TL;DW – LTA North Edition: LYON Schooled by C9
Week 1, Day 1 of LTA North Split 3. C9 vs LYON. C9’s roster is Thanatos (Top), Blaber (Jungle), Loki (Mid), Zven (Bot), and Vulcan (Support). LYON’s roster is Yayo (Top), Oddielan (Jungle), Saint (Mid), Hena (Bot), and Lyonz (Support). For more information on what Early, Mid, and Late Game means, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Game 1: Lack of Commitment Wrecks LYON
The 1st set of bans takes out Poppy, Pantheon, Galio, Gwen, Neeko, and Renekton from the equation. The 2nd set removes Braum, Jhin, Bard, and Ezreal. C9 draft a comp with strong pick potential by taking Rumble (Top), Vi (Jungle), Taliyah (Mid), Varus (Bot), and Rakan (Support). LYON, on the other hand, favors the powerful engage potential of Sion (Top), Trundle (Jungle), Azir (Mid), Sivir (Bot), and Alistar (Support).
Some aggression in the Early Game this series. Oddielan, Hena, and Lyonz attempt to dive Thanatos in the Top Lane. Though Thanatos dies in the end, LYON failed to juggle the Turret aggro properly, so LYON actually ends up being the one to die 1st. As a result of this play, C9 are able to take the 1st Drake (Ocean) uncontested.
LYON starts up the Voidgrubs. C9 tries to contest, but LYON are able to secure all of the Grubs and get a kill on to Blaber (who failed to Flash over the Jungle wall). The Early Game ended with LYON ahead in kills 2-1 and also ahead in gold by 600.
LYON is able to rotate over to the 2nd Drake (Infernal) faster than C9. Though they secure the objective, the ensuing fight goes poorly for LYON. They lose 4 members, while C9 only loses 1. Despite killing Thanatos in Bot Lane, LYON’s overaggression ends up costing them another 3 kills, as well as the Rift Herald. The score is now 9-4 in C9’s favor. Rift Herald is used Mid to take the Outer Turret. C9 also claims the 3rd Drake (Hextech) uncontested. Mid Game ends with C9 now the ones ahead by 3.7k gold and ahead in kills 10-5.
A fight for Atakhan leads to C9 claiming the objective and raising the score to 13-6 in their favor. They also secure the 4th Drake off the back of their team fight win. An attempt to catch Loki out in the Top River leads to LYON getting ACEd. Fortunately, there are no objectives besides Turrets for C9 to go for.
As both teams set up for Baron, LYON attempts an engage on Zven, only for C9 to counter and grab 2 kills. They then secure Baron uncontested. Using Baron Buff, C9 takes the 5th Drake (giving them Hextech Soul), then breaks into LYON Base and ends the game at 29:05 with a 17.2k gold lead. The final score was 26-6.
Game 2: C9 Force LYON to Play Their Game
The 1st set of bans takes out Poppy, Pantheon, Ambessa, Galio, Gwen, and Xin Zhao from the equation. The 2nd set removes Neeko, Ziggs, Lucian, and Ezreal. LYON go for a split-pushing team by taking Gragas (Top), Wukong (Jungle), Ryze (Mid), Aphelios (Bot), and Braum (Support). C9’s draft is more scaling and engage-oriented with Renekton (Top), Skarner (Jungle), Oriana (Mid), Senna (Bot), and Rell (Support) selected.
An invasion by C9 of LYON’s Red Side Jungle leads to a scrap that only costs Zven his life. He has to burn his Ghost to survive. This Early Game aggression is expanded upon when Oddielan ganks Mid with Saint to kill Loki for 1st Blood. C9 responds with a gank of their own in Bot Lane, which leads to them getting 2 kills.
The rest of the Early Game is rather calm, with both teams trading objectives. LYON gets all 3 Voidgrubs and C9 gets the 1st Drake (Ocean). The Early Game ends with C9 ahead in gold by 1.3k and also ahead in kills by 2-1.
The mid-game starts off with Blaber ganking Bot Lane with his Bot Duo and them getting a kill on Hena. Though LYON are able to kill Zven right before the 2nd Drake (Chemtech) spawns, C9 is still able to secure it and get 2 kills. They then dive LYON’s Bot Duo under Tower, killing them and taking the Turret. C9 also claims the Rift Herald, which they use to take the Outer Mid Turret. The mid-game ends with C9 ahead in kills by 8-2 and ahead in gold by 6.5k.
C9 grabs the 3rd Drake (Cloud) uncontested to start off the Late Game. After securing it, they move over to the Atakhan immediately. When LYON arrives to contest and, though they don’t get any kills off the bat, Oddielan is able to Steal away the objective. However, in retaliation, C9 ACE LYON.
Zven gets caught out in the mid-game and goes down, but C9 are able to respond with 3 kills of their own. Later, while C9 takes the 4th Drake (granting them Cloud Soul), Thanatos gets dove under the Turret by 3 members of LYON. Though he dies in the end, he survives long enough for Zven, Loki, and Vulcan to arrive. There is a trade of kills, and the fight ends up going 3-2 for C9. The score is now 20-5 in C9’s favor.
C9 secures the Baron uncontested and use it to break open LYON’s Base through Top Lane. They then rotate Mid, take the inhibitor, ACE LYON, and end the game at 29:09 with a 15.3k gold lead. The final score was 25-5.
Post Series Analysis: Over Aggression Still Alive and Kicking in LTA North
Where to begin? I guess the best way to start is to say that LYON failed to play towards the win conditions. They drafted an engage comp in the 1st Game, only to chicken out every time they tried to start a fight. As for the 2nd Game, they drafted a team that was better for split-pushing/roaming, but spent most of their time team-fighting. They need to work on sticking to their initial game plan.
That said, C9 also demonstrated considerable mastery of the game and excellent teamwork. They were able to capitalize on LYON poor calls and overaggression. That is another thing I should mention. LYON needs to learn to calm down and not overreach. Admittedly, this is something all of the LTA North needs to work on.
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.
