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Friday, February 19, 2016

LoL Analysis: 2016 NALCS, CLG vs TSM (Week 5, Day 2)

This is one of the premier matchups of Week 5 Day of the #NALCS. Team SoloMid have come back from some disjointed early losses to pull into second place. Their last win was noticeably cleaner - can they take that focus and apply it here? CLG were equally competitive yesterday and completely shut down TSM in their first match. Still, I think TSM wins this – I still think they need better play from Svenskeren and Doublelift, but many of the mistakes they've made over the first 4 weeks are straightforward and correctable. For CLG, I think their strategy should be to go hard on the duo lane and force TSM into a mistake.


Picks and Bans – CLG went with a teamfight-centric lineup without a lot of waveclear or siege utility. I have a special place in my heart for Ashe; I’m among the legion that mained Ashe for a long time. But I don’t think she fits into this lineup – I agree with Jatt and Phreak that her hitting an ECA would be more a mistake on the part of TSM. Having Morgana helps since Ashe is so squishy but after the first few levels, Kalista can bully her hard in lane. This kind of feels like a lost draft from CLG.

Early game - I like how TSM stopped the CLG deep ward. CLG do this every time and it’s good to mess with them. Getting Fiora's mobility and dueling ability for Hauntzer was huge - he just walked out of an early gank by Xmithie

15:15 – straight assassination by Bjergsen on Huhi. Xmithie's earlier toam to top let Sven into his jungle, helping keep Doublelift safe. Xmithie is lucky just to get his blue.

18:15 – Now it’s Xmithie that is counterjungling and Sven has missed two last-hits in a row. Bjergsen goes aggressive again on Huhi and the team follow after a delay. Doublelift gets caught, but at least it’s for a good reason in saving Yellowstar and Svenskeren pops his ult for a kill. It’s nice to see TSM rotating faster – Darshan’s TP was late and met immediately with exhaust and Stixxay never came in.

20:45 – This is simple, but Doublelift avoids a dumb face check into a scary bush. Xmithie spends a lot of time in this lane and Yellowstar and Doublelift do a good job respecting the knockup into binding. The gank actually comes with the Ashe arrow at 23:00 and the duo lane just play so smart for TSM. They are bullying hard in the standard matchup.

25:20 – Yellowstar goes a little aggressive but the team follow faster than CLG – Hauntzer’s TP came much faster than Darshan’s. Darshan TPs to the wrong turret anyway, does no damage and is killed awa from the team.  Xmithie looks like he was trying to flank with Darshan but the two end up split and CLG lose in a bad way. This is horrible execution from their side. Svenskeren and Doublelift are dominating on their champions - exactly what TSM need.

30:50 – CLG try for another fight from the jungle but the Ashe arrow goes into the middle of three members… and finds nobody. I think the fate’s call onto Alistar blocked it. Bjergsen claws in, ults himself, turns it into a 4 for nothing as Hauntzer solos Darshan on the outside. This game feels over. Once the Ryze falls that far behind Fiora, there’s nothing CLG have left. 9-0 so far for TSM.


TSM do bungle a Baron bait a bit (still trade 1 for 1) but the power is just overwhelming. They don’t finish as clean as they might like, but they do a good job getting each other’s backs and engaging on the right targets. Yellowstar got caught a few times but he was all over the place tanking damage and throwing bodies around. The score ends 21-5 for TSM. This is the team that their fans were hoping to see

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