TL;DW – LTA North Edition: 1 Misstep Changes TL’s Fortunes in Game 2 Against C9
Week 6, Day 1 of LTA North Split 2. C9 vs TL. TL is on Blue, C9 is on Red. C9’s roster is Thanatos (top), Blaber (jungle), Loki (mid), Zven (bot), and Vulcan (support). TL roster is Impact (top), UmTi(jungle), APA (mid), Yeon (bot), and CoreJJ (support). C9 is 2-0, TL is 2-0. C9 won the first game. For more information on what early, mid, and late game means, see Terms at the bottom of the article.
Champion Selection: Push vs Poke
Initial ban phase as a few changes with Yone, Varus, Gwen, Kalista, Xin Zhao, and Vi being taken off the menu.
TL starts things off by picking Skarner. C9 responds with Corki and Lillia. TL lock in Lucian and Milio. C9 takes Nautilus before entering the second ban phase.
Again, the top lane is heavily targeted in this second ban phase as Jayce, Renekton, Viktor, and Ambessa are removed as options.
During the second phase of champion selection, C9 picks up Gnar, TL rounds out their team with Ziggs and Yorick, and C9 ends things by picking up Aurora. TL opt for split-pushing power while C9 go for poke and assassination.
Team comps are: TL – Yorick (top), Skarner (jungle), Ziggs (mid), Yeon (bot), CoreJJ(support) vs C9 – Gnar (top), Lillia (jungle), Aurora (mid), Corki (bot), Nautilus (support).
Early Game Highlights: C9 Take an Early Lead
UmTi goes heads towards top side. He and Impact poke at Thanatos, but it doesn’t really do much.
Because UmTi was top side, Blaber was able to predict his pathing and steals his Raptors. In response, UmTi paths back up top side and takes Blaber’s Krugs.
UmTi and CoreJJ try to interfere with Blaber taking his Gromp, but Zven and Vulcan come up to help. Vulcan hooks UmTi, and Blaber manages to kill him. Loki joins the fight, and C9 chase down Yeon. Zven Flashes to kill him. 2-0 for C9.
Zven gets caught out of position in bot lane. Yeon and CoreJJ capitalize, and CoreJJ gets the kill. While this happens, UmTi tries to steal Blaber’s Gromp again, but Blaber secures it, putting UmTi even more behind.
Blaber starts up the first Drake (Hextech). UmTi considers going in, but he’s too far behind and just leaves.
UmTi starts up the Voidgrubs. He manages to take 2 before C9 pushes him away. They take 1. The Grub score is now 2 for TL and 1 for C9.
Both bot lanes move to the top lane. Yeon tries to go in on Zven but starts getting chunked down. Blaber and UmTi join as TL retreat. Blaber is able to jump onto UmTi and take him down.
Yeon and CoreJJ get back to their turret, but Yeon steps out of position and gets hooked by Vulcan. Loki, who had been roaming up during all this, jumps in and kills Yeon. Fight goes 2-0 for C9.
Early game ends due to time. C9 lead in farm and gold (1.5k).
Mid Game Highlights: TL Figh Back
Thanatos and Impact skirmish in top lane. APA goes up to try and gank, but Thanatos gets away.
Blaber starts and takes the second Drake (Cloud) uncontested because UmTi is up top waiting in a bush to gank Loki. The gank succeeds, and APA gets the kill. They then take the outer top turret for First Turret.
3 members of TL go bot lane to help Impact gank Thanatos under turret. It works, and APA gets the kill. They use this opening to take the outer bot turret.
Yeon almost kills Blaber mid lane, allowing UmTi to take Rift Herald uncontested.
TL drop Herald mid and use it to take out both the outer and inner mid turrets.
Both teams gather around Dragon Pit for the third Drake (Ocean). Blaber starts it first. TL dive in and takes out Blaber (Yeon gets kill credit). In retaliation, Zven kills Yeon. Loki jumps into the Dragon Pit and takes out UmTi.
C9 slowly chip away at the Drake, baiting in the Ziggs’ ultimate. APA throws it out, but it doesn’t do enough damage to C9 to secure the objective. They are now at Soul Point. Fight goes 2-1 for C9.
Mid game ends with the death of the dragon. C9 retains their leads in gold (1.6k) and farm.
Late Game Highlights: Ripples into Tidal Waves
Impact pushes Loki out of bot lane while the rest of TL start up the Thornbound Atakhan. C9 hover around but decided not to try to contest. TL secure the objective.
Both teams gather around Dragon Pit for the fourth Drake. They poke at each other. Thanatos tries to come from behind to flank TL. Vulcan manages to hook Yeon, but he gets away. The fight turns in TL’s favor. CoreJJ kills Zven, and Yeon kills Vulcan. Blaber makes a half-hearted attempt to steal the Drake with a Swirlsee,d but UmTi secures the objective with a Smite. 2-0 for TL.
TL start up the Baron. C9 converge. TL pull off the Baron to deal with them. Loki and APA skirmish off to the side. Loki gets low and tries to use his Ultimate to hide, but walks into APA’s Ultimate and dies. With Loki down, C9 back off and TL gets the objective. 1-0 for TL.
TL start sieging C9’s base. Loki tries to teleport behind TL, who rotate in the other direction to avoid him. Thanatos jumps in and tries to lock down the Yeon and CoreJJ, but gets killed by APA instead.
Loki joins and starts clipping away at TL’s health bars, but he gets caught out by Impact, who deals enough damage to him that APA is about to burn him down. Zven manages to kill Impact. APA satchels over the wall of C9’s base, drops a minefield, and Flashes out.
Zven walks over 1 mine, and that is enough to burn him to death. C9 retreats, and TL goes back to sieging. 3-1 for TL.
After taking the base mid turret, TL rotates down to Dragon Pit and takes the fifth Drake.
TL start sieging C9’s base again. Yeon almost gets caught out, but Vulcan dies to APA instead. TL take out the mid inhibitor off the back of this.
TL rotate top and start trying to take the top inhibitor while poking C9. Milio kills Blaber, Yeon kills Thanatos, and APA takes out the inhibitor. TL consider ending, but C9 manages to deal enough damage to them to push them back. Fight goes 2-0 to TL and they get 2 inhibitors.
TL take Baron again and then try to siege the C9 base for a third time. Loki tries to Teleport behind TL, but APA stays behind to zone him off. Upper Nexus turret dies to minions. APA rejoins his team, giving Loki a chance to sneak in.
Loki takes out CoreJJ before dying to Yeon him. Vulcan, meanwhile, kills UmTi, who had been weakened by tanking shots from Zven. Yeon get jumped on and pushed back by Thanatos, killing him. Impact tries take out Blaber, but he goes golden and then works with this team to kill Impact. APA runs away. 4-1 for C9.
Off their victory, C9 head straight to the Dragon Pit and take the sixth Drake, claiming Ocean Soul.
TL start sieging for a fourth time. They manage to take the respawned mid inhibitor and then back off.
Both teams gather around Baron but C9 gets there first. Blaber starts it up as the rest of his team try to zone TL away. C9 slowly gets it low but don’t manage to secure it. APA steals the Baron with a Mega Inferno Bomb.
A fight breaks out. Loki dives into the backline of TL and takes out CoreJJ. He manages to get away thanks to his W. Without CoreJJ to heal and shield his team, Zven is able to take out Yeon and Impact (who killed Vulcan before he died). Blaber chases down and kills UmTi. Only APA survives, meaning he’s the only one with Baron buff. 4-1 to C9.
C9 heads down to Elder Dragon while TL are still respawning. APA tries to steal the objective, but he has no vision so all he does is help C9 take it slightly faster.
C9 force their way down multiple lanes, taking turrets as they go. They push TL off their base mid turret, taking it and the mid inhibitor before backing off.
Both teams push lanes, trying to find an opening.
Both teams try and gamble. C9 take Baron while TL try and rush down the Red Nexus. Thanatos manages to distract TL enough that they don’t start attacking the remaining Nexus turret, giving C9 time to back and charge at TL.
Loki instantly eliminates Impact. He keeps diving forward and manages to take out Yeon as well. UmTi splits off from his team and gets chased down and killed by Blaber. C9 barrels down mid lane, with a small detour to try and kill APA (who manages to Teleport away). Loki continues down the detour and kills CoreJJ before rejoining C9. 4-0 for C9.
C9 arrives at TL’s base. Thanatos gets behind APA and pushing him backwards so that Loki can kill him (finally). C9 then finish the game.
Post Game Analysis: C9 Manage to Claim Top Standing in LTA North
C9 ends the game at 48:03 with a 6.5k gold lead. The final score is 20-15 for C9.
This game is an example of how 1 small mistake and 1 change in approach can alter the outcome of a game. Had APA continued to zone Loki, it is likely that TL would have won the battle at C9’s base and finished the game.
Likewise, Loki’s decision to start targeting CoreJJ instead of Yeon allowed his team to finally win a team fight. As powerful as Yeon was, the only reason he was able to be so powerful was because of CoreJJ’s support. Without it, he fell easily. Both of these decisions changed the course of the game.
After this series, C9 are 3-0, while TL is 2-1. They are both still the Top 2 teams in Group A but TL’s future is more slightly less certain than C9’s.
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.
