Vision Wars: The X-Factor
Riot·11/11/2014, 1:12:04 AM·0 votes·5,912 views
Vision wins games. Wards are your friends.
A single ward reveals a ton of information depending on where it is placed. At the very least, it shows where opposing champions aren't, allowing you to guess where they are instead. When placed in vision of a jungle camp, you can tell if the opposing jungler has been there recently. An empty wolf camp that respawns shortly afterward may indicate the jungler is approaching said camp to clear it while an empty double wolf camp that takes nearly 40 seconds to respawn suggests that the jungler is moving toward his own red side of the map.
Obviously, it's ideal when wards spot enemy champions, since you'll have perfect information on where the opposing team is and can make decisions based upon actual knowledge instead of inductive reasoning. If the enemy jungler appears in the bottom lane tri-brush, this allows your team to aggressively harass or even tower dive the other two lanes.
Samsung White put on a dominant performance throughout all of Worlds 2014, dropping only 2 games total (going 15-2 overall). Leading the way was the Finals MVP, Cho "Mata" Se-hyeong, who was able to showcase why support players are instrumental in the outcome of any competitive match. With low priority on farming, he could focus efforts elsewhere, like on saving his allies and fighting for vision control.
By being able to track Royal Club's Choi "inSec" In-seok, Samsung White was able to set up unavoidable ganks minutes ahead of the actual gank happening. And with White's ridiculously fast game times (28:50 average in the Finals vs. the 36:08 overall Worlds' average), we're going to look at some of Mata's early vision control strategy (both the number of wards placed and where they were placed) in Game One that led to Samsung's triumph.
Note: Zero started with a red sweeper lens in two of the four games. Mata opened with a yellow trinket in all four games.
While the sheer number of wards placed is a good start for vision control, the location of the wards is more impactful. Game 1 is a classic example of deep warding paying off. Note the warding graphs below in the first ten minutes.
Zero's wards were only used to spot out gank routes such that Royal could back off if needed. Conversely, Mata's deep wards allowed Samsung to play proactively, with the ability to make decisions well ahead of time. By actually spotting inSec clear jungle camps, Samsung could prepare calculated map movements to attack lanes where inSec couldn’t possibly reinforce. Mata’s key wards at red buff and double golems provided enough information for Samsung to set up a kill in mid lane just five minutes into the match.
By lane swapping first at 4:00, this gives Mata enough time to roam with Choi "DanDy" In-kyu to plant wards into the enemy jungle. Royal spots them clearing the bot lane tri-brush at 4:51 so InSec pings his own double golems, guessing DanDy may be there. Zero throws a Howling Gale into the double golem brush at 4:57 to check. Even though he's not there, Royal can assume DanDy's on the right side of the map (and possibly warded their jungle), evidenced by the five pings at the 5:00 mark. Therefore, inSec stays on the bottom half of the map. As soon as inSec's found killing double golems at 5:08, DanDy knows the coast is clear for a mid lane dive and goes for it without hesitation.
Mata's initial invade also secures a top lane kill nearly five minutes later, well after his wards expire in Royal's jungle.
InSec takes the mid lane farm after Lei "corn" Wen's death and goes missing afterward. At 5:53, the ward placed at wraiths during Mata's original roam spots inSec, which gives Jang "Looper" Hyeong-seok in the top lane the freedom to drop a ward at Royal's blue golem to find out if inSec started blue or red at level one. The ward finds inSec at blue buff around 7:20, so Samsung knows his red buff will be spawning around 8:00 despite having no vision on it.
Mata immediately roams with DanDy to inSec's red, but unfortunately, inSec recalled after donating blue buff. So instead, DanDy takes his own red at 8:30, but he can assume inSec's at red buff around the same time due to the recall timing. But more importantly, Samsung knows he's on the bottom side of the map, which enables a dive top lane at 9:00.
Samsung White would quickly snowball this advantage into a 16-1 stomp off the back of critical vision control in the early game. Similar performances throughout Worlds in the vision game were a key reason they appeared so dominant. There should be little surprise as to why this team’s early game was so strong and why they could end games so quickly: deep wards allowed for prepared ganks. Then, Samsung could just rinse and repeat this tactic to snowball ganks into winning lanes and eventually into swift, decisive teamfights.
Ward Locations
The most common pattern to Mata's warding tendency was that he was able to get early game deep wards in the enemy jungle. Here's a quick count of the amount of wards he placed compared against Royal Club's Support, Yoon "Zero" Kyung-sup in the first ten minutes of each game.
Note: Zero started with a red sweeper lens in two of the four games. Mata opened with a yellow trinket in all four games.
While the sheer number of wards placed is a good start for vision control, the location of the wards is more impactful. Game 1 is a classic example of deep warding paying off. Note the warding graphs below in the first ten minutes.
Zero's wards were only used to spot out gank routes such that Royal could back off if needed. Conversely, Mata's deep wards allowed Samsung to play proactively, with the ability to make decisions well ahead of time. By actually spotting inSec clear jungle camps, Samsung could prepare calculated map movements to attack lanes where inSec couldn’t possibly reinforce. Mata’s key wards at red buff and double golems provided enough information for Samsung to set up a kill in mid lane just five minutes into the match.
By lane swapping first at 4:00, this gives Mata enough time to roam with Choi "DanDy" In-kyu to plant wards into the enemy jungle. Royal spots them clearing the bot lane tri-brush at 4:51 so InSec pings his own double golems, guessing DanDy may be there. Zero throws a Howling Gale into the double golem brush at 4:57 to check. Even though he's not there, Royal can assume DanDy's on the right side of the map (and possibly warded their jungle), evidenced by the five pings at the 5:00 mark. Therefore, inSec stays on the bottom half of the map. As soon as inSec's found killing double golems at 5:08, DanDy knows the coast is clear for a mid lane dive and goes for it without hesitation.
Mata's initial invade also secures a top lane kill nearly five minutes later, well after his wards expire in Royal's jungle.
InSec takes the mid lane farm after Lei "corn" Wen's death and goes missing afterward. At 5:53, the ward placed at wraiths during Mata's original roam spots inSec, which gives Jang "Looper" Hyeong-seok in the top lane the freedom to drop a ward at Royal's blue golem to find out if inSec started blue or red at level one. The ward finds inSec at blue buff around 7:20, so Samsung knows his red buff will be spawning around 8:00 despite having no vision on it.
Mata immediately roams with DanDy to inSec's red, but unfortunately, inSec recalled after donating blue buff. So instead, DanDy takes his own red at 8:30, but he can assume inSec's at red buff around the same time due to the recall timing. But more importantly, Samsung knows he's on the bottom side of the map, which enables a dive top lane at 9:00.
Samsung White would quickly snowball this advantage into a 16-1 stomp off the back of critical vision control in the early game. Similar performances throughout Worlds in the vision game were a key reason they appeared so dominant. There should be little surprise as to why this team’s early game was so strong and why they could end games so quickly: deep wards allowed for prepared ganks. Then, Samsung could just rinse and repeat this tactic to snowball ganks into winning lanes and eventually into swift, decisive teamfights.
