The LCS teams whip out new strats for the Playoffs
Before this weekend, it had been two weeks since the last time LCS teams faced off. Patch 5.14 hit the Rift -- and with it Zeke's Harbinger, the new Gangplank, and a slew of other champion changes. To make matters more interesting, teams had more time to settle into the AP itemization changes that came with Patch 5.13.
As the 2015 Summer Split Playoffs have gotten under way, we've seen those changes make a huge impact on the Quarterfinal Playoff matches. And with their successes, expect to see more of them as the postseason continue.
Taking control of mid lane
Keep your eye on the mid lane as the Playoffs continue. You'll notice something: Gone are assassins. Gone are long-range poke champions. In their place, mid-range control mages. The likes of Orianna, Viktor, and even Anivia and Karthus have been seeing regular play.
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With the new tendency of mid laners to hang out and farm during the early game, the squishy mages now have time to ramp up to their strongest forms. What's more, with the AP item changes, they can get to their items more easily -- and get some utility in the process!
According to Unicorns of Love mid laner Tristan "PowerOfEvil' Schrage, the strength of control mages hasn't just come from the mid lane; the Righteous Glory meta doesn't exactly hurt, either. "I think these control mages like Orianna or Viktor need one or two champions with [Righteous Glory or Talisman of Ascension]," he says. "They need these engage tools with one or two other champions." Put simply, mid range mages feel the need for speed. Once they get into the action, however, it's time to tear stuff up.
Not so itsy bitsy
The eight-legged monster is back. After Splits of being nowhere on the jungle scene, recent buffs to Elise have landed her solidly back into the meta. As a result, she was picked or banned in every single LCS Quarterfinal match, save one.
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As Team Impulse AD carry Apollo "Apollo" Price says, her rise to power has had as much to do with her recent buffs as her versatility. "She can tower dive because she can reset her jump and reset her aggro. And she has a CC bot, her Cocoon does way more now, it's a longer duration."
To make matters better for her, with the changes to Rylai's Crystal Scepter back in Patch 5.14, her Spiderlings now apply slows, making her ganks just that much more effective. Expect pros to continue to be caught in her web as the Playoffs continue.
The buddy system
Zeke's Harbinger is all the rage out right now, finding itself in the inventories of many a support player -- and the occasional mid laner.
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With its ability to hand out gobs of extra power to AD and AP carries alike, Zeke's has become a high-value buy for teams looking to turn one carry into a ridiculous killing machine. Most notable was Adrian "Adrian" Ma's pickup of the item to combine with Kog'Maw's immense late game pressure in Game 1 of Team Impulse's Quarterfinal against Team Dignitas.
"We had a hybrid-carry like Kog'Maw, it does so much for a hybrid/hyper carry, it does so much for damage," he explains. "[In this game] he got 100% crit and I had Ardent Sensor, so it was doing true damage. Kog'Maw gets more attack speed, he does true damage, and when the 100 stack hits, he gets 50% crit, and 20% AP, he does really good with those items. He scales with everything."
When combined with Zeke's, AD carry Apollo's hypercarry became a monster, easily carrying TIP to victory.
Old dogs, new tricks
For the past year or so, Team SoloMid has been a team primarily focused on their mid laner, Soren "Bjergsen" Bjerg. When Bjergsen gets going, TSM tends to win. Unfortunately, that tends to mean that teams who figure out how to shut down the talented Dane often shut down the team as a whole.
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Well, no longer. By putting top laner Marcus "Dyrus" Hill on Olaf for the first three games of their Quarterfinal, they were able to change up their playstyle just enough to bring down a Team Gravity looking to use the standard "kill Bjergsen, win game" strategy. "It was really important for us that Dyrus was able to play carry top laners for Playoffs," Bjergsen told us. "We had two weeks to really practice it as much as we wanted to...We want to be able to take more control through top lane."
For TSM to succeed in Playoffs and on the Worlds stage, they're going to have to continue to find new strategies to pull out when the time is right. This is the right first step for the slumping TSM, and bodes well for things to come.
What other new strategies did you like this LCS Playoff season? What else are you hoping makes an appearance? Make sure you watch Lolesports to see if your favorites make it to the Rift.
