TL;DW – LTA North Edition: FLY Snowball C9 in Game 2
Week 4, Day 2 of the LTA North Split 2 Playoffs. This is the Finals! FLY vs C9. FLY is on Blue, C9 is on Red. FLY’s roster is Bwipo (top), Inspired (jungle), Quad (mid), Massu (bot), and Busio (support). C9’s roster is Thanatos (top), Blaber (jungle), Loki (mid), Zven (bot), and Vulcan (support). FLY won Game 1. For more information on what Early, Mid, and Late Game mean, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: An Old Combo Returns
Casseopia, Vi, Yorick, Taliyah, Sett, and Gwen are banned out.
C9 1st picks Yone. FLY locks in Annie and Trundle. Maokai and Ambessa are taken next by C9. To close out the 1st set of picks, FLY grabs Aatrox.
Ziggs, Kalista, Senna, and Nautilus were removed out during the 2nd ban phase.
Lucian is picked by FLY as they return to champ select. C9 closes out their team with Ezreal and Karma. FLY finishes things off by locking in Nami. C9’s comp has high mobility and good wombo-combo potential with excellent CC. FLY also has good CC options and quite a bit of burst potential.
Team comps are: C9 – Ambessa (top), Maokai (jungle), Yone (mid), Ezreal (bot), Karma (support) vs FLY – Aatrox (top), Trundle (jungle), Annie (mid), Lucian (bot), Nami (support).
Early Game Highlights: C9 Takes an Early Lead
Warding and farming and poking, oh my.
Bwipo goes Bot Lane with Busio and forces Zven to both recall and burn his Flash. This allows FLY to take the 1st Drake (Cloud) uncontested.
Blaber heads to Top Lane to gank Massu and Busio with Thanatos. Through a combination of Public Execution and Nature’s Grasp, they are able to keep the Bot Lane Duo of FLY in place long enough for Thanatos to kill Busio for 1st Blood. Massu is able to escape.
C9 takes all 3 Voidgrubs uncontested.
Early Game ends with C9 ahead in gold by 1.4k and also ahead in farm.
Mid Game Highlights: C9 Keep Control
Blaber ganks Bot Lane and locks up Busio with Nature’s Grasp (Massu Cleansed). Zven gets the kill. Massu sticks around after the initial gank, only to get dove under Turret. He also dies to Zven. Fight (if you want to call it that) goes 2-0 to C9.
As C9 rotates over to start up the 2nd Drake (Mountain), Quad gets spotted out and jumped on by Blaber. Inspired and Busio arrive to help him, and C9 returned to taking the Drake. Busio uses Tidal Wave to try to give Inspired an opportunity to Steal the objective, but Blaber manages to secure it anyway.
C9 tries to leave, but Blaber gets zoned out and killed by Massu. Fight goes 1-0 for FLY, but C9 secures the Drake.
FLY force Loki out of Bot Lane and take the Outer Turret for 1st Turret of the game.
C9 3-man dives Bwipo under Turret in Top Lane. It takes them a little while, but he eventually goes down to Zven.
C9 takes the Rift Herald uncontested.
Massu uses his Ultimate to force Zven to Flash over a wall.
C9 drops the Rift Herald in the Mid Lane and uses it to take the Outer Turret. While Shelly does its work in Mid Lane, C9 rotates down and secures the 3rd Drake (Infernal) uncontested.
Mid Game ends with C9 still ahead in gold (now by 2.5k) and farm.
Late Game Highlights: Wombo-Combo of Doom in LTA North
Busio and Massu spotted out in Bot River by C9. They are chased into FLY’s Blue Jungle, and Massu is Rooted by Nature’s Grasp. While Massu is able to Cleanse and escape, Busio dies yet again, this time to Vulcan.
C9 starts up the Atakhan. FLY dances around for a little bit, looking for an opportunity to go in. As the Atakhan gets low, Blaber uses Nature’s Grasp to try and keep FLY from coming in. Inspired and Bwipo both avoid it and get in close. Inspired gets killed by Loki, but Bwipo manages to Steal the Atakhan.
C9 now moves to try and rout FLY. Thanatos kills Massu. Bwipo and Quad try to turn the tides by killing Thanatos and Loki, respectively, but they both eventually fall to Zven. Busio also dies to Zven for the ACE. Fight goes 5-2 for C9, but FLY gets Atakhan.
C9 starts up the 4th Drake. FLY comes in to contest. Bwipo takes out Vulcan, but Inspired gets low and has to leave, allowing Blaber to secure the Drake without issue. C9 then turns their full attention onto FLY. Loki deletes Quad, Zven takes out Inspired, and Thanatos eliminates Busio. Bwipo manages to escape. Fight goes 4-1 for C9, who are now on Soul Point.
While Bwipo was able to get away from the fight, he gets 4-man dove under his Inner Mid Turret and dies to Zven.
C9 engages on to FLY in Bot River. Massu gets dropped low and killed by Blaber. Bwipo retaliates by taking out Thanatos. FLY then tries to run away, but C9 gives chase. Bwipo turns and tries to fight C9 3v1. He is unable to take out Zven and dies to him instead. His team, however, is able to get away thanks to his sacrifice. Fight goes 2-1 for C9.
After the fight, C9 rotates over and takes the Baron uncontested.
As C9 sieges FLY’s Base, Bwipo TPs in behind to try and get a flank angle. He’s able to engage with Zven, but he just Arcane Shifts to safety. C9 converge and engage on to the rest of FLY. Loki takes down Inspired and Busio, Zven drops Bwipo, and Loki kills Massu. With only Quad left to defend, C9 ends the game.
Post Game Analysis: We Have Ourselves A Series
C9 ends the game at 27:49 with a 13.3k gold lead. The final score was 21-5.
C9 pulled the trigger first, and FLY couldn’t cope. Both teams have good CC, but C9 acted first, got early kills, and snowballed. The mobility of C9’s comp also came into play. They were able to avoid a lot of FLY’s power because of it.
If FLY had been a touch more proactive/if their early plays had been more effective, they might have stood more of a chance. Still, given that this is a fearless series, this is only game 2, so there are plenty of opportunities for a comeback.
Terms
Early Game: Any time before 10 minutes, first Outer Turret down, or first level 10 (whichever comes first).
Mid Game: Between Early Game and either 20 minutes, 2 Inner Turrets down, half the players are level 16, or 3rd dragon killed.
Late Game: Any time after Mid Game.
