TL;DW – LTA North Edition: SR Claims Victory Despite DIG Best Efforts

Week 1, Day 2 of LTA North Split 3. SR vs DIG. SR’s roster is Fudge (Top), Contractz (Jungle), Palafox (Mid), Bvoy (Bot), and Ceos (Support). DIG’s roster is Photon (Top), Sheiden (Jungle), Keine (Mid), Tomo (Bot), and Isles (Support). For more information on what Early, Mid, and Late Game means, see Terms at the bottom of the article.

Game 1: One Side too Hesitant, One Side too Aggressive

The 1^st set of bans take out Poppy, Pantheon, Viktor, Varus, Renekton, and Wukong from the equation. The 2^nd set removes Neeko, Karma, Ka’Sai, and Sivir. SR’s comp features high mobility and lockdown in the form of Ambessa (Top), Xin Zhao (Jungle), Annie (Mid), Lucian (Bot), and Braum (Support). DIG’s is more peel and burst oriented with their picks of Gwen (Top), Skarner (Jungle), Taliyah (Mid), Corki (Bot), and Alistar (Support).

Early Game starts out with a little action as Contractz ganks Mid Lane and Keine gives over 1^st Blood to Palafox. Contractz and Palafox head up to the Top Lane to gank Photon under the turret. Though they do kill him, they give up the 1^st Drake (Inferal) to DIG for it. The rest of the Early Game is uneventful. SR gets all 3 Voidgrubs without issue. Score going into the mid-game is 2-0 for SR, who are also ahead in gold by 1k.

DIG gets a kill on to Fudge in the Top Lane, but they trade the 2^nd Drake (Hextech) for it. They end up coming out even worse from the trade as Palafox TPs in and kills Keine before he can recall. Nothing happens after this exchange for a long time other than SR claiming the Rift Herald uncontested.

It isn’t until the 3^rd Drake (Chemtech) spawns that there is any more action. A fight breaks out, which raises the score to 7-4 for SR, though no one actually secures the Drake at this time. SR uses the Rift Herald to take the Outer Mid Turret. They also end up securing the 3^rd Drake in the last few seconds of the mid-game.

SR starts up and takes the Atakhan before DIG can arrive to contest. However, in the ensuing fight, DIG is able to grab 4 kills. The score is now 8-7 in DIG’s favor. Ceos gets picked off, leading DIG to start up Baron, but SR are able to poke them enough to make them stop. A little later, an attempt by Isles to engage on to SR in their Blue Side Jungle leads to SR ACEing DIG and then securing Baron. Score is now 12-11.

Despite having Baron Buff, SR gets pushed away from the 5^th Drake by DIG, who claims it uncontested. A fight breaks out afterwards, which ends in a 1-1 trade. SR are able to find a good engagement in Mid Lane, which gives them 3 kills. Off this play, the march into DIG’s Base, kill the remaining 2 members, and end the game at 34:45 with a 6.6k gold lead. The final score was 18-12.

Game 2: SR Claw Their Way to Victory

The 1^st set of bans takes out Azir, Pantheon, Poppy, Varus, Trundle, and Wukong from the equation. The 2^nd set removes Sylas, Xayah, Ka’Sai, and Sivir. DIG draft of Aurora (Top), Vi (Jungle), Galio (Mid), Kalista (Bot), and Neeko (Support) has excellent burst and pick potential. SR opt for more zoning and peel with their picks of Rumble (Top), Jarvan IV (Jungle), Viktor (Mid), Ezreal (Bot), and Rell (Support).

Again, there’s blood in the Early Game as Contractz ganks Mid and chases down Keine for 1^st Blood. Later, a fight for the 1^st Drake (Mountain) results in a 1-1 trade in kills. No one secures the Drake, though. DIG secures all 3 Voidgrubs. Early Game ends with a gank onto Tomo in the mid Lane. He dies, but DIG are able to get a kill in response when Ceos tries to defend a low health Contractz. Score going into mid-game is 3-2 in favor of SR, with DIG slightly ahead in gold by 300.

Another fight for the 1^st Drake breaks out. This one ends with the score jumping to 7-5 in DIG’s favor. Yet again, the Drake is left alive. It finally goes down at 14:05 to DIG. DIG starts up the Rift Herald, but SR arrives to intervene. Though they are able to stop DIG from securing the objective, SR loses the ensuing team fight. The score is now 10-6. Once they’ve recovered from the fight, DIG returns to claim the Herald. They use it to take the Mid Outer Turret.

Isles gets caught out in Mid Lane and sniped down by Bvoy’s Trueshot Barrage. SR then go top and kills Photon under the Turret. However, this costs them a lot of health, so they aren’t able to take the Turret afterwards, and DIG are able to secure the 2^nd Drake (Chemtech), so it’s kind of a bad trade. DIG starts up the Atakhan, but SR are able to Steal it away. The fight that follows goes 2-1 for SR, raising the score to 12-10 in DIG’s favor.

A fight in Mid Lane sees SR losing 1 and DIG getting ACEd. Using this opening, SR secures the 3^rd Drake (Cloud) uncontested. As SR set up for a potential Baron, Sheiden attempts to dive onto Bvoy, who is able to disengage easily. This leads to a fight, which leads to DIG getting ACEd, again. SR immediately barrels into DIG’s Base and ends the game at 27:19 with a 6.9k gold lead. The final score was 20-13 for SR.

Post Series Analysis: LTA North, Region of Over Aggression

The 1^st Game saw SR a little hesitation. They had Baron Buff but allowed themselves to be pushed away from the 5^th Drake. However, they were able to lie in wait and execute a good sneak attack on DIG to win the game.

In the 2^nd Game, while DIG did have a good lead, they wasted it by making bad engages. That, plus the Atakhan Steal, pretty much sealed their fate. While DIG had better positioning and map control in both games, it all came down to SR’s ability to execute plays and win team fights. All the control in the world can help you if you can’t use it effectively.

Terms

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

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

Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.