TL;DW – LTA North Edition: FLY vs C9 Game 4 is Ruled by Over Aggression
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, C9 won Games 2 and 3. For more information on what Early, Mid, and Late Game mean, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: Around the Map in 3 Semi-Globals
1st ban phase sees Gwen, Vi, Sivir, Kalista, Ahri, and Yorick removed.
FLY grabs Taliyah right off the bat. C9 responds with Pantheon and Aurora. FLY counters with Corki and Nautilus. Jayce was picked by C9 before the 2nd ban phase.
C9 targets the Top Lane by removing Ornn and Gragas. FLY, likewise, targets Support by taking away Leona and Bard.
When champion selection starts up again, C9 locks in Braum. FLY rounds out their team with Nocturne and Cho’Gath. C9 closes things out with Tristana. FLY have strong pick options and 2 semi-global champions. C9 is more burst/poke oriented and only has 1 semi-global champion.
Team comps are: FLY – Cho’Gath (top), Nocturne (jungle), Taliyah (mid), Corki (bot), Nautilus (support) vs C9 – Jayce (top), Pantheon (jungle), Aurora (mid), Tristana (bot), Braum (support).
Early Game Highlights: A Surprisingly Bloody Start
A boring start to the game means we get another interview. Joy.
Blaber gets caught out in the Bot River by Inspired and FLY’s Bot Duo. Even though Vulcan and Zven converge to help him, he gives 1st Blood over to Inspired. However, Loki arrives and turns the fight into a killing field for C9. He takes out Inspired, Busio, and Quad, with Zven killing Massu to finish things off. Fight goes 4-1 for C9.
Loki is able to poke down both Quad and Inspired, keeping them from intervening as C9 takes the 1st Drake (Hextech) uncontested.
Inspired invades C9’s Red Jungle as Blaber is working on Red Buff. He engages and is joined by Quad via the Weaver’s Wall. Together, they take down Blaber with Inspired getting the kill and the Red Buff. They then rotate over towards Top Lane and, using Paranoia, dive onto Thanatos under the Turret. He dies to Massu (who was already in lane with Busio).
While Inspired starts up the Voidgrubs, Bwipo, in Bot Lane, has to deal with a 3-man gank. Despite his best efforts, he dies to Loki. Inspired has to pull off the Voidgrubs.
Early Game ends with C9 ahead in gold by 1.3k and also ahead in farm.
Mid Game Highlights: FLY Fight Back
Inspired returns to the Voidgrubs and takes all 3 uncontested.
Blaber starts the 2nd Drake (Hextech), solo, as both teams race to try and see who can take a Turret 1st. Inspired and Quad target the Outer Top Turret while Vulcan and Zven go for the Outer Bot.
Bwipo manages to slip through C9’s zoning and kill the minions attacking the Turret, forcing C9 to back off. This allows FLY to claim the 1st Turret of the game. However, Blaber does secure the Drake.
FLY attempts a gank on to Thanatos in Bot Lane, expending Quad’s TP to do it. All they manage to get is Thanatos’ Flash and Loki’s TP. Bwipo stays in Bot Lane after the failed gank only to get ganked himself. He dies to Thanatos.
Blaber gets caught out in Bot River and dies to the respawned Bwipo, who TPed in just for the kill.
Vulcan gets caught slightly out of position in Mid Lane and gets jumped on by all of FLY. He dies to Massu. C9 tries to converge afterwards, with Blaber Ulting in and Loki pincering from behind. While Zven is able to take out Vulcan, Inspired drops Loki, Quad removes Thanatos, and Massu deletes Blaber. The fight goes 4-1 for FLY, who rotate over to start up the 3rd Drake (Ocean).
While Inspired fights the Drake, Bwipo, Massu, and Quad dive Zven under the Turret and kill him (Massu gets the credit). Inspired then secures the Drake uncontested.
Mid Game ends with FLY now the ones ahead in gold (by 2.1k) and in farm.
Late Game Highlights: Almost a Fumble
Inspired and Bwipo go to Bot Lane and kill Thanatos together. Thanatos gets the credit.
FLY takes the Rift Herald uncontested.
C9 starts up the Atakhan on spawn. FLY arrives to potentially contested. They dance around for a while, looking for an angle, before Quad attempts to engage with the Weaver’s Wall. It gets blocked by Vulcan’s Shield, but Bwipo comes in from behind C9, causing them to spread out. Zven moves too far away from his team and is immediately jumped on and taken out by Inspired.
The rest of C9 retreats, and FLY takes over the Atakhan. Bwipo and Busio rotate up to try and find some more kills. They manage to hook – engage with Blaber, but the other members of C9 are around to help. Massu and Quad both roam up to assist his teammates as well.
Bwipo ends up dying to Blaber first. Busio is the next to fall. He dies to Loki. However, C9 are low at this point, so Massu is able to take out Thanatos. Blaber uses his Grand Starfall to try and Steal the Atakhan, but Inspired secures it before he arrives. Blaber kills Inspired instead but dies to Massu immediately afterwards.
Quad chases down and kills Vulcan. Loki tries to kite and fight, but Massu and Quad back off when they see Zven has arrived after respawning. Fight goes 4-3 for FLY, who also gets the Atakhan.
C9 starts up the 4th Drake, but FLY is around to contest. Bwipo walks straight into C9 to start the fight off. C9 manages to stay compact enough that FLY isn’t able to pick anyone off, and Bwipo ends up dying to Blaber. FLY backs off, and C9 secures the Drake. They are now on Soul Point.
FLY starts up the Baron on spawn. C9 moves over to investigate. Vulcan arrives 1st and gets poked low, so he has to back off. FLY then all jump onto Loki, but he’s able to kite back. Bwipo ends up being the 1st to drop. He goes down to Blaber.
Both teams back off, but FLY reengages with Blaber. He gets low but escapes. The rest of C9 converge, and Zven is able to take out Inspired and Busio. Fight goes 3-0 for C9, who rotates over and secures the Baron. As C9 leaves the Baron Pit, Bwipo TPs in, cuts off Thanatos’ escape, and kills him.
Both teams position around the Dragon Pit for the 5th Drake. FLY is in a better position and starts it up when it spawns. Loki tries to wrap around and flank FLY but gets spotted out. Inspired dives onto Loki, who leaps into the Dragon Pit. Inspired follows with Flash. Loki gets trapped in the pit and dies to Massu a split second before Busio dies to Zven.
Quad hits a 3-man Seismic Shove, which allows him to take out Zven. Massu then takes out both Thanatos and Blaber. Vulcan, the last one left, knows he can’t escape, so makes an attempt at fighting back. He dies to Massu as well for the ACE. Bwipo then secures the Drake. Fight goes 5-1 to FLY.
Off the back of this fight, FLY is able to march up Mid Lane and end the game.
Post Game Analysis: LTA North Split 2 Finals is Going To Game 5
FLY ends the game at 29:13 with a 4.5k gold lead. The final score was 20-15.
Overaggression almost cost FLY the series, specifically Bwipo’s. However, they managed to regroup and pull through in the end. The specific move that won the game for them was Inspired using Paranoia on Loki in the last Drake fight. I don’t think he was expecting to be the target. He ended up trapping himself in the Dragon Pit and dying as a result.
C9 could have won this game, but they got outplayed in the end. I can understand why they wanted to try and flank with Loki again, it worked so well the last time, but once he was spotted out, he probably should have just backed off and grouped up with his team.
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.
