Optimus Analysis: 2017 NA CS Summer Finals
No, you haven’t Chronoshifted back in time to the Spring - the North American Challenger Series Finals are back and it’s an all-United affair.
Both eUnited (EUN) and Gold Coin United (GCU) found themselves across the Rift from each other just 4 months ago after ending first and second seed respectively during the 2017 NA CS Spring Split. Both teams spent the offseason and Summer Split not only working on their perceived strengths and weaknesses, but they’ve also changed the faces on the Rift as well. Let’s review the lineups for both of these teams and some players to watch at Finals on Thursday, July 27 at 5:00 PM PT:
Meet the Teams
eUnited - NA CS #1 Seed
- Top Lane: Eric “Licorice” Ritchie
- Jungle: Ingyu “DanDy” Choi
- Mid Lane: Chang-suk “GBM” Lee
- Bot Lane: Matthew “Deftly” Chen
- Support: Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam
eUnited’s Rookie core of Top-Bot-Support was the stand out surprise of the Spring Split - and continues to be a big factor as to why the team is continuing their steamrolling success in the NA CS. Licorice has continued to dominate the Top Lane match ups, adapting his Champion Pool to whatever style best suites his role on the team, while the Bot duo of Deftly and Zeyzal continues to go toe-to-toe with the best names in the bottom lane on surprising picks such as Sivir and Alistar.
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It’s hard to not mention the biggest change for eUnited - the swap from European Mid-Jungle duo Fox and Gilius to the double Korean imports of GBM and DanDy. The pair has been an upgrade for the team - and as you would expect when bringing in a former World Champion - DanDy specifically has shown up. His tendency to not just hover around the Mid lane on the Rift, but instead look for proactive plays all across the map - including inside the enemy Jungle - has complimented the Sophomore trio of EUN quite well. As Challenger shifted into the Playoffs and therefore Patch 7.14, we saw DanDy flourish in the Jungle on carry picks like Kha’Zix - thanks in part to the revamped Duskblade of Draktharr.
Gold Coin United - NA CS #2 Seed
- Top Lane: Colin “Solo” Earnest
- Jungle: Lucas “Santorin” Larsen
- Mid Lane: Yongjun “Fly” Song
- Bot Lane: Richard “Rikara” Oh
- Support: Mingi “Madlife” Hong
During the Spring Split, Gold Coin United were a team that sometimes felt “slow and steady” in the way that they would try and close out games. While their Summer Split has followed their own “wake up in time for post season” formula from last time, their game play has sped up quite a bit. The team still looks for advantages around vision gained from the duo of Santorin and Madlife, but their trigger fingers are a lot quicker to pull. Solo’s top lane play has really been able to shine on split push threats, and an increase in the level of Teleport useage from GCU has allowed the team to utilize his advantages across the map.
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The two fresh faces on GCU’s line up are also big reasons why they look even better than before. Bot Laner Rikara was on the bench last split, but has put up incredibly impressive numbers in the Summer Split - topping the charts in KDA, Kills per game, and any other stat that shows he is murdering his opponents.The versatility in play style of Korean import Mid Laner Fly has also been a huge boon to GCU's game play. Last split the team was very reliant on ex-Mid Laner Fenix to smash his lane opponent, but that versatility and a larger champion pool seem to be the pieces they were missing. While Fly himself has some impressive stat lines and lane-phase play, his versatility in play style and large Champion Pool has seemingly been the missing piece GCU has been searching for. Orianna, Galio, Corki, Vladimir and even Aurelion Sol are just a sample of what Fly brings to the table for Gold Coin United, allowing the team to craft composition around any of their players.
Let’s Talk About Finals
Every lane matchup carries a story coming into Thursday's Finals - the Sophomore Top Laner Licorice going up against the seasoned CS veteran Solo. Santorin’s stigma as a vision-based Jungler against the hard-carry might of DanDy on a lethality-buffed patch. An innovative bot lane duo that’s hard to break through going up against a living Legend in Madlife, who shut them down last Finals, and his next protege. But the one that may end up deciding it all once again falls in the lane that made or broke the series last time - the Mid Lane.
GBM has not been known as a hard carry player. During his LCK days, the player known for Orianna and Xerath had crucial late-game teamfight positioning and awareness that let the scaling power of his teams shine. After a lackluster LCS stint, GBM finds himself in a unique position to re-establish himself as a dominating Mid Laner. Through the course of the NA CS Summer, we’ve seen the player formerly known as “a rock” in lane transform and adapt his wealth of in-game knowledge to a play style we haven’t seen from him for quite some time. Roaming outside of lane, and becoming a split pushing threat allows eUnited to play off the strengths of all their players on the Rift. We’ve even seen his mechanical skill and matchup knowledge on showcase - playing Champions we have not seen for quite some time like Lissandra and Morgana - and looking good while doing it.
Fly on the other hand was already known for his ability to move advantages around the map - being on of the first players in the LCK to harness the power of Aurelion Sol for cross-Rift plays. The adaptability of Fly’s champion pool allows for picks such as Galio to be flexed around the Rift in 3 roles, opening up counter-picks for the other lanes on Gold Coin United. This time around however, Fly’s job is going to be trying to make sure GBM plays like NRG GBM and not EUN GBM.
The heavy influence that Mid Lane gives on Summoner’s Rift is huge, but when the player in that role can spill advantage into a side lane the game is all but lost for the team that loses control. GBM has shown us in recent time that he is becoming the catalyst for his team’s scaling play earlier and earlier in the game - while Fly lets his team pick their comfort and fills in the blanks. GBM will be the one pressured to make a move in this matchup and try to combat the Champion Select advantages GCU can gain, while Fly just has to make sure GBM is kept in check so that his side lane can win their lanes and slowly creep vision control into their opponent’s jungle. While GBM and Fly have the ability to carry games for their team, they may not have to have the biggest scorelines in the game to do so in this Final.
We’ve heard from both teams over the course of the Summer that this was the Finals they were anticipating, and it’s going to be a hard fought match on all fronts. Don’t miss out on the All United Affair, starting at 5:00 PM PT on Thursday, July 27.
Optimus Tom Searfoss is a shoutcaster and analyst for the NA Challenger Series. If you don't see him attached to the desk for NA CS or the uLoL Campus Series, you can find him buried deep in the numbers with the Esports Stats team during the NA LCS. Never MIA for too long, you can find him @OptimusTom on Twitter. He also hates Poppy.
