Trending downwards in the past two weeks, ROCCAT has looked more mortal recently than ever before. Losing their top spot in the rankings, ROCCAT's one positive moment during Super Week came when they faced off against Gambit Gaming. Still 3-0 against Gambit, this match should provide ROCCAT the positive reinforcement they desperately need as they attempt to rally before the split ends.
Assembling the team
Bans & Picks
- ROCCAT bans: LeBlanc, Evelynn, Lee Sin
- Gambit bans: Kassadin, Pantheon, Lulu
- ROCCAT picks: Elise, Renekton Caitlyn, Gragas Thresh
- Gambit picks: Vi Morgana, Shen Jinx, Kha'Zix
ROCCAT and Gambit both targeted the mid lane and jungler positions with their bans. By removing LeBlanc, Kassadin, and Lulu, neither team wanted to deal with the poke and late game power those three champions possessed. Likewise, by taking out Evelynn, Lee Sin and Pantheon, the two teams wanted to mitigate the early and midgame snowballing potential of those high impact junglers.
[Champion select]
Gambit's pick of Shen was very surprising considering the current pool of top lane champions. While very flexible using Energy based skills in lane, Shen still can have a difficult time against the resource-less lane bully that is Renekton. While Alex Ich's Kha'Zix requires no introduction, Diamond on Vi provides Gambit the lockdown of a single target that Gambit needs to get resets on Alex Ich and get Genja's Jinx excited. ROCCAT with Thresh and Elise, looked for more picks in the mid and late game. Both Cocoon and Death Sentence have the surprise factor to potentially kill off a Gambit player when caught out. In teamfights, Overpow will have the greatest impact depending on how he utilizes his Barrel Roll and Explosive Cask.
Laning phase and itemization
[2:20]
ROCCAT poking and prodding EDward
Between bonus auto attack damage from VandeR's Flay and Headshots from Celavar, EDward was harassed down to near half health. EDward's situation could have been even worse if VandeR landed his Death Sentence as ROCCAT's bot lane both hit level 2 first. Opening with Tormented Soil first, instead of Dark Binding, EDward attempted to push the lane back against ROCCAT without putting himself in further danger of ROCCAT's longer ranged autos.
[3:30]
Trading health for summoner skills
VandeR eventually landed a Death Sentence on Genja, forcing him to Barrier and EDward to Ignite VandeR as the Gambit duo rebuffed VandeR's aggression. Although ROCCAT's support ended the skirmish slightly below half health, the trade was in ROCCAT's favor after forcing Gambit to expend two Summoner spells so early at no cost of their own.
In the mid lane, farming between Overpow and Alex Ich remained relatively even. Overpow was the first to base and came back to lane with a defensive Seeker's Armguard that provided additional AP so he could continue to clear the creep wave efficiently and additional armor to mitigate Kha'Zix's damage. Alex Ich was more focused on the long term and bought a Tear of the Goddess and two Long Swords.
In the top lane, a different picture was being painted. Ever the lane bully, Xaxus' Renekton built a slight CS lead over Darien's Shen. Both junglers had already rotated top but because Overpow based and returned to lane faster, his quicker rotation top meant ROCCAT had a small window for a 3v2 with two ultimates at their disposal.
[6:59]
Darien wishes his ninja could stealth
Xaxus started the engagement by stunning Darien with Ruthless Predator. Jankos followed up with Elise's full damage combo. The knife in Darien's heart came when Overpow Body Slammed into range for an Explosive Cask that took away a chunk of Darien's remaining health. Xaxus came away with First Blood and because he timed his attack well with the rest of his team and avoided using Slice & Dice as a gap closer, Xaxus dashed his way out of turret aggro without having to expend his own Flash.
[14:40]
In the jungle, Jankos opted for the standard Elise build of Ancient Golem and Sorcerer's Shoes. Diamond went for the aggressive Spirit of the Elder Lizard build on Vi. Unless he built more defensively in mid and late game, this would put more weight on Darien to be Gambit's front line. Down in bot lane, ROCCAT built up a slight lead. This translated to Celavar completing his Bloodthrister first and began building his stacks while Genja was still on BF Sword.
The mid lane was most interesting: Overpow led in CS and had slightly better wave clear with Barrel Roll and Body Slam. Alex Ich had been pushed on his back foot with his item build and first Kha'Zix evolution, Spike Racks, indicating as much. The double Long Sword went into building a Spirit of Elder Lizard as well, instead of Brutalizer or Hexdrinker. The Elder Lizard item assisted Alex Ich in clearing the Wraith camp faster. Also, without the early gold advantage for an item like Tiamat, Alex Ich needed additional clearing power since Overpow cleared with a single Barrel Roll and Body Slam combo.
[29:32]
As the game progressed, the items for both top lanes continued to mirror each other. Despite the slightly different roles Renekton and Shen play during teamfights, split pushing remained a very high priority for Xaxus and Darien. While not neglecting defenses, Sunfire Cape and Ravenous Hydra combined with Renekton’s Cull the Meek and Slice & Dice provided Xaxus ample means to keep any lane pushed. With Shen being more defensive than Renekton and even less equipped to wave clear, Darien needed additional pushing power and supplemented a Statikk Shiv on top of his usual Sunfire Cape.
The mid lanes also shared the same mentality but on opposite sides of the damage spectrum. Alex Ich essentially went full glass cannon with Black Cleaver, Last Whisper, Muramana, and Spirit of the Elder Lizard. With five completed items and only the defensive stats from Black Cleaver and Mercury Treads to fall back on, Alex Ich was completely reliant on his positioning to assassinate key targets during teamfights. Void Assault became key in mitigating damage while the Leap reset provided him means of escape once a singular target had been eliminated. Overpow’s Gragas was itemized similarly. While the stasis from Zhonya’s Hourglass granted Overpow a short pause after he went into melee range with Body Slam. And a Deathfire Grasp and Void Staff meant Overpow possessed the ability to 100% to 0 any Gambit health bar as long as he had the first move. The Void Staff over Deathcap gave Overpow fair pickings, even against Gambit’s frontline of Shen or Vi should the situation call for it.
The greatest disparity in items however was between EDward and VandeR. Thresh and Morgana’s responsibilities oppose one another, Thresh being more aggressive while Morgana more defensive and their items reflected that. VandeR’s Thresh had the role of initiator at times, looking for available picks with his Death Sentence. Any open opportunity meant VandeR’s Talisman of Ascension would be activated, giving ROCCAT the means to quickly collapse on a target. Morgana on the other hand was keen on preventing picks from happening. With Black Shield as a means to counter crowd control, EDward also built a Mikael’s Crucible as a second way of crowd control removal. Finally with Dark Binding, Gambit had an array of protection and peel from the support position.
Sieging against heavy resistance
Preparing to breech the enemy inhibitor turret is a tactic that requires meticulous preparation. At a drop of a dime, the defending team can mount a counterstrike that can not only deflect the ensuing aggression but also pave way for an offense of their own. Both ROCCAT and Gambit saw an immense loss of game momentum when their opponents took advantage of superior positioning that allowed them to not only break the siege against their base, but take control of the game in one fell maneuver.
As ROCCAT knocked against Gambit’s top inhibitor turret, EDward landed a great Soul Shackle but despite his Black Shield at level 5, EDward's anti-magic barrier was quickly shattered by ROCCAT and Gambit's support took full damage from an Explosive Cask before Xaxus finished EDward. While it initially looked great for ROCCAT, things suddenly turned asunder.
[Void Assault 1]
Running into the fight with Homeguard, Alex first jumped onto a low health VandeR to pick up his first kill before remobilizing himself on the outskirts of the brawl
[Void Assault 2]
Alex Ich's second Void Assault put him in range to hit multiple ROCCAT players with Void Spikes before seeing an opportunity to Leap onto Overpow for a second kill
[Void Assault 3]
With another reset off Overpow's death, Alex Ich finally jumped onto Celavar before using his third and final Void Assault to disengage from Xaxus and Jankos. A full health Genja at this point dispatched Celavar and proceeded to eliminate Xaxus before Alex Ich completed a Triple Kill on Jankos for the ace. With three players still standing, Gambit swung the game momentum back into their favor with a Baron immediately following the ace.
[48:48] Goodbye Alex Ich
While sieging ROCCAT's base, there was a lack of respect for Overpow's burst potential. Alex Ich had been on the flank all game long when his team sieged because it gave him the best position to hit multiple players with Void Spikes. Expecting this, Overpow, spotted Alex Ich and unleashed his full combo of Barrel Roll, Body Slam, Death Fire Grasp and finishing with Explosive Cask to 100 to 0 Alex Ich's health bar.
Last Dance
The final minutes of the match surrounding Baron was an extremely tense situation for both teams.
[56:20]
Even though Gambit failed to kill an isolated Xaxus, it was enough to force a full retreat by ROCCAT's top laner.
[56:51]
While Xaxus was out of the picture, Gambit engaged Baron once more but in an odd maneuver, Diamond peeled off and charged for ROCCAT. Taking a Death Sentence for free, Diamond took damage from ROCCAT but immediately turned his Assault & Battery on Celavar. Celavar eventually lost his Guardian Angel but at the same time, so did Alex Ich and Darien. Jankos fell during the fight but forcing Gambit to expend those two vital Guardian Angel actives was a considerably bigger win for ROCCAT. Thinking ROCCAT would back off after losing a player, Gambit started Baron again.
[57:56]
Although Diamond secured Baron for his team, Gambit was in a terrible position. Darien tried to retreat but was knocked back into ROCCAT by an Explosive Cask. Alex ich Leaped in after Darien fell and was instantly locked down by a Death Sentence. Finally, Diamond punched his way into the fray but with two comrades already down, he was easy pickings.
With three Gambit players dead, ROCCAT made a final decisive call: their top inhibitor turret had just fallen to minions and their inhibitor would be knocked down soon. But instead of going back to their base to defend, ROCCAT as a team chose to rush down mid. With Celavar and Xaxus going ahead first, Overpow and VandeR based to heal with Homeguards and join the team after in Gambit's top lane. All five ROCCAT players systemically picked off individual Gambit champions as they revived before finally demolishing the nexus.
Wrapping up the match
Key moments for each team
[ROCCAT team picture]
ROCCAT
Overpow's mighty burst
Showing incredible proficiency with Gragas, Overpow consistently found ways to keep Alex Ich and Genja at bay. Even though with an early game lead, Overpow chose not to go entirely glass cannon and found greater value in staying alive with a Zhonya's Hourglass first buy.
Midgame picks
Converting all the kills in midgame definitely gave ROCCAT a considerable advantage in gold. Had it not been for an incredibly executed teamfight by Alex Ich in top lane, ROCCAT's lead could have held out from start to finish.
Decisive shotcalling
In the final minutes of the game, not defending the top lane was ultimately the correct call. Going back to defend could have possibly meant that the next teamfight, Gambit would have multiple Guardian Angels back up.
[Gambit Team picture]
Gambit Gaming
Positioning
Losing the early game but coming back strong in midgame, Gambit saw their comeback evaporate before their eyes through poor positioning in teamfights. Darien's Stand United and EDward's Black Shield provide some degree of safety, but only if they can react in time.
Trickling in one by one
The communication for Gambit in the final Baron fight was entirely lacking. Even though they were the ones with Exalted buff, three players were hacked down one by one and that was ultimately what gave ROCCAT the match. Prior to that mistake, Gambit had control of the map and tempo of the game.
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