Battle Report: Week 2 NA LCS

June 10 2015



Team Liquid entered week 2 of the NA LCS and ended up with a result on two sides of the spectrum. On one hand, we absolutely devastated Enemy and on the other, we were beat up by our brothers, Team Gravity.

Both games demonstrated two things: If by chance TL wins the early game, it’s the end of your Nexus as you know it. In contrast, if we give up the early game to a better team, it’s difficult to recover from the damage. Team Liquid would come out of Week 2 still tied for first at 3W-1L, but there are still plenty of things for us to learn.


Day 1: Team Liquid vs Enemy

Enemy surprised a lot of people when they took down Gravity in week 1, albeit Gravity did have some new faces. They also gave TSM a decent fight in their day 2 match. But against Team Liquid, let it be known a critical mistake in the early game means you might as well surrender; 3 kills in the first few minute of the game in favor of TL spelled disaster for Enemy. There was no chance at a comeback; welcome to pro play, Enemy.

  • Team Liquid: Ryze, Rek’Sai, Azir, Kalista, Thresh
  • Enemy: Irelia, Gragas, Varus, Corki, Nautilus

Alright, once again I’m not sold on the Irelia pick. The last time someone tried to bring the Ionian warrior—who was completely fed by the way--into play, they just got smashed in the team fights that TL play so well. Enemy also decided to run a Varus, which has taken the mid lane by storm in Korea and Europe; another pick I’m not sold on due to Iwilldominate’s early game pressure (but hey, good for us right?).

But all of that doesn’t matter. Not only did Quas get the all holy Ryze pick, Enemy gave up three kills at the 4-minute mark. The decision to tower dive Quas was extremely awkward, as the Venezuelan respected the pressure and backed-off. Obviously, we knew Enemy was there but they forced the dive and paid the ultimate price: they gave the arcane blender early kills and he was looking to whip up some Irelia smoothies.

The rest is history. Team Liquid got the win and there wasn’t really any way they were going to lose the lead at any phase of the game. 30 minute win with all towers standing. GG.





Day 2: Team Liquid vs Gravity

This match-up still excites me, despite the fact most of the Curse squad that made up Gravity are no longer in the starting line-up--Cop and Saintvicious that is. In my heart, this will always be a Curse vs Curse battle; a match-up between two siblings destined to cross paths and fight in heated combat. Sometimes the younger sibling comes out on top ; Gravity came out ahead in this game, securing their lead in the rivalry at 2-1. (Spring: 1-1, Summer: 1-0)

  • Team Liquid: Maokai, Rek’Sai, Cassiopeia, Vayne, Janna
  • Gravity: Ryze, Jarvan, Urgot, Sivir, Alistar

In-terms of pick and bans, Gravity beat us out here—golf clap to Coach Cop. Gravity got the Ryze, Urgot, and Alistar picks, three champions that are worthy of the ‘pick or ban’ title.

On the other hand, Team Liquid went with a different strategy, putting Piglet’s Vayne and Fenix’ Cassiopeia at the forefront of their strategy. Quas then played a more support-style role with the frontline Maokai. While Quas does play Maokai well and to be fair, Gravity out-rotated TL to secure kills, we all know what he can do when given a carry style top like Rumble or Kennen. Pure devastation.

This time around, Gravity singled out Quas and gave Ryze a few kills, putting the tree behind. They then proceeded to mow down TL, denying Piglet’s mechanics outright with pure force and gold.

There were chances for us to come back and team fight but a lot of our fights had us split up. With Gravity ahead, TL had little room for error, as a slight over-extension would lead to an Urgot swap, a smashing from Alistar, or a good ole’ Ryze perma-snare.

Gravity had to make a very fatal error more so than TL had to make an epic play to even have a chance at coming back from the 10k gold lead at 28-minutes.





Ban Ryze

Ban Ryze.


Our early tower dive detection is top tier

Team Liquid has a knack for detecting early tower dives. What we did to Enemy was fairly similar to what we did against CLG in the Spring Play-offs where we thwarted their plans to dive our tower and punished their decision early. When the enemy backs off, just go for the tower and the early pressure. You don’t need the kills. It can go the wrong way.

Anyways, team Liquid will be entering the tougher part of their schedule. Week 3 will see TL facing Cloud9 and Team Impulse. Cloud9 is still getting used to their new mid laner in Incarnati0n, but they’ll still be a formidable opponent. Impulse will definitely be looking for some revenge after their 3-2 loss against TL also, especially since both rosters remained the same since the last Split.

Seeing how we fare against better teams is the real treat.

Pros:

-Much like I said last week: if we win early game, it’s tough to come back
-We counter early dives well and punish

Cons:

-Gravity secures first blood against TL in the season (1-0)
-Losing early against better teams is not good
-Didn’t ban Ryze.




Writer // Ken Serra
Art Credit // Riot