NA LCS in 2017: Week 3 - How communication is built off the Rift

A third of the Spring Split is now in the books, and the prized Korean top lane imports find themselves on struggling teams. Flame, Looper, and Ssumday are a combined 5-13.

I’ve seen a lot of people point out poor communication as being the most likely problem here. That's almost certainly part of it -- but I'm not sure it's just that they aren't native English speakers. Even though Flame and Looper can speak some English, it might not be quick enough or nuanced enough to allow for them to adequately respond in real time. League of Legends is a fast-paced game, even if there are at times lulls in action for viewers. Just think to your own solo queue games -- how often do you actually feel like there’s nothing to do?

There is some silver lining, though -- every misstep in real time is an opportunity to be assessed and studied later. Slowed down and with translators. If teams can identify the scenario, then they can know how to properly respond next time. Communication isn’t just about in-game voice comms. It’s also about developing signals during prep time. You might not know what x or y is saying during the live game, but you should be able to assess the map and recall what your team discussed in practice. Instead of relying solely on spur-of-the-moment decisions, teams should outline general strategies as part of their preparation process. Especially if they want to control the tempo.

This starts with understanding power spikes. There are obviously lane ones like the fabled Wukong level 2, but those are things tied more to laning prowess. I’m more interested in thinking of macro power spikes. One of the best uses of this concept comes from Counter Logic Gaming, who have repeatedly rotated their bot lane to the top side early on. The rotation coincides with the bot lane hitting level 6, which occurs around the 8:30 mark. The goal is twofold -- to take a turret and to avoid an early fight.

That level 6 timing is important because, for the first time in the game, a team fight in which every ability is available is possible. To me, it marks the end of the “early game” in competitive play. Take a look at Game 1 of CLG’s set against Team Dignitas: While CLG chose to rotate, DIG moved to set up a dive. The first turret gold is nice, but it’s negligible in terms of controlling tempo. Trading turrets opens up the map and accelerates the game. And against teams who don’t identify this timing, it can net you a free objective.

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There are many timings teams might identify as moments to attack -- the earlier it is in the game, the easier it is to consistently pull off. Think about how teams strategize for the opening buffs -- where do their junglers start and why? When do they choose to invade? Those timings are easy to coordinate ahead of the game -- both in champion select and in the practice room. They’re easy because there isn’t much variation in the early game. You’re generally not forced to respond to something going wrong.

Aside from that, it comes down to understanding individual power spikes. Teams need to know when solo lanes hit level 6 or 11, for example. The more objectives that can be plotted on the clock, the easier it is to know how to respond in a game. Every time you peek at the time, you are then reminded of the steps you need to take. You might, for example, identify that the outer ring of turrets needs to be destroyed by 21 minutes. And ahead of time, this means identifying the steps you need to take to get there. Those steps are tied directly to understanding your win condition.

These things are, of course, a lot simpler to say than to do. But I’m a firm believer in game plans -- it’s how teams in major sports get things done, too. Practice should mean developing a game plan and then trying to execute it to the best of your abilities. The best teams in the world force their opponents to respond to them. Being able to dictate the tempo of a game is the hallmark of a champion.

This becomes particularly relevant to viewers when teams don’t have a firm grasp on their macro game, which essentially means they don’t understand their win conditions. Developing those win conditions shouldn’t be an onus placed on the players in the heat of the game. That needs to come beforehand.

And, of course, you can’t predict the exact team composition you might get in a game, but you should be able to get something with a similar win condition. There are only a handful of compositions an opponent might pick in response -- this is what it means to understand the meta. For example, if Varus is your ideal ADC, but he is banned, you need to understand what his role in your ideal composition was to be. Was it for the long-range piercing poke? Was it for his initiating ultimate? Likely, it was a bit of both, but understanding which one lends more to your team’s goals might mean picking Ezreal over Jhin, or vice versa. Instead of outlining the champion, you need to understand what role that champion fulfills in the team composition.

And for us -- as viewers -- being able to identify the win condition allows us to identify how strong our team is, which is to say, how capable they are at executing the plan. Sometimes a team might be reliant on generating picks. Sometimes they want team fights. Sometimes they want to poke. The question after that, though, is how do those identities lead to a win?

Let’s continue to look at the CLG vs DIG [Game 1]. Here are the team comps:

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At first glance, you might look at DIG’s comp and be super confused. At second glance, you’d probably still be confused, because it doesn’t make sense. Fiora and Kha’Zix both thrive when someone else can go in first to eat the initial wave of damage and crowd control. But when they’re together, it becomes a sort of cartoon gag where they’re looking at each other and saying, “You go first, I’ll be right after you. I swear.” Fiora, also, generally doesn’t want to team fight. And Kha’Zix loves team fights -- the reset mechanic of his kit can let him go wild.

This means this comp needs its engage tools elsewhere -- ways to isolate or to create mismatches. Short of that, they’re reliant on the Fiora solo-killing the Nexus (and she was very nearly accomplished this). Corki, Jhin, and Tahm Kench are all pretty good at helping isolate targets. So, in theory, this composition can try to find picks. The problem with this style, though, is the other team just needs to group. It is essentially reliant on the other team screwing up.

But more vitally -- and this goes back to my initial point -- what is their win condition? The logical progression after generating a pick is to force an objective with the numbers advantage. However, they don’t have the champions to brute force a dive even with that advantage. There are no tanks and there's almost no crowd control. Additionally, CLG brings Thresh to the table, which helps nullify the pick potential.

At 10:10 in the game, they try to get a pick in mid lane using Thresh ult and Jhin ult, but Orianna flashes out of harm's way and escapes easily thanks to a lantern. The subsequent 5v5 is significantly in CLG’s favor because DIG no longer has any tools to fight. DIG’s kills throughout the game are consistently avoidable and the result of CLG being greedy or rotating too slowly. At 29:50, CLG loses a team fight because they’re caught in the Baron pit instead of turning to fight. They needed to identify that Baron wasn’t their win condition -- luring DIG into a team fight was the win condition.

After that, Fiora kept splitting as CLG tried to brute force bottom, which is almost impossible to do without Maokai's Flash. They did this because Maokai couldn’t stand up to Fiora, even with a turret. They needed to find ways to kill Fiora before they could exert pressure on the map. Check out Game 2 of ROX Tigers vs. Samsung Galaxy to see how to properly deal with Fiora (there were a lot of other faults in this game, but how SSG dealt with Fiora was beautiful).

At 41:20, CLG trades both open inhibitors for Baron but lose a fight shortly after on the bottom side of the map --the location of their final inhibitor. At this point, with super minions beating on the Nexus turrets, what DIG should have done was escort the bot lane minion wave up. They might not be able to easily brute force a 5v4, but super minions gives them an additional prong of attack. They didn't do that, though. Instead, they go for Elder Dragon. But -- again -- why? Their objective isn’t to team fight. So, of course, the game stalls until CLG finally targets Fiora. Fiora spends the last few minutes of the game grouped up. DIG loses a team fight. CLG rolls down mid and wins the game.

Maybe with better communication, Ssumday could have identified the right thing to do was to keep the Fiora pressure up -- that was the only way they could have won. But maybe he wasn't sure, either. This type of thing does come with time, though. DIG can analyze this replay and identify the steps to take in the future when it comes to properly closing out a game with the split-push. It has been a very rough start for them, and with the current setup of the LCS, it’s vital to be able to win now. Panic obviously doesn’t help, but a 1-5 start is troubling. And you can’t expect Ssumday to master English this quickly. So whether they can flip their fortunes or not will be dependent on how well their coaching staff can prepare ahead of time.

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10 thoughts going into week 4

Again, this is not a power ranking. Just the standings. Which are powerful.

1. Cloud9 (6-0) -- If they can clip FlyQuest’s wings this week, will they run the table? We’ve seen 17-1 teams in the NA LCS in the previous two splits, but never 18-0.

2. FlyQuest (5-1) -- If Hai yells loud enough, will Cloud9 players overhear him and be confused about what calls to follow? Perhaps overwrought with nostalgia?

3. TSM (5-1) -- There’s reportedly an increase in TSM fans buying life insurance after a surge in cardiac arrests.

4. Phoenix1 (4-2) -- The loss to TSM must be disappointing, especially after thumping them in Game 1, but this is a team that looks like a contender.

5. Counter Logic Gaming (2-4) -- A strong showing last week has them poised to make their regular mid-season surge. More importantly, HotshotGG has to get a TSM face tattoo.

6. Echo Fox (2-4) -- It’s an even week, and FOX is undefeated in even weeks this year. How’s that for an alternative fact?

7. Immortals (2-4) -- If I was better at Photoshop, I’d include that meme of Wolverine nostalgically remembering Huni and Reignover. Dardoch needs someone else to step up, too.

8. Team Liquid (2-4) -- It might be a worthwhile case study to give everyone on this team a heavy initiate champion like Malphite. They just need people to take more chances.

9. Team Dignitas (1-5) -- Ban Fiora against them and then win I guess?

10. Team Envy (1-5) -- They looked a lot better this week and seem to be surging. The win over Team Liquid showed a beautiful understanding of how to execute on strategies when they’re ahead.

Last Thoughts

Corki’s resurgence seemed to come out of nowhere. I’d read a translation of an interview with Apdo in the offseason where he claimed Corki was the best mid laner in the game at moment -- at the time, I raised my eyebrow and didn’t think much of it. Then LCS hit and he’s been a staple. The numbers haven’t been spectacular or anything. In the NA LCS, he’s 14-16 overall. But I think it’s hard to deny his presence. And for me, the reason he’s so strong is strictly tied to being a mid lane champ. I don’t think he’d see as much success in the bot lane, and I think that’s tied to the meta’s current power curve. The bot lane is going to be roughly two levels below its counterparts for the majority of the game. Without the levels, I think Corki would struggle to output enough damage. But in the mid lane, he offers you an ADC that hits a noticeable power spike after his first two items (Triforce and Infinity Edge).

This, in turn, made me wonder why teams are still using the standard ADC and support bot lane. An ADC’s primary advantage over any other damage dealer is their ability to deal consistent damage to a turret. There are plenty of melee champs that can match the damage, but they can’t get in range of a turret. That’s not a problem on Baron or the Drakes. So if you can bring a champ to mid lane -- like Corki -- who can provide that turret damage, then what’s stopping you from running, say, a wave clear champ bot lane? That would allow your support to roam. Maybe the support would run teleport, even. Or any champ who could farm reliably, really. This is obviously difficult to trial -- scrim partners would probably think you’re trolling them, and it’s heavily frowned upon in solo queue. Plus it needs a strategy to be formulated around it. So I don’t think we get to this state unless teams start running 10 or more people on their roster. That would let them try things inhouse. Maybe I’m underestimating the impact of an ADC, though. But maybe it’s 2017 and I’m right.

What do you think? Could teams explore different styles outside of the traditional lanes? Maybe we’ll see something this week when action resumes on Friday at 3 pm PT.

Kien Lam was an ADC main in 2016, but now he’s just a content producer for Riot Games. He was diagnosed with Lee Syndrome at an early age and believes it’s a blessing. You can follow him on Twitter @MeanMisterKien.