TL;DW – LTA North Edition: FLY and SR Battle It Out in Game 3
Week 8, Day 1 of the LTA North Split 2 Playoffs. FLY vs SR. SR is on Blue, FLY is on Red. FLY’s roster is Bwipo (top), Inspired (jungle), Quad (mid), Massu (bot), and Busio (support). SR roster is Fudge (top), Contractz (jungle), Palafox (mid), Bvoy (bot), and Ceos (support). FLY won Game 2. For more information on what early, mid, and late game mean, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: Lovers vs Love Lost in the Bot Lane
Kalista, Vi, Gwen, Viktor, Karma, and Neeko banned out off the bat.
SR have 1st pick again and they decide on Sion. FLY respond with Renekton and Sejuani. Lover’s Duo of Xayah/Rakan taken for SR. FLY then picks Hwei before 2nd ban phase.
While SR aim for the Bot Lane champion pool with Catilyn and Smolder bans, FLY are less targeted, banning out Yone and Jayce.
FLY lock in Lucian as they start up the selection process again. SR opts to go for Oriana and Dr. Mundo (that’s unexpected). FLY end things by selecting Nami. SR’s team has great peel and disruption. FLY’s team is a slightly more traditional team fight comp, with excellent burst potential and sustain.
Team comps are: SR – Sion (top), Dr. Mundo (jungle), Oriana (mid), Xayah (bot), Rakan (support) vs FLY – Renekton (top), Sejuani (jungle), Hwei (mid), Lucian (bot), Nami (support).
Early Game Highlights: Tedium in LTA North
The start of game is so inactive that they actually do a complete, uninterrupted interview with FLY’s coach. Someone wake me up when something interesting happens.
Ceos and Bvoy go top and chase down Bwipo. Both Bvoy and Ceos use their Flashes but Bwipo Flashes over a wall and gets away. While this happens, Contractz takes the 1st Drake (Cloud) uncontested.
Contractz and Fudge go Top to try and gank Massu and Busio but they manage to side-step the Unstoppable Onslaught and land a perfect 2-man bubble to escape.
FLY takes the Voidgrubs uncontested.
Fudge engages on to Quad in Top Lane. Palafox roams up and secures the kill for 1st Blood.
Early Game ends with FLY ahead in gold by 500 and ahead in farm.
Mid Game Highlights: Finally, Some Action
While poking each other in Mid Lane, SR pushes for a fight. Busio uses a Tide Wave defensively but still get caught and dies to Bvoy. Everyone disengages after this.
FLY takes the 2nd Drake (Hextech) uncontested. Apparently, no one wants to fight for objectives anymore.
Contractz gets caught out in Top River, but his team comes in and helps him. As FLY attempt to retreat, Palafox uses Shockwave to pull Inspired back in and he dies to Bvoy. Off the back of this kill, SR take the Rift Herald uncontested.
Ceos almost gets killed in Mid Lane by Massu. In response, Fudge uses Unstoppable Onslaught to ram into Busio, who has to Flash away to survive. A team fight breaks out. Both teams get low, but no one dies.
Palafox takes FLY’s Outer Top Turret for 1st Turret of the game.
Both teams set up around the 3rd Drake (Infernal). SR starts up the objective. Bwipo dives into SR but gets CCed and has to Flash away from Bvoy’s Bladecaller. Fudge dies to Massu.
After getting the kill FLY back off but SR continue to attack the Drake. By the time FLY reengage, SR has secured the objective. Contractz gives up his life to Massu so the rest of his team can get away. Fight goes 2-0 to FLY but SR get the Drake.
Mid Game ends with SR now the one ahead in gold by 500, though FLY is still ahead in farm.
Late Game Highlights: A Long War of Attrition
Fudge attempts to start a fight in Mid Lane but his Ultimate is side-stepped, again. Inspired gets pulled back by the Shockwave and has to burn Flash to get to safety. After everyone disengages, Bwipo tries to come in from behind SR. He’s spotted and jumped on by Ceos. He loses a massive chunk of Health and has to retreat.
In Mide Lane, Massu aggressively pokes at SR with Culling but gets pulled by a Shockwave and jumped on. Contractz gets the kill. Off the back of this kill, SR take the 4th Drake uncontested. They are now on Soul Point. Meanwhile, Bwipo takes the Outer Top Turret of SR and continues pushing the wave towards the Inner Turret.
Fudge attempts another engage with his Ultimate in Mid Lane and it is side stepped yet again. However, SR are still able to force Quad to Flash to safety. Bwipo takes the Inner Top Turret and then TPs down to join his team as they try to stop Contractz from taking Atakhan.
While 3 members of FLY are dealing with Contractz, SR, Ceos, and Palafox jump on Quad in Mid Lane. Palafox gets the kill. They then head down to help out the rest of their team, who have managed to keep FLY at bay thus far.
Seeing the rest of SR coming, Bwipo engages on to Bvoy who, despite using his Featherstorm, dies. Inspired freezes Fudge and Palafox but Contractz is still able to secure the Atakhan. Bwipo kills Ceos, who was low from the fight with Quad, but Inspired dies to Fudge soon after.
Bwipo attempts to chase down Palafox but is unable to kill him. Massu tries to take him out with Culling but Contractz body block for him. Both teams disengage. The prolonged fight goes 2-2, with SR getting the objective.
FLY starts up Baron, taking it very slowly to try and draw SR into a team fight. Bwipo hides out in Blue Side Bot Jungle to try and flank. When SR does engage, via a Fudge Ult that actually hits this time, Bwipo comes in and is almost instantly taken low. He has to flee immediately. FLY books it away and the objective is called off.
SR consider setting up for the 5th Drake but FLY push them away so they go for Baron instead. As SR sets up around the objective Inspired dives in. while there is no initial follow up, Bwipo comes in from behind, running headfirst into Fudge who just TPed in.
Contractz is taken low and has to back off. Bvoy manages to Snare Inspired and kills him. However, Massu takes out Fudge at the same time. Bwipo then kills Ceos before dying to Bvoy. Massu rushes forward and takes Palafox low (Busio gets the kill). He then chases down and kills Contractz.
The fight looks over and FLY starts recalling, but Bvoy comes in and kills Quad before dying to Massu for the ACE. Not sure why he came back in. Maybe he just wanted a faster back? Fight ends 5-2 for FLY. Because FLY respawn first, they take the 5th Drake uncontested.
Both teams gather as 5 in Mid Lane. FLY pull the trigger first with Inspired leading the charge. Bwipo Flashes and Stuns Bvoy who manages to get out a Featherstorm on to 3 members of FLY. The damage his Ult is enough for Palafox to kill Massu, though Bvoy dies to Bwipo immediately afterwards.
As Bwipo rampages through the backline of SR, Quad kills Fudge. Palafox and Ceos manage to disengage from Bwipo, who doesn’t have the damage to kill them anymore. The fight ends 2-1 for FLY.
A very long, protracted team fight breaks out in Mid Lane, only ending when Bwipo goes in, gets CCed, and has to get out. After that, everyone backs off. No kills.
Bwipo and Inspired (mostly Bwipo) manages to sneak the 6th Drake (SR didn’t have vision). Both teams are now on Soul Point. SR head over to Baron. FLY tries to find an angle to engage but Ceos is waiting in the wings and jumps on to Massu. He gets immediately blown up and taken out by Contractz.
SR chase after the retreating FLY, giving Bwipo and opportunity to get in behind them. He dives in and takes out Palafox. Bvoy manages to kill Inspired before he dies to Quad. Fudge and Contractz look for a kill but can’t find one, so everyone disengages. Perfect pick on to Massu waste. SR should have stayed on Baron. Fight goes 2-1 for FLY.
Massu almost gets taken out by Fudge. This starts a fight that, yet again, ends with low Health bars but no kills.
SR start up Baron. FLY hovers around. As the Baron gets low, Inspired wins the 50/50 Smite Fight and Steals it. To add insult to injury, Quad kills Contractz immediately afterwards. Bvoy takes out Inspired in retaliation before dying to Massu. Ceos avenges his partner by killing Massu.
SR disengage but Palafox is on the wrong side. He gets chased down by Bwipo, Quad, and Busio, with Quad getting the kill. Fight goes 3-1 for FLY and they get Baron.
As both teams set up for the 7th Drake (which will decide who gets Soul) Bvoy Blast Cones into the Dragon Pit, which they don’t have vision inside of, and lands in front of Quad, who deletes him in an instant.
This gifted kill is followed up by Contractz getting caught out and also dying to Quad. SR have to retreat while FLY, instead of taking the Drake, just march down Bot Lane, taking structures as they go.
SR attempts to defend but Bwipo chases down and kills Palafox. After taking the Base Bot Turret and Bot Inhibitor, FLY wrap around and take the Base Mid Turret. Only then do they back off. As the bulk of FLY distract SR, Massu dashes into the Dragon Pit (which SR still does have vision of) and solos the objective. FLY now has Infernal Soul.
When Baron spawn, FLY immediately starts it up. SR don’t even bother trying to contest. They take the objective and then move to Top Lane. They take the Base Top Turret, Top Inhibitor, and Mid Inhibitor in short order. Fudge attempts to engage on to Massu but his Ult is side-stepped again.
Bwipo dives into the backline, causing havoc. He does, eventually, go down to Palafox but it takes a considerable amount of time and gives his team the opportunity to take the Upper Nexus Turret. SR push FLY out of the Base but minions end up destroying the Lower Nexus Turret, leaving the Nexus completely exposed.
Once Bwipo respawns, FLY returns to SR’s Base. Massu destroys Bvoy, killing him with the Culling before Ceos could jump to him. He then deletes Ceos. Palafox dies to Bwipo, Contractz to Quad, and Fudge uses Unstoppable Onslaught to leave his own Base to survive. FLY take the respawned Bot Inhibitor and then end the game.
Post Game Analysis: Bad Calls Lead to Bad Outcomes
FLY ends the game at 47:50 with a 11.8 gold lead. The final score was 23-15 for FLY.
Again, another close game. However, unlike Game 2, SR made several mistakes this time around. First of all, Bvoy twice made bad calls, one after the fight near Baron Pit that gave FLY the ACE and a second time at Dragon Pit where he Blast Coned directly into Quad. Perhaps it was nerves, but both of these decisions cost his team greatly.
Another bad call was SR deciding to chase after FLY when they killed Massu at Baron. They should have just continued to take the objective. Contractz was backing off so they could have burst the Baron down fast to prevent a Smite Fight. And if Bwipo had come in there was enough of them there to CC him to death.
Ultimate, FLY won because they have more experience. SR is still a relatively new organization. They need more time in competitive play to understand what calls to make.
As this is playoffs, SR isn’t completely out of the tournament yet. They have simply been moved to the Lower Bracket. If they win there, they will still have a chance to make it to finals. That said, they will have to shore up their shortcomings if they want to win the whole Split.
On the other hand, FLY continues to cement itself as the team to beat this time around. If they continue to play like they have, it’s highly possible they will win the whole thing.
Terms
Early Game: Any time before 10 minutes, first outer tower down, or first level 10 (whichever comes first).
Mid Game: Between early game and either 20 minutes, 2 inner towns down, half the players are level 16, or 3rd dragon killed.
Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.
