Post-game Analysis: LGD vs KT Game 1

 P/B:

• Overall:
  • Very different bans this game with only one of the big 3 getting banned (Gangplank, Lulu, Mordekaiser)
  • Azir and Alistar is LGD banning away comfort picks of KT, but at the expense of leaving up many strong picks
  • KT choose to pick on TBQ’s champion pool the same way OG did with the same 2 jungle bans of Lee Sin and Rek’Sai
  • Many of the “OP” champions are left up including Elise, Mordekaiser, Lulu, and Darius; Red Side gets the advantage in this scenario with chances to pick up more picks and then counter the ones Blue Side take 

• LGD 1^st pick – Elise: LGD needed a strong pick for TBQ that he’s actually comfortable on
  • KT 1^st picks – Lulu/Braum: Lulu technically a flex pick mid/top but she’s only been used mid so far; Braum becomes top Support pick with Alistar banned
• LGD 2^nd picks – Sivir/Thresh: Thresh is the next best all-around Support champion; Sivir picked for engage
  • KT 2^nd picks – Gragas/Kog’Maw: the making of a “juggermaw” comp
• LGD 3^rd picks – Varus/Hecarim: Hecarim matches well with Sivir, Varus doesn’t seem to fit the comp but possibly for his lockdown ult
  • KT 3^rd pick – Malphite: great pick against an all AD comp; also brings reliable engage

This pick and ban went very differently than previous games. Teams are finally shifting away from banning the standard “OP” picks and creating a scenario where Red Side get to trade 1 for 2 strong picks. Even with numerous strong picks open, LGD had to get Elise 1^st pick for TBQ to do well after his lackluster Vi performance. KT picked strong but generic picks of Lulu/Braum that can fit multiple comps but is likely the start of a “juggermaw” comp. Lulu and Braum can provide massive kiting so these picks also somewhat denied LGD from picking Darius or Mordekaiser because they’d have a hard time getting in. It almost seemed like KT wanted to bait LGD into those picks. The Varus and Hecarim picks seemed disjointed. Hecarim goes well with Sivir, but Varus is out in left field. He’s primarily a poke champion on a team that wants to run in. Braum was also seen on KT already in the draft so I don’t understand picking a poke champion into it. I could see his ult being useful for lockdown, possibly as follow up to Elise or Thresh to pick someone off, but if that’s the case why not use an assassin mid? LGD has bits and pieces of a team-fighting comp (Hecarim and Sivir), a pick comp (Elise and Thresh), and a poke comp (Varus). Before watching the game just based on comps, LGD is going to have a tough time breaking through KT’s front-line and Kog’Maw vastly outranges anything LGD want to do. 

LGD comp:

• Team-fighting comp
• Sivir for engage
• Some disengage with Thresh and possibly Varus ult
• Decent wave clear
• Some pick potential with Elise/Thresh combo
• Hecarim is good split push threat
• Varus brings siege potential
• Want to lane 2v2, shove in Kog’Maw’s lane with Sivir’s strong early wave clear to deny him CS
• Win Condition: use Elise’s strong early game to get ahead, want vision control to pick off opponents, must get to objectives first to make use of Varus poke before fights, group mid game for objectives; must win early game before KT gets too tanky since all AD 

KT comp:

• “Juggermaw” comp
• Malphite and possibly Gragas for engage
• Strong disengage with Gragas and Braum
• Minimal wave clear
• Big front-line
• Strong kiting potential
• Want lane swap for easy farming for Kog early game
• Win Condition: survive early game and farm, need vision control to land Malphite ults, group mid game for objectives 

Items/Build paths:

• Acorn’s Hecarim: rushed Mercury Treads + Homeguard 1^st item, meant he had no damage to challenge Malphite or bully his weak early game
• TBQ’s Elise: went Runeglaive so the team had some AP damage; LGD’s comp needed to win early so building tanky wouldn’t be a good choice
• Nagne’s Lulu: loved him taking TP, allowed for many advantages around the map and that he couldn’t get poked out of lane
• Piccaboo’s Braum: built Mikael’s Crucible 3^rd item to help protect Kog’Maw 

Execution in Game:

• LGD great job matching for 2v2 top lane
• Both teams start with double jungle just to get Top Laner lvl 2; Malphite gets blue buff to start laning to help his early game
• TBQ ganks Ssumday’s Malphite early but manages to escape with Flash
• ~5 min: Score ganks GODV mid for successful 1^st blood for Nagne’s Lulu
• ~8 min: both teams lane swap Bot Lane to bot
• ~9:45 min: fight breaks out bot lane as Arrow purposely gets hooked to bait a fight with KT double TP advantage; KT win fight 1 kill for 0, Kog’Maw getting the kill is big for KT
• ~11:25 min: Imp punished for playing aggressively, KT plays around Spell Shield well and land Braum Q leading to another kill for Kog’Maw
• ~13:45 min: GODV constantly pressures mid, eventually taking down mid outer tower with TBQ help
• ~14 min: Score calls Piccaboo to roam to river when Junglers fighting over Scuttler, Score engages onto TBQ with help from Nagne and Piccaboo; another successful kill for KT
• ~16:10 min: Malphite winning 1v1 against Hecarim, takes down top outer tower
• ~16:25 min: fight breaks out bot lane as Imp losing 2v2 trades, both Junglers showed up, Ssumday TP in but Acorn’s Hecarim didn’t (his lane was pushed against him, had to defend tower or lose farm); KT win fight 2 kills for 0, get bot outer tower
  • Ssumday and Score rotate to gank mid, easy tower dive on Varus, Acorn uses TP but too late to help; Acorn surrounded and ends up dying as well but got Ignite onto Arrow for kill; KT win 2 more kills for 1
• ~19 min: Ssumday shoves out top lane then rotates mid for another kill onto GODV; KT get mid outer and mid inner towers
• ~23:25 min: KT Bot Lane catch out Imp going for Krugs
• ~24 min: KT catch out GODV and TBQ doing wolves, GODV dies again
• ~24:25 min: LGD desperate engage onto KT Bot Lane but spotted by KT deep vision, KT even TP before LGD despite LGD calling to fight, LGD immediately bail on fight; KT win 3 kills for 0, get bot inner tower then bot inhibitor; Score takes top inner tower 

Its easy to say the game was lost at champion select, but LGD also didn’t perform well in game to play to their strengths. It seemed like LGD wanted to 2v2 and made a good call level 1 to match-up against KT’s Bot Lane. Imp made use of Sivir’s strong early game wave clear, but eventually Braum would be able to negate most of the pushing power. Arrow and Piccaboo did a great job of keeping even in CS early despite having to farm under their own tower most of laning phase. At around ~7:30 minutes, both Bot Lanes swapped to bottom where Imp had a BF sword vs Arrow’s Kog’Maw with just a Sheen. At this point though, Braum negated any of Sivir’s poke and Kog’Maw’s long range started to take over. Ssumday was gifted blue buff to start the game to ensure he could farm early and not get bullied by Hecarim in the first few levels. Acorn didn’t push his advantage early and built Merc Treads 1^st item allowing Ssumday to farm up and get tanky which he could never catch up to. Hecarim is extremely item dependent and without any offensive items he continually got his lane pushed in by Malphite who stacked armor and maxed E first eventually leading to Ssumday taking top tower at ~16 minutes in just a 1v1 lane. The fight at ~9:45 started KT’s advantage when Arrow expertly baited Thresh to hook him to start a fight. KT had the double TP advantage and forced a 5v4 fight which netted them a kill, but more importantly the Kog’Maw got the kill. At this point, KT always had good vision control of LGD’s bot side jungle and always knew if a gank was coming. Starting at ~16 minutes, Ssumday was able to shove in top lane then roaming to make plays around the map. Acorn was put in a catch-22 situation of staying and catching up in farm while Ssumday ganked other lanes or TPing to match but likely losing the fight since you’re already behind. Ssumday continuously teleported bot then roams mid for ganks which didn’t even require him to use his ult. Interestingly, neither team emphasized dragon at all this game. LGD had to play for early game, so stacking dragon wasn’t feasible; KT just focused on making TP plays. LGD never had a chance to group and siege and instead got picked apart around the map. Great coordination by KT making cross-map plays to their advantage. 

Statistics:

Kog’Maw got a surprisingly low amount of gold from the team, but KT was so far ahead it didn’t matter.

Hecarim wasn’t able to pull his weight due to his poor item build setting himself behind early which he never caught up. Varus dealt the most damage which is common for poke champions. Despite having less gold, Arrow’s Kog’Maw thrived in the “juggermaw” comp behind KT’s impenetrable front-line.

KT had great vision control starting mid game and had constant deep vision in LGD’s jungle to protect Kog’Maw in lane.

Statistics pulled from leagueoflegends.com match history and gamesoflegends.com. All credit goes to them.
(http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/TRLH3/1001380383?gameHash=19b7d569ee5e6436&tab=overview)(http://gamesoflegends.com/game/gameshow.php?id=2195)