NA LCS in 2017: Week 1 - How did 10 bans affect teams?

Rookie team FlyQuest showed off their rookie prowess over the weekend as they soared to a 2-0 start to join former parent organization, Cloud9, atop the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split standings. I know some of you are thinking, “Just who are these guys! Where did they come from?”

I’m actually a little disappointed Hai and co didn’t don fake mustaches for their first week of play. He could have answered the first interview with something like, “Yeah, we’re really excited to finally get an opportunity to play in the NA LCS. Big fan, Phreak.” 

A lot of people wrote them off before the season began. They may be proven correct just yet. A strong start doesn’t necessitate a strong finish -- ask Minnesota Vikings fans. It seems, though, having proper understanding of how to play the mid to late game is still a pretty solid formula for winning. Their supposedly feeble lanes also held up just fine -- this was supposed to be their Achilles' heel.

LemonNation -- famed for his note book -- is even more crucial in the new 10 ban system. Coaching infrastructure across League of Legends is still developing, so having a few players with coaching attributes in Hai and LemonNation on the roster allows FlyQuest to adapt very quickly. The big question would be whether their players would have deep enough pools to survive target bans. At least for now, the answer seems to be yes. 

Cloud9 also lived up to the hype and made a very impressive debut, thanks to strong performances in particular from Jensen and (actual) rookie jungler Contractz. Jensen hasn’t had a jungler this aggressive since Rush, and it seems the two of them have already synergized. This team has players who are in conversation for “best-in-role” at every single slot and should continue to be one of the favorites going forward. They made a statement by running over TSM to start the season -- Jensen may finally dethrone Bjergsen from the top of the mid lane pecking order.

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TSM shotcalling

I’m reminded of something Doublelift told me before Worlds last year in regards to shotcalling. He said -- roughly -- shotcalling is more about being decisive than making the correct call.

I don’t know what the exact communication structure is on TSM right now, but this is what I think should worry fans the most about their hopes. Good shotcalling requires, first and foremost, someone who is able to make decisive snap calls. And the more often they’re correct, the better. I’m not sure if this is something that can be taught. This probably needs to come from someone charismatic enough, or at least trusted enough, to have his team follow him no matter what. That used to be Doublelift.

This isn’t a knock on WildTurtle, either. I think we saw him enjoy a bit of a resurgence on the Immortals. I also don’t think ADCs have enough impact in the current meta for a lane dominant carry like Doublelift to truly shine anyway. The level of communication he brought to the team needs to be filled by someone, though. And if it’s not something that can be taught, then what?

There’s this idea that every team needs time to gel. That’s probably a little true. But when I think of the strongest teams in League of Legends history, almost all of them dominated from the get-go or at least showed flashes of brilliance. Think 2012 M5. 2013 C9 and SKT. 2014 SSW. 2015 FNC. This is what makes me nervous for teams who don’t put it together quickly. But to be fair, a dominant 2-0 Week 2 would erase a lot of doubt.

And I don’t have much doubt that TSM will come back strong -- they always do. They’ve literally been in every single NA Final. That’s some 70 other rosters that have been put together and not once was TSM even 3rd. That’s an absurd level of dominance for an organization. Plus, if all else fails, they still have Bjergsen.  

Fans won’t be content with a strong domestic performance at this point, though. Nor will TSM. That’s their bare minimum, even as the rest of the league looks as strong as ever. For TSM to elevate their level of play, they’ll need to transcend the form that saw them go 17-1 en route to capturing the Summer Final last year. And even that squad got knocked off in the Group Stage.

At this point, I’m wondering if it’s possible for a team to evolve simply with experience -- not just into a better team, but into one that can contend for the World Championship.

Aside from shotcalling these are the two major things to consider when trying to assess who’s strong right now:

• Understanding the new pick/ban phase
• How a team plays around its jungler

Thou shalt ban Camille

The new 10-ban system doesn’t actually make it easier to ban Camille. But it’s still pretty easy to ban her. It’s not really that the champion itself is terribly imbalanced (it might also mean that), but her permaban status is more indicative of two other things for me. First, because she’s so frequently banned otherwise, it’s hard to get a good gauge on how to properly play against her. And a successful team is one which can limit the number of unknown variables.

Second, and perhaps most important, it’s because she’s one of the few viable carry threats right now -- the other two being Fiora and Jayce. In an end game split-pushing scenario, she’s capable of forcing a fight at any point in the side lane whereas Fiora and Jayce generally have to force it under a turret. Her pick potential is also potent in a team fight, where she can create a massive zone of control for her team to work with.

Which leaves Fiora and Jayce -- neither of whom bring any form of control to a team fight if they fall behind. One of the major critiques against the old lane swap meta is that it resulted in a boring early game. The end of that era promised more duels. More blood. Instead, we’ve gotten tanks, tanks, and more tanks.

Again, reliability makes a champion more desirable. Tanks don’t require the same type of resources to make an impact that, say, a Riven or a Yasuo would need. Coupled with Teleport, even killing them once doesn’t make much of a dent as they can swiftly return to lane. Tanks also generally bring the ability to initiate fights. This allows a team more options in terms of being proactive on the map -- this is the hallmark behind every single successful team.

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So what does the new ban phase actually do?

I look at the two phases like this:

• Phase 1 is used the same as before, where the strongest champions are banned away. This includes Camille, some junglers, some supports, and strong control mages.
• Phase 2 is used to target ban based on what the opponent did in the first phase. We saw FlyQuest execute this to perfection against Goldenglue, where each ban phase saw upwards of six or seven mid lane bans (including traditionally unbanned, reliable picks like Orianna). This, of course, is something you can do for any role. I’m personally hoping for a game in which we see 10 bans targeting the same position.

This requires a team to have at least two players who have deep pools with champions that can comfortably be blind picked. Because red side receives the counterpick, what will happen is red can ban out, for example, two mid champs in Phase 2, and then save their counterpick or pick a third. This, to me, makes red side a lot more powerful than in the past, where blue side was seen as having a pick/ban advantage.

In the current top tank meta, it’s Maokai, Nautilus, and Poppy. Probably in that order, too, but the difference doesn’t seem to be game-changing. If one team selects one of those three in the first phase, then you probably need to respond and pick one as well or risk being banned out.

Teams with top laners who can excel on carry champions like Fiora will find themselves with more options in this meta -- but this immediately tells your opponent that you plan on playing around the top lane. Ssumday, Flame, and Lourlo, for example, had some key performances on those champions, but a lot of resources were divested their way.

One of the key things to watch going forward will be how well players pick up new champions as patches inevitably usher in and out new metas.

King of the Jungle

There’s two major ways for a team to look at its jungler, which will of course vary depending on which champions are picked.

• A team either supports its jungler and propels them
• Or the jungler plays a supportive role for the laners

Historically, junglers have been relegated to a more supportive role. We’ve even seen metas where many of them even bought a Sightstone. The changes to the jungle this season are a major catalyst behind that. Because the camps give more experience, junglers can stay closer to the solo laners on the level curve than in the past. Each level provides approximately ~1,000 gold worth of stats. That’s a pretty huge power spike. And unlike past metas that enabled junglers, they aren’t reliant on building 25 or 30 stacks on an item. The increased value of the individual camps also means that every single camp can looked at as an objective. Losing one early on can significantly hamstring an enemy.

The distinction in mentality between the jungler being the carry or the support can change even small things like where to place a ward or how a laner might control their minion wave. For example, you can’t freeze your lane if your jungler is invading the opposition on your side of the map. Or you may place your ward on the raptor camp instead of the river bush -- this tradeoff of information exposes you to more gank routes and forces you to play safer.

However, it allows your jungler to make more calculated moves. In Blackjack, it is said to play as if every face down card has a value of 0-9 or 10 -- this is strictly because that’s the highest possibility. Likewise, in League of Legends, if there is a dark bush, it’s better to assume someone is waiting. That isn’t to say there aren’t major rewards for breaking those rules. You may hit on 14 with the dealer showing 6 (implied 16), for example, and hit a 7. The idea, though, is to consistently make the same decision.

Mid lane should generally try to lean more heavily to whatever side their jungler is on -- this allows them to respond quickly in the event of a skirmish. Same goes for side lanes when the jungler is on their side of the map. Instead of asking the jungler for help, it seems it may be more beneficial for the jungler to ask for help and for the lanes to play safer, more control-oriented styles. This is one of the major factors behind tank tops and control mages in the mid lane.

Playing an assassin, like Fizz, requires the more traditional approach, which is that a jungler should look to ward for and babysit that lane. That’s the old “TSM ward” approach. Laners who are more accustomed to shifting around the map to help their jungler will open up different playstyles for their teams. This, of course, has been one of the defining traits of Cloud9, and now FlyQuest.

A jungler’s ability to properly communicate with their team will be more crucial than ever.

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10 thoughts going into week 2

Before you call this a power ranking, it’s not. Unless your definition of a power ranking is an alphabetical list of the standings -- then it’s a power ranking.

1. Cloud9 (2-0) -- Sure, their week one was impressive, and this could be Jensen finally living up to his old EUW solo queue legend status, but are they even the best Cloud9 in the NA LCS?

2. Flyquest (2-0) -- They’re like a dog that stares at your dinner and tries to snatch a bite every time you look away. And dinner is always Baron.

3. Counter Logic Gaming (1-1) -- CLG fans seemed to hate their old roster carousel, but once that ride stopped, it seems they hate roster stability, too. Do they actually miss the wild ride?

4. Immortals (1-1) -- Sources say Flame doesn’t look both ways before crossing the street, but sometimes solo kills oncoming traffic anyway.

5. Phoenix1 (1-1) -- I’m still not entirely sure how they flipped the games against Echo Fox so quickly. The quick brown fox jumped into a surprise trap -- or something like that.

6. Team Dignitas (1-1) -- Just watch this.

7. Team Liquid (1-1) -- Piglet is probably on Reddit upvoting all the “ADC in 2017” threads right now.

8. TSM (1-1) -- Doublelift is the most talked about TSM member whether he’s on the starting roster or not. He’s the elephant in the room, and it’ll remain that way until he cements his retirement. Or comes back.

9. Echo Fox (0-2) -- Echo Fox’s fast start to games is reminiscent of the fable about the tortoise and the hare. They really need to figure out how to stick their head past the finish line.

10. Team Envy (0-2) -- It’s 2017 and teams are still dealing with Visa issues. That’s the real head-scratcher here. We’ll see how they truly stack up next week with the return of Lira.

Solo Spew: Last thoughts

There’s been a lot of hoopla over ADCs in 2017. I think the issue is linked to my thoughts on the current jungle meta -- ADC is the role where it is most difficult to help the jungler. It doesn’t have the freedom to roam as well as in the past, and shoving up the wave (which would help) opens the lane up to a five-man Teleport party. That’s the worst kind of surprise party. Coupled with the turret change that enforces a standard lane meta, ADCs are forced into passive play in lane. Ashe is one champion who does have early global pressure, thanks to Hawkshot, which is why I think she’s the most valuable ADC in the game right now. Other viable carries need both team fight utility and the ability to control the wave in the lane phase -- enter Varus. I don’t really know the fix, but it doesn’t seem as simple as buffs.

I used to follow the Starcraft II scene a lot, and I remember someone suggesting that the problem with balancing the Protoss race at the time was that everything revolved around the Pylon. That it was an inherent design issue. I wonder how much the game would shift without Teleport, or perhaps more interestingly, if every champion had Teleport.

There are a lot of good sets in the coming week, but TSM’s line is probably the most interesting. Their brutal slate continues as they run into Team Dignitas and then Team Liquid this week. How they fare should serve as a decent early indicator for whether they’re part of the pack or above it. Tune in Friday at 3 pm PT as the action resumes.

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.