The Breakdown - NaJin White Shield vs CJ Entus Blaze
Riot·5/9/2014, 9:53:56 PM·1 votes·910 views
It was a do-or-die situation. After NaJin White Shield won the first two semifinal games, CJ Entus Blaze rallied back with two victories of their own. The series culminated in a fifth and deciding game, winner take all. While this could have been Blaze's return to their first Champions finals since Spring 2013, Shield's support, GorillA, stepped up when his team needed him the most and turned Blaze's spring hope into ashes.
In the case of Shield versus Blaze, both teams thought along the same vein during champion select. Both teams went for champions that were banned in the previous four matches including Jax for Flame, Kha'Zix for DayDream, and LeBlanc for both Ambition and Ggoong. DayDream and Watch both used junglers with effective gap closers that would help ensure kills. Interestingly enough, there was a mirror match in the mid lane. The lineups that Shield and Blaze locked in were what each team thought was their best opportunity to take them to the finals.
NaJin White Shield
Tower advantage through superior rotations
Despite an early game hiccup that resulted in First Blood for Blaze, Shield constantly pincered and collapsed on Blaze at various areas on the map. By winning team-fights early and often, Shield easily converted the map advantage into an early lead in turrets.
Pick and go
As the crux of Shield's pick strategy, GorillA played an essential role in creating opportunities for his team and saving his teammates from having to trade their lives in order to obtain kills.
CJ Entus Blaze
Heat but no Flame
In the match where Blaze needed him the most, Flame was essentially silence and absent this game. While part of it is his team's fault for getting caught out of position so many times by GorillA's hooks, Flame is equally responsible for not once using Teleport successfully to turn the tides of a battle into Blaze's favor.
Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he is surprised by the two finalists in this season. Between Samsung Galaxy Blue and NaJin White Shield, which team do you think will be crowned OGN spring champions? You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.
Assembling the team
Bans & Picks- Shield picks: Shyvana, Lee Sin, LeBlanc, Twitch, Thresh
- Blaze picks: Jax, Kha'Zix, LeBlanc, Jinx, Leona
In the case of Shield versus Blaze, both teams thought along the same vein during champion select. Both teams went for champions that were banned in the previous four matches including Jax for Flame, Kha'Zix for DayDream, and LeBlanc for both Ambition and Ggoong. DayDream and Watch both used junglers with effective gap closers that would help ensure kills. Interestingly enough, there was a mirror match in the mid lane. The lineups that Shield and Blaze locked in were what each team thought was their best opportunity to take them to the finals.
A tale of two Deceivers
As the only champion overlap between the two teams, it wasn’t surprising that action first erupted in mid lane. Both teams wanted their LeBlanc to snowball ahead of their opponent’s to gain momentum and control of the game. As soon as Ambition and Ggoong each hit level 3, they had teammates ready on opposite sides of the lane. Blaze wanted to avoid the Shyvana vs Jax matchup in top lane because Save would be able to bully Flame in lane and create a farm advantage. As a result, Flame jungled alongside DayDream by taking the Ancient Golem, Wolves, and Wight camps. This allowed Flame to hit level 2 along the way. By the time both teams were poised to strike in mid lane, Watch made the first move and missed with his Resonating Strike. Shield's jungler paid dearly as it suddenly became a 2v3 and he was quickly stunned by Flame's Leap Strike/Counter Strike, followed up by DayDream's Leap/Taste The Fear, and finished off by Ambition's Ignite for First Blood. Blaze recognized their disadvantage in top lane coming out of the blind pick draft and found a way to use Jax's early level stun for First Blood. It is important to note that Ambition was unable to snowball this early kill because Ggoong immediately went all-in for a return kill, removing Blaze’s double buff advantage in the mid lane. Giving up the first kill of the game only tempered Shield's resolve and they struck back. As Ggoong eventually rooted Ambition with Ethereal Chains, GorillA's follow-up demonstrated why he chose Thresh out of all the possible support champions. Despite having a small window to land a Death Sentence, GorillA did what many high level Thresh players do and that's lead with Flay. The pull back from Flay not only created a better chance for GorillA to land a follow up Death Sentence if he threw one, but the Flay also applied a slow that would hinder Ambition if he Flashed or used Distortion to get away. Unfortunately for Ambition, Shield covered all the escape routes and handed Ggoong a kill on a silver platter. In this situation, there was no way out for Ambition but GorillA's usage of Thresh's abilities in the appropriate order would have been even more apparent had Save not been at the opposite flank.Attack on mid continues
After taking a small lead in gold due to an extra turret and additional kills, Shield redoubled their efforts in mid lane to keep Blaze down. With a Stealth Ward spotting Lustboy, Shield was prepared to strike when Blaze's support went in to place a ward. Once again, Ggoong initiated and landed Ethereal Chains on Lustboy. This time, GorillA's situation was slightly different but he still demonstrated all the correct actions of an experienced Thresh player. Too far away to land Flay, GorillA calculated when Ggoong's Ethereal Chains would root Lustboy and landed a max range Death Sentence. However, instead of instinctively activating Death Leap to get next to Lustboy and breaking the stun from Death Sentence, GorillA waited for the full duration of Death Sentence and still had the time to walk up to Lustboy for the Flay follow-up. By getting the maximum mileage out of Thresh's kit, GorillA provided Shield the largest window possible to secure a kill.A warden of many talents
Already displaying Thresh's impressive pick potential during the early game, GorillA continued to highlight how multi-faceted the Chain Warden can be during team-fights. After Save took out the top outer turret, Shield planned for a team-fight immediately after. GorillA was essential in both securing kills against Blaze and rescuing his teammates from impending death. As soon as the turret fell, Zefa and Watch attempted to get into the frontline to deal damage. Although Zefa was at full life, he was spotted by Lustboy who immediately locked Zefa down with Solar Flare. But a quick Lantern to Zefa gave him a Dark Passage to safety, ensuring Shield's ADC was still healthy enough to continue pursuit. Meanwhile, Save successfully took out Emperor by himself but was facing immediate danger from DayDream. Save used Dragon's Descent as a retreat mechanism and although DayDream could have given chase with Leap, he was interrupted by GorillA's Death Sentence. Having now protected a second ally in this team-fight, GorillA used the Death Leap activation to create a barrier between DayDream and Save. As DayDream attempted to Leap towards Save, he was quickly knocked away with a Flay. This team-fight demonstrated how effective GorillA's Thresh is both offensively and defensively. Zefa was immediately transported out of the fight at the first sign of danger; meanwhile, by running interference for Save and Watch, GorillA helped kite his top lane and jungler from sudden death.Aiming the bull's eye
Already with a sizeable gold lead, GorillA's Death Sentences continued to initiate successful fights for Shield which the team would eventually convert into a 20 minute Baron. As Blaze took down the mid outer turret as a team of four with only Ggoong defending, the rest of Shield were swiftly collapsing into mid lane and turned a momentary 4v1 siege into a 4v5 retreat in Shield's favor. Aiming for the most susceptible player in the retreating Blaze pack, GorillA targeted Ambition, locking him down enough for Watch to get into range. While The Box only hit DayDream, GorillA had done his part with one carefully calculated ability. Ambition was tagged by Resonating Strike which meant Watch could get to wherever Ambition retreated to, regardless of Flash or Distortion, and slow Ambition with Cripple. With Ambition's move speed reduced to a crawl, it was only a matter of time before Save landed on Blaze's backline to clean up. After Ambition died, the rest of Blaze fell like dominoes and Shield successfully rebuffed any momentum Blaze gained from taking their second turret of the match. After losing their mid turret, everyone on Shield was prepared to engage; but a fight could only occur in a favorable circumstance if GorillA did his part by landing a Death Sentence. Even with so much on the line, GorillA steeled himself and present Shield yet another opportunity to pull ahead.Target within reach
Once your team has Baron and a significant gold lead, sometimes the quickest way to start a fight is to land a hook on the closest enemy champion. Even if your target is at his own turret. With a 10K gold lead twenty-two minutes into the match, Shield knew they were fully capable of closing this final match and it would only take one good team-fight. Once again, GorillA acted as the initiator for Shield, landing a Death Sentence on the first possible target to get the fight started. With DayDream hooked and pulled into The Box, Blaze's immediate call should have been to call Lustboy to use Solar Flare to halt Shield's movement and reorganize their defenses. Instead, Blaze committed a number of errors starting with Ambition using Distortion to draw fire away from DayDream. However all this did was have Shield change focus onto Blaze's mid. As DayDream used Leap to get to safety, Save dove straight onto Ambition and took him out completely unhindered. It wasn't until after Ambition fell, that Lustboy finally casted a much delayed Solar Flare to little effect. With Blaze's frontline in complete disarray, Shield picked up two additional kills before swiftly ending the game.Wrapping up the match
Key moments for each team
NaJin White Shield
Tower advantage through superior rotations
Despite an early game hiccup that resulted in First Blood for Blaze, Shield constantly pincered and collapsed on Blaze at various areas on the map. By winning team-fights early and often, Shield easily converted the map advantage into an early lead in turrets.
Pick and go
As the crux of Shield's pick strategy, GorillA played an essential role in creating opportunities for his team and saving his teammates from having to trade their lives in order to obtain kills.
CJ Entus Blaze
Heat but no Flame
In the match where Blaze needed him the most, Flame was essentially silence and absent this game. While part of it is his team's fault for getting caught out of position so many times by GorillA's hooks, Flame is equally responsible for not once using Teleport successfully to turn the tides of a battle into Blaze's favor.
Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he is surprised by the two finalists in this season. Between Samsung Galaxy Blue and NaJin White Shield, which team do you think will be crowned OGN spring champions? You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.
