Quarter Finals – Post-game Analysis: FW vs OG Game 2

 P/B:

• Overall:
  • OG being on blue side means they can actually do target bans rather than the mandatory bans on the “big 3”
  • OG get to ban LeBlanc who Maple has been on a tear with and Varus who NL is famous for
  • FW choose to ban TF over Lulu 

• OG 1^st pick – Lulu: OG is one of the few teams that actually flex Lulu (she’s been almost exclusively mid at Worlds); FW don’t seem like a team that would want to play Lulu anyways since Steak always plays tanks and Maple wants to carry
  • FW 1^st picks – Jinx/Elise: Jinx has been NL’s go-to ADC with much success recently; Karsa has only a few games on Elise last Summer split and its his first time using her at Worlds, I believe its more of a denial pick
• OG 2^nd picks – Rek’Sai/Kalista: after a poor Gragas game Amazing chooses to go with Rek’Sai instead; Niels manages to get Kalista whom they’ve 1^st picked many times and is one of their highest priority champions for OG specifically
  • FW 2^nd picks – Malphite/Morgana: Malphite brings hard engage onto Kalista; Morgana to protect Jinx again
• OG 3^rd picks – Anivia/Tahm Kench: blind-picking Anivia again which is easier this time with LB banned, he knows these games will drag out so Anivia’s late game is better than most AP mages
  • FW 3^rd pick – Viktor: I personally think Anivia does well against Viktor since he has low mobility to dodge her stun, but his early wave clear prowess can make laning extremely difficult for Anivia who is starved for mana early game, he can pressure the lane constantly and wear down mid tower 

OG reaps the benefits of blue side by being able to use target bans. I find it interesting they chose to ban Varus over Jinx, but it could be just to prevent having to deal with new strategies. Both teams stuck with relatively the same strategy which is fine since it was a close game. Tahm Kench makes it so Malphite doesn’t really have anyone to target for his engages – Kalista and TK can save each other, Lulu has her ult, Anivia has her egg, and you don’t want to focus the tank Rek’Sai. Also, Malphite isn’t the best when going against double AP. FW drafted a pretty strong comp, but it seems OG was able to counter it well despite being on blue side. One of the downsides to saving the last pick to counter mid is that the team comp is already formed. Mid Laners usually don’t change the dynamic of the comp all that much so OG was able to counter the comp while still being on blue side. 

OG comp:

• Team-fighting comp
• Great wave clear
• Strong zone control
• Strong global threats – double TP + Rek’Sai ult
• No real engage
• Great disengage
• No real front-line
• Kalista helps secure baron/dragon objectives
• Want standard lanes for Top Lane match-up
• Win Condition: survive early game, play safe for late game, be first to objectives to make use of strong zone control and disengage ability 

FW comp:

• Team-fighting comp with some pick potential
• Great engage with Malphite – no reliable targets though
• Decent disengage with Morgana and Viktor W
• Good zone control – Viktor W, Jinx E, and Morgana
• Strong siege potential
• Good wave clear with Viktor
• Want lane swap
• Win Condition: snowball early game with Elise, lane swap to fast push turrets to accelerate the game (before OG wave clear scales up), group mid game for objectives, need vision control to land Elise and Morgana CC 

Items/Build paths:

• Soaz’s Lulu: no ROA for top lane Lulu, focused on CDR for constant shields and speed ups
• xPeke’s Anivia: double TP allows him to have global pressure, but more importantly it means he can’t be bullied out of lane as easily
• Niels’ Kalista: great job getting early QSS
• Maple’s Viktor: interesting build with Lich Bane before raw AP, Abyssal Scepter was good against double AP; he built more for fighting than wave clear
• NL’s Jinx: no early Avarice Blade, went PD instead (extremely rare to build PD over SS) 

Execution in Game:

• Standard lanes, Soaz gets blue buff to start lane
• ~7:40 min: FW lane swap to save top outer tower since Soaz was bullying Steak, Mithy roams to lane with Soaz top
• ~10 min: Soaz get top outer tower as NL swaps back to bot lane
• ~12:25 min: OG invade FW’s jungle and gank with Amazing and Mithy onto Karsa, Mid Laners join, trade 1 for 1 kills
• ~15:30 min: OG try to contest blue buff but still goes onto Maple, xPeke zones FW with wall while OG siege and take mid outer tower
• ~17:50 min: FW roaming bot and take bot outer tower, OG push mid with xPeke and Amazing but collapsed on by FW, Amazing dies
• ~18:40 min: FW attempting 1^st dragon with Amazing dead, OG buys time to contest with TP then Rek’Sai ults after respawn to contest, Niels mis-timed Rend allowing Karsa to take 1^st dragon for FW, FW get out alive
• ~24:25 min: FW group to siege mid but Anivia wave clear prevents any progress; OG meanwhile get top inner tower
  • xPeke roams bot leaving mid open, FW get mid outer tower
  • Niels and Soaz camped in brush after taking top inner tower, gank Steak for kill
  • OG collapse on FW mid but Mithy too ahead of team and dies, FW back out safely but give up positioning on dragon; OG get their 1^st dragon
• ~27:45 min: OG have vision control around baron while FW look to get vision back, fight breaks out, Steak lands 3-man knock up Niels/Mithy/Soaz, great follow up by Maple to AOE burst down OG; FW win fight 5 kills for 1, FW get baron
• FW siege with baron buff, get top inner tower
• ~32:20 min: FW get their 2^nd dragon while OG pressure mid, OG collapse on FW in their jungle while trying to get back to defend, Anivia wall separates tanks away while Maple and NL were both late to the fight; OG win fight 3 kills for 0
  • Soaz stops recalls as OG push all the way to get mid inhibitor; FW get 2 kills for 1 as Soaz and Mithy tried to distract
• ~34:35 min: OG play aggressively as Mithy ults in, Mithy eats Morgana and pulled back by Kalista for a kill, chase down and kill flash-less Karsa as well
• ~36:30 min: OG engage with Anivia wall, chaotic fight ends with OG winning 3 kills for 2; OG get baron
• ~38:45 min: FW start dragon but OG contest, OG get their 2^nd dragon as fight breaks out
  • Steak’s Malphite ult whiffed and hit no one, xPeke flashes to get Maple on the flank but Maple blows him up; OG win fight 4 kills for 1 then push to win 

While it was still a long game, Origen played much more aggressively this game with improved vision control. FW really needed lane swaps to start this game, but made no invades level 1 to figure out where OG would send their lanes. This game had standard lanes from the beginning again which allowed OG to win both side lanes. Maple was up early against xPeke, but TP allows xPeke to keep up in farm during Anivia’s weak early game. Karsa made more aggressive plays early with Elise by blowing flash mid and bot lane, but never followed up for return ganks when their flash was down. This allowed OG to press their CS advantages and scale up. I would’ve liked to have seen Karsa camp mid lane because Maple was the only one winning his lane. FW don’t ward that much early game and only got deep vision after a failed lane swap. They never did anything with the deep vision; Karsa could’ve challenged Amazing in the jungle with Elise’s strong early game. If FW had lane swapped, they would’ve helped both their side lanes, but even when FW swap they don’t fast push towers and choose to freeze lanes instead. By fast pushing and opening up the map, it would’ve given Karsa more freedom to invade OG’s jungle and contest their blue buffs. Denying Anivia blue buff is huge when he’s trying to stack up Tears. Lane swapping would also allow SwordArt to roam for potentially deadly ganks with Morgana and Elise. Instead OG was able to contest FW’s blue twice, but Maple managed to secure them. FW attempted to lane swap ~7 minutes into the game, but Mithy swapped to lane with Soaz top to match it. Soaz with a 2 level advantage was able to bully out NL. FW waited to swap after NL could buy BF sword but it was too late. Soaz dominated Steak in top lane and Amazing did a great job of getting deep vision in FW’s jungle to allow Soaz to continue to play aggressively throughout the game. This allowed for much better split pushing than Game 1 and Soaz didn’t get caught out. FW’s lack of vision control was their main downfall this game. After making almost no proactive plays early game, OG was able to push in the side lanes and even invaded FW’s jungle which should never happen based on the comps. Their lack of vision also allowed OG to dictate the map through rotations and split pushing while FW only played in response. They attempted to siege by ~25 minutes, but it was too late as Anivia backed up by Tahm Kench stopped a 5-man siege. By late game, FW emphasized dragons while OG focused on towers; the same error from Game 1. Focusing too hard on dragon, combined with OG’s superior vision control, allowed OG to collapse on FW multiple times where Anivia proved deadly. OG’s comp lacked engage, but FW scrambling to respond to OG’s map movements allowed OG to get the jump with Lulu speeding up Anivia to wall off their team. This created disjointed fights in favor of OG who were too spread out for Malphite to be effective. The chaotic fights allowed Kalista to thrive with her hops. Niels played super aggressively, taking advantage of the FW’s passive playstyle, and hoped into multiple FW members to take advantage of his Hurricane build. He played with no fear as Soaz and Mithy were there to protect him. It feels like OG is allowed to get away with murder with these slow scaling comps, but they know how to play to their strengths late game. OG isn’t without flaws though as the failed fight around baron at ~27:45 could’ve cost them the game. Even with baron buff, OG was able to stop FW’s siege, and OG never made the mistake of grouping in a team fight against Malphite again. Much improved game by OG for a cleaner victory as the FW fail to press advantages early.

Statistics:

Normal distributions by both teams however NL’s portion as ADC is slightly low, especially for a comp with him as a main carry.

Niels being out in front for damage comes to no surprise as he hopped aggressively for kills the entire game. Maple dominated for the FW with his big AOE burst. NL wasn’t as effective this game since the spread out, chaotic fights meant his AOE rockets weren’t as effective.

Statistics pulled from leagueoflegends.com match history and gamesoflegends.com. All credit goes to them.
(http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/TRLH3/1001390067?gameHash=4fcb1cfe00c57094&tab=overview&participant=1)(http://gamesoflegends.com/game/gameshow.php?id=2231)