Uol

terribleplAyr·Mar 10, 2017·1 votes·1,431 views

I have been a fan of uol since they first played in the pro scene. They have some great core players who have been fun to watch, but also very frustrating. Kikis, POE were capable of some great plays and carrying games, but also of picking some really bad champs for their comp considering the enemy team comp. This has held true even as they were replaced by other players and Vizicsacsi and Hylissang are the last remaining original members. Both these two are underrated in my opinion. Sure they have the occassional hard throw, but 90% of the time they are performing on par or far above their peers in EU. Hylissang has basically never had a top tier adc to work with and Samux hardly seems to break this trend. Vizicsacsi could have played more carry champs and dominated his opponent in lane and beyond - split pushing to win like the best of them, but he more often takes bad lane matchups -- or at least ones that lose the split-push battle - in order to give his team advantages via roams (with things like poppy) or shen ults. Yet he regularly wins lanes where he should be going even at best and goes even in lanes where he should be losing hard - especially due to jungle pressure or mid lane ganks against him. Xerxe looked great when he began, because no one had him figured out - pathing, which junglers worked with the meta and how to punish his sometimes odd picks, etc. Then uol ran into the top teams, jungler's figured out his pathing, and they exploited his passive play. He missed chances to grab a kill for his laners because he seemed to care more about not risking ruining his kda if he traded kills and he would back off if he was spotted by a ward even if he could still have gone in and at least burned a flash. Uol fell down hard, went to iem, and got wrecked. But since then, he has learned. He is playing more proactive - burning that flash or grabbing a kill even if spotted by a ward. He is forcing winning 2v2's to put his laners ahead even if it costs his life. And uol is looking better. Gotta say if he keeps improving, he will be an elite jungler -- capable of representing EU well at international competitions and becoming an essential player to keep on uol. In a way, he seems to be mirroring Exileh... having a mixed start to his career with some hard carry games but also costing his team a bunch due to poor plays, but eventually learning and improving to be a top tier competitor in the EU LCS. I look forward to seeing him continue to improve and what he can do for the team. If uol can just get Samux up to the level of a top tier EU LCS adc, I see no reason why they cannot make worlds. But Samux really needs to work on positining (don't hand FNC rumble an easy 3 man equalizer in a choke point, shoot enemies while you kite instead of just running away, don't blow cait ult right in front of a jhin and zyra, etc.), playing more selectively aggressive (poor positioning and mistimed aggression means he either dies right away or is running around not even autoing half the fight), and coordinating with his team (how are they engaging so he can position correctly, where is the enemy, what are the cd's on abilities). Uol is long overdue to make it's world's debut, and I hope this season they can finally achieve that. Because if they make worlds and play THEIR style of league to it's peak, they are gonna surprise some top level teams from other regions.

8 Comments

Earl EulrichMar 10, 20171 votes

I think Samux is actually coming along very nice, especially since UoL is a team that generally doesn´t support their ADC much, so he has to make do with less gold compared to other ADCs in the region - and he mostly gets the job done.

For me their biggest weakness still is Xerxe right now, as his performance seems to dependent on some Champions and he doesn´t do to well when they are out of meta - i think they should try and expand on one of their original strength and try to bring in some more unique picks to surprise their competition and have their jungler more in his comfort zone playstyle wise and less dependent on the pick&ban meta. (e.g. WW is really underrated in proplay right now and he looked good with it when they played it in the week the rework came out, Zac is still a good supportive tank pick and Gragas is back in it aswell, really no reason to put him on a Graves he clearly doesn´t feel comfortable on just because everyone else plays it).

terribleplAyrMar 12, 20171 votes

But just look at his damage to champs. He's not contributing to teamfights nearly as much as other adc's from top teams or even some mid-rank teams even when both adc's are playing utility champs. Sure he doesn't die much and doesn't get a ton of ganks, but he's not allowed to be camped by enemy either and he still isn't putting out adequate damage to champs. Xerxe up through mid-season was mediocre jungle - even in the wins where uol stomped at start of season - he was too passive and slow to the plays. But he has shown improvement in the last few matches that gives me hope he is really working on being a more selfless player and focusing on putting his teammates ahead so they can carry -- like a top tier jungler does. But that could just be a fluke and he could go back to being too passive and reactive and scared to die even if it puts his team ahead again -- after all, this is uol we are talking about. They can curbstomp the best team one day, then lose to 10 place team the next. But that is what makes this team so magical.

III BAKURYU III Mar 10, 20171 votes

Out of the 10 EU teams I only see two clear cut favorites to make Worlds so far and they are G2 and Misfits other than those two it's a toss up between H2K and UOL. I like UOL but if I personally had to choose between the next team to make Worlds it has to be H2K. I saw UOL were the 2nd best team in kills, least deaths, towers taken and lost, dragons, barons etc they were 2nd in every category but when they faced G2 they got destroyed, the Viz tp was cool but they didn't look as good as they once did and every since their G2 series they just haven't looked the same.

terribleplAyrMar 12, 20171 votes

I'd actually say g2 and h2k are lock in for worlds right now. Uol and Misfits competing for 3rd spot. But agreed with you that g2 looks world bound for sure and h2k look better than uol. That said, uol has more room to improve individually and as a team than someone like h2k since more members of h2k have had more lcs experience and more experience working with each other than uol has. Xerxe looks like he's stepping up to become more like the jungler the first few games of his lcs debut incorrectly led us to believe he was at the time. He shouldn't look nearly as bad next time uol runs into misfits, h2k or g2.

TurquoiseYoshiMar 11, 20171 votes

With how close UoL was to Worlds last year, I could definitely see them making it this year. They're suffering a bit recently, pending H2K vs. Misfits and their other match against H2K, they may not even end up first in their group this split. They're still a top 4 team in EU in any case, but since only 3 go to Worlds, we'll have to wait and see.

terribleplAyrMar 12, 20171 votes

I agree they have been #4 most of this split. I was worried even in their early wins because of how reactive Xerxe was playing and all the ganks he could have forced, but didn't because he was playing too passive and seeming to worry too much about his kda. But that has changed recently. If he plays like he has the past few games, uol should actually challenge g2 and h2k better and probably beat misfits. It really depends on Xerxe keeping up his improved play and keeping on improving plus on Samux stepping up. Samux has generally just been a tower killing bot and utility adc while not providing nearly as much damage as top tier EU adc's even when playing the same matchups as them. Ex: if you compare his ashe or jhin to top tier EU adc's as far as "damage to champs", he's way under par. That's something that has to change. It's one thing to not feed in lane or get deleted at start of a teamfight, but if you essentially leave your team 4v5 because of how little damage you put out, it is not much better.

hotarseMar 12, 20171 votes

They need to get Kikis back.

terribleplAyrMar 12, 20171 votes

As far as I'm aware, Kikis left them of his own choice. They weren't exactly thrilled to lose him at the time despite problems they were having. So I doubt Kikis would come back even if asked. And Xerxe has stepped up - if he keeps up his more proactive, selfless play from recent games, he will be the jungler uol has needed. It unlocks Vizicsacsi to play more for lane and split push in some games rather than always playing the poppy/shen type team enabler that can get camped and bullied around.