TL;DW – LTA North Edition: C9 Outplay TL in Game 2

Even the observers are getting bored. The broadcast suddenly jumps to C9 attempting to take the 2^nd Drake (Hextech). TL is hovering around trying to stop them. As Yuuji creeps closer to the Pit, Vulcan slams him into the wall.

Blaber then Impales him and drags him over to Blue Side Top Jungle where Zven is. Yuuji dies to Loki for 1^st Blood of the game (finally). With their Jungler down, TL scatter and C9 secure the objective. Fight goes 1-0 for C9.

As Impact and Thanatos fight Top Lane, APA TPs in to try and gank. They manage to get Thanatos low while chasing him through Red Side Top Jungle. However, Blaber comes in to help.

While APA Spirit Rushes passes him to keep chasing, Blaber is able to keep Impact away from Thanatos. Just when it looks like Thanatos is going to go down, he turns around and uses his Flamespitter to Overheat and starts burning down APA, while also walking out of the way of Impact’s Wing of War. This damage is enough for Blaber to kill APA and then and Impact. CoreJJ shows up right at the end and dies to Thanatos. Fight goes 3-0 to C9.

Thanatos and APA are in Bot Lane and Thanatos chases APA out of lane and into Bot River. CoreJJ and Yeon arrive to help, and Thanatos is chased back to lane and killed by Yeon.

Vulcan and Blaber gank Impact in Top Lane with Loki. They dive him under Turret and Blaber gets the kill. Yuuji arrives too late to help. He dies to Loki but buys enough time for APA and CoreJJ to arrive. APA kills Loki, though it takes him a little longer than you might expect from an Ahri. Fight goes 2-1 to C9, who also claimed the Outer Top Turret for 1^st Turret of the game.

Blaber takes the Rift Herald uncontested.

Blaber Flashes to try and catch Impact but he Flashes himself to avoid the Impale. Blaber then drops Rift Herald in Bot Lane to distract Impact while he and Thanatos head over to the Dragon Pit, where C9 have already started up the 3^rd Drake (Infernal). TL comes to contest.

Yuuji gets into the Pit, hoping to make it a Smite Fight, but he is alone and gets Slammed into a wall by Blaber and chunked by Zven. He manages to get over the wall of Dragon Pit by jumping on to Thanatos, but Zven follows him with Arcane Shift. Impact comes in with the Hero’s Entrance, but the extra resistances aren’t enough and Yuuji dies to Thanatos’ Liandry’s burn.

While this is all happening, the rest of C9 are keeping the rest of TL at bay while Blaber secures the Drake. Vulcan slams into APA and gets very low but Blaber and Loki are able to intervene and keep him alive, with Loki getting the kill on to APA. The remaining 3 members of TL retreat. Figh goes 2-0 for C9, who also take the Drake.

Mid Game ends with C9 now ahead in gold by 4.3k and still ahead in farm.

Late Game Highlights: Desperation Leads to Defeat

C9 starts up the Atakhan. As Zven comes over to help, he gets tagged by Braum and jumped on by Yuuji. He manages to create enough distance that he doesn’t die (specifically he dodges an Ahri Charm). Vulcan comes in to get Yuuji off of Zven and Thanatos drops an Equalizer to zone away the rest of TL.

Thanatos Flashes into the Baron Pit to avoid Impact’s Taunt. While Thanatos expertly avoids Skill Shots, the rest of C9 piles in. Blaber slams Yeon and CoreJJ into a wall and then Impales CoreJJ and Impact (Yeon Flashed out of the Pit to avoid it). Yeon cries for his mom, hitting multiple members of C9, though no one dies outright.

Meanwhile, outside of the Pit, Vulcan, who has been zoning Yuuji and APA, finally dies to APA. A second later, Zven kills CoreJJ. He then gets chased around Baron Pit by Yeon before going back in. Loki manages to kill Yuuji, Thanatos takes out Impact, and Blaber dies on to Yeon and kills him. APA runs away as C9 returns to Atakhan. Fight goes 4-1 for C9, who also take the objective.

C9 take the 4^th Drake uncontested. They are now on Soul Point. While Zven is pushing in Mid Lane, he kind of gets caught out by APA but manages to Arcane Shift back to his Turret. APA Spirit Rushes forwards and hits Zven with a Charm. He deals a large amount of damage to Zven but doesn’t kill him. APA takes 2 Turret shows and has to leave but, by now, C9 has arrived.

C9 chases APA and the rest of TL (who have converged upon their Mid Laner) down the lane. Vulcan Headbutts forwards and knocks up APA, who dies to Loki. Thanatos, who TPed in from Top Lane, comes in from behind TL. While his Equalizer is still on CD, he does provide damage with his Flamespitter.

Zven deleted Yeon and Loki explodes CoreJJ. Fight ends 3-0 to C9, who march down Mid Lane and take both the Inner and Base Turret, as well as the Inhibitor. They consider ending but don’t have the power, so they back off. TL chase after them but don’t have vision so C9 set a trap.

Vulcan Headbutts on to Impact, who evaporates in an instant (Vulcan gets the credit). Blaber dives on to Yuuji, keep him back. TL starts to retreat but Thanatos drops an Equalizer directly on top of their exit path, burning them down.

Zven drops CoreJJ. Yeon and Yuuji use a Blast Cone to get away and APA, who TPed into the Mid during the initial chase hurls a few futile Skill Shots before backing off as well. C9 head over and take Baron off the back of this.

C9 head Bot Lane, taking the Inner and Base Turrets and the Inhibitor. Then then pile into the TL Base. As TL tries to poke them, Blaber goes in, lands an Impale on to Impact, and drags him over to his teammates. This starts a full-on fight.

Yuuji and APA dive in while Impact uses Hero’s Entrance to try and buy himself some time but he dies to Zven almost immediately after landing. Yuuji gets Stunned and then exploded by Loki. As he tries to land some poke, APA gets taken out by Zven.

CoreJJ and Yeon retreat to their Fountain, only for Thanatos to drop and Equalizer on them. They have to just watch as C9 break their Nexus. The fight goes 3-0 for C9.

Post Game Analysis: A Frustrate Game for TL

C9 ends the game at 28:03 with a 12.8k gold lead. The final score was 20-3 for C9.

As much as I would like to say that TL should have just kept their heads about them and played the game towards their Late Game objective, I also understand that no one is perfect, and players are machines.

C9 managed to make impressive outplays which must have been so frustrating for TL. As a result, they lost their cool and made calls that weren’t advisable. The looks on their faces show that they were clearly desperate and frazzled. Emotions to the best of them. Once that happened, the game was pretty much C9’s. Hopefully, TL will able to pull themselves together during the break.

Sympathy aside, TL did make a severe mistake that was outside of C9’s outplay. The chase of Thanatos in Top Lane. That was what started the ball rolling. Had the not done that and stuck the win condition of late game scaling for Yeon, they would have had a better shot.

Terms

Early Game: Any time before 10 minutes, first outer tower down, or first level 10 (whichever comes first).

Mid Game: Between Early Game and either 20 minutes, 2 inner towns down, half the players are level 16, or 3^rd dragon killed.

Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.