Is anyone here excited about this? I haven't seen much of the teams outside EU and NA, but I heard a lot of good things especially about the Chinese and Korean teams. On the other hand some players said that the Korean teams are a tad overrated, having beaten the NA/EU teams just because they had a lot of time to prepare for a specific team, so they might do worse in a large tournament that will see so many different play styles.
If I had to make a prediction, the safest I guess would be for M5 to win it all. CLG.EU also has a great chance, and so do the Chinese teams. From NA I wouldn't bet on anyone other than TSM, although I think CLG.NA has a good chance of getting out of the groups by using some of their cheese. Krepo (from CLG.EU) said that CLG.NA are known as the "cheese factory".
posted
I think M5 if they don't end up with a European opponent in the final ( ) has the best chance of taking it all.
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posted
M5 pulled such incredible stuff that they sort of are responsible for much of the current tournament meta. You either had to catch up with what M5 was pulling, or you got eaten alive.
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posted
Bummed I have to work all day through these games. Realistically I'll only be able to catch stuff on the weekend. But I love reading your write-ups all the same Corwin. Posts: 13094 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I've refused a (board) game of Lord of the Rings just to be at home for these matches. I will likely miss the last games, but I'll try to post some stuff on the ones I watch.
This one started with an excellent invasion from IG, getting first kill. They switched lanes, putting Jarvan bottom and giving him blue buff.
Jax does get an early kill top, and Azubu Frost's bottom lane gets a kill in mid, but later on IG pull a great fight at IG's top turret and take out two people and two top turrets. Free dragon for AZF though. IG also took mid tower, and the score is now 6-5 in kills, 3-0 in towers and 0-1 in dragons for IG. 2k gold difference.
Edit1: Jarvan with Doran's Blade, Brutalizer and Hexdrinker, interesting. Shen has Wriggle's. Both Corki and Ez go for Trinity Force, Corki is a bit closer but Ez has a Vamp Scepter. 2 more kills for IG vs 1 for AZF, 1 dragon and 1 more turret for IG, who are now roaming all 5 and manage to stop a mid-lane push from AZF. Still just 3k difference for IG.
Edit2: Finally 1st tower taken by AZF, but they lose the Shen ulti in a failed initiation. IG take down Jax in the follow-up, then fake a Baron and kill Ez who came to stop them. 5 v 3 at baron. AZF STEALS BARON! Somehow IG still manages to get out just losing Leona in the chase while getting some kills in return. 13-7 kills, 2-1 dragons, 4-2 turrets, +2k difference for IG. Ez and Jax the only ones with Baron buff.
Edit3: Huuuge initiation by AZF at IG's second mid turret, getting 3 kills for 0, 2 more turrets AND mid inhibitor. First top and bottom turrets also taken out by AZF.
Edit4: Big, big fight at top, Jarvan initiating on Ezreal and 4-1 kills for IG! They do have to get back and clear their base though. IG have THREE Aegis of the Legion. Jarvan and Jax with Trinity Force, so are Ez and Corki. Ez with Last Whisper, Corki with a Pickax and Guardian Angel. Only Alistar has a Shurelya's.
Edit5: Somehow, somehow AZF sneak a baron. Not sure how IG missed it. AZF move on IG's open inhib, but Leona, Jarvan and Nocturne all focus Ezreal, taking him out in seconds! They lose both Noct and Leona, but take out all but Shen despite AZF having baron! Corki with the triple kill, even with less AD than Ez. Well, not than *dead* Ez. IG takes second mid turret. Still only one open inhibitor, IG's mid one.
Edit6: IG-AZF: 21-13 kills, 5-5 turrets, just 4 hundred gold difference. Corki got LW, Ez with GA, so they are a bit more equal now. Leona caught near dragon, but turns it around! Not enough though, 5 kills for 2 for AZF, Ez still alive and now they take mid inhib and take a nexus turret (bottom one). AZF take the dragon, and now they have 4k more gold.
Edit7: Split push by Shen, he takes one turret and pushes for another, forcing IG to try for baron. Bad, bad fight and AZF take the ace for 2, and take the win! So much for the Korean teams being overrated.
posted
Ok, I'll try to eat now until the next game starts, but will post when I can. I did plan to iron some clothes later today, so we'll see how I can fit that into my shoutcasting schedule. Posts: 4283 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Strange team comp from CLG. Mundo jungle for CLG, Skarner jungle for IG. I would have liked Morgana + Skarner better for IG, but what do I know? A bit worried about Skarner going in vs Lulu and Cass. On the other hand not much initiation other than Casss for CLG.
A level 1 fight , but no kills. Two flashes down for CLG (Cass and Mundo). Yorick takes IG's own blue buff (but almost dies), while the rest of IG invade and take their blue buff for Skarner. Both bot laners dodge Ali by using flashes.
Diana has TP by the way, spent to get top.
Edit1: Graves pushes like a boss and gets killed by Corki with the help of Ali and Skarner. First blood for IG.
Edit2: Ali tries to cut from the back of the turret, but gets caught by Cass and Mundo. Vlad and Skarner go for Cass (no ulti, no flash), but let her live with less than 100hp! IG warded CLG's blue, and Skarner steals it with a smite.
Edit3: Bot turret taken by IG. Mundo with 2 Doran's Shields, Cass had to take Chalice. Both junglers with Oracles. Peaceful game otherwise, but IG are 3k ahead in gold.
Edit4: Free dragon for IG. Big fight around IG's blue, CLG lose Diana, but Mundo escape with a great flash! CLG take mid turret. CLG are trying to roam as a team, but they only end up losing XP and cs. IG take top turret. Corki already has TF, Graves only BF sword and 2 Blades. CLG take out an isolated Ali.
Edit5: Graves gets picked by Skarner and is taken out in seconds. Diana take top turret. A big fight in mid but no deaths, only 1 turret taken out by IG. IG stayed too long, and after Diana TPs CLG take 2 kills and bottom turret for dragon.
Edit6: IG is 4k ahead. Graves still has to complete Infinity Edge (just needs to pay for recipe). Mundo gets caught by Skarner and despite using ulti gets quickly dropped. Baron attempt for IG, IG take it and Lulu, CLG take Ali, IG take Cass and then Diana after a long chase by Corki. 7-5 kills, 5-3 turrets, 8k ahead in gold for IG. CLG really on the back foot now. Mundo gets caught again and dies before doing anything to IG. IG take the last outer turret now, 10k ahead.
Edit7: Somehow CLG take dragon, but they lose Lulu. Diana caught by Skarner and they almost lose all! CLG actually decide to surrender, and IG is now 1-1. Frankly this was disappointing from CLG.
posted
I was really not convinced by that Diana pick. At first it looked like CLG were going for Cho + Mundo but at the last second they switched to Diana, and she didn't do much even with that teleport. The fact that CLG had no real initiator, with Mundo being melted down in seconds, was also a very bad point for them. With a more CC oriented initiator like Malphite they could have followed him up with Lulu & Cass ulties, and that would have locked up IG for a good while.
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Guess Shen wasn't banned after all. I wonder what they'll do to stop him. Looks like Lux support. Interesting that SK picked Cait instead of Graves.
Irelia with TP, no TP for AZF. Lots of CC on both teams, but I like SK's initiation better.
Game is delayed because the sun is shining on SK's screens.
Edit1: AZF try to invade, but get spotted by Cait trap. AZF manages to steal red though. Cait & Sona push bot a lot. Ali gank top makes Singed use his Ghost, but nothing else. Ali is really falling behind here. Cait facing 2 people bot, gets caught by Lux but doesn't even Flash. Sona is back in lane, and Cait pushes yet again; she's quite ahead in minions.
Edit2: Gank top by Alistar, but Singed almost takes him out! Shen steals red again. The only bright point is bottom lane for SK: Cait hasn't even used Flash or Heal! She's around 30 more minions up on Corki. AZF take a free dragon. Singed simply bullies top lane, and the tower drops. With Ali ganking and Karthus ulti they still can't finish off Singed. Sona does get killed but for the price of both Corki and Lux. Anivia takes out mid turret and AZF almost 4k ahead.
Edit3: Singed almost kills Irelia past the second top tower, and when Karthus tries to help Anivia joins in and drops him. Shen takes another red buff. Irelia goes for a chase on a half-health Singed, Karthus ulti, but Shen ulties too, and with Anivia coming they take out Irelia. Cait take out Corki. All 3 outer turrets taken out by IG, meanwhile SK take dragon. Irelia chases Singed again! (Seriously, don't chase Singed.) Anivia walls several people off, Irelia jumps over, almost kills Singed but gets dropped instead.
Edit4: Ali and Karthus taken out in the jungle, but SK take out Shen with Oracle. Cait with 3/0/1, and a completed Bloodthirster, Corki still a while away from Trinity Force. 6k advantage for AZF. Not sure a fed Cait is enough to help SK win in end-game.
Edit5: 4-0 kills for AZF, Anivia getting Banshee's in time to block Karthus ulti! She even had egg but didn't need it. AZF take mid inhib. Can't see SK coming back here. And Corki finally completed his TF.
Edit6: Shen split-pushes and takes bottom tower, nothing SK can do about it. Karthus gets taken out in seconds, Ali drops next, and AZF take a free baron with Shen not even needing to ulti. 12-4 in kills, 7-0 in turrets, 15k ahead in gold.
AZF easily finish things off, with Singed literally walking in the middle of the SK team without a care in the world.
Not sure why SK didn't pick Ori earlier... CLG with Diana again. Ugh...
Anyway, I won't comment on this, I've started ironing.
Edit: CLG had triple TP (Graves, Orianna, Diana) and promote on Lulu. CLG managed to take a few more kills early on, 6-4 for a while, with 3-3 in turrets. SK somehow manages to sneak in a baron and get a few kills, but in the meantime Graves is pushing bot lane like crazy, takes 2 turrets and inhibitor with only Shen going back to try to counter him. Graves manages to dodge a few Shen dashes and takes a nexus turret while baron-buffed SK are trying to finish CLG's base. They can't as creeps spawn and CLG's team is alive again. Right away Diana and Orianna TP to SK's base and by the time SK get back CLG manage to take down the second base turret and win the game! From the after-game footage SK are soooo mad at themselves... They really should have sent back someone else to deal with Graves though.
Also, I'm not really sure what the purpose of double soaks is (Mundo & Olaf). We'll see if it brings something. Only one TP, on Olaf. Mundo jungle for CLG, Mao for AZF.
CLG with some early wards in AZF's red jungle, but no kills. Graves, Mundo and Lulu take golems and take out the first minion wave BETWEEN TURRETS. Ok, that's a new one. CLG take red too since AZF's bot lane needs to go take the minions. Olaf takes blue in the meantime. Mao tries to invade but Mundo and Cass are there and Cass takes out Mao and blue buff! Mundo ganks top and they take out Jax. Great start there for CLG, with the help of some interesting early tactics. Cass way too in front, gnaked by Mao and Karthus gets the kill and blue buff off Cass. A bit of a misstep from CLG there.
Back to ironing.
Edit: That's as good as it got for CLG. Giving Karthus kill & blue buff meant he got level 6 earlier, and with a 3 man gank bot they took out Graves I think, while Jax came down and took Cass who was again too far pushed. Mundo ended up as dead meat again, and with no real initiator there was no way for Cass to use her ulti efficiently. CLG's hope right now is for SK to beat IG, which would mean a 3-way tie for second place. In that case the 3 teams will play another mini-round, and whoever wins 2 games qualifies. Frankly, I doubt SK can do it.
posted
these battles are conservative low-kill rampups which ultimately all come down to early game gold from lane creep stats. yawn?
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I love the Malph + Leona initiation potential, with Shen + Cass as a second wave. SK's picks are not that impressive... I'm afraid this is it for SK and CLG.
Edit1: Despite some ganks from IG, Nunu gets first blood killing Shen. Shen comes around again and Nunu is waaay too far ahead and gets dropped with no Flash. Shen AGAIN at bottom lane, from behind the turret, and they take out Corki.
Edit2: Shen hangs around bottom again, but with Udyr there he has to back off. Udyr with Oracle. Udyr now hangs around, tries to gank through tri-brush, but Shen ulties in and despite Karthus's ulti IG take out 2 people. SK come back alive and manage to sneak in a dragon. IG did take bot tower earlier though.
Edit3: And we have a paused game. Short pause though. Karhtus gets dropped by IG, and his ulti doesn't to much. He still hasn't picked RoA yet. IG take mid tower. 5-1 kills, 2-0 towers, +3k gold for IG.
Edit4: An engage at IG's top tower but no kills. SK later take top turret. Both Udyr and Shen with Oracles. IG take dragon in the meantime. A 3 v 1 at top from IG and Jayce dies. IG take top turret.
Edit5: Shen for a long while in bottom lane, and Corki + Nunu wait for him to fully decide to farm, and take him out. IG do take 2 champs top though. IG take baron afterwards, and SK take mid turret and dragon in the meantime.
Edit6: IG take second mid turret with little opposition, then move to second bottom turret and take it out too. Malph misses an ulti, so no initiation. Shen is split pushing top in the meantime.
Edit7: A battle at SK's bot inhib and IG obliterates SK. A bit of dragging on but SK surrender.
posted
Not gonna watch group B though. I'm going to sleep, since it's already 2AM here and I've got to go to work tomorrow. I hope CLG.EU qualifies, don't really care about the second team.
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posted
Yeah, so much for Korean teams being overrated.
The quarter that's tomorrow is WE vs CLG.EU. Anyway, today and tomorrow I'll catch all games. Can't wait.
How was CLG.EU's victory over SAJ? Was there any chance that we'd get only Asian teams out of the two groups or did CLG dominate it?
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quote:Originally posted by Corwin: Ok, from what I've read on various sites SAJ seemed too afraid of CLG and let them play their own slow game, and then got crushed in the end. and NJSW on the other.
That sounds about right, CLG was only up about 2,000gold from early ganks and gold farm, but then I forget who it was was on Karthus and farmed 300+ minions in 24 minutes I believe. Some sort of record. With that kind of farm his requiem and lay waste was taking people out in a *big* way. Once he turned it on, they just won the next few team fights, destroyed a bunch of turrets, backed off and took baron, farmed the lanes up, won the next team fight, and the win.
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posted
Froggen was the one, getting 300 cs in 23 minutes which is apparently a new competitive record. And damn hard to beat considering that if you take all the minions in your lane (but no jungle camps) you apparently get 279 cs. He probably took his wraiths/wolves and even the enemy's wraiths quite a few times.
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posted
At least SAJ (and both other teams in the group) had the good sense to ban Anivia versus Froggen, but future opponents might want to look into picking Karthus away from him too. Or shut him down, however Najin Sword did, although even in that game he slightly out-cs-ed the enemy Orianna.
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posted
By the way, here are the stats for the group stage matches, including bans: group stage
Eve was banned in 2 games vs AZF, and in all 5 games involving at least an Asian team in group B. It's funny to see that since the EUNE forums are full of people calling Eve useless. I should probably watch some Asian streams to understand what's so good about her.
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posted
Since Eve's rebuild she's been an amazing clutch and people who haven't recognized that are idiots (or better yet, food) — people probably remember her too strongly from her being the game's utterly useless trollpick for years.
Twitch's rebuild was a different matter; it actually made him more useless in competitive play.
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Wow, no idea what M5 are doing there! Eve mid and Zyra support? Also I thought Xin was supposed to be weak?! First time Eve, Zyra and Xin picks in this tournament. Trust M5 to go crazy in the very first game.
Lee jungling for M5, Shen for IG. No TPs, Kog with Heal, both Leona and Yorick with exhaust.
Edit1: No level 1 fight. Yorick gets IG's blue, Shen takes red. A first gank 3 v 1 top, Xin uses his Flash. Later on Shen ganks again while Lee just got there, and Shen manages to taunt both people and they drop Xin! Another 3 v 1 vs Xin, but he manages to survive and Leona almost dies to tower. Cass straight out kills Eve. Yet another gank top by Shen, but Lee is already there and there are no kills.
Edit2: Both Cass and Eve with blue buff now. Eve a bit on the back foot. M5 do get dragon with Lee smiting it and getting out just in time. Lee gank mid, but Cass manages to fool Lee with a Flash and easily escapes. Zyra moving mid, Lee and Eve moving top, and despite Shen coming to help Eve takes out both him and Leona!
Edit3: Ez going for Phage+Sheen, no Doran's, while Kog has double Blades + Zeal. M5 takes a dragon, but IG cathes them and they have no chance! 4 kills for none in favor of IG, and they also take bottom turret.
Edit4: A 2 v 2 top, and IG take out Zyra but lose Ez, and a bit later Leona. Another 2 v 2 at M5's red, and M5 take out Yorick. Just 4 hundred gold advantage for IG, who are 7-5 in kills, 1-0 in turrets and 0-2 in dragons. A big fight near M5's middle tower ends up with 4 deaths on each side, and Eve ends up with double buff and a triple kill. Scary stuff. Shen does take middle turret though.
Another huge fight near dragon with Lee stealing it, and getting the ace for 3 people. Eve and Kog survive. Eve takes the mid turret and now M5 have a small gold lead.
And now yet another fight near IG's second mid turret, and this time IG with the ace for 3 deaths. Gold within 1 hundred.
Edit5: Ez now with double buff. IG take top turret, but lose bottom turret (to minions I think). A bit of Baron posturing. And M5 takes out Ez and Cass in seconds! 4 kills for 0, and they're healthy enough to get baron easily. Only Shen got out. M5 take a free dragon, and then back off to buy.
Edit6: Eve with DFG, Abyssal and Guardian Angel. Kog with ID+PD, Ez with TF+LW. Cass with Deathcap, Abyssal and Chalice. Big items on both teams' carries. M5 take top turret and are now all 5 near IG's second mid turret. A dive by Eve, and 3 v 1 for IG! Xin actually dived the fountain trying to get the ace, and that's how he died. M5 take second mid turret and move towards inhib one, but IG just surrender. Close game for a while, but the fight at baron where M5 dropped both carries right away just finished it.
Another first in this tournament, and again from M5: Zilean.
Edit1: Olaf gets caught by Ryze then Ali, and Ryze gets the kill with all 4 teammates getting assists. IG take M5's blue. Both teams switch lanes. M5 also invade and steal blue, and follow up with a kill on Ali! Ryze almost gets dropped in mid, but thanks to the first blood he now manages to buy Tear.
Edit2: Ryze does get caught by Lee and Zilean later on, and Lee gets the kill. A gank by Shen top, but there's no kill and Sona actually pokes Ez enough that they have to fall back.
Edit3: Lee tries to steal blue again, but IG are there! A huge fight, and M5 lose Lee and Olaf for Shen. Ryze does take out Zilean later in mid and transfers blue buff to himself! M5 sneak a dragon before IG can react. On the other hand IG take bottom turret. Vlad almost dies to an Olaf and Lee team-up, but with Shen's double-buffed help they take out both M5 champs.
Edit4: A gank by IG in mid, but Zilean has ultimate. Vlad again alone at bottom, but he survives and TAKES OUT OLAF! Lee can't finish him up, and Shen and Ryze team up to take out Lee. Lee had a red elixir he forgot about... Vlad with 4/0/1, Shen with Aegis already. Ez and Kog equal on minions, Ez with 0/0/2 KDA to Kog's 0/0/1.
Edit5: A 4 men gank at top and Kog dies near the turret. IG also take turret. Olaf takes out Vlad! Lee almost dies, but somehow escapes! The following fight is crazy from M5, taking out 3 more people and then a free dragon. M5 right back into this.
Edit6: M5 take out Vlad again at top, but the counter-initiation gets Sona. Zilean too fast for IG to catch him. Ryze with Tear/RoA/Sorcerer's boots and blue buff now, Vlad with WotA and Large Rod, Ez with BT and Phage and Shen with Aegis for IG. Zilean with Athene's, Olaf with Frozen Mallet, Kog with PD and Lee with Aegis for M5.
M5 try to get mid turret but are pushed away, then IG try the same thing. But M5 takes 4 people out for nothing! Low HP M5 still manage to take baron, with Zilean also taking out Shen who was hanging around trying to steal it. IG alive again and take dragon while M5 are back to buy. Just 2k difference in gold, but M5 should get more ahead by taking some of the outer turrets.
Edit7: M5 take mid turret, then engage on Vlad then take out Ali! They move on to take second mid turret and... stream dies. Back on, lost a fight in which Lee died for Shen and Ryze I think. Baron buff expires and IG manage to take mid turret too. Around 5k gold advantage for M5.
Aaand another fight near IG's bottom turret, and a clean ace by M5! Surrender vote comes out from IG. Brutal teamfights from M5 despite being a bit behind in the early game.
Edit1: Invade at red by NJSW, but later Mundo steals their red too. Mundo ganks mid to burn Ryze's Flash, and ganks again to get the kill! Irelia almost drops Jayce all by herself. Pretty amazing play.
Edit2: A big pile of nothing happens. Irelia and Jayce have a few more fights, and Irelia almost finishes top tower. A fight in bottom and Nunu takes Taric but Kog Ez takes out Kog. Skarner ulties Orianna but the combined damage from him and Ryze not enough to kill her. Later on there's a 3 man gank top and NJSW take out Jayce who stayed there a bit too long.
Edit3: Jayce with 3 Blades, Irelia with 2 and Phage. Both junglers with HoG. Orianna already has Athene's completed, vs Ryze with Tear & Catalyst. Big fight at NSJW's blue, and TPA take out Ryze & Taric for Mundo! Kog and Ori with blue now, not good for NJSW. TPA take a free dragon, but Irelia takes top turret in the meantime.
Ryze gets dropped in mid, and Orianna is now 4/0/0. Skarner has an Oracle, and I think Mundo lost one earlier. Big fight in bottom lane, but somehow no one dies. Minions take out NJSW's mid tower.
Edit4: Mundo picks an Oracle now. Kog with PD, Ez with BT. Ori is just recipe-cost away from completing Rabadon's. TPA steal blue again, with Orianna having theirs. Not looking good for NJSW. TPA pick up dragon despite some counter from NJSW. Ryze finally finished RoA.
Edit5: TPA take bot turret and are now around 4.5k gold ahead. Irelia with TF, Jayce with Phage and BF Sword. Big fight at NJSW's second mid turret, and TPA take out 3 people! Heading straight for baron, and they take a free one. +7k gold for TPa now. With an amazing Orianna ult TPA take out Ez, then get a clean ace, and NJSW surrender! Wow... TPA started strong and only got stronger from there.
Mao vs Skarner in the jungle, so Shen is top for I think the first time in this tournament.
Edit1: No successful invade at first, but a delayed one by TPA, and while the hooked Blue resets, they to take it afterwards. Mao takes his own red but is low on HP and mana and has to go back already. TPA switched lanes by the way, tough match-ups for both soloers. NJSW bait a gank bot, but Skarner takes out Sona for first blood. Skarner and Shen get dropped with the help of Morgana, but the double-buffed Corki dies to the tower! NJSW take bottom tower easily.
Edit2: TPA try to invade at blue again, but NJSW makes them back away. Skarner comes back to try to smite it, and Ez shoots his ultimate across, but Morgana manages to take blue. Gold is even after 2-1 kills and 1-0 turrets for NJSW vs first blood for TPA.
Morgana hits a great binding on Shen, and with the help of Jax they take him out. Shen does have both Lucky Pick and HoG though, so he's pretty ok in gold. Hook on Corki top, and with the help of a Shen Flash+taunt TPA take him out! Shen with the kill is now 1/2/1, while Jax is 0/0/1, with minions even.
2 v 2 fight in top, and Corki takes out Ez with barely any health! And with the help of Jax they also take out Blitz. NJSW try to steal blue but Skarner takes it before they can do anything.. NJSW take dragon instead. On the other hand Ez is back and takes out top tower. TPA just 600 gold down.
Edit3: Zhonya's for Morg vs Athene's for Anivia. Corki going for TF, Ez with a Phage and BF sword. Jax takes out Shen in a 1 v 1 fight. TPA steal blue. Afterwards there's a big fight in mid, and TPA take out 2 people for 1. Mao also lost the Oracle. Both Ez and Anivia now with blue.
Edit4: Hook then Skarner ulti on Jax, but he escapes! And NJSW take out three people for none! Afterwards Jax takes top tower but gets dropped by Shen. A fight near mid and this time TPA take 2 for 1, and continue on to take mid turret. TPA actually ahead in gold despite being 4 kills down.
Edit5: Blitz and Sona with Oracles now after the tanks were taken out earlier. Both teams back off. Ez manages to steal blue with an ulti! TPA take the 2nd mid turret and Shen also takes bot turret. TPA push bot while NJSW push mid! Base race?! Nope, both teams back off.
Edit6: Shen with both Ionic Spark and Sunfire Cape. Crazy push ability from him. TPA take a free dragon and NJSW try to get baron but TPA are already there. A hook on Jax, but he gets out! Skarner does pull Morgana who gets taken out, together with Corki, and TPA continues the push and takes out mid inhibitor. TPA then fake a baron and take out Jax when he tries to interrupt them. Blue minions take out a turret.
Big 5 v 5 battle in mid, and somehow TPA take an ace for the loss of just 1! And NJSW surrender! TPA qualify 2-0 for a semifinal with M5.
posted
He's been like that since about the time they released the Pulsfire skin. Kog nerfs and a shift in supports from sustain/defense to offensive meant that ADs with an escape are not prioritize much more than before. Even support and AD carry summoner spells have shifted towards offense, with Exhaust on supports and Ignite on ADs the most common picks.
So right now the "holy trinity" is Ez, Corki and Graves, although for this tournament Graves has seen fewer picks and Kog has come back a little. MF got a few improvements which is why I'm not surprised to see her now. On the other hand Ashe has completely disappeared.
Anyway, Ez will be nerfed after the tournament (Riot announced it), and probably so will Corki, and I expect some buffs on other ADs.
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posted
Finally back to the game, both teams steal red buff. No early kills.
Edit1: Mao ganks top, and with the help of a Lux ulti they get the first blood!
A hook by AZF and they take out Sona but with the help of Karthus ulti and Shyv TSM tkae out AZF's bottom lane.
Mao steals red again. You'd think he's the fast/duelist jungler.
Edit2: Shyv ganks top, but can't kill. Jayce turns it around later and takes out Darius. Blitz hooks Sona bot and she's take out. Ez almost killed too by a Lux ulti. AZF take a free dragon.
Edit3: Jayce almost done with top turret, but before it's even down he takes out Darius with an ignite, and the minions later take the turret. Jayce tries to steal the blue, but gets caught. Survives with 60 HP even against Karthus ulti! AZF do steal blue next. +4k gold for AZF.
Edit4: 5 men roam from AZF and they take bottom turret and dragon. TSM do take top turret in the meantime.
Edit5: Karthus gets hooked but somehow survives. AZF do take mid turret though, for a 6k gold advantage after only 18 minutes.
Edit6: TSM with a fight around their blue and they focus Jayce! Karthus takes him out. Big chase for MF. Darius gets hooked just when he reached her, but Ez takes her down with some quick sidesteps and the help of Sona's ulti. Lux in turn kills him with a crazy laser!
Edit7: AZF don't seem to care about these loses; they just come back and take out second mid turret! Crazy back and forth fight and with some dodges and Sona ulti they take out Jayce and MF again! MF ulti seemed to hit Ez but despite being in the cone Ez takes no damage. Weird.
AZF take a free dragon though.
Edit8: Lux tries to steal blue with laser but Karthus takes it instead. AZF take second bot turret with no chance for TSM do defend it. It seems like no matter what TSM do AZF come back and push as if nothing happened.
TSM decides they really need to initiate with a Flash+Wall of Pain and a Flash+Grab by Darius.
TSM go for baron while AZF go for base! AZF take out mid turret + inhib and bottom inhib turret, while losing one and suiciding one!
A big fight near AZF's mid turret, and somehow AZF take 4 people for 2 despite baron! They go on to take bottom inhibitor. Things are going from bad to worse for TSM. On the retreat AZF also take second top turret and blue.
Edit9: AZF take a free dragon. By the way, Jayce takes a Mana Manipulator just because he knows they're gonna be grouped in prolonged team fights. Jayce with a GA too... AZF take the top inhib turret, and now head for mid inhibitor which has just respawned and take it in seconds.
Edit10: Fight near top inhib ends up with a 2 v 2. But while the bottom inhib respawns AZF take top one instead. Phreak trying to say there's still a chance for TSM, but that's wishful thinking. And now with AZF taking a free baron it's just a matter of time.
Edit11: Fight in TSM's base, and an ace for 2 for AZF, and game over! Despite the kills being equal until that last fight this was simply a stomp by AZF. TSM took just one turret and had to play in their own side of the map for the most part of the game. TSM have to come up with something really special in the next game...
Edit1: TSM fake an invade at red, but move instead to steal the blue. Karthus takes big wraiths too in a good start for TSM. Skarner tries to steal blue back, but TSM all come there to stop them. Graves vs Irelia top by the way. Big fight there and Mao takes out the blue and first blood on Taric!
Blitz is finally top, but he's just level 1 from all that roam. 2 v 1 for TSM top, the reverse for AZF bot. Scary stuff for the solo laners vs Blitz and Taric respectively.
With the help of Mao TSM take out the first turret 6 minutes in the game! Great start for them.
Edit2: Despite a missed hook TSM get Skarner at his wraiths! Follow up with a free dragon. 3k gold advantage after only 8 minutes.
Edit3: A gank by Jayce mid and a counter by Skarner, but Vlad gets taken down by TSM. 3-0 kills, 1-0 turrets, 1-0 dragons, +3k gold for TSM.
Edit4: Hook and Karthus ulti on Taric and he's down! Mao also comes at bottom but Ez gets out ok.
Edit5: Mao into Blitz hook but they can't get the kill on Taric. The counter by AZF takes out Graves and Mao though, followed up with bottom turret and dragon. TSM takes mid turret while AZF backs off.
Karthus with RoA while Vlad had to buy a Negatron Cloak.
Edit6: Jayce way too pushed with no ward and gets taken out. A big fight in mid and TSM take out 2 for 2. Graves now pushing alone and gets punished by a Skarner gank. TSM need to stop giving simple kills like that, as AZF got back all the gold difference.
Pause button hit by someone. Un-paused quickly.
Edit7: Top turret taken by AZF. 6-6 in kills, 2-2 in turrets, and AZF with a slight gold difference. Both Irelia and Jayce have TF. Vlad had to pick Abyssal to not waste that Negatron. TSM take a free dragon in the meantime. 5 v 5 in middle, with 4 kills for 1 for AZF! And with very, very low HP they still manage to take baron! This is looking gloomy for TSM all of a sudden.
Edit8: Irelia with a GA... Ouch. Ez with a TF and BF Sword, while Graves has a BT but is 0/3/3. Not a great choice. AZF take mid and second bot turret, following it with second top turret by Irelia. TSM finally manages to take out Skarner with an Oracle. A big fight and TSM take 2 but lose 3. They also lose both remaining mid turrets and AZF gets a free dragon. Nearly 10k advantage for AZF...
Edit9: Ez also with GA. Ez and Vlad with Blue. Fight near mid inhib, and an ace by AZF for just 2 death, and it's game over! TSM are out, AZF 2-0.
posted
Some. I have church conference today (It's a twice yearly thing) so I will miss certain games, but be able to view others.
Posts: 13094 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Nice counter to the Blitz hook by CLG! How the heck are they still in the jungle after 3 minutes though? Wow...
Posts: 4283 | Registered: Sep 2003
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) has the best chance of taking it all.
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