Picks and Bans – Jatt was right in his post-match analysis of Game 4 – neither of these teams have shown adept at red-side counter-picking. That’s a potential problem on the world stage against Asian teams that love to counter on red side. Both Poppy and Maokai banned places emphasis on the mid and duo lanes. CLG ban Nidalee, so first-pick Ekko should be for Darshan (unless he goes Trundle again). TSM return Caitlin/Kindred – ok, that’s different for Svenskeren. CLG return Elise/Alistar – I don’t know that trying to counter TSM is wise. TSM grab Braum/Gragas – okay, we are all-in on the teamfight. I think they a predicting a Stixxay Lucian. Whoa – CLG finish Lulu/Tristana! I love it! She is my favorite all-time ADC and with Lulu, I actually like this siege more than Caitlin’s. But this is a TON of pressure on Huhi AND Stixxay – more so than the last game. Can Stixxay redeem his Trist, a disaster pocket pick in Game 4 against Liquid.
Early Game – CLG strangely don’t invade for lane swap vision. TSM read it a bit and swap the duo to the top to try and punish the early range discrepancy between Caitlin and Tristana. 14:00 – A perfect gank from Xmithie, they knock back Yellowstar and easily pick up First Blood for Stixxay. A dream start for CLG and a disaster for TSM – theyknew the jungler would be there! At 14:45, they catch Svenskeren on the wrong side of the river and it’s another kill with buffs over to Xmithie! This is a TSM catastrophe! TSM look lost in the lane phase and Svenskeren picked the worst possible time to revert to his old habit of not knowing where to be, whereas CLG are rotating fast and hard. It seems they’ve prepared their timings in the lane swap much more than TSM have.
18:20 – CLG are just so far ahead in the macro game. They have strong vision and control over the TSM red side jungle, trusting that Darshan is fine on his own. He smartly backs away when Xmithie roams up, freeing Elise to camp for Tristana. Doublelift just gets caught in what has unfortunately become classic Doublelift style, but there’s nothing he can do – he has to expect Braum will get his back, but CLG call in 2 TPs to win another fight. TSM still look flummoxed against CLG’s 5-man map rotations and unable to deal with Xmithie camping a lane. 2.5k up in gold with 1/0/2 on Tristana is a dream for CLG. TSM’s only hope is that they can stall long enough for Bjergsen and Xmithie to get fed and carry with poke.
27:40 – Huhi is pretty far ahead of his defensive vision line and out pops Braum and Corki. He’s dead. CLG call in the TPs to fight, but this time it’s TSM that rotate faster, getting a 4v4. They knock Darshan into the team for another quick kill and CLG are on the run. TSM can’t take the turret, though they get Huhi’s TP. This is still okay for CLG – 5v5s aren’t what they want, but they are going to happen when the side waves are pushed against TSM. They just can’t lose another couple of these in a row. CLG take the mid outer a few minutes later but the game noticeably slows – CLG have insufficient vision to shove towers in the 1-3-1 nd don’t wan tot commit to a fight.
CLG flat won the meta with a style that TSM didn’t expect. They beat Immortals in the regular season by empowering Darshan, and that was their strat almost the whole year. But seeing the meta changed, they funneled everything into Huhi and Stixxay and were rewarded. These two rookies looked like the stage was way too big at IEM; now they’ve earned the chance to try again at MSI. They have 4 major damage players that can take turns carrying a game or a series. 27
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