LOL eSports – CBLOL Top Plays and Strategy Breakdown 6/7

Notes for Tomorrow’s LOL eSports CBLOL Slate

CBLOL is back in full swing and we are breaking it down for you game by game with predictions, the top plays and detailed discussions. These games will continue to be best of 1s.

6/7 CBLOL Slate 12pm ET (4 Games)

ITZ (+134) vs FLA (-180)

Expected starting lineups:
ITZ: Tay, Shini, Envy, Mills, RedBert
FLA: Bankai, Ranger, Goku, Luskka, Reven

Even without their full roster playing, FLA still showed fight against favourites PNG. As expected, Goku and Ranger were still making plays and helped FLA get ahead early in the game. This team is expected to be one of the top teams in the CBLOL this split, so showing a good performance against a league favourite without their full roster is a good sign. There were clear signs that they were not fully on the same page however. They made some mistakes in the mid game and ended up losing off of it. Notably they went for an ill-advised Baron call and got heavily punished. That was the beginning of the end for them.

ITZ and FUR played a very slow paced game with not much actual action for most of the game. FUR had a large lead early game and even managed to get the dragon soul. However, ITZ played well to not fall too far behind and managed to keep up until the late game. Envy had a fantastic game and kept ITZ in the game until they were able to outscale the FUR composition. Envy and Shini both played well, but it definitely showed that both these two teams were not fantastic. It was a good comeback from ITZ but as of now I am not convinced they are particularly good.

Both these teams did win their first game, but against different levels of competition. FLA almost took down one of the best teams in the league and ITZ managed to defeat one of the weaker teams. Even without FLA’s full lineup, they showed that they can still compete at a good level. They need better execution in the mid game but I don’t think ITZ will push them as hard as PNG did. Of course with the volatility of the CBLOL and this being a Bo1, anything can happen. FLA are the better team and deservedly are the favourites, as long as they clean up their decision making process a bit they should take this game.

Players to watch (ITZ): Shini, Envy, Mills
Players to watch (FLA): Ranger, Goku, Luskka

If unfamiliar, a lot of statistics for your research can be found in our LOL – Research Station.  And, as VIPs, you can always ask us questions in the appropriate eSports channels.  After all, that’s why you are a member….to take your game more seriously than your competition!!

 

PRG (-148) vs FUR (+111)

Expected Starting Lineups:
PRG: fNb, Yampi, dyNquedo, Garo, Wos
FUR: tyrin, st1ng, Anyyy, Alternative, Damage

PRG played a very exciting game yesterday. They were ahead by a large margin and looked to be a lock to win the game, but the game dragged on too long. There were small mistakes here and there that allowed KBM to stay in the game, and eventually the combo of Aphelios and Yuumi was too strong and they could not beat them anymore. PRG still played a very solid game with lots of early pressure, and managed to turn that into a huge lead. Prodigy eventually got out-scaled, but they did play a good game up until that point. They look pretty solid and dyNquedo was excellent in his debut with PRG. Garo and Wos had a very good KDA ratio, but their impact on the game in the later stages was minimal at best. This team has some solid potential in them to be a playoff team, but they need to be able to finish out games in a cleaner fashion to prevent more comeback losses.

FUR disappointed me in their first match. They came out with a composition that I did not like at all, and while they were able to gain an edge early in the game with this composition, they are simply not good enough to completely steamroll the other team. They FUR got most of the objectives throughout the game and even had Dragon Soul. This did not matter as their champions fell off hard and this falls upon their draft. Playing hard to execute early game compositions is not something lower tier teams should aim for, and this hurt them in the long run. Tyrin was getting caught out a lot, and made quite a few poor engages as well. They will definitely need him to play better if they want to beat PRG.

PRG almost got across the finish line against KBM but fell short at the final hurdle. FUR were also ahead early game but I hated their draft and it ended up being one of the main reasons they lost. They were so easily out-scaled and even with a Dragon Soul they could not win. Losing Minerva was a big loss for them and I do not think they have any particularly notable star players. I give the edge to PRG, but if PRG cannot clean up their late game decision making, then maybe FUR can come back if they put together a decent draft.

Players to watch (PRG): dyNquedo, Yampi, fNb
Players to watch (FUR): Anyyy, Alternative, Damage

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KBM (+102) vs VK (-135)

Expected Starting Lineups:
KBM: Yang, Revolta, Tutsz, Dudstheboy, Ceos
VK: Hidan, Minerva, Nosferus, Klaus, Professor

This looks to be another pretty close match between very similar teams.

KBM as mentioned in yesterday’s article are no longer the dominant champions that they were at the end of last split. Yang and Revolta were downgrades from the previous roster, but they are still decent players. Against PRG yesterday KBM showed some very smart macro play and were able to stall the game from a massive deficit while allowing their composition to scale up. They drafted a pretty standard composition but they were all very strong picks. They definitely out-drafted PRG and it showed once it got to the late game. There were quite a few mistakes in the early and mid game that allowed PRG to get such a big lead in the first place, but they were able to right their wrongs. This team still looks pretty good but I wouldn’t expect them to get the same combo of such strong champions again.

VK are another team that I believe downgraded their roster this past off-season. Both Grell and Robo were huge to their success in the first split, but they are no longer with the team. This downgrade was quite noticeable in their first match. Even though they focused so much attention towards top lane, there was still very little impact from both of their new players. The strengths of this team lie in their mid and bot lane, but they did not really get a chance to show it. They were heavily outmatched in the macro game, and having a pretty useless jungler and carry top laner played a part in that. They could get it together as the split goes on, but as of now they do not look particularly good.

I see both these teams as pretty similar in terms of skill. Both teams have new players and both will probably not be as good as they were last split. I expect both these teams to be in the middle of the pack, anywhere in the 4-6 region. Either team could win this best of 1, but based on the first games we saw from each team, I do like KBM to win this one. VK make for a fine GPP choice.

Players to watch (KBM): Revolta, Dudstheboy, Ceos
Players to watch (VK): Nosferus, Klaus, Professor

 

PNG (-141) vs SAN (+106)

Expected Starting Lineups:
PNG: Robo, Cariok, tinowns, brTT, esA
SAN: JackPoT, Hy0g4, Rainbow, Juzo, Hawk

This should be a very good match-up.

PNG’s new star studded lineup fell behind a bit early game due to some early blunders by Cariok. He may have been a little nervous and not fully in sync with his new teammates. This basically led to PNG having no early game pressure and relying on brTT’s famous Draven to scale up and carry. After the early mistakes made by PNG, they recovered and played very well afterwards. They took advantage of FLA’s mistakes and punished them hard for it. This team may take some time to fully be integrated with one another, but it is a very skilled roster with threats in every role.

Santos is a very exciting team. They pulled off the upset against VK in clean fashion even after falling behind early game. Minerva and VK made sure to focus on one of Santos’ strengths, Jackpot in the top lane. He got camped extremely hard and fell behind heavily. Despite that, Santos maintained strong dragon control as Hyoga continued his strong run of form. This was also a relatively slow paced game, as Santos just took over the map and won through objective play. When team-fights came, their other star player Rainbow was there to answer the call and carry the fights. This team looks very solid, and I expect a top 4 performance from them this split.

This game will have a lot of focus on the mid lane match up. Rainbow and tinowns are both spectacular players who can carry their teams. Top, jungle and mid are all pretty even in my opinion, but the bot lane does look to me like PNG have the edge. I give PNG the edge in terms of experience and a very slight edge in individual skill but this could be a prime upset spot. SAN make for a fantastic GPP play on this slate and are a great underdog.

Players to watch (PNG): tinowns, Robo, brTT
Players to watch (SAN): Rainbow, JackPot, Hyoga