Post-game Analysis: LGD vs OG Game 1

P/B:

• Overall:
  • Not a fan of the Varus ban; xPeke is good on Varus but poke is weak in the current meta and could be easily dealt with
  • Interesting last ban by OG with Rek’Sai – trading Lulu meant they could get Elise and Kalista in return 

• LGD 1^st pick – Lulu: flex pick mid/top, strong pick that fits almost any comp
  • OG 1^st picks – Kalista/Elise: picked up two strong picks for giving away Lulu
• LGD 2^nd picks – Kog’Maw/Braum: perhaps the making of a “juggermaw” comp
  • OG 2^nd picks – Orianna/Annie: forming an aggressive team-fighting comp; Orianna is fine as a blind-pick since not sure if Lulu is mid
• LGD 3^rd picks – Vi/Malphite: did not see this coming; choose not to do standard “juggermaw,” the front-line dives in
  • OG 3^rd pick – Vladimir: lane counter to Malphite pick 

Very interesting picks by both teams. LGD had a standard “juggermaw” comp forming, but then decided to throw in hard engage. The team comp seems super low on damage, but I liked the engage potential against what seemed like a squishy line-up, plus having Vi lockdown Kalista. OG’s comp seemed all over the place. Orianna is team-fight focused, but there wasn’t a ball delivery tool. I suppose she could follow up on an Annie Tibbers’ initiation. Vladimir was picked for laning against Malphite, but I wasn’t a fan of the pick. Playing a squishy line-up against a team with heavy engage seems like a recipe for disaster. OG’s team also lacked any disengage or peel for their carries so if they got jumped on, it would be over. OG wants to pick off LGD while LGD wanted to dive OG. OG’s comp does bring a ton of AOE damage, but picking off a target would be hard against a Lulu. 

LGD comp:

• Juggermaw with a twist – heavy engage instead of traditional front-line tanks
• Low damage comp
• Minimal wave clear
• No real split push threat
• Great engage with Malphite or Vi followed up by Lulu ult
• Decent disengage with Braum
• Want lane swap for easy farming with Kog’Maw and Vladimir is weak in swaps
• Win Condition: survive early game and group by mid game, need vision control to pull off engages for team fights; Lulu and Braum should strictly play around Kog’Maw, not use spells for their tanks 

OG comp:

• Mixture of pick comp with team-fighting elements
• Annie/Elise are good at picking off an enemy while Vladimir and Orianna are team-fight oriented
• Minimal wave clear
• Good split pushing threat with Vladimir
• No front-line, no real tank
• No back-line threat to dive Kog’Maw
• Good engage potential with Annie ult, possibly Elise cocoon
• No disengage
• OG actually have ways to dodge LGD engage – Vlad pool, Elise repel, Kalista ult to save Annie, possible Zhonya’s on Orianna
• Good objective control with Elise execute + Kalista rend
• Want to lane 2v2 Bot Lanes, want to keep Kog’Maw down early
• Win Condition: use Elise’s strong early game to pull ahead, possibly with Annie roams as well, need vision control to pull off picks and not get jumped on, must win early before LGD’s team gets too tanky, make use of split pushing to take advantages 

Items/Build paths:

• Acorn’s Malphite: could’ve stacked more MR earlier and ignored armor – in a team fight just engage and kill Kalista 1^st so you don’t have to buy armor; CDR needed though
• TBQ’s Vi: Warrior might have been better than Cinderhulk this game, team could’ve used more damage and makes it easier to kill target you dive
• GODV’s Lulu: went Ignite over TP; no burst potential on team so didn’t like Ignite, TP would’ve helped team more
• Imp’s Kog’Maw: I liked 3^rd item QSS to prevent engages, 4^th item LW not needed against a squishy team, should’ve built IE before LW
• Pyl’s Braum: I like double Aegis against heavy AP team, but Banner of Command might have helped with split pushing; 2 lockets make sense though since Vi dives in while Braum stays back
• Amazing’s Elise: went Runeglaive over Cinderhulk, really no tank on team; went Rylai’s 4^th item before getting any armor against a 1-threat team
• xPeke’s Orianna: building Haunting Guise at 40 min when enemy team has 2 Lockets seems like a poor choice; chose TP over something like Barrier
• Niels’ Kalista: would have liked to see Banshee’s Veil earlier to prevent engages, but he played well so he didn’t need it
• Mithy’s Annie: prioritized Boots of Mobility over Sightstone early game for roaming 

Execution in Game:

• Lane swap occurs – LGD double jungle while Soaz goes to lane
• Mithy recalls to join Soaz in lane
• ~5:25 min: LGD get 1^st tower while OG freezing
  • Lanes go back to standard; Pyl gets deep vision around enemy blue buff
• ~8:45 min: OG taking their own blue when LGD contests; Malphite TP in, engage fails as OG flashed out
  • TBQ sticks around to counter jungle in full vision, Annie engage leads to OG getting 1^st blood; meanwhile Soaz kept farming and pushing top
• ~13 min: OG take mid outer because GODV backed (TP would’ve been helpful)
  • OG have deep vision control in LGD red buff bot side jungle, always knowing where TBQ is means Soaz can keep bullying top lane
• ~14 min: LGD take bot outer turret; OG take 1^st dragon after LGD Bot Lane recalled
  • OG lane swap, Bot Lane to top, Soaz to bot
• ~16 min: Soaz chooses to fight Imp 1v1 but Pyl nearby, xPeke TP in but GODV matches roam
  • LGD win fight 2 kills for 0
  • Mithy seemed to cancel Acorn TP
  • OG push and get top inner turret; LGD get bot inner turret
• ~20:50 min: LGD have vision control for 2^nd dragon (LGD 1^st), Malphite roams to dragon since TP on cooldown leaving top lane exposed
  • OG choose to contest rather than split push
  • Malphite engage but only catches Annie, burned xPeke flash, Annie pulled out by Kalista
  • Amazing caught out by Vi ult (1^st Vi ult used at level 10, 21 min into game…)
• ~21:40 min: OG attempt to catch out Imp with Flash Tibbers, Pyl saves him but pays with his own life; trade 1 for 1 kill on Supports
• ~26:40 min: GODV roams for successful gank on Soaz, Soaz finally punished for split pushing
  • OG can’t pressure baron with no tank; OG can’t get full vision control
• ~28 min: TBQ caught out by OG near baron; fail Q over wall + wasted Lulu ult
  • Team fight erupts as Top Laners TP in; Amazing out of position and flashed out, Pyl starts fight and catches Soaz off guard with Flash + Braum ult, Vlad immediately dies without using ult
  • Malphite ult hits Kalista + Elise; LGD win fight 3 for 0 after TBQ went down
  • OG super spread out before fight, xPeke was farming mid not in fight; played very disrespectfully and punished
• ~30:40 min: Imp split pushing alone, good vision but OG charge through lane, successful kill on Imp
• *~34 min: team fight breaks out; Amazing lands cocoon onto Imp to start fight, TBQ and Pyl go in to protect him; Acorn TP opposite side to flank but too late
  • TBQ uses Vi ult on Annie (immediately saved by Kalista) – very poor choice, but perhaps wanted to prevent her from engaging on the team; should’ve targeted Kalista or Orianna
  • Malphite ult hits only Kalista
  • OG – Vlad ult hits only Pyl + GODV, Kalista ult hits Imp followed by Tibbers + Orianna Shockwave hits 4; OG win fight 5 kills for 0; OG get 2 towers mid + inhibitor
• OG secure baron; LGD try to contest 4v5 (OG have ults back, LGD don’t)
  • Lulu ult used on Vi; OG win fight 3 kills for 2
• OG push with baron with Vlad split push – LGD not enough wave clear, must send Lulu to stop Vlad
• ~39 min: LGD desperation engage to stop OG push, Malphite homeguard charge in then ult – easily seen and flashed out
  • TBQ ults Orianna now but no follow up; OG win fight 1 kill for 0, get bot inhibitor tower + inhibitor
• ~42:20 min: Imp aggresses on xPeke, forces him to burn Orianna ult; LGD move to take baron but Soaz still split pushing
  • LGD focus baron while OG engages – Mithy good focus on Imp; Vi ults Annie again…
  • Soaz split push wins the game 

LGD’s poor execution allowed OG to take the game. Malphite ult rarely landed on more than one target if at all and Vi was almost useless. LGD fell behind early at around ~8:45 minutes in when LGD decides to contest OG’s blue buff. OG did a great job of running away and flashing out of Malphite ult. LGD didn’t simply return to lanes though; TBQ stayed to counter-jungle while in full vision and ended up getting caught out by OG giving away 1^st blood. This set LGD behind and allowed Soaz to gain a ton of farm top and pressure the turret. The lead Soaz obtained here allowed him to bully Malphite the rest of the game and became an unstoppable split pushing threat. Soaz did a great job of taking advantage of his split pushing power, but TBQ never punished him by ganking for Malphite despite Soaz pushing to LGD’s inner tower alone. I understand Vladimir is hard to gank and can negate both Malphite or Vi ults with his pool, but something had to be done to stop Soaz. xPeke was also able to win mid lane 1v1 by using his teleport advantage to constantly return to lane with items and full mana to out push the Lulu. GODV not taking teleport really hurt LGD’s global pressure and caused him to lose lane. Imp and Pyl played a great game, but the rest of LGD left much to be desired. Vi didn’t use her ult until 21 minutes into the game and OG consistently flashed out of Malphite ults that were way too predictable. GODV also didn’t seem the most comfortable on Lulu. In team fights, he would ult Kog’Maw as soon as the fight started before anyone even jumped on him. This negates the bonuses of the knock-up and health increase that Lulu can provide if timed correctly. LGD did a good job with vision control this game, always keeping some vision around baron and never being completely blind. LGD gained many advantages, but repeated mistakes, most notably from TBQ, cost LGD the game. TBQ failed to put pressure on the map, failed to pressure Soaz’s split pushing, didn’t use Vi ult until late game, and poor target selection with Vi ult really cost LGD the game. The fight at ~34 minutes sealed LGD’s fate when LGD failed to protect Imp and couldn’t follow up on engages. Malphite arrived late and managed to ult Kalista, but there was no damage to finish her off. Vi ulted Annie again for whatever reason and she was saved by Kalista again. LGD never pressured xPeke in fights which allowed him to land the 4-man Shockwave for a quadra-kill. OG did well in playing to their strengths, constantly having Soaz split push with no answer to his pressure. Mithy also did a great job of making sure to always land his stun onto Imp, even using Annie’s Q to stun in a fight, then using Tibbers just for damage to guarantee that he wouldn’t miss. OG played well, but I would consider this game more LGD’s failures than OG outplaying. 

Statistics:

I expected more farm from Soaz considering how much time he spent split pushing. It was clear xPeke was getting the most farm since he was often the one the push out waves quickly then TP to rejoin the team. LGD placed most of its gold on Imp and rightly so.

LGD’s damage is typical of a “juggermaw” comp. The glaring weakness is obviously TBQ and his lack of involvement. He never put pressure on the map and rarely used Vi ult. This also meant that even when LGD engaged, they never had enough to damage to finish off their target making the engage useless. On OG, xPeke shined because LGD completely ignored him in fights.

Statistics pulled from leagueoflegends.com match history and gamesoflegends.com. All credit goes to them.
(http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/TRLH3/1001380282?gameHash=eb79747e9c1c232e&tab=stats&participant=10)(http://gamesoflegends.com/game/gameshow.php?id=2188)