TL;DW – LTA North Edition: Catastrophe for TL in Game 3 Against C9

APA force Loki to Flash away from him and his Pop Blossom. He then heads down to join his team as they start up the 2^nd Drake (Hextech). Blaber moves in but CoreJJ was waiting for him in Banana Bush and locks him up. TL converge and blow Blaber up, with APA getting the kill. The rest of C9 back off and TL take the Drake uncontested.

CoreJJ tries to come in behind Thanatos in Top River, but Blaber is nearby and uses Nature’s Grasp before engaging himself. Thanatos slams CoreJJ into the wall of Baron Pit. He then gets Rooted by Nature’s Grasp. Vulcan joins in from below, while Impact comes in from above.

Vulcan uses Depth Charge to knock up Impact, who dies to Thanatos. CoreJJ falls to Thanatos as well as second later. APA and Yeon arrive but aren’t strong enough to clean up so they just threw out a little poke before backing off. Fight goes 2-0 for C9.

C9 starts up Rift Herald. TL hang around until Herald gets low. UmTi uses Paranoia but Loki jumps in with Rocket Jump and secures the objective. TL piles into C9. Pop Blossom hits 3 people, allow UmTi to kill Blaber and Yeon to kill Loki. The rest of C9 gets away.

Fight goes 2-0 for TL, who also take the Outer Bot Turret for 1^st Turret of the game. C9, however, did secure the Herald, though they did waste Thanatos’ TP.

C9 drops Herald in Mid as a distraction and then goes down to start up the 3^rd Drake (Mountain). TL converges. CoreJJ goes in but no one follows him, so he gets locked up and dies to Loki. He then kills UmTi. TL retaliates with APA taking out Thanatos and Yeon vaporizing Vulcan.

Zven and Loki manage to escape through Mid Lane but Impact chases Blaber into Bot Lane, where he kills him. Fight goes 3-2 for TL and they successfully prevent C9 from taking the Drake.

After everyone respawns, TL head back to the Drake and take it. They are now on Soul Point. C9 take TL’s Outer Top Turret in trade.

Mid Game ends with TL now the ones ahead in both farm and gold (by 2.7k).

Late Game Highlights: A Reversal of Fortunes

TL starts up the Atakhan. Blaber hovers around but decides not to go in. TL take Atakhan uncontested.

CoreJJ spots Vulcan in Bot River clearing out a ward. He tries to engage on him but Vulcan counter engages and the rest of C9 converge. Even though UmTi uses Paranoia to blackout the map, CoreJJ still dies to Blaber.

And TL hover around looking for a potential revenge pick, Blaber uses Twisted Advance to jump on to Impact and knocks him back with Bramble Smash, giving his teammates the opportunity to lock Impact down and kill him. Thanatos gets the credit.

C9 starts up the 4^th Drake. TL look for an angle to engage but C9 are able to successfully zone them away. They take the objective and get out. After taking the Drake, Loki heads to Bot Lane to push the wave.

Seeing this, TL rotates over and starts up Baron. Everyone in C9 converge on the Baron Pit. UmTi uses Paranoia to try to conceal Baron’s Health, but Blaber uses Twisted Advance to get in and Steals the objective. He dies to Yeon, who also kills Zven as he tries to retreat.

Loki retaliates by killing UmTi. He and Thanatos get chased towards Top Lane. Loki gets away but Thanatos dies to Impact. Fight goes 3-1 for TL but C9 gets the Baron Buff.

Both teams start setting up for the 5^th Drake. C9 get there first and start it up. UmTi uses Paranoia but Vulcan hooks him to keep him from jumping on to Blaber, who secures the objective. Immediately afterwards, Loki kills UmTi.

APA uses Pop Blossom to knock up Zven and Blaber. He then kills Zven. Impact then takes out Blaber. C9 rally after this as Thanatos kills APA, Yeon, and CoreJJ. He then joins Vulcan and Zven, who were fighting Impact and kills him for the ACE, though it does take quite a while. Fight goes 5-2 for C9, who also secure the Drake.

The Commentators talk too long during a Replay, and we miss the set up for this, but APA seems to get caught out in Top Lane (after using TP) and dies to Thanatos. C9 rotate over to Baron after this. C9 starts the Baron and, after pushing TL away, they Root UmTi and engage on him. He dies to Loki.

The rest of TL try to flee but are taken down in quick succession. CoreJJ dies to Zven, Yeon to Loki, and Impact to Thanatos. C9 rotate to Top Lane and march on the Base. They take every structure in their Path, kill the respawned APA (credit to Loki) and CoreJJ (credit to Loki, again) and take the Nexus (though a respawned Yeon kills Vulcan right at the end).

Post Game Analysis: LTA North’s Problem Continues

C9 ends the game at 32:46 with a gold lead of 7.1k. The final score is 21-13 for C9.

APA gets caught out, leading C9 to bait in TL at Baron and allowing them to end the game. While C9 was starting to get ahead before this, thanks to their successful team fight win at Dragon Pit, this misstep by APA was the deciding factor.

Thoughout this series, APA has made some questionable calls. Whether out of impatience or frustration, I don’t know but they had resulted in catastrophe for his team. This is not an issue that is unique to him though.

At least once per LTA North game it seems, someone gets caught out or makes a markedly bad decision and their team’s chances collapse because of it. If this trend continues, NA is going to be in serious trouble on the international stage.

After this series, C9 are now set to battle FLY in the Upper Bracket. Meanwhile, TL has been relegated to the Lower Bracket. While this means that they still have an opportunity to win, if they continue to make amateurish mistakes, they may find it rough sailing.

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.