Post-game Analysis: KT vs TSM Game 1

P/B:

• Overall:
  • Gnar was a great ban against TSM; it was by far Dyrus’ most played and best champion (8-2 W/L in Summer + playoffs)
  • TF ban against Bjergsen is questionable, while a potentially strong champion, Bjergsen only used TF once in the Summer split that resulted in a TSM loss (their poor communication made it ineffective)
  • Mordekaiser did not have to be banned on Blue Side; could’ve forced TSM to ban it or 1^st pick it
  • Last ban well played by TSM; didn’t want to give away Darius/Elise so they left both up getting one of the picks 

• KT 1^st pick – Darius: With Gnar banned, Darius has few if any counters; prioritized over Elise or any jungle picks
  • TSM 1^st picks – Braum/Elise: standard strong picks
• KT 2^nd picks – Rek’Sai/Azir: early Azir pick, most likely to steal it away from Bjergsen
  • TSM 2^nd picks – LeBlanc/Olaf: attempted counter picks for each lane; TSM seem to be forming a pick comp
• KT 3^rd picks – Kog’Maw/Alistar: comfort picks, round out a team-fighting comp
  • TSM 3^rd pick – Vayne: not a great pick, doesn’t fit the comp, want a safer ADC like Tristana who can escape and somewhat match Kog’s range 

KT seemed to get all of their comfort picks and formed a solid team-fighting comp. Meanwhile TSM’s composition doesn’t really gel together and just seemed to pick to win lanes. Olaf and LeBlanc were picked together, but have distinctly different playstyles. Olaf is better at team fighting than picking an opponent off since he doesn’t have CC or heavy burst. He’s supposed to dive the back line, but no one else on TSM wants to go in. I liked pairing Elise with Olaf though to help his early game and possibly get him snowballing. The Vayne pick was also out of sorts; he wasn’t going to get help from his team since they formed a pick comp (known for only going in, no disengage), so he needed to pick a safe ADC (Corki or Tristana most likely). Alternatively, Sivir would have fit much better, giving the team much needed engage and wave clear. Kog’Maw also greatly outranges Vayne so there wasn’t going to be an opportunity for Vayne to thrive in this game. TSM also saw Darius 1^st picked, but picked no champions that would make his life difficult. They had no kiting or zone control to punish the pick. Braum was great to go against Kog, being able to block the majority of his damage, but TSM didn’t have a team-fighting comp to go with it. Both teams likely want to lane swap for easy farming for the hyper carries. TSM’s comp lacked synergy while KT had all comfort picks. 

KT comp:

• Team fighting comp
• Big front line
• Rather low wave clear
• Strong siege potential with Kog’Maw’s range
• Good split pushing threats with Darius + Rek’Sai globals
• Only reliable engage is Alistar; maybe Rek’Sai or Azir “insec”
• Azir ult disengage helps protect Kog’Maw
• Win Condition: survive early game, group mid game for objectives, want vision control to prevent picks, be first to objectives to set up Azir soldiers 

TSM comp:

• Not a cohesive comp
• Mostly a pick comp but Vayne and Olaf typically want to be in team-fighting comps
• Going to have a hard time dealing with KT’s front-line, no one to help Olaf dive the back line
• Low wave clear
• No reliable engage; rely on Elise cocoon to get a pick
• Strong split pushing: Olaf, LeBlanc, and Vayne all make solid split pushers who are hard to handle 1v1
• Win Condition: use Elise’s strong early game to snowball Olaf, LeBlanc needs to shut down Azir mid, need vision control to pull off picks; TSM needs to split push to win 

Items/Build paths:

• Ssumday built 2^nd item Sterak’s Gage before DMP
• Score built DMP late game over Randuin’s Omen
• Piccaboo built 3^rd item Banshee’s Veil; Banner of Command may have been better for split pushing; I liked him taking Exhaust against Vayne/Olaf
• Dyrus built Giant’s belt before Phage into Black Cleaver, really set behind his build
• WildTurtle built PD over Statikk Shiv; SS may have helped with wave clear, but not a big issue 

Execution in Game:

• TSM invades top side level 1 and get vision around KT blue buff; KT responds by mirroring the invade – TSM get top half of map, KT get bottom; both Bot Lanes take a camp before going to lanes
• ~2:50 min: Dyrus joins TSM Bot Lane for 3 man tower push while Elise farms jungle (western style)
  • KT still double jungle, only 2 man tower push (much slower)
  • ~3:35 min: TSM get 1^st tower, tower gold given to Bot Lane rather than Dyrus
• Dyrus sent bot lane to soak up farm while KT Bot Lane still trying to take 1^st tower; Darius tries to lane top for 1^st time but no tower means he can’t lane safely so he’s further denied, WildTurtle freezes top lane
  • TSM gets early advantage due to KT not matching TSM’s fast push; Darius gets denied a lane and Score set behind in jungle due to sharing farm with Darius
  • KT needed to react sooner and dive Olaf when he came to lane or have Piccaboo roam on Alistar
• ~6 min: Dyrus tries farming after his tower went down, immediately ganked for 1^st blood , good to get kill on Darius– Dyrus shouldn’t have been that forward in lane
• ~8 min: TSM 5 man tower dive against 3 KT, successfully get 1 kill – not clean execution (Lustboy went early) but no deaths
  • This also forces Arrow to stop his freeze in top lane and push the wave, which Dyrus TP and soaks up farm/xp – good advantages for TSM
• ~10:30 min: teams trading outer towers again in side lanes but KT gets it first, uses this advantage to 4 man dive Dyrus; TSM pick up 1^st dragon
• ~16 min: TSM has great vision control over KT red buff bot side in prep for dragon; use Bjergsen advantage mid to take mid outer tower then move toward dragon
• ~17:08 min: TSM hiding on top of a ward attempting to bait dragon, Bjergsen pokes but TSM bail in different directions – Santorin caught out, late Dyrus TP and WildTurtle out of position for team fight
  • KT win fight 1 kill for 0, get mid outer and inner turret as well; TSM lack of wave clear
  • TSM get 2^nd dragon
• ~24 min: TSM siege mid inner turret, KT defend but TSM scatter when backing off, Lustboy caught out for free kill
• ~28 min: KT gank Dyrus but he escapes with Olaf ult; TSM forces baron but KT globals of Rek’Sai ult + Darius TP negates this
  • KT engage on TSM focusing baron; TSM focuses Alistar, Lustboy uses Braum disengage ult onto Rek’Sai and not the carries; KT win fight 4 kills for 1
  • Bjergsen misplayed and focused Alistar, but real problem was TSM staying on baron; they need to pick off an opponent, not go head on against a team fighting comp
  • KT get baron; siege and get mid inhibitor turret
• ~31:45 min: TSM contest dragon with Alistar ult down; TSM get dragon but get low and disengage; KT get bot lane inner turret as a result
• ~33:30 min: TSM in river for baron, get very minimal vision down while KT has most of top side warded
  • Lustboy caught out again by Piccaboo; WildTurtle and Dyrus flee but poor pathing by WT leads to his death as well
• ~36:15 min: TSM 3 members just sitting in jungle when Kog’Maw just runs at them and chases; good flank by KT with Rek’Sai ult + Darius TP
  • KT get 2 kills for 0; late TP by Dyrus
  • KT get top inhibitor turret + inhibitor and mid inhibitor
• ~38:15 min: TSM late to bait baron, WildTurtle off to side alone, KT spot and engage on him but failed Alistar combo
  • TSM forced to retreat away from base, KT win fight 4 kills for 0
  • KT push base and win 

This game was dictated by repeated careless errors by TSM. The game was rife with TSM members (mostly Lustboy, Dyrus, and WildTurtle) consistently being out of position and caught out by the enemy team. For drafting a pick comp, TSM played it backwards. I liked how TSM started the game and TSM actually had the lead early. TSM pushed the first tower faster which allowed Dyrus to get farm bot lane and WildTurtle to freeze top lane. Despite Dyrus giving up first blood, TSM was still ahead and pulling advantages in xp and farm across the map. Things started going south for TSM at around the 17 minute mark when TSM was going to take their 2^nd dragon. TSM was hiding in bush but standing on a ward when Bjergsen went in to harass. No cost to the play until afterwards when TSM was scattering after Bjergsen went in – TSM left the bush in all different directions, but Santorin was slow to react and got caught out and netted KT 2 towers mid lane. After this, TSM vision control really suffered; most of the wards were defensive in their own jungle and never crossed into KT territory. TSM never gained vision control over baron or dragon afterwards even when they had the opportunity, then got caught out and died giving away objectives for free. The climax of the game occurred at ~28 minutes when TSM forced baron after KT ganked Dyrus bot lane. While normally a strong cross-map counter-play, KT responded well with Rek’Sai ult + Darius TP to contest. TSM stayed on baron despite this and misplayed the fight after getting engaged on. KT engaged from multiple angles; TSM should’ve backed off baron and engaged onto a target before KT grouped, but TSM’s comp also lacked engage. TSM made numerous errors and repeatedly got caught out, forcing them to give up objectives and gave KT a lead with the better late game comp. I would place most of the blame on Lustboy for getting caught out the most and his poor use of Braum ult in team fights; using ult to disengage Rek’Sai rather than the carries. Santorin and Lustboy really slacked off mid game for vision control and didn’t help Dyrus get back into the game. 24 minutes in Dyrus finally completed Black Cleaver with a Giant’s belt when Darius had 2 items completed by 21 minutes. At least ward for Dyrus so he isn’t spending his already few resources on wards for himself. TSM never got a split push game going. Bjergsen had a massive advantage mid (+50 CS, 2 level advantage), but was unable to take mid turret. Perhaps sending him to a side lane mid game to split push could’ve garnered TSM more advantages. This game was plagued with TSM errors that could’ve easily been prevented. They seemed to lack focus and made careless plays that KT took advantage of. 

Statistics:

The gold distribution was fairly even spread for both teams. The damage discrepancies highlight the problems with TSM. Bjergsen did almost half the team’s damage, but I think this was due to TSM’s poor drafting. Olaf didn’t have a way to engage and participate in team fights and Dyrus teleported late often when TSM got caught out. WildTurtle’s Vayne was too short ranged to fight KT. Most of the damage occurred with TSM retreating from fights after getting caught out so the numbers themselves are rather meaningless. KT meanwhile had Arrow’s Kog’maw do the majority of damage with his long ranged auto attacks and ult allowing him to pick apart TSM. While Darius had many kills, it was mostly clean-up and he didn’t actually do too much damage.

TSM’s vision control starting mid game really fell off. Perhaps they were discouraged after getting caught out so often, but they needed vision to pull off picks.

Statistics pulled from leagueoflegends.com match history and gamesoflegends.com. All credit goes to them.
(http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/TRLH3/1001380269?gameHash=999b1a60dc3b785b&tab=overview)(http://gamesoflegends.com/game/gameshow.php?id=2187)