Photo: Karmine Corp
Even if the end of the year celebrations have passed there, we have not totally forgotten the defeat suffered by the Karmine Corp in front of KOI, last December 15. If we can play down and find excuses (it was only a game friendly, it was the first game of Rekkles in his new team, 113 was not even there …), a defeat is a defeat. While we will play revenge at home at the Carrousel du Louvre, it is out of the question to be ridiculed at home by the Spanish.
While a man forewarned is worth two, we have identified several important points that KC lacked in the first round. We hope that players will have time to work on these during their bootcamp. To begin with, it is imperative that the Karmine Corp adapts to the new metagame which gives pride of place to shutdowns.
The shutdown meta, even more present than before?
In 2021, we had already had the right to the catchphrase, to breakfast, to lunch, to afternoon tea, to dinner and even to evening herbal tea: the famous meta shutdown. While we could cram a bit of everything and anything into this catch-all concept, we will still be entitled to it in 2022! Riot Games, considering that there were not enough means of comeback, added bonuses on the objectives (dragons, turrets …). This promises to shake up the metagame and players and teams alike will have to integrate this new mechanism into their way of thinking and playing. If it is still too early to define the best strategy to adopt, we trust Striker to come better armed for the revenge … Because during the first round, the Karmine Corp has suffered more from the metagame than anything else. Despite a systematically dominated early-game and big advances (more than 8K during Game 3), the French were powerless in the face of remounted that ask questions.
Without claiming to provide the perfect solution to Karmine, several avenues of reflection are possible to better adapt to this meta shutdown V2 :
- Bet on compositions that scale even if it means abandoning the early-game : Teams must always find the right balance between an offensive lineup focused on the start of the game and a perfect scaling lineup at the end of the game. With the new metagame, it would seem rather smart to switch its focus on the second option … The victory of Karmine was notably achieved when Rekkles played Jinx, a hyper-carry who ended the game in 10/2/6 .
- Better defend objectives that have bonuses : this proposal will make more than one smile, because it goes without saying. Bonuses offer comeback possibilities, but these possibilities are not always easy to realize. We can not wait to see how the professional teams adapt to the mechanics, but we are ready to bet that the objectives will be even more defended by the teams which are ahead this year. You can no longer abandon a tower or a dragon as before.
- Be much more attentive in mid-game : with the bonus system and the return of scaling compositions, it will also be necessary to be much more serious in the middle of the game. Mistakes will be very expensive and the team that gets dominated can come back to the game at any time. We are entitled to think that the Karmine Corp played a bit of a dilettante last December. We hope that this time there won’t be any positioning errors or too slow rotation errors.
Even if it is still only a friendly match, the LFL is resuming very soon. Each game is a valuable lesson and read the metagame current will in any case be beneficial for official competitions future.