Chinese rivals meet one last time in Busan
Riot·10/1/2014, 10:58:17 PM·0 votes·8,269 views
Star Horn Royal Club (SHRC), first seed from Group B, will face Edward Gaming (EDG), second seed from Group A, at the League of Legends 2014 World Championship Quarterfinals in Busan, Korea. The two rivals from China are no strangers to high level competition. EDG won the final Best of 3 against SHRC earlier this year at the LPL Regionals, picking up the China’s first seed for Worlds. SHRC has a shot at redemption in the Quarterfinal Best of 5. Who will win in their latest confrontation? We’ve got the rundown.
Though EDG’s and SHRC’s passage out of their groups may not have been smooth, SHRC’s initial predictions still came to pass. Now, both teams look forward to their match in Busan. EDG’s Feng “Fzzf” Zhuojun said it best in a recent interview. “I would rather fight a foreign team, but since we couldn’t make it skill-wise we could only get the second seed from our group. We will do our best training in ten days and have a wonderful game against Royal Club.”
Part of what makes the matchup between Edward Gaming and Star Horn Royal Club so interesting is the stylistic miss-match. EDG is prone to playing slow games and holding out against more lane-dominant opponents until late game. There, they use their superb zoning and Zhu “NaMei” Jiawen’s positioning to take control of games in team fights around Baron.
For SHRC, their wins start in the laning phase. They rely upon jungler Choi “inSec” Inseok to gank lanes early and give his team a hefty lead. With increasingly risky plays, they look to take the enemy Nexus within 30 minutes whenever possible.
One can easily build a case for either team to triumph. Though both have an extensive record of games against OMG in the Playoffs and Regionals, EDG and SHRC only faced each other in one Best of 3 to determine the first and second seed at Worlds. The series went the full three games, failing to cast either team as a definitive superior. With little decisive evidence to go on, the Best of 5 at Worlds could easily propel either team to the Semifinals.
In Regionals, Star Horn Royal Club would meet Edward Gaming for the third time. In all three games, EDG would again fall behind early. Then their ability to get picks and choose fights in vision-cleared corridors would allow them to get back into the game. In the first and third games of the Best of 3, EDG triumphed with comeback plays, sieges, and Baron baits. In the second game, SHRC pressured hard and fast and failed to give EDG an inch until the game ended. EDG won the first seed for China, but SHRC finished the season with a 4-3 winning record over EDG.
When EDG plays to their strengths, they stall out games, often losing multiple lanes and falling behind as much as 10,000 gold -- only to make a triumphant comeback with a single team-fight victory. This is the strategy that allowed them to secure China’s No. 1 seed going into the World Championship, and it’s something they can return to against an oftentimes over-eager SHRC.
EDG’s late game control makes games where they pick up an early lead all the more devastating. In the 2014 LPL Regional Qualifiers against OMG, EDG abused OMG’s aggressive dives and teleports to pick up an early lead. They then transitioned to the dragon to start team-fighting early. A scattered and strangled OMG surrendered in 22 minutes.
If this EDG shows up in Busan, they’re suited to punish SHRC for their aggressive playstyle. Star Horn is, in every way, the team that plays hard and fast in an attempt to force an advantage. In a 2v2 scenario, Uzi will almost always pick up a farm and kill lead. EDG often places emphasis on vision denial, and with an early sweeper, they can punish any over-aggressive plays in SHRC’s bottom lane.
Even if this more tightly controlled EDG fails to show, their late game execution can reverse a potential loss. Uzi is prone to over-extending. A single catch around Baron plays into EDG’s strengths, and they’ve won games from behind off less.
That is not to say that Star Horn doesn’t have a chance against Edward Gaming. Their Summer head-to-head record of 4-3 is tipped slightly in SHRC’s favor, and it’s hard to deny they’ve put up a more impressive showing at the 2014 World Championship Group Stage. Uzi achieved a 10.3 KDA and a 457 gold per minute value in his six Group Stage games. By comparison, all members of EDG struggled with an overall average KDA of 4.41.
Further, though EDG excels at playing the comeback game, an early pressure style can still spell doom for them if their opponents snowball too far ahead. If SHRC can secure a lead and then avoid getting picked off or fighting head-on around Baron, they can close the game without allowing EDG to play to their strengths.
Additionally, if Star Horn executes their style well and snowballs the laning phase off ganks across the map, they should naturally counter EDG’s more reserved laning phase. It’s only with overzealous positioning and a lack of wards in the mid and late game that SHRC might fall prey to EDG’s flanking and team-fighting.
The first rift in a regional fanbase is drawn as we approach the all-Chinese faceoff on Sunday.
Preparing for the face-off
It comes as no surprise to the two Chinese teams, at least, that they’d be facing off against one another in the Quarterfinals. Star Horn Royal Club stated as much shortly after the initial Group Stage draw was announced in September, predicting that groups would shake out the way they did. With Edward Gaming against Samsung White, AHQ Esports Club, and Dark Passage, it seemed they were a shoe-in for second seed in Group A. Very few suspected Dark Passage and AHQ could take a single game against EDG, and Samsung White was heavily favored to walk away with the top seed. Star Horn were also confident they could grab the first seed in Group B against Team SoloMid, Taipei Assassins, and SK Gaming.
Though EDG’s and SHRC’s passage out of their groups may not have been smooth, SHRC’s initial predictions still came to pass. Now, both teams look forward to their match in Busan. EDG’s Feng “Fzzf” Zhuojun said it best in a recent interview. “I would rather fight a foreign team, but since we couldn’t make it skill-wise we could only get the second seed from our group. We will do our best training in ten days and have a wonderful game against Royal Club.”
Part of what makes the matchup between Edward Gaming and Star Horn Royal Club so interesting is the stylistic miss-match. EDG is prone to playing slow games and holding out against more lane-dominant opponents until late game. There, they use their superb zoning and Zhu “NaMei” Jiawen’s positioning to take control of games in team fights around Baron.
For SHRC, their wins start in the laning phase. They rely upon jungler Choi “inSec” Inseok to gank lanes early and give his team a hefty lead. With increasingly risky plays, they look to take the enemy Nexus within 30 minutes whenever possible.
One can easily build a case for either team to triumph. Though both have an extensive record of games against OMG in the Playoffs and Regionals, EDG and SHRC only faced each other in one Best of 3 to determine the first and second seed at Worlds. The series went the full three games, failing to cast either team as a definitive superior. With little decisive evidence to go on, the Best of 5 at Worlds could easily propel either team to the Semifinals.
A BRIEF HISTORY
In the first Best of 2 of LPL Summer between EDG and SHRC, the teams split even. SHRC showed signs of miscommunication, and EDG’s tight form from the Spring Playoffs was beginning to wilt. EDG jungler Ming “Clearlove” Kai’s early map presence reverted to a nonfactor, and he seemed content to passively farm the jungle when EDG could have capitalized upon lane pressure. At one point during the first set, SHRC set up a remarkable backdoor. SHRC waited in EDG’s blue side jungle while EDG pushed mid. SHRC then took advantage of EDG’s lack of vision to shove into EDG’s base. These kinds of tactics helped improve LPL vision control generally, and both teams beefed up their strategic game over time. When Edward Gaming and Star Horn met in their second series of LPL Summer, SHRC was on a miraculous rise. They had just catapulted forward after a 2-0 victory against OMG. Taking advantage of the new 2v2-focused meta, Jian “Uzi” Zihao and Yoon “Zero” Kyungsup were beginning to exert their dominance as a laning duo. They used early-game leads to snowball their team ahead. In addition, inSec had begun to spread attention from the self-sufficient bottom lane to mid. Newfound synergy between inSec and mid laner Lei “corn” Wen gave SHRC an edge in early fights and they crushed through EDG in two quick games. A very different EDG would show itself in Playoffs and Regionals. Clearlove’s early game control had returned and EDG began to minimize their laning-phase losses. This allowed them to breeze through Playoffs, only dropping one game to OMG the entire run.
In Regionals, Star Horn Royal Club would meet Edward Gaming for the third time. In all three games, EDG would again fall behind early. Then their ability to get picks and choose fights in vision-cleared corridors would allow them to get back into the game. In the first and third games of the Best of 3, EDG triumphed with comeback plays, sieges, and Baron baits. In the second game, SHRC pressured hard and fast and failed to give EDG an inch until the game ended. EDG won the first seed for China, but SHRC finished the season with a 4-3 winning record over EDG.
WHEN EDG WINS
When EDG plays to their strengths, they stall out games, often losing multiple lanes and falling behind as much as 10,000 gold -- only to make a triumphant comeback with a single team-fight victory. This is the strategy that allowed them to secure China’s No. 1 seed going into the World Championship, and it’s something they can return to against an oftentimes over-eager SHRC.
EDG’s late game control makes games where they pick up an early lead all the more devastating. In the 2014 LPL Regional Qualifiers against OMG, EDG abused OMG’s aggressive dives and teleports to pick up an early lead. They then transitioned to the dragon to start team-fighting early. A scattered and strangled OMG surrendered in 22 minutes.
If this EDG shows up in Busan, they’re suited to punish SHRC for their aggressive playstyle. Star Horn is, in every way, the team that plays hard and fast in an attempt to force an advantage. In a 2v2 scenario, Uzi will almost always pick up a farm and kill lead. EDG often places emphasis on vision denial, and with an early sweeper, they can punish any over-aggressive plays in SHRC’s bottom lane.
Even if this more tightly controlled EDG fails to show, their late game execution can reverse a potential loss. Uzi is prone to over-extending. A single catch around Baron plays into EDG’s strengths, and they’ve won games from behind off less.
WHEN SHRC WINS
That is not to say that Star Horn doesn’t have a chance against Edward Gaming. Their Summer head-to-head record of 4-3 is tipped slightly in SHRC’s favor, and it’s hard to deny they’ve put up a more impressive showing at the 2014 World Championship Group Stage. Uzi achieved a 10.3 KDA and a 457 gold per minute value in his six Group Stage games. By comparison, all members of EDG struggled with an overall average KDA of 4.41.
Further, though EDG excels at playing the comeback game, an early pressure style can still spell doom for them if their opponents snowball too far ahead. If SHRC can secure a lead and then avoid getting picked off or fighting head-on around Baron, they can close the game without allowing EDG to play to their strengths.
Additionally, if Star Horn executes their style well and snowballs the laning phase off ganks across the map, they should naturally counter EDG’s more reserved laning phase. It’s only with overzealous positioning and a lack of wards in the mid and late game that SHRC might fall prey to EDG’s flanking and team-fighting.
The first rift in a regional fanbase is drawn as we approach the all-Chinese faceoff on Sunday.
wishes these guys would make a music video like OMG.....
