For now the quarter-final seeding has been respected. The two teams that finished first in their groups managed to get rid of their opponents, thus reaching the semi-finals. In view of their victory in the Summer Split of the LCK, as well as their performance during the group stage, it would be logic to put Gen.G. in favorite position for this third knockout match. Are they really that advantaged over their opponents? A look back at the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams, as well as the probable keys to this match which is already shaping up to be a banger.
Quite a different style of play
If we compare with the Summer Split, the Gen.G style of play hasn’t evolved much. The team still plays mainly around Rulerwhich inflicted almost 30% damage to opponents during the group stage. With the new meta which seems to be taking place, focusing more on sololanes, Gen.G might be at a disadvantage. The champions of the LCK are still aware of it, and the resources within the team are rather well distributed. Even if Ruler is the one who recovers the most, the difference with the other players is not huge.
Even Peanut gets a more than decent amount of it when he goes on a carry, leaving to think that the team still has some under the pedal, and just didn’t need to reveal any new strategies. Their jungler has performed very well on Graves, a pick that was decisive in the first two quarters. If it’s a safe bet that the first game risks being an observation round for Gen.G, it seems obvious given their style of play that they have other things to offer. Afterwards, will they be as effective as with their traditional style? Do they have good answers to the current top tiers? Beginning of response tonight.
For DAMWON, this new meta looks like a blessing. Inevitably if the game refocuses on sololanes and the jungle, while you have Nuguri, Canyon and ShowMaker in your team, this will probably suit you. And this can be seen immediately on the resource allocationwhere all the carries share them more or less equallyalthough Nuguri and Canyon sometimes have a little less, when they go on tanks. Paradoxicallytheir game is still very centered on the botlanewhich is indeed the lane with the most participation in kills, including in front of Canyon. In terms of damage, it’s more balanced, which shows that the most decisive actions take place on the botside (because dealing damage is good, but it has to serve a purpose).
And that’s where Nuguri’s form becomes a big question mark. With only 37.2% kill participation, he is the worst player in the tournament in this area, among all those who have reached the quarter-finals. For comparison, the second worst player in this area was Breathe, with 50.3% KP (and again, in his case the stats are up to date and he had just 50% total KP against T1, which makes slightly lower his average). This does not necessarily mean that Nuguri will be useless or that he will lose his lane, but that DAMWON tends to let it evolve into a free electron to make a difference on macro. And he is not at all sure if this is effective against a team against Gen.Gwhich is one of the international references in this field.
The unknown data of the equation
Looking at stats is good, but that’s not all. In view of the current meta, one of the keys to the match will clearly be based on the jungle. We saw that Peanut could get away with it even without having the advantage early on, while conversely Canyon found itself in difficulty when it couldn’t dictate the pace. Afterwards, it is not certain that it has much importance, because it’s hard to imagine Gen.G. decide to let Canyon have control of the early through the draft, which seems to be the best strategy for DAMWON. And besides, if the schampion election focuses a lot on the jungleit may leave very strong picks to Nuguri and ShowMakerwhich is rather the DAMWON advantage.
Especially that next to Chovy wasn’t really the most impressive midlaner of the tournament. He’s doing quite well, but he’s probably not one of those who would be among those to make a top 3 in this position. However, even if it is discreet, the most of his stats are very impressive. Its role is more than control his opposite by preventing him from helping his mates to dictate their pace, rather than being a bandleader for Gen.G., which is more the role of Peanut and Lehends (or even Ruler, who tends to shotcall a lot for an ADC). At the tactical level, this is somewhat what we risk finding: DAMWON who will try to impose their rhythm, and Gen.G. who will just counter them before creating a situation where they will have the advantage. No doubt the jungle and the midlane will capture the public’s attention in the early stages, but it’s probably from the botlane that the situation will unblock one way or the other. In any case, on the first games, the following ones could be different depending on the strategies prepared by the teams.
Botlane level precisely, Heimerdinger support could be one of the keys to the game. So far this pick has very well neutralized the opposing botlanes, while proving effective for playing around neutral objectives. The inventor of Piltover especially prevents the enchanters from expressing themselves, thus avoiding giving too much power to an ADC. It wouldn’t be surprising to see it go out in this soundtrack, especially on the DAMWON side. After the pick is not invincible, and remains quite vulnerable if he gets caught. And in this regard, we must not forget that Lehends may have arguments to counter it like Lux (better range, can help destroy turrets), Fiddlesticks (can drain turrets so tank and don’t lose life after an engage with a silence), or Amumu (whose ult will pass even if the strip is countered with a reflex turret). Perhaps this is Kellin who would have the hardest time countering him in the endeven if he too is a Lux player.
worlds-lol
We had the chance to interview Rogue’s coach just after his elimination in the quarter-finals of the Worlds of League of Legends. There was obviously sadness, but there was also pride for the team’s accomplished year. In any case, Asia is too strong…