The Breakdown - Team SoloMid vs Cloud 9, LCS Playoffs

No other team has a 13-1 head-to-head record against Team SoloMid. In two consecutive playoffs finals, C9 has crushed TSM in three straight games. With just 6 deaths in the entire span of the finals, C9 has found something that works yet again. What makes the spring split playoffs different is how quickly C9 has adapted to the 4.5 tournament patch. In the closest match in the finals, despite good decision making from TSM, C9's team reactions were even better.

Assembling the team

Bans & Picks

• TSM bans: Lucian, LeBlanc, Kha'Zix
• C9 bans: Dr. Mundo, Nocturne, Soraka
• TSM picks: Renekton, Xin Zhao Corki, Karma Leona
• C9 picks: Elise Graves, Morgana Jax, Lulu

With Kha'Zix as the only repeat ban for TSM from Game 1, TSM removed Lucian and LeBlanc from C9's arsenal. Likewise, C9 banned Dr. Mundo and Nocturne for a second time in the series and surprisingly eliminated Soraka as an option for Bjergsen. TSM locked in Renekton as their first pick for a premiere top lane and tanky front line followed by Xin Zhao and Corki. While Elise and Morgana provided opportunities for picks with their long range, skill shot binds, C9 banked for a lane swap with Jax and hoped Balls could circumvent Jax's weak early game and become a bigger threat later on. The Graves pick by Sneaky reflected C9's approval of the Quick Draw and Collateral Damage buffs as of Patch 4.5. Lastly, as Bjergsen locked in Karma for a second time in the finals, Hai responded with Lulu mid. With their team composition, TSM has a stalwart front line and initiation with Renekton and Xin Zhao, both equipped with strong gap closers for initiating team-fights or ganks. Karma offers utility magic damage and support while Leona lends the team with yet another way to start engages. C9 on the other hand is doubly equipped with shields in the form of Black Shield from Morgana and Lulu's Help, Pix! C9's remaining three champions are eager to brawl and won't hesitate to use their webs, bullets, or lamp post to get into the fray. However the biggest difference between the two teams is the choice of summoner spells. With most AD carries shifting from Barrier to Heal, Bjergsen and Xpecial armed themselves with Ignite. C9 opted to play more defensively with their summoners for the end game. With a late game hypercarry like Jax, three Heals offer more survivability for Balls to wreck havoc or the alternate option of keeping Sneaky alive longer with full stacks of True Grit.

Lay of the land

TSM entered Game 2 with a solid plan: counter-jungle Meteos and put him on his back foot so he doesn't give any C9 lane an early advantage. Not only will TSM deny Meteos a red steal ... but TheOddOne takes Meteos' first red as well Within the first three minutes, TSM appeared in control of the early game. With C9 not lane swapping, Dyrus had a considerable advantage in the Renekton versus Jax matchup. As Dyrus pushed his lane and kept Balls at his turret, Bjergsen did the same in mid as Karma. With Balls and Hai left last hitting under their turrets, this prevented C9 from any defensive reaction from their solo lanes as TheOddOne went a red buff to red buff route to deny Meteos his red and put TSM up three buffs to one after the first jungle clear. C9's bot lane fared little better against an aggressive Xpecial and WildTurtle. With Leona able to initiate a skirmish as early as level 2 with Zenith Blade, LemonNation's Morgana was left in a defensive stance for much of early game. LemonNation had to carefully time his Black Shield for Sneaky as to avoid Xpecial's Shield of Daybreak and land his Dark Binding in order to put a halt any TSM engagement.

Putting an end to the early game bleeding

Contrary to most junglers' mentality in solo queue, the jungler should not always try to snowball a winning lane. In C9's situation, the team decided that their first step towards a stronger midgame was to help Balls recover from his bad lane matchup. After all, Jax scales far better into the late game than Renekton. Hai to the rescue! In a surprising response to Dyrus pushing the lane, it was Hai, not Meteos, that made the first gank for Balls. When it was determined that Dyrus was going to give up First Blood, C9 gave Balls the kill to help offset Dyrus' CS lead. This was the first of many roams and rotations by the mid lanes this match. With top and mid lanes pushed, TSM sets their eyes on Dragon Dragon secured but TSM is left in a lurch C9 gladly trades Dragon for two kills and a Teleport In order to take advantage of their laning phase lead, TSM pushed both mid and top and executed a full five-man rotation towards Dragon. With Balls returning to his lane in dire need of additional CS, C9 was left in a 4v5 position. After Dragon was slain, Dyrus made the correct decision to Teleport back to top lane in order to deflect a pushing Balls but his timing was less than optimal. A C9 Vision Ward in a river brush saw when Dyrus Teleported and this left TSM as four. While a 4v5 was not a fight C9 wanted to commit to, a 4v4 with TSM on low health after Dragon was certainly a fight they could win. After picking off a straggling Xpecial with Whimsy, a Dark Binding caught WildTurtle. While losing a team objective hurts, collapsing on TSM at the appropriate time resulted in C9 blunting TSM's lead and picking up a kill and assist on Sneaky's Graves. When most NA LCS teams are behind, they chose to fully concede Dragon and remain in lane to farm. But C9 took the more aggressive route with Balls remaining in top lane to farm and waited for the best moment to jump on TSM. Nonstop Whimsy ganks for side lanes by Hai Bjergsen with a successful roam top One key change in Patch 4.5 is the slight shift away from assassins in the mid lane and a rise in utility casters such as Lulu, Soraka, and Karma. These champions possess incredible wave clear as early as level 3. With effective wave clear pre 6, this lends to more opportunities for the mid lane to roam. While Hai and Bjergsen faced a stalemate in mid lane, they each vied to see who could have the better timing and roam with greater efficiency and impact. Although Hai was there in top lane for an assist to First Blood, Bjergsen also placed equal attention in helping Dyrus not fall too far behind Balls. Never Flash in a straight retreat path against Elise Meteos has no mercy for Dyrus With no map objective to contest for, it allowed Meteos to help Balls while Hai maintained presence in the mid and bot lanes. Even after giving up First Blood, Dyrus preserved a heavy lead over Balls. With Tiamat completed and Sunfire Cape almost done on Renekton, Balls' Jax was behind by a considerable margin with only pieces of his Blade of the Ruined King. But in three straight maneuvers that culminated with a turret dive, Meteos contributed to three mid-game kills that all but evaporated Dyrus' early game lead in a span of four minutes. With Blade of the Ruined King finally completed, Balls had the attack speed he needed to hit like a truck with Relentless Assault during team-fights. Sneaky and LemonNation pincered Escaped with their lives once and put additional chip damage on mid inner turret Only to escape a second time Sensing the impending danger of losing their lead, TSM resorted to setting picks against C9 in attempt to regain control of the game. With four players collapsing on Sneaky and LemonNation, C9's duo deftly dodged Xpecial's Solar Flare and rebuffed TSM's pincer play as Hai reinforced his teammates. However, instead of retreating, C9 turned a disadvantage into an advantage. Expecting TSM to turn towards the bot outer turret after the failed pincer, C9 wisely got free damage on the mid inner turret. Finally, by not being greedy and over-committing to the mid inner turret, C9 escaped a TSM pick for a second time. C9 demonstrated a great understanding of rotations and never overstayed to the point where they lost momentum. Caught between C9 and Baron After Bjergsen single-handedly forced Meteos to return to base, TSM made a last ditch effort on Baron. However TSM committed the error that many other NA LCS teams make and that's not responding to a counter Baron threat as a team: they should either fully commit to Baron or fully pull off Baron. Any form of mixed response has resulted time and time again in Baron throws. TSM expected a 5v4 to be a situation they could handle, but Sneaky blasted Xpecial with Collateral Damage to suddenly make it a 4v4. A well placed Smokescreen into the Baron pit gave Balls the perfect setup for an optimal Counterstrike and this set up Sneaky for a Triple Kill clean up, the Baron, and eventually the game. Sneaky has emerged as a legitimate carry after the spring split

Wrapping up the match

Key moments for each team Cloud 9 Late game vision Not only does Cloud 9 have good ward control at all points during the game but more importantly, C9 has a vision of how they want their late game to transpire. Even when facing with a severely detrimental early game, they find a way to pull even in mid game and come out stronger in the late game. Rotations throughout the game Patch 4.5 has placed a larger emphasis on rotations, especially by the mid lane. The rise of utility champions and fall of assassins is a major contributing factor. Team SoloMid Errors in top lane While Dyrus has demonstrated he is a strong top lane that can carry TSM as shown during their semifinals match against CLG, Balls proves once again to be Dyrus' kryptonite. The three consecutive deaths to Balls and Meteos is not something TSM can afford against a team of C9's caliber. Losing the numbers advantage At both Dragon and Baron, TSM approached each objective with superior numbers; but a lack of preparation and correct calls suddenly turned the tides into C9's favor. When TSM has the stronger team in grouped situation, they must maintain their position else C9 pounces at the first moment of weakness. Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he wants to know how far you think Cloud 9 will go at All-Star this year. You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.

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