Guest for Day 1: Tabe & Fzzf
OMG vs. WE
Game 1: Pre-game Banter
Source: http://star.longzhu.com/lpl/v/97267
Hostess: Fzzf, even though you retired, everyone still thinks you are #1 support in China. Why did you retire?
Fzzf: I am just too tired, too old. I am 24 already. My reaction and mechanics can’t keep up with the newer players.
Tabe: I was talking to Fzzf about that. Sometimes the older players in game thought about using a skill like Exhaust, but we can’t press the key in time. I think being old is a good thing for men though. Women likes men that are mature. I also noticed that a lot of the support players are older in age.
Fzzf: I think Deft/Meiko is the best bot lane combo, followed by Uzi/Cloud, and #3 goes to Pyl/Imp.
Tabe: My ranking is similar to Fzzf’s. But if Pyl pairs with Uzi, they would have great synergy. Pyl is very experienced in the scene, and he has some communication problems with Imp due to language barrier.
Pick & ban
Hostess: Fzzf, you played on WE before. What do you think of WE’s current roster?
Fzzf: They switched mid and ADC. I think strategically they are really good, despite their loss to TSM. Xiye’s Diana is really good, deserve a ban here from OMG. Another assassin ban towards Xiye. OMG thinks if Xiye can be shutdown, it will also shutdown WE’s tempo.
Tabe: I feel Xiye played well in his first game against TSM on Ahri.
Fzzf: WE first picked Ahri because his other assassins got banned.
Tabe: Problem with Ahri is teams such as King like to pick Cho’gath, which counters Ahri. If Ahri goes in on Cho’gath, she will get eaten.
Fzzf: Lucian is very popular, WE might him up. People should rethink the ADC right now. Lucian is good because a lot of ADC got nerfed. Aggressive bot lanes like Uzi or Mystic would lean towards Lucian: easy to play and good in lane.
Tabe: Lucian is good regardless of lane swap or not. He is good 2v1 top laner or 2v2 against Kalista. Speaking of mid lane, TF in this meta gets countered by everything. OMG’s strategy is to sacrifice mid lane to help Uzi at level 6.
Fzzf: It’s not impossible for TF to play against Ahri, just very hard and he have to play a specific way — win rest of the map and control the mid lane wave really well.
Tabe: I feel Janna has the advantage against Morgana. But Morgana shuts down TF pretty hard.
Post-game
Fzzf: I feel the problem is OMG played bad, nothing to do with how WE performed. Loveling’s first failed gank prevented more future ganks from him, which allowed Maokai to grow normally. I think Loveling’s jungling failures messed up the tempo for OMG. WE played very well. Ahri protected the bot lane by repeatedly helping bot. OMG had the advantage bot, but they made a huge mistake tower diving that one time.
Tabe: Most of TF’s flash was used to escape, which means he cannot turn the game around with a Flash initiation. I think Aluka was really smart. He didn’t build too much AP but built a lot of tank. That helped him survive ganks repeatedly despite being down in CS.
Fzzf: I think if WE’s frontline was not tanky, OMG would have had a chance. The first gank on Maokai was entirely on Loveling’s misplay.
Hostess: Didn’t Uzi cry last week? I think he played so recklessly today because he wants to carry so badly.
Tabe: Crying is not a problem for him. I think he just gets frustrated by repeatedly ganks by the enemy jungler. He would ask, “what is my jungler doing?”
Fzzf: OMG didn’t play well strategically this game.
Tabe: I think the reason Cool picked TF is to not fight against Ahri directly, but to support his team. Next game, he should ask himself, if enemy team locks mid laner first and give him the counter pick, should he pick a champion that can create opportunities for his team?
Game 2: Pre-game Banter
Source: http://star.longzhu.com/lpl/v/97270
(VOD skipped to P&B)
Pick & ban
Fzzf: The last game was OMG’s failure in P&B, and didn’t know what to do in game due to bad strategic plays.
Fzzf: OMG bans Annie, maybe they want to play Morgana. Now he bans Ahri to shut down Xiye.
Tabe: Problem with last game was OMG banned out Cool in the process of trying to shut down Xiye. Cool is also good with assassins.
Fzzf: They didn’t expect a first pick mid laner from WE. WE first picked Diana. I think Xiye’s Diana is extremely good. I saw him doing really well in Solo Q, and he did well in IEM. I don’t really understand OMG’s Nunu pick. WE should have first picked support+Nidalee, then OMG counter with support+top lane. OMG picked Gnar because they banned Maokai, basically saying Gnar can 1v1 any other top laner.
Fzzf: I don’t understand OMG’s pick. Sona is ok, not bad, good against Janna who has no sustain. I feel Ezreal is at a disadvantage here, Ezreal+Janna IMO is only a farm lane – no pressure. Sona isn’t really too good in competitive. Her “W” takes too much mana, and range is small. Only thing good is her “Q” range increased, but damage decreased. Overall, questionable picks from OMG with Nunu and Sona.
Tabe: Even if Nunu ganks bot, Sona pre-6 can’t do anything.
Fzzf: I don’t think WE will lane swap because Hecarim will get crushed. Their goal is to farm bot lane and wait for Spirit to harass OMG.
Post-game
Tabe: Lane swap was really good for OMG.
Fzzf: Ya, WE played themselves into a deficit here with the lane swap. Nunu is really good in a lane swap situation. And Diana did poorly in mid. I think if WE didn’t lose lane so hard it wouldn’t be too bad for WE.
Hostess: It would be a shame for an organization like WE to fall in LSPL.
Fzzf: After changing WE changed their roster, they have a much better chance. Each of the players has a lot of talent. OMG is just too experienced as a team compared to WE. We thought that Sona pick was useless, but she forced WE to lane swap due to her pressure.
Tabe: Really smart from OMG. They didn’t first pick support, but counter picked WE’s bot lane to force a lane swap, allowing Uzi to free farm.
Hostess: Uzi looks so happy that game. Next we have EDG vs. SHRC!
Tabe: Really looking forward to Namei’s revenge!
Fzzf: I feel Namei hasn’t reached his full potential. He needs to practice his mechanics more and work better with the team. His Kog’maw in his PE days was really memorable for all the viewers. That was the reason why we at EDG recruited him from PE. He was extremely good. All I can say right now is I hope he can continue to improve.
Fzzf: But I am good friends with all the ADC. I duo with Uzi and many other ADCs. As a support, the best way to improve is to adapt to many ADCs playstyle, which in turn expand my own versatility.
EDG vs. SHRC
Game 1: Pre-game Banter
Source: http://star.longzhu.com/lpl/v/97286
Tabe: I think EDG 2:0. Whether it’s team play or mechanical skills, they are the best.
Fzzf: They are using GodLike. He plays almost exclusive tanks, which in my opinion, hides his carrying ability.
Hostess: What do you think of Namei and Zero?
Fzzf: They still need a lot of improvement. Even when I was Namei we didn’t have that great of a synergy.
Hostess: Didn’t you guys sleep together on the same bed?
Fzzf: No. We shared the same room but that’s it. When I was with Weixiao, we didn’t sleep together a lot because a lot of time he was not there. He might have slept somewhere else.
Tabe: Speaking of Uzi, have you felt Uzi’s arm before? His skin is not soft, but like crocodile skin.
Hostess: (Looks at the screen) Oh look it’s Chris (SHRC coach). People didn’t know that long time ago I used to play ADC, but back then we (Chris, White, Tabe) knew each other really well.
Tabe: Ya and I also knew Fzzf long time ago. When Weixiao and I were already famous, but he was a lot better than me. He was #1, I was #2, and there was no #3. Back then I said, “Fzzf come support me.” Then Fzzf comes to duo with me. But when I played against Weixiao I could never win in farm or team fights.
Fzzf: Who was his support back then?
Tabe: It was “if”. This is ancient history though.
Hostess: I think back then amongst all three of you that came from Honk Kong, Chris was the most handsome.
Pick & ban
Fzzf: Ok we are too derailed, let’s look at the p&b. First pick Lulu, she can be picked in all three lanes. In IEM, Lustboy’s Lulu was really good. EDG picked Kog, very clear playing protect the ADC.
Tabe: I think EDG play protect the ADC comp. because they were schooled by Snake a while back.
Fzzf: And Deft is extremely good. Ok so mid lane Lulu for EDG.
Tabe: Lulu lacks AP in mid lane, because at 20minute she would only have 100AP.
Fzzf: 80% chance SHRC would lane swap. EDG knows this, depends on whether they want to catch the lane swap or not. There is no way Twitch/Janna can win against Kog/Namei. Twitch gets outpressured from level 1, and when Kog hits post lvl 5 with 3 points in “W”, there is nothing Twitch can do. Deft’s really smart in lane, he wouldn’t let SHRC gank him at level 2.
Tabe: I think best way for SHRC play this is to repeatedly gank Mundo.
Post-game
Tabe: Let’s talk about what comps. can counter “protect the ADC” comp.
Fzzf: First, hard engage comps. Zed is extremely good.
Tabe: But Lulu counters Zed so hard. They have to ban Lulu. Back then too many champions can pair with Kog – Kayle, Zilean, etc.
Fzzf: Yasuo also really counters ADC damage output really well.
Tabe: I really want to see protect ADC vs. protect ADC.
Fzzf: The reason SHRC lost was their poor 2nd lane swap. Twitch could not create tempo for SHRC in mid game. He knows he can’t lane well but he did it really anyway, which was really dumb.
Tabe: SHRC should have just continue to push to 2nd tier towers rather than lane swap back. We know Nunu likes to put all wards in the enemy jungle — if they didn’t lane swap back, it would be difficult to Nunu to put more wards and he can only put riverside wards. He can’t enter the enemy jungle.
Fzzf: Also, if they left Maokai, Twitch can roam everywhere. At least they can have 4 people roam bot, which they can win. But they chose to lane swap back and put Maokai top, which means they can’t win bot in a 3v3. Overall the tempo was lost by SHRC’s lane swap choices.
Tabe: I think Lee doesn’t like lane swap. He has a lot of catch potential. If Maokai decide not to try to catch experience top but instead try to get CS, he could have gotten help from Insec and it wouldn’t be bad.
Fzzf: We came to conclusion before to not lane swap back. But I guess Namei forgot, or GodLike requested it.
Game 2: Pre-game Banter
Source: http://star.longzhu.com/lpl/v/97272
(VOD skipped to P&B)
Pick & ban
Fzzf: EDG bans Rengar against Insec, and SHRC bans Leblanc against PawN. Clearlove takes Lee instead of J4. Maokai and J4 doesn’t have great damage output as a top/jungler duo. Kog for Namei. I don’t think he will lane swap because the top lane matchup is in favour of SHRC (Rumble vs. Maokai). He is confident that he won’t get hooked.
Hostess: Katarina for PawN?
Fzzf: Ya his champion pool is really deep. There aren’t that many CCs on SHRC. Kat is not afraid of Nami. Nami would disappear instantly if Kat jumps near her. They should pick something like Blitz or Alistar to counter Kat. Really interesting to watch because EDG will try to teamfight. There is going to be a lot of action (2v2) top with both of their junglers. If Clearlove decides to help bot, Koro1 must not get destroyed top.
Post-game
Fzzf: Too bad, both of these games EDG was more experienced at lane swap.
Hostess: Who is shotcalling in SHRC?
Tabe: Chris told me it’s Namei.
Hostess: But he just got in SHRC.
Tabe: I am really close with Chris; he told me Namei is good at shotcalling. He played well in scrims. I agree with Fzzf on GodLike — it’s not his fault in the loss. I think Namei lost by getting hooked.
Fzzf: We should wait for them to develop more synergy. They are good individually.
Tabe: That game was really resident sleeper for me. EDG is so good at snowballing a small advantage. There are a lot of players good at laning, but not very experienced at lane swapping.
Fzzf: SHRC’s shotcalling was bad, despite having all the veteran players. Back in EDG, Clearlove and I shotcalled, not Namei. He still needs more experience as a shotcaller. He needs to focus on his own ADC mechanics and what’s going on in the map at the same time.
Hostess: So ADCs are not suited for the shotcalling position.
Tabe: There were some good ones, such as Weixiao in Season 2.
Hostess: Who shotcalled before Namei and after Uzi left?
Tabe: I feel like its 2 Koreans and 3 Chinese playing by themselves. Could be Cola though. Hard to shotcall in SHRC because too many roster changes. I think Uzi would be stronger in SHRC though, better suited for his performance.
Fzzf: OMG is still trying to find their playstyle, but they still have plenty of time before Worlds.
