New Team Coast, New Team Style
Riot·7/2/2014, 9:44:38 PM·0 votes·3,101 views
Team Coast has had as much roster turnover as any team in professional League of Legends over the past two months; no member from the Coast roster that competed in the 2014 LCS Spring Split is still starting for the squad. The five new members have had to come together in a hurry, but the team persevered through their initial adversity and won NA Challenger Series 1. As NA CS 2 begins, Team Coast redefined itself as a team that loves to push the pace of play, and leave Summoner’s Rift awash in blood.
The above screenshot illustrates this behavior. A few seconds before the shot, Team Coast managed to secure a kill on Curse Academy’s mancloud (Ziggs), as well as damage Saintvicious’s Lee Sin to the point where he was no longer combat effective. During the window that those two players are forced away, Coast takes advantage and destroys the middle outer turret.
Team Coast’s bloodthirsty ways make them one of the hardest snowballing teams in the NA Challenger scene. They do a better job of building an early lead, and then rapidly expanding that lead than any other Challenger team. That style is very demoralizing for the enemy. Team Coast doesn’t just beat teams when they win. Coast obliterates them.
The new Team Coast has evolved into a tempo-pushing juggernaut that feeds on the opponent’s kills while relentlessly pushing forward. Their style won the NA Challenger Series 1, and they head into NA CS 2 on a tremendous roll. The scariest part of all of this is that Team Coast has had a slight break since they’re automatically entered into the bracket stage of NA CS 2. With more time for the team to acclimate, the future is bright for this new roster.
Team Coast’s tempo control
One of the major hallmarks of Team Coast is their ability to grab tempo control in their game and ride it an unbeatable snowball. They control tempo and force their opponents to play reactively by understanding how their champions can pressure certain portions of the map to create small advantages for the team whether it be through a successful dive, or constantly harassing the opposition around the map. Game 2 of Team Coast’s series against Team Lolpro in the NA CS 1 finals saw two separate fights, both meant to seize tempo by empowering Coast’s lanes, as well as putting them in a very advantageous position for the upcoming dragon spawn. In the top lane, Coast’s Rhux on Renekton had been dominating his matchup from the start. Once the lane settled down from an early swap, Rhux was able to consistently bully Hauntzer’s Jax and open up a large creep score lead. The bullying also forced Hauntzer out of the lane, giving Rhux an opportunity to get to Renekton’s ultimate Dominus first, making him terrifying for any early aggressors. After dropping to a successful dive from Rhux, Hauntzer became completely ineffective for the early chapters of the game, giving Coast enough control to force fights at Dragon and win them with ease. Thanks to Rhux’s early dominance (or Dominus), Coast had attained nearly perfect tempo control. In the bottom lane, the matchup was far more even, but an even trade support-for-support worked in Team Coast’s favor thanks to composition. Hoodstomp’s Kog’Maw is a fabulous damage dealer, one of the best on the Rift, but he is very immobile. It is a scary proposition to try and start a fight while there is no Black Shield from LoH’s Morgana against a Team Coast’s composition that focuses heavily on mobility. While the kill does bring push Kog’Maw’s power spike closer, the removal of a key fighting tool from Team Lolpro allows Team Coast to secure the dragon unmolested, build their lead, and keep tempo control of the game.Team Coast is out for blood
The 2014 season has given rise to the idea that a team rarely has to fight the other team while winning a game. Many teams bank on a siege composition designed to drive opponents off of objectives instead of killing them outright. It’s a strategy that has proven effective all over the world. Team Coast, though, missed that memo. They love to fight and kill. In their wins, Coast scores a kill roughly every thirty seconds, a pace-of-play that favors a style where a team turns kills into map objectives versus the very prevalent PvE style where objectives enjoy primacy.
The above screenshot illustrates this behavior. A few seconds before the shot, Team Coast managed to secure a kill on Curse Academy’s mancloud (Ziggs), as well as damage Saintvicious’s Lee Sin to the point where he was no longer combat effective. During the window that those two players are forced away, Coast takes advantage and destroys the middle outer turret.
Team Coast’s bloodthirsty ways make them one of the hardest snowballing teams in the NA Challenger scene. They do a better job of building an early lead, and then rapidly expanding that lead than any other Challenger team. That style is very demoralizing for the enemy. Team Coast doesn’t just beat teams when they win. Coast obliterates them.
The new Team Coast has evolved into a tempo-pushing juggernaut that feeds on the opponent’s kills while relentlessly pushing forward. Their style won the NA Challenger Series 1, and they head into NA CS 2 on a tremendous roll. The scariest part of all of this is that Team Coast has had a slight break since they’re automatically entered into the bracket stage of NA CS 2. With more time for the team to acclimate, the future is bright for this new roster.
