GPL Spring 2014 Preview: Grand Finals
Riot·4/5/2014, 9:17:19 PM·0 votes·784 views
The spring split grand finals bears with it three years of GPL history. The champions of both Season 2 and 3 have climbed back to the summit – but the throne at the top is large enough for only one team. Between the Assassins' objectives-focused play and AHQ's bruising fights, the GPL Grand Finals showcases Taiwan's very best in all their varying forms.
Though such a strategy makes for exciting games, it might actually be a mistake to invest too heavily into such a strategy versus AHQ specifically. The likes of Westdoor and GreenTea have made for some of GPL's strongest fighters in its three-year history, putting the largest burden of performance on Achie's shoulders to find a chance to split-push and take the objectives game, where AHQ's weakest.
AHQ Esports Club
While the Azubu twins are adding stealth champions to their roster, AHQ's been fiddling with Nocturne and Pantheon-oriented strategies, tightening the window and timing of their engagements. They were already the most hard-hitting team in the GPL, and now their haymakers are even faster, catapulting their frontliners directly at the faces of carries. It's a psychologically wearying strategy, certainly, and it's an effective one to use when TPA has traditionally been dependent on Bebe doing well.
But while they took the semifinals 3-1, even their wins showed the problems and costs of their strategy. Their bruising rushdowns leave them unable to cleanly take turrets, as even a won fight can leave them too weak to safely take one away from the survivors. And against split-push, their calls become dangerously hesitant.
But there's still one key weakness to overcome, highlighted in the final fight. Nidalee was a tempting pick for OhReal, but the hidden costs of missed Javelins were fully exploited by a team of equal capabilities. A safer or more reliable pick would have perhaps given TPA fewer windows of opportunity.
Saigon Jokers
Much to the disappointment to the home crowd, the Jokers have once again been denied a grand finals seat. They can be proud to have fought so well, taking yet another game off the dominant AHQ while keeping the remaining three games close, but much the same was said last split as well. If history repeats, the morale on the team will be too low to compete well for the third place match.
But this is one bronze medal they can ill afford to give up so easily. Not only is the circuit point’s spread larger this split, but the symbolic value of third cannot be overlooked: one more step forward to proving that Vietnamese esports cannot be overlooked.
GRAND FINALS
Azubu Taipei Assassins Given that the Snipers and Assassins work closely together as each other's primary practice partner, it's difficult to determine how much of their semifinals sibling showdown was due to tactical error, and how much was simply getting outguessed by a team of players intimately familiar with the Assassins' predilections and habits. What is known, however, is that the Assassins have become battle-happy: their most recent team compositions have revolved around picks like Kha'zix, Pantheon or Twitch. In other words, champions that demand a strategy oriented towards picking fights.
Though such a strategy makes for exciting games, it might actually be a mistake to invest too heavily into such a strategy versus AHQ specifically. The likes of Westdoor and GreenTea have made for some of GPL's strongest fighters in its three-year history, putting the largest burden of performance on Achie's shoulders to find a chance to split-push and take the objectives game, where AHQ's weakest.
AHQ Esports Club
While the Azubu twins are adding stealth champions to their roster, AHQ's been fiddling with Nocturne and Pantheon-oriented strategies, tightening the window and timing of their engagements. They were already the most hard-hitting team in the GPL, and now their haymakers are even faster, catapulting their frontliners directly at the faces of carries. It's a psychologically wearying strategy, certainly, and it's an effective one to use when TPA has traditionally been dependent on Bebe doing well.
But while they took the semifinals 3-1, even their wins showed the problems and costs of their strategy. Their bruising rushdowns leave them unable to cleanly take turrets, as even a won fight can leave them too weak to safely take one away from the survivors. And against split-push, their calls become dangerously hesitant.
3RD/4TH PLACE
Azubu Taipei Snipers Though the team's criticized heavily for inferior shotcalling in the wake of Mistake's retirement, they've labored in the weeks since his departure to reclaim their former capabilities. The fruits of their labor were shown in the semifinals set against TPA, where they very nearly toppled the current kings, with sharp rotations and uncanny jungle tactics to leave their sibling team in a cold sweat.
But there's still one key weakness to overcome, highlighted in the final fight. Nidalee was a tempting pick for OhReal, but the hidden costs of missed Javelins were fully exploited by a team of equal capabilities. A safer or more reliable pick would have perhaps given TPA fewer windows of opportunity.
Saigon Jokers
Much to the disappointment to the home crowd, the Jokers have once again been denied a grand finals seat. They can be proud to have fought so well, taking yet another game off the dominant AHQ while keeping the remaining three games close, but much the same was said last split as well. If history repeats, the morale on the team will be too low to compete well for the third place match.
But this is one bronze medal they can ill afford to give up so easily. Not only is the circuit point’s spread larger this split, but the symbolic value of third cannot be overlooked: one more step forward to proving that Vietnamese esports cannot be overlooked.
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