While the shortest game in the series, the third game still presents many interesting points for analysis. How did Taipei Assassins get ahead so quickly? How did the situation degrade to the point that Azubu Frost surrendered rather than attempt to play it out? As usual, it all starts with the picks and bans.
TPA's bans reflect their respect for the two team compositions Frost has obviously mastered, the AoE composition from the first match and their legendary abduction compositions. Having proved that they also can field a strong Karthus, TPA took two critical abduction champions and two critical AoE champions off the table.
Frost's bans might be mistaken as targeting poke compositions, of which Jayce and Nidalee are typically central. Rather, Frost simply couldn't afford to let TPA grab any of those three champions as their first pick. Karthus had been instrumental in both games thus far, warranting a ban to keep him out of TPA's hands. Giving a team who dominates the early game champions like Nidalee or Jayce would have similarly been a grievous error.
TPA did not hesitate to grab Orianna for Toyz, who crushed the legendary Froggen using her. With Sona out of the picture TPA was not afraid of Ezreal, and instead grabbed Dr. Mundo and Nunu. These picks reflect confidence in the autonomy of TPA's carries, aside from their own crowd control the only help they might expect from the supporting roles would be slows. In return, Lilballz would hopefully dominate the jungle on one of his best champions, providing his team an early game advantage, and Nunu would buff both of their as of yet unpicked carries while massively debuffing the opposing AD carry. Having two carries who scale phenomenally with Nunu's Bloodboil, Vayne and Jax, would provide redundancy for Nunu's utility. Moreover, this composition brimmed with movement speed, allowing for both excellent chasing and escaping.
TPA's picks left Shen and Anivia open for Frost, a strong combo as it can be incredibly difficult to burn through Anivia as well as her egg in time to block Shen from arriving via his ultimate. With Sona gone and TPA constantly dominating the early game, Frost picked Leona and Ezreal in order to have a strong kill lane and additional crowd control for the latter parts of the game. The Vladimir pick looked to add substantial sustained damage and amplification to the quagmire which Shen, Leona, and Anivia would create in team fights. This was another AoE composition from Frost, but hopefully one which would do better early-game.
Frost's plan to have a substantially stronger early game worked fairly well. By the ninth minute there was no significant different advantage in gold on either side, and for the most part both teams had a similar amount of control. However, CloudTemplar made several mistakes which began to tilt the game in favor of TPA. First, he was late to arrive at his Red after it respawned, allowing Lilballz to steal it. Next, CloudTemplar attempted to steal TPA's Red, but did not pull it back far enough to warn him of Lilballz approach. Finally, he compounded these mistakes by saving Smite for a potential Dragon on the chance a subsequent gank bottom succeeded. As a result of these mistakes, and Madlife's attempt to help, TPA took both Reds and first blood. With CloudTemplar severely wounded, Stanley was able to fearlessly harass Shy, leading to a second kill roughly a minute later. While the resulting gold gap wasn't as significant as in previous games, it was still an early game disadvantage they could not afford.
It's important to note TPA's next actions. Lilballz picked up an Oracle's and completely cleared bottom lane of wards while Bebe and Mistake pushed. While this failed to set up a tower dive, it allowed Lilballz and Toyz to steal Frost's Blue. At the same moment that Lilballz began taking Blue, Stanley finished pushing top and immediately moved toward Dragon. Frost could not contest with RapidStar out of mana, Shy stuck top, and all lanes pushed. Frost mitigated the damage as best they could by counter-stealing TPA's Blue, but even that was dangerous as they were very nearly caught and it allowed Toyz to push and cause RapidStar to miss farm. The critical point of interest is that TPA's plays were safe. While they could have attempted to bully Frost with their early game advantage, they instead worked as a team to cautiously and methodically extend it.
Almost every play thereafter followed a similar format. After a fight bottom where Madlife died TPA was able to take a turret with little resistance. Then, with bottom pushed and TPA converging mid, Toyz began a fight with RapidStar. While the rest of TPA arrived too late to save Toyz or kill RapidStar, Madlife was killed and the tower was left undefended. Meanwhile, Stanley was strong enough to push Shy out of lane by himself and take the turret. TPA set up an ambush in to cut off attempts to reinforce the turret, and though it didn't work out it reflected TPA's incredibly talent for creating a domino effect with their advantages. While the enemy is still reeling from the last hit, strike again.
This continued for the rest of the game after CloudTemplar fell to Toyz while retreating from an attempt to catch Lilballz. With Shen out of the picture, TPA pressured mid while Bebe farmed and pushed bottom. Woong and RapidStar attempted to mitigate the issue by taking Blue, but were instead pincered. With Frost down two of their carries, TPA picked up a turret and began to move toward Dragon. CloudTemplar and Shy, misjudging the next move and positioning of TPA, chased Stanley only to get caught and double killed. Having retreated through a ward, TPA was aware that attempting Dragon would be dangerous and instead moved back to see if Frost chased. When it initially seemed as though they hadn't, they began to recall. However, Frost then attempted Dragon, in what can only be described as desperation, and were again pincered, resulting in two more kills and Dragon for TPA. In the span of a mere 4 minutes the gold gap exploded from roughly 3.5k to 10.5k.
Once TPA took another tower and Baron, it was obvious that nothing short of a miracle would bring Frost back into the game. At the same time, Frost had continuously compounded their mistakes, underestimating TPA's tenacity, movement speed, and game sense. Clearly off their game, Frost made the tough but clear decision to end the game immediately and preserve their psychological stamina than allow TPA to wear them down any longer.
The psychology of League of Legends is an occasional topic of interest, but it isn't particularly different than any other form of competition. Being aware of your mental state and mitigating any factors that might diminish focus is extremely important. Even if Frost had extended the game another ten or fifteen minutes, they likely would have only delayed the inevitable and exhausted themselves. Frost's decision to staunch the bleeding and accept the loss shows that they understand the mental beating a team can suffer.
With TPA's team fighting and early game proving to be incredibly difficult to overcome, and their own breakdown to overcome, Frost would make a daring decision for the fourth, and ultimately final, game. That analysis will come tomorrow.
Showing posts with label final. Show all posts
Showing posts with label final. Show all posts
Monday, October 22, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Season 2 Finals: Game 2
The second game of the Season 2 Finals can't be considered outside of the context of the first.
Having lost a game after establishing a very clear lead, Taipei Assassins was naturally concerned about the possibility of a second overwhelming AoE composition. While they did not ban out any key AoE champions, their quick pick of Sona was clearly designed to block another Sona/Ezreal lane and weaken Azubu Frost's AoE potential. The Karthus pick was also a key anti-AoE choice, as there are no champions who can compete with his sustained AoE. Caitlyn's range also makes her strong against AoE, allowing her to skirt its edges while still applying damage.
While it would seem at first glance that TPA was overly afraid of AoE, it's important to note that these picks also served other purposes. Shen and Karthus both apply global pressure in the early game, while still being strong team fighting and late game champions. Caitlyn, Mundo, and Sona all have very strong poke, giving TPA an edge in tower pushing. In fact, all of TPA's picks had disengage with the sole exception of Shen. The resulting composition was simultaneously strong against AoE teams, strong early game, strong in team fights, and strong in poke.
Frost's picks were interesting in their own right. With Sona stolen, Frost could have still aimed for an AoE comp using Zyra instead. Cognizant that TPA would be wary, Frost instead grabbed Anivia and Maokai to turn TPA's own zone control strategy against them. Zyra's crowd control and plants enhance this zone of control just as much as they would have aided an AoE composition, and in a long game she becomes a huge threat. Combined with Jax's damage AoE stun, Frost put together a deadly composition of survivability, control, and damage.
Another advantage for Frost was the power of each lane. All three lanes were strong against their counterparts, a fact on display early as Stanley, Toyz, and Bebe/Mistake were frequently pressed to their turrets. This strength was enough to carry Frost through the first fourteen minutes of the game with their only death being the result of Lilballz catching Madlife with impeccable timing. Even when Karthus ulted solely to help TPA push the bottom turret, Frost held fast and stayed in the game.
Unfortunately for Frost, the early pressure they applied in lanes did not result in an advantage. All of TPA had equal or greater farm than Frost, giving them a substantial gold advantage. Then at the fourteen minute mark the global power of TPA's team comp went on full display. The combination of Karthus' and Caitlyn's ultimates took down Madlife even through Woong's Heal. Immediately afterward Toyz teleported top just as Lilballz swung around for a second gank. With all of Anivia's control abilities on cooldown there was nothing to stop TPA from catching Shy and Rapidstar. Meanwhile Woong and CloudTemplar both died in a trade versus Mistake and Bebe, only barely managing to take out Mistake in the process. What had been a manageable gold gap became a devastating chasm as TPA picked up kills, turrets, and dragon.
While Frost would pick up another kill on Mistake, the next fifteen minutes would be a case study in the careful, methodical extension of a lead. Cognizant of their overzealous mistakes in the first game, TPA applied just enough pressure to allow themselves to farm and extend their gold advantage, while inhibiting Frost from trying to hold off for the late game. By the time the action resumed around the thirty minute mark, the gold gap between the teams was over ten thousand.
Frost's team composition had potential, but their failure to convert strong lanes into a farm advantage and an unfortunate ace at 15 minutes put them behind. Because TPA's composition was designed to be strong at all stages of the game there was little Frost could do to stop them after yielding so big an advantage. TPA's careful, flawless grind to victory was all but inevitable.
Having lost a game after establishing a very clear lead, Taipei Assassins was naturally concerned about the possibility of a second overwhelming AoE composition. While they did not ban out any key AoE champions, their quick pick of Sona was clearly designed to block another Sona/Ezreal lane and weaken Azubu Frost's AoE potential. The Karthus pick was also a key anti-AoE choice, as there are no champions who can compete with his sustained AoE. Caitlyn's range also makes her strong against AoE, allowing her to skirt its edges while still applying damage.
While it would seem at first glance that TPA was overly afraid of AoE, it's important to note that these picks also served other purposes. Shen and Karthus both apply global pressure in the early game, while still being strong team fighting and late game champions. Caitlyn, Mundo, and Sona all have very strong poke, giving TPA an edge in tower pushing. In fact, all of TPA's picks had disengage with the sole exception of Shen. The resulting composition was simultaneously strong against AoE teams, strong early game, strong in team fights, and strong in poke.
Frost's picks were interesting in their own right. With Sona stolen, Frost could have still aimed for an AoE comp using Zyra instead. Cognizant that TPA would be wary, Frost instead grabbed Anivia and Maokai to turn TPA's own zone control strategy against them. Zyra's crowd control and plants enhance this zone of control just as much as they would have aided an AoE composition, and in a long game she becomes a huge threat. Combined with Jax's damage AoE stun, Frost put together a deadly composition of survivability, control, and damage.
Another advantage for Frost was the power of each lane. All three lanes were strong against their counterparts, a fact on display early as Stanley, Toyz, and Bebe/Mistake were frequently pressed to their turrets. This strength was enough to carry Frost through the first fourteen minutes of the game with their only death being the result of Lilballz catching Madlife with impeccable timing. Even when Karthus ulted solely to help TPA push the bottom turret, Frost held fast and stayed in the game.
Unfortunately for Frost, the early pressure they applied in lanes did not result in an advantage. All of TPA had equal or greater farm than Frost, giving them a substantial gold advantage. Then at the fourteen minute mark the global power of TPA's team comp went on full display. The combination of Karthus' and Caitlyn's ultimates took down Madlife even through Woong's Heal. Immediately afterward Toyz teleported top just as Lilballz swung around for a second gank. With all of Anivia's control abilities on cooldown there was nothing to stop TPA from catching Shy and Rapidstar. Meanwhile Woong and CloudTemplar both died in a trade versus Mistake and Bebe, only barely managing to take out Mistake in the process. What had been a manageable gold gap became a devastating chasm as TPA picked up kills, turrets, and dragon.
While Frost would pick up another kill on Mistake, the next fifteen minutes would be a case study in the careful, methodical extension of a lead. Cognizant of their overzealous mistakes in the first game, TPA applied just enough pressure to allow themselves to farm and extend their gold advantage, while inhibiting Frost from trying to hold off for the late game. By the time the action resumed around the thirty minute mark, the gold gap between the teams was over ten thousand.
Frost's team composition had potential, but their failure to convert strong lanes into a farm advantage and an unfortunate ace at 15 minutes put them behind. Because TPA's composition was designed to be strong at all stages of the game there was little Frost could do to stop them after yielding so big an advantage. TPA's careful, flawless grind to victory was all but inevitable.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Season 2 Finals: Game 1
Be aware that this and all posts on the subject contain spoilers. If you haven't watched the finals yet do so now, not because I want you to read my analysis but because they are some of the best games in League of Legends history.
The first game is notable for being the only game which Azubu Frost won. It's important to note that for the vast majority of the early game, and much of the game thereafter, Taipei Assassins had a clear gold lead and advantage. Understanding what happened and why begins with the team's picks.
The initial picks from both sides were fairly innocuous, but were nonetheless critical to each team's strategy. Anivia has incredible control over the area of a team fight between her stun, her wall, and her ultimate. Combined with Lulu's slows and knock up, it becomes difficult for opponents to avoid fighting within the unfavorable ground of Maokai's ultimate. Moreover, Maokai's ultimate multiplies the power of Anivia's passive and the health gain from Lulu's ultimate. Finally, Maokai is a strong pick against AoE compositions, for which Sona/Ezreal are common choices, without being weak against other possibilities. TPA's final picks reflect their awareness of Frost's plan, as well as their own strategy. Olaf is already incredibly tanky and difficult to stop when his ultimate is up, and combined with Maokai he can easily dive through the AoE to reach Frost's carries. TPA's plan was clearly to have Vayne hang back to avoid the bulk of the AoE while the rest of the team survived off their mix of defensive multipliers and innate tankiness, and then let the best cleanup carry in the game go to work.
Frost's strategy was a little more straightforward, but at the same time they made a few subtle choices which cut into the effectiveness of TPA's team composition. Karthus has some of the highest sustained damage in the game, especially if the enemy fights within his Defile. Even with Maokai's ultimate Karthus is extremely dangerous. Amumu adds additional sustained AoE damage and incredibly strong initiation to the mix, locking down opponents long enough for Sona to ult (or vice versa) and Ezreal to follow up. Irelia brings true damage to counter Maokai's protection and additional AoE. All of the champions Frost picked are also strong even in non-AoE compositions, giving Frost more options than simply AoE or lose, though ultimately AoE would win them the game.
In the early game Frost had a brief lead following CloudTemplar's level 3 gank top. This was an interesting moment as most players consider Amumu's early ganks weak. While it took two Flashes and an Ignite, CloudTemplar and Shy successfully ganked Stanley's Olaf from full health when he was on his half of the river. Amumu doesn't have burst, but the power of two stuns and sustained damage was enough to bring Olaf down.
The lead didn't last, and it's important to highlight what TPA did to catch Frost unaware time and again. After Frost's failed counter-gank top resulted in two kills for TPA, Lilballz was able to farm up enough gold to buy both Philosopher's Stone and Oracle's. He then aggressively cleared Frost's wards, going well out of his way to reduce their vision of the map. Rather than leave it to the psychological pressure of the fog of war, TPA's players frequently changed lanes, roamed, and collapsed on any skirmish or teamfight at the drop of a hat. The combination of early pressure and vision denial resulted in a 5k gold lead for TPA despite Frost's slight farm edge.
Where it all went wrong for TPA was the next teamfight. TPA expected Frost to attempt a flat out retreat after taking dragon, leading Toyz and Stanley to use Anivia's wall and Olaf's axe to try to cut off CloudTemplar and Shy's escape. Frost immediately turned to fight, making the placement of both abilities worthless. If Anivia's wall had been placed to block the rest of Frost it would have at least forced Flashes in order to enter the fight.
Every member of TPA was bunched up, not expecting Frost to simply turn around and fight. As a result when CloudTemplar nailed Toyz with his Bandage Toss all five members of TPA, and most importantly Bebe on Vayne, were caught in Amumu's ultimate. For a critical two seconds Bebe was unable to make any contribution to the fight, wasting a significant portion of Vayne's ultimate. At the same time the stun from Bandage Toss prevented Toyz from exerting any zone control, and when he attempted to use his ultimate Madlife hit him with Sona's, cancelling the Glacial Storm. Toyz was egged before he could do anything significant. While Bebe avoided most of the AoE, these issues allowed RapidStar's Karthus to sit untouched in the middle of TPA for almost the entire fight. By the time Toyz resurrected and TPA burst RapidStar down they were already dangerously low on health. With Woong's Ezreal at full health, Requiem incoming, and TPA's crowd control expended to kill RapidStar, survival was impossible.
Between the Dragon, the quadra kill, and the tower that followed Frost closed the gold gap to 1.5k gold in the blink of an eye, with most of that being concentrated on RapidStar. TPA began to rebuild their lead by picking off isolated members of Frost, but when the next hard engage came under their own tower it hardly mattered that Bebe dodged Amumu ultimate or that RapidStar was the first to die. RapidStar flashed over a wall to not only position himself in the middle of TPA, but also in where Vayne's Condemn wouldn't push him out of the fight. By the time RapidStar was dead all of TPA were below half health, setting up what was nearly a second quadra kill. TPA were still ahead on gold at this point, but they had no answer to Karthus. The difference in team-fighting strength was such that they lost even when Amumu ultimate was down.
While TPA's team composition had potential versus an AoE composition, the combination of good farm and seven kills in a matter of minutes made Karthus too big a problem for TPA to deal with. It was still a close, hard fought game, but one that clearly became Frost's to lose once they caught up to TPA.
The first game is notable for being the only game which Azubu Frost won. It's important to note that for the vast majority of the early game, and much of the game thereafter, Taipei Assassins had a clear gold lead and advantage. Understanding what happened and why begins with the team's picks.
The initial picks from both sides were fairly innocuous, but were nonetheless critical to each team's strategy. Anivia has incredible control over the area of a team fight between her stun, her wall, and her ultimate. Combined with Lulu's slows and knock up, it becomes difficult for opponents to avoid fighting within the unfavorable ground of Maokai's ultimate. Moreover, Maokai's ultimate multiplies the power of Anivia's passive and the health gain from Lulu's ultimate. Finally, Maokai is a strong pick against AoE compositions, for which Sona/Ezreal are common choices, without being weak against other possibilities. TPA's final picks reflect their awareness of Frost's plan, as well as their own strategy. Olaf is already incredibly tanky and difficult to stop when his ultimate is up, and combined with Maokai he can easily dive through the AoE to reach Frost's carries. TPA's plan was clearly to have Vayne hang back to avoid the bulk of the AoE while the rest of the team survived off their mix of defensive multipliers and innate tankiness, and then let the best cleanup carry in the game go to work.
Frost's strategy was a little more straightforward, but at the same time they made a few subtle choices which cut into the effectiveness of TPA's team composition. Karthus has some of the highest sustained damage in the game, especially if the enemy fights within his Defile. Even with Maokai's ultimate Karthus is extremely dangerous. Amumu adds additional sustained AoE damage and incredibly strong initiation to the mix, locking down opponents long enough for Sona to ult (or vice versa) and Ezreal to follow up. Irelia brings true damage to counter Maokai's protection and additional AoE. All of the champions Frost picked are also strong even in non-AoE compositions, giving Frost more options than simply AoE or lose, though ultimately AoE would win them the game.
In the early game Frost had a brief lead following CloudTemplar's level 3 gank top. This was an interesting moment as most players consider Amumu's early ganks weak. While it took two Flashes and an Ignite, CloudTemplar and Shy successfully ganked Stanley's Olaf from full health when he was on his half of the river. Amumu doesn't have burst, but the power of two stuns and sustained damage was enough to bring Olaf down.
The lead didn't last, and it's important to highlight what TPA did to catch Frost unaware time and again. After Frost's failed counter-gank top resulted in two kills for TPA, Lilballz was able to farm up enough gold to buy both Philosopher's Stone and Oracle's. He then aggressively cleared Frost's wards, going well out of his way to reduce their vision of the map. Rather than leave it to the psychological pressure of the fog of war, TPA's players frequently changed lanes, roamed, and collapsed on any skirmish or teamfight at the drop of a hat. The combination of early pressure and vision denial resulted in a 5k gold lead for TPA despite Frost's slight farm edge.
Where it all went wrong for TPA was the next teamfight. TPA expected Frost to attempt a flat out retreat after taking dragon, leading Toyz and Stanley to use Anivia's wall and Olaf's axe to try to cut off CloudTemplar and Shy's escape. Frost immediately turned to fight, making the placement of both abilities worthless. If Anivia's wall had been placed to block the rest of Frost it would have at least forced Flashes in order to enter the fight.
Every member of TPA was bunched up, not expecting Frost to simply turn around and fight. As a result when CloudTemplar nailed Toyz with his Bandage Toss all five members of TPA, and most importantly Bebe on Vayne, were caught in Amumu's ultimate. For a critical two seconds Bebe was unable to make any contribution to the fight, wasting a significant portion of Vayne's ultimate. At the same time the stun from Bandage Toss prevented Toyz from exerting any zone control, and when he attempted to use his ultimate Madlife hit him with Sona's, cancelling the Glacial Storm. Toyz was egged before he could do anything significant. While Bebe avoided most of the AoE, these issues allowed RapidStar's Karthus to sit untouched in the middle of TPA for almost the entire fight. By the time Toyz resurrected and TPA burst RapidStar down they were already dangerously low on health. With Woong's Ezreal at full health, Requiem incoming, and TPA's crowd control expended to kill RapidStar, survival was impossible.
Between the Dragon, the quadra kill, and the tower that followed Frost closed the gold gap to 1.5k gold in the blink of an eye, with most of that being concentrated on RapidStar. TPA began to rebuild their lead by picking off isolated members of Frost, but when the next hard engage came under their own tower it hardly mattered that Bebe dodged Amumu ultimate or that RapidStar was the first to die. RapidStar flashed over a wall to not only position himself in the middle of TPA, but also in where Vayne's Condemn wouldn't push him out of the fight. By the time RapidStar was dead all of TPA were below half health, setting up what was nearly a second quadra kill. TPA were still ahead on gold at this point, but they had no answer to Karthus. The difference in team-fighting strength was such that they lost even when Amumu ultimate was down.
While TPA's team composition had potential versus an AoE composition, the combination of good farm and seven kills in a matter of minutes made Karthus too big a problem for TPA to deal with. It was still a close, hard fought game, but one that clearly became Frost's to lose once they caught up to TPA.
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