The Greatest Upset in History: Albus NoX Luna’s hour long gold rush
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David slaying Goliath is one of the most famous stories. Don’t fight a land war in Russia is a famous saying. Combine the two and you have League of Legends’ greatest upset ever.
ANX was pegged as a trap game for their competitors in Group A. They were supposed to trip and stutter them — not rip off their legs. Week 1 of the 2016 World Championship Group Stage saw them do the former against the ROX Tigers in their first matchup and the latter against Counter Logic Gaming and G2 Esports. The two wins matched the previous best for an International Wildcard team.
Nobody knew quite what to expect in Week 2, but surely their run would come to a halt. If the first week was a chance to surprise opponents, then the second week would see the dominoes fall into place — teams have had the chance to test each other; there should be less surprises. And across the rest of the groups, this proved to be mostly true. Group A was the lone exception. ANX dropped CLG to secure their third win and a new record for International Wildcards. Then they came face-to-face with the ROX Tigers, the pre-tournament favorite. A win would guarantee them an unprecedented trip to the Quarterfinals.
"In terms of money, we're not supposed to be here. Even for the Wildcard regions, we are extremely poor. But we don't need help, we just need attention."
— Kirill "Likkrit" Malofeev
The Champions
ROX banned out three support champions. A heavy target ban generally means a team doesn't think the target — in this case, Likkrit — has a deep pool. Likkrit settled on Taric — the champion's only appearance at Worlds 2016. At a glance, neither team had a significant advantage during any portion of the game in terms of champion power spikes, though ROX could enter mid game with a strategically important advantage if ROX Pray's Caitlyn managed to win lane. Her power trough is most noticeable between the first and second item, so skipping that trough would allow ROX to rotate and siege with ROX Kuro's Syndra and their larger range before ANX could build enough bulk to ignore it. ANX's entire composition needed to fight at close quarters, so the game would be about how effectively ROX could peel back. That both teams featured junglers who could exert pressure early meant there would likely be significant attention to the bottom side of the map.
The Game
2:05
ANX PvPStejos' Nidalee invades ROX Peanut's Lee Sin at the first buff — Lee is taken down to half health and is forced to back off. Nidalee can't stay either as ROX Smeb's Trundle collapses, but because Nidalee moves faster in the jungle and has higher sustain, this is a good first move for ANX. This sets the tempo and the tone of the game. ANX aren't afraid.
3:30
Lee Sin invades Nidalee's buff this time — thanks to the pressure ROX Kuro's Syndra is exerting on ANX Kira's Vladimir in the mid lane — but Nidalee's too fast, and Lee is late by a second. It ends up being a waste of time as Lee retreats to secure the Scuttle Crab vision for his bot lane.
4:15
Syndra is given Blue buff. One of the problems with spamming so many spells early against Vladimir is that if you can't kill him, then he just regenerates. Mana regeneration is tough early game, so the lane flips in his favor. But the Blue buff allows Syndra to keep up the pressure.
4:40
Nidalee invades again, but Lee manages to win the Smite battle over the Raptor. He is forced to back to his fountain. At this point, Syndra knows she has no jungle help and the enemy Nidalee is behind her, but she remains forward, eats a spear, and is killed for first blood. Either poor communication or outright arrogance here.
6:10
Syndra dies again. She's too forward — even with her jungler showing bottom — and being forced to path around the minions allows Nidalee to hit a spear from fog of war. Dying to Vlad ult gave everyone time to reflect upon what was happening — it was like the death was paused in time for a few seconds. Being down two kills in mid lane is massive, because it's the lane most responsible for aiding the jungler early. This now further limits what Lee Sin can do.
7:45
ANX Likkrit's Taric roams, despite Nidalee being in base and having no Summoner Spells. It's a big mistake that allows Syndra to grab a kill — but it's just a band-aid as Vladimir still holds an experience edge and is no longer threatened by the Syndra.
9:30
Nidalee sneaks the Ocean Dragon. It's a bit of a gamble, but Lee was seen moving into the top side of his jungle — so it's fairly safe to assume he backs after that. Plus, she can escape very easily through the back of the pit if she's caught. Important to note here is that while mid lane is suffering, ROX's top and bot lanes both hold strong CS leads over their counterparts. Mid lane advantages are negated if the side lanes can collapse.
11:20
ANX Smurf's Poppy — perhaps bored of the top lane bruiser-fest — roams mid, which forces Syndra to Flash. Nidalee corrals Lee Sin from the other side of the river and it's like watching a few herd dogs round up some stray sheep.
13:33
Nidalee is finally caught invading as she runs into Trundle as well, but Lee inexplicably misses his Q. The resulting chase leads to Trundle's death. Can almost hear Trundle spamming "?" on Lee.
13:55
Greedy return invade from Nidalee eventually nets Lee a kill, but Syndra falls in the mid lane in the meantime to a dive from Taric and Vladimir. ROX GorillA's Alistar watches helplessly until Lee Flashes and lands a Q on Taric — who is too slow with his Flash — for the revenge kill. The game is still fairly stable as another Ocean Dragon spawns, and no turrets have fallen.
16:30
ANX sends Nidalee to the bot lane and they take the turret to push their lead to 2.5k gold. The teams posture between Dragon and mid lane for a bit before a fight breaks out. Lots of Summoner Spells are burned, but ultimately, only Taric falls.
18:10
In the aftermath of the fight, Nidalee is caught — again — trying to poke ROX off the Dragon. Despite being down in gold, ROX suddenly has momentum going in their favor — they've turned games around the entire tournament. Nidalee needs to be more careful.
19:25
Taric looks fabulous as he traverses to the top lane, but meets his maker in the most classic strategy in League of Legends: the old 1200 elo bush thwack. That's the fourth consecutive kill for ROX. But they can't convert it to a turret top side. Lee Sin is close to useless in a siege without his kick — especially at this point in the game because he has no armor.
21:50
ROX PraY's Caitlyn overestimates his range and is caught by a stun combo from ANX aMiracle's Lucian and Taric. It's a confusing position from Caitlyn as the lane was going to push into her anyway and her support was in mid lane. The ensuing jungle skirmish afterwards means the turret falls without much of a defense.
24:30
ANX takes an uncontested Cloud Dragon despite having the push going against them in the top lane. Seems like a mental lapse from ROX.
25:50
Poppy reenacts Hammer Time by ulting Lee and Trundle away to prevent a sure death. This leaves Caitlyn in a 1v1 that is turned as ANX collapses and kills her. Lee is also killed trying to save her. It seems ROX is making some overly aggressive — and disrespectful — plays.
26:30
ANX turns to Baron after picking off the ADC and jungler — this means Syndra is the only real damage left with which ROX can contest. ANX also takes very little damage from Baron because of three champions who can heal and a well-armored tank in Poppy. ROX decides to not contest. ANX's gold lead extends to 4k.
27:45
Vladimir is caught in a bad spot but it doesn't matter. How do you make blood bleed? He feels no pain. A 5k gold deficit for ROX looks grim in a neutral circumstance, but it's hard to forget it's a wildcard team against a Korean team. ANX has to be a little careful as well — ROX have good catch potential. Lucian and Nidalee are always going to need to position properly.
28:30
An aggressive dive at the inner mid turret from Poppy and Taric leads to a trade. Taric dies again and is 0-5 now. It's at least encouraging to ROX that their bans paid off. But Trundle falls in exchange, and ROX loses its turret. It's a great trade for ANX.
29:20
Lee throws out a cheeky Q hoping to predict the Nidalee Flash, but it ends up looking like a horrible miss, and Nidalee escapes with both the Blue buff and her life. This is followed by noise from the Peanut gallery. The gold difference is now 7k — a nice use of the Baron Power Play from ANX.
30:50
Another Cloud Dragon falls to ANX. They can go really fast now. This will prove vital for them as they'll spend a lot of time this game giving ROX the runaround.
33:20
Teams are beginning to set up around Baron again. Caitlyn traps provide a lot of zone control for ROX, but they are still behind. Cait needs to hit six items to deal with the ANX front line — Vladimir and Poppy are essentially unkillable right now in a 5v5.
33:50
Baron spawns and ANX immediately initiates a fight mid using… Lucian ult and a Vladimir Flash and Protobelt initiate. Just as ROX thinks it's safe to turn around, though, Taric and Nidalee Flash forward to secure a kill onto Syndra. As they try to hold the turret, ANX brute forces their way onto the turret and forces all of ROX to return to their fountain. ROX lose their inhibitor and face a nearly 10k gold deficit.
35:20
ANX starts Baron with all of ROX in the vicinity. The 50/50 Smite battle goes to Syndra as Lee falls. It's a very risky call for ANX who are maybe too antsy and eager to close out the game. It's easier and less risky to fight under an inhibitor turret than a Baron at this point in the game — ANX probably are not terribly confident their lead was so big.
39:00
Elder Dragon is the main focus now as ANX clears the wards and start it immediately, but ROX is onto them and they peel off immediately. ROX rotates to mid and keeps their distance. Engage options are low for ANX. At this point in the game, one bad fight can end the game for either team so both are appropriately apprehensive.
41:00
This time it's ROX who starts up Elder Dragon. They also peel off immediately. You almost want to give each team a free Malphite button to start a fight — their intense back and forth dance is rotating around mid and Elder.
41:45
ANX is now split pushing and rotating pressure through each lane as nobody can deal with Vladimir or Poppy. Trundle can only stall one. The rotations allow ANX to secure the top lane inhibitor turret without a fight. The Cloud Dragon bonuses are really kicking into effect.
44:40
Vladimir starts to solo the Elder Dragon. ANX rotates over once it's at half health and it turns into a massive sneak from them. It's only possible because they have so much control over the map. With two Cloud Dragons and an Ocean Dragon now even more buffed up, ANX can rotate super quickly and safely around the map. As such, both ROX's mid and top inhibitor fall.
46:20
ANX rotates back to Baron and starts it, hoping to bait ROX into a fight. Vladimir is killed as he tries to zone the ROX squad thanks to a stun from Syndra, who proceeds to blow him up with the help of Lee Sin. It's a 4v5 to start, but ANX still has the Elder Dragon buff. A six-item Caitlyn helps ROX secure a 1 for 4 team fight victory. End game Cait at its finest — ROX will not lose if she doesn't die. ROX takes Baron and closes the gold gap to 5k. These are the first kills in over ten minutes.
49:30
But being two inhibitors down means ROX can't push out with their Baron buff. ANX knocks on their doorsteps. ROX kills Poppy but lose their bot inhibitor turret. There doesn't seem to be much of a way out for them at this point — they want a clean 5v5 but ANX isn't giving it to them. That's all ROX turrets down aside from the two protecting the Nexus.
52:00
Fun fact: at this point in the game, Lucian hasn't died yet for ANX, and Alistar hasn't died yet for ROX.
54:20
Baron spawns again, and ROX have the positional advantage but all three inhibitors are exposed. Caitlyn sets up a zone with traps. Nidalee accidentally activates Zhonya's while moving through the jungle — ANX is clearly on edge after failing to close the game for the past 20 minutes. A Nidalee spear onto Caitlyn gives ANX the positional advantage in the mid lane. It's Season 3 all over again as that single spear turns into a mid and bot inhib. Alistar dies for the first time as everyone else separates — it's like a sacrificial cow for the Greek god of upsets.
56:10
ROX tries to sneak a Baron, but it's not very sneaky. Caitlyn kills Nidalee by herself using the high ground and a trap. Both teams peel away but ANX returns quickly to Baron while ROX finishes Elder Dragon. Note that Nidalee is still dead. Lee steals the Baron and then gets out of the pit alive. The Tigers refuse to die. With both Baron and Elder Dragon, they push down mid — it looks like a doom push, but they retreat to deal with the waves instead. It doesn't seem like they want to bank everything on one team fight after all. ROX will beat themselves over not taking this chance.
59:30
The third ROX inhib falls. The other two will spawn soon, but this traps ROX in their base for a bit longer. On the flip side, ANX have only lost three turrets total.
61:20
Caitlyn dies.
61:30
Caitlyn's death means two things: first, ROX has no real chance of countering no matter what happens because she is the bulk of their damage at this point in the game. Second, because she's been so dominant and untouchable, this lifts a huge mental strain from their backs and places it squarely on whatever glimpse of hope remains for ROX. However, in the chaos, ANX also loses Vladimir. But without Caitlyn in their way, they manage to finish the respawned inhibs and attack the final Nexus turret. Minions swarm the base. Everything is in shambles. Alistar then hits a massive three-man knockup and forces ANX to retreat. Lucian kites backwards like a fight right out of The Matrix. ROX holds and kills everyone but Lucian. ROX's last turret stands with a sliver of health.
64:20
Baron spawns and ANX easily secure it. With three waves barreling into ROX's Nexus, it becomes a classic Tower Defense minigame as they make a desperate gasp to survive. You almost expect ANX to just yell "Go!" and for all of their members to make a suicide dive at the Nexus.
65:40
ROX's final turret falls as both teams jostle for position. Everybody piles onto the Nexus. Nidalee dies first. Then Lucian. Then Vladimir. Poppy chases Syndra out of the base. The Nexus is at a third health. The super minions are being delayed by the Zz'Rot Portals. The last and lone champion hitting the Nexus?
66:16
Taric — the fourth option at the support position — destroys the ROX Tigers' Nexus.
The Aftermath
Albus NoX Luna became the first International Wildcard team to qualify for the Quarterfinals.
The ROX Tigers fell to a 3-2 record and their tournament life rested on whether or not they could defeat Counter Logic Gaming, who had beaten them the previous week. ROX would go on to win convincingly.
ANX would move on to lose to G2 Esports and then ROX in the tiebreaker match for 1st place. Maybe all of their magic was used up on this match, but it's hard to fault the team for taking their foot off the pedal. If anything, it's more a testament to the strength of ROX for managing to bounce back from this heartbreaker.
In the Quarterfinals draw, ANX drew Europe's H2K — the only non-Korean No. 1 seed — for their matchup. ANX are still considered the underdog, but that's not anything new for them. This triumph represents the strength of the International Wildcard regions as whole — those without automatic bids to the World Championship. To the major regions, it's a touching underdog story. To the up and coming regions, it's hope. And inspiration. League of Legends is a global esport, and wins like this will help smaller regions develop — drawing in more interest from players and investors alike.
You don't think much about the first ant that crawls up your arm. It tickles. You crush it. Then a second one. And a third. Before you know it, your finger is covered with tiny limbs. You trace them back to a hole in the wall. A pile of crumbs in a corner. By then, though, it’s too late. What could have been a simple extermination is now an infestation. You find the collective ants are much larger than you can handle. And much stronger. So rose Albus NoX Luna.
