[TLC] ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

One of the most anticipated match in The Legends Circuit 2014 Spring is about to take place; the match between the Malaysian 1^st place team, iSg KTHXBAI and the 4^th placed team, Nothing to Lose. 

This might be one of the most hyped up game for the entire season as being regular scrim partner, both teams know each other very well in terms of picks as well as play styles.

Both teams had undergo major role swaps and also roster changes compared to last season. 

Despite, iSg KTHXBAI maintaining their dominance in TLC Malaysia’s Qualifiers and League Series with a score of 13-1, the team seemed shaky. iSg KTHXBAI lost 3 games, one against the Kuala Lumpur Hunter, and another 2 against Mirrors (although the match was given to iSg KTHXBAI in the end due to a controversial issue).

However, the role swap and roster changes did not go too well for Nothing to Lose. After scrapping through the qualifiers with a 2-3 score in Group A, Nothing to Lose obtained a considerably mediocre performance during The Legends Circuit League Series with a score of 7-7 despite the team picking up Top laner, Jarlax as well as a new Support player, Camouuu.

The mediocre performance is attributed to Gloria being recently shift back into the Jungle as well as Poro Vu shifting to the Mid Lane as both of them are unfamiliar with their new role and was under performing. 

However, with 3 weeks of intensive practise schedule for Gloria and with NtL picking up new player in the likes of Atup such doge joining in the Mid Lane of NtL, they are looking to take back what they have lost.

MATCHUP ANALYSIS

Top Lane (Demon vs Jarlax)

Contested Picks: Shyvana and Renekton

Demon is currently known as one of the few strongest Top Laners in Malaysia. Picked up by iSg.KTHXBAI from his Shyvana play, Demon is an adept in playing Shyvana and has been carrying iSg KTHXBAI to victory in many occasions with her. If there is a word to describe Demon, it would be consistent. He would usually either win, or go even in his lanes – constantly pressuring the lanes. You would not usually see Demon loses his lane.

Jarlax on the other hand is a veteran in the Malaysian League of Legends scene. Jarlax got picked up by Nothing to Lose after the disbandment Paradox Gaming. While Demon plays a more traditional tanky top lane champions, Jarlax is known for his unorthodox champion pool with the likes of Lulu, which was picked 5 times in the League Series. However, Jarlax is also perfectly fine with playing traditional champion such as Shyvana and Renekton.

For this top lane match up, the key would be on whether or not Demon can manage to adapt to whatever Jarlax pulls off his sleeves. However, if the match up is played in a standard way, Demon would have a small advantage over Jarlax.

 Jungle (Ribena vs Gloria)

Contested Picks: Elise, Lee Sin and Kha’Zix

Ever since switching to the Jungle from the Marksman due to the departure of his support Ashdragon as well as Vyprex the former jungler of KTHXBAI, Ribena had been a solid jungler in every aspects. Ribena plays a very balanced style of jungle in terms of farm and gank pressure. His go-to champion, Elise and Vi usually helps the Mid Laner, Xare to pick players off for execution, snowballing the lanes in their favour. Due to the recent role swap from being the Marksman, Ribena is rather inexperienced in the jungle and might face trouble when he falls behind. However, with superior in-game mechanics from his time playing as Marksman, there should not be any chance of him falling behind unless some very unfortunate events happen.

Although Ribena is considered inexperienced, Gloria was shifted to the jungle even later than Ribena – only few days before the League Series. Gloria’s inability to adapt to the jungle is shown in most of the games as he went over-aggressive in most of the games, giving out unneeded kills for the enemy and costing the team their lanes. He plays a very carry-centric jungle champions such as Khazix, Pantheon and Elise who focuses on early lane pressures in order to snowball the game to victory. It is also worth to note that Gloria was once known (or self proclaimed) to be “Best Lee Sin MY” so it would be a pleasure to be able to see him playthe blind monk in any of the games.

Gloria plays are high risk, high reward style of jungler while Ribena is well-balanced in his play. The key factor to this match up is that Gloria needs to make great plays while taking a note of not getting caught out due to over-aggression. Ribena on the other hand needs to be able to control Gloria’s movement and to catch him out when he makes a play.

If Gloria manages to keep his cool, perhaps this is the beginning of the return of Jungle-ria.

Mid (Xare vs Atup such doge)

Contested Picks: Leblanc, Zed and Gragas

Xare is basically one of the best Mid Laner in Malaysia. Being at the top of the Challenger for a noticeable period of time, he excels in playing high burst assassins and mages to catch enemies off guard, deleting them from the map in matters of seconds. Xare have a very large champion pool and is impossible to ban out (Xare played a total of 6 champions in the League Series). While he is known to be great in Leblanc, he also plays farm heavy champions such as Gragas and Orianna. Being in the Mid Lane, Xare is usually the one being singled out and targeted by the enemy jungler. Thus, it is important for Xare to play smart, as well as his twin brother, Ribena to be there to back him up whenever he needs him.

While Xare is one of the most popular Mid Lane players in Malaysia, Atup such doge is literally an unknown player in the Mid Lane. Atup was previously known as 4moD Average, the Top Laner of 4moD and is known for his Jax, also hailed as one of the best Jax players in the server. He then shifted to the Marksman position, playing champions such as Vayne. After being picked up by Nothing to Lose, he plays the Mid Lane position for the team and his potential is yet to be seen. However, expect Atup to play hyper carries as he is always the main carry for the past teams that he played for.

Xare is one of the most prominent players in the Malaysia League of Legend scene in the Mid Lane, while Atup is generally new to the role. This match up can be related to the story of David vs Goliath. Will David (Atup) triumph over the giant Goliath (Xare)? Only time will tell!

Marksman (Mashiro/Stance vs Poromancer)

Contested Picks: Lucian, Jinx and Sivir

Mashiro, despite being relatively young, has been impressive during the course of TLC Spring - not dropping a single game in TLC. Despite being a hit or miss as mentioned by Ribena in his recent interview, it is yet to be seen how Mashiro would do in future games. If there is any problems for Mashiro, it would be his high risk, high return play that might turn things around badly if there any misplays happen. Stance however is the total opposite of Mashiro. While Mashiro makes risky but rewarding plays, Stance plays the lane safe and solidly. Stance also plays team fights well and it is proven during Game 2 against Kuala Lumpur Hunters as Vayne, coming back into the game despite a costly mistake early game that allowed JaeYoong to dominate the entire early to late game

Poromancer is deemed as one of the rising Marksman in the Malaysian League of Legends scene. In fact, in Camouuu’s vlog, he mentioned that a specific player in Kuala Lumpur Hunters hailed the Nothing to Lose bot lane duo as one of the strongest in Malaysia. Poromancer is also one of the veteran in the scene where he played as the support in Paradox Gaming for Qaspiel, who is ironically the current support of Kuala Lumpur Hunters. While Qaspiel moved to the support, Poromancer took the leap and decided to be the carry for Nothing to Lose. In terms of champion picks, Poromancer is a fan of Sivir as he picked Sivir for 6 games during the League Series followed by the traditional Lucian, Jinx and Caitlyn.

Poromancer will have to adapt in this match up as there is no telling who would be playing on that day. While he is definitely going into the game confidently, the suspense of who is playing (Mashiro or Stance) would be crazy. Poromancer would have to adapt well to different situation and play style if he is to win the matchup. However, the odds are definitely in Poromancer’s favour

Support (Fappy vs Camouuu)

Contested Picks: Morgana and Thresh

Fappy plays a very aggressive style of support at the Bot Lane together with Mashiro and Stance. While aggression usually helps to win lanes, the risk is huge. iSg KTHXBAI’s Bot Lane is always commented as a hit-or-miss because Fappy is able snowball leads very well with his aggression. However, when they fall behind, things tend to get bad as their inability to come back into the game. Fappy is an adept in champions that can hard-engage such as Morgana and Leona. This is very much opposed to what the old KTHXBAI prefer, in which Ashdragon would constantly lock in Thresh as his main support champion to pick people off.

As opposed to Fappy, Camouuu is an old guard of the Malaysian League of Legends scene. Camouuu heavily favours Morgana as his support pick, and will usually revert to the usual Thresh if it is picked or banned. Camouuu plays a very well balanced style of support with a little mix of aggression and also control. However, what is notably good in Camouuu is his understanding of the game. As a shout caster for the past TLC Finals, he have a very deep knowledge of the game and this will definitely be an additional factor to consider of what Camouuu brings into the match

While iSg KTHXBAI’s bot lane is relatively new, the Nothing to Lose bot lane much more experienced and well synergized in game experience and play style. Despite Fappy’s hyper-aggressive play style, Camouuu have a higher possibility to actually control Fappy’s aggression and punish him when he has the chance. In this matchup, I felt that Camouuu would have the advantage.

GAME PREDICTION

Match Score 3 - 2 

iSg KTHXBAI strength lies on their personal mechanics as well as the ability to snowball leads, read games and also close out the game. While the team do not necessary have the best team fight mechanics that they used to have, iSg KTHXBAI will usually come up on top during the laning phase and transition it slowly into objectives and finally snowballing the game to victory.

This is opposed to Nothing to Lose. While Nothing to Lose do not have a mechanical level as good as plays of iSg KTHXBAI, they have a very strong and knowledgeable team member in the likes of Support, TeddyTibbers and Camouuu. With the ample 3 weeks period for Nothing to Lose to prepare for the match, it is pretty obvious that Nothing to Lose would be very well prepared to break down their opponents with detailed analysis as well as game plan. Expect a very dominant early game from Nothing to Lose

My thoughts on the match would be summarized in two sentences:-

Nothing to Lose will have to come in with a well-prepared game plan to take down iSg KTHXBAI, while iSg KTXHBAI on the other hand needs to be able to adapt to whatever Nothing to Lose brings to the table. If iSg KTHXBAI manages to adapt to whatever Nothing to Lose place on the table, the game would be pretty much in their favour but if iSg KTHXBAI goes on tilt, it will be the end.

I predict a 3-2 match score with Nothing to Lose taking the first game, followed by iSg KTHXBAI taking the match due to their prowess in mechanics and play calling.

Disclaimer: All images are obtained from The Legends Circuit Official Website. All thoughts and opinion is 100% from Vyprex and does not represent any other organisations but himself