing his teammates to pick off CLG’s front-line.

Statistics pulled from leagueoflegends.com match history and gamesoflegends.com. All credit goes to them.

(http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/TRLH3/1001380225?gameHash=622b35311e395719&tab=overview&participant=5)(http://gamesoflegends.com/game/gameshow.php?id=2183)