SKT vs RNG Semifinals 2017
So ill take the huge pie in the face as far as my predictions go. i said RNG over SKT 3-1 and we had SKT over RNG 3-2. Game 1 saw RNG doing exactly what i thought they were going to do to SKT, and saw SKT develop kind of a wonky comp to support what i said SKT would do. Relying on Huni too much, Bang and Wolf seriously under-performing and Faker not really being able to get too much done after a certain point, the only plus was them being very aggressive with their jungler, who was surprising since it was Blank who had that duty and not Peanut, as they continued to weird use of Peanut and used him as a living ward this entire season. It was refreshing at the least to see more Blank but SKT dropped the ball very hard this game. RNG took advantage, saw what they wanted to do against the obvious draft and punished SKT all game without any real threats to get punished themselves save for a few moments of players being caught out. I didnt like Wolf on Blitzcrank, simply because Korea as a region lately doesnt seem to perform really well on those solo queue pub stomper champions, that region as a whole likes to play to the meta and find counters to it, for example the hype for the possible Kharma top as opposed to expecting the Blitz who can do really well in an Ardent Censor meta as he can get the ball rolling early and end a game before the tanks and AD carries can get the needed damage to be effective. Credit due to SKT in game 1 thought for being the first team to show theyre willing to throw the Ardent Censor picks out the window and pick these risky picks to win in a phase they never showed they could before. Also credit to Misfits for showing, yes, they actually did beat an impression into SKT for these experiments in this game. Overall, SKT showed their weakness of not being used to these picks or not being able to make it work and they lost resoundingly in game 1.
Game 2, however, made me feel like the possible SKT victory was coming soon. The way Wolf was wreaking havoc on RNG's bot lane and Faker getting Galio again, sent the message clear through the next drafts. The picks were Huni on Camille, which he looked far more comfortable on, Galio on Faker which is dumb but i understand RNG's thought of they could beat it again, Bang on Varus which seems to be a safe yet good pick for a lot of Korean AD carry players and Wolf's Leona was really fun to watch. RNG however, picked really standard besides the Nocturne when you look at the draft. Gnar into Camille is safe yet dangerous at the same time since Mini Gnar can get dominated but Camille can feel useless at times vs Mega Gnar. We had Blank on Gragas vs a Nocturne which while exciting to wonder what can be done, it was a really weird "soft" counter to Galio that came right out of left field and i feel like the Nocturne lost the game to me, not necessarily MLXG but the pick itself wasnt good. The fervor of battle Leona came back and it made sense in a lane where an all in champ who can boost the damage as slightly as Leona can with Fervor is a great idea. All in supports in general are still good picks because they can absolutely destroy supports like Lulu, Taric, Soraka and Rakan once the Janna is banned. Back to my original point though, they way RNG picked and played in game 2 gave me that uneasy feeling everyone feels when they pick against SKT in a series.
Game 3. Here we go again with the push and pull that a Galio pick can bring and give. Faker tried to get things done but it was so nullified that if you go back and just look at the match history for the series and look at game 3 you think "Holy shit, did Faker feed?", because the Galio got shut down very well by RNG with the Taric pick. Zac, Galio and Camille want to trap champions so the burst can come in but it wasnt there. RNG had a far superior frontline as well with the Sejuanni, Maokai and Taric. This game was just chalked up to a bad draft by SKT with a good idea in mind.
Game 4. This game was also a game left to the draft, we saw a standard LPL comp vs a standard LCK comp, it was nice to see but when the Soraka came in, vs the Lulu, i thought it wasnt going to be as effective as it can be vs the Janna and i thought correct. Lulu isnt going to be harrassed as easily as Janna will be vs Soraka and Lulu can polymorph the Raka to give a short window of the Soraka's team having to way to deny the burst and die. The protection for the Ryze and Rumble to really lay down the constant damage was not there either and the fights just looked bad for RNG in the sense that sooner or later, that comp was going to fail and it did. Giving the Galio against such a squishy comp that wants to fight it out was bad, the Gnar has the ability to turn if he ever gets put on the run and the Gragas has far more playmaking bot aggressively and defensively with his tankiness than a Jarvan does. Not looking so hot for RNG and they lost.
Game 5. This game was a huge stomp, by this time i was begging for RNG to ban the Galio and force Faker into a more vulnerable pick to be taken advantage of in fights, i was annoyed by taking a Lee Sin when you let Galio go, since Galio can answer a lot of his playmaking, and the Corki pick made me feel like RNG was out of ideas to hand a pick they let go all 5 games. When youre playing vs Galio, your jungler and support need synergistic kits so they can either zone him away or provide damage to force him back or die. RNG did this in game 1 vs the Galio when Ming's Janna and MLXG's Sejuanni porvided massive peel to keep Galio out of range to be effective after the ulti. Game 3 saw this happen as well where Taric and Sejuanni can land CC and provide some sort of soak be it with the Sej Ulti to disrupt the SKT collapse after the Galio ult or the Taric ult to completely turn the fight. This game however didnt have that. Lee Sin has no teamfight synergy with Taric to null the Galio and that made LetMe be the one to use his kit to deal with the Galio up close as well as try with Taric to alleviate the pressure in fights that Lee cant. It was all bad and even before any of that could happen, SKT completely dealt with RNG to close out the series and move on to the Grand Finals.
Thats all i took from the series, let me know what you think, let me feel the gloating from you guys after i picked RNG to take this series and gimme your predictions of WE vs SSG. I still have SSG going over WE 3-0 Hope you guys enjoy the next series and are ready for SKT vs SSG 2: Electric Boogaloo.
[galio-happy]
