League of Legends: 2016 NA LCS, DIG vs REN (Week 2, Day 1)

Analysis from Week 2 of the League of Legends #NALCS. One of the first matches of week 2, I'm especially interested in the support matchup between KiWiKiD and Remi and how newcomers RF Legendary and BillyBoss compete.

Pick/Ban: Renegades smartly ban Fiora from BillyBoss. Dignitas want to pressure lanes and pick people. Late game, this is a good teamfighting comp with a ton of peel for the carries. But Renegades have a ton of power and although they're not as tanky, they actually have stronger laers in mid and top and I think their teamfighting will scale better. They need to survive in lane against the bullies and not get caught too much.

• Despite early ganks by Kirei that netted Dignatas some kills, Renegades executed their early game comp and strategy. Despite going against Lucian, they managed to push all three lanes. That made it dangerous for the laners, resulting in the kills. But their strategy with the 3 squishy, high-damage carries was to push the pace and they did so. I think they understand that in this meta, early kills don’t lead to meaningful objectives; Dignitas weren’t able to take a tower and dragon was out of the question. Meanwhile, their massive CS advantage allowed them to take a gold lead despite being down in kills.
• Crumbz didn’t have great stats and it looked like Kirei was running him around. But this was his role: constantly show around the map making Dignitas question where a countergank might come from. He’s trying to keep his lanes safe and doesn’t have the time to sit in a bush and wait to gank. In addition, the lanes pushing for REN makes it hard for him to flank anyway.
• 28:39 - Love how the observers call out BillyBoss for TP fail.
• 29:30 - Renegades made an aggressive call to take rift herald and push the top lane. They have superior damage and waveclear at this juncture, especially with BillyBoss defending. They get the inhibitor turret, but they let the inhibitor live which led to…
• 45:20 - The defense at the naked inhibitor was crucial for Dignitas. Despite being down in gold, turrets, and dragons and with only a one kill lead, they hold off Renegades. I was left down by Renegades call here - they got gold from two turrets and head back to buy. I felt like this was the turning point in the match as Renegades could never get enough vision or positioning to get to this inhibitor again. From here, Dignitas gave Renegades the runaround with their more tanky, pick-focused comp.
• This is the second game I’ve watched where DIG have allowed the other team to push their top, perhaps because it's easier for them to defend when Baron comes up. They seem more focused on mid and bot until the Baron is in play.
• 53:20 - Look where the lanes are. Renegades are being run around the map trying to defend objectives and can't clear the lanes. This was set up by Dignitas’ power spike and REN’ need to sweep/ward their own jungles, giving time for the DIG lanes to push. After the top turret fell at 52:36, felt like REN needed to anticipate the back from DIG and sent someone to clear both top and bot lanes. But this game is basically over.
• RF Legendary did his job early game but felt kinda invisible after 20 minutes. KiWiKid is doing really well at support; Dignitas did a great job playing their comp, boxing Renegades in b/c of their lack of tanks. KiWiKiD's flash/pulverize on Remi at 57:05 and then zoning Crumbz out of the pit at 57:35 won DIG the game. 

Similar to their win vs CLG, Dignitas were able to play the pick comp well and making good calls. They had such good map pressure in the late game and Renegades just couldn't get the lanes in their control. Dignitas were able to play very cleanly in the late game, something Renegades ahve struggled with (even when they have a lead).