If you thought the first half of the Group Stage of the 2015 League of Legends World Championships was crazy, Round 2 held all sorts of unforeseen surprises. The Western take over theory died as quickly as it was born. There were a few heart breaking eliminations, and one player’s tearful goodbye to game. Oh, and SKT is scary good. Let’s go through the big talking points of this past weekend.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr
Dyrus’s retirement is sad and necessary.
When we talk about the big names in professional League of Legends, names like Faker, Hai, MiT, and YellOwStaR come to mind. Few players transcend the game and become synonymous with all of competitive gaming like Marcus “Dyrus” Hill, of Team SoloMid. He’s been a big name in the game since the Season 1, and is one of only five players to qualify for the first three World Championships. He’s won more tournament prize money than any other western player, and has seen it all. He might be the Brett Farve of League, as his overall legacy will be considered influential for the rest of time. Unlike Brett, though, he can retire before it’s too late.
This year has been an off year for Dyrus. In comparison to the other top laners in Group D, his performance left something to be desired. By the Spring Split, he has the lowest average KDA (or Kill Death Assist Ratio) of his peers at 2.52. The next lowest is Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho at 3.00, almost a full .50 higher. In this years World Championships, his performance has him shoulder to shoulder with most of his peers, his 1.83 KDA only slightly higher than sOAZ and Acorn, but Ssumday blew the whole group out of the water with his picks – he ended the Group Stage with a 10.71 KDA, which is among the highest in the competition.
On their own merits, his KDAs have seen a huge drop from last year across events. A bad year maybe, but how many bad years can a 5 year pro recover from when the competition is growing exponentially? Dyrus had to have considered that sort of pressure when making his decision, and he was right to do so. We will miss him and his trolly Singed laugh spam, but if TSM wants to evolve and adapt after their lackluster showing at this year’s Worlds, they’re gonna need a new set of hero players.
It’s LeBlanc’s world, we just live in it.
Above is the game between Fnatic and a-hq for top seed of Group B. FNC was on its last legs when AHQ made one final push into the base. With all of their towers and inhibitors gone, there wasn’t much hope left for the European team. When the battle started, YellOwStaR was evaporated almost immediately, and FNC was left in a bad way. Then something really silly happened.
Emboldened by the an over excited flash by Ziv, Westdoor and his Zed made a move on the team. He was instantly dissuaded by Febiven, mid laner for FNC, and his LeBlanc, who would destroy Albis and his Tahm Kench, who was reacting to what he thought was the final team fight finally jumping off. One by one, LeBlanc would pick off the remaining enemies, and lead FNC into an undefended base to secure the win. The best ending to what has to be the best game of the tournament, so far.
Never sleep on Mimic.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr
Objective steals are always awesome.
It takes a precise mixture of skill, timing, and luck to steal a objective monster from a team. Normally, a full or near-full team focuses on killing the Dragon or Baron Nashor as quickly as they can, protecting the coveted “last hit” from usurpers. A would be thief has to time their approach and attack perfectly in order get the kill before the enemy does. This happened twice this round, and it was really awesome both times.
The first came in the match up between Origen and TSM, both of which were being cagey about getting into out and out team fights. Instead, both teams focused on getting objectives, and let the kill advantages sort themselves out in the struggle for them. TSM was looking for their 4th Dragon of the match and had it pretty locked up, with the whole squad filling the river in order to zone out Origen. Origen player Amazing took his Gragas and harassed his way into splitting the team in half, with just enough time to throw a barrel at the Dragon and secure their 5th stack of the buff. Outstanding play.
The only objective more powerful than the Dragon is Baron Nashor, the giant purple wurm who terrorizes the top lane. The FNC/AHQ match from early featured yet another huge play from Febiven and his LeBlanc. As AHQ had Nashor dead to rights, LeBlanc would use her Distortion to dash in and score the killing blow. Even though the FNC couldn’t make the most of the buff, as they were pushed away in a losing team fight, they would would deny AHQ the benefits as well, opening the way for their crazy victory quadrakill.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr
The Flash Wolves might have been the real sleeper team.
The Taiwanese yoe Flash Wolves ended the first week of the Group Stage tied for last place with paiN Gaming. No one expected much from them, especially when they’re in the same group as Counter Logic and the KOO Tigers. Three solid wins later, and they are Group A’s top seed. How the heck did that happen?
FW‘s second game with paiN was a nail biter that could have when the Brazilian team’s way many times. But it was consistently great calls by players like Maple and his Yasuo (and his clutch Wind Walls) that would help edge the squad through team fights. Even after getting Baron and taking out most of paiN‘s base, the Wolves were never guaranteed victory. It wasn’t until Steak attempted a xPeke-style backdoor on paiN‘s Nexus, which distracted the Brazilians and let the Wolves capitalize by securing the Dragon for the third time. The next team fight would find NL breaking away and sticking a solid quadrakill, and enabling the victory.
They smoked CLG in their second game with a little help from substitute ADC NL and his surging Jinx. Once Pobelter and his Wukong met swift defeat from Fishbones, the rest of the team would soon follow, with NL picking up the pentakill, which would open the way to the enemy base and eventual victory. Check the play out here.
NL‘s Jinx was front and center in their upset win over the Tigers in their rematch. Things were quiet most of the game, until a team fight erupted after KOO took Dragon, which the Koreans would actually lose. The steady snowball would be hard to stop from there, and the Wolves acing the Tigers in the their own base would put the final nail in that coffin.
The KOO Tigers have pretty good harmony.
The above is a video of the KOO Tigers singing “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy, and its excellent. Thanks to James Dator at SBnation for the Vine.
Photo via Riot Games/Flickr
Is anyone even close to beating SKT?
The easy answer? No. SKT subbed out Faker in games five and six and still dominated. That’s because there is some standout work coming from less famous team members like Wolf who’s made Alistar a nightmare for enemies, or Bang, who has an absurdly high KDA of 71.00. This entire team is sharp and ready for almost anything, and their dominance is looking a lot like Samsung Galaxy White‘s effortless sweep of last year’s World Championships.
If there was a team that could challenge them, it would kt Rolster, who excel at fielding teams with great composition. The synergy of this squad has to overcome the raw talent of the individual members of SKT. They have to be ready to capitalize on the rare mistake SKT makes, or at least have a strong start. Maybe not a First Blood, but they cannot let SKT win early team fights, as they’re collectively the best snowballers in the game. Freeze lanes and play defensively if you must, just DO NOT FEED!
The Knockout Stage is incoming, and its gonna be a doozy. Keep up to date with scores and rankings at our League of Legends Wiki, and don’t forget to tweet @CurseGamepedia with your picks to win it all.