IMT vs TSM
IMT vs TSM
Did i not say this re-match was going to be good? it wasnt the 3 game slugger i wanted but both games delivered and showed exactly where these two teams and these players stand in North America. Right off the bat, i dont like IMT's drafting. They did this in game 1 vs DIG where they draft too many tanky front liners and only really have 1 source of consistent damage. Galio and Braum with Olaf is fine, but to supplement the Kog'Maw, you need magic damage so nobody will beed to build hard armor and say "Well thats 50% of Cody Sun's damage gone". Idve liked to see Rumble come out for game 2 with such a counter engage comp that can still excel in teamfights. Instead they opt for the Renekton who needs to get up close and fight a Cassiopeia, a Tristanna, a Thresh and a Gnar. Speaking of Tristanna, though Cody Sun did impress and match DoubleLift as far as pulling off the hyper carry in game 2, this is a meta that revolves around the carry being able to synergize with items like Rapid Fire Cannon and Static Shiv. Kog'Maw needs on hit damage and with the new tank items, you need to build a Frozen Heart/Randuins with an Adaptive Helm and youre not providing the health damage for Kog to shred you, adaptive helm stops the magic damage from shredding you and the randuins or frozen hart debuff stops that. Now if IMT had gone with Rumble, that wouldve been a harder time to itemize against. But again, IMT keeps making the mistake of too many tanks and not enough damage. As soon as you see Cass and Trist against a lone Kog'Maw to pump out damage, you have to had said "TSM has this". In game 1, they did this again, i noticed C9 copied this comp from KT Rolster vs SKT where they drafted the Elise Renekton top side and had Kalista Thresh bottom. It gives Renekton avenues to open up and deal damage so Kalista can free shot with safety from thresh to peel from danger. IMT did this to an extent but drafted Shen and Rek'Sai. Shen Rek'Sai again leaves your team without a steady source of mixed DPS. Their game 1 draft needed a Taliyah or Cass. Both teams played their hearts out and proved they belong on top, both teams still look scary but only one proved they can draft better and understand what needs to be done. Game 1 was a heart breaker for IMT, game 2 was a complete screw up in the draft for IMT.
As far as players go i saw some massive improvements and statements from both sides.
Cody Sun proved he in fact does belong in the echelon of guys like Sneaky, Double Lift and WildTurtle. Olleh showed he can make mistakes but is still a top tier support. Xmithie finally showed his weakness of not being able to play that hard carry in the jungle, like a Graves or Khazix which IMT couldve needed for extra damage and those two junglers are the only hard carries still in the meta. Pobelter showed as well that there are 3 top mid laners in the NA LCS not just 2 anymore but when styles clash, one has to give. Pobelter is so good at playing off the back foot and waiting for you to over agress and he can pick you off, but while he did this vs Jensen, Bjerg isnt going to make these mistakes and Pobelter isnt that wonder-carry in the mid lane to take advantage of Bjerg, which is why IMT not playing through both sidelanes on either game made me wonder if Ssong is capable of drafting competently in high pressure games. It was also so damn wonderful to finally see Double Lift on the hyper carry, its games like this where he reminds you why he is seen as the ultimate ADC in NA for a lot of people, and as far as Cody Sun, i wondered, "It will be interesting to see where this guy is later on with Sneaky and DoubleLift on the rise to playing like how they used to" and im pretty sure he took Turtle's place at third best ADC in NA which is scary since he makes FAR less mistakes than Turtle. Hauntzer showed he is getting to be that role-playing top laner TSM needs to succeed and Svenskeren showed up on a champion that wasnt Lee Sin after getting his Lee Sin shat on by Contractz yesterday. Im proud of that guy for keeping his word and actually improving on other champs and showing he isnt to be taken lightly anymore in NA. Flame, i mean, he had a good game but for him and Cody, the usual carries on the team, they didnt get to do much, bad drafts for good players, feelsbadman but TSM is now 1-1 with IMT adding to the drama if they meet in playoffs.
I'll do a re-cap and rundown of C9 vs CLG once the games are over.
